Lifestyle as Medicine
Healthiest for you and me
As a GP, I spend much of my life talking to people of all ages about challenges to their health.
Join me as we look at Lifestyle Medicine - an evidence-based discipline that aims to support people everywhere in preventing, managing and even reversing many chronic conditions. At its heart, it’s all about Wellness, not about Sickness. About taking control of our own health and wellbeing. It’s about discovering the Building Blocks of health - what we choose to eat, how much we move, sleep, meet other people - and how these fit in our lives.
As a GP, I have spent much of my life talking to people of all ages about challenges to their health. There is a question I am asked, whenever someone discovers they have a new health problem such as Hypertension (high blood pressure) or Type 2 Diabetes.
‘Does this mean I need to take pills for the rest of my life?’
In the next few pages we will explore this question, and learn more about the choices you can make, about how you can turn your Lifestyle into your Medicine.
Dip into the Resources section and find information that is relevant to you. Do you have high blood pressure and want to improve it without more pills? Have you heard about people who are reversing Type 2 Diabetes and wonder if you could do it too? Or do you have Fatty Liver, a Mental Health challenge, or another Long Term Health Conditions?
New topics are added regularly - and if there is something that you want to know about that is not yet covered, get in touch. Or you can keep up to date by signing up to my newsletter.
Read on, and you will find out what works. Which new habits are worth developing.
But first, a few words of warning.
While I am an NHS GP, I am not your GP. I don’t know the details of your health challenges, or your situation. If your GP advises you to start medication, or to be referred to a specialist, please take that advice. You can still follow the general advice here about how to use Lifestyle Medicine - just keep in touch with your GP team.