Write Lifestyle Prescriptions® Course

Solving the Chronic Diseases Pandemic

Based on the CDC chronic or non-communicable diseases are “defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. They are also leading drivers of the nation’s $3.8 trillion in annual health care costs.” [2]

The majority of chronic diseases are linked to lifestyle choices like

• poor diet,
• sedentary lifestyle with a lack of physical exercise,
• chronic psychosocial stress;
• unhealthy sleep habits,
• lack of social connections
• use of toxic substances

According to Merriam-Webster, a pandemic is “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population“. With over 40% of the world’s population suffering from one or more chronic conditions it seems obvious to use descriptive terminology that reflects the severity of the problem to be solved. [1]

Source: cdc.org

Chronic Disease Pandemic – Statistics

• 1+ Billion people worldwide suffer from Non-Communicable Diseases
• 4 in 10 U.S. adults have two or more chronic symptoms
• 90% of healthcare costs go towards managing lifestyle-related diseases
• 67+% hospitalized COVID patients had chronic conditions

A recent study suggests that the world might be approaching a turning point in life expectancy gains. The promise of disease prevention through government actions or incentives that enable healthier behaviors and access to healthcare resources is not being realized around the world.

“Most of these risk factors are preventable and treatable, and tackling them will bring huge social and economic benefits. We are failing to change unhealthy behaviors, particularly those related to diet quality, caloric intake, and physical activity, in part due to inadequate policy attention and funding for public health and behavioral research”, says Professor Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, USA [4].

Lifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, psychosocial stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection—as a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease. [5]

With more than 85% of health care costs attributable to chronic health conditions, an emphasis on treating the underlying causes of these conditions is imperative. Lifestyle medicine offers treatments that can reverse a wide range of chronic health conditions at minimal cost and without negative side effects.[6]

“Lifestyle as medicine has the potential to prevent up to 80% of chronic disease; no other medicine can match that. In addition, it is potentially inexpensive and even cost-saving; free of all but good side effects; safe and appropriate for children and octogenarians alike. It is, quite simply, the best medicine we’ve got.”
David Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP
President, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Founding Director, Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center

Typically, when healthcare providers prescribe Lifestyle Medicine they focus on lifestyle interventions like:

• Diet improvements (remove unhealthy, add healthy foods)
• Consistent physical exercise (walking, jogging, weight training, etc.)
• Stress Management (like yoga, mindfulness, or meditation)
• Love & Support (build stronger relationships, increase social support)

In this course, we provide you with micro-habit-based protocols you can use with your clients even if you have only 3-10 minutes available.

The big difference between ‘Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine’ and ‘Writing Lifestyle Prescriptions®’ is in the precision and the personalized, targeted approach focused around all 6 Root-Causes.

Lifestyle Prescriptions® are based on Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy and the understanding that every organ tissue symptom is affected by specific psychosocial stressors & lifestyle habits. Knowing this mind-body interconnectedness and using our reference charts and tools allows practitioners to prescribe personalized and effective Root-Cause Lifestyle Prescriptions®.

Let me give you an example: Client with chronic atopic eczema (symptoms change between itchy-inflamed, and numb-pale skin; chronic for 3 years). Basically, as a doctor being trained in ‘Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine’ and ‘Writing Root-Cause Lifestyle Prescriptions®’ you can provide this client with 3 options: 

• Prescribing Medication: Manage symptoms using a variety of methods or medications like corticosteroid creams, foams, pharmaceuticals, natural or functional ointments. 
• Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine: Improved diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, social connections habits to reduce stress levels, inflammation, increase vitality, and natural auto-regulation mechanisms.
• Write Root-Cause Lifestyle Prescription®: Lifestyle Prescriptions® address and help patients reduce unresolved emotional hurts, decode the psychosocial stressors & improve social & lifestyle habits specific to the organ tissue symptoms.
  Based on Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy™ we know that the Skin-Epidermis is specifically triggered by “loss-of-touch, separation-anxiety” type of psychosocial stress and that numb, pale skin appears during stress and itchy inflamed symptoms increase in regeneration as part of the skin-epidermis repair process.

  You could write a Lifestyle Prescription® and refer the client to a health coach to:
  * Explain the WHY (root-causes) and HOW (timeline) to the client
  * Become aware and release the loss/separation stress triggers 
  * Let go of unresolved anxiety/fear emotions.
  * Improve relationship & environmental life situation.

Considering the time constraints and often rigid reality of traditional medicine it’s not been easy for patient-loving providers to add Lifestyle Medicine and Health Coaching. Challenges typically have been:

• Insufficient time
• Lack of reimbursement
• No strategy to integrate Lifestyle Medicine without changing the workflow
• Inadequate Lifestyle Medicine education

Lifestyle Prescriptions® have been developed for easy integration without the need to change the workflow. In terms of application, it has many similarities to an Rx type of prescription.

The 3-Step Lifestyle Prescriptions® Process can be integrated by doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare providers even with time and workflow constraints/

Option #2: Spend 3-15 minutes with a patient going through the 3-step process:

1. First, because you know Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy you ask a few questions to elicit and confirm the specific psychosocial stressor & lifestyle habits of a specific organ tissue symptoms.
2. Second, together with your patient, you agree on a new Micro-Habit to be practiced.
3. Third, you write a personalized, organ tissue-specific, SMART Lifestyle Prescription®.

Option #2: is to refer your chronic disease patients to a health coach by writing a Referral Lifestyle Prescription®.

We’ll teach you all that … it’s easy😊.

One of the most appreciated and loved tools are the Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy™ Charts & Posters.

They allow you to easily and quickly know which specific psychosocial stressors, conflicts, emotions & lifestyle habits affect over 1,000 organ tissue symptoms and address them accordingly.

We highly recommend choosing to add the Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy Reference charts when registering for the Write Lifestyle Prescriptions® Course.

If you’ve added the ORGAN-MIND-BRAIN ANATOMY™ CHART SET ADD-ON then you’ll receive a high-quality printed chart set via priority mail including:

• 10 A4/Letter size Charts
• 5 A3/Large Posters
• Lifestyle Prescription pad and printable PDF template

You’ll “WOW” your clients and patients with the reference charts & posters.

After completion of all course lessons, topics & final exams students will be able to apply the following skills into their daily practice with clients:

• Understand the Lifestyle Medicine Core Competencies
• Evidence-based 4 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine
• How to prescribe Lifestyle Medicine
• Write personalize, root-cause-based Lifestyle Prescriptions®
• Develop SMART (specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, time connected) new habits
• Strategies to increase patient & client compliance
• How to use the Organ-Mind-Brain Anatomy reference charts with patients

For an extensive list of Lifestyle Medicine and Lifestyle Prescriptions research visit:
http://lifestyleprescriptions.tv/phd/research

[1] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7359916/
[2] www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm
[3] www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/ncd/index.html
[4] www.healthdata.org/news-release/lancet-latest-global-disease-estimates-reveal-perfect-storm-rising-chronic-diseases-and
[5] www.lifestyleprescriptions.tv/phd/why-lifestyle-medicine/
[6] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1559827618795410
[7] hwww.lifestyleprescriptions.tv/phd/prescribing-lifestyle-medicine/