The Lifestyle Medicine Handbook, 2nd ed, is for anyone who wants to learn the key factors involved in lifestyle medicine. It is designed as an introductory book that will explore the history of lifestyle medicine, as well as its six pillars, including nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress resiliency, addiction, and social connection. The research, guidelines, clinical cases, and prescriptions for each of the pillars are addressed. In addition, this book details the importance of collaborating with the patient and using a coach approach when counseling people about adopting and sustaining healthy habits. Furthermore, the text reviews the important role of the stages of behavior change, motivational interviewing, appreciative inquiry, positivity, a strengths-based approach, a growth mindset, and other evidence-based models for change.
One of the reasons that this book is unique is because each chapter provides updated medical information and cutting-edge research on the topic addressed. It also features a series of “Live and Learns” as a way to share best practices in lifestyle medicine. Similar to “M&M” or “Morbidity and Mortality” conferences in general medicine, this groundbreaking text offers “L&L” or “Live and Learns” as a viable means to focus on different strategies to empower people and guide them on the path to optimal health and wellness.
This handbook is an attempt to introduce basic lifestyle medicine principles and to create a team of like-minded practitioners who will continue to collaborate with the goal of transforming healthcare and reducing the burden of lifestyle-related diseases on the individual level, as well as on the local and global levels. As such, this book is designed to get the basic information related to lifestyle medicine into the hands of as many people as possible.
In collaboration with her three co-authors, renowned Harvard physician Beth Frates wrote this book to both inform and inspire individuals about the extensive array of benefits that are attendant to adhering to healthy habits. If this book helps a single reader to prevent or reverse a chronic health disease, then the effort to put it together will have been more than worthwhile. Enjoy!
