Lifestyle Medicine

Founding Member

What is Lifestyle Medicine?

Lifestyle Medicine involves the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, alcohol moderation or abstinence and tobacco cessation, and other non-drug modalities, to prevent, treat, and, oftentimes, reverse the lifestyle-related, chronic disease that's all too prevalent.

Why is Lifestyle Medicine Essential to Sustainable Health and Healthcare?

The rise in chronic disease trends and related healthcare spending in the United State and in many other countries around the world is unsustainable. Type 2 diabetes alone is a looming global pandemic with incalculable consequences.

This being said, there is good news.

The good news is that 80% or more of all healthcare spending in the U.S. is tied to the treatment of conditions rooted in poor lifestyle choices. Chronic diseases and conditions—such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, multiple types of cancer—are among the most common, costly and preventable of all health conditions.

As a Founding Member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Westerdahl provides Lifestyle Medicine nutrition and health counseling and services that can assist in preventing, effectively treating, and potentially reversing common chronic diseases. Call Dr. Westerdahl at (805) 722-7958 or complete our Contact Form to make an appointment. You can pre-purchase your counseling and services in advance at Dr. Westerdahl’s online Get Healthy Store.