In the course of human history, Preventive Medicine\/Public Health interventions have saved more lives than all medical treatments combined.\u00a0 This is often forgotten because no wonder drugs, surgery or miracle cures were involved.\u00a0 Instead measures such as assuring access to clean water and encouraging simple lifestyle behavior changes such as hand washing, putting garbage in a bin and getting recommended vaccines on schedule had the greatest impact.<\/p>\n
Until the early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century, most people in the US died of preventable infectious diseases.\u00a0 Antibiotics got the credit for controlling these diseases because few people know that death rates from infectious diseases began falling many years before antibiotics became widely available.\u00a0 In fact, infectious diseases were controlled mostly by prevention-oriented doctors from many specialties who realized the importance of cleanliness and encouraged the public and their fellow doctors to change their habits.<\/p>\n Change did not always come easily but it did come.\u00a0 Now, in the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century, we are at a crossroads again, the most common causes of death are preventable lifestyle diseases caused by the foods we eat and way that we live.\u00a0 The standard medical treatments available today like the treatments in past centuries do not cure lifestyle diseases and have potentially dangerous side effects.\u00a0 Again, prevention-oriented practitioners are urging the public and their colleagues to change their lifestyle habits.\u00a0 Lifestyle medicine expands the current practice of Preventive Medicine to address the growing epidemic of lifestyle diseases.<\/p>\n Currently Preventive Medicine is practiced on three levels, primary, secondary and tertiary. Secondary prevention aims to avoid disease progression by screening for the early stages of disease when it can be treated and \u201ccured.\u201d\u00a0 Mammography to detect early breast cancer and blood pressure checks to detect hypertension are examples of secondary prevention. This is the main focus of clinical preventive medicine as it is currently practiced.\u00a0 There are two fundamental problems with screening for lifestyle diseases.\u00a0 First, most people who have have the standard American lifestyle have some stage of the standard American lifestyle diseases, heart disease, diabetes or cancer.\u00a0 Second, there are no cures for lifestyle diseases, current medications treat symptoms and risk factors.\u00a0 Surgery removes cancer but not the underlying conditions that allowed the cancer to grow.<\/p>\n As a result, \u201cPreventive\u201d screening most often results in detection of some stage of a lifestyle disease and medications for life or worse surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and medications for life.\u00a0 Few people are ever told at any stage of the screening and treatment process that their lifestyle disease was preventable or reversible with comprehensive lifestyle changes.\u00a0 While screening is very important if you have risk factors for certain diseases, the biggest risk factor for any lifestyle disease is an unhealthy lifestyle.\u00a0 Lifestyle Medicine can advise, guide and coach you to make the lifestyle changes that will prevent disease or reverse the early stages alone or in conjunction with medications depending on the severity of the disease.<\/p>\n Tertiary prevention aims to avoid disability and death from established disease by restoring function and reducing complications.\u00a0 Cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack and bypass surgery is one of the most common examples of tertiary prevention for a lifestyle disease.\u00a0 Most cardiac rehabilitation programs focus on exercise which is extremely beneficial but it does not unclog arteries.\u00a0 Despite randomized controlled clinical trial\u00a0evidence\u00a0to the contrary most cardiac rehabilitation programs continue to advise patients to follow the American Heart Association diet guidelines which also do not unclog arteries or reverse disease progression.<\/p>\n Lifestyle medicine increases the effectiveness of all levels of clinical preventive medicine and of traditional medical treatments and surgery.\u00a0 Advanced Lifestyle Medicine educates patients about the underlying causes of their diseases. \u00a0The focus of treatment is on evidence-based lifestyle behavior changes such as plant-based nutrition, exercise and stress management.\u00a0 Your decision to make lifestyle changes is supported and your are guided to make these changes in the healthiest way. The only side effects of this approach to care are loss of unhealthy weight, more energy and a healthier, happier more balanced life.<\/p>\n
\nPrimary prevention aims to avoid disease occurrence and is most commonly associated with Public Health departments that assure health services such as clean water, sanitation, food safety, and communicable disease control.\u00a0 Lifestyle diseases prevention and control measures are usually limited to ineffective health education and health promotion programs.\u00a0 Despite the scope of the problem the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allocates less than 5% of its annual budget for Lifestyle\/Chronic Disease prevention.<\/p>\n