PART 1: What is Lifestyle Therapy, how is it different?

by | Apr 9, 2020 | Articles

Your Health Matters | More and more research articles and health industry professionals of various modalities are talking about “lifestyle”.

When we hear the word “lifestyle” most often the first thing people seem to think of is having lots of money and living extravagantly, perhaps from the old tv show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, but that isn’t what the health industry is talking about.

The health industry is referencing “therapeutic lifestyle changes” or “TLC” which has evolved into the term, “Lifestyle Therapy”.

Lifestyle Therapy is a term I learned over 20 years ago in a continuing education seminar for health practitioners. It was early in the nutrition part of my career. I had attended with a chiropractor I worked with along with several M.D.’s, R.N.’s, L.A.C.’S and their support staff members.

It has been established for some time that with medial discoveries and technology, infectious diseases are no longer our biggest problem, lifestyle related diseases like cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes are.

Lifestyle related diseases are costing the insurance industry, reducing peoples quality of life and most likely to be what someone dies of now.

Even in light of COVID-19, lifestyle is the biggest determiner of your immune strength.

People in-the-know are still buzzing with the research outcomes as to the best solution to lifestyle related diseases. It isn’t a pill, a vaccine, or some special treatment.

The most profound, consistent improvements and prevention for lifestyle related diseases always has been, and still is, lifestyle therapy.

Lifestyle related diseases are diseases that can come from lifestyle factors. Diseases like certain cancers, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and type II diabetes are all considered lifestyle related diseases.

The health choices you make determine the quality of life you will lead.

So while you may be getting closer to the picture of what “lifestyle therapy” is, it is amazing to me that in the 20 plus years since I have learned that term, unless you are in the health industry, most people don’t seem to know what “lifestyle therapy” really is.

Lifestyle Therapy puzzle pieces
When I first heard it, I was only support staff so I assumed that it had just been me that didn’t know the right terminology. It was what I had been living and teaching for years, so I didn’t really comprehend that it was like a well-kept secret until I began to make a concerted effort to help people
I’m both shocked and ashamed of the health industry, of which I am a part of, that we have not done a better job of getting the word out about something that literally saves lives and dramatically improves quality of life.
I’ve had to be on the front lines to  see that people don’t know because we are in a disease model of health care so profit is made on peoples illness.
During checkout at a store I was asked by a middle-aged clerk what I did. As I explained that, “I am a Lifestyle Therapy Practitioner, I help people with hyper-wellness and to prevent or reverse lifestyle related diseases like type II diabetes” he lost color in his face, and then he got angry. Yes, angry. I was puzzled by this, and a little nervous, then shocked as his feelings forced him to say, “they never told us type II diabetes could be reversed… my wife lost her foot to diabetes.”
“I’m sorry” seemed so unsubstantial at this point but that was really all I could say. It quickly became very apparent that it’s not just that people are lazy or content with being sick or whatever else we assume is the fault of their condition.

They really just don’t know what to do. In fact, even most doctors don’t really know what to do.

In a health care system that profits from disease, professionals are taught what to bill for disease, but not how to prevent or cure it.

There is enough research out that doctors know what “lifestyle therapy” is, but they aren’t the experts on the nuts and bolts of it. Thier education is heavy in pharmaceuticals and minimizes the information that they need to effectively help people in regard to lifestyle related diseases.

They are experts on diagnosis and often what medications to use, but not on the details of the necessary components of lifestyle therapy… (continued in Lifestyle Therapy part II)

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