Lifestyle Medicine for a Healthier You

In this 4 minute episode, explore the foundation of optimal health and wellness through the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine. These pillars offer a holistic approach to improving your overall well-being and preventing chronic diseases. Whether you’re looking to improve your lifestyle, prevent chronic diseases, or simply learn about healthy living, this mini-episode provides practical tips and insights to help you on your journey.

This episode is also available in Spanish.

Credits: Host - Dr. Sabrina Falquier, MD, CCMS, DipABLM
Sound and Editing - Will Crann
Executive Producer - Esther Garfin  

©2024 Alternative Food Network Inc.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to today's bite sized episode aboutlifestyle medicine pillars. I'm doctor Sabrina Falke,
the host of Culinary Medicine Recipe.In these bite sized episodes, I'm
doing in both English and Spanish,I'm giving you tips about topics that can
help you change the choices that youmake to improve your health immediately, starting
with your next meal. Estepis Espanol. I enjoy talking about food so much

(00:29):
as you know, and today Iwant to take a step back or over
to really talk about lifestyle medicine andwhat that is is these six pillars that
we can look at because we knowthat we can change the food that we
eat, but to make it sustainablechange, we need to look at more
than just the food. So thesix pillars of lifestyle medicine are the following.

(00:49):
Number one is plant based eating.So when we talk about that plate
that we've talked about in a previousbite of really summarizing of half that plate
for its and vegetables, a quarterplate whole grains and quarter plate well thought
out proteins, really thinking about most, if not all, our plate coming
from the plank kingdom. The secondpillar is physical activity and what I mean

(01:10):
by this is moving our body inwhatever way we enjoy. It doesn't mean
you have to get a gym membershipand wear uncomfortable clothes if that's not what
you like to do, but reallythinking about our body movement regularly, so
whether it's dancing like nobody's watching inour kitchen, or walking around the block
a few times, or finding spaceswhere if we're doing errants, can we
park the car once and then runseveral errands? Can we park farther away?

(01:33):
Can we go around the block aswe transition from parts of our day.
Recommendation is one hundred and fifty minutesper week of physical activity, which
translates to about thirty minutes a day. It does not need to be all
in a row, and again youdo not have to build up a sweat
to get those recommendations. And thenthe other part of those recommendations is twice
a week to use our major musclesin our body. So it could be

(01:56):
lifting weights if we enjoy that.It could be doing activities like heavy gardening
if we enjoy that. It couldalso be doing wall push ups or other
activities in our house to get thosetwo days a week. The third pillar
is sleep, So being honest withourselves of how much time our body needs
for sleeping at night. Most peopleare between seven and nine hours. I

(02:16):
happen to be a nine hour person. Feels inconvenient at times, but we
just need to know our bodies andhonor that and find a way not only
of the amount of time, butwhat time period works best for us for
sleeping. The fourth pillar is community, so building a community around us that,
yes, we can have friends thatlive really far away and we communicate

(02:38):
with them either through texting or phonecalls or emails, but remembering the importance
to be in community with people inperson, and that could be people at
the coffee shop or who we buyour food from, of really making connections
in person. The next pillar ismindfulness. So what activity do you enjoy
doing that has nothing to do withan outcome that's necessary for the outside world.

(03:00):
So for me, it could bechopping vegetables methodically with my favorite music
of whatever in the mood i'm inthat day. For somebody else, that
might be knitting or crocheing, ortaking a walk where you're noticing the leaves
changing in certain weather or the newbird singing in the spring. It could
be anything. Some people might beyoga or meditation, and it really is
whatever mindfulness again, whatever helps yoube in activity at that moment. And

(03:24):
then the last pillar is to behonest with our relationship with drugs, alcohol,
cigarettes, marijuana, and all thesepillars are not to judge, but
to take kind of an assessment andsay, huh, you know what,
Honestly, I could probably exercise more, or I do cut down on sleep
here and there, and then tonotice that rebalance. So if you decide,

(03:44):
you know what, I listened todoctor Foulkey's bite today and I'm going
to start a six am class atthe gym, and all of a sudden
you realize, well, I'm doingit, but now I'm going to bed
at the same time I was before, so I'm not getting enough sleep.
Keep that balance. Coming. Tosummarize those six pillars, number one is
plant based eating, Number two isphysical activity, number three is sleep,

(04:06):
number four is community, number fiveis mindfulness, and number six is our
relationship with substances. I hope youenjoyed today's episode about the six pillars of
lifestyle medicine. Was this episode helpful? I hope? So please share great,
leave a review, and follow culinarymedicine recipe on your favorite podcast listening

(04:29):
platform. Until next time, Saludand Bona Betty. All content provided or
opinions express in this episode are forinformational purposes only and are not a substitute
for professional medical advice. Please takeadvice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.