My Philosophy
Your lifestyle, your journey, your goals.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle makes an enormous difference to our health and wellbeing; eating a healthful diet, getting enough physical activity, sleeping well and managing stress among other things gives us the best chance of a healthy life. ‘Health’ is not just the absence of disease, it is the presence of physical and mental energy and wellbeing, joy and vitality. Changing from an unhealthful diet to a healthful one, getting active, prioritising sleep and thinking about how to best manage the inevitable stress that we all have from time to time can change us from being sick and tired of being sick and tired to having more energy, improved mood and fewer aches and pains.
I believe in consistent, sustainable lifestyle changes for long term health benefits. The most effective changes you can make are the ones that you can enjoy, so I don’t have any fixed ideas about what you ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do (well, not many!), this is about you and your own lifestyle journey and I will meet you where you are, help you decide where it is that you want to get to – which will be unique to you – and then work with you to set the goals you need to get you there, in an enjoyable way.
Lifestyle medicine is empowering. I absolutely believe in prescribed medication in line with current government guidelines so I will never work against or criticise your existing doctors. It may be that if you improve your lifestyle then you may find that you can reduce the amount of prescription medication that you take, but make the changes and see the results before you stop taking anything that your doctor has recommended, and then only do so after consulting with them. Lifestyle medicine enhances conventional medicine rather than challenging it.
A lifestyle medicine approach puts you in control of your own health; we can look at the changes you could potentially make to take you closer to your health and weight management goals, and you decide which ones you want to make, and to what extent you want to change, then we can find ways for you to take action.
