Lifestyle Medicine

How many of you are guilty of having (or know people who have had) liposuction, heart surgery, or other surgery, yet the lifestyle that helped cause the condition remained the same after the surgery – ie. excessive stress, eating unhealthy foods, etc.?

We've all read about improving our lifestyle, and healthy living/aging - but why is it that some doctors don't focus on trying to change the patient's lifestyle for the better? Granted, it's hard enough getting the doctor to focus and spend time with you while in the examination room, but s/he should provide specifics on how to change your lifestyle to not only treat disease--but also to prevent it.

The obstacle, like so many others, is time and money. Counseling each patient takes time and unfortunately, it's not reimbursed by Medicare or health insurance.

However, this should not matter!

"Symptomatically treating disease without assessing patients' lifestyles or offering them guidance on how to change is ‘irresponsible and bordering on neglect.' " (NYTimes, "Teaching Doctors to Teach Patients About Lifestyle")

We agree.