This program has affected my medical education in that I’ve learned a lot more about the power of nutrition and its ability to not only prevent but also control chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. This program has certainly convinced me that nutrition should certainly be considered as medicine. It’s much easier to prevent someone from falling into a river than it is to pull them out. I’m going to be utilizing the knowledge about nutrition that I’ve learned from the Lifestyle Medicine Track to help coach my future patients. More and more studies are coming our that show patients who have been on chronic disease medications for so many years, after a few months of being on a plant based diet they’ve completely weaned off their medications and more and more research is supporting what we put in our bodies is very important.

The reason why I think the Lifestyle Medicine Track is so valuable is because it’s going to bestow on you nutritional knowledge and cooking skills which you’re going to utilize both at a personal and professional level, for the rest of your life. These skills are going to be invaluable to you and your community because for every person you can educate about nutrition and meal prepping, you’re going to be affecting their families and their loves ones as well. Lifestyle Medicine is great because it’s economical and it’s much easier to implement than prescribing patient pills, having them come to the office multiple times a month. It’s something that they can do at home and while it might be hard to get into a habit, because ultimately its is a lifestyle chance, once you get them started and show them that they have a community around them that shares the same values and goals as they do, its going to be much easier for them to stay on it.

This program affected my medical education by exposing me to other things that would not be part of the curriculum. We learn a lot about nutrition and exercise. That’s not something that’s included in  most medical schools curriculum. Its really opened my eyes to another side of medicine, preventative medicine. My favorite moment so far is working with some kids at the boys and girls club teaching them how to cook healthy foods. We made black been burgers and one of the kids said it tasted just like McDonalds which I think was a big compliment. I think this program will affect my practice every single day. No matter what specialty I go into I’m going to see lifestyle related diseases. That’s a huge part of the disease burden in America right now. It really allows me to be able to address those preventative issues early on and it will allow me to address those disease better.

Being a physician first and foremost is being able to take care of yourself in order to be able to serve your patients in a better manner. I came from an authentic African family where a lot of dishes were starch and carbohydrates, and before coming to Western University I didn’t have a concept of what Kale is. The Lifestyle Medicine Track made me hone in on nutritional and balanced lifestyle for myself first before being able to extend that out to my patients. Lifestyle Medicine means to be able to work with your patients to be able to have a relationship with your patient that sometimes reaches beyond the normal physician patient relationships through understanding where the patient comes from and understanding the obstacles that the patient may face and their environment. That was one of the reasons why I chose the Lifestyle Medicine Track, to be able to have a unique place in my patient’s heart and to be able to connect with them on a level far beyond the clinical atmosphere.