Dr Aseem Malhotra is known as the most outspoken cardiologist in Britain and is now leading a campaign against dietary misinformation. Most importantly, he is bringing the conversation about how we prevent and treat disease to the public’s attention. No, he doesn’t want us prescribing more pills, he wants us prescribing lifestyle medicine to patients. This branch of medicine searches for a way to prevent and treat conditions caused by lifestyle factors, such as poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and chronic stress.
In an interview with SkyNews, Dr Aseem Malhotra stated, “Simple lifestyle changes can rapidly improve your health, prevent and treat disease. Lifestyle medicine is more powerful than any drug.” He then continues to explain how minor lifestyle changes, such as reducing sugar and refined carbohydrates from daily diets, can have successful results. Dr Malhotra also mentions how this general practitioner, Dr Davin Unwin, has prescribed lifestyle medicine to his patients and how, in some cases, it has been able to reverse type 2 diabetes.
Dr Malhotra’s statements and ideas can be seen in his successful, crowdfunded documentary called The Big Fat Fix. The aim of this film is to show how people can have a happier, healthier, and better quality of life. Dr Malhotra delves into the Mediterranean diet to expose the benefits of this style of living. He rejects the misinformation of the current dietary system, and provides the audience with a fresh, new perspective on health and wellbeing. Overall, this documentary shows how small changes in lifestyle, such as adopting a Mediterranean-style diet and increasing exercise and mobility, can have extremely beneficial changes on health.
Dr Malhotra is not only challenging the current health consensus, but he is paving the way for the future of health care: lifestyle medicine. This will be the new cure to a healthy life.
Links:
The Big Fat Fix
Sky News interview – The Big Fat Fix : The future of healthcare is lifestyle medicine
Egger G., Binns. A & Rossner S. (2009). The emergence of “lifestyle medicine” as a structured approach for management of chronic disease. Med J Aust; 190 (3): 143-145.
