Lifestyle Medicine Expert, Doctor, Educator & Public Speaker
It's time to move beyond sticking plaster medicine and offer more paths to chronic disease remission.
I'm on a mission to improve healthcare.
I've spent the latter half of my 20 year career in medicine developing, practicing, researching and teaching Lifestyle Medicine. I was driven to this approach out of frustration with current medical practice that prescribes more and more medicine whilst failing to address the root causes of ill health.
Lifestyle medicine uses the latest scientific evidence about what causes poor health and offers tested interventions to address these root causes. It translates our understanding of social and behavioural science, factors such as chronic inflammation, longevity, the gut microbiome and epigenetics (how lifestyle factors can turn gene expression up and down) into practice. It can complement the critical work to improve our living environment through policy and public health.
Lifestyle medicine is a whole-person approach to health that aims to achieve medication free remission of some long-term conditions such as Type-2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, metabolic liver disease and some autoimmune and early stage, low-grade cancers. Remission often requires sustained and intensive programmes that can involve cyclical fasting-mimicking diets or multi-component personalised interventions addressing sleep, activity, wellbeing, nutrition and reduction of harmful substances. Examples of larger-scale lifestyle medicine programmes include the NHS Paths to Remission for Type-2 diabetes as well as cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.
This global medical discipline has made huge progress; we now need new models of care that can be delivered at scale so more people can achieve medication free remission. We need well-evaluated, large-scale practical solutions for excellence in delivery of lifestyle medicine.
Whether you're someone seeking support to reduce your long-term medicines and achieve chronic disease remission, looking for educational events or talks on lifestyle medicine or want to work in a Lifestyle Medicine Centre of Excellence, keep in touch and share your thoughts.
Experience
Lifestyle Medicine
10+ Years Experience
As an "expert generalist" GP by background, I've skills to support people to prevent, treat and put into remission long term conditions, whilst reducing medication burden. I offer assessment of and interventions for whole health including assessment of symptoms, review of current prescribed medications, hormone health, sleep, physical activity, social connections, mental wellbeing, nutrition and harmful substances or behaviours including tech addition and others. This approach uses the best of conventional medicines where needed with the most effective lifestyle medicine interventions.
Weight Loss Programmes
Personalised multi-component interventions
I'm trained to offer specialised weight loss programmes designed to achieve sustainable and long-lasting results (distinction in post-graduate diploma in weight management and World Obesity Federation SCOPE certified). I work with the NHS Paths to Remission programme delivered by Liva Health. As part of a team at Leeds Becket Obesity Institute I've submitted an NIHR grant to research fasting mimicking diets for Type-2 diabetes remission.
I offer comprehensive weight loss assessments, particularly for people with complex health needs. I can assess complex medical conditions, lifestyle and hormone health and discuss options including low calorie meal replacement, fasting strategies (including fasting mimicking diets) and use of anti-obesity medicines such as Semaglutide (Wegovy) and Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) where indicated or preferred with a prior nutritional status assessment and intervention. Importantly, I will work with you to create a sustainable weight loss programme that minimises the need for long-term medicines and avoids the risks of malnutrition and muscle loss.
Fasting and Precision Nutrition Strategies
Expert
Guidance
I have expertise in the science and application of fasting programmes to achieve medication free remission of Type-2 diabetes and improve outcomes from other conditions such as autoimmune disease and mental illness. These approaches include intermittent fasting, whole-food plant based, Mediterranean, ketogenic and precision nutrition interventions such as fasting-mimicking diets (Prolon). I can provide the support and monitoring needed for safe medication down-titration required during fasting including monitoring support required for insulin dose reduction and cessation.
Deprescribing
Medication Management
All my practice follows the latest national guidance, and whilst I prescribe medicines, I'm also able to work with people to reduce unnecessary medications or those causing side effects whilst optimising overall health through safe and effective approaches that address the root causes of ill health. I can support safe medication down-titration and cessation where lifestyle changes or weight loss has been maintained. This can include gradual down-titration of anti-depressants and prescribed pain medications. I can refer onwards for support around withdrawal from non-prescribed medications and alcohol.
Generalist Expertise
A whole person health approach
I bring expertise from various fields of medicine, in particular general practice, metabolic health, obesity medicine and women's health to provide a whole-person treatment approach.
Professional Skills
Skills & & Qualifications
I have advanced skills and qualifications in lifestyle medicine, weight loss, nutrition and health coaching. I teach lifestyle medicine at Oxford University Medical School and set up the Learning Academy at The British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, writing their first foundation course which has now been translated into multiple languages. I have edited and contributed to the UKs first textbook of Lifestyle Medicine with Cambridge University Press.
Teaching and Public Speaking
Engaging & Interactive
Certifications & Qualifications
Certifications & Qualifications
I have extensive experience teaching and speaking with wide ranging audiences from patients, medical students, school children, doctors, GP trainers and the general public. I am able to communicate complex and sensitive topics whilst sticking to the science, whether on TV documentaries about weight loss or BBC radio. I have designed and written modules for the NHS e-learning for health and the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, delivered large engaging lectures as well as small interactive group teaching and one-to-one tutorials.
Certifications & Qualifications
