At Kettering Health, our Lifestyle Medicine program partners with each patient’s healthcare team to deliver a personalized experience centered around each patient’s own goals.

Why Choose Lifestyle Medicine?

Lifestyle medicine uses healthy daily habits, grounded in science, to support whole-person well-being. Focusing on nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, and social connection, it helps prevent and reverse many chronic (long-lasting) diseases while building energy and vitality. At Kettering Health, these pillars are grounded in meaning, purpose, and spirituality.

Our providers are certified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and live out these same pillars of lifestyle medicine themselves. That means every recommendation comes from someone who has put these pillars into practice, not just studied them.

Who Can Benefit?

Our Lifestyle Medicine program is for patients who want more time with their healthcare team to explore nutrition, sleep, physical activity, and other lifestyle behaviors to improve health.

Lifestyle medicine is a good fit if you are

• Interested in behavioral approaches for diabetes, weight loss, metabolic syndrome, stress, and chronic conditions
• Aiming to support heart health
• Looking for ways to improve sleep
• Promoting healthy longevity and healthy aging
• Wanting to protect and support your short- and long-term brain health

Lifestyle medicine works alongside your current treatment. You should never stop a prescription on your own. As your habits change, your provider may be able to lower your doses or stop some medications.

How Our Program Works

Before Your First Visit

You will get a phone call before your first appointment. A member of the Lifestyle Medicine care team will walk you through how the program works, what to expect, and what to bring, so nothing is a surprise when you arrive.

Lifestyle Medicine Orientation Session

Your first visit is a shared medical appointment with two to five other patients. You’ll join a group educational session led by a Lifestyle Medicine provider, followed by a short one-on-one conversation with your provider. The visit lasts about 90 minutes in total.

Shared visits create a supportive setting where you can learn from both the healthcare team and your peers. Many participants feel less alone when talking to others in similar situations. Together, you’ll be able to share practical ideas and solutions for navigating common health challenges.

Research shows that patients who participate in shared medical appointments often report higher satisfaction, stronger progress toward goals, and better clinical outcomes.

To help you get off to a strong start, you’ll have two follow-up appointments two to four weeks after your orientation session. One is a 30-minute visit with your provider, and the other is a 30-minute visit with your health coach.

Working With Your Health Coach

Your health coach is the person you see most. They meet with you regularly to check on your goals, celebrate improvements, work through what is getting in the way, and adjust the plan as your life changes.

This is where most of the progress happens. Habits change between appointments, not during them.

Additional Lifestyle Medicine Care Team Members

Depending on your goals, you may also meet with a

• Registered dietitian: for medical nutrition therapy, where you’ll receive individualized assessments, counseling, and practical tips to boost the nutritional value of your meals
• Exercise physiologist: to help you build and get started with a movement plan personalized for you
• Chaplain: to support you with meaning, purpose, and the spiritual side of your whole health journey

The Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) built the field around six pillars. Your care plan will touch all six, though you and your provider decide where to start:

• Nutrition: Eating patterns built mostly around whole, minimally processed, plant-forward foods to support your health. Food is more than fuel. It’s information for your metabolism, microbiome, and long-term health.
• Physical Activity: Regular, sustainable movement supports every system in your body and enhances your energy level.
• Stress Management: Learning to deal with stress in ways that empower you and protect your health. Some stress is unavoidable. But you can choose how to respond, recover, and build resilience.
• Restorative Sleep: Getting consistent, restorative sleep. Good sleep supports overall well-being, including your attention span, mood, metabolism, and immune system.
• Social Connection: Building and maintaining meaningful relationships. Supportive connections impact your physical, mental, and emotional health.
• Avoiding Risky Substances: Reducing or stopping tobacco, alcohol, and other substances that work against your health goals. Your team supports you without judgment.