The Lifestyle Medicine Landscape

Fall 2026

The Director's Report

Edward M. Phillips, MD

Founder and Director, Institute of Lifestyle Medicine

It’s Time to Standardize Lifestyle Medicine

I recently completed work with colleagues on the Veterans Affairs-Department of Defense Guideline for Lipid Management for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction culminating in publication this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine. These guidelines and the summary algorithm (below) are of obvious value to lifestyle medicine clinicians working to reduce their patients’ risk from hyperlipidemia, but they may also serve as a model for our next step in spreading lifestyle medicine.

Guidelines direct any clinician, even those not expert in lipid management, to apply strictly reviewed evidence-based recommendations toward optimal care. They are developed by recognized expert panels, using rigorously reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The result is an agreed upon clinical approach that supports the appropriate standardization of care.

It got me thinking. If we are to successfully continue spreading the practice of lifestyle medicine (beyond our growing, but relatively still small community of adherents) and engage the broader scope of clinicians, we need to produce similar guidelines establishing the community standard of care for lifestyle medicine.

Multiple disease-specific algorithms for hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions, already include lifestyle medicine as part of the guideline. As an example the Lipid algorithm guides clinicians through 21 boxes and decision points that begin and end with “Comprehensive Lifestyle Medicine.” (See boxes 2 and 21 below).

Lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based field but RCTs, which are a better fit for pharmaceutical research or evaluation of a procedure, do not fit as well when evaluating lifelong patterns of behavior such as diet and exercise. To create a valid and usable algorithm we can use the Hierarchies of Evidence Applied to Lifestyle Medicine (HEALM)

There are dozens of validated screening tools and scales that guide domains of clinical lifestyle medicine. We now need to distill this into the recognizable format of formalized guidelines to be followed by all clinicians.

Please share what algorithms and evidence-based tools you are using in your practice.

You can reach me at EPhillips1@MGH.Harvard.edu

LIFESTYLE MEDICINE

TOOLS FOR PROMOTING HEALTHY CHANGE

Save the Date!

June 9, 10 & 11, 2027

Thank you for joining ILM this past June for the Harvard CME Lifestyle Medicine course. We hope to see you again in 2027 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this event.

Course details 2026.

*** NOTE: Credits may be applied toward Certification and Maintenance of Certification with the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

CULINARY MEDICINE ~~ CHEF COACHING

Courses

Clinicians Chef Coaching

Complete Your CHEF Coaching Program in 2026

If you have completed the CHEF Coaching Program, The Basics, the follow-up course is for you.

Beyond the Basics (Part 2) picks up where The Basics leaves off. In this course, participants dive deeper into the curriculum with the same evidence-based approach, taught by the same faculty.

This fall, you can choose from four weekly time slots and a variety of instructors.

Are you ready to jump in? Enroll here.

Questions? Contact Angela at amillerbarton@wellcoaches.com

Institute of Lifestyle Medicine

News to Know. Opportunities. Research.

University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville Hosts Lifestyle Medicine Research Symposium

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville (SOMG) hosted its inaugural Lifestyle Medicine Research Symposium in late September The goal of the symposium was to address the significant impact of lifestyle behaviors on chronic diseases.

Learn more.

An Exploration of Lifestyle Medicine Programs for Undergraduate Medical Education: A Scoping Review

Askari S, Turnnidge J, Akberzai S, et al.; Sage Journals; August 2026

"Lifestyle Medicine (LM) education offers potential benefits for medical students for improving medical students’ health and clinical knowledge/skills. However, since LM education has not been consistently integrated into undergraduate medical education, there is a need to better understand the current literature about LM programs, including their characteristics, reporting, and application." Read article.

Artificial Intelligence in Exercise Programming and Coaching: Opportunities and Limitations

Susannah L Reiner, Regis C Pearson, Rachelle A Reed, Alyssa A Olenick, Rachele M Pojednic; National Library of Medicine; August 2026

"Artificial intelligence has the potential to rapidly transform exercise prescription and coaching through machine learning, deep learning, and large language models. However, there is a disconnect between peer-reviewed evidence and real-world deployment in commercial platforms. This narrative review evaluated recent literature (2023-2025) assessing data-driven programming approaches for exercise prescription." Read article.

Improving Patient Health: lifestyle medicine in practice across psychiatry, pediatrics and primary care

School of Medicine Greenville (SOMG), September 2026

Lifestyle Medicine works across medical specialties to help patients. Three SOMG charter-class alumni share how they incorporate lifestyle medicine in their practices today, one decade after graduating from SOMG. Read their stories.

Harvard Extension School Courses

Learn new skills or refresh your knowledge with online and on-campus courses. Explore options today.

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Publications authored by lifestyle medicine leaders:

*** Academic Lifestyle Medicine: A Curriculum for Medical Educators

*** PAVING Your Path Through Breast Cancer and Beyond: Evidence-based Lifestyle Medicine Tools for Cancer Survivorship

*** PAVING the Path to Wellness Manual & Workbook (Second Edition)

*** Empowering Behavior Change in Patients: Practical Strategies for the Healthcare Professional

*** The Lifestyle Medicine Pocket Guide (Healthy Learning Publications)

*** Food, We Need to Talk

ILM Bookstore Available Online

Publications and resources are available to learn more about lifestyle medicine and enhance your work with patients/clients. Titles include those authored by ILM course presenters as well as ILM team leaders. Click here to access the bookstore. Bundled options available.

UPCOMING COURSES AND EVENTS

Lifestyle Medicine Tools for Promoting Healthy Change

Institute of Lifestyle Medicine

June 9 - 11, 2027

Mark Your Calendars!