Dr Melissa Sundermann | Take A Simple Idea - And Take It Seriously.

**Benjamin Hopkins** (0:06)
Welcome back, everyone. We have the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Melissa Sundermann today. Melissa, thank you so much for coming on.

**Melissa Sundermann** (0:13)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited for this conversation.

**Benjamin Hopkins** (0:17)
As are we, as are we. As a good place to frame this conversation, how would you describe being a lifestyle physician?

**Melissa Sundermann** (0:28)
Well, I think that there's a lot of people who are not familiar with lifestyle medicine. They may think, you know, well, that's pretty obvious, live a healthy lifestyle. But actually, lifestyle medicine is a recognized board certification and board specialty. I've been practicing medicine for, gosh, going on 30 years. When I came out of medical school, I did my residency in internal medicine. So I've practiced internal medicine overseas. It might be known as being a GP, but being a primary care physician and more. Many different hats during my career, wonderful career of working in offices, working in hospitals, doing training in integrative medicine, doing training in mind-body medicine. And then in 2019, I became board certified in lifestyle medicine through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. So we had to sit through training modules. I had to write a case study. I had to sit for a board exam. I'm very excited to be amongst the company of some amazing colleagues from all over the world. Do you think your audience would like to hear about the pillars of lifestyle medicine and what that entails?

**Benjamin Hopkins** (1:33)
I am 100% sure they would love to hear about the pillars. However, before we get into the pillars, I have a quick one, follow up. So we call it a GP in the UK. What was it you call it in the US?

**Melissa Sundermann** (1:43)
Well, PCP Primary Care Physician.

**Benjamin Hopkins** (1:47)
PCP Primary Care Physician. Okay. My question to you is, I know a fair few GPs and they're wonderful people in the UK. However, the worlds of being a GP in the UK and lifestyle medicine often don't collide. So how did they collide for you?

**Melissa Sundermann** (2:03)
Well, I would say that always from the time that I was in medical school, I was always interested in whole person well-being. Right. And so knowing that medicine goes well beyond pills and procedures, and through my own curiosity for my own health, and then translating that to my patient's health, I was always wanting to learn beyond what we'll call conventional medicine. Right. And just that's why I did training in integrative medicine, in mind-body medicine, and now as lifestyle medicine. And then it's so important to realize that, you know, the majority of our chronic diseases are actually lifestyle driven. So I feel that through the lens of lifestyle medicine, this is how we can transform health care. Right. And optimize the health and well-being of all humans. And so really, that's where I feel I can serve my patients the best is to live a healthy lifestyle. And so the pillars of lifestyle medicine, there's six official pillars of lifestyle medicine. And these are pretty simple, you know, we're all into longevity and biohacking. These are pretty simple, but majority of people are not making them a priority or so. That's where my role comes in to educate and empower and to advocate. To implement these pillars into your everyday life, knowing that, you know, we can prevent, treat and possibly reverse chronic diseases by living healthy lifestyles. Many people aren't aware that type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol are actually reversible. So that's very powerful. So the six official pillars of lifestyle medicine, and I like to view these pillars as being spokes on a wheel. So I am a bike rider, I've done triathlons and mountain biking, and I've actually had a spoke break on my wheel, and it's not a good thing. The wheel does not revolve when that happens. And so these are six official pillars that are equally important. They play off of each other. So pillar number one, food is medicine. And Hippocrates said it many centuries ago, let food be their medicine and medicine be their food. And what is on the end of your fork has tremendous power to feed disease or prevent disease. And with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, we do advocate for a plant forward, plant strong, plant slant dietary pattern. Doesn't have to be plant exclusive, but you want to have lots of fruits and vegetables and beans and nuts and seeds and whole grains, whole foods and avoiding highly processed foods. So food as medicine, we like to say, eat the rainbow. And I'm not talking about M&Ms and skittles. I'm talking about whole foods with lots of phytonutrients. Pillar number two, exercise. And I tend to use the term movement when I'm counseling patients. I'm an avid exerciser. I love to exercise, but a lot of people maybe feel intimidated by that, or they just don't think of themselves as being athletic. So we talk about movement. And there's so many ways to move our bodies, and movement should bring joy. So trying to get regular physical activity. We know that sitting is the new smoking. So many of us are more sedentary nowadays. So combining both moderate intensity aerobic activity along with strength training, resistance training, very important. Pillar number three, sleep is medicine. And I have to say, I was wrong for many years because I trained back in the 90s when I would work 36-hour shifts. And I was convinced that I didn't need sleep. Like I was a superhero and I was so wrong. So much happens when we sleep. Our brains are incredibly active of problem-solving.