Goals and Learning Objectives

The Goals of the Course:

How can clinicians recommend a healthy diet and lifestyle to their patients in a way that is likely to succeed?

The goal of this course is to enable participants to personally experience and witness the health-improving power of an intensive lifestyle change program, while providing them with the information and skills they need to help patients utilize the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine, especially a Whole-Food Plant-Based diet.

This course takes a a two-pronged approach, in a “First the Docs, then the Patients” program.

• Providers read and view online didactic materials on the theory and practice of Lifestyle Medicine, especially the use of Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet.
• These materials provide a firm foundation in the rationale behind Lifestyle Medicine and the adoption of a WFPB diet, including a presentation and analysis of epidemiological data and peer-reviewed studies. Course participants also learn coaching strategies, and receive a primer in principles of Lifestyle Medicine and the principles of Self-Determination Theory, both useful tools in guiding behavior change.
• Providers experience Jumpstart by taking the program along with a group of participants in a live video format.

Ideally, participants would learn the “why” before the “how” and before experiencing the transformative power of a WFPB diet themselves. However, this sequencing approach may not be convenient and is not necessary to the success of the course.

Successful completion of this course is a major qualifying component enabling a clinician to counsel and support patients enrolled in an intensive lifestyle change program, including Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute’s 15-Day WFPB Jumpstart.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will understand the evidence and rationale behind eating a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet (WFPBD) to improve human and planetary health.
• Participants will understand the power of a WFPBD to prevent, treat, and often reverse our nation’s most expensive and devastating chronic diseases—including diabetes and heart disease.
• Participants will understand the politics and economics constraining the implementation of a WFPBD and other Lifestyle Medicine principles to improve individual and population health.
• Participants will learn how to empower their patients to take charge of their own health with a WFPBD and other Lifestyle Medicine principles.
• Participants will understand the principles of Healthy Aging.
• Participants will understand the Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine.
• Participants will feel confident that they can utilize strategies for inducing and supporting behavior change in their patients, including Self-Determination Theory and principles of coaching.
• Participants will understand the principles and strategies of deprescribing medications, and will feel confident that they can deprescribe medications for their patients utilizing techniques of Lifestyle Medicine.
• By personally engaging in a live Jumpstart and making lifestyle changes along with other members of the group, participants will experience the effects of a WFPBD and other Lifestyle Medicine interventions on their own health.
• By personally engaging in a live Jumpstart—and witnessing the interactions among patients, facilitators and providers—participants will gain confidence in their ability to facilitate a discussion with a group of patients.