Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM serves as the Medical Director of the Lifestyle Medicine Center at Midland Health and has advocated for offering a variety of comprehensive lifestyle intervention programs under physician supervision. Dr. Patel has been awarded the prestigious status of Fellow of ACLM for her outstanding achievement in the field of Lifestyle Medicine. She co-founded Healthy City, a non-profit organization, to raise awareness of the benefits of plant-based nutrition within her community. In this conversation Dr. Patel explains how intensive therapeutic lifestyle medicine programs can and do reverse chronic disease, such as diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Patel discusses why these programs are called "intensive", including the optimal length (8-12 weeks) and frequency of visits. She covers content and main components, such as prescribing specific nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress management practices, and explains why behavior change is so important. Dr. Patel talks about specific programs that she leads, such as cardiac rehab, Complete Health Improvements Program (CHIP), and the results that she sees. Dr. Patel does have a warning for her patients... they might have to stop their medication completely! Tune in to learn more! This podcast is brought to you by Emory Lifestyle Medicine & Wellness. To learn more about our work, please visit https://bit.ly/EmoryLM