Welcome

VISION STATEMENT: Get Well! Stay Healthy! Prevent Disease!

MISSION STATEMENT: In individuals and populations, use evidence-based knowledge and skills in nutrition, exercise, stress management and a variety of other lifestyle modifications to restore and promote health, prevent disease, and treat health problems caused by disease promoting lifestyles. 

OVERVIEW: Lifestyle and preventive medicine clinic based primarily on a plant-based diet, exercise, major behavior and lifestyle change, and preventive health assessment examinations. Quality, unhurried time with patients in groups and individually a hallmark of care.

GOALS FOR PATIENT CARE:
    • Reduce or eliminate need for most medications, surgeries and common procedures
    • Lower blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid
    • Lower blood sugar—prevent or reverse type-2 diabetes
    • Cause permanent weight loss without hunger
    • Prevent or reverse atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and heart disease
    • Treat underlying cause of many chronic diseases rather than just treating
       the symptoms
    • Reduce risks of future health problems such as cancer, stroke, kidney disease, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, 
       and premature aging
    • Help in smoking cessation
    • Establish regular physical activities
    • Achieve physical, emotional, relational, spiritual balance and better than average health
    • Provide preventive health assessments and individualized wellness plans
    • Serve as wellness consultant and educator to public health departments, cities, hospitals, schools, sports 
       organizations, businesses, and corporations, etc.

PROBLEMS TARGETED AND SOLUTIONS PROVIDED: The medical problems caused by disease promoting lifestyles are all too obvious—many of the leading causes of death are lifestyle related, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes type 2, hypertension, among others.  The main causes of these diseases are also lifestyle related, namely obesity and being overweight, smoking, poor diet, alcohol, and physical inactivity, etc.  Although, arguably, genetics may have some influence by “loading the gun,” lifestyle is mainly responsible because it “pulls the trigger.”  Stopping this disease promoting lifestyle process begins with primary prevention—stopping disease from ever developing.  However, once disease is established but not yet symptomatic, secondary prevention will often slow progression or even reverse the process in some cases.  Once disease is fully manifest, tertiary prevention continues to control progression and with intensive lifestyle therapy may even reverse the process.  Lifestyle and preventive medicine can provide many solutions through health promotion and education, early disease detection and prevention, and intensive lifestyle therapies and programs to arrest or slow disease progression, reduce or eliminate medications, lessen cancer risks, and even reverse such diseases as atherosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, osteoarthritis, pre-diabetes, sleep apnea and diabetes type 2, and possibly several other chronic diseases. 

WHAT THIS PROGRAM WILL DO DIFFERENTLY OR BETTER:
    • Private patients can only enter into medical care through the  intensive lifestyle clinic
    • Medical patients will have several hours with Dr. Fain, both in groups and individually
    • Patients will learn, practice and begin to experience success and to see results in lifestyle change quickly, 
       encouraging continued motivation
    • This program is intensive, causing large changes that patients can easily see, which is usually more successful 
       than standard instruction in therapeutic lifestyle changes
    • This program can save patients money in less medical expenses, less medications, and substantial savings in 
       grocery bills
    • This program uses evidence-based principles of a plant-based diet as the gold-standard, as primarily described 
       by Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the Lifestyle Center of America, and Dr. John 
       McDougall
    • Medical patients will pay an initial clinic fee  that will cover the lifestyle clinic, a preventive health assessment and 
       wellness plan, some food items, and follow-ups by phone or email as needed
    • Medical patients may have non-medical attendants at the programs at same cost minus physical exams, 
       physician visits, laboratory, etc, usually 80% of full cost.  
    • Established patients (alumni) can repeat any of the programs with a discounted fee of 90% of full cost—this will 
       help prevent relapse that is all too common within the first few years after making significant lifestyle changes
    • This program would be especially attractive to individuals and families who have high deductable major medical 
       insurance plans combined with health savings accounts (also known as flexible or medical savings accounts)
    • To decrease administrative costs, to increase patient motivation and buy-in, to enable direct access to 
       the physician without third party interference, and because insurance may not pay for all or some of this style of 
       medical practice, Dr. Fain will only accept payments directly from the patient, avoiding insurance, HMOs, Medicare 
       and Medicaid
    • This program will be available to schools, corporations, sports organizations, governments, civic organizations, 
       etc. as a wellness consultant or speaker
    • This program will not provide primary, acute or emergent care, except incidentally—patients should continue to 
       get this care from their primary care providers, urgent care clinics, emergency rooms and hospitals as needed
    • This program will not provide vaccinations, procedures, hospitalization, etc. 
    • Patients must be medically stable to enter this program

THE NEED FOR THIS SERVICE: In spite of the advances made in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, etc. through technology and medications, we are still losing the battle, especially with the ever increasing epidemic of overweight and obesity.  Almost every medical person knows that the first thing we should do for the first three to six months after making the diagnosis of hypertension, heart disease, atherosclerosis, pre-diabetes, diabetes, obesity and overweight is to give the patient a trial of therapeutic lifestyle change.  Unfortunately, just like the lectures that give us the knowledge on the treatment of such “lifestyle” diseases, the medical profession usually gives the subject of lifestyle change very short attention indeed, only providing a few short minutes of instruction and perhaps a referral to the dietitian.  After that, most providers use only medications or procedures, most of which do not work very well or at all.  There is certainly a very large gap between what we know we should do for our patients and what is really done in the area of lifestyle change.  This area needs improvement; Dr. Fain’s goal is to stand in this gap and provide the patient the tools for lifestyle change that actually make a difference in their health, whether it is preventing or reversing disease.  Most efforts in therapeutic lifestyle change have been nil to only moderate in scope—Dr. Fain hopes to help the patient and their primary care provider see substantial change, not with moderate lifestyle change which often breeds frustration, but with intensive and therefore very motivating lifestyle change.  Dr. Fain will also provide multiple opportunities for follow-up via telephone, email, and attendance at his other programs to help prevent relapse. 

WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM THESE PROGRAMS:
    • Primary Prevention or “early adopters:”  This group often and quickly recognizes the inherent benefits of lifestyle 
       and prevention programs, having perhaps already adopted many program aspects.  They usually do not yet have 
       major medical issues and their main goals are to stay healthy and prevent disease.  Dr.Fain’s programs would 
       add to and refine many of the benefits already adopted by this group.  

    • Secondary Prevention or “newly diagnosed” and “peak weight” patients: Usually newly diagnosed patients with 
       a lifestyle related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, some forms of arthritis, cardiac disease, 
       kidney disease, atherosclerosis, etc., or who may have reached the heaviest weight of their lives.  Not only may 
       they be motivated to make lifestyle changes to control or reverse their disease, but their physicians should also 
       refer them for lifestyle changes since this is the standard of medical care in most cases, before the institution of 
       medications.  

    • Tertiary Prevention or “medical event” and “chronic disease” patients: Usually have had chronic disease for some 
       time but who are now beginning to have more severe problems, on multiple medications with new medications 
       being added, have had some sort of medical event such as an angioplasty or heart attack etc., or may have come 
       to the conclusion that they must do something drastic to improve their health and quality of life.  They may also 
       want to avoid heart surgery, procedures or bariatric surgery.  Most will seek to control or even reverse their 
       disease and get off as many medications as possible.

    • Health care providers (HCP): Dr. Fain’s clinic could serve as a tool to improve the health of HCPs, many of whom 
       do not serve as great role models for their patients.  Also, most physicians, including specialists such as 
       cardiologists and surgeons, have very little nutritional education and what they do have may not be correct or 
       evidence based—Dr. Fain’s clinic could serve as an educational tool in their own practices.  
 
Walking is man’s friend.  –Hippocrates

DISCLAIMERS: The purpose of this website is to educate individuals on the principles of healthful living. The subject matter discussed in this website is of a general nature and does not constitute medical, legal or professional advice for any specific individual or situation. Readers should seek medical advice for their medical conditions and before beginning a program of diet and exercise. This website and medical practice is solely the responsibility of Harold H. Fain, MD, MPH and does not represent  the U.S. government, specifically the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.