Whole Health Method: What Is It, and How Can It Help You?
When we started Whole Health Partners, we kept coming back to one key insight:
There are no silver bullets when taking care of your health.
Yet there are countless decisions that each of us make every single day which can impact our wellbeing in both positive and negative ways. When we are in the thick of our day-to-day lives, however, it can be hard to stick to a plan.
Sometimes we feel we’re too busy to exercise. Sometimes home or work stresses can lead to disrupted sleep patterns. Or we have a hard time balancing the likes and dislikes of our family members with the dietary changes that we know would make a difference. Even as dietitians and doctors and medical professionals, we’re extremely familiar with these pressures ourselves.
That’s why we developed the Whole Health Method. At its heart, it’s intended to provide a structured approach to identifying and sustaining behavior changes that are practical, based on the latest science, and geared toward the specific circumstances and needs of each patient. The Method is informed by the discipline of Lifestyle Medicine, and it’s focused on four aspects (Keys) of our patients’ lifestyles:
The Keys to Whole Health
Nutrition: We don't do 'diets'. Instead, we focus on real food, abundance, and on discovering (or rediscovering) healthy, enjoyable eating.
Sleep: We know a lot about what factors promote healthy sleep, but exactly what works depends on the individual. That’s why we seek to identify each patient’s ‘Restorative Sleep Identity’, and then develop a plan that’s tailored to them.
Movement: Whether it's yoga or CrossFit, or simply walking and biking more, we never champion any one type of exercise. Instead, we focus on incorporating a balanced variety of movement into a patient’s daily routine—and on finding activities that patients actually enjoy.
Mindset: It's hard to make changes if your mind is unsettled. Together, we work with patients to identify stressors and sources of strength to support their long-term goals.
Each Key reinforces the others . When you sleep better, you make better food choices. When you're less stressed, you sleep better. And the list of examples goes on.
“In pursuing those changes, we encourage each patient to seek balance — between food groups, between different types of movement/exercise, in sleep routines, and emotional/mental wellness strategies.”
Within each key, we work with our patients to develop a real-world plan. That plan is informed by the science of behavior change. As such, the goal is not to seek transformation overnight — which is rarely sustainable — but instead to implement small but meaningful changes from Day One, and then to gradually build momentum toward a more fundamental shift in lifestyle.
In pursuing those changes, we encourage each patient to seek balance — between food groups, between different types of movement/exercise, in sleep routines, and emotional/mental wellness strategies.
We also know that change can be hard to maintain. So while our initial work is centered on a 12 week, relatively intensive program, we also encourage patients to check in with us regularly over months and even years if necessary—providing guidance, support, counseling and encouragement that can adapt to patients’ needs as their health or their life circumstances change.
We said at the start that there are no silver bullets when it comes to improving your health. The Whole Health Method is no silver bullet either. It is, however, an approach that is based on the collective lessons of several decades working in the field of lifestyle medicine. It’s informed by both what we’ve seen to work with a wide variety of patients, and also what we’ve seen to be less effective too.
The result, we think, is a practical and strategic toolbox that we can adapt to meet the needs and goals of each patient.
Let us know if you’d like to explore how it might work for you.
Why This Matters
Behavior Change Strategies: According to Duke University professor Dan Ariely, if there is one central insight of behavioral science, it’s that our behaviors are shaped by our environment—and to a greater degree than we would intuitively predict.
That’s why Whole Health Partners places a strong emphasis not just on specific behaviors, but on how we can shape our environment and our lifestyle in a way that makes it easier to adopt healthier behaviors.
Drawing from disciplines including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Social Behavior Therapy (SBT), Acceptance Behavior Therapy (ABT) and the Transtheoretical model of behavior change, we focus on developing strategies that are specifically adapted to the strengths and needs of each individual patient.
What would you like help with?
Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance
Blood Glucose Management, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Hypertension, High Cholesterol, Thyroid Disease, Hormonal Health
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Perimenopause/Menopause
