I can’t believe it’s almost been a year, but I never had the chance to talk about how proud I am about my certification in Diet and Lifestyle Intervention that I received from the Wellness Forum Institute for Health Studies. This course is recognized and certified through the Ohio State Board of Career Colleges.

Designed for healthcare practitioners and fitness professionals, this course teaches students about the relationship between diet and lifestyle habits and health outcomes. Throughout this course, I took 15 mini-classes that provided high-quality, evidence-based research to support a healthy living via a whole foods-based diet and lifestyle adjustments. I also learned specific and effective protocols for implementing these practices…that way I can use the information I learned to help people! My goal is to continue to use what I learned by writing about it on this blog and via my Say It With Health Facebook group.

Course Objectives

Here were the basic objectives of this course:

  • Critically evaluate published research in order to make better recommendations to patients about diet and health
  • Better communicate with patients about the importance of diet and lifestyle when making treatment decisions, and engage the patient in more active decision-making
  • Prescribe specific diet and lifestyle interventions for patients with chronic degenerative diseases, and assist those patients in reducing or eliminating medications where appropriate; and
  • Develop relationships with providers who can assist in patient care outside of the provider’s practice specialty or scope of practice.

The 15 Mini-Classes

Every week, we had 1-2 mini-classes that usually lasted 3-4 hours each. They were jammed packed with information and discussion. Although the classes were virtual, I was able to interact with other students and the instructor(s) on these weekly calls, discussing the topic of our mini class for that day and addressing any questions we had. The coolest part about this was hearing stories on these calls from real-life health practitioners including doctors and nurses who had already started to use diet and lifestyle interventions to change their patients’ lives in the allopathic medicine system.

Here’s some of the topics I learned in-depth information about:

  • The Science Behind a Plant-Based Diet: Evidence that supports plant-based nutrition, nutrition fallacies, and different research methodologies.
  • An Introduction to Collaborative, Evidence-Based Healthcare: Criteria for evaluating evidence, collaborative decision-making, motivating people to change, how to evaluate health improvements, and anticipated results.
  • Gastrointestinal Disorders (I further took a course called the Microbiome Bootcamp because I love this topic so much): Understanding common causes of GI disorders such as reflux, IBS, UC, and Crohn’s, and dietary protocols and treatments to resolve such disorders.
  • Autoimmune Diseases: Causes of autoimmune diseases, a review of traditional approaches, and interventions for stopping the progression or reversing the diagnosis.
  • Cancer Treatment Alternatives: Evaluating the efficacy of traditional cancer treatments and effective alternative cancer treatments, including diet.
  • Men’s Health: Understanding hormone balance, erectile dysfunction, prostate hyperplasia and cancer, PSA testing, and the role of diet in men’s health.
  • Women’s Health: Evaluating the efficacy of diagnostic tests such as mammograms and PAPs, conditions related to hormonal imbalances including PCOS, infertility, PMS, menopause, and endometriosis.
  • Children’s Health: Prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding, and nutrition from infancy to adolescence.
  • Cardiovascular Disease: Discussed the common criteria for diagnosing coronary artery disease, common approaches to treating hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and coronary artery disease, the role of diet in stopping these diseases, and treatment options.
  • Joint, Back, and Muscle Pain: The causes of joint, back, and muscle pain, limitations to traditional approaches to treatment, identifying competent professionals who can help you heal.
  • Preventing and Reversing Diabetes: The role of diet in the development, progression, and treatment of type-2 diabetes, the role of diet in reducing insulin needs for type-1 diabetes, complication of common diabetes drugs.
  • Diet and Cognitive Function: The role of diet in preventing and addressing cognitive decline associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease.
  • Mental Health and Depression: Definitions and causation of mental illness, common misunderstandings about mental illness, the limitations and dangers of drug therapies, the effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and high-risk patients.
  • An Objective Look at Vaccines: History of childhood vaccinations, benefits and adverse effects of vaccinations, addressing the immunity argument, and identifying patients who are high-risk for adverse reactions.
  • Addressing Overweight and Obesity: Common eating disorders, causes of overweight and obesity, weight loss strategies, and the psychology of change.

My Final Project

The final project required me to complete an in-depth, comprehensive patient analysis where I reviewed, addressed, and recommended specific treatment for 4 patients. I completed an general observation of their medications/supplements, lifestyle habits and choices, and diet before recommending lifestyle changes, referrals, and comments.

My patients included the following:

  • A 67 year old male who was diagnosed with heart disease, high blood pressure, enlarged prostate, and cataracts.
  • A 55 year old female who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
  • A 54 year old male diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholestrerol, and type-2 diabetes.
  • A 47 year old female who had a positive ANA test for autoimmunity.

Although many of my patients were in a similar age-range with overlapping diagnoses, the scope of my learned material far exceeded what I was “tested on”.

It was an incredibly intense project that I am very proud of – I completed it at 1-month postpartum during maternity leave and was usually working with a baby strapped to me 😀

What The Future Holds with this Certificate

If any one of the aforementioned topics interest you, let’s chat! I love sharing what I know with other people and helping them make lifestyle adjustments that fit their unique situation. It seems like every time I talk to someone about what I learned in these classes, too, I end up learning even more from them. Being on this health-learning journey has been so humbling and fascinating – I feel so privileged that people share with me the most intimate details of their lives and how their health has affected them. That’s why I do what I do. It never ever gets old!

I do plan on taking even more courses in the future at the Wellness Forum Institute of Health. The information I learned was eye-opening and I find myself sharing what I’ve learned every day! Looking forward to sharing even more in future blog posts!