Can Dietary Modifications Reduce Chronic Disease?
More than half of adults in the United States have a chronic disease. Diet is the largest modifiable factor that patients can adjust to mitigate their risk of developing or exacerbating a chronic illness. However, not every clinician incorporates lifestyle medicine into their practice, leading to gaps in patients’ knowledge of food as medicine.
In an interview with The Clinical Advisor, Alicia Craig-Rodriguez, DNP, MBA, APRN, FNPBC, DipACLM, FACLM, said that lifestyle medicine is “the future of health care.” Dr Craig-Rodriguez is a clinical professor at Florida State University College of Nursing, as well as a nationally certified family nurse practitioner (NP) and lifestyle medicine professional.
Alongside Melissa Bernstein, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND, DipACLM, FACLM, FNAP, associate professor and chair of the nutrition department at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Dr Craig-Rodriguez shared how clinicians can use food as medicine to improve health, in a presentation at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) annual meeting, held from June 17 to 22, 2025, in San Diego, California.
Excerpted from Gastroenterology Advisor
