Lifestyle Medicine by Dr. Ron Hunninghake

Lifestyle Medicine
by Dr. Ron Hunninghake

About Dr. Ron Hunninghake

Dr. Ron Hunninghake

Dr. Ron, as patients/co-learners at The Center fondly refer to Dr. Hunninghake, is the Chief Medical Officer of the Olive White Garvey Center for Healing Arts, the clinical division of The Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International.

He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Kansas; served his Internship at Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, Kan.; and completed his Residency at the Smoky Hill Family Practice Program in Salina, Kansas, 1981-82.

Dr. Ron was associated with the Family Practice Group in Minneapolis, Kansas, from 1978 to 1980, and Salina Family Physicians, P.A., in Salina from 1982 to 1989, when he assumed the position of Medical Director at The Center. In 2005 he was made Chief Medical Officer and now serves on The Center's board of directors.

Dr. Hunninghake is a Family Practice physician, a board-certified member of the American Holistic Medical Association, a member of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians, the Kansas Medical Society and the Sedgwick County Medical Society.

In addition to his full-time practice at The Center, Dr. Ron is a regular presenter at international medical conferences (Japan, Canada, and Great Britain) and The Center's 25 year running Lunch & Lecture series, with more than 300 educational presentations to his credit.

The creation of better habits of health lies at the very heart of true health care reform. When individuals responsibly re-form their daily choices to intelligently reflect a growing body of solid evidence that whole foods nutrition does matter, supplements can help, exercise will heal, sleep can regenerate, poor stress management does hasten sickness, and toxins silently weaken health... then, and only then, the age of lifestyle medicine will have arrived.

The term "lifestyle medicine" joins two forces that were previously not on speaking terms. "Lifestyle" has meant "what we personally chose to do to take better care for ourselves." "Medicine" meant "what a medical professional decided to do to provide medical care to a patient." Person and patient were somehow separated in this prior conception of lifestyle and medicine. One was an active and informed chooser of self-care, and the other was a passive recipient of an authoritative treatment.

In today's world of internet, smart phones, and ubiquitous "health information"" the power of knowledge has shifted. In so many health consumer's eyes, the doctor no longer commands ultimate authority in m`atters of health (unless, of course, the situation is acute and potentially lethal... that is, requiring "intensive care.") Nowadays, patients arrive at doctor appointments with reams of articles, recent studies, and internet downloads from the millions of health-related websites out there. Patients WANT to be involved as co-learners, as true health care partners.

Will health care professionals allow patients to become partners? Will doctors acknowledge that modern chronic degenerative disease demands more intensive patient involvement in their treatment plan than ever before? Will the pivotal role of therapeutic lifestyle change and the crucial coordination of community resources, education, and care be appropriately provided by today's front line physician?

Certainly there is hope. There is a national movement afoot that seeks to transform the way medical care is delivered by primary care doctors. The emerging concept of the "medical home" is built on a team concept, where the patient is the key part of a team of professionals dedicated to optimal coordination of that patient's services, pertinent medical information, and disease prevention/management. Inherent in the ideal conception of this model is patient responsibility, a pro-active attitude, and therapeutic lifestyle transformation. With obesity and diabetes now at epidemic proportions in all age groups, the crucial role of personal choice can no longer be overlooked.

Lifestyle medicine, the medical home, personal responsibility, and life-time habits of health... these are all ways for saying the same thing: the world is waking up to the importance of informed personal choice as the foundation of better health and wellness. And until the politicians wake up to this irrefutable fact, true health care reform will continue to be an elusive goal.

Join Dr. Ron in the Lifestyle Medicine zone in Delta-Exchange dedicated to meaningful discussion around Lifestyle Medicine and the importance of informed personal choice as the foundation of better health and wellness.

He has published three books on health and wellness:

The User's Guide to Inflammation, Arthritis, and Aging (2005)
The User's Guide to Energy-Boosting Supplements (2006)
Stop Prediabetes Now (2007)

Do you have an opinion you'd like to share? Email update@TransforMED.com.