Traditional western medicine is broken, we know that because we spend so much money and get such terrible results. I believe the problem is medicine's reliance on the pharmaceutical industry, which depends on people being return “customers.”
Thankfully, in 2012, a new branch of medicine emerged to address root cause and lessen patient’s dependence on drugs. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine was founded based on experimental and observational data accumulated over the prior 30-40 years regarding chronic disease (diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, etc.). When I first found out about Lifestyle Medicine, I was so excited to finally be able to truly tackle the root cause of illness. In medical school and into advanced training, whenever I asked why we don’t address lifestyle in primary care, the answer was usually, “we don’t have enough time” or “it doesn’t pay anything” or “patients just want a pill, they don’t want you telling them what to eat” or “it’s a waste of time and resources to try to change people’s habits”.... I knew then that I would never practice the same way as those doctors. Even my “old school” mentors could acknowledge that lifestyle changes really do cure disease, but you cannot patent good habits?
They are stuck in mills, seeing a patient every 15 mins, managing labs, refills, messages on 2,500-patient panels, and paying up to 80% of their revenue just to work there.
If you think doctor visits are scary, stressful, too short, too cold, too impersonal, too expensive or too infrequent, then South Bay Lifestyle Medicine was created for you: A healthy doctor visits *you* in the comfort and warmth of your own home and becomes your partner in achieving health. Ideally, my patients “graduate” from me once their conditions are reversed. I don’t want to be your lifelong doctor, I want you well enough to not need me (except for well/preventive visits).
Have you ever felt that a doctor's visit is 70% waiting, 15% talking to the doctor, and 15% remembering what you were going to ask the doctor but then you are already driving home?
From the doctor's perspective, an office visit is almost equally painful: 60% "documenting," 15% talking to the patient, and 25% fighting with insurance companies to get paid for documenting and talking to the patient.
I started South Bay Lifestyle Medicine based on feedback from my patients to make a healing experience with minimum 30-min visits and unlimited follow-ups. I keep my patient count small so that I can deliver the best care to each patient. I chose quality instead of quantity.
South Bay Lifestyle Medicine is a small Lifestyle Medicine practice outside the box of the typical doctor setting to truly deliver lifestyle as medicine. A healthy doctor does house calls, there are bi-weekly group visits with the doctor, and unlimited follow-up visits at home.
I have been practicing outpatient clinical medicine since 2017. I had several years of urgent care experience where I learned about the need for longer doctor visits. Most recently, I worked in a multi-specialty practice with incredibly supportive staff and admin, where I learned that I cannot practice Lifestyle Medicine within the standard medicine model, which is why I founded South Bay Lifestyle Medicine.
More about me
I was born and raised on a farm/coffee plantation in rural Honduras. At the age of 12, I became a political refugee as Honduras became the “murder capital of the world,” my parents sent me to the US to live with my sister, her husband, and young daughter. I started high school without speaking a lick of English and graduated Valedictorian. My many accomplishments and feats in high school earned me a prestigious and coveted Full-Ride Scholarship to Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport (a small liberal arts school in the south).
I was accepted to Louisiana State University Medical School with a Health Professions scholarship from the U. S. Air Force. During my time in medical school, I participated in award-winning basic research and served as editor to our school’s medical journal. I had a baby between second and third year of medical school and was lucky enough to take a year off for maternity leave. During that time, however, I experienced a brain aneurysm bleed. I was given a 3% chance of “some semblance of normal life”, but I made a miraculous recovery, going back to school less than a year later and passing all my board exams post-stroke.
Undeterred by my health issues while in medical school and determined to be live a full, healthy life, I ran a marathon in 2016 and a triathlon in 2017. I also continued my quest for knowledge, which led me to UCLA for my Anatomical and Clinical Pathology residency. As a third year pathology resident, I became pregnant for the second time. My unborn daughter's life was in danger and saving her is what eventually steered me toward Lifestyle Medicine.
In 2018 my daughter was severely growth-restricted in utero, after exhausting all medical options, I used lifestyle changes to save her. Witnessing her transformation from the 3rd to the 50-th percentile fueled my passion for Lifestyle Medicine. Seeking to understand the impact of my intervention, I delved into post-graduate education at Harvard University's Institute of Lifestyle Medicine. In 2020, I achieved board certification in Lifestyle Medicine through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, paving the way for me to guide individuals in optimizing their lifestyles for health.
