BSLM Newsletter: June 2018

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the June Newsletter.

So what is so special about June? It was a sacred month to Juno, the Roman goddess, and her equivalent in Greek mythology was Hera. Hera was the daughter of Saturn, wife of Jupiter and mother of Mars. Apparently it is a good month to get married, its flower is a rose (let’s go for pink, a symbol of happiness) and its gemstone is pearl.

So what event is a pearl of an event, will bring much happiness and be wedded to planetary wellbeing? Yes, you guessed it. This contrived introduction refers to our 22nd -23rd June 2018 Conference (and dinner) in Edinburgh. I do hope you have booked in and that you have a great time.

We are honoured to have so many speakers so willing to enter into the spirit of the fray. It is very important we stick to our schedule so being seated (or standing) for the 8.50am kick-off is strongly advised. Blink and you will have missed a pearl of wisdom. Arrive late or leave early (for your wedding maybe) and you will miss the sweet smell of happiness.

There will be intellectual rigour, fascinating learning, informal friendship, music, song and movement – brought to a rousing climax in celebration of 70 years of the NHS.

And if you are one of the few who cannot make it, or have to leave early for your wedding, you can live through it all in due course when talks are posted in the members’ area of the website.

On that note, we wish to develop the Resource Page on the website into a must-go resource for members – but we need resources so please share your pearls of wisdom and share what gives you that sweet smell of happiness!

Wishing everyone good health.

Rob Lawson
BSLM Chairman

BSLM Conference
A Reminder of Logistical Information

If you are booked to attend the conference on the 23rd, you should have received by email some final logistical information – please do let us know if you have not received this!

A few important points to highlight:

Registration will open at 08:15 and the first session will start promptly at 08:50. Please collect your conference badge and delegate pack from the Registration desk. Tea and coffee will be available in the Hall.
Please note that the venue does not have a car park, there are a number of public car parks nearby so please do plan your journey in advance.
Central Hall has disabled access at the side of the building (Dunbar Road), via a lift.
If the Auditorium is full, there will be additional space available in the Gallery, on the floor above.
There will be a number of exhibition stands and poster displays in the Hall to visit during the breaks. Poster presenters will be standing by their posters during the lunch break to answer any questions.
Internet access will be available at the venue and there will be storage facilities available for any luggage on the 3rd floor.
We still have places available at the conference dinner so if you wish to attend please book via the BSLM website!
Please do Tweet your thoughts on the conference while you are there using #BSLM2018

If you have any additional questions please email us at office@bslm.org.uk

We look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh!

Member Spotlight:
Rory Heath
Director, Undergraduate Lifestyle Medicine Society

Hi! I am a final year medical student based at KCL in London. I have been interested in three of the ‘pillars’ of lifestyle medicine – food, exercise, sleep – since I was a teen trying to make it big playing rugby. I have embraced the important additional pillars of stress and community since studying in medical school. While my interest in ‘Lifestyle’ was for personal development, as I progressed through my clinical studies I became frustrated at the growing burden of chronic disease present throughout primary care and hospital ‘Medicine’. I also questioned the difference between the medical school curriculum against rapid turnover of medical material on the internet and social media, with particular relevance to the difference in approaches medicine can take towards treating patients – a traditional ‘medicalisation’ approach, where diagnoses are labels and become fixed identities reliant on intensive and chronic pharmacological treatment, compared to an approach where health is dynamic, quantifiable and modifiable by understanding the impact of wider environmental and lifestyle factors upon physiology.

I came to the BSLM to join an organisation that could provide structure for a new approach to the prevention, management and cure of chronic disease by understanding these wider determinants of disease. Now I’m here, I want to make this approach accessible for the future generations of doctors, which I hope to achieve through the ‘junior’ arm of the BSLM – the Undergraduate Lifestyle Medicine Society (ULMS).

ULMS aims to provide content to students via social media and evening events, to bridge the gap between students and clinicians, and to create a generation of students who are inquisitive and will question the root causes of disease – hopefully, to join the BSLM and to make an impact in the future. One way we’re doing this is through the #MedicineForStudents campaign. Borne out of my own stresses during exam times, I found that while the mind is occupied studying it chooses the easy decisions – sitting down all day and ordering a pizza. This social media campaign aims to produce tangible titbits of information to educate, inspire and empower students to make a small positive change each day during their exams – with the hope that if they can do it now, they can nail their exams, and will carry this success on to later life. We might be in the last week of our 5 week campaign by the time this newsletter goes out, so check out our work on Facebook- Please remember to like and share away!

I am moving to Severn Deanery in July to start work as an F1. In my spare time I enjoy reading about physiology and optimal health, on a multitude of Facebook groups and via podcasts. I blog occasionally at roryjheath.wordpress.com. I also like weight training, water, mud and sweat and combine these on a regular basis. Cheers!

Member Spotlight:
Dr Julie Gray
BSLM Regional Director NE Scotland

I work as a GP in North East Scotland. I have a special interest in pre-hospital emergency care, being both a certified Instructor in this field and a pre-hospital emergency care responder. I am a partner in a practice with a largely deprived socio-economic patient population and thus, have a lot of exposure to patients suffering from chronic diseases and multiple co-morbidities. I have always believed lifestyle modifications play just as crucial a role in the management of such complex patients and their diseases and have a huge impact on patients’ emotional, psychological and physical well-being. I previously kept these thoughts close to my heart as I felt they were isolated personal opinions.

After a series of personal adverse life events last year, I was reflecting on my work-life balance and priorities, and seeking to make changes to better myself and my family’s quality of life. Having been told about the BSLM by a friend in the medical profession, I decided to look into it. On reading about it online, I felt an instant affinity to the Society and its members who mirror my views. Delighted to find that there were like-minded health care professionals out there, I impulsively signed up to join! I haven’t looked back since, finding myself in the role of BSLM regional director for NE Scotland and now studying for the diploma exam in August this year. I am thoroughly enjoying the knowledge I am gaining from studying Lifestyle Medicine and am finding it is naturally starting to seep into my day to day clinical practice. Moving forward, I am optimistic that evidence-based lifestyle medicine strategies will eventually become an intrinsic component of modern clinical practice. I hope to focus my career in the specialty in the future.

I practice what I preach, in that I immerse myself, along with my family, in various sporting activities and strives to attain a high level of fitness and well-being. Having been inspired by my husband, who is an Ironman, I have recently started competing in triathlons myself. I personally attest to the psychological and physical benefits of good nutrition, having made changes to my own lifestyle in recent years and reaped the positive benefits. For inspiration, you can follow my family’s sporting adventures and nutritional habits on instagram @teambrems.sportive

Join Us for the 2nd Annual BSLM Conference
and Dinner:

Lifestyle Medicine: Science & Art of Healthy Longevity

Date & Time
23 June 2018 • 0900 to 1800 GMT

Venue
Central Hall
2 W Tollcross
Edinburgh EH3 9BP, UK

Reserve Your Seat(s) for the Conference

Join Us for a Post-Conference Dinner and Ceilidh:

Date & Time
23 June 2018 • 1930 to 2300 GMT

Venue
Stewart’s Melville RFC Pavilion
533 Ferry Road
Edinburgh EH5 2DN

Reserve Your Seat(s) for the Dinner

Reviews of Recent Events

BSLM Cardiff Meeting
12th May 2018
by Dr Lisa Thomas

A thoughtful colleague sent me a link to a BSLM event, coming to Cardiff for the first time. “It is your kind of thing” she said. Indeed, she was spot on! I had not heard of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine but finally, this was a chance to be with colleagues as enthusiastic as me about incorporating healthy measures to improve patients’ health and wellbeing. I have been banging on to anyone willing to listen, that our healthcare system should use good nutrition, exercise and living mindfully to prevent chronic disease. Perhaps then, we wouldn’t be practicing ‘fire fighting’ medicine that we seem to be drowning in these days. Many times I have been told I am dreaming of the epitome of healthcare and it is unrealistic to fit these measures effectively in to primary care. To anyone who feels this, I implore you to join the BSLM! Here are real life GP’s putting this in to practice and have real life patient success stories to share.

This Cardiff event was fantastic. Firstly, everyone was warm, friendly and sociable. A reflection of their own happy and healthy lifestyles, I wonder? It was organised by Dr Sue Kenneally, with help from Dr Charlotte Thomas. Presentations were given by Dr Rob Lawson, the chairman of BSLM himself, as well as, Dr Campbell Murdoch, Dr John Sykes and Dr Sue Kenneally. All presenters were incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic to pass on their wisdom on putting lifestyle medicine in to real time general practice. Topics included lifestyle medicine, metabolic health, physical activity and plant based nutrition. Everything was evidence based. I have learned a lot that I will incorporate in to my practice immediately. Of course, I should add that I was also very keen to join the Welsh lifestyle medicine WhatsApp group!

\I strongly believe that lifestyle medicine is the answer to save our NHS. It will give our patients control and responsibility over their own health, inevitably making them feel well and happy, without any side effects, I will add! Joining the BSLM has boosted my love for General Practice and reminded me of what huge impact we can have on people’s lives. I recommend every GP join this ever expanding society and not be left behind. It will remind you of why you wanted to help people in the first place!

Nutrition by the Experts
31st May 2018
by Dr John Sykes

We ran our very first Nutrition by the Experts event on 31st May at University College London. It was a sell- out event, with some very well-established and well-respected academics and experts in the field of nutrition.

We organised the event so that healthcare professionals could learn more about a key area to lifestyle medicine which is rarely taught at Undergraduate or Postgraduate level. We were able to get some fantastic speakers, all of whom are experts in the research for their chosen talk. These talks covered controversial topics which often arise as questions from patients in consultations and it is important that we as healthcare professionals have evidence-based answers to help and empower patients to make better diet choices.

Professor Bruce Griffin started the day with a fantastic lecture on "good fats and bad fats", which tackled some of the key areas of research around LDL, saturated fat and the importance of the replacement nutrients for saturated fats. Dr Nicola Guess presented on diabetes and the research around very-low calorie diets, and the effects of both low-fat and low-carb diets in diabetes management. Dr Guess also delved into the topic of "the best diet for weight loss" in a separate talk, dismissing some of the recent myths in this area and in particular, identifying the crucial role of patient contact and support from the clinician through the process.

Jenny Rosborough covered "Nutrition and public health", looking at the sugar tax and childhood obesity, and important policy issues relating to price promotions and marketing. Martin MacDonald looked at several myths around nutrition, and how they are becoming dis-empowering messages for the public and healthcare professionals, debunking ideas such as breakfast being the most important meal of the day and eating more often spiking metabolism with clearly presented research.

Dr Dimidi covered the gut microbiome and addressed some key points around FODMAP diets, with some important take home points in relation to patient outcomes. Dr Tony Goldstone looked at the idea of "food addiction", and discussed the complex nature of central control of feeding and energy balance in humans, but confirming there is no evidence for addiction in humans.

We have had some fantastic feedback from the event and we hope to do similar events in the future in London and other locations around the UK.