One of the more popular articles I've posted over the past two years described a hospital's wonderful strategy of prescribing personalized exercise routines for patients -- rather than drugs -- to tame the obesity epidemic naturally and safely. Evidently, the rest of conventional medicine is starting to take notice, and it's about time!

Much of this interesting New York Times feature describes the philosophies of the recently formed American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), a group of physicians who specialize "in the use of therapeutic lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of disease."

Throwing expensive and toxic drugs and treatments at a health problem symptomatically and episodically, without assessing a patient's lifestyle or offering them alternatives to make changes -- part and parcel of the existing and harmful health care paradigm -- is irresponsible and bordering on neglect, says ACLM president Dr. John Kelly, a philosophy I heartily endorse.

The problem: Many doctors don't offer practical, non-drug based treatments because they can't teach patients lifestyle changes they don't do or won't do themselves.

It's interesting how some proponents of lifestyle medicine are all too quick to distinguish this fledgling specialty -- at least in the conventional world -- from alternative solutions, even though patients are flocking to them as a result of taking better responsibility for their own health, and staying away from ridiculous and dangerous drug-based "cures."