Lifestyle Medicine & Food As Medicine Essentials Course 

Nonmember price

Nonmember: $220

Member price

Physician/Doctor: $175

Non-Doctoral Health Professional Member: $150

Student/Trainee Member: $95

CME Credits
5.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
(Full accreditation information listed below)

Deadline for course registration and completion is September 14, 2025. (Complimentary enrollment will be available as long as licenses are available.)

Description 

The Lifestyle Medicine & Food as Medicine Essentials Course provides a foundational, evidence-based introduction to the field, and focused nutrition education for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. 

This course bundle consists of three modules, four presentations and 5.5 hours of content. 

  • Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine module (1 hour) 
  • Food as Medicine: Nutrition for Prevention and Longevity module (3 hours) 
  • Food as Medicine: Nutrition for Treatment and Risk Reduction module (1.5 hours)

In support of improving patient care, Rush University Medical Center is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 

 

For Medicine: Rush University Medical Center designates enduring material for a maximum of 5.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.   

For Nursing: Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 5.50 nursing contact hour(s).   

For Pharmacy: Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based enduring material for a maximum of 5.50 contact hour(s) for pharmacists.   

For Psychologists: Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 5.50 CE credits in psychology.  

For Dieticians: This enduring material has been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration for 5.50 CPEUs.  

For Social Work: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Rush University Medical Center is approved to offer social work continuing education buy the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved continuing education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 5.50 general continuing education credits.   

For physical therapy or occupational therapy: Rush University is an approved provider for physical therapy/occupational therapy by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University designates this enduring material for a maximum of 5.50 continuing education credits for physical therapists/ occupational therapists.   

ABIM MOC: Successful completion of this activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 5.50 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participation completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.  

AAFP Prescribed Credits: The AAFP has reviewed Lifestyle Medicine & Food as Medicine Essentials Course Bundle and deemed it acceptable for up to 5.50 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credits. Term of Approval is from 09/15/2023 to 09/15/2024. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™ toward the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award. When applying for the AMA PRA, Prescribed credit earned must be reported as Prescribed, not as Category 1. 

ABLM MOC: The American Board of Lifestyle Medicine has approved 5.5 maintenance of certification credits (MOC) for this learning activity.  

For NBC-HWCs: The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) has approved 5.5 continuing education credits for this learning activity: CE-000109-1. 

As a provider of continuing education, Rush University Medical Center asks everyone who has the ability to control or influence the content of an educational activity to disclose information about all of their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. There is no minimum financial threshold; individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies. Individuals must disclose regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. Mechanisms are in place to identify and mitigate any potential conflicts of interest prior to the start of the activity. All information disclosed must be shared with the participants/learners prior to the start of the educational activity.   

Unapproved Uses of Drugs/Devices: In accordance with requirements of the FDA, the audience is advised that information presented in this continuing medical education activity may contain references to unlabeled or unapproved uses of drugs or devices. Please refer to the FDA approved package insert for each drug/device for full prescribing/utilization information.   

The course director(s), planner(s), faculty, and reviewer(s) of this activity have no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose. 

Description: 

Lifestyle change, as an essential treatment intervention to addressing chronic disease, is increasing among physicians and health professionals internationally. Lifestyle, once recognized as an essential prevention strategy, is now acknowledged as a foundational and efficacious treatment approach for a redesigned healthcare system for improved outcomes, lower costs, and improved patient satisfaction. In this course, the 2020-2022 ACLM President, Cate Collings, MD, MS, FACC, DipABLM, defines lifestyle medicine, discusses the evidence base, explains six key interventions, and demonstrates how lifestyle medicine has the power to treat and often reverse disease and provide a solution for real health care reform. 

Learning Objectives 
At the conclusion, participants will be able to: 

  • Define lifestyle medicine. 
  • Discuss the importance and timeliness of lifestyle medicine. 
  • Review evidence and current endorsements and guidelines for lifestyle medicine. 
  • Illustrate six key interventions to treat lifestyle-related chronic conditions. 
  • Explore unique components of a lifestyle medicine practice. 
  • Describe opportunities to train and certify in lifestyle medicine. 
  • Discuss the emerging priorities for lifestyle medicine. 

Description: 

Diet has been identified as the single most important risk factor for morbidity and mortality in the United States, yet most health care providers spend relatively few hours learning about nutrition during their formal training. The limited nutrition education that is offered in medical and health professional programs is often primarily didactic and focused on the biochemistry of nutrients and health consequences of deficiency states—content that is of limited use in a clinical setting where the majority of the population faces over-nutrition due to high intake of ultra-processed, calorie-dense, high saturated fat-laden foods. This Food as Medicine: Nutrition for Prevention and Longevity course is designed to serve as a nutrition educational opportunity that will:   

  • Review the current challenges in nutrition research and the challenges of disseminating accurate nutrition information to the public. 
  • Explain national and global nutrition recommendations and basic nutrition principles. 
  • Distinguish differences between health-promoting and health-harming foods. 
  • Describe the dietary pattern recommended by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine for disease prevention, treatment and reversal. 
  • Apply the concept of the dietary spectrum when making nutrition recommendations. 
  • Apply nutrition therapy scope of practice. 
  • Review the scientific evidence of popular diets. 

Description
This Food as Medicine course session will provide an overview of the scientific evidence on food groups and dietary patterns for treatment and risk reduction of common lifestyle-related conditions, with a focus on cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, cancer prevention, and obesity. The session also includes a brief review of carbohydrates, fats, and protein in relation to chronic disease, as well as a discussion of practical approaches to nutrition counseling. 

Learning Objectives: 

At the conclusion, participants will be able to: 

  • Describe dietary patterns that have been shown to be effective in the treatment and risk reduction of common lifestyle-related chronic diseases  
  • Discuss how diet behaviors impact chronic disease development and progression   
  • Identify ways in which different macronutrient sources may contribute to disease progression or improvement   
  • Explore basic counseling strategies for dietary behavior change