Mechelle Acero Palma, MD
The Search for a Cure
I was 14 years old when my family hosted a community-based medical mission with foreign Adventist medical missionary worker students from the United States. As I observed their engagement with the community through the use of natural remedies and lifestyle modifications, I determined to pursue a career in medicine to emulate their approach.
My lack of knowledge about the practices of those medical missionary workers influenced my decision, leading me to explore alternative fields beyond conventional medicine. I obtained certifications in natural remedies and other modalities, but I was still looking for a field that connected evidence based practice, a root cause approach, and community engaged interventions that truly mitigate the modern chronic disease burden. Eventually, I found what I was looking for through lifestyle medicine.
From sickness to health
My mother suffered from a heart condition for many years. By the time I was nine years old her condition worsened to the point that she was depressed and spent most of the day in bed. She fainted frequently and was unable to sleep without being propped up on pillows.
Our family ate mostly processed meat, seafood, and a few vegetables. We drank soda and juice instead of water. My mother finally became so ill she refused anything but water. Her once-large, edematous legs started to shrink. I thought she was dying, but in reality she had begun to recover.
A lady came to live in our home and help my mother. None of us, including her, were Seventh-day Adventists, but she knew a lot about natural remedies. She prepared simply seasoned vegetables for my mom and then for my siblings and I, but that just made us sick! Change isn’t easy, but over time we adapted to the new diet and lifestyle, and amazingly, my mom recovered.
Newfound faith
A church member from a nearby Adventist church facilitated a Bible study with my parents and they readily decided to be baptized. We began medical missionary work in a mountainous region where the needs were great. Although my parents weren’t medically trained, many people came to them for help. Their lack of formal medical education led to discriminatory treatment, however. For this reason I determined that I would someday become a doctor myself, trained and licensed to treat people using the principles of health I had learned. I aspired to obtain complete credentials, ensuring that the medical advice I provided would garner respect.
In medical school there was no emphasis on lifestyle intervention as the primary approach for treating non-communicable diseases. In choosing a specialty I sought a field where I could learn more about the underlying cause of disease and its treatment. The only training I found that was close to lifestyle intervention was complementary medicine, promoted under the Philippine Department of Health. However, some pathophysiology and treatment methods differed significantly from my training and personal beliefs. For this reason I continued my search for a link between natural remedies and conventional medicine, something that would connect evidence based practice and a root cause approach to move the patients away from the traditional routine of sickness, polypharmacy, and mortality.
Solid ground
A family friend told me about the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, but I could not find any lifestyle medicine training program in Asia. Initially my focus was culinary medicine with the Natural Gourmet Institute and two other universities that pioneered this field of practice. I was also blessed to attend lifestyle medicine conferences hosted by Harvard University and finally connected with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
For the first time I felt like my feet were on solid ground. Lifestyle medicine was the missing link in my medical practice. I knew that the Lord was directing my search. I felt convicted to return to the United States for more training. I immersed myself in different lifestyle centers, and then I found Black Hills Health and Education Center, which offered a lifestyle medicine residential program. I prayed and the Lord opened the doors for me to go. What a surprise to learn that Black Hills was run by Seventh-day Adventists, and that my mentors were Dr. Kelly, the founding president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and Dr. Hans Diehl, the founder of the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP)!
I prayed for sufficient finances to train in lifestyle medicine abroad. God worked a miracle for me. A few hours before my flight to the U.S., our bank manager called and guaranteed the clearance of a check deposited in our account. The amount was enough to sustain my trip. My husband and I work with government agencies, and we do routinely receive funds from these agencies, and so we thought that check was a routine payment. But when I went back home after the training, we received a call informing us that the check I used to finance my trip was mistakenly deposited in our account. Then the agency gave us a project corresponding to the amount we received, so we did not have to pay it back. The Lord used the bank and the government agency to help me pursue my training.
The Lifestyle Medicine Competency Course (LMCC) was also included in my immersion training, which enabled me to take and pass the inaugural board examination in lifestyle medicine. And through the recommendations and the mentorship given by Drs. Kelly and Diehl, I offered to volunteer for the lifestyle medicine international community.
Open doors
Volunteerism eventually paved the way for me to get involved with many professional organizations promoting lifestyle medicine education and practice. With the guidance of my mentors, we reorganized and formalized the Philippine College of Lifestyle Medicine for physicians and managed to be accredited as one ofthe newest medical specialty societies in the country. Together with my colleagues, we also crafted the curriculum for a Master of Public Health degree with a major in lifestyle medicine; four classes of graduates have completed this training so far.
Countless privileges were also offered to me. I was asked to serve as a member of the team that updates the worldwide lifestyle medicine competencies for both foundational and intensivist certification. I also have had the privilege of working with colleagues who opened a lifestyle medicine subspecialty training program in three hospitals, including the largest government hospital in the Philippines. We are currently pursuing collaboration with government operated hospitals and primary care facilities to offer lifestyle medicine education to healthcare providers. We are also strong in the campaign of including lifestyle medicine competencies in undergraduate medical education and interprofessional curricula.
These activities all led to an invitation to present at a Global Lifestyle Medicine Leadership Forum held in February 2024, in Doha, Qatar. Participating organizations included the leaders of lifestyle medicine societies around the world, the World Health Organization and the United Nations. I was asked to speak on the topic, “Rethinking global lifestyle medicine competencies.”
I was the last speaker to talk. The crowd was composed of eloquent and renowned experts. Being Filipina as well as one of the youngest presenters, I sensed my inferiority. But as I meditated and asked the Lord for wisdom to know just what to say, He answered my prayer.
I was so nervous when I stood to speak, I was shaking, but the Lord blessed my presentation, and I finished within the allotted timeframe. I shared what we are doing in our country, and how we established professional competencies for various levels of training. At this conference I realized that we are the only lifestyle medicine society in the world implementing the complete components of competency-based medical education training in the field of lifestyle medicine. At the Doha meeting I also explained why I personally believe we need to start health education and health enculturation among the pediatric population by sharing this story:
Start early
As a medical missionary physician, I was trained by my parents to deliver simple health education materials that can be easily digested by the community we serve. In 2013, we adopted a school from one of the fourth-class municipalities in the province of Iloilo with a lot of undernourished, underperforming kids who didn’t have a dependable food supply at home. They would go to school with an empty stomach. At the school we started an integrated culinary medicine program, organic gardening, taught lifestyle medicine for grades 1-6 pupils, including the parents and teachers.
Because of the garden the school was able to feed children the meals they couldn’t get at home. The children learned to produce their own food by implementing the skills of composting, germinating, growing, harvesting, and food preparation. I also brought the children to my teaching kitchen, where they learned how to make soy milk and soy patties; everything we served was plant based. Because of this initiative, with the untiring effort of the school head and teachers, the support of the parents, and the interest of the children, nutrition and academic concerns were addressed. The program became known as a sustainable, innovative program; the children were even invited to join a cooking competition where they beat college and university competitors simply because the food they prepared was anchored with health principles with evident positive impact to their school—and it was all plant based!
The secretary general of the Philippine Department of Education and one of the honorable senators visited the school and invited me to share information about the program, which became a benchmark for other public schools to follow. The children were not only fed with nutritious and endogenously produced food, but the health enculturation was also instilled in them. When we initiate this process with children, it leaves a lasting impression on them.
The response
When I finished sharing the Philippine initiative at the Doha forum, the audience gave a standing ovation. In my heart I said, “Thank you, Lord, thank you!” God heard my prayer. I had simply presented God’s plan for education, and that worldly audience of renowned scientists and physicians saw something in it that reached their hearts.
Many times, after I speak publicly, people will come up to me and ask, “Are you a Seventh-day Adventist?” I never speak of it, but they ask me. And every time I hear that question, I thank the Lord.
Looking ahead
We operate two corporations in the Philippines where we train healthcare providers, including training in the lifestyle medicine immersion program. Our goal is to provide experiential learning that will make a positive impact on the trainee’s lifestyle so they can be an example to their patients. Over 95% of our trainees come from different religious and cultural backgrounds than our own.
As trainees personally experience the benefits of the program, they come to see the value of true, holistic health. On Sabbath, the last day of the immersion program, we emphasize self care and spirituality. We encourage our trainees to share their gratitude journal and reflections on how their perspective on living their lives and practicing as healthcare providers has changed. We share materials with them such as Steps to Christ and the Great Controversy. My prayer is that somehow, somewhere, they will meet people that will let them further understand God’s purpose for their lives.
Recently we broke ground for the construction of a lifestyle medicine center with a home like atmosphere on 45 hectares of land in Western Visayas where the sweetest mangoes grow. This is called the Blue Zone Project, a community that will provide the architecture conducive for people to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The facility will serve two groups: patients who need a longer residential program, as well as health care providers who need intensive training in the field of lifestyle medicine.
My prayer for the future is that lifestyle medicine will be placed where it is truly needed—at all levels of educational curricula and primary health care; that as it is used to prevent, arrest, and reverse the chronic disease burden, it will become a winsome way to introduce God’s methods of healing.
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