Bret Scher M.D.

I admit it: I am a card-carrying preventive cardiologist. But if you’re expecting me to recommend a fistful of prescriptions or surgery to help you reach your best health ever, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. (Unless, of course, you enjoy funding the healthcare industry.) Like many of you, when I was growing up I never had to worry about my health, or my weight, or fitness, or what I ate. My dad always worked out, and as a kid, I’d tag along to the gym with him. As time passed, I moved on from gym workouts to cycling, swimming, running, and by my twenties, competing in Ironman triathlons before they were even popular. Then, real life happened. I graduated from Stanford University and entered Ohio State University’s medical school, followed by my internal medicine residency and a fellowship in cardiology at Scripps Clinic under Dr. Mimi Guarneri’s direction. Those gym visits, long runs and bike rides became a struggle to maintain. Finding time to eat well, stay active, get enough sleep, and handle the stress of a high-stakes job became a constant presence in my life. At the same time, working with Dr. Guarneri accelerated the transformation of my thinking about medicine. I began to see new ways to combine cardiology and preventive medicine into the emerging specialty of integrative medicine. This approach treats the patient as a whole person, not just a collection of risk factors. When I established my own cardiology practice as part of a large, well-known health system in San Diego a few years later, I saw the difficulties we all face in leading healthy lives and the consequences that result. It was clear to me that our healthcare system is full of people suffering from completely preventable diseases. Suddenly, I had a clear mission: to empower all my patients to help themselves, by making the best-informed choices possible about everything from food to activity to sleep to stress management, every single day. After all, the best way to “treat” someone is to prevent the need for treatment in the first place. I’ve since studied extensively in the areas of functional medicine, personal fitness training, and nutrition, adding those certifications to my credentials as a physician. That broadened my perspective, inspiring the development of the six building blocks that form the basis of my lifestyle medicine practice and this book. It is my mission to provide a roadmap to the simple, fact-based principles that offer us a lifetime of wellbeing and a path to your best health ever.