The doctor will see you for longer

Private clinics that aim to help us before chronic diseases set in are emerging - for those who can afford them.

- NICKY PELLEGRINO

Working as a GP can sometimes feel like fighting a losing battle, says Christchurch doctor Olivia Currie.

Seeing younger patients who are prediabetic or have high blood pressure, and knowing their health is likely to worsen, making them more reliant on medication, can leave GPs wondering what else they could possibly do.

"In the past decade, I've had type 2 diabetic patients in their mid-to-late teens and seen strokes and heart attacks in 20-year-olds," says Currie.

Wanting to help flatten the curve of chronic disease in New Zealand, she shifted her focus and is now a lifestyle medicine doctor working with a team of health professionals specialising in diet, mental health, exercise and medication assessment at Christchurch's Real Healthy Me clinic.

Lifestyle medicine is a relatively new field that works to treat the whole person by changing behaviours to prevent chronic diseases or even reverse them. At Real Healthy Me, clients of all ages get an evidence-based personalised plan to help tackle any health concerns. Some might need to add more nutritious foods to their daily diet, sleep better or move more.