Diabetes and Cardiovascular Wellness Program at Bastyr

If you have type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol or another heart problem, are you doing all you can to maximize your health? If not, perhaps it’s because you aren’t aware of all of the latest options. That’s why Bastyr Center for Natural Health developed a specific service just for these conditions, called the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Wellness Program. This program is designed to help you be as healthy as you can be by providing education about your condition, comprehensive lifestyle guidance, and recommendations for supplemental nutritional and botanical treatments.

While you might not have thought to associate diabetes and cardiovascular problems before, in addition to medical correlations, what the two diseases have in common is the power people have to control and prevent them. Significant research has shown that diet and lifestyle modifications are more effective in the prevention of type 2 diabetes than early pharmaceutical care. Large clinical research studies also show that lifestyle modifications decrease the incidence of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems.

Dr. Ryan Bradley, the program’s principal provider, recognized the need for evidence-based prevention and complementary care during his studies at Bastyr University. “I witnessed firsthand patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease who could make a significant impact on their health,” he says. But the loophole Dr. Bradley saw in routine care was the lack of emphasis on disease prevention, education, and the choices patients can make toward improving their own health. The Center’s new program makes this emphasis, offering not only treatment but also ongoing support.

As a patient in the program, you will implement strategies tailored specifically to you, which may include exercise, specific food and diet recommendations, nutritional supplements, stress reduction, botanical medicines, and other treatments. The first appointment includes a comprehensive history and physical exam, as well as a review of prior records and tests. Clinicians may order more lab tests to identify or rule out common conditions or deficiencies that frequently occur with diabetes and/or heart disease. In the follow-up appointment, additional treatment options will be discussed. The program is designed to work either collaboratively with your existing health care provider or independently as your primary care provider.

Who should schedule an appointment for the program? Those with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and those interested in learning more about their risk for these diseases and wanting preventive medical care. To get started in the program, call 206.834.4100 to make an appointment.

How Common are Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease?
Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans and affects over 70 million Americans, according to the American Heart Association.

Approximately 41 million Americans have pre-diabetes, and 58 percent of those people are capable of avoiding diabetes or delaying its onset, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Heart disease is often a complication of diabetes -- one that causes 65 percent of deaths in those with diabetes.

Sources: American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Ryan Bradley, ND
Writers: Sydney Maupin and Christy Anderson, staff writers