Hello and welcome!
I’m Dr. Rania Dempsey. I am a lifestyle medicine physician and mom with a passion for sharing research-supported healthy living practices and recipes with my friends, family, patients, and you! As a mother, I want to inspire you to do the best you can for yourself and your family in and out of the kitchen. As a physician, I want to help you sift through the confusion about health on the internet. Most of all, I want to inform and empower your lifestyle health.
My guiding values are authenticity and compassion. I believe that whole health doesn’t come from pills, surgery, or even from rigidly adhering to a prescribed diet and exercise plan, but rather that true health exists in attending to emotional, relational, spiritual, environmental and physical well-being. This belief led me to lifestyle medicine.
What is Lifestyle Medicine?
Lifestyle medicine is among the fastest growing field of medicine, and aims to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease through evidence-based lifestyle approaches, such as exercise, whole food plant-based nutrition, meditation and mindfulness, sleep, social connection, and time in nature.
About Me
The field of “lifestyle medicine” did not formally exist when I was embarking on a career, so I spent the first 16 years after graduating from high school in more school, pursuing skills and experiences that took me closer to what I felt compelled to do, but couldn’t yet actualize.
I graduated from Kalamazoo College with a degree in psychology, then earned a Medical Doctor degree (MD) from the University of Chicago. I completed my internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University, then completed a fellowship in Sports Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
During these grueling years, I saw firsthand how an active, healthy lifestyle had kept me both fit and sane throughout residency training, and I knew that I wanted to bring exercise prescription, healthy eating, and other lifestyle approaches to my internal medicine practice. I also realized that, unfortunately, prescribing non-drug interventions to prevent, treat, and reverse disease was considered by many to be outside the norm. I decided I needed additional expertise in conducting and analyzing medical research in order to back up my non-traditional approach with hard data. I went back to school to pursue an Academic Research Fellowship in Primary Care at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and then to earn a postdoctoral Master of Science degree in Epidemiology.
In the meantime, I had met my husband, Pat, gotten married, and had my 3 beautiful babies. After my second was born, I took a break from clinical practice but was able to stay involved professionally through teaching and volunteering. I learned what every mom learns: from parenting approaches, to making homemade baby food, to vaccinations, there’s a ton of conflicting and confusing information out there! I used the skills I’d gained in analyzing medical research to sift through all the confusion and make informed, research-supported choices for my family.
After being mostly home with the kids for several years and feeling ready to resume more professional-outside-the-home activities, I discovered the field of lifestyle medicine: exactly what I had been wanting in my traditional practice! In 2013 I started a small solo lifestyle medicine practice, and by 2017 I had completed the Lifestyle Medicine Core Competencies Course and was among the first approximately 250 physicians in the world to become Board Certified in lifestyle medicine.
What to Expect
I love to share what I know about healthy living, and here on my site you’ll find practical strategies for incorporating whole-health practices into your daily life. I’ll give you my unbiased view and want you to trust my perspective, so I will always be honest and objective with you. I’ll never publish a sponsored article or post. You won’t find any ads on this website. I won’t recommend a product unless I personally use it and love it. Why? Because research proves that these things make doctors less objective.
Life can be messy, stressful, and chaotic – there’s no denying that! But let’s embrace the beautiful imperfections of this life with authenticity and compassion. It’s my hope that you find this site a wellness resource that empowers your whole health.
