Melissa Turner

01/31/2024

Yesterday marked the beginning of Season for Nonviolence 2024. An annual commemoration beginning on January 30 marking the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and ending on April 4 marking the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Together their lives and work exemplified the message of love and nonviolence Jesus Christ called us all to in his “Sermon on the Mount.” In what ways can we meet this challenge to live out this kind of extraordinary love in all aspects of our lives and more fully pursue nonviolence as a way of life like never before? Let’s find creative ways to plant more seeds of love in our lives this season.

On our partner publication, BeMagazine.org, we featured our dear friend, the late Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and global figure who carried on the legacy of his grandfather’s philosophy of nonviolence, and his TEDx talk “Nonviolence or Nonexistence,” a very timely message that we believe is the perfect challenge as we kick off Season for Nonviolence 2024. It is truly a must-see video for everyone who has a heart for “being the change we wish to see in the world.”

Watch Arun Gandhi’s TEDx talk here —> http://tinyurl.com/3sbcxb25

06/01/2023

“A New Kind of Medicine" is emerging. It’s not really all that 'new,' it’s simply that we as a culture and society are looking at healthcare from a 're-newed' perspective focused on pursuing the new model of proactive, preventative, and restorative 'health' care as opposed to the old model of reactive 'sick' care.

There will be growing pains. The last three years, we have been experiencing the results of the broken healthcare system that were further magnified by the Covid-19 global pandemic. From the rising costs of healthcare to the inadequacy of the system to keep up with supply and demand, now more than ever before, there seems to be a collective longing for something better.

Already there are visionaries who are showing the way forward through their research and their evidence-based new models for healthcare that include Whole Food Plant Based nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine as key components, and ultimately the results and the patient outcomes speak for themselves.

Meanwhile, the field of Lifestyle Medicine is emerging as the frontline of change in medicine, health, and wellness. As one of the newest Board Certifications available to Physicians, Lifestyle Medicine is all about empowering people with "A Way of Life" that is good medicine itself.

When Lifestyle Medicine is combined with the gifts of modern science, medicine, and faith, this way of life is empowering patients and equipping Doctors and Healthcare Providers, Health Coaches, Chefs, and Health & Wellness Entrepreneurs to lead us into "A New Kind of Medicine" that helps people transform their health and the health of the planet too.

It's all about reinventing healthcare through Lifestyle Medicine and empowering patients to pursue health as a way of life for the rest of their lives.

I invite you to join me as we are on a journey to uncover this way of life, to learn from it and live it, to teach others and help guide the way, and to build a community where we experience the transformation together.

Melissa Turner
Writer & Journalist
Vegan, Plant Based, Lifestyle Medicine Coach
Founder, Hidden Valley Wellness
Co-Founder and Co-Editor, BeMagazine.org

06/14/2022

Eating a bowl full of cherries and strawberries this evening while I read Dr. Saray Stancic's book on Lifestyle Medicine. This truly is the future of medicine, and as Dr. Stancic puts it: “[Lifestyle medicine] is not in opposition or contrary to mainstream medicine. In my view, lifestyle medicine is what is missing in clinical medicine, and I absolutely believe that combining mainstream medical practices with lifestyle medicine has the potential to usher in a new era of sustainable health-care systems, revolutionize how we deal with chronic illness, and redefine our cultural view of health in general.” Boom. Mic drop. 🎤

06/13/2022

Hard choices = Easy Life

Easy Choices = Hard Life

Growing up the daughter of a Green Beret Army Medic, I’ve learned firsthand the theory and practice of discipline, order, and structure in life and work. This simple little infographic really resonated with me this weekend as I reflected on the work I want to do in this world to help people transform their health and the health of our planet. It’s true: hard choices create an easy life. Easy choices create a hard life. Think about it.



Infographic reposted from

12/06/2021

Why are heart attacks on the rise among young people 40 and under? It has been said this will be the first generation to not outlive their parents and the solution all comes down to preventable lifestyle choices related to:

-meat and dairy consumption
-processed and fast foods
-sedentary lifestyles, inactivity, and sitting too much
-environmental factors and toxins
-stress, isolation, and lack of community and healthy coping mechanisms
-increased use of risky substances like drugs, alcohol, and to***co

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-are-heart-attacks-on-the-rise-in-young-people/

Findings highlight the importance of prevention

12/05/2021

There is a new way of life emerging, a new kind of medicine, moving from sick care to true health care, empowering patients to partner with their healthcare providers in preventing chronic disease and increasing health and longevity through lifestyle medicine. It’s all about helping people transform their health and the health of the planet.