Long Beach, CA (PRWEB) October 16, 2013
Elements Behavioral Health welcomes nutrition and fitness expert, physician, scientist and New York Times best-selling author Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, as its Senior Science Advisor. In this role, Dr. Peeke will incorporate the cutting-edge new science associated with food, addiction and binge eating into Elements’ family of addiction and mental health treatment programs[1] .
Dr. Peeke is board certified in internal medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Sports Medicine. A rarity among physicians, she is a Pew Foundation Scholar in nutrition and metabolism, which she completed at the University of California at Davis. While a senior research fellow at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Peeke helped identify the relationship between chronic stress and excess fat inside the abdomen. She was also the first Senior Research Science Fellow at the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine.
Dr. Peeke is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Fight Fat after Forty, Body for Life, and Fit to Live. Her newest New York Times bestseller is The Hunger Fix: The Three-Stage Detox and Recovery Plan for Overeating and Food Addiction, the first consumer book describing the new science of food and addiction and detailing a holistic, integrative plan for lifelong recovery.
Dr. Peeke is the recipient of many national awards from the fitness, spa and wellness industry. She is the author of numerous academic articles including her work as senior editor of the women's health section of the new edition of the text Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Peeke[2] serves as national spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine's Exercise is Medicine global initiative. She has been recognized by the National Library of Medicine as one of America’s leading physicians in its touring exhibition, The Changing Face of Medicine. Dr. Peeke is WebMD's lifestyle expert and the chief medical correspondent for nutrition and fitness at Discovery Health TV. She is also featured on the award-winning National Body Challenge series, and is the host of the Could You Survive? series. A regular media commentator, Dr. Peeke is co-host of RadioMD's weekly HER Radio Show and is a TED conference speaker.
“I am very excited about partnering with Elements, a national network dedicated to evidence-based treatment and the highest level of professional training among its teams,” said Dr. Peeke. “Applying new science to help individuals with addictions and mental health disorders is a natural extension of the work I’ve done with food, addiction and binge eating for the past 20 years.”
At each of Elements’ residential addiction treatment programs nationwide, Dr. Peeke will help develop integrative mind-body and nutrition programs using her trademark mind-mouth-muscle template. These programs will address the interrelationship between binge eating and food addiction as well as the potential for addiction transfer (e.g., switching from addictive drugs to addictive foods), using a science-based approach. Dr. Peeke will address the common challenges of early recovery, such as weight gain, and help clients develop healthy, sustainable lifestyle habits that support lifelong recovery.
“An integrative approach is critical to achieve optimal wellness,” explained Dr. Peeke. “Science shows that by optimizing mental function, nutritional status and physical activity, individuals are better able to repair the damage caused by addiction, both in the brain’s reward center as well as the prefrontal cortex, which houses executive function.”
Dr. Peeke will work directly with the chefs, dietitians and other nutrition professionals to optimize client nutrition.
“The majority of people who come to residential addiction treatment are malnourished. Regardless of how much they weigh, during active addiction nutrition generally gets neglected,” said Dr. Peeke. “Some of our goals are to help people in recovery establish an optimal nutritional status and teach them how to sustain it for life.”
“Nutrition and physical activity are critical in every stage of addiction recovery, from restoring physical health following detox to preventing cross addiction in early recovery to maintaining a healthy lifestyle as part of relapse prevention planning,” said Dr. David Sack, CEO of Elements Behavioral Health. “With Dr. Peeke guiding our nutrition and wellness programming, our clients will be equipped with even more of the skills they need to not only live drug-free but to live well.”
About Elements Behavioral Health
Elements Behavioral Health is a family of behavioral health care programs that includes Promises Treatment Centers, The Ranch, The Sexual Recovery Institute, The Recovery Place, Spirit Lodge and Right Step. Elements offers comprehensive, innovative treatment for substance abuse, sexual addiction, trauma, eating disorders and other mental health disorders. We are committed to delivering clinically sophisticated treatment that promotes permanent lifestyle change, not only for the patient but for the entire family system. For more information about Elements Behavioral Health, visit http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com[3] .
References
- ^ Addiction and Mental Health Treatment (www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com)
- ^ Dr. Peeke (www.drpeeke.com)
- ^ http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com (www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com)
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