Dr. Dawn Woods, PharmD, DipACLM is one of our newest Walk with Doc leaders in Birmingham, Alabama. Last year, Dr. Woods began to feel a lack of energy while juggling her job as a pharmacist, raising two kids, and navigating the global pandemic from the standpoint of both roles.

Wanting to lose a bit of weight and get her energy back, Dr. Woods knew she had to make a change but was reluctant to try dieting after past efforts hadn’t worked long term.

“This time, I really wanted to learn what it means to be healthy and develop a lifestyle where I don’t have to worry about getting any kind of chronic diseases. Luckily, I stumbled across the lifestyle medicine movement,” she said.

Lifestyle Medicine is a health discipline that focuses on behavioral interventions that can prevent and even reverse many chronic diseases. The six pillars include a focus on a whole-food, plant-based predominant diet, physical exercise, stress management, sleep, avoidance of risky substances, and social connectedness.

After implementing what she learned, Dr. Woods lost 40 pounds and felt her energy levels bounce back. This personal experience with lifestyle medicine led her to pursue her true passion: helping people lead healthier lifestyles and happier lives by being the best, healthiest version of themselves. She opted to become a Certified Health and Wellness Life Coach and a Certified Vegan (Whole Food, Plant-Based) Nutrition Health Coach. Empowered to do more with her doctorate, she also decided to get her board certification with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and learned about Walk with a Doc in one of her training sessions.

“I wanted to join a chapter here locally, but to my surprise, there wasn’t one. I reached out to them and they were super excited about me wanting to lead a walk and another local doctor, Dr. Noah Gudel, was also interested. So we got together and decided to get it started.”

Today, you can walk with Dr. Woods at East Pinson Valley Rec Center every third Saturday of the month to get some steps in, learn about health, and make new friends. If you’re not local to Birmingham, check out our many locations around the world here to find one in your area.

Watch Talk of Alabama’s full interview with Dr. Dawn Woods here.

For more information on Dr. Dawn Woods’ Walk with a Doc chapter, visit their chapter page here or follow them on Facebook.