Dr Alka Patel, Founder at Lifestyle First: Using DNA Mapping To Achieve Optimal Health

Lifestyle First provides the tools to amplify health as a skill and an asset so that inspired individuals and bold businesses can create compassionate lifestyle changes for happy healthy living and connected workplace wellness. One of my greatest passions is to empower and equip individuals and organisations to connect with their DNA – discover, notice and activate who they are, what they want and where they are going.

Connect this to your actual DNA – your genetic and epigenetic data – and through Lifestyle First you can map the exact lifestyle changes you need to make for optimal health and happiness, performance and productivity at an individual and a business level.

Personal. Precise. Proactive
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
I’ve been a GP for over 20 years and increasingly started to notice the revolving door of healthcare. Patients constantly coming back to me, increasingly dependent on me and my prescriptions, wanting pills to fix their symptoms before doing anything else. But pills are not the answer to a life of health and happiness. Lifestyle is. The way we move, eat, sleep, connect, relax – this is what lies at the root of health and what we should focus on first. And hence the name of the company, Lifestyle First.

From that I evolved my blueprint – the L.I.F.E.S.T.Y.L.E. FIRST METHOD, an acronym for the 10 key roots of health and happiness – life’s purpose, identity, food, exercise, sleep, time out, your connections, learn habits, emotion. A proven approach for optimal health based on my extensive reading, research and experience and my lifelong passion for blending science and art. And through my podcast, The L.I.F.E.S.T.Y.L.E. FIRST Podcast I turn knowledge into action with short bite-sized episodes providing research-based lifestyle actions.
 

What advice would you give to other aspiring female entrepreneurs?

 
Very simply, take your dreams seriously.

What you dream today, becomes your reality tomorrow.

There are 6 questions I answer every morning, before stepping out of bed:

D: what DIFFERENCE do I want to make to someone today?

R: how READY am I for the day ahead?

E: what ENERGY do I want to radiate today?

A: what ASSETS and skills do I want to sharpen today?

M: how MOTIVATED do I feel today?

S: what SELF-CARE needs do I need to focus on today?

Living with intention each day, focused on your aspirations and dreams is what moves you in the exact direction you want to go in, whatever undercurrents or tsunamis come your way. With a dose of humility and courage you can surf the waves.
 

What can we hope to see from Lifestyle First in the future?

 
I’m just launching a video advent calendar where your daily treat is better health.

This year, health has been on our agenda more so than ever. There is no denying that health is the nucleus of everything. Our work, finances, relationships, mind and body revolve around our health. And it’s small changes in lifestyle that provide huge returns in health. I wanted to create something that everyone is able to benefit from, and what better way of doing that at this time of year than an advent calendar with a difference. There is no greater gift than the gift of health.

In the New Year I’ll be opening the doors to My Lifestyle First Academy – the key training platform to learn how to create lifestyle skills to transform your life.

And I’m also embedding health as a key business asset for employee wellbeing with my Lifestyle First 365 membership services – you might be used to having a health check with your doctor, but you need to get right to the root of health with a lifestyle check. You’ve heard of IQ and EQ – watch out for LQ!