Project Remission: New Film Series Highlights Lifestyle Medicine for Type 2 Diabetes Reversal

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has announced the launch of a new national digital film series designed to highlight evidence-based strategies for achieving remission of type 2 diabetes. Titled Project Remission: A Lifestyle Medicine Approach to Type 2 Diabetes, the initiative was developed in partnership with Content With Purpose (CWP). The series premiered during a live webinar featuring experts in the field at noon CT on March 30, 2026, with the full series launching digitally at the same time.

Addressing the Diabetes Crisis

The launch comes at a critical time for public health in the United States. According to the initiative’s background data, nearly half of U.S. Adults are living with diabetes or prediabetes. These conditions contribute to approximately $412.9 billion in annual health care costs. The ACLM states that the need for scalable, sustainable solutions has never been greater. Lifestyle medicine offers a whole-person, evidence-based clinical framework that addresses the root causes of chronic disease through therapeutic lifestyle interventions.

Lifestyle medicine is defined as a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions. These conditions include, but are not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. By applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine, clinicians are trained to deliver prescriptive, evidence-based lifestyle behavior change to treat, reverse, and prevent chronic disease.

The six pillars include a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, connectedness, and avoidance of risky substances. Project Remission aims to elevate this standard of care by showcasing clinicians, health systems, and organizations who are integrating lifestyle medicine into real-world practice settings.

Series Content and Clinical Goals

The digital series utilizes short-form documentaries featuring actual patients recounting their health journeys. It also includes expert interviews and practical implementation insights. The content demonstrates how appropriately dosed lifestyle interventions can support patients in achieving remission of type 2 diabetes. Beyond improving clinical outcomes, the initiative notes that this approach improves patient satisfaction and provider well-being, provides cost savings, and advances health equity. These goals align with the Quintuple Aim.

Too often, chronic disease like type 2 diabetes is managed as a condition that patients must live with indefinitely. At the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, we believe remission-for type 2 diabetes and many other chronic conditions-should be the North Star outcome guiding care. The strong alignment among our partners involved in this project reflects a shared vision of moving beyond symptom control toward health restoration, extended quality of life and a more sustainable future for patients and health systems alike.

Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, CPE, President, American College of Lifestyle Medicine

By focusing on modifiable risk factors and taking into consideration upstream drivers of health, lifestyle medicine provides a framework for a redesigned, equitable, and high-value health care delivery system. Max Smith, founder and managing director at Content With Purpose, emphasized the urgency of the project.

Project Remission reflects the urgency and opportunity before us. We are honored to collaborate with ACLM to spotlight clinicians, health systems, and patients who are demonstrating that remission of type 2 diabetes is achievable through evidence-based lifestyle interventions and how these people’s lives are forever improved. These stories show what is possible when we address the root cause of chronic disease and empower both clinicians and patients with practical, science-backed tools.

Max Smith, founder and managing director at Content With Purpose

Partner Organizations and Experts

The series features contributions from a wide range of partner organizations. These groups represent various sectors of the health and wellness industry, including health systems, universities, and corporate partners.

• AdventHealth
• Albertsons Companies
• Ardmore Institute of Health
• Blue Shield of California
• Blue Zones Health
• Cecelia Health
• Cronometer
• Hospital for Special Surgery
• Keck Graduate Institute
• Kellyn
• ModifyHealth
• My Viva Inc.
• National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
• Point Loma Narazene University
• University of Mississippi Medical Center
• USC School of Medicine Greenville

In addition to organizational partners, the series includes interviews with leading experts in the field of lifestyle medicine and endocrinology. These experts provide clinical context and professional insights into the implementation of lifestyle interventions.

• Ed J. Stein, PharmD, MPH, DipACLM, consulting pharmacist, Modern Health Goals
• Josie Bidwell, DNP, RN, FNP-C, DipACLM, FACLM, professor & clinical director, Department of Preventive Medicine, director, Office of Well-being, University of Mississippi Medical Center
• Eduardo J. Sanchez, MD, MPH, FAHA, chief medical officer for prevention, American Heart Association
• Mahima Gulati, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, board-certified endocrinologist, UConn Health
• Michelle McMacken, MD, FACP, DipABLM, executive director of nutrition and lifestyle medicine, NYC Health + Hospitals
• Wayne Dysinger, MD, MPH, DipABLM, FACLM, chief medical officer, Blue Zones Health

Implementation and Education

In addition to highlighting clinical outcomes, Project Remission explores the implementation models making this work possible. Topics include dedicated lifestyle medicine clinics, interprofessional care delivery teams, group visits, and reimbursement strategies that support long-term sustainability. The series also includes a dedicated explainer film clarifying the clinical definition of remission in the context of type 2 diabetes. This film explains how remission differs from reversal and disease management, ensuring consistency with evidence-based standards.

Three in-depth case studies from the Borinquen Medical Center, the LEADR Program, and Florida State University further demonstrate how lifestyle medicine is being applied in diverse care settings to support patients in achieving remission. Together, these components reinforce ACLM’s commitment to filling the longstanding gap in lifestyle medicine education across pre- and post-professional training.

Mahima Gulati, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, associate professor of medicine at UConn Health, spoke to the patient experience regarding chronic disease management.

As an endocrinologist, I see how exhausting it is for patients to manage chronic disease like type 2 diabetes through escalating medications, side effects, and mounting financial costs. Project Remission offers something profoundly different- the possibility of addressing root causes and helping patients move toward remission through sustainable lifestyle change. That message is deeply empowering for patients who want to reclaim agency over their health.

Mahima Gulati, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, associate professor of medicine at UConn Health

Project Remission was made available to stream beginning March 30, 2026. Health professionals, policymakers, employers, and members of the public are encouraged to explore the series. The initiative aims to help stakeholders learn how evidence-based lifestyle medicine can transform care for individuals living with type 2 diabetes.