
Food as Medicine: Preconception, Pregnancy and Postpartum
Although nutrition plays a significant role in maternal and fetal health before and throughout pregnancy, its role is often marginalized. This course will explore the importance of nutrition in preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum health for the mother, child, and family. Participants will understand how nutrition may be linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, low birth weight and preterm deliveries. The link between nutrition and developmental origins of health and disease will also be discussed. Clinical tools and resources will be shared to assist participants with supporting patients to improve their nutrition status prior to conception, throughout pregnancy, and postpartum.
This course expires April 11th, 2027, at 11:59 PM PST.
Course Format
This course consists of 3 modules and 3 hours of content.
Target Audience
This course is applicable for interprofessional healthcare team including physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician associates, registered dietitians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, other health professionals working with chronic disease prevention or treatment, certified health coaches, and clinicians in training.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Review current nutrition therapy practices for preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum
- Describe evidence for nutrition therapy during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum
- Demonstrate application of food as medicine during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum
- Apply nutrition guidelines during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum
- Demonstrate application of food as medicine during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum
Nancy Eriksen MD, FACOG, DipABLM
Dr. Nancy Eriksen is an Associate Professor of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine. Her clinical practice includes providing lifestyle medicine consultations for the management of high-risk medical conditions. Her clinical interests include the impact of whole food plant-based nutrition in improving women’s health, especially during pregnancy. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Women’s Interest Member Group and co-chair of the Pregnancy subcommittee. She is an author and speaker on a variety of topics related to lifestyle medicine and women’s health including preconceptual health, pregnancy, postpartum care and menopause. She has participated in an ACLM webinar on “Integrating Lifestyle Medicine during Pregnancy” and was a speaker at the ACLM 2020 Women’s Health workshop. Dr. Eriksen is also co-editor of a new book in the Jim Rippe’s Lifestyle Medicine series entitled “Improving Women’s Health Across the Lifespan” and co-authored chapters on Preconceptual Health and Pregnancy. She is a passionate advocate for improving women’s health and enjoys participating in local and regional events that promote lifestyle medicine.
Kristi R. VanWinden, MD, FACOG, DipABLM
Dr. Kristi R. VanWinden is a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist in California. She holds a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis, M.D. from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and postgraduate diploma from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ, followed by fellowship training in MFM at the University of Southern California (LAC+USC Medical Center). Following completion of her training she served for 2 years as an Assistant Clinical Professor at USC prior to relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area to join The Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Permanente. As an MFM specialist she has expertise in pre-conception care and management of both low- and high-risk pregnancies. She has a special interest in how lifestyle medicine can be used to optimize women’s health before, during, and after pregnancy.
Accreditation and Designation Statement
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by RUSH University Medical Center and American College of Lifestyle Medicine. RUSH University Medical Center is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
For Medicine: Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
For Nursing: Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 3.0 nursing contact hour(s).
For Pharmacy: Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based enduring material for a maximum of 3.0 contact hour(s) for pharmacists.
For Psychologists: Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 3.0 CE credits in psychology.
For Dieticians: This enduring material has been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration for 3.0 CPEUs.
For Social Work: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Rush University Medical Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of 2 Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved continuing education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 3.0 general continuing education credits.
For Physical Therapy or Occupational Therapy: Rush University Medical Center is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000378) and occupational therapy (224.000220) by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 3.0 continuing education credits.
For ABIM MOC: Successful completion of this activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 3.0 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participation completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
For AAFP Prescribed Credits: The AAFP has reviewed Food as Medicine: Calorie Density- A Simple Yet Powerful Approach to Weight Loss and deemed it acceptable for up to 3.0 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credit(s). Term of Approval is from 04/12/2025 to 04/12/2026. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
For ABLM MOC: The American Board of Lifestyle Medicine has approved 3.0 maintenance of certification credits (MOC) for this learning activity.
For NBC-HWCs: The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) has approved 3.0 continuing education credits for this learning activity: CEA-000043-1.
Faculty Disclosures
As a provider of continuing education, Rush University Medical Center asks everyone who has the ability to control or influence the content of an educational activity to disclose information about all of their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. There is no minimum financial threshold; individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies. Individuals must disclose regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. Mechanisms are in place to identify and mitigate any potential conflicts of interest prior to the start of the activity. All information disclosed must be shared with the participants/learners prior to the start of the educational activity.
Unapproved Uses of Drugs/Devices: In accordance with requirements of the FDA, the audience is advised that information presented in this continuing medical education activity may contain references to unlabeled or unapproved uses of drugs or devices. Please refer to the FDA approved package insert for each drug/device for full prescribing/utilization information.
Individuals in control of content have disclosed the following:
Rohit Moghe, PharmD, MSPH, CDCES | Member, Speakers Bureau, Novo Nordisk
All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated. The remaining course director(s), planner(s), faculty, and reviewer(s) of this activity have no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Available Credit
- 3.00 AAFP Prescribed
The AAFP has reviewed Food as Medicine: Preconception, Pregnancy and Postpartum and deemed it acceptable for up to 3.00 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credit(s). Term of Approval is from April 13, 2025 to April 12, 2026 . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 3.00 ABIM Medical Knowledge
Successful completion of this activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 3.00 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participation completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
- 3.00 ABLM MOCThe American Board of Lifestyle Medicine has approved 3.00 maintenance of certification credits (MOC) for this learning activity.
- 3.00 ABS Accredited CME
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
- 3.00 ACPE Pharmacy
Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based enduring material for a maximum of 3.00 contact hour(s) for pharmacists.
- 3.00 ACPE Technician
Rush University Medical Center designates this knowledge-based enduring material for a maximum of 3.00 contact hour(s) for pharmacy technicians.
- 3.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
Rush Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 3.00 ANCCRush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 3.00 nursing contact hour(s).
- 3.00 APA
Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 3.00 CE credits in psychology. Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship in the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
- 3.00 ASWB
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Rush University Medical Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved continuing education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 3.00 general continuing education credits.
- 3.00 AttendanceSuccessful completion of this course activity, including active participation in the evaluation component, entitles the learner to receive a participation certificate from ACLM. Please note that this certificate is offered solely in recognition of engagement, and no academic or professional credit is awarded.
- 3.00 CPEUThis enduring material has been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Completion of this activity awards 3.00 CPEUs.
- 3.00 NBC-HWC
The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) has approved 3.00 continuing education credits for this learning activity: .
- 3.00 Occupational Therapy CERush University Medical Center is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000378) and occupational therapy (224.000220) by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 3.00 continuing education credits.
- 3.00 Participation (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for non-MDs)
Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for a maximum of 3.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 3.00 Physical Therapy CERush University Medical Center is an approved provider for physical therapy (216.000378) and occupational therapy (224.000220) by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Rush University Medical Center designates this enduring material for 3.00 continuing education credits.
Price
ACLM member and category discounts are applied at checkout.
Non-member | ACLM Members |
---|---|
$120 | Physician/Doctor: $90 Non-Doctoral Health Professional: $67.50 Student/Trainee: $45 |
Access to online material is granted through the term of approval, which ends April 11, 2027.
Participant User Agreement (Terms of Use and Copyright)
Before registering for a Continuing Education/Continuing Medical Education Course (“Training”) for the first time, carefully review the following conditions of usage at https://lifestylemedicine.org/terms-of-use-and-copyright/
Registering for an American College of Lifestyle Medicine Course indicates your acceptance of the Participant User Agreement and its terms and conditions.
Required Hardware/software
This course can be viewed on desktop or tablet using a modern browser and most mobile devices. Speakers or headphones are required for this course.