Can you really take better control of your future health today?
Of course you can. But it may not come without a changing attitudes to your health.
If you want to prevent illness, move back towards health, and ultimately thrive with the rest of the life you have then you’re reading the right article.
Taking control of your health for the future does require actions to be taken today.
Through my health coaching practice, the two commonest problems that required action were;
Knowledge gaps and fine-tuning changes
Psychological difficulties and/or previous adverse mental health experiences. It’s about one’s relationship with themselves. Their self-worth and impact of previous negative and positive psychological experiences.
I’m not discounting the role of genetics and medicines.
They both have a role to play, but I am reducing the focus we give to them, and increasing the focus on our own personal responsibility, the environments we live in, lifestyles and habits we have.
I was known as the ‘diabetes doc’ on Instagram
Early in my career I realised that the way in which we were treating illness wasn’t finding health or the cure. It was keeping us functioning and ticking along.
Especially for the conditions I saw most frequently in my London practice; type 2 diabetes and mental health conditions including anxiety and depression.
Before moving to Australia I built health coaching programs in the UK for patients to achieve diabetes remission, improve metabolic associated fatty liver disease and radically improve their long term health prospects.
These treatments and protocols I have developed contribute to treating other metabolic-related conditions, and an improvement in mental health wellbeing.
Ultimately, I have more to share than focusing entirely on type 2 diabetes.
Our health systems fail quietly, often years before diagnosis.
While the diagnoses may be different and medically they require different interventions, a health-focused and prevention approach tends to bring these conditions together.
Why GPs are often best placed to support patients
Generalism is better suited to treating the root cause of conditions provided it’s a health-focused rather than a disease-focused model.
Once these conditions take hold, it often requires a joined up view to treat these long term conditions.
GPs are often not recognised for the work they do, because those with the loudest voices in media have often have the least to gain from their GP.
Once health becomes complicated, and so often this is for people entering older age, the GP very quickly can become the cornerstone to maintaining and supporting their medical needs.
The medical model focuses on treating illness.
But to treat the root cause we need to look at the cause of the illnesses.
Illness, for many long term conditions isn’t simply present or not present. It’s a health spectrum.
This approach then lends itself to considering another step. If we’re able to treat these conditions so you are able to not be sick, then shouldn’t we continue to build resilience so we can move further away from developing sickness in the first place?
What happens if we don’t take this approach?
There is no guarantee for future health, but you can certainly take actions to reduce your chance of developing your chance of developing conditions such as heart attacks and strokes.
You can significantly reduce your risks of these conditions, and contrary to what many people believe, many conditions including heart attack and stroke risk can be identified and managed much earlier.
Before you even have a hint of a problem occurring.
It’s the old saying. Prevention is better than cure.
We all know how much pain affects us, and how quickly we can become accustomed to life without illness, taking it for granted until something happens that affects our health.
Then it consumes everything, it’s everything we think about. Performance at work is affected, our relationships our affected, behaviour towards other people, and we wish for health again.
This is why taking a proactive approach, perhaps sometimes experiencing a little discomfort now, is such a big health insurance policy for later in life.
What if the focus was on health gains instead?
I am a GP, coach and educator. While medicines have their place, and rightly so, I also treat disease with what is termed “lifestyle medicine”. For many this is seen as soft or not real medicine.
But when we consider principles including ‘first do no harm’ and enabling choice…
and seeing that medicine and treatments don’t have to be wrapped up in pill packets and going under the knife then we can open ourselves the possibility that really we are in more control of our health than we realise.
And that illness isn’t so random, that it’s something that’s just going to hapen to us.
This combination creates a focus of health in three perspectives:
Longevity - how long we live
Healthspan - the number of years lived in health rather than illness, pain or discomfort
Satisfaction & Meaning - making the most of our time alive
They’re well rooted in medical and social science.
It’s not always easy to achieve and I’ll share my vulnerability on the journey too.
Lifestyle medicine brings the connection between our lifestyles and illness, and supports us to make often simple changes to actively treat disease and illness with meaningful impact.
Who will find this publication useful?
If you:
experience conditions including anxiety, depression, burnout, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart health, bone health, dementia.. and more.
feel the medical system isn’t helping to heal you, but rather takes symptom management approach
want the most out of the life you have to live.
work in medical, health & wellness and are seeking new ways of working and perspectives of providing health and medical support.
are interested in contrasting different health systems worldwide
Combining experience & identity
Who is Dr Kiran Sodha?
As a ‘generalist’ I come with a few identities, blend these together to provide unique insights and new ways of thinking about your health too.
I am…
a GP with an interest in lifestyle medicine and health coaching
support patients for longevity, healthspan & meaning in my clinics, with practical approaches rather than abstract options.
focused on prevention, reversal and treating the root cause
experienced in start-up, innovation & entrepreneurship in healthcare
navigating life’s ups and downs including as a patient within health & medical services.
adjusting to life in Australia and navigating life’s course as a human-being.
New perspectives.
My experiences have given me a unique view of health, not just at the coal face of seeing patients.
Also in the pursuit of healing conditions rather than focusing on the treatments and the medical approaches has taken me down a different path.
Doctors are typically focused on the medical treatment model, with medicines and surgery as our tools.
This is what we are taught in medical school.
However when pursuing the healing of conditions such as diabetes, this led me down a different path, one where our lifestyle took the front focus.
But with experience treating patients it became clearer we need to look deeper within our psychology but also externally to the environment around us.
Even when considering depression and anxiety, the medicines will help to treat and support, but in all cases they won’t solve the illness itself.
For some of you, this is a familiar perspective. For others this might make you feel uncomfortable.
But I think for many it will make intuitive sense.
I have a professional story and a personal story.
They blend together.
I want to share these stories with you over time but here are a few professional and personal insights including;
being a doctor for 15 years in the NHS and private sectors in the UK and the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers in Australia.
having qualifications in Medicine, General Practice and a Master’s in Business Administration
diplomas in paediatric & child Health, clinical education, International diplomas in lifestyle medicine, functional medicine and health coaching certification.
founding an online doctor services running a Company UK nationwide between 2016-2019 which led to burn out and running personal debt
been a patient with conditions I have personally experienced: pre-diabetes, burn out, anxiety and depression, which have been related to lifestyle rather than ‘chance’
healed and reversed these conditions by moving away from a medical model, using evidence-based, and less evidence-based approaches. I have also reverse
had many mentors, coaches and therapists along this journey, because it takes the support of others along the way.
built startups in medical education developing & delivering apps, developed teaching programs in hospitals and co-founded a start-ups delivering lifestyle medicine and coaching in universities which improving graduate outcomes.
In 2022 I founded Mahi health, health coaching helping people to reverse conditions associated with metabolic health including diabetes and fatty liver disease.
an expert speaker in metabolic and mental health to multinational corporations
had disability and continuous pain from an injury in 2022 from which I had major surgery in December 2024 in which I am hoping and working towards my own cure…
Sold my entire belongings and emigrated from the UK to Australia in March 2025
This publication, ‘Finding health’ is about giving insights that will help you.
Are there specific topics you want to hear from me? I would like to hear from you.
Health isn’t just wrapped up in preventing disease and treating conditions back to wellness. It’s about our core human needs, which includes safety, control and predictability, avoiding guilt and regret.
It’s about maintaining and knowing our identity and dignity, protecting loved ones, feeling and being loved, and avoiding excess strain on our minds and bodies.
Understanding health care and receiving good medical support is also based on trust in your health professional, trust in yourself, recognising limitations of yourself and health services too.
All of these are topics I plan to touch on in the future.