Prescribing Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
A GP’s Perspective on Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
Dr Ed Copley “You’d not necessarily think that bread making could be lifestyle medicine, until you meet Vanessa and see the process of baking as a community activity, fibre delivery system and baking as empowerment. It is remarkable.”
Ed explains in this video that “in an ideal world I would be able to spend time with my patients teaching, supporting and inspiring lifestyle changes as preventative healthcare. The reality is I get a short consultation and rarely the time to follow up. My training from The Diploma means that I know exactly how the BALM Protocol works, and I can engage my patients though baking in a fun, easy, delicious and effective programme – it works.”
Prescribing Baking as Lifestyle Medicine means recognising that the evidence shows bread alone is not enough. The BALM Protocol works because it addresses multiple systems simultaneously — digestion, microbial diversity, the nervous system, and emotional regulation — through the act of baking, eating and sharing. The sensory process of mixing, waiting, and nurturing dough activates behavioural and physiological pathways that no supplement or pill can replace.
Graduates of the Diploma are trained to understand these mechanisms, to work within the model of social prescribing, and to support patients through behavioural activation — helping people reconnect with food, time, and community. They know how to personalise the approach, adapt it for different physical or psychological needs, and guide participants in embedding BALM into daily life so that change lasts.
This is not a prescription for bread. It’s a prescription for connection. For nervous system regulation. For microbial and emotional diversity. Each loaf represents a tangible act of self-care, and when shared, it becomes part of a public health intervention — small, local, human, and profoundly effective.
