Reversing disease naturally since 1942
For over 80 years, Wildwood Lifestyle Center has helped people not only stop disease progression, but naturally reverse it.
Our story
A sanctuary in the North Georgia mountains
Wildwood began in 1942, founded on a simple conviction: the body heals best when it’s given what God designed it to need — fresh air, pure water, sunlight, nourishing plant food, exercise, temperance, rest, and trust in divine power. What started as a small sanitarium in the woods outside Chattanooga has grown into one of America’s best-known lifestyle centers, welcoming guests from across the country and around the world.
Today, our 640-acre campus in Wildwood, Georgia, is home to the Lifestyle Center and LifeMed Clinic, where physicians, nurse practitioners, mental health counselors, hydrotherapists, chefs, and Lifestyle Educators work as one team. Guests come to us with diabetes, heart disease, depression, autoimmune conditions, and more — and leave with something many thought they’d lost: a workable plan, and hope.
Wildwood is a faith-based ministry, and people of all faiths are warmly welcome here.
Wildwood Lifestyle Center is a ministry of Wildwood Health Institute.
Our medical ministry partner is LifeMed Clinic, a non-profit ministry institution, like Wildwood itself, with a branch right here inside the Lifestyle Center. LifeMed’s clinicians — all specialized in Lifestyle Medicine, and supervised by Medical Director Greg Steinke, MD, MPH — provide the medical part of our programs, and also care for patients from the local community. Meet our medical team →
Care at Wildwood is personal — unhurried conversations are part of the treatment.
One work, many parts
The Lifestyle Center is one part of the wider Wildwood ministry — which also includes our medical missionary school and free health education events across the campus. One family of givers supports it all.
Studied and published
Wildwood’s residential program has been studied by researchers from Wildwood and Loma Linda University, and the results published in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients (2026). In that study of 109 guests, average cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight were all lower at the end of the program than on arrival.
How healing works here
The 8 natural laws of health (NEWSTART)
Everything at Wildwood is built on the 8 natural laws of health: Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunlight, Temperance, Air, Rest, and Trust in God. Guests practice all eight every day of their stay — simple remedies, seriously applied.
Nutrition
Nourishing plant-based meals, and cooking classes so you can keep eating this way at home.
Exercise
Daily movement — walking on our trails or on the roads around the campus, and gentle exercise classes.
Water
Drinking enough pure water every day.
Sunlight
Regular time in natural sunlight, out on the campus and in the gardens.
Temperance
Avoiding what harms the body, and using what is good in moderation.
Air
Fresh air, breathed deeply — outdoors on our wooded campus, and in well-aired rooms.
Rest
Enough sleep each night, and regular rest — including a weekly day of rest.
Trust in God
Trust in God’s care and power, which brings peace to mind and body.
Hydrotherapy — a treatment that uses water
Hydrotherapy is not one of the 8 natural laws of health. Water as one of the 8 means drinking enough pure water every day; hydrotherapy is a prescribed treatment that uses water externally — hot and cold water treatments that boost circulation and the immune system, given by trained professionals. Because it is prescribed by a clinician, it is part of a program only where a LifeMed appointment is included.