I’ll be honest with you. Even though I deeply believe in the functional health care model, until last year, I didn’t even know what it was called. You probably haven’t heard of it either. But make no mistake, functional health care is poised to unravel the chronic disease epidemic facing America right now. So what is it?
Functional medicine is a wholistic approach to health that seeks the root causes of what ails you. Instead of trying to collate a person’s symptoms into a pre-defined pigeonhole diagnosis, functional practitioners look at a client’s entire health history and presentation to try to understand the WHY, and work to restore full function of tissues, organs, and systems, upstream of symptoms.
Reason Number 1: You Believe in the Effectiveness of Wholistic, Lifestyle Solutions
We all know that chronic disease is on the rise, with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer affecting a significant portion of Americans. It is now estimated that almost half of Americans will have a chronic disease by the year 2025. These patients account for 76% of doctors visits annually! But what if there was another way? These diseases all have a common root: inflammation and the wrong kind of diet and living.
Functional practitioners rely heavily on a foundation of coaching people to make lifestyle adjustments and create new habits that are proven to restore health and weaken the hold that chronic disease has in our bodies. Working on sleep and exercise habits, stress reduction, and eating the right foods for our unique metabolism are all key to successfully winning against ill health, no matter what your diagnosis. In fact, no amount of medication can perform the same function as targeted lifestyle changes.
The reason to work with a health coach or other practitioner is that making these changes can be difficult to do successfully. It takes time to set up new routines that support your health, and a functional practitioner or health coach can help you do this, seamlessly, over time while you are addressing the underlying causes of your issues.
Reason number 2: Personalized Solutions
Each of us is unique, though you likely knew that! Bioindividuality is a very important concept when it comes to diet. How many of you have had a friend swear by their new diet, only to find that when you try it, it doesn’t work for you at all?
But even more important is the idea that a diagnosis is nothing more than a constellation of symptoms or processes, but doesn’t tell you anything about the why. It is oft repeated among functional practitioners that if you look at ten different people with diabetes, the cause of diabetes in all ten cases can be different. That’s right, my diabetes is likely different than yours.
Furthermore, the medications prescribed by doctors may suppress symptoms, but they don’t do anything to heal the underlying problem leading to out-of-control blood sugar and insulin resistance. For some, they might be eating the wrong foods for their metabolism. For others, they could have an unnoticed gut infection, and for yet another, they could be under excessive stress and its downstream effects.
In the conventional model of health care, with diabetes you are facing a lifetime of medication, which may or may not control the symptoms, while the underlying mechanism of disease continues. When the underlying causes are ignored, they continue to destabilize your health over time! Doesn’t sound appealing, does it? Wouldn’t you like to know how to solve the puzzle at its source?
Reason number 3: You appreciate being listened to.
This reason may not resonate if you are healthy and haven’t had the need to approach a medical doctor recently. But if you are an unlucky sufferer of a chronic or “mystery” illnesses, one with a lot of strange and seemingly unrelated symptoms, or you have multiple medical issues, you still only have 7-15 minutes with your doctor per visit. How much can you possibly convey in those short minutes? What if you realize you forgot to ask about something after you leave their office? How long will it be until you can get another appointment? Did that doctor really listen to you?
Functional practitioners work very closely with their clients, from the first health history consultation and lab test interpretation, to the hourly, regular coaching sessions that follow. They are often available by email or other means inbetween your visits, and will troubleshoot problems with their recommendations. They are always trying to understand how your system is underperforming, and supporting you toward better health. If you like having the luxury of time in a session, functional health coaches are going to be a good fit for you.
To learn more about working with Functional Nutrition, please fill out my short inquiry form, and then schedule a freeStrategy Session, and we can begin the process of solving your health mysteries together.
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