Thursday, July 3, 2008

Welcome to the functional medicine & clinical nutrition blog

Hello everyone. Welcome to the blog! I hope it becomes a place where you can get up to date information that is useful and practical. The world of clinical nutrition is swimming with new information daily. Many people are left with the question, "So what? What am I supposed to do with that information? Does that influence my life in any way?"

Health care is changing rapidly. Most physicians admit that we've been sucked into a failing model of health care. There seems to be a drug for every symptom. Those of us that work with nutrition aren't removed from blame either. For years, we've followed the same model but instead of drugs, here's a vitamin or supplement for every symptom.

Got headaches? Take magnesium.
Sleepless nights? Take 5 HTP.
Got a cold? Take vitamin C.

The old model of health care and nutrition is being replaced by the functional medicine model. It's about understanding the web-like interactions of different systems of your body. Then identifying those areas that are involved and trying to make corrections.

We need to stop asking questions like, "What causes headaches?" And starting asking the right question, "What's causing your headache?"

We are all similar in a lot of ways. We've all got the same parts; a brain, liver, heart, lungs, intestines etc. But we are also very unique. More than ever, the concept of biochemical individuality is becoming relevant to health care. That is the essence of functional medicine. Your headache (or fatigue, chronic pain, poor digestion, insomnia, lousy memory, sexual dysfunction, gas etc.) is likely to have a different cause than your best friend's, sibling's, aunt's or uncle's. Functional medicine is about getting to the bottom of your problem.

In this blog, you'll get some answers in plain English. But more importantly, I hope you come away with the right questions to ask your doctor so you can work together as a team.

Happy reading.

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