What In The World, Is Functional Medicine?
For anyone who hasn’t heard of Functional Medicine and Functional Medicine Lab Testing, you are in for a treat.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine was first created in 1990 by Dr. Jeffrey Bland, who went on to found the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991. Functional medicine was created in response to the growing problems that were associated with chronic disease, and looked to combine the progress being made in medical science along with the experience and expertise in clinical medicine to help understand and address the increases.
When you hear functional medicine, know that this branch of medicine is looking at the root cause of why someone gets a disease in the first place; once the root cause is known, it can be addressed through lifestyle modifications, exercise, nutrition, and other interventions as needed.
Functional Lab Testing
Functional lab testing looks at whether or not the body is carrying deficiencies, toxicities, and imbalances. Again, once we know what specifically the body is dealing with, then those imbalances can be removed, giving the body the opportunity to rebalance itself. It would then follow that a body that is in a state of balance, would no longer have the symptoms of ill health that it once had.
The Intersection of Functional Testing and Wellness
From a wellness perspective, a functional lab can pinpoint underlying root cause imbalances that are also leading to a whole host of issues or symptoms. When we look to rebalance the body, be it from heavy metal toxicities, gut imbalances, or even hormone imbalances, we can remove what it has too much of, add in what it may need more of, and rebalance what is out of balance. This is how we can see how the body is functioning and if it is functioning optimally or not.
Lifestyle modifications such as improving diet, eating less processed foods and sugars, eating more whole food, plant based, nutrition dense foods, along with limiting caffeine, alcohol, and addressing stressors can all lead to vast improvements in one's overall health.
When we are able to pinpoint where the body needs a little extra help, however, when we are able to see how where someone is in terms of heavy metal toxicities, hormonal imbalances, or even vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and addressing those causes, we can take a personalized approach to wellness.
And because every individual is unique in their constitution, functional medicine can help address the root cause imbalances, and access to functional lab testing can help address imbalances at a root cause level, and put the body in a position to be able to rebalance itself.
Wellness, afterall, is all about balance. And, as many in the health and wellness space can attest, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
I’m so curious to know…
What are your thoughts on rebalancing the body from a root cause level?