What does it mean to Master Your Health with Functional Medicine?
It means that we use Functional Medicine to go above and beyond the medical definition of health, which is the absence of disease. In other words, it means to function at your optimum peak, as opposed to simply being “not sick”.
I invite you to ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have all of the physical energy you want in order to move around and participate in all of the activities you would like to? Or are you bogged down by chronic pain, stiff and achy joints, and/or extra body weight?
- Do you feel balanced and satisfied after a meal, or are you plagued by gas, abdominal discomfort, bloating, or fatigue?
- Can you think clearly, be creative, remember things well, sleep well, and enjoy a balanced mood? Or, are you suffering depression, anxiety, or insomnia? Or perhaps a lack of motivation, poor focus, and frequent forgetfulness?
- Do you have healthy body composition, or are you carrying around extra weight or lacking in muscle?
- Do you feel relaxed and balanced in general, or do you feel that you have little time to play?
- Does your nutritional intake consist of healthy, whole fruits, vegetables, and clean organic meats? Or, do you consume an abundance of processed, pre-packaged food that may be loaded down with gluten, MSG, synthetic colorings, artificial flavorings, or flavor enhancers that assault the nervous system?
Mastering Your Health includes considering all of the crucial elements of true health and a high quality of life, such as energy, creativity, movement, play, sleep, and a well-balanced mood.
Quality vs Quantity of Life:
Our society places much emphasis on the quantity of life, such as keeping statistics involving longevity, life expectancy, survival rates of chronic diseases like cancer, and so on. However, the quality of life gets much less attention. What’s the point of living into your 90s if you feel sick all the time?
The truth is, by the time we reach old age, a disease process has been underway for a long time. It takes 10-30 years for a cancerous disease to become visible on an x-ray. It takes 7-10 years for an autoimmune disease to develop.
Therefore, what does that say about how we live and feel during our middle-age years?
Our Middle-Age Years Are the Beginning of the Crisis:
What we’re doing is chugging, grinding along, using the supposed health of our youthful childhood and adolescence to power our forward direction during our adult years. However, this is akin to spending money from a bank account without making any deposits; we’re living on past “savings” to eke out an existence now.
Meanwhile, signs of physiological bankruptcy begin to poke through the surface. We attribute this to genetic malady (“my mother’s thyroid problems started in her 30s, and therefore, mine have, too”), or perhaps we write off our discomfort as a “normal” process of “getting older”. We may be satisfied with this cursory explanation, and we may not ask any more questions or take any additional proactive steps.
Recently, the tide has begun to turn. More people are feeling sicker at younger ages. They are developing symptoms of chronic disorders that conventional modern medicine cannot easily explain or satisfactorily address.
No, chronic disease isn’t a “normal” part of “getting older”.
Some of us are aware of certain elderly people who have made incredible transformations and have lived well into their later years and are wondering what can be done above and beyond the conventional medical model.
Yet, there is an answer. Something can be done. Nobody has to settle for “okay”. It is possible to become proactive, aware, and educated. We see patients “age backward” and feel better every day.
We call this Mastering Your Health. It might be “acceptable” to be simply “not sick”, but what if you could be truly healthy? What if you could reach your optimum potential? What if you could take steps now to reverse current chronic disease processes and prevent future sickness?
Mastering Your Health involves addressing and bringing balance to seven key areas of body function and quality of life. We will be introducing an eight-post series on this blog to further discuss each one in turn.
These Keys to Mastering Your Health with Functional Medicine are:
- Key 1: Reducing Inflammation and Balancing Immune Function
- Key 2: Creating a Healthy Gut Environment, Boosting Digestion and Balancing Intestinal Terrain
- Key 3: Building an Unbeatable Brain
- Key 4: Balancing Hormones
- Key 5: Revving the Detoxification Engine
- Key 6: Boosting Energy with Happy, Healthy Mitochondria, and Stamping Out Free Radicals
- Key 7: Having Fun With Your Life: Eat, Move, Play
Consequently, only when we tackle above elements successfully can we lead a high quality of life, and live life to its fullest. People of almost any age can get started with Functional Medicine and take these steps; it’s never too late! However, the sooner one begins, the better.
Dr. Sweeney uses a comprehensive Functional Medicine framework with which to achieve these goals.
Working with Dr. Sweeney, you will learn:
- Common sources of inflammation and how to calm them, including foods commonly found in our diet.
- Hidden sources of autoimmune flare-ups.
- Common sources of toxins and how to combat them, including common poisons found in our everyday environment.
- Everyday mistakes made while trying to balance hormones and detoxify heavy metals.
- Widespread workout mistakes and stealthy stressors.
- And much more!
Finally, if this resonates with you and you would like to get started, please call our office at (210) 844-0277 today! Mastering Your Health is just a phone call away.
