Do you ever feel like your healthy lifestyle efforts aren’t paying off in the ways you had imagined? Maybe you drink green smoothies, shop at the farmers market, avoid GMO’s, sugar and processed food. You’ve even given up gluten or dairy. But you’re still struggling. You’re not losing weight, your energy is low, you struggle with brain fog and just can’t seem to focus.
It’s not for lack of effort and your healthy habits aren’t worthless! It’s just that, there is something else going on.
And it’s possible that no amount of healthy eating, hours logged at the gym or sun salutations at the yoga studio will do what they’re supposed to, until it gets figured out. You may be eating ALL the right foods, (Kale! Chia! Turmeric in everything!) but even these healthy foods may not be working with your body in the way you need them to right now, due to underlying conditions.
Your body may be reacting to unrealized food sensitivities. You may have a hyper reactive immune system. Your hormones may be out of whack. You may be suffering from blood sugar imbalances, wreaking havoc with your insulin and shutting down your metabolism. There may be a breakdown in your digestive system, and you may not be absorbing the nutrients from your healthy food, leaving you malnourished despite eating the “right foods”.
There’s a hidden health crisis going on that we see everyday in our office (in addition to the OBVIOUS health crisis!).
“Healthy” people, doing all of the “right” things, but still struggling with agonizing symptoms due to inflammation, autoimmune issues, hormone imbalances, candida (yeast overgrowth), toxicity, and more. And this is not being addressed by conventional medicine, because a prescription to remedy symptoms does not heal and doesn’t get to the root of what is going on inside.
If you’re struggling to feel your best, despite what you may feel are monumental efforts, there is something deeper going on. Something that is going to take some detective work.
There are many reasons why it’s gotten so complicated and people are struggling so much. We can start with the Standard American Diet, high in refined carbs and processed foods, a toxic food supply, poor soil and water quality, environmental toxins such as mold, the constant demands (and EMF’s) of technology, high stress levels, and on and on.
The modern world is tough on our health. There is no getting around it.
We see so many patients who are trying very hard to live healthy lifestyles and still suffering. They are well educated about diet and lifestyle, have already given up toxic and processed food and eat their greens daily. And it has helped, to a point. They can manage but are not thriving the way they know they should, and are still suffering with a lack or vitality, chronic joint pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, weight loss resistance, skin problems, and more.
Sometimes a “healthy” diet isn’t enough. We can have the healthiest diet in the world, but if our body is struggling to process this food because of a lack of enzymes, food allergies, food sensitivities, or other genetic/biological or environmental reasons, our body will struggle to heal. We also can’t ignore the impact of stress, toxic relationships, poor sleep and our general state of mind on our bodies health and vitality either. These are huge pieces of the puzzle!
It is so important that we all find our own individual plan for nutrition and healing which we can thrive on!
That’s where functional medicine and nutrition comes in. It is personalized. It looks at the foundational way that food affects your body at the cellular level. This approach to healing also allows you to shift into your own power, be pro-active, to take ownership over your own health through understanding and self-knowledge.
Ready to take action and ownership of your health?
There is much you can do on your own to begin to seek out your own root causes of troublesome symptoms. Start experimenting! Here are a just few pro-active strategies to help you get started:
- Reduce your intake of inflammatory foods (such as gluten, dairy and sugar) and avoid common food sensitivities by following an anti-inflammatory diet. Need guidance? Our 14 to Fully Functional Reboot is a downloadable online program that guides you through a 2 week elimination protocol to help you identify trigger foods, reduce inflammation, boost your energy and gain mental clarity.
- Optimize your gut health. All disease (and the chronic symptoms that go with it) begins in the gut! Reducing inflammatory foods, toxins, stress and adding plenty of nutrient dense foods and supplements such as a quality probiotic all go a long way to supporting the health of your gut and keeping you vibrant and healthy.
- Reduce your toxic load and optimize detoxification in the body. Choose organic fruits and veggies and pasture raised organic proteins. Swap toxic body care and cleaning products for natural solutions. Drink filtered water. Try an infrared sauna. Put the phone down and turn the computer off. Every small change helps!
- Evaluate your stressors. Stress is one of the biggest toxins we face in our day to day and while we can’t eliminate stress from our lives, we can manage it. Making an action plan for stressors you can control, while participating in healthy activities you enjoy, prayer, meditation, deep breathing, mind-body exercise such as yoga or pilates are all proven strategies for reducing stress.
- Make sure you’re getting adequate sleep. Sleep is when our bodies detoxify, restore and heal. It is vital to optimal function and we tend to underestimate it’s value in our busy lives!
- Cultivate gratitude, a positive mindset and a sense of purpose. We all have much to be thankful for, even in the midst of chronic symptoms. Keep a gratitude journal and take small steps each day toward your goals and live into your purpose. Living with gratitude and purpose help us be more resilient in the midst of health challenges.
- Consider meeting with a health coach. Navigating your health can feel overwhelming. A health coach can help you sort through it all, while providing one-on-one support, guidance, and accountability. A health coach educates and empowers you to take action in your health and in your life.
We don’t have to accept poor health, a lack of vitality or struggle with nagging issues as we get older.
We want to help when you can’t figure out the answers for why you don’t feel as good as you know you should. We want to help you discover those root issues, the deeper issues that are behind the nagging symptoms.
There is hope for everyone and our mission is to help people find it! We can all thrive, becoming Fully FunctionalⓇ and live this ONE life with energy, vitality and purpose.
