health briefs
Functional Medicine Practitioners Solve the Puzzle
Catch Some Rays to Boost Gut Health
Our current healthcare system compartmentalizes the body and addresses symptoms instead of the root cause of diseases and conditions. When one sees a Medical Doctor the training is very linear: A + B = C. You have these symptoms therefore here is your label and your medication for that label. They are not looking to get to the root, they are looking to control the symptoms. Functional Medicine Practitioners see the body as one whole unit and each client as an individual. They strive to get to the root of an individual’s health conditions. FMP’s learn: how the body works together; how the domino effect happens when people get ill; and how to identify the root of that domino effect. Many people never find relief for their aliments and become attached to a label because they have been given a cookie-cutter diagnosis. However, 100 people could have the same diagnosis based on their symptoms and they could all have a different root cause for those symptoms. But, we must always learn the “why.” Why do you have digestive issues? Why do you have a thyroid condition? Why are your hormones out of balance? Why do you have constant fatigue and poor sleep? FMP’s collect all the data to solve the puzzle. They review lab reports, health history, symptoms, various things a person has tried and how their body has reacted to those interventions. Once everything is out on the table, the correlations can be found and an individualized program can be created. FMP’s do not take insurance because they are not legally allowed to do so, although you can use your Health Savings Account (HSA) or FLEX dollars. Keeping the insurance companies OUT of your health decisions means we can focus on the best possible care plan for the individual.
Fresh evidence is emerging of a skin-gut axis that links type B ultraviolet (UVB) exposure to the microbiome, a finding that has implications for those suffering from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. University of British Columbia researchers divided 21 healthy young women into two groups: Nine took vitamin D supplements during Vancouver’s long, dark winter, and 12 didn’t. After three months, only the nonsupplement-takers tested as being deficient in vitamin D. Both groups were exposed to three, one-minute, fullbody UVB light sessions; within a week, vitamin D levels increased 10 percent on average and the gut microbiota diversity of the low-D group rose to match that of the sufficient-D group. Along with other probiotic bacteria, Lachnospiraceae species, typically low in the guts of people with inflammatory diseases, increased with the UVB exposure.
Contact Erin Thole for a free 45-minute phone consult by emailing her at thole.erin@gmail.com. See ad page 12.
HEALTHY IS BEAUTIFUL CATE VIEREGGER, D.D.S
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