{"id":8673,"date":"2015-03-02T17:32:32","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T15:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faithful-to-nature.co.za\/natural-organic-blog\/?p=8664"},"modified":"2015-03-02T17:32:32","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T15:32:32","slug":"introduction-functional-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.faithful-to-nature.co.za\/blog\/introduction-functional-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Functional Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The concept of <strong>Functional Medicine<\/strong> is one that&#8217;s generating a great deal of interest in the world of health care. In a world where the typical doctor&#8217;s visit means long queues, crowded waiting rooms, hurried appointments and hasty prescriptions, more and more people are turning towards health care solutions that offer a more personal and nurturing approach. Functional medicine is &#8220;patient-centered&#8221; healing, which places the focus of treatment on the patient rather than on the disease affecting them.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few fast facts about this health care movement:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8220;<\/em>Instead of asking,\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #e67c88;\">&#8216;What drug matches up with this disease?&#8217;<\/span><\/em>Functional Medicine asks the vital questions that very few conventional doctors ask:\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #e67c88;\">&#8216;Why do you have this problem in the first place?&#8217;<\/span><\/em>and<em>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #e67c88;\"> &#8216;Why has function been lost?&#8217;<\/span><\/em>and<em>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #e67c88;\">&#8216;What can we do to restore function?&#8217;<\/span>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindbodygreen.com\/0-6014\/The-5-Principles-of-Functional-Medicine.html\" target=\"_blank\">Dr William Cole, writing for MindBodyGreen<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Principles of Functional Medicine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The functional medicine movement is founded on the following principles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your body is smarter than you give it credit for; it has the capacity to heal and regulate itself if your system is properly in balance.<\/li>\n<li>Each of us is genetically and biochemically unique. Functional medicine is a highly personalised solution that treats the individual patient rather than the disease.<\/li>\n<li>Functional medicine is designed to support the body\u2019s own natural healing capabilities, rather than attacking the disease directly.<\/li>\n<li>The body&#8217;s intestinal, endocrine and and immune systems all work together in a delicately balanced relationship to keep your body healthy and functioning; functional medicine looks at the best ways to help keep these systems in balance.<\/li>\n<li>Possibly the most important principle, and one we should all bear in mind, is: <span style=\"color: #e67c88;\"><em>Health is not just the absence of ailments, but the presence of great vitality.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Functional Medicine treatments may include a combination of prescription medications, botanical medicines, nutritional supplements, healing-focused diets, or detox programs, all based on the patient\u2019s individual needs.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Benefits of Functional Medicine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In a functional medicine practice, the patient becomes an active participant in their own treatment plan.<\/li>\n<li>Practitioners focus on prevention as well as cure; helping patients to establish a healthy way of living that works to prevent illness in the first place.<\/li>\n<li>Functional medicine takes a two-pronged approach to healing the body; not just removing the bad stuff (bacteria, viruses etc) that impede our body&#8217;s functioning, but also adding what might be lacking (vitamins, minerals &amp; other nutrients), in order to help the body and mind function optimally.<\/li>\n<li>Practitioners give each patient a great deal of personal attention, focusing on physical and emotional factors to determine the underlying cause of an ailment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yourmedicaldetective.com\/public\/department50.cfm\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8761 aligncenter\" title=\"underlying-causes\" src=\"http:\/\/www.faithful-to-nature.co.za\/natural-organic-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/underlying-causes.jpg\" alt=\"underlying-causes\" width=\"380\" height=\"383\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Future of Functional Medicine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While the Institute for Functional Medicine in the US was first founded back in 1991, it&#8217;s still a new concept to many of us across the pond. However, there is a definite and growing need for health care practices that empower us to make active choices in our own wellbeing, and to take charge of our healing with the guidance of a caring professional who looks at each problem holistically. With that in mind, it sounds to us like the functional medicine movement is one to watch!<\/p>\n<p>What are your views on the functional medicine movement? Have you ever consulted a functional medicine practitioner? We&#8217;d love for you to share your experiences and opinions with us!<\/p>\n<p>For more information on functional medicine in South Africa, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.functionalmedicinesa.co.za\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Functional Medicine SA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The concept of Functional Medicine is one that&#8217;s generating a great deal of interest in the world of health care. In a world where the typical doctor&#8217;s visit means long queues, crowded waiting rooms, hurried appointments and hasty prescriptions, more and more people are turning&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>An Introduction to Functional or Patient-centered Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Functional medicine is &quot;patient-centered&quot; healing, which places the focus of treatment on the patient rather than on the disease affecting them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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