Functional Nutrition is a stem of another larger paradigm of healthcare called Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine looks at the underlying causes of disease and dysfunction with the patient being the center of therapeutic intervention. Another word for this type of practice is called patient centered care. Eastern Medicine has practiced Functional Medicine for approximately 5,000 years, whereby the individual is assessed for the condition by tongue and pulse diagnosis. A personalized therapeutic intervention applied utilizing acupuncture, dietary changes, and herbal tonics. The individual patient is looked at for their own unique characteristic and tendencies for a specific condition and not the condition with the disease.
Many of the diseases that plague our society today, took years to manifest, hence the name chronic diseases. Every field of medicine and healthcare promotes preventative care, yet modern practitioners do not fully understand what involves prevention. Instead, medications are prescribed to treat the symptoms while not addressing the root.
The Functional Medicine approach is centered upon a unique relationship between the patient and the practitioner. The patient’s habits are assessed and realistic goals are progressively set for lifestyle intervention. Intervention involves dietary modifications, nutritional supplementation, botanical and herbal supplementation, detoxification programs, stress management, and exercise. Functional Nutrition is the centerpiece with this approach of intervention. Depending on what the intention of intervention is warranted by the patient, a systematic protocol is recommended. Individual consultations assess the situation and monitor progress. Although personalized care is the hallmark of this approach, the basis is a science-based, or evidence-based medical approach.
With the invention of the internet, the amount of free information exponentially grew for those searching for information. This has many benefits and flaws. The benefits are that more and more people are better informed, yet many of the information can either be true or false. Those resources must be assessed and critiqued for validity. This is why evidence-based medicine is important.
Bleu Health is committed to always have a patient-centered practice utilizing evidence-based medicine. We possess the skills and knowledge to approach the individual condition with modalities including chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, and exercises.