WHAT EXACTLY IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?

Functional Medicine focuses on the getting to the root cause of your issues rather than just focusing on symptoms.

Functional Medicine is a lab based system of analysis that relies primarily on natural health solutions. Functional medicine doctors run tests to determine the problems, and then prescribe natural health treatments like, diet, meditation, exercise, and often nutritional supplements. We strive to find organ dysfunction prior to the onset of a disease process and restore “Function” back.

As a Functional Medicine doctor, I look at nutrition, toxicology, genetics, gut health, lifestyle issues… the whole big picture. This gives me a set of tools that I can use in a systematic way to unravel the cause of your problem and then address the underlying causes.

My specialties include:

• Fatigue (including Chronic Fatigue)
• Female Hormones
• Weight Loss
• Thyroid Problems
• Depression and Anxiety
• Digestive Problems
• Chronic Pain
• Brain Fog

We can meet in person, via a video conference, or via telephone, so that you never have to leave the comfort of your own home. I combine a detailed health history with three main labs to determine the health and function of your main body systems. The labs can be drop shipped to you so that you can do them in your home, on your schedule.

Overview of Lab Assessments Offered:

The list below includes some, but not all lab tests available through Core Wellness.

• Complete Nutrient Evaluation including amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.
• Detoxification System Testing including heavy metals, chemicals and detoxification pathways.
• Neurotransmitter Evaluation for both stress-related brain issues and extensive neuro-inflammatory analysis measuring metabolites for serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine as well as the glutamate system.
• Carbohydrate Metabolism testing combined with fat burning and vitamin analysis.
• Complete Immune including key immune nutrients: Vitamin D, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, cytokine analysis through testing the kynurenate pathway.
• Functional Genomics and Metabolomics that test HPA Axis through Adrenal Stress Test, GI Microbiome analysis with GI MAP and a comprehensive immune, metabolic and genomic analysis with the ION Panel. These are also used to deliver comprehensive personalized nutrition programs.
• Chemical Toxicity Exposure measuring Phase 1 and Phase 2 liver detox capacity, xylene and ammonia clearance, glutathione levels and more.
• Screening for Amino Acid Disorders that lead to fatigue, weight gain and poor physical repair and growth.
• HPA Axis Test analyzing the stress response and mucosal immunity through cortisol and DHEA and Secretory IgA testing.
• Complete GI Microbiome analysis including measurement through DNA analysis (PCR) of key commensal or healthy bacteria levels combined with looking at GI pathogens, dysbiosis (leaky gut), yeast or candida overgrowth as well as pancreatic enzyme output, gallbladder function, GI tissue inflammation and GI immune tract health.
• ION Panel also includes cardiovascular markers such as homocysteine, arginine, Omega 3 essential fatty acids, antioxidant assessment includes CoQ10, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Beta carotene, and the best researched oxidative stress markers including 8 OH DG.
• Fatty Acid/Lipid Analysis looking at omega 3 and omega 6 and 9 fats including measurements of your EPA, DHA, GLA and saturated fats. Also analyzes lipid peroxides a direct measure of damage to lipids in the body as well as homocysteine which reflects inflammation that can lead to heart disease.
• Complete Metabolic Assessment for mitochondrial health, fat and energy burning, B vitamins, lipoic acid, magnesium levels with a look at fat and carb burning as well as key energy production pathways.
• Mineral Assessment for calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper potassium and selenium levels.
• Toxic Metal Assessment includes lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum testing.
• Amino Acid Levels reveal ability to heal and repair tissues through protein production all 20 amino acids tested.

Whether you live in the Bay Area, or anywhere in the country, I can help you get the relief you need.

If you’re ready to get your health back, book a FREE 15 minute telephone consultation with me now.

SCHEDULE TODAY!

Teach every child about food

The merging of work-life balance seems a fact of life these days. Social distancing orders and stay-at-home mandates combined with modern technology have at once expanded possibilities of working from home and increased the demands on parents with homeschooling. And that’s just for families who aren’t also struggling with the additional burdens of unemployment and/or COVID-related illness.

Time seems to always be a barrier to cooking with kids, and it still is. Yet, currently we’re having more meals at home with our families and spending more time with our kids every day. With these changes, we have the opportunity to improve the quality of our time together and reap the benefits of not only eating together, but cooking together as well.

The obesity epidemic is fast becoming America’s number one problem, and it’s not only adults who are obese. According to the CDC, about 18.5% of America’s children are obese. Our kids no longer know how to eat, they don’t know how to cook, and they don’t know how to read food labels to protect themselves from big food company advertising. It’s time we prioritized our children’s health and it starts with food.

We already know that America is one of the unhealthiest countries in the world. Cancer and heart disease are both diet related diseases and they are by far the leading causes of death in America today. We are ten times more likely to die from these preventable diseases than homicide! This issue is also impacting our wallets. Obesity related health problems account for 10% of all healthcare bills, accounting for approximately 150 billion dollars spent per year. That number is set to double in ten years if we continue on this path. These statistics were shared by Jamie Oliver, a chef and food educator who recently did a Ted Talk to address the nutritional catastrophe impacting American kids today.

While these numbers are startling, perhaps the most startling fact is that our unhealthy lifestyles are being widely passed to our kids and as a result our kids will have a shorter lifespan than us by about ten years, on average. The good news is we can prevent these diseases and their cost. Prevention starts with teaching our kids in a different, more healthy way, from a young age.

The Problem

Jamie Oliver refers to a “triangle landscape” of food’s impact on kids. In each corner of the triangle there are different environments in which unhealthy food is being promoted to our children. The first, most obvious one is the home. This is where food traditions used to be taught and passed on, and children learned from a young age to cook in the kitchen. But as modernization has swept across the world, we have been eating out more and more. If we do cook at home, it’s prepackaged microwaveable or “just add water” meals, which contain plenty of sodium and sugar, and little nutrition.

The second food landscape affecting children is school. Schools have not evolved to deal with the major health problems facing Americans, and in fact are unwittingly a part of the issue. Many kids get two-thirds of their meals from school, and often these meals contain highly processed additives and resemble fast food: they are hand held, and contain a lot of saturated fats, sugars, and sodium. The chocolate milk your child has with every breakfast meal at school has as much sugar as a can of soda.

The third food landscape affecting our kids is “Main Street” – a term used to refer to investors, employees, and the overall economy. That includes supermarkets, fast food, and regulation surrounding food labeling. Supermarkets are carefully designed to draw kids’ attentions to the center of the aisle, which tends to contain all the sugary cereals and snacks, at their eye level. Fast food is advertised between cartoon episodes, enticing our kids to buy Big Mac’s and dollar fries. Food labeling in America is not transparent – Jamie Oliver uses the example of “low fat” which really means “high sugar.” Instead of using labels to inform, the industry uses them to distract. All of these areas contribute to our kids learning unhealthy habits that they will carry with them for life – unless we teach them differently.

The Solutions

Jamie Oliver finishes his talk by offering some major ways we can alter our current path and get our kids moving in the right direction when it comes to their health. First, he implores the American people to push our government to take away subsidies for unhealthy foods. Unfortunately corn, sugar, soybeans, and other largely unhealthy foods are subsidized by the government while organic fruits and vegetables are not, making them more expensive than their subsidized counterparts.

Second, Oliver encourages putting food education at the forefront and in the heart of businesses who sell food. He suggests grocery chains should employ food ambassadors in every supermarket who can educate people on their purchases and offer advice for healthier options. Also, proper labeling must happen on a wide scale – including labeling added sugars, and removing misleading labels. Finally, schools need to step up their game. Instead of accountants running school cafeterias, nutritionists should be employed where they can design and serve healthy and balanced meals, and offer nutrition and cooking classes to kids in grades K-12. Oliver suggests teaching kids ten basic recipes, which would give them the proper foundation that they could then expand as they grow older. He says if we all teach three people, and those people teach three people, we could teach everyone in America how to cook in less than five years.

Conclusion

We know we are an unhealthy country, but what we may not know is these unhealthy patterns are being passed down to our children. Because of this trend, our kids will live, on average, ten years less than us if we don’t do something about it. There are several ways we can improve their nutritional health: at home, by teaching our kids how to identify fruits and vegetables and learn to use them in recipes; at school, by requiring that nutritionists design healthy meals; and finally, at the institutional level, by demanding food companies utilize transparent food labeling and grocery stores offer nutritional counseling. The outcome? Healthier kids and a healthier future.

Do you want to improve your overall health? We can help you with chiropractic, massage, and/or Functional Medicine. Reach out to us to schedule. Call us at 510-922-1579, text us at (510) 692-4428, or email us at info@core-wellnessgroup.com.

Did you know you can use your HSA card for chiropractic or massage?

This is a friendly reminder that you can use your Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) debit cards for all chiropractic, massage, Functional Medicine, and/or supplement orders through Fullscript.

 Want to feel better? Let us help you?. Call our office at 510-922-1579, text us at 510-692-4428, or email us at info@core-wellnessgroup.com.

One last thing

We offer gift certificates for chiropractic, massage, and/or Functional Medicine services. You can purchase gift certificates and schedule your appointment by email or over the phone. Please consider treating yourself or a loved one and schedule relief that you can look forward to. You can email us at info@core-wellnessgroup.com to purchase a gift certificate or a package of treatments.