So lifestyle management and , like a functional medicine , integrative approach to your weight management . How does this different from just your weight management techniques ? The addition to functional medicine in practice is that you're doing a more holistic approach .
You are doing personalized nutrition , focusing and addressing root causes and health issues , rather than just managing just general symptoms . You're approaching this patient or client , acknowledging them uniquely and looking at their dietary and tailoring their needs . So it's what ?
The previous information , but taking it even more whole approach , looking at their genetic makeup and finding out their health goals so that you can get to their best , optimal self for them or the balance that they need . Now , key principles of this is that you're trying to get it personalized .
You're recognizing that it's not a one size fits all and that not everything works for one person . So things have to be tailored to their history , their genetics , their lifestyle , specific health concerns and create a personalized dietary plan . So underlying causes in individuals can vary . So first you want to talk to them about their sleep .
Would you recommend magnesium in their diet ? Are there imbalances necessarily either causing inflammation , hormonal imbalances ? Um , necessarily either causing inflammation , hormonal imbalances , nutritional deficiencies , gut biome or microbiome issues or any other , and you know you would start targeting those um underlying causes . So maybe that may be um for that individual .
It's a targeted nutritional plan Um , seeing if there's some sort of micronutrition issues . Also maybe identifying if those individuals may have , eliminating any food allergies or sensitivities that may cause bloating or weight gain or inflammation . Replenishing that individual with nutrition and optimizing their macronutrient ratio .
So a lot of whole foods , emphasizing protein , carbs and , you know , quality fats . Emphasizing the minimal processed foods , encouraging consumption of wide variety of fruits , vegetables , grains , lean proteins , healthy fats , promoting more of a nutrient-dense than overall health and less of the processed foods . Looking into anti-inflammatory diets or anti-inflammatory foods .
So this is foods that will cause less inflammation and often help with root and chronic health issues In functional medicine . We recommend this because anti-inflammatory foods include anything from rich in omega-3s , phytonutrients , which is like basically eating for the rainbow eating . You know all different colors of foods in you know red , white , blue , green .
You know that will be quality . So red for peppers , yellow bananas , you know oranges , you know grapes , green and just the more of the quality whole foods . You're going to eliminate and promote less inflammation within the body .
Decrease the amount of sugar , processed food , refined sugar , refined carbs , excess trans fats and you're going to balance those macronutrients within your body . You can do this individually .
So each person is going to be different and their needs are going to be different , but you modify it as needed and you know , give the quality carbohydrates , fats and proteins so that they can have the best energy balance for each one of them . Nutrition supplementation is depending upon what some people are deficient in .
I would say majority of patients or clients are deficient in vitamin C , vitamin D , omega-3 . Those are top and then magnesium are usually my four go-tos and then everything else is depending upon the gut , the cortisol levels and nutritional needs .
Gut health is a very paramount and important role in functional medicine and is used quite often because a lot of the gut and brain health and immune system is in the gut and also in the body . So it is a direct effect on how people will be and how they will react . So in turn , what you can do is you really focus on food as medicine .
You do probiotics and prebiotics food that they're given in , probiotics for the microbiome and work on balancing that . In addition , you're going to be working on hormonal balance and consider impact on what foods are best for them and what will work in that individual . Sometimes you even have to look in hormonal changes and look at a balance for that individual .
Sometimes you even have to look in you know hormonal changes and look at a balance for that individual .
And then , of course , we've spoke previous about mindful eating and encourage ways of practicing a slower , mindful practice and making it more mindful in your eating habits , where you eat , how you eat , so that you can identify your hunger cues , your fullness and , if it's emotional or stressful triggers .
In addition , all of courses has to do with your lifestyle and connecting functional medicine with your dietary and lifestyle factors , with exercise , sleep , stress management , social connections . These are all key and again , like before said , you know what's . It's a collaborative effort . There's no one size fits all .
You know , make it work for you and try to get to the underlying cause and really make discussions with friends , family and your healthcare provider so that you can get to your optimal self .