What Is Functional Nutrition? Can It Help with Chronic Illness?
Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Our team at Functional Nutrition Resources, a functional medicine and nutrition clinic near Tulsa, OK, is committed to guiding our patients toward vitality using the healing power of nutrition.
But what is functional nutrition? It is a component of functional medicine, which is an individualized approach to medicine. More mainstream and conventional medicine lean on a one-size-fits-all approach, and increasing numbers of chronic health issues indicate that the healthcare system keeps most patients in a perpetual state of ill health. That’s why we approach health differently.
Why Standard Nutrition Is Part of the Health Crisis
One needs only to visit a hospital cafeteria to understand how conventional health has no regard for what the population puts in their bodies. Think of the last time your physician asked you what you eat daily or when anyone sat you down and explained your gut biome to you.
If you’re like most people who don’t know what functional nutrition is, you’re likely in the dark about healthy eating practices. Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are on the rise due to poor nutritional education. Other factors include large food corporations’ vested interests in distribution and messaging, while standard nutrition offers a one-size-fits-all guidance system.
Unfortunately, this approach to mainstream nutrition is wreaking havoc on physical and gut health, contributing to health issues that include the following:
- Depression and anxiety
- Autoimmune diseases
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular issues
- Lowered immunity
People researching what functional nutrition is are often delighted to discover there’s a different and better way to approach food and health.
Solving Chronic Health Issues with Functional Nutrition
What functional nutrition does is provide an individualized and holistic approach to healthcare that addresses the root cause of illness. Addressing the root cause of an illness is different than treating symptoms because once you treat the root cause, the likelihood of a health issue going away increases. In addition to food, functional medicine treatments can include supplements and lifestyle changes.
Functional medicine leans on many tools for individualized treatment strategies, but nutrition is a focal point of all health strategies as food profoundly impacts everyone’s health and wellness. Functional nutrition can be used as a primary health strategy tool or as complementary functional medicine treatment.
What Functional Nutrition Can Do for You
Most patients come to us because they’re experiencing some type of imbalance due to nutrition, health, or lifestyle factors. Functional nutrition gives you an individualized nutrition strategy to help you address current health issues. Additionally, your nutritional plan enables you to prevent the onset of health problems in the future, an approach that conventional mainstream media sorely lacks.
When considering healthcare alternatives and answering what is functional nutrition and is it right for you, consider that functional nutrition offers the following benefits:
- It improves your digestion.
- It promotes gut health, which is being shown by research to be a critical part of overall health.
- It can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
- It reduces inflammation, often a root cause or cohort of chronic illness.
- It improves overall health and wellness.
Who Should Seek Out Functional Nutrition Healthcare?
When people ask us what functional nutrition is and whether it is the right fit for them, our answer is “probably.” However, there’s no one-size-fits-all health solution for everyone. At our Tulsa functional nutrition clinic, we offer five areas of treatment so you have a better idea of whether our services fit your needs.
- Digestive and Gut Disorders: We run advanced lab testing for patients suffering from diarrhea, chronic bloating, cramps, brain fog, and/or acid reflux.
- Autoimmune Disease Treatments: Millions of Americans live with autoimmune diseases and are overloaded with medications. Many people don’t know that functional nutrition is a way to treat autoimmune issues at the root cause, creating drastic shifts in their quality of life.
- Metabolic Syndrome: High blood pressure, excess weight around the midsection, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol are all markers of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is linked to more severe diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. However, when treated with functional nutrition, a patient can achieve and maintain a healthy weight and proactively prevent disease while enjoying a more active and vital life.
- Thyroid Health: There’s no getting around it: if your thyroid isn’t functioning well, you will suffer imbalances that manifest as brain fog, extreme weight loss, fatigue, irregular menstrual cycles, dry skin and hair, and/or general anxiety. If you’re asking yourself what functional nutrition is and whether it can help you, it certainly can if you’re suffering from hypo- or hyperthyroidism. Poor gut health and an increase in environmental toxins are typically what cause thyroid dysregulation, and functional nutrition treats both at the root cause.
- Chronic Stress and Anxiety: The demands of our world have outmatched our capacity to appropriately keep up, a fact underlined by the anxiety epidemic. While occasional stress is appropriate, chronic stress and anxiety affect mental and physical health. Functional nutrition offers solutions without succumbing to habit-forming pharmaceuticals.
Getting Started with Functional Nutrition Healthcare near Tulsa, OK
If learning about what functional nutrition is has inspired you to take steps in advocating for your health, we invite you to take the first step and book your free call.
During your call one of our team members will learn more about you, your health concerns, and your goals. We’ll explore whether you’re a good candidate for our Tulsa functional medicine services. If we determine our clinic can help you, we’ll schedule your initial one-on-one, in-depth consultation.
During your in-depth consultation, we’ll co-create a strategy for optimizing your wellness using the power of functional nutrition, getting you started on your wellness journey immediately.