Saturday 16 February 2013

Functional Medicine: Your Key to a Healthy Lifestyle


How Functional Medicine Restores Health

There is a  significant increase in the number of people who are diagnosed with complex, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness and autoimmune disorders.  Functional medicine uses tools to diagnose the cause of one’s disease to help  people restore health. There are those who think that they can be cured immediately, but that’s not how this  works. It takes a lot education concerning the multi causal factors that influence our health,  family health history, genetic predispositions, environmental and lifestyle factors that can influence the disease process.

A lot of people misconstrued Functional Medicine as  Alternative Medicine. Functional Medicine’s main focus is addressing the root cause of a disease and is less concerned with identifying a set of symptoms to designate an illness. It can be a combination of Laboratory assessments, Herbal Therapy (Chinese Medicine), Vitamin Therapies, Lifestyle Modifications, Dietary Regimens, and Physiotherapy (Western Medicine). Functional Medicine practices a holistic approach. It is patient-centered care which promotes that the body has an innate ability to heal and each body is as unique as our fingerprints so each treatment protocol is unique to each individual.

Dr. Debbie Novick, a doctor in Chiropractic Medicine, with so much dedication to helping people, is committed to her service in Chiropractic Care, Homeopathy, Bach Flower Remedies and Functional Medicines. Her advocacy in keeping people healthy has inspired her to gain the highest honors during her studies.    

Important Facts to Remember:


  • Dietary imbalance and too much exposure to pollution may cause some symptoms common in chronic diseases.
  • The goal is to achieve vitality not only the absence of disease.
  • Self discipline is necessary. What you eat and absorb is what you are.  An unhealthy diet may contribute to hormonal imbalances , immune disorders, heart problems, etc.
  • Environmental  factors can cause cancer and contribute to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimers and Dementia.
  • Patience is a virtue when deciding on the best medicine.  The holistic approach to healing gets to the root cause instead of just treating the symptoms of a disease.

Functional Medicine focuses on addressing the following disorders:


  • Hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances
  • Oxidation-reduction imbalances
  • Detoxification
  • Immune imbalances
  • Inflammatory imbalances
  • Digestive, absorptive, and microbiological imbalances
  • Structural imbalances from cellular membrane function to the musculoskeletal system

Applying Functional Medicine principles to address chronic disease ultimately leads you to a healthy mind and body.

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