Functional Medicine - The Future Is Now In 21st Century Medicine

Dr. Mark Hyman isn't one of those doctors who's eager to pass out pills and procedures like candy when patients come to see him for their medical problems. He doesn't care about "labeling" a set of symptoms just so people can finally put a name to whatever they're suffering from. He wants to do more than just this.

He wants to get to the root cause of his patient's problems. Instead of taking a backwards approach to treating diseases by throwing more drugs at them he takes a forward thinking approach of finding the underlying cause of these diseases and then targets those issues to better the lives of his patients. He practices what is known as Functional Medicine and hopes to help both patients and doctors view health and disease from a different perspective. This perspective focuses on long term solutions instead of short term relief from a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions.

He shares his personal story of discovering this new vision of what healthcare should look like in his speech at TEDMED 2010. His insights into the management of the emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing of a human being gives hope that one day our current medical system may finally realize that our conventional ways of compartmentalized thinking are outdated and in need of a major overhaul. The body is a whole system of interconnected parts that all affect one another. More pills are not the answer. More understanding and knowledge about this systemic approach is.

Photo credit: Editorjp (Wikimedia Commons)

If you like what you see here then you'll LOVE our daily Facebook and Twitter posts!  Also, don't forget to sign up for  Our Free Online Mailing List  to get all the latest updates from the Plant-Based Pharmacist!

by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

Check out Dustin Rudolph's book The Empty Medicine Cabinet to start your journey towards better health. This step-by-step guide leads you through many of today's common chronic diseases (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more), giving you the facts on foods versus medications in treating these medical conditions. The book also contains an easy-to-follow guide on how to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet as a part of an overall lifestyle change, producing the best possible health outcomes for you and your family. Hurry and get your copy today!

We'd love for you to join us in spreading the good word about plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine by telling your family and friends about our website at www.PlantBasedPharmacist.com. 

Share and rate this post below or tell us what you think by posting a comment. Thank you again for stopping by and until next time... be happy, be healthy, and live the life you've always dreamed of!

Whole Health

by guest blogger Joseph Baker

Whole health starts with fresh fruits and vegetables

For many, eating healthy is little more than a New Year's Resolution that is quickly broken each year.  Indeed, in our hustle and bustle world, it is quite easy to get caught up in a cycle of eating out, or eating meals that aren't nutritious, and this is the death knell to any healthy diet. Additionally, if you go into something planning to only make moderate changes, then the likelihood of success is minimal at best.  Instead of taking such a short-sighted approach, it is best to completely overhaul your eating habits.

Plant-based nutrition has long been viewed as a healthier alternative to the traditional diet of animal-based products (meat and dairy). In addition to lowering your risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) and other chronic diseases, a plant-based diet that is rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables has been shown to have an inverse association with all-cause mortality.

Making such a drastic lifestyle change may be out of reach for some. Due to the prohibitive costs of whole foods and quality produce, many shy away from a plant-based diet. More and more sites are springing up on the Internet that offer deals, making these changes a little more affordable, but many would say that more can and should be done on the retailers' end to ensure that eating healthy is feasible for everyone, not just those who can afford it.