Getting to the Root Cause in Healthcare
by Sara Brown

The term “wellness” has become so convoluted, it’s overwhelming. As a physical therapist, I get questions from my patients all the time. In fact, it drove me to go back to school for nutrition and functional medicine, to find answers myself. We read one thing that says eggs are bad, then the next says eggs are nature’s vitamin; some say meat is the root of evil, others say to eat only meat! Brown rice or white rice? You can find someone out there touting all sides of the coin, but what is best for your body, you wonder? We sometimes have to get out of our own way, step back and look at the bigger picture. 

 You may be dealing with low energy, brain fog, digestive symptoms, joint pain, or weight gain. You may also have been told you have thyroid dysfunction, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, or altered blood work, on your way to diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, or any number of chronic diseases. In reality, most symptoms we experience are downstream consequences of upstream dysfunction going on in our body’s interconnected web of systems.

Our tendency in healthcare is often to use Band-Aid approaches to cover up symptoms, rather than treating the root cause of the issue. Instead, to best describe a functional medicine approach, the analogy is this: If you have 5 tacks in the bottom of your foot and you are complaining of foot pain, do you take ibuprofen to temporarily mask the pain? Or do you instead take out the tacks from your foot (and thus fix the root cause of your pain)? 

 The truth is that we have more control over our health than many realize. Our lifestyle choices are constantly impacting our genetic expression and health outcomes, by turning on and turning off our genes, depending on how we live our lives. Thus, working on the root cause(s) of the issue (via nutrition, exercise and movement, sleep and relaxation, stress management, and relationships) is incredibly effective for long-term resolution of symptoms, all while building health, resilience, and avoiding disease.

 In functional medicine and nutrition we ask two simple questions:

• What inputs do we need to take out that are causing harm? 

(Hint: Processed foods, pesticides, refined carbs and added sugars, industrial seed oils, environmental toxins, negative thought patterns, toxic relationships, the job that sucks the life out of you)

• What inputs are we missing that we need to add in to help the body thrive? 

(Hint: Prioritizing whole foods, protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, omega-3 rich fats, variety and diversity in foods, deeply pigmented colorful fruits and vegetables, and fermented foods for your gut microbiome)

Since we eat at least three times a day, I find adjusting nutrition is a great starting focus for clients. Three simple goals to start today to change your health for the better are:

1. Try to get many colorful, whole foods on your plate, for diverse superfood benefits
2. Ensure you have fiber and protein at each meal, for stable blood sugar and to stay full
3. Incorporate fermented foods daily, to feed your gut microbiome

In reality, while perhaps simple, creating sustainable lifestyle habits is not easy. You’ve likely been told before to “eat well and exercise”, but what does that even look like in a practical sense, and how do we implement it in real life? This is where most people get stuck and don’t know where to start, which is where I come in. Lately, I’m especially passionate about using both nutrition and mobility to help patients suffering from all types of arthritis. If you want to learn more about the root cause approach to nutrition and health symptoms that you or a loved one may be dealing with, I’d love to talk more.

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