Do you struggle with your health or worry about getting sick?

Research tells us that less than 3% of doctor visits are spent discussing diet or nutrition.

Usually, upon arriving at your appointment you present your symptoms, aches or pains and either a prescription is written or you’re told that they may just be a part of aging and something you need to live with. It drives me crazy that doctors rarely ask what you are eating, or what might be going on in your life that could be causing your symptoms.

Why is it that most of us including doctors have forgotten that famous saying from Hippocrates — Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food.

Perhaps if the prescription pad was put away and we were prescribed 8-10 servings of organic vegetables daily, healing bone broths, ginger or turmeric tea for chronic pain, we would see an increase in healing, fewer doctor visits and less side effects from medications.

Is it that we think healthy cooking takes too much time and we would prefer to have a quick fix from a pill?

Trillions of dollars are spent on health care every year, yet very few of those dollars go toward prevention.

• 1 in 3 suffers from high blood pressure
• 1 in 3 is overweight
• 1 in 3 is expected to have diabetes by 2020

 It’s time to make a huge shift in our health care by beginning to practice & prescribe prevention– before we bankrupt our health care industry.

If you are one of the many who waits until your symptoms are so bad to visit you doctor then listen up. Our bodies are continuously whispering to us and letting us know when it’s not functioning at optimum levels. Are you tuned in to what your body is saying?

Your body is telling you something is not right if you suffer with:

1. Irritable bowel syndrome
2. Pain
3. Chronic yeast infections
4. PMS
5. Food sensitivities
6. Gerd, reflux or indigestion
7. Headaches
8. Eczema or skin disorders
9. Pre- diabetes or diabetes
10. Anxiety
11. Depression
12. Fatty Liver Disease
13. Fibromyalgia

Many of these conditions and symptoms are caused by the foods we are eating or drinking. Stress and toxins in our environment also play a role in our health. Wouldn’t it seem more advantageous to begin to practice prevention as opposed to waiting for the body to fall ill?

As a nutrition coach I help people to realize that the body is brilliant and that if we pay it attention it will tell us what it needs. It’s sad that most of us have never been taught how to be in tune with our body. Our medical system has steered so far from prevention and knowing how to read our bodies signals that it is often a joke to visit our general practitioner. With only 10 minutes allotted to hear what is wrong and to create a plan of action, your GP usually writes a prescription or sends you on your way telling you to return only if the symptoms worsen.

There is a whole new science of medicine emerging called functional medicine or integrative medicine. Functional medicine is a patient-centered medical approach to healing where the physician uses both traditional Western medicine along with alternative medicine to create a focus on prevention using nutrition, exercise and specific diagnostic testing. Functional Medicine addresses the whole person, not just the symptoms.

Why do we need functional medicine?

• Chronic and complex illnesses are on the rise and we are reaching a global health crisis
• Our current medical system is based on acute care — i.e., broken limbs, heart attack, appendicitis
• Acute-care lacks the tools for preventing and treating chronic illness
• Physicians are not trained adequately to assess chronic conditions — they do not treat the whole person only the symptoms

Why is Functional Medicine Different?

• Functional medicine looks at the origins, prevention and treatment of the person, not only the disease
• It supports through healing mechanisms so the body can heal itself
• Illness is not only the absence of disease and functional medicine focuses on prevention not bandaid solutions
• Functional medical practitioners take the time with patients allowing them to be their own advocate & becoming involved in their healing process
• Tailored treatments to the individuals unique needs
• Combines mind body and spirit as well as the physical and social environment of the patient
• Using detoxification programs, stress management, supplements, nutrition and specific laboratory testing to determine the diagnosis

There are now schools offering curriculum in integrative medicine and nutrition. The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, (IIN) was founded in 1992 by Joshua Rosenthal. What started as a small classroom of passionate people wanting to learn more about healing modalities is now the world’s largest nutrition school and most renowned Health Coach Training Program. Visiting health teachers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Mark Hyman and David Wolfe all agree that those who have provided health in the past, mostly doctors, are not going to be the people who create health in the future. Our future health will be thanks to health coaches like those graduating from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

As we all know no one diet works for everyone. It’s about individual self care and teaching the next generation how to make healthier choices so to create a new kind of health care system so that we prevent chronic illness — which is skyrocketing around the globe.

If you or your health practitioner is interested in a health prevention prescription and finding out more about The Institute for Integrative Nutrition  or to sample one of their life- changing classes click here for more information.

Let us know what you do in your daily lives to practice health prevention in the comments below.