the mindbody way: the heart of health
Healthcare v. Disease-care
One of the biggest problems in our current healthcare predicament is that conventional, evidence-based medicine does not have satisfactory answers for many chronic diseases. While we have been busy excelling under this model for acute conditions (e.g. the miracles of antibiotics, steroids, and surgery), most Americans are now dying from preventable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Furthermore, many other conditions, like cancer, may have their roots in lifestyle habits, nutritional deficiencies and toxin exposure. In response to the need for a more complete system of medicine, we have seen a resurgence in Naturopathy - a distinct system of medicine with it's foundation on the healing power of nature and treating the root cause of illness.
What about Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a popular term in health culture currently. It refers to a subspecialty within medicine consisting of practitioners who are looking for a more holistic way to practice medicine. It was started by conventionally-trained medical doctors and was their answer to the healthcare vacuum. While every practitioner will have his or her own style in practice, Functional Medicine doctors and Naturopathic doctors share core concepts and philosophy. While there are many Naturopathic doctors who identify themselves as also being Functional Medicine doctors, Functional Medicine is a more broad term encompassing many degrees (their practitioners may be MD, DO, DC, NP, PA, etc).
PRINCIPLES OF NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
1.
THE HEALING POWER OF NATURE.
The Naturopathic physician believes in the body’s innate ability to heal.
2.
IDENTIFY AND TREAT THE ROOT CAUSE.
We work to go beyond treating the symptoms of an illness to find the cause of illness whenever possible.
3.
FIRST, DO NOT HARM.
We use low risk and natural methods to treat patients using approaches that have few to no side effects.
4.
EDUCATION.
We believe that knowledge is power; whenever we can, we involve our patients in the prevention and treatment at home or in the approaches they can learn to use themselves.
5.
TREAT THE WHOLE PERSON.
Health is determined by physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and spiritual elements.
None in isolation.
6.
PREVENTION.
We strongly believe in the axiom “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” so we work with our patients to create specific healthy lifestyle plans that take into account personal risk factors,
heredity and vulnerability to future disease.