Congratulations!  By completing the leaky gut protocol you have taken an important step in optimizing your health.  Chances are you have seen significant improvements in the past month and are eager to find out what’s next? 

If you want to experience more improvement, consider the following:

Personalized Nutrition Consult

Many of our patients benefit further from a personalized nutrition consult with our clinical nutritionist or health coach. They both realize that change is a process that occurs over time. They work with you each step of the way to create a personalized, sustainable plan that facilitates healing and promotes optimal health. We always encourage you to bring in your significant other, particularly if they do most of the cooking, to maximize the experience. In this way a custom, personalized nutrition plan can be created which takes into account your individual goals, needs, and dietary preferences.

Traditional medicine focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Once the diagnosis is established, the diagnosis is cross-checked with the list of medications used to treat that particular disorder. Often times, the medications chosen are merely treating symptoms, rather than the root cause of the problem. This is often referred to as the “disease-drug” model. 

The integrative or functional medicine approach focuses on prevention and, when problems present themselves, seeks to find the underlying cause. This approach is relatively simple and consists of identifying those things that might be making you sick and eliminating them, while at the same time replacing any identified deficiencies, be they hormonal or nutritional.  

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”   

Hippocrates

 

We at The Care Group wholeheartedly agree with Hippocrates who made this comment some 2000 years ago. The problem is there is so much conflicting information and frank misinformation regarding proper diet that many of our patients don’t know which way to turn when trying to make healthy nutritional choices. Proper nutrition is at the foundation of optimal wellness and for that reason we have nutritionists on staff to help you navigate this process.  Although general guidelines are helpful, an individualized program developed for you and your family takes into account your specific concerns, health conditions, dietary preferences and goals.

With the New Year right around the corner, it has given me cause to pause and reflect. For some reason this year, I find myself reflecting more than in past years. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am in my 30th year of practice or that changes in medicine and for that matter the rest of the world seem to be occurring so rapidly. Maybe it has to do with the loss of some very dear patients this past year; two of which were over 100. The longer I practice, the harder I find it to compartmentalize these inevitable life/death events.  

 

The Past

It was July 1985, two weeks shy of my 27th

birthday when I started practice in Aurora. For those of you trying to make the math work, I completed college and medical school in six years as part of a relatively new "six-year program" at LSU Medical School in Shreveport, Louisiana.  

I wasn't really sure when I applied for the program at age 17, after graduating valedictorian of my high school class, whether or not I yearned for a career in medicine. Most days I don't regret the decision and, in fact, I feel it has been one of the most personally and professionally rewarding careers I could've hoped for.

A few months ago I had the opportunity to listen to 30 of the world's leading authorities on gluten sensitivity as part of a podcast series.  It was the most informative educational program in which I have participated.  I recently read a thought provoking article by an expert in gluten sensitivity and educator. He is one of those 30 top authorities on the subject.  His article referenced how gluten can affect the brain and should be considered a factor in contributing to people with depression or even Parkinson's disease.