What is Functional Medicine?

While this approach to healthcare seems to be gaining some ground, there might still be a big huh? surrounding Functional Medicine for you. You might also be skeptical. What’s wrong with normal medicine? Is this all woo-woo good vibes only with no substance? What’s the goal here? We get it. You’re not alone in these questions and skepticisms, so we hope to shed some light on what Functional Medicine means and how we plan to serve you at R+R.

Whether you struggle with stubborn weight gain, digestive issues, persistent allergies, multiple unexplained symptoms or perhaps you simply want optimize your health and prevent conditions in the future, no matter where you are in life, functional medicine is for you and we would love to work with you. At R+R we long to bring you the support you need by partnering with you and walking alongside you in your unique health journey.

In today's conventional medical system, a doctor's diagnosis and healing plan often begin and end with your symptoms. Not sleeping? Here's some Ambien. Anxious? Try some Lexipro. Hormones imbalanced? This new birth control should do the trick. 

While these prescriptions may very well alleviate what ails you, there's no digging into WHY your symptoms bubbled to the surface. Without addressing what's causing your fatigue, your anxiety, your mood swings, who's to say these symptoms won't intensify upon the body's adjustment to the medication? Not to mention the potential side effects from the meds!

In Functional Medicine, symptoms clue your practitioner into what's really going on in your body rather than holding court as the endgame. This personalized and integrative approach to healthcare focuses on prevention, management and root causes of the symptoms in order to help you reach your goals and stay there. Functional Medicine does not come in one-size-fits-all and does not mean a quick fix. This approach will be layered and detailed with each piece of the puzzle being examined and carefully placed where it should go to help you feel your very best.

We promise to gently dig deep through various research-based tests and lab reports specific to your needs by examining everything from your gut health to mineral deficiencies, hormone imbalance, food sensitivities, your genetic blueprint, cortisol levels, a comprehensive stool analysis, heavy metals, mold toxicity, chemical exposure and more. Zyto Scans will also be employed to further navigate your unique makeup.

The goal of our care is to figure out the root cause of your symptoms, establish a personalized plan of nutrition, fitness, sleep, high-quality supplements and a gentle detox to set you on the path to healing. Our Nurse Practitioner can help you manage certain prescriptions and when she does prescribe, she will do so with thoughtful consideration and only when the benefits outweight the risks or side effects. Her intention will always be to study beyond your symptoms the prescription masks in order to give you a long term healing plan. Think of this approach as an investment in your health and in your long term well-being! 

We believe our bodies are immaculate designs by the hand of our Creator, and we long to help yours move, balance, feel and rest as He intended. At R+R, we cannot wait to offer you what we believe to be the most comprehensive and effective view of your unique wellness journey through the lens of Functional Medicine. 

Food Sensitivity Testing

We’ve all been at the table with that person asking whether everything from the salt shaker to the dessert spoon have been in contact with gluten. We’ve rolled our eyes passing this off as a bougie ploy to skip the carbs, and while this might be the case for some, for 30% of Americans, gluten sensitivity is a very real thing! Some experience more severe symptoms than others, but believe it or not, almost all of us have some degree of food sensitivity. Your symptoms just might manifest a little more subtly or possibly in a way you think is just “part of life” … for instance:

Does pizza wreck your stomach? Does eating pasta make your joints ache? Does your kiddo have an eternally dry patch on the back of their arms? Do some lunch choices leave you feeling foggy when you get back to your desk? These issues, and more, could very well stem from a food sensitvity.

Sensitivity vs. Allergy

Often times, compromised guts can lead to more food sensitivities whereas allergies are typically more associated with over-reactive immune systems. That said, there is an immune response with the food sensitivity. Food sensitivity is an IgG reaction versus an IgE (allergy) reaction, and this does affect the immunoglobulins, which are part of the immune system. In sum, IgG reaction (food sensitivity reaction) is likely due to compromised gut issues, but it does still trigger an immune response, and that is actually how we test the sensitivites: via said immunoglobulins.

Food allergies can come on with even a microspcopic fleck of a reactionary food source, while food sensitivities might not take affect until a much larger portion has been eaten. Further, the reaction to food allergies is always acute, rarely chronic and the reaction to food sensitivites is always chronic, rarely acute.

So while a food allergy tends to be deemed more life-threatening due to its attack on the airway system, one could argue the chronic nature of a food sensivity is equally threatening to your quality of life. If you’ve been living with chronic bowel issues, brain-fog you cannot pinpoint, sluggishness, joint pain or discomfort and bloating everytime you eat, you could very well suffer from a food sensitivity.

I Think I Have A Food Sensitivity

If you suspect you have a food sensitivity, there’s no better time than now to get to the bottom of it. Food Sensitivity test results can aid in structuring elimination diets that may relieve symptoms of many chronic neurological, gastrointestinal, and movement disorders. The 93 foods tested in the IgG Food Allergy Test with Candida include representatives of major food groups common in the western diet.  Elimination of IgG-positive foods can improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, autism, ADHD, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and epilepsy, according to numerous clinical studies.

Benefits of Food Sensitivity Testing include helping to determine whether food reactions are contributing to physical or mental symptoms. The removal of highly reactive foods from the diet is a non-invasive, food-based therapy often mitigating a patient’s symptoms. Research and clinical studies suggest food allergies identified by IgG testing can be a major contributing factor in many chronic health conditions. Finally, food rotation and elimination diets can reduce stress on the immune system, lower gut inflammation, resolve food cravings, and reduce the potential for eating disorders.

Could It Be Adrenal Fatigue?

What does our adrenal system do, and why do we need to nourish it? Think of your adrenals as the producers and regulators of your hormones and neurotransmitters. These hormones and neurotransmitters then regulate your metabolism. So we're talking reproductive health, brain health, weight management, energy and mood, and since the adrenals regulate all these systems, you can see why it's so important to keep them in check! If you’re feeling off in any of the following areas, chances are adrenal fatigue might be the culprit:

• hair loss

• blurred vision

• severe allergies

• unexplained weight gain or loss

• muscle aches and pains

• dizziness when you stand up

• low libido

• infertility

• chronic fatigue

• feeling tired but can’t sleep aka “tired but wired”

Most of us have some degree of adrenal fatigue, and it comes with no surprise *stress* holds court as the leading suppressor of adrenal glands leading to their fatigue. Read below for a few steps to keep stress at bay and to heal your adrenal system:

• Eat clean: avoid inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, refined sugar and too much caffeine

• Get plenty of zzz's... shoot for 8 hours!

• Do not over-commit. No is a complete sentence.

• Regulate your blood sugar by eating protein within an hour of waking each morning and by pairing your macros (our nutritionists can help with this!) 

• High-intensity/high-impact exercise elevates cortisol levels, so limit this as your exercise form when you're in a healing season

• Take the time and effort to heal emotional trauma.

• Supplements can help as well! Come get a B-complex shot or check out our adaptogenic herbs to reboot your system. If after 8-10 weeks you do not see improvement, we recommend a deeper look through a Functional Medicine appointment.

The beautiful thing about our bodies is they’re able to heal when we let them. Through dietary, lifestyle and supplemental adjustments, adrenal fatigue does not have to stick around for long. At R+R, we offer several healing modalities to support your adrenal system and the healing process!