A Symptom, Not a Disease
Tiffany Nelson, MS, LAT, ATC, NTP
May – June 2021 • Vol 3, No 115
If you’ve ever struggled with your weight, you’ve probably heard it all… Watch your calories! Eat low fat! Exercise! And probably even have tried some of the trending diets that have blown through like Atkins, South Beach, Mediterranean, or Keto. Any of this sound familiar? Let me ask you something, did it work? Did you feel great, and keep the weight off? Unfortunately, most people would say no.
May I offer some insight as to why this might be? The simple answer is that weight gain (or difficulty losing weight) is a symptom of deeper dysfunction within the body, it is not the primary problem to be dealt with. And none of those previously mentioned approaches address the root cause of that dysfunction. The body has this incredible capacity to make necessary adjustments to keep us alive.
If you choose Functional Medicine, then the focus will not be on treating your symptoms, but on what could be imbalanced in your body and what can bring it into balance (and in this, the symptoms may be relieved in a more lasting way). What do you have too much of? Bad food, gut inflammation, estrogen, toxins, stress, etc. What do you not have enough of? Thyroid hormone, vitamin D, self-care, progesterone, exercise, etc. Hippocrates, a few thousand years ago, said, “All disease begins in the gut.” He was onto something because this is where we frequently start.
