17 Jan How come I don’t feel well?

Did it just happen? Is it dumb luck? Is it your genes? Fate?

If you look around, you are probably noticing a lot of people who just don’t feel well. And it’s not just because some of us are getting older. Children have more allergies, asthma, and eczema, young adults have chronic diseases, and everybody’s fatter. Could all this be genetic? Or bad luck?

Our genes haven’t changed but our environment has. That means that something in our environment is leading us to sickness.

According to John B. Richmond, MD, former Surgeon General, “Of the ten leading causes of death in the US, seven could be greatly reduced if the following lifestyle habits were modified: alcohol abuse, lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking, and unhealthy responses to stress and tension.”

Think about your health like a tree. The Institute for Functional Medicine uses a tree to describe functional medicine and health.

• At the roots are your lifestyle choices, like your sleep, relaxation, exercise, stress management, relationships, traumas, microorganisms, and pollution.
• The roots move up the tree to the trunk, which represents your genetic predispositions, your spiritual, mental, and emotional influences, and your experiences, attitudes, and beliefs.
• Now you move up to the branches which are the resulting signs and symptoms.
• Finally, you are at the leaves, each representing the different systems of the body: digestion, cardiovascular, neurological, and so on. This is where you find your diagnosis: heart disease, diabetes, depression, and so on.

Here’s an example. Cindy makes some good decisions like getting plenty sleep and relaxation, and she exercises, but she eats non-nutritious junk food because she is so busy and also is a bit stressed by her busy lifestyle. These are her roots. Her mother had a heart attack at age 50 so this is her genetic predisposition on her trunk. She also feels doomed to have that same thing happen to her–that’s her attitude and belief. Her symptom was shortness of breath during exercising (the branch) which sends her to a doctor who gives her a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (leaf).

Another person may have a different set of roots, or lifestyle factors, which is likely because we are all different. These roots and trunk may lead to the same diagnosis. And people who have similar lifestyles will very likely end up with different diagnoses, because of genetics or other factors. That’s why it’s important to dig deep and get to the root cause of any illness.

So whether you have IBS, or anxiety, or diabetes, or low thyroid, or allergies, or any other chronic illness, the answer is the same. Improve all the lifestyle factors that are under your control.

Fix your roots and trunk so you end up with healthy branches and leaves.

Here’s what most conventional doctors do. They look at your signs and symptoms (branches) and make a diagnosis (leaves). Then they decide on your treatment, such as a prescription or surgery. Their thinking is one illness is from one cause and gets one type of treatment.

They likely don’t back up to look at the root causes of your symptoms. They give you little guidance on how to make better lifestyle decisions. Your roots and trunk remain unchanged. So you may get some symptom relief, but the underlying problems still exist. You can expect more prescriptions and procedures in your future, but not likely a cure.

I am a National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach. That means I am trained to help you address the root causes of your ill health. I can help you find easy steps that resonate with you that will improve your lifestyle. We can look at ways to make sure you get a good restorative night’s sleep. We can find delicious healthy food for you to look forward to eating. We can look for toxins in your environment and find ways to minimize your exposure. We can consider mind-body techniques to help you manage stress.

As for attitudes, I firmly believe that addressing root causes will improve your health. I hope that attitude rubs off on you. There is a world of evidence that improving lifestyle improves health outcomes.

So let’s work together. Contact me. I will listen to your story. We will explore your roots, trunk, branches, and leaves. And you will feel better in the process.

Have you discovered the root causes of any of your health issues? Let us know in the comments.

Dr. Hyman on a new era of medicine

Chopra on functional medicine

This article is for information purposes only. See Disclaimer below.