Some people may question a functional nutrition and lifestyle approach to health concerns and chronic disease. I’ve read that there may never be a root cause, therefore all you can do is treat the symptoms. I don’t believe that. In fact, I categorically disagree that the development of chronic disease in the United States, is out of our hands. I don’t buy into the premise that these diseases (Type II Diabetes, Cardio-vascular disease, Alzheimer's, Fibromyalgia, COPD) are just part of the normal aging process. Conversely, I subscribe to the idea that if we can identify the cause(s), then we can start reducing or eliminating the effects. Let’s take a look at the problem of chronic disease through a different frame.
Have you ever lost your car keys? Gosh, I know I have, just ask my husband. You might be rushing around in the morning trying to get the kids off to school and yourself ready for work. You are running out the door with your coffee cup in one and you suddenly realize that you can’t find your car keys. You are supposed to keep them on the hook by the back door, but apparently you did not do that, again. You set everything down, ignoring the whining children waiting at the car, and check your purse (or wherever guys put keys). They are not there! Now you are frustrated and upset that you are going to be late. You have to decide what you will do next. You could continue to look in bags, pant pockets and drawers until you find them; perhaps a half an hour later. Or you could just say “F” this, I’m calling an Uber. If you decide to take an Uber to drop your kids off at school and then go to work, you will indeed solve one problem, but you will also have a few more problems to address later. The Uber cost money and even though you barely arrived at work on time, you still don’t have your car keys and you have to figure out how to get your kids home from school and take another Uber home from work. Once you get home, you again still don’t have your keys, and your husband and kids want dinner....now.
This plausible, but extreme scenario, makes me think about how doctors use medication to just mask what’s really going on. Meds do alleviate symptoms and help in the moment, just like taking an Uber to school and work gets you where you need to go when you can’t find your car keys. Alas, the underlying problem persists and often with unintended consequences causing more problems (the “call your doctor if you have” clauses at the end of drug commercials). I don’t really know of anyone who has actually called an Uber due to losing their keys, yet everyday we take prescription medication to treat symptoms of chronic illness. Taking a prescription medication, alone, is not going to be the answer to stopping, let alone reversing, the chronic disease process.
What is an alternative solution? You could take another moment to look for your keys. This will take more time and often is stressful and frustrating since you have already looked in many of the places where you thought your keys could be. But sometimes that is EXACTLY where you will find your keys, buried under candy wrappers and crumpled napkins in your purse. In my opinion, this is the similar to trying to identify the root cause of disease. We may not always find the answer immediately and sometimes we need to look at the same causes again. This could be true in the case of an elimination diet. Eliminating certain foods for 30 days is the gold-standard in identifying food sensitivities. After the 30 days you didn’t see much improvement and you’re not quite sure if there was any significant effect by re-introducing the foods again. You very well may be on the right track, but perhaps your body needed a 60 day elimination diet to see a difference or perhaps you didn’t realize that the “natural flavorings” that are added to package foods actually do contain gluten (a protein found in grains like wheat, rye and barely, that can effect individuals even without celiac disease.). Even though it may be frustrating to look for your keys, doing so in a systematic and orderly way often helps. It might be even better if you can have someone on your side who is helping (Me! Pick me!!!).
Taking a step back from the situation is necessary too. What could you do to help ensure that you don’t lose your keys in the first place?
You could employ a variety of strategies to help with this. Create a new routine, (which by the way takes 21 days of consistent behaviors to form a new habit), of putting those keys on the hook by the back door every time you come home. Use technology, like one of those little tile fobs that will beep when you activate the app on your phone. The same is true for chronic disease and general unwellness. If you want to be more active with your lifestyle, you are going to have to come up with strategies and ways to change your current behavior plus support to actually stick with it. If you are too stressed out about all the other things going on in your life right now it’s also going to be very hard for you to focus on this new behavior. And if you have a self-limiting belief that you can’t change your ways, well, that is the hardest to overcome. Guess what? All of these factors play into health and well-being too.
So, wouldn’t your morning routine, and household in general, run better if you could identify the root cause(s) of not remembering to put your keys on the hook? Well, your body would also run better if you didn’t just stop at addressing your symptoms with medications, but also take a deep dive and explore triggering events, epigenetic predispositions and current lifestyle, choices so that you could identify barriers to your optimal health and wellness. In case you were wondering, the above example was finally remedied in my household when I started using a key fob ring that I clasp onto my purse strap. I never liked that hook on the wall anyway.
Disclaimer: The above information is my opinion. You should always consult with a doctor before changing any of your current medication or adding any supplements. In fact, I want you to have this conversation with your medical team. The power to change is within you, but professional support and guidance is essential. My P.T. Practice is designed specifically with this premise in mind. Contact me to learn more about emPOWERme P.T.