[ Zenestar is not Currently Taking New Functional Medicine Patients ]
Losing weight is one of the biggest challenges many people face. We know we should lose weight to be healthier and of course, we want to look good too. But it’s easier said than done. What most people don’t realize is that being overweight and obesity are symptoms of other problems and not necessarily that you just can’t pass up a donut.
With functional medicine we realize this and strive to find the root cause of why you are having difficulty losing weight. We also know that the calories in and calories out theory is outdated. There are many more factors than this affecting your ability to lose or gain weight. Let’s be clear here, we are not trying to lose weight per se, but lose body fat. Our goal is to reach a healthy body composition of fat/lean mass/water/bone. Just like any other medical condition, we approach your weight difficulties with a comprehensive history, physical, and targeted diagnostic laboratories looking for the cause.
Here are some reasons you may have excess fat:
- Diet/nutrition- not eating the right food, excess sugar, nutrient deficiencies, inflammatory foods
- Energy balance- caloric intake too high, physical activity to low
- Hormone imbalance
- Underactive thyroid
- Chronic stress/ high cortisol
- Sex hormone imbalance
- Endocrine disruptors/environmental toxins (phtalates, parabens)
- Poor sleep
- Inflammation/oxidative stress, infections
- Insulin/Leptin resistance
- Gut/Microbiome imbalance
- Mitochondial dysfunction
- Hereditary factors
- Social connections
Once we determine a cause, we use a combination of nutrition, lifestyle interventions- such as physical activity (although we believe the nutrition part is the most important), stress reduction, and sleep, supplementation and prescribed therapy as needed. We focus heavily on nutrition, detoxification, eliminating inflammation, hormonal balance, and social and behavioral modification. When we rectify imbalances, depletions, and behaviors, the weight comes off naturally and is more sustainable. When we focus on health weight normalizes as a positive side effect. You can also expect more energy, better sleep, decreased pain, and just overall feeling better. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure will improve as well.
If you are having difficulty losing weight no matter what you try, allow us to help you discover the reason why and fix it.
