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Can Functional Medicine Help with Weight Loss?
Weight loss is not as easy as it seems. It requires a lot of effort and consistency. No sudden magic pill can help you lose weight. However, one thing that helps realize the root causes of weight gain is functional medicine. Functional medicine utilizes an integrative approach in order to lose weight while recognizing the contributing factors affecting the weight. Various health elements influence your weight, including lifestyle, diet, and overall health. The ultimate goal of functional medicine is to understand those health factors and help you adjust your nutrition, lifestyle, and health in an appropriate way (Liska, et al, 2021).
Causes of weight gain
There is a number of causes that lead to a significant gain in your weight, including stress, lack of sleep, food addiction, certain medications, inflammation, aging, hypothyroidism, increased food intake, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis syndrome, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), Cushing’s syndrome and many more.
In some cases, weight loss and obesity indicate immune dysfunction or inflammation. In order to lose weight, it is essential to consider what actually is activating the immune system. For some people, a balanced and healthy diet and physical activity may support immune function and correct their inflammation. However, in other cases, there are probably other important and unaddressed factors. The functional medicine approach helps those who seek to decrease inflammation, optimize immune function, and lose weight.
Functional Medicine Approach
Everybody requires a different plan.
However, some strategies are basic that work for around everyone.
Focus on unprocessed foods
Unprocessed foods were the key to maintaining health and weight in the previous decades. These foods will always be the basis of a nutrient-dense and high-quality diet.
It’s necessary to shift to non-starchy veggies and low-sugar fruit. You need to shift to a plant-based diet because plants are high in fiber, and fiber holds a lot of benefits for health. Fiber improves your gut health and helps you absorb the nutrients better. It can reduce inflammation and support the immune system. Fiber also lowers cholesterol and balances blood sugar. Therefore, people who take fiber through a plant-based diet are more likely to have stabilized blood sugar, improved bowel movement, low cholesterol, a better immune system, and of course, controlled weight.
Eliminate sugar from your diet
People who eat white sugar in excess are more likely to gain weight and experience inflammation. The study shows that high sugar intake actually boosts appetite and promotes unhealthy weight gain (Sadahira, et al, 2016). Many food items are high in protein but low in sugar which helps lower appetite and encourages fullness. It’s high time to restrain your sugar craving by eating protein-rich whole foods, including fish, eggs, meat, avocados, nuts, and full-fat dairy products. Reduce your sugar intake by reducing sugary beverages, sausages, desserts, and sugary breakfasts. It will help you lose weight and improves overall health.
Functional Medicine Treatment
Weight is a complex combination of systems and hormonal pathways that regulate metabolism. Being underweight or overweight is a symptom of hormonal imbalance in the body. Functional medicines assist in identifying the potential root causes and developing long-term weight management solutions. It is a personal approach that empowers patients (Hymen, et al, 2007).
Various aspects of functional medicine assisting in weight loss include
- Clinical assessment
- Identify environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors
- Physical exam
- Initial plan development
- Diagnostic testing
- Potential tests for weight loss are
- Nutrient testing (minerals and vitamins)
- Metabolic panel
- Complete GI panel
- Comprehensive hormonal panels
- Salivary Cortisol
- Food sensitivities
- SIBO testing
- Provide
- Short term goal plan
- Long term goal plan
- Specialists treatment
It’s high time to visit American Back Center to get functional medicines and lose weight ideally.
References
Sadahira, M. S., Rodrigues, M. I., Akhtar, M., Murray, B. S., & Netto, F. M. (2016). Effect of egg white protein-pectin electrostatic interactions in a high sugar content system on foaming and foam rheological properties. Food Hydrocolloids, 58, 1-10.