By Svetlana Kogan, M.D.
Managing chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, for example, can feel like a never-ending battle. While medications and treatments are important, there is a rising trend in healthcare that focuses not just on treating the symptoms, but on fixing the root causes of these problems. Enter Functional Medicine. It is getting a lot of attention because it is all about treating the whole person. Functional medicine is not just about popping a pill to fix what is wrong. It is a holistic approach that digs into the underlying reasons why you’re dealing with a certain health issue in the first place. Whether it is your diet, sleep habits, stress levels, or environmental factors, functional medicine takes all this into account. The goal is not just to treat the disease, but to get to the root cause and find ways to restore balance in your body.
Let us look at high blood pressure (hypertension) for example. It can lead to strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failure if left unchecked. While blood pressure medications are commonly prescribed, functional medicine goes beyond just treating the numbers on a monitor. It looks at what might be contributing to high blood pressure and helps you make changes to address those issues. For example, it is quite common for me to “prescribe” certain BP lowering foods. Additionally, for overweight patients, I put together customized meal plans, complete with recipes and shopping list, based on a person’s lab results, lifestyle, and personal preferences.
But that is not all. We also look at things like stress level measuring and management, sleep quality, food sensitivities, and impaired heart rate variability – all of which can contribute to high blood pressure. My patients get their customized holistic recommendations to address all these driving forces of hypertension. I even laminate my recommendations, so that patients will be less likely to lose them.
Or take Diabetes for example, particularly type 2. Traditional treatment for diabetes often focuses on oral medications or injections, but functional medicine takes a different approach. It focuses o insulin resistance, the root cause of type 2 diabetes.
By improving your body’s response to insulin, you can lower blood sugar levels and, in some cases, even reverse diabetes altogether.
One of the coolest things about functional medicine for diabetes is the use of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). These devices track your blood sugar levels in real-time, providing valuable insight into how different foods, exercise, and even stress impact your glucose levels. With this information, you can adjust your diet and lifestyle to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. The use of CGMs helps me to validate my recommendations and thus improve patient compliance.
For example, let us say I recommended a patient with Insulin resistance to walk after dinner to optimize their glucose metabolism. If they use a CGM, they will see in real time on the screen – that such walk helps to keep their sugar levels in check. This real-time data serves as a visual illustration and helps to develop healthy habits.
I also often find myself “prescribing “exercise to my hypertensive or pre/diabetic patients. But it is not just any kind of exercise. It is personalized based on your body’s needs and fitness level. This could include aerobic exercises (like walking or cycling) to improve circulation, strength training to boost heart health, and even yoga or Pilates to manage stress.
The beauty of functional medicine is that it does not just put a Band-Aid on your condition but rather takes a deeper look at what is going on with your body and offers sustainable solutions. Whether it is food for lowering blood pressure, CGMs to help manage diabetes, or an exercise program for improving heart health, functional medicine gives you the tools to make lasting changes. I like to meet with my patients regularly to go over their progress and collaborate with them on making this wellness journey more productive by sticking with what works and letting go of what doesn’t.
By focusing on prevention, balanced nutrition, stress management, and exercise, functional medicine is not only helping people manage chronic diseases but also improving their overall quality of life and offering a path to long-term wellness.
Svetlana Kogan, M.D.
The author of ‘Diet Slave No More!’, Svetlana Kogan, MD is a Board-Certified Internal Medicine, Holistic & Functional Medical Doctor with 25 years of experience. She has appeared as a health expert on prime-time TV and radio stations and has authored hundreds of holistic health articles for internet and print. She moved her Concierge Practice from Manhattan NYC to Naples in 2019. Her Functional Medicine Primary Care Practice is focused on prevention and holistic approach to illness, and longevity.
720 Fifth Ave S, Unit 209, Naples , FL 34102
Phone: (239) 676-6883
www.customlongevity.com