Laboratory Evaluations For Integrative And Functional Medicine

This book is designed to serve as textbook, desk reference, or path to scientific studies giving evidence of credence for clinical laboratory evaluations of individual patient status for each essential and conditionally essential nutrient, together with evaluations of health threats from toxicant exposures and genetic susceptibilities. The task of assembling the multiple lines of evidence into a coherent picture of how best to guide individuals into pathways leading to optimal wellness is daunting. Thus, included are numerous illustrations of pathways and physiological systems along with case illustrations showing how the overall process can lead to recognition of health threats and disease origins.

By integrating complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with traditional medical treatment, this volume represents the next generation in the evolving field of integrative medicine. Features a unique approach and case studies immediately applicable to clinical practice. Far more than a review of CAM modalities, this is an evidence-based and clinically authoritative guide for family medicine and primary care providers.

Every year millions of Americans struggle to lose weight, financing a huge dieting industry that earns fifty-five billion dollars annually. Despite their efforts, two-thirds of American adults remain either obese or overweight. It’s clear that dieting doesn’t work, and failed attempts to lose weight only make the situation worse by encouraging disordered eating behavior. In Integrative Medicine for Binge Eating, respected psychiatrist and eating disorder expert Dr. James M. Greenblatt explains how appetite is controlled by the brain’s neurochemical systems. The book’s inspiring New Hope model combines the best in traditional and complementary approaches for recovery from Binge Eating Disorder and food addiction. Unlike dieting, which provides only a temporary fix, this book offers a permanent solution based on scientific research to help you reclaim a healthy relationship with food and end the vicious cycle of food addiction. The book delivers: ■ Insight into genetics and eating disorders ■ How laboratory evaluations can point the way to individualized support ■ The role of vitamins and minerals in controlling Binge Eating Disorder ■ The role of medications in controlling Binge Eating Disorder

Integration of complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM) with conventional medicine is occurring in hospitals and physicians offices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are covering CAM therapies, insurance coverage for CAM is increasing, and integrative medicine centers and clinics are being established, many with close ties to medical schools and teaching hospitals. In determining what care to provide, the goal should be comprehensive care that uses the best scientific evidence available regarding benefits and harm, encourages a focus on healing, recognizes the importance of compassion and caring, emphasizes the centrality of relationship-based care, encourages patients to share in decision making about therapeutic options, and promotes choices in care that can include complementary therapies where appropriate. Numerous approaches to delivering integrative medicine have evolved. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States identifies an urgent need for health systems research that focuses on identifying the elements of these models, the outcomes of care delivered in these models, and whether these models are cost-effective when compared to conventional practice settings. It outlines areas of research in convention and CAM therapies, ways of integrating these therapies, development of curriculum that provides further education to health professionals, and an amendment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to improve quality, accurate labeling, research into use of supplements, incentives for privately funded research into their efficacy, and consumer protection against all potential hazards.

This textbook is a practical guide to the application of the philosophy and principles of Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy (IFMNT) in the practice of medicine, and the key role nutrition plays in restoring and maintaining wellness. The textbook provides an overview of recent reviews and studies of physiological and biochemical contributions to IFMNT and address nutritional influences in human heath overall, including poor nutrition, genomics, environmental toxicant exposures, fractured human interactions, limited physical movement, stress, sleep deprivation, and other lifestyle factors. Ultimately, this textbook serves to help practitioners, healthcare systems, and policy makers better understand this different and novel approach to complex chronic disorders. It provides the reader with real world examples of applications of the underlying principles and practices of integrative/functional nutrition therapies and presents the most up-to-date intervention strategies and clinical tools to help the reader keep abreast of developments in this emerging specialty field. Many chapters include comprehensive coverage of the topic and clinical applications with supplementary learning features such as case studies, take-home messages, patient and practitioner handouts, algorithms, and suggested readings. Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy: Principles and Practices will serve as an invaluable guide for healthcare professionals in their clinical application of nutrition, lifestyle assessment, and intervention for each unique, individual patient.

Chronic pain affects nearly 100 million Americans. Ongoing fatigue affects even more. The combination of fatigue and body-wide chronic pain, often called “fibromyalgia,” remains mysterious and confusing, and an alarming 66 percent of sufferers are misdiagnosed. Now, leading naturopathic medical doctor and nutritionist David Brady is here with the answer in his comprehensive book The Fibro Fix. For more than 23 years, Dr. Brady has treated many thousands of patients seeking relief from fibromyalgia. In The Fibro Fix, he distills his life-changing prescription into an integrative 21-day program to help you determine if, in fact, you’re suffering from fibromyalgia or from one of several severe symptoms misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia. The plan begins with three simple steps—detox, diet, and movement—to start relieving those symptoms for good and then offers deeper long-term solutions specific to the real cause in each person. The Fibro Fix is your groundbreaking guide to resolving fibromyalgia, and uncovering the mystery behind chronic pain and fatigue.