THE HEART OF THE MATTER

deep healing: functional medicine

What is Functional Medicine?

Through the Functional Medicine lens, we look at both how and why illness occurs with the aim to restore good health by addressing the unique root causes of disease. We can also address risks that may precede the manifestation of an illness. Although your primary interest may be weight loss, sustained good health is our underlying goal. Everything flows from that.
The Functional Medicine approach integrates the latest medical research with a model of care that accounts for each patient’s individual history, unique genetic makeup, environmental, and lifestyle factors.

What to Expect in our Advanced Functional Medicine Program?

Gail Altschuler, MD is the Medical Director of the Functional Medicine program. As an addition to Dr. Altschuler’s expertise in Weight Loss Medicine and Family Practice, Functional Medicine affords her a deeper physiological insight into the issues of dis-ease. While conventional medicine focuses on dealing with the symptoms of illness, functional medicine aims to understand and treat the roots of those diseases. Because Functional Medicine looks for the root cause of a health imbalance it can often address what might be long standing health issues, too.

“After years of helping people lose weight, I found myself wondering why it is harder for some people to lose and maintain their weight than for others. Although most people believe that being overweight is the problem, I found persistent overweight is a symptom and not the problem in and of itself. To address this, I added Functional Medicine to my training.

I use advanced lab testing to reveal clues as to genetic tendencies, sub-optimal nutrition, underlying disease patterns, and potential risks for future illness. A detailed history adds another dimension of understanding as to the source of these patterns. My model is personal, patient-centered, and science-based.”