Dr. Kara Fitzgerald | New Frontiers in Functional Medicine, Longevity, Epigenetics

Dr. Cabeca is a wealth of information and inspiration when it comes to women’s health. I am delighted to share my conversation with her this month, in which you’ll learn about: - How Dr. Cabeca transitioned from performing multiple surgeries per week, to only needing to recommend a handful per year with a functional medicine approach - The best lab tests and specimens for hormone assessment - The...

Everyone is abuzz with Functional Medicine these days- the IFM Certification process is humming along, and record numbers of clinicians are making the transition to this amazing and satisfying practice. But what about the business of FxMed? Ahhhh! Daunting! Arguably, the establishment of a financially successful FxMed practice is a top concern on many of our minds. How do we make our practices gro...

Dr. Alschuler is a world-renowned expert in integrative oncology. Lise is well-versed in the current literature and has done a remarkable job in translating findings into actionable steps (listen for her approach to the five key bodily pathways in oncogenesis and how to address them). A teacher to her core, Lise a mentor to many of us, myself included. This is a jam-packed discussion on cancer pre...

Dr. Seyfried has dedicated his career to changing the way we think about- and therefore treat- cancer. Going back to Otto Warburg and others, couple with newer research Tom and his colleagues are actively conducting, it’s clear that the origin of cancer is in a fundamental disruption of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Cancer is not, as is commonly thought, a genetic disease. While somatic...

The Art of Medicine: A Soul-Stirring Chat with Sidney Baker, MD

Science has demonstrated for over a century that fat simply isn’t the macronutrient villain it’s been made out to be. Join me and Dr. Mark Hyman as we spend some time discussing his new NYT best-selling book Eat Fat, Get Thin. We drill down into the research that has been published over the years demonstrating the largely beneficial aspects of most fatty acids.

The oral-systemic disease connection has long been established (recall older recommendations for prophylactic antibiotics before dental work in individuals with endocarditis or joint implants), but with the emerging data on the oral microbiome, new attention is being paid to oral health and the prevention of diseases ranging from cardiovascular to autoimmune and more. A transient bacteremia is the...

David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, is a practicing endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. He is Founding Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program at Boston Children’s Hospital, one of the oldest and largest family based weight management programs. He also dire...

As a clinician measuring urine, serum and salivary hormone levels in my patients routinely, I’ve always got questions around which testing method is the best. Thus, I was excited to chat with Mark Newman and pick his brain on all things hormone testing. As he says, “I’m an inch wide and a mile deep. I’ve spent pretty much my whole career in measuring reproductive and adrenal hormones.” It’s true....

JEFFREY S. BLAND, PhD, FACN, CNS, is an internationally recognized leader in the nutritional medicine field. He co-founded of the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991 and is known to many as the “father of functional medicine.” Over the past 35 years, Dr. Bland has traveled more than six million miles teaching more than 100,000 health care practitioners in the USA, Canada, and 50 other countr...

Imagine: You’re a busy FxMed clinician, working overtime treating, educating and supporting your patients as they transition to a new state of health. It’s exciting, and you’re inspired to be practicing medicine in a way you never thought possible. But (to put it mildly) you’re struggling with time management: FxMed is a lot of work! And then into your life comes an individual just as passionate a...

According to Dr. Bob Hedaya, it’s malpractice NOT to use functional medicine when practicing psychiatry. ALL of the nodes on the Functional Medicine Matrix [gastrointestinal, endocrine, immune, toxicity, nutritional status and especially psychological, social and spiritual] influence mental health, mental function and brain function. The bottom line is, a good functional approach yields better hea...

From Cell to Soul: A Functional Approach to Women’s Hormone Management with Sara Gottfried, MD. Dr. Sara Gottfried has elegantly distilled her years of clinical experience and thousands of patient contacts into a user-friendly body of knowledge for physician and layperson alike. She’s truly a functional/systems medicine pioneer, combining the best of scientific data with the art (and heart) of med...

One of the cornerstone tools of functional medicine is the elimination diet, be it a straightforward gluten/dairy free plan, or an involved, customized removal of many different foods. On top of this, we want our patients to choose clean, organic sources of foods. This dietary prescription is a tall order for many of our patients. Many years ago, Jen Fugo (author of The Savvy Gluten-Free Shopper:...

As a former Olympian and current Iron Man triathlete, (he qualified for the world championship in Hawaii this year!) Dr. Keith McCormick was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis at 45 years old. His own healing journey lead him to become a world expert on treating osteoporosis from a functional and integrative perspective. His 2008 book, The Whole Body Approach to Treating Osteoporosis, is useful fo...

Just released April, 2015, Natural Cures for Dummies is a superb survey of all things Natural Medicine. In this podcast, Dr. Banks and I cover a ton of content: The book, appropriate diets, including the elimination diet and the perils of gluten, we cover his approach to detox, appropriate supplements, genomics and systems medicine, Functional Medicine and so much more.

The oral microbiome is an important part of the gut microbiome and tending to its balance should a routine part of any good “gut protocol.” Indeed, dysbiosis of the oral microbiome (and a leaky oral mucosa) might be key underlying imbalances in pathogenesis of systemic diseases, including autoimmune (IBD, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren) as well as cardiovascular disease. As clinicians, addressing o...

Dr. Winston Cardwell’s podcast: best home mold testing, laboratory testing for toxin exposures, best air filtration systems, home cleaning products, “green” building materials, “green” flooring sources and much more!

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP), including interstitial cystitis, chronic UTI, myofascial pain, pelvic floor pain, dyspareunia is a common, underappreciated problem in women. Indeed, one study looking at primary care practices found pelvic pain an issue in almost 40% of all reproductive-aged women. CPP is also identified in men, most commonly caused by prostadynia or prostatitis. What can we do as funct...