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Traditional Medical Care is Not Making You Healthier

I cringe when I hear people equate doctor visits with health. Red flags pop up, alarm bells ring, and I put on my running shoes…

But I also know that when I hear this I need to check my assumptions at the door and ask more questions.

Health is arguably subjective. For someone with terminal illness, yes, medications and regular doctor visits are one tool to help keep you healthy.

But for those of us with relatively “normal” health, visiting doctors for wellness checks annually, we need to take a second look at how we define health.

I’m not suggesting you don’t do annual wellness checks.

And I’m not suggesting that you don’t trust medical doctors.

What I am saying is that we need to educate ourselves in order to know when to ask questions and hold our medical doctors responsible for the information they are providing (and in many cases, not providing).

Has this been your experience? ⤵️

Show up to your doctor’s office at your appointed time. Wait 30 minutes to see the doctor face-to-face. Get 5 minutes face time with the doctor. Leave in a whirlwind with stacks of papers, prescriptions, and instructions to book another appointment.

Did your doctor explain anything to you? Did your doctor offer to educate you on WHY you are dealing with _____ and whether there things that you can do to help your symptoms long-term, not just when they’re happening? Did you feel like your doctor’s words did not align with what you were experiencing, but you just trusted it anyways, because, hey, they’re the doctor?

I was not always a healthcare professional. This has happened to me on a number of occasions, and I continue to hear clients tell me their similar experiences.

This is not the way healthcare should be.

Medications and surgeries have their place, but they are a short-term solution when regarding true health. And in my professional opinion, many are a waste of your time and money if not also putting energy into repairing foundations that will support long-term health.

This article will walk you through some foundational tools to support your long-term health and will help you to know when to ask questions and what questions to ask when things don’t quite add up.

Short-term vs. long-term health

Medication or surgery might reduce a certain symptom, or repair a structural or functional issue. They are the short-term solution and can be helpful and even necessary in many cases.

Examples of conditions that could benefit from short-term solutions (and where they may even be necessary):

• liver or kidney failure

• cancer

• electrical connective issues of the heart

• surgeries to repair a structural issue in the spine or other joints (although even that deserves a second opinion)

• retinopathy due to Type I diabetes

On the other hand, true health is characterized by the foundations you put in place to repair and prevent those conditions.

True health gets at the why behind your symptoms and helps you do better going forward.

True health is not a temporary fix - it’s the long-term solution.

Examples of conditions that would benefit better from long-term solutions (and can even be prevented or reversed with the right foundational support):

• Type II diabetes and related conditions (Metabolic Syndrome, Cardiovascular Disease, Peripheral Neuropathy, etc.)

• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

• adult acne

• seasonal allergies

• chronic pain (although medications and surgeries may also be necessary)

• high blood pressure

• high cholesterol

• hormone imbalances

• depression and anxiety (medications and mental health therapy are also important tools to consider)

• heartburn and other digestive issues

What does that have to do with traditional medical care? At least in the U.S., medical doctors are highly regulated by insurance companies. These doctors do not have the freedom to spend time educating you on foundational support. They’re trained to fix your problem as efficiently as possible, or else they do not get paid. To make matters worse, holistic health and nutrition are a VERY small part of their training.

That sucks for you.

Because you go into the doctor’s office expecting to trust their expertise. You are the one who misses out. And you are the one who keeps having to go back to the doctor because they fixed one problem and created another because they never provided you with the foundations to actually be and stay healthy.

I can help you with this.

As a holistic practitioner, I am a strong advocate of integrative support for patients, meaning multiple practitioners with varying specialties, to help get the patient exactly the type of care they need.

Any practitioner who claims they have all the answers is not a practitioner I would trust.

You’re here looking for things like natural remedies for constipation, allergies, and natural remedies for anxiety symptoms. Let’s talk about how to make long-term changes to improve these symptoms.

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7 ways to Support Your Long-Term Health

This is not an exhaustive list, and it’s important to recognize that every body is different. If symptoms still show up after implementing these foundations, it’s a good idea to get an individualized assessment from a qualified holistic practitioner.

7 FOUNDATIONS TO SUPPORT LONG-TERM HEALTH:

1. Mindful Eating

   • The very first thing I teach most of my clients is how essential mindful eating is to their digestive health. You can be eating the most nutrient-dense, quality diet, but unless your body is able to break down and use those nutrients, it’s useless. Practicing mindful eating will help switch your nervous system into “rest and digest” mode, turning on factors like stomach acid production and digestive enzymes that are inhibited when you are stuck in “fight or flight”. Here are some mindful eating techniques I teach my clients:

     • Sit down to eat (not driving)

     • Take 5 slow, deep breaths before you take your first bite

     • Smell your food

     • No screens, no work - this is mealtime

     • Chew your food - if you feel the need to “wash down” your food, you’re not chewing enough

     • Avoid or minimize beverages with your meal

     • Wait 5 minutes after you finish eating to get up

2. Avoid smoothies as a meal

   • I get a lot of pushback on this one. “But my smoothies are full of healthy things!” I believe that your intention is that your smoothies are a vehicle for an abundance of nutrients in one “meal”. Based on what you learned above, understand that smoothies should not be considered a main source of nutrients, simply because they do not support digestion, and that goes without saying, can often cause blood sugar dysregulation. We commonly opt for smoothies because:

     • they are convenient and portable

     • they pack a lot of nutrients into one cup

     • they can be filling

     • they’ve been marketed as health foods for decades

   • I am not saying your smoothies are not healthy. I’m saying that in general, the habit of consuming smoothies works against your efforts to support foundational, long-term health. Smoothies are a quick-fix, and if you are looking to make real, foundational changes to support your health, cut out smoothies from your daily routine, and opt for whole-food meals instead. READ MORE ABOUT SMOOTHIES HERE

3. Support adrenal health

   • Adrenal glands are two small glands that rest on top of your kidneys. They regulate hydration, fluid balance, sex hormones, stress response, and circadian rhythm. Their health is impacted by diet, light exposure, and stress (including the timing and intensity of your workouts). Supporting adrenal health is a complex issue, so much so that I developed an entire online course devoted to teaching you how to support it. Some adrenal support techniques include:

     • prioritize workouts before lunch - the closer to wake-up time, the better

     • get 10 minutes of sun exposure within 2 hours of waking

     • turn off screens 2 hours before bedtime

     • finish your stress response after a stressful episode - before you decompress, flee the tiger!

     • focus your diet on green vegetables, quality fats, nuts, seeds, and animal proteins

     • create a bedtime routine and stick to it

     • stop snacking - eat more satiating meals

     • get evaluated for hidden stressors, such as pathogenic infections in the gut (candida, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO, or parasites)

4. Support liver health

   • Similar to adrenal health, supporting liver health is complex, and often requires individualized assessment. The liver carries some heavy responsibilities in the body and is trying to deal with everything we throw at it. Be kinder to your liver. I strongly suggest looking more into this article for more information regarding liver function. But for the sake of time, here are some ways to support your liver:

     • ditch processed foods - prioritize whole foods whenever possible

     • hydrate well (see the hydrate well! section for more details)

     • minimize toxins - components of processed foods, excess hormones, air pollution, drinking unfiltered municipal water, medications, alcohol, eating foods from plastic containers, and recreational drugs are all common forms of toxin exposure

     • get your b-vitamins - dark leafy greens, grass-fed red meat, and seafood are dense sources of b-vitamins which are necessary for many liver detoxification functions.

5. Move your lymph

   • Lymph is a clear fluid that runs through lymphatic vessels throughout the body, similar to your vascular system. Lymph is necessary for removing waste from damaged cells and eradicated pathogens, and for carrying immune cells to where they are needed in the body. Lymph is supported mainly by hydration and movement, and so my recommendations for supporting lymph are simple:

     • get at least 15 minutes of intentional movement each day, 2-3 times per day if possible

     • hydrate well (see the hydrate well! section below for more details)

6. Hydrate well

   • Hydration good enough to support optimal long-term health requires more than just drinking water. It also entails minimizing dehydrating factors. Proper hydration supports healthy blood flow, lymphatic flow (see above), liver function, skin health, and detoxification function, and can even lower blood pressure. Here are a few tips for good hydration:

     • get enough water - for most traditionally healthy individuals without underlying conditions, the standard recommendation is 1 fluid ounce for every 2 pounds of body weight (yes, really).

     • avoid or minimize dehydrating factors - those include any sort of medications or recreational drugs, caffeine, processed foods, and alcohol.

     • electrolyte mineral supplements - supports hydration by improving the fluid balance between cells. Many of these products are loaded with ingredients I would not recommend putting into your body, but one clean product I love for supplementing electrolytes is called LMNT. Get a FREE BOX when you sign up for 7 Days to Long-Term Health

7. Personalized Assessment

   • The reality is you have an abundance of information at your fingertips these days. Here are two big reasons to stop grasping at solutions, and get individually assessed:

     1. The solutions will not fix your problem unless you are also doing work to address (say it with me…) FOUNDATIONS. You can grasp at all the herbs, supplements, medications, workout techniques, and diets that you want, and you might get some relief. But nothing will work nearly as well as working with a qualified functional practitioner who is trained to assess and understand what your body is telling you, and what can be done to support it.

     2. It’s difficult in this heavily mediatized world, to really know your sources. Where did they get their information from? Have you looked at the research yourself? What makes an influencer or company worth trusting? Marketing is notoriously sneaky - its entire job is to make you want something bad enough to buy it. Consider that when you’re grasping at the next hot idea.

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