icine experts participated in the country’s first online Metabolic Revolution Summit to discuss the importance of recognizing the dots that connect the majority of today’s chronic diseases—high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, pre-diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, weight gain, obesity, fatty liver disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancer and even infertility. All of the panelists pointed to the root cause that links them
all—the craze for a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet starting in the 1990s combined with a sedentary lifestyle. When several complex conditions exist simultaneously, medical science refers to them as a syndrome. Regardless of how such intricate interrelationships become manifest, all of these syndromes have early-stage signs that include inflam- mation, high blood sugar and insulin resistance, which can affect metabolic health.
A Holistic Approach
Doctors that specialize in functional integrative medicine strive to improve the health and well-being of patients by en- gaging them in their own healing process. One popular approach is practiced by Durango, Colorado, Doctor of Chi-
It’s All About Metabolism A
Getting to the Root Cause of Disease by Linda Sechrist
ttempts to tender lay explanations of how to attain and maintain better health have become fragmented and compartmentalized, with complex scientific cause-and- effect explanations of disease regularly reduced to isolated infographics and sound bites in the media. But understanding our body’s sophisticated, self-regulating, self-correcting and interdependent physiological systems, which work in collabora- tion with each other and inform us of the body’s status by means of symptoms, deserves a whole-systems frame of reference. Stepping back from immediate concerns to grasp the bigger
picture allows for rethinking the Western approach to health. A perspective that connects all the dots works best, beginning with the foundation of wellness—the functioning of 73 trillion cells that are organized into a variety of tissues, including inter- connected systems of organs. Optimally, they function together harmoniously to achieve homeostasis, the overall chemical and energetic balance that defines metabolic health.
The Reign of Metabolism Many perceive the role of metabolism as limited to determin- ing energy expenditure via the number of calories burned per day, but it does much more. Metabolism actually encompasses thousands of physical and chemical processes that take place in the functioning of every cell, the building blocks of life; healthy cell function produces proper endocrine (hormonal) functioning, influencing homeostasis. This past August, 12 nationally recognized functional med-
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ropractic James Forleo, author of Health is Simple, Disease is Complicated: A Systems Approach to Vibrant Health. He starts by educating people about the basic functioning of the major body systems involved in their specific health challenges. “To maintain metabolic health, no one should overlook
that the body’s intelligence works 24/7 to solve multiple prob- lems simultaneously, including balancing their metabolism. The more complex the pattern of symptoms, the more systems are involved. Whether a single or group of symptoms indicate metabolic dysfunction, it means that numerous systems that rely on healthy cells are unable to perform their normal func- tions,” explains Forleo. For example, blood sugar issues, excess circulating insulin and buildup of excess glucose stored as fat can lead to metabol- ic dysfunction. The pancreas, thyroid and gastrointestinal tract— primary glands in the endocrine system that plays a major role in balancing body chemistry by secreting hormones directly into the circulatory system—are negatively impacted. Well-function- ing adrenals are necessary to balance blood sugar and one role of the pancreas is to produce insulin.
When four of the eight major organ systems—im- mune, endocrine, cardiovascular and digestive—are impacted by metabolic dysfunction, a more holistic and systemic approach to health can provide a broader under- standing of how they interrelate, and why preventive mea- sures can preclude having to later pursue ways to reverse serious chronic diseases.
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