In The Beginning

Over twenty years and what sometimes seems like a lifetime ago, I attended a Functional Medicine meeting and met the man who was to become an important mentor for me, Dr. Jeffrey Bland. An internationally recognized leader in the nutritional medicine field, Dr. Bland co-founded The Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991 and is often called the “father of Functional Medicine.” I will never forget that, as he began speaking, he held his hands together as if he was reading from a book and said, “In the beginning we all receive a “Book of Life”, our own unique 23 pairs of chromosomes. But the stories ultimately told in that “Book” are not simply a result of those genes. The stories greatly depend on what bathes those genes, including . . . 
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What we eat,
What we drink,
What we think, and
How we move.
All of these determine how our individual stories will unfold!” 

​Dr Bland went on to outline how Functional Medicine could guide us and our patients to make healthier lifestyle choices and improve our quality of life. Practically everyone in the room that day, myself included, had a father who died of a heart attack too young, a grandmother with Diabetes, an aunt with arthritis or a mother who died of breast cancer. It’s a sad and scary part of many lives. Because we are related, we all ask ourselves, “When will it happen to me?”  
 
The good news that comes directly from Functional Medicine is that we won’t necessarily get heart disease just because our father had it. We have the caring and knowledge to orchestrate bathing our genes. We can create a better life story than our relatives and our ancestors if we are truly invested and ready to make the life choices that allow us to be everything we can be.
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Stay safe and be well.
 
Barbara