Integrative Medicine and Advice on Weight Loss

Integrative Medicine is a medical specialty that is designed to help patients improve their overall health and wellness to not only treat existing conditions but also potentially avoid the onset of preventable diseases later in life. As a result, one of the key aspects of Integrative Medicine is that physicians who practice this specialty work closely with their patents to help them achieve optimum health, which often includes the practice of healthy dieting and shedding excess body fat.

In a recent interview with National Public Radio, the current chair of the American Board of Integrative Medicine® (ABOIM), Dr. Gerry Mullin, provided insight into the importance of maintaining a healthy microbiome. As Dr. Mullin explains, having a healthy balance in the stomach is absolutely essential because as much as 70 percent of the body’s immune system stems from the microbiome. When this balance of good and bad bacteria gets misaligned, it can cause chronic inflammation which can eventually lead to a number of diseases like diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and even cancer. Another potential concern with the microbiome is the profound impact that antibiotics can have on the so-called good flora of the stomach. While antibiotics are obviously vitally important for treating a number of different infections and other conditions, an over-reliance on them can have a negative impact on the microbiome over the long term.

For these reasons, Integrative Medicine puts a strong emphasis on nutrition and educating patients on making smart decisions with the foods that they consume. Often, making relatively simple adjustments to their daily diet can greatly improve the overall health of the stomach, improve the patient’s immune system, and also quicken the individual’s metabolism.

To learn more about the role healthy diet plays in weight loss and overall health improvement, speak with an Integrative Medicine physician today. To determine if your physician has been board certified through the ABOIM or any of the other Member Boards of the American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS), you are invited to use the patient portal found here. The ABPS is the official certifying body of the American Association of Physician Specialists, Inc.®