There are many innovative treatment methods that are frequently mentioned in recent times. Functional medicine with successful results is one of them. In this approach applied in the treatment of diseases, many body structures related to the patient are discussed. Therefore, the focus is on reaching the root cause. When determining the causes of the disease, diagnosis and diagnostic methods are used. Then, a personalized treatment plan is initiated.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine is a holistic approach that affects many systems in the body. It addresses many systems of the body such as cardiometabolic, gastrointestinal, detox, energy, immunity and hormones. In addition, it focuses on the person’s spiritual and mental structure as well as the way of life. Thus, he tries to get to the root of the disease. Daily activities, sports habits, social and stress status, drugs used and habits of the person related to the patient are examined. As an adjunct, functional disorders that may cause the disease are detected by tests. Then, they try to be treated with approaches such as personal treatment plan and elimination diet.
This holistic treatment plan is made by addressing the lifestyle, hormonal, biochemical and genetic differences of the persons. In addition, it evaluates chronic diseases at the cellular level and everything necessary to get rid of the drugs it currently uses is done. When making the treatment plan, it is done to cover nutrition, sports and other lifestyle changes. What distinguishes this approach from others is that it is not organ-oriented but system-oriented covering organs.
How is the Elimination Diet Done?
As the name suggests, the elimination diet is an application made by removing some foods from the nutrition program and then adding new ones. In this way, it is found that which food adversely affects which body working system. Thus, when this detected nutrient is removed from the diet, it is treated in the functional disorder that causes the disease.
This diet, which is recommended by physicians who adopt a functional medicine approach, is applied for an average of 6 weeks. While it consists of two stages, in the first stage, foods to which the body may react negatively are removed from the diet. While eliminating nutrients, the body is expected to get used to this diet and for the intestines to repair it. Then, the second stage is passed. In the second stage, prohibited foods are added to the diet again in order. In this way, the foods that the body reacts to, that is, the foods that cause functional impairment are detected.
When making an elimination diet, the nutrients limited by the specialist should not be taken. When starting this diet, which should definitely not be done uncontrollably, if there are foods that cause allergies, the specialist should be indicated. In addition, detailed information about other existing chronic diseases should be given. In this holistic approach, which offers an effective perspective in the healing of chronic inflammatory diseases, all the directions made by the specialist should be strictly followed during the treatment period. In this way, the chance of treatment success is increased.
The foods that should be excluded from the diet while doing this diet are peanuts, chocolate, alcohol, soy-containing products, packaged products, corn, shellfish, processed meat products, dairy products, gluten-containing foods and all sugary foods. In addition, personal printing bans are added to these products. However, lamb, legumes, rice, all vegetables and fruits are free to consume. Keep in mind that this elimination diet is strictly done for 3 weeks and then immediately proceeds to the introductory phase. The aim here is not to be fed in this way continuously, but to detect the foods that touch. After the elimination diet, after the foods with developed sensitivity or intolerance are detected, a nutrition plan is created specifically for the person. Throughout this process, a functional medicine dietitian is constantly accompanying the person together with the functional medicine physician. In this way, our patient discovers the most correct and healthiest nutrition plan for himself and realizes which foods his pre-existing complaints are associated with.