Chronic disease begins almost unnoticed with a chemical imbalance in your body.  These imbalances are due to either mechanical/structural problems (the body's skeletal frame), chemical (malnutrition, pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, industrial inhalants, or even preservatives found in our foods), or emotional (stress).  Disease is cured by correcting these imbalances.  Ideally, these imbalances will be detected and corrected in their early stages.  This will prevent a disease from developing into a health emergency crisis which can result in much pain, expense, disability, and possibly death.  While the use of drugs and certain medications are essential for such crisis care (in saving lives), they will never make anybody healthy.  Prevention of disease can only be accomplished by early detection and correction of the chemical imbalances. 

Have you ever heard a story like this?  "They sent Aunt Jane to the hospital for some tests to find out why she is tired all of the time.  They did a lot of testing but still don't know exactly what is wrong.  So, they want her to come back in about three months so that more tests can be run."  Of course, what they are doing is waiting for Aunt Jane's condition to more fully develop so it can be identified.  Medication can only be aptly applied after an identifiable condition can be named.

There is a better way.  Since we are natural, biological organisms, we can only maintain or regain good health through a natural approach - through foods and lifestyles in keeping with our individual biological needs that nature gives each of us.  We all must learn to care for our own bodies.

Simply stated, the foods that you eat, the water you drink, and the air you breathe make up your chemical intake and your body's fuel supply.  Any chemical imbalances we may have can only be a direct response to one or more of these.

Drug and high-tech approaches to disease management are slowly yielding to overwhelming amounts of new research evidence that supports the importance of food and nutrients, nutritional supplementation, exercise, clean air, and emotional security to healthy living.

The quality of health-care in the United States has dramatically declined in the past two decades.  The incorporation of managed care and HMO systems has made money a priority over health.  Today’s current model is disease management, not early detection or prevention.  Gone are the days when patients were given comprehensive detailed annual examinations and laboratory assessments. 

There is no better example of the diminished quality and comprehensiveness of annual physical examinations than the blood chemistry panel.  A decade ago the average annual lab work ordered in a physical exam included a Chem-24, CBC with differential, TSH, and a lipid panel.  However, the health-care model today customarily performs a simple chem-7 and a lipid panel.  The addition of a TSH, a CBC, or other tests is no longer routine.  In the current HMO model, physicians are evaluated on a regular basis to assess their so-called “effectiveness” as a medical provider in the HMO setting.  HMO physicians who order extra tests are considered unqualified providers.  Simply put, if Doctor A and Doctor B both see 1,000 patients and Doctor A orders $30,000 worth of tests and Doctor B orders $5,000 worth of tests, it is most likely that when it is time to let go of a doctor, Doctor A will be released.

In the current health-care model, the practice of medicine is established by guidelines formatted by HMO establishments.  The goal of these guidelines is to basically provide a service with the least amount of cost to the HMO.  In the HMO model, the HMO collects a sum of money from its contracts each year.  Their profit is established by keeping as much of the money collected as possible.  HMOs limit authorization for testing by defining a term they have called “medical necessity”.  Medical necessity is basically translated to which test they can avoid authorizing without increasing liability of malpractice to them.  The development of this health-care model has made routine comprehensive blood chemistry evaluations obsolete in the current HMO design.

Many people in the United States have given up on the current health-care model and are searching for alternatives.  Alternative medicine has grown aggressively due to the void in the current model.  Americans are now spending more money out-of-pocket on alternative medicine every year than on traditional health care.  The public is seeking health-care providers that can provide them with comprehensive evaluations and non-invasive interventions.  It is this transformed mindset that sets up the stage for functional medicine in which patients seek objective analyses such as lab tests with support that includes herbs, nutrition, and lifestyle changes.