Importance of Integrative Medicine - Because health is more than just the absence of disease

What is Health?

What does it mean to be well? Often we associate health and wellness with the absence of illness but this type of thinking misses the complete picture.

Integrative Medicine views health as so much more than "not being sick". True wellness is about living a life that is physically, emotionally and spiritually rich. Maintaining this type of lifestyle through nutrition, physical activity and mind body practices naturally supports disease prevention and recurrence.

The Integrative Medicine Approach

The Integrative medicine approach helps guide and support you in achieving a healthy lifestyle by focusing on optimizing wellness and promoting healing in your body. Conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry are very good at treating disease symptoms with a pill or surgery, their therapies however do not address the root cause and prevention. This is where integrative medicine shines- we take the root cause approach and create treatment plans that promote your body's natural ability to heal. Integrative medicine combines the best of both traditional medicine and alternative remedies to promote wellness and disease prevention.

Integrative v/s Conventional Medicine

We cannot say that alternative medicine is superior to conventional medicine- they both excel in different ways. Conventional medicine is very good at treating acute disease, stitching up wounds and surgically treating a heart blockage- there is value and necessity in these interventions. However when it comes to the most common chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis, our conventional system is failing. These diseases are largely preventable and on the rise in our country.  I do believe it is fair to say that a more holistic approach leads to better outcomes for many of these chronic conditions and can even help prevent them.  Integrative medicine utilizes cutting edge medical technology and a whole person lifestyle based approach to help the individual create better health habits. Let's ask ourselves- Isn't it best to focus on prevention of disease rather than treatment? Even better shouldn't we all strive for optimal wellness?