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All medicine comes down to this: Find out what doesn't belong in your body, get rid of it. Find out whats missing, replace it. The body does the rest
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It's more important to understand the imbalances in your body's basic systems and restore balance, rather than name the disease and match the pill to the ill
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You are the CEO of your own wellness. You need to take back your health from the disease-care system
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The fork is your most powerful tool to change your health and the planet; food is the most powerful medicine to heal Chronic illness
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The body is one integrated system not a collection of organs divided by medical specialities. The medicine of the future connects everything
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Functional Medicine: The Concept
Dr Haffejie has been practicing medicine since 1997 following graduation from Wits medical School in Johannesburg.He is a metabolic and anti-ageing medicine specialist and is only one of two South African doctors Board certified in Anti-ageing and regenerative medicine by the American academy of anti ageing medicine.
Dr Haffejie is also certified in Functional medicine.
Introduction
With the busy lifestyles of the modern world, it is easy to overlook minor aches and discomforts as a part of stress or fatigue. Allergies, headaches, digestive problems and more may seem like annoying but harmless symptoms of our lifestyles. Few of us are aware that these symptoms may be early warning signals of impending disease.
Our society is seeing a sharp increase in chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and autoimmune disorders and there is a gap between emerging research and conventional medical practice.
A global revolution in medicine called Functional Medicine seeks to identify the root cause of disease and then treat the body as an integrated whole by treating imbalances and dysfunctions before they manifest as a chronic disease.
Functional Medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic disease. The overall goal is to maximise whole body functions at all levels. Many environmental factors interact with our genes, including our diet and nutritional status. Our hormones and brain chemistry also influence the balance of our health, as does our mind.
Optimum Health is therefore a journey towards a better balance and an environment in which disease is far less likely to occur.
The Concept of Functional Medicine
The conventional model of disease reduces symptoms to their component parts. The movement today is towards a more wholistic approach, not towards alternative medicine but towards a more integrated scientific model.
Just as we understand that the ecosystem of our planet is a complex whole, so can we see that the body works in much the same way. Understanding how the component parts relate to each other and how the optimal balance can be disturbed is becoming more important than treating a disease as an isolated problem. It may seem obvious, but this interdependence has been ignored in medicine for a long time as we have refined and learnt how to treat each specific disease. Whilst conventional medicine helps at the end stages of a disease, functional medicine seeks to treat the problems before they reach that stage.
Dr Haffejie describes a visual analogy:
"Imagine the 7 key ingredients to optimum health as a perfectly harmonized colour palette with 7 essential colours. Each individual canvas is made up of a particular combination and extraction of these colours, depending on how they have painted their canvas. How these colours are combined and the concentrations used in each mixture will determine the hues of the painting. Those hues represent your health. The overall picture may be too dull, or too heavy on some hues and lacking in others. The aim is to keep the integrity of the original colours as pure as possible, or to adjust them until they are returned to their original and vibrant harmony".
The aim is not simply to treat disease, but to prevent it and restore the patient to vibrant health. It is apparent that Functional Medicine requires a more balanced partnership between patient and practitioner. The patient takes on more responsibility in understanding his own lifestyle and Dr Haffejie spends more time understanding the unique genetic make-up and lifestyle factors that contribute to individual health.
Next: Functional Medicine: The 7 Keys to Optimum Health
Testimonials – View All Testimonials »
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"Thank you so much for this information.
I agree completely and are as disappointed in the medical field as Dr Shallenberger. Brett’s oncologist said the same thing. I was furious and insisted that he continue his vit’s. If he had not I don’t believe he would be in “as good” state as what he was.
That Ozone treatment is phenomenal – absolutely mind blowing. You treated him on Thursday – by Sunday his hair had started growing back. He has eyebrows and a beard already. It is truly amazing.
Please can we make another appointment for this week – perhaps Thursday again?" -
"Good news, my weight this morning was 99.7 – first time in years it is below 100kg! I cannot thank you enough – I feel wonderful."
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"It made a vast difference when I was again on full strength with everything.Have a great day and know that you still have my gratitude for changing my life around!"
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"Good morning, Dr. H,
Would it be purely in my head that I'm seeing/feeling results of the LE products I'm on? I've created a spreadsheet for monitoring my meals and daily "results". I started the programme in earnest on Saturday the 10th. So far, the first things I've noticed are:
1.My skin is beautiful - like silk!
2.My bowel movements are far more regular, soft and quite volumeous.
3.I don't have any "down" moments and feel very relaxed, but in control.
4.My moment-by-moment memory is greatly improved (I no longer have to THINK what I had for breakfast).
The other thing is that find I'm actually remembering why I got up to go to my bedroom, for example! That's amazing.
I hope this isn't all in my mind (sort of "placebo effect" ??)" -
"Hi Dr Haffejie,
I am looking and feeling terrific. No more sugar in tea or coffee. Very little coffee, actually - one cup at 4pm in the afternoon with one sachet of Xylitol. My abdomen is flattening and it's become soft, so I'm doing some exercise to tighten it up so that I don't go too flabby! (Not that anyone would notice, at my age!) I've had two strangers approach me while shopping and ask me what I use on my skin. Good grief, it really MUST show! How wonderful! My waistline is slimming down, from 89cm to 87 at the moment. I haven't lost weight - it just seems to have sort of moved around into the right places. How strange. I'm back to sleeping a solid 7 hours without waking (unless my dog suddenly barks and leaps out of the bed, sending me levitating with my heart pounding!) I am being SO good with the diet, and SO diligent about what I put in my mouth.
I think you're a star - and you probably think I'm mad, but that's okay!
Thanks for all you're doing for me." -
"Good morning Doctor H! I want to let you know that Carl Louis is definitely better. The meds and gluten free approach is working for him - and for me. I do have better and more sustainable energy. Thank you so much!"
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"Dr H I feel FANTASTIC! I cannot remember when last i experienced this feeling of profound wellness. Thank you for this gift... W"