The Power of Antioxidants
I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of my time with my family and friends on the 4th. It was a great time. My very first mentor, who is an integrative chiropractor, was a wonderful surprise addition to the family gathering. I was reminded about the power of anti-oxidants when my cousin had asked me how to treat a certain allergic/chemical sensitivity skin reaction. Immediately, my mind jump started into biochemical pathways, the importance of liver detoxification and modulating phase two reactions, cleaning the diet up of triggering immune mediators such as sugar and gluten, balancing the inflammatory response with omega fatty acids, addressing blood sugar imbalances which trigger skin issues, making sure you support the body with antioxidants, ect…
Well, my cousin is 14. His eyes began to glaze over as I began to discuss the liver pathways and I stopped before I headed into phase II detoxification and glutathione. This kid wanted a simple solution and quick fix. My mentor came to my rescue. He giggled as he witnessed my working brain and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Well, with chemical sensitivities, you want to aid the body with anti-oxidants.” Snap. I was jolted back into the reality of how best to treat the patient at the moment they present to you!
Although it’s true that eventually people will need to address all the above areas as the route cause of what is occurring in order, my cousin is a teenage boy!
Using integrative and functional medicine in my practice, I’ve learned the importance of honoring the process of healing. For example, the steps to healing will be different for each person. For my cousin, a relatively young male, anti-oxidants and a basic supporting protocol would be the first step. The next step, once the body is supported and the symptom is addressed, it would be time to honor the healing response and work on preventing chronic disease later on. This is especially important for my younger patients. If someone at a young age is presenting with a chronic symptom, it is very important to make sure that the underlying mechanism and contributing factors are addressed so that it won’t progress to something more intense down the line.
Although most people wait until the disease has progressed to do preventative work, it’s important to note that for every year a disease exists, it takes 1-3 months to heal. The younger one starts, the more quickly it can be corrected and more intensive protocols down the road can be prevented.
Therefore, my lesson for the day was this-keep things simple first and takes baby steps in order to grow more healthy and strong. As I’m writing this, my beautiful baby niece just smiled in approval.
July 6th, 2010 | Tags: Add new tag, anti-oxidants, chronic disease, functional medicine and saratoga springs ny, green tea, health clinic and saratoga ny, holistic doctor and ny, integrative doctor and albany ny, integrative doctor and saratoga springs ny, integrative health center and ballston spa ny, naturopathic doctor and ballston spa ny, nautropathic doctor and albany ny, nautropathic doctor and sarataoga ny, skin and eczema, weight loss | Category: Newsletter Postings
| Subscribe to comments | Comments are currently closed | Trackback URL
