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A Functional Medicine and Obesity Specialist’s Approach to Weight Loss
In functional medicine, we approach weight loss much differently than the conventional world. Oftentimes, when the root cause of a condition are addressed, weight loss naturally occurs.
A functional medicine approach to weight management includes:
I have exciting news-- I completed an Obesity Medicine Fellowship through Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, accredited by the American Board of Obesity Medicine in 2023. Learning is my superpower, passion, and hobby. With Ozempic’s (semaglutide) new popularity, I want to make sure you are getting access to the most up-to-date weight management treatments with expert level care.
In functional medicine, we approach weight loss much differently than the conventional world. For starters, we believe it is important to note that your weight is NOT the cause of your symptoms. Weight bias in healthcare is a real issue, and unfortunately many clinicians are quick to blame excess weight as a cause of illness rather than digging deep into a health issue to treat the condition holistically. Oftentimes, when the root cause of a condition are addressed, weight loss naturally occurs.
Through my educational journey this past year I learned best practices for prescribing all types of weight loss medications. I am so grateful to have medications in my “toolbox” to support you. Sometime they are the necessary and previously missing ingredient for weight loss success. When appropriately used, these medications complement the whole-body, functional medicine approach to health that may ultimately promote weight loss.
A functional medicine approach to weight management includes:
Reducing Inflammation. Inflammation is one of the first factors we address in a functional medicine weight loss approach. Inflammation is your body’s way of fighting against infection and injuries in an attempt to heal itself. Over time, certain factors may cause low-grade, chronic inflammation that is detrimental to your weight loss efforts. Stress, toxins, gut infections, food sensitivities, and poor nutrition can all play a role in causing low-grade inflammation. Through personalized testing, I aim to identify potential causes of inflammation to tailor the best treatment plan for you.
Insulin resistance occurs when your cells become resistant to insulin, a hormone responsible for controlling blood sugar levels. If you have insulin resistance, you may experience frequent sugar cravings, fatigue after meals, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, and constant hunger. Your diet is the best way to reverse insulin resistance. However, rather than focusing on restriction or a trendy diet, I want to help you identify your macronutrient needs and a lifestyle eating pattern that you can follow for the long run.
Optimizing your gut health is important. Your gut plays a crucial role in your overall health and weight loss efforts. More specifically, beneficial gut bacteria help you maintain a healthy gut lining, prevent overgrowth of harmful bacteria, and may even regulate your metabolism. Having a healthy and diverse balance of gut bacteria may prevent weight gain over time.
Assess your hormones. All our hormones work together like a beautiful symphony. Optimizing thyroid health and sex hormones can play a role in maintaining weight. Hypothyroidism affects nearly 12 percent of all Americans and may cause unintentional weight gain or hinder weight loss efforts.
Support Natural Detoxification. Your body has a system in place to eliminate toxins and waste products. However, a typical American lifestyle usually entails a high toxic load with a nutrient-deficient diet. Unfortunately, this pairing may cause disruptions in your natural detox mechanisms. During functional medicine weight loss, we aim to support detoxification by 1) supporting the body with nutrient rich food that supports liver health, 2) increasing intake of antioxidants, and 3) optimizing pathways in which your body can eliminates toxins via sweat, urine, and bowel movements.
Weight loss is not as simple as the diet industry may want you to believe. A functional medicine approach identifies and treats the root causes of your symptoms and can promote weight loss in the process.
At Relish Health I support a mindset of abundance versus restriction. Rather than focusing on the scale, we can help you identify and treat various factors that may ultimately promote sustainable weight loss.
How to Interpret Body Composition Analysis with Relish Health
Promoting good health and longevity is the goal of Relish Health, and research has shown that body composition is one of the best indicators to measure how well you are doing. Your weight is made up of muscle, fat, and water. Excess fat in relation to lean body mass, even if you are an “ideal weight,” can greatly increase your risks to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more. Instead of tracking how heavy you are, Relish Health uses body composition analysis to detect health risks and allow for earlier intervention and prevention of illness.
Promoting good health and longevity is the goal of Relish Health, and research has shown that body composition is one of the best indicators to measure how well you are doing. Your weight is made up of muscle, fat, and water. Excess fat in relation to lean body mass, even if you are an “ideal weight,” can greatly increase your risks to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more. Instead of tracking how heavy you are, Relish Health uses body composition analysis to detect health risks and allow for earlier intervention and prevention of illness. Understanding your body composition allows your health plan to be tailored to your needs, often focusing on losing body fat and gaining muscle while retaining the proper amount of body water in specific areas of your body. Body composition analysis is the key to tracking and maintaining effective muscle mass and strategic weight loss.
Relish Health uses an InBody570 bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machine to complete body composition analysis in the office. BIA is a non-invasive, safe measurement of fluid and body mass that can be a critical assessment tool for your current state of health. By standing and holding onto electrodes, the machine determines the resistance to the flow of the current through the body. In about 45 seconds, the InBody machine provides very accurate measurements of the following values.
Lean Body Mass (fat-free mass) is the total weight of all your organs, your skin, your bones, your body water and your muscles. (It isn’t the same as muscle.) It is the total weight of your body minus all the weight due to your fat mass. Optimum levels are associated with healthy aging, vitality, and better resilience against stressors.
Skeletal Muscle Mass (SMM) is the total weight of your muscles. SMM is muscle that can be grown and developed through exercise. Unlike Lean Body Mass, which includes everything except body fat, you can confidently interpret an increase in SMM as muscle gain.
Dry Lean Mass is the weight of the protein and mineral content in your body. Dry lean mass is lean body mass minus the body water. When you build muscle, you are actually building new physical protein stores that will be reflected in an increase in dry lean mass. Increased dry lean mass is a strong indicator that you actually grew muscle.
Body Water can be found inside not only your blood, but in your muscles, fat, organs, and inside every cell in your body. A healthy body water distribution has been estimated at a 3:2 ratio of intracellular water to extracellular water.
Intracellular Water (ICW) is the water located inside your cells. It makes up 2/3 of the water inside your body. Increased ICW indicate improved nutrition status and improved overall health, often correlating to increased lean body mass, energy use, strength, and immune health.
Extracellular Water (ECW) is water located outside your cells in your blood. This makes up about 1/3 of your body’s water. Increased ECW indicates health risks like toxicity, inflammation, acidity, infection, unhealthy fat mass, and/or mineral imbalance.
Body Fat Mass is a measure of how much body fat, both surface level (subcutaneous/under the skin) and internal (visceral/around the belly organs), makes up your weight. Excess levels of visceral fat are associated with all major degenerative diseases. Additionally, fat stores toxins, converts healthy hormones to toxic hormones and triggers insulin resistance.
Percent Body fat (PBF) is a division of your body fat mass by your total weight and a much better indicator of your risk of obesity than body mass index (BMI). BMI is determined by dividing your weight by your height squared. BMI is just a single value that does not differentiate between fat or muscle mass. If you use BMI to track your fitness progress, you will never know if the changes were in fat or muscle. Alternatively, PBF puts your weight into context by showing how much of it is fat mass. Tracking changes in your body fat percentage lets you focus on actual fat loss, not just weight loss, which can also come from losing muscle mass.
For PBF, the ideal ranges differ for men and women, as women tend to carry more body fat than men due to their reproductive system and genetics. For men, the healthy range is between 10-20%. For women, the healthy range is between 18-28%.
Periodic BIA measurements allows Relish Health to track your progress as you improve your health. Improving your BIA measurement, or maintaining a healthy BIA measurement, can help keep your body functioning properly for healthy aging. Your BIA results can help guide Relish Health in creating a personalized dietary and exercise plan to help you maintain optimal health and wellbeing for a lifetime.
Body Composition Analysis with Relish Health
Promoting good health and longevity is the goal of Relish Health, and research has shown that body composition is one of the best indicators to measure how well you are doing. Your weight is made up of muscle, fat, and water. Excess fat in relation to lean body mass, even if you are an “ideal weight,” can greatly increase your risks to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more. Instead of tracking how heavy you are, Relish Health uses body composition analysis to detect health risks and allow for earlier intervention and prevention of illness.
Promoting good health and longevity is the goal of Relish Health, and research has shown that body composition is one of the best indicators to measure how well you are doing. Your weight is made up of muscle, fat, and water. Excess fat in relation to lean body mass, even if you are an “ideal weight,” can greatly increase your risks to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more. Instead of tracking how heavy you are, Relish Health uses body composition analysis to detect health risks and allow for earlier intervention and prevention of illness. Understanding your body composition allows your health plan to be tailored to your needs, often focusing on losing body fat and gaining muscle while retaining the proper amount of body water in specific areas of your body. Body composition analysis is the key to tracking and maintaining effective muscle mass and strategic weight loss.
Relish Health uses an InBody570 bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machine to complete body composition analysis in the office. BIA is a non-invasive, safe measurement of fluid and body mass that can be a critical assessment tool for your current state of health. By standing and holding onto electrodes, the machine determines the resistance to the flow of the current through the body. In about 45 seconds, the InBody machine provides very accurate measurements of your:
Intracellular Water (ICW): Increases in ICW indicate improved nutrition status and improved overall health
Extracellular Water (ECW): Increases in ECW indicates toxicity, inflammation, acidity, infection, and/or mineral imbalance.
Fat Mass: Excess levels of visceral fat are associated with all major degenerative diseases. Additionally, fat stores toxins, converts healthy hormones to toxic hormones and triggers insulin resistance.
Lean Body Mass (LBM): Optimum levels are associated with healthy aging, vitality, and better resilience against stressors.
Periodic BIA measurements allows Relish Health to track your progress as you improve your health. Improving your BIA measurement, or maintaining a healthy BIA measurement, can help keep your body function properly for healthy aging. Your BIA results can help guide Relish Health in creating a personalized dietary plan, including nutritional supplements when appropriate, and exercise to help you maintain optimal health and wellbeing for a lifetime.