If you want your health to improve and to feel better, then proper nutrition is essential. In addition to eating a healthy diet, additional nutritional support is often required.  One might argue that a very healthy and balanced diet, along with excellent lifestyle choices, is all you should need to maintain health and vitality…that dietary supplements should not be necessary.  I actually agree with this, however, very few of us (so I few that I don’t actually know of anyone) eat a perfect diet and have superb lifestyle habits. Ideally, we would all be eating lots of organic fruits and vegetables that are loaded with nutrients. If you eat meat it would be grass-fed and organic and your fish would never be farm-raised. You would not eat any processed foods or consume foods that contain preservatives, artificial coloring or flavors. You would drink plenty of pure and clean water, get plenty of sleep and exercise on a regular basis. You would manage the stresses of daily life effortlessly and have no need for medication because your body would be working beautifully.  Now if this is you, then you probably don’t need my help or the help of any other health professional. So, like I said, if we lived perfect lives then we probably would not need any additional nutritional support beyond our diet.

Doctors like myself who practice functional medicine understand that it can be extremely difficult to get all the nutrition we need from our diet alone. So, in addition to following a truly health-promoting diet, I often recommend that my patients take dietary supplements.  So how do I know which supplements to recommend and how much should be taken? In addition to thoroughly assessing the individual’s health history, lifestyle, medications and current health problem(s); I will often utilize various diagnostic tests. What sort of tests you ask? I usually start with a blood test and from this, I am able to determine if additional testing is required such as urine or blood tests. One of the most common tests used is a urine test. A urine test can be very useful in determining where your body is struggling to maintain health. You would be surprised how much information you can get about your body from a simple urine test.  

Important information you can get from nutrition testing:

• Are the cells of your body struggling to produce energy?

• Is your body able to detoxify itself properly?

• Which vitamins do you need more of?

• Is your body inflamed?

• Are the chemicals that support healthy brain and nervous system function out of balance?

• Do you have an imbalance of gut flora in the intestines?

• Do you need more antioxidant support?

There is one more vital piece of information you can get from diagnostic nutrition tests, and that is how much of a certain nutrient you should be taking. You might discover that you require 4 times as much vitamin C as you are currently getting! Again, functional medicine focuses on you as an individual and unique needs of your body in order to achieve optimal health. There is no single perfect diet for everyone, there is no single type of exercise that is ideal for everyone and there is no single vitamin or mineral dosage that is ideal for everyone.  Nutrition testing can help determine what your unique needs are. Many people are simply taking supplements because they think they should but they have no idea what their body actually needs nor do they know how much they should be taking. I see new patients coming into my Naperville office on a regular basis who have been taking vitamin D for a long time but never had their levels tested and they are still incredibly deficient. I also see situations where the individual shows up with a grocery bag full of supplements they have been taking, in an effort to cure or manage a chronic illness. They are not sure what they should be taking, so they are taking everything!

If you want to increase your health and vitality, then dietary supplements can be very useful. However, just like most things in life, you will get the best results in the shortest period of time if you seek the guidance of a professional. For example, I don’t try to fix my own car, take on big plumbing projects or try to put a new roof on my house. Why? Because I am not a professional in these areas. I will save myself a lot of time, money and frustration by getting the help I need from someone who has experience in that particular field of work. I suggest the same when it comes to determining your nutritional needs. As a naturopathic physician and double diplomate in clinical nutrition, I just might be a better guide than an article you just read or the advice you got from your neighbor. Some things in life can be a do-it-yourself project because the outcome is not that important. Your health is not one of those things.

If you would like more information about functional medicine, nutrition testing or Dr. Sexton go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com or contact our Naperville office today.

Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources.