But to stave off chronic problems or diseases, to better control or even reverse disease states and debilitation, and to train people in the art and science of wellness and self-healing, functional medicine is called for. It is much better suited for developing and maintaining a higher quality, drug-free life well into one’s senior years.

Functional medicine is personally tailored medicine. It deals with primary prevention and underlying causes of chronic disease rather than simply removing or masking symptoms once they arise. Functional medicine emphasizes true healing, treatment of the person rather than a disease, and a partnership of joint responsibility between doctor and patient, with the patient carrying most of the load. It also embraces the most current science in diagnosing early abnormalities that eventually lead to chronic illness.
 
Functional medicine uses botanicals and other forms of nutritional supplementation rather than pharmaceutical agents that create high levels of stress damage to an individual—sometimes hidden for years and sometimes irreversible. Under the influence of functional medicine, “old age” is not what it used to be, anti-aging is now a science, and optimized living is the “new normal” for people of every age.
 
In light of the above points, I view functional medicine as a complement to the acute care of traditional medicine and not an alternative. Systems of health protection should work together where possible. One approach cannot serve all of “heaven and earth.”
 
Chronic disease, as a rule, is slow to develop. Examples are diabetes, cardiovascular damage, hypertension, low thyroid, cancer, mental illness, autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, and back problems. Long-term predictions for such chronic diseases keep rising because the physical, emotional, and mental effects of stress are overwhelming us as a western culture. This stress comes from poor diet, a toxic environment, drugs, accidents, nervous system impairments, emotional reactions to life, mental overload, lack of exercise, and insufficient or poor sleep. Even falling in love is stressful (eustress)!
 
Diabetes is quickly becoming an epidemic. Traditional medicine is planning to target “high risk” individuals with ever-more dramatic drug interventions. Researchers, of course, hope to enhance quality of life (or at least long-term grants) while Big Pharma hopes to enhance profits. Yet, the physical, emotional, mental, and economic side effects of drug interventions leave us with a sobering message, one having little to do with healing or quality of life. Isn’t it an ideal time for that “reality check”?
 
Functional medicine works to keep you from becoming a high-risk disease candidate in the first place. The rule is simple: prevent disease states from developing now so there are no symptoms to “treat” later. But if you already happen to be riding the risk rollercoaster (typical for people over 30), you can start reversing some or most of the acquired stress damage by enabling your body to heal itself. This is very different from suppressing disease signs or symptoms with drugs, as is done with statins, thyroid, or diabetes meds to make lab measurements look better.
 
Here’s the catch. People must qualify themselves to follow the prevention approaches of functional medicine and optimized living. Although a prevention or wellness lifestyle is highly rewarding, it is not for the timid. Such a lifestyle requires us to understand how the Big Five Stress Agents deceive us and reduce our collective wellness. The problem is that most people have fallen victim to the harmful mental pattern of hoping rather than (pro)acting. They hope they will somehow fare better than others whom they know are suffering degraded lifestyles. Hope, however, doesn’t have a good track record for preventing chronic disease. But hey, it’s easy to hope! No heavy lifting required.
 
So, what are some of the harmful mental patterns you may inadvertently hold because of Big Five Stress Agent influences? Here are a few examples. Do any fit you?

• You’ll pop a pill as a quick fix for almost anything to improve your short-term quality of life.
• You think your doctor’s job is to take charge of your health and “fix” you when symptoms arise.
• Your physical activity has decreased with each passing year because you think you’re supposed to slow down as your calendar age rises.
• You want your body to act and recover as it did in your teens and 20s. Hint: It can’t and won’t without ongoing lifestyle adjustments.

* * *

 
Please consider this: Most cancers incubate 10 years or more before they are finally detectible. An even longer incubation period applies to the metabolic abnormalities that lead to diabetes. What environmental stresses and biological imbalances occur during those incubation years to serve as such fertile ground for cancer and diabetes? It’s the job of functional medicine to answer such questions and provide tailored rebalancing programs for individuals before they find themselves needing drugs, surgery, or medical appliances.

There’s only one way to maintain or regain health, and that is to dip into the pool of your innate, healing life force and do what’s necessary to keep its delivery pathways unblocked and balanced. Today we talk about this invisible life force using nearly 70 different names that have persisted through time, various cultures, and systems of thought. Its existence is no secret. But allowing it to do its natural job doesn’t seem to be much of a priority in the world of modern medicine. And actually supporting it in its innate actions is almost unknown.

Here’s the problem hinted at earlier: pharmaceutical drugs do not promote the healing available from trapping into your own vital energy. Nor do they balance metabolic functions needed for health. The purpose of the vast majority of drugs taken by an unsuspecting public is not to heal anything! Their purpose is to bring about specific effects such as less stomach acid, better sleep (or at least some level of unconsciousness), lower cholesterol numbers, or lower blood sugar numbers. These are effects that the public has been taught to value by the medicine business led by Big Pharma. Well, the drugs do indeed bring about the planned effects in many cases, but the cost is high in every respect. And your health is further endangered with each and every dose of these metabolically alien substances.

It’s not so easy to step back from the hypnotic control you have been subjected to all your life from the legal drug cartels. What’s more, many simply can’t shift because of the deeply instilled fear that their doctors will become indignant if they even mention the possibility of another approach. These hypnotized victims are little more than zombies. Nonetheless, for those who are ready to say, “I want to be in control of my own health,” you have the growing services of functional medicine available to you.

Next Post – Functional Medicine: Growing Support for Health in the 21st Century

The damages caused by blind reliance on Big Pharma medicines are three-fold: side effects, health damage by omission, and cost. Let’s take them one at a time under the next couple paragraphs …

Side Effects

Some of the potential drug side effects are far worse than the symptoms trying to be quelled. Again, listen to what the TV commercials must say by law. And while you’re at it, take a look at “Pharmaceutical Drug Commercial Spoof” on YouTube.com. Also, consider this: some of the most dangerous side effects of using pharmaceuticals are discovered many years after the FDA allows these “safe and effective” substances to be introduced to the public. Then it may take years more to get them off the market while people continue to get sick or die from them.

Health Damage by Omission

How often do you hear the words “heal” or “reverse” used in those carefully crafted, hypnotic TV commercials? Don’t hold your breath waiting. The goal of high-profit pharmaceuticals is to reduce or mask specific symptoms. In those rare instances where healing actually occurs, it doesn’t last unless one’s underlying health changes for the better. But such changes won’t be due to the drug. They will be due to the body’s own healing powers. Again, the drug interventions of mainstream medicine are designed to mask the signs and symptoms of disease, not to heal the underlying causes that lead to those signs and symptoms. This approach fosters health damage by omission. How so?

The vast majority of pharmaceuticals target the wrong things. People with complex chronic diseases just continue to get worse at cellular and metabolic levels while drug-targeted symptoms improve or stabilize—at least for a time. A prominent example is treating diabetes as a blood sugar disease when it’s really a hormone signaling disease. Most diabetic drugs factually make things worse behind the scenes while “keeping blood sugar numbers under control.” As a result, a sufferer’s underlying health continues to deteriorate despite successfully controlling blood sugar numbers. Conventional medicine has a stock phrase for the typical deterioration in health that diabetics suffer over time: the complications of diabetes. Strangely, they talk about those complications as though the pharmaceutical treatments they use on their patients have nothing to do with the complications they eventually experience!

In reality, diabetic complications arise not only from doing direct stress damage to the body with toxic diabetes drugs, but also from failing to treat the right things! Although an elevated blood sugar level must be brought down to prevent glucose damage to one’s system, here’s the kicker: many diabetics keep their blood sugar well under control, yet they still end up with the complications of diabetes! Why is that? It’s because blood sugar control is the wrong target for healing. In truth, high blood sugar is just one side effect of hormonal signaling imbalances. When we get the signaling to work properly once again, blood sugar levels come down of their own accord. In the meantime, other lurking problems caused by impaired hormone signaling are also reduced or eliminated, thus preventing other diseases.

Sadly, blood sugar numbers are the popular targets of pharmaceutical companies and therefore mainstream medicine. There’s a saying in medicine that exposes the practice of targeting the wrong things: “The operation was a success, but the patient died.”

Cost, Cost, Cost

Aside from the extraordinary expense of many specialty drugs, Big Pharma produces lifetime consumers by failing to heal or reverse chronic illnesses. That creates lifetime revenue streams for the gorilla. Examples are diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol, hypothyroid problems, or any conditions requiring the repeated application of steroids. Once doctors get the hang of dispensing Big Pharma’s favored drugs, profits come rolling in year after year with little industry effort. There is no business incentive to heal patients if symptom removal is all patients expect; and they keep coming back for more! Further, the 500-pound gorilla will try to keep competition at bay by throwing its weight around with government, regulatory bodies, and the mainstream media. But the cost to the public is huge. Families go bankrupt trying to keep up with their drug prescriptions. Many retired or elderly people simply can’t, hastening their death or infirmity through health damage by omission.

Next post – In Reality …

At the heart of the Big Pharma stranglehold are four main points: (1) Big Pharma is NOT producing magic elixirs for good health. (2) The industry has turned our society into a “pharmacracy,” where every twitch, hiccup, or social aberration is deemed treatable with yet another prescription. (3) Drug company gifts and “consulting fees” are so widespread that in any given field, you literally cannot find an expert who hasn’t been paid off in some way by the industry; conflicts of interest are endemic. (4) Treating disease symptoms with drugs always creates other health problems that lead to yet further prescriptions to correct the side effects of earlier ones. For example, the evidence is now mounting that statins used to control cholesterol numbers are provoking diabetes symptoms that doctors might decide to treat with further drugs (instead of discontinuing the statins). And on it goes. Indeed, the industry continues to gain strength and control by perpetuating disease, not from finding cures. See the fate of seniors these days next paragraph).

Looking at the Evolution of Big Pharma

To give you an idea just how far Big Pharma has come over the last 75 years … in 1929, the average American received less than two prescriptions per year. By 2006, the average yearly prescription rate per person was:

–  Just over 4 prescriptions per child (age 0-18)
–  Almost 11 prescriptions per adult (age 19-64)
–  28 prescriptions per senior (aged 65 and over)

If these drugs did in fact treat and cure disease, the U.S. would have the healthiest residents on the planet! But far from it. We’re seeing ever-greater numbers of people suffering from preventable diseases like type II diabetes, and we’re seeing a mounting death toll directly attributable to prescription drugs. It’s good to remember this one thing: there is no disease caused by the lack of a drug, but plenty of problems come packaged with them.

And Just How Bad Are the Death Tolls?

According to the FDA, adverse reactions from properly prescribed and properly administered drugs cause about 106,000 deaths per year, making prescription drugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Compare this to the death toll from illegal drugs—which is about 10,000 per year—and you begin to see the extent of both the problem and the cover-up. Drugs aren’t safe because testing doesn’t go far enough. These products are biologically alien to our bodies! Safer, less profitable alternatives from nature aren’t even considered. What’s more, the rush to market pulls rank over safety, and it’s only getting worse with time. In the last 27 years, we’ve seen no deaths from the use of vitamins, but we’ve seen three million deaths from pharmaceutical use (naturalnews.com). What’s wrong with this picture?

To Be Fair … 

Despite side effects and deaths, it’s true that Big Pharma also produces drugs that can save or prolong lives in certain cases while the body goes through its natural healing process. We see surgical-support benefits as well as true preventative payoffs (some vaccines and antibiotics).

But … most people don’t realize the extent of Big Pharma’s financial persuasion and lobbying efforts. Thus, those people are both blinded and deceived by the industry’s self-serving claims that it is “helping mankind.” That’s hardly what is happening, in my opinion. Big Pharma would probably abandon many of their less expensive products except for the PR value they have for projecting the “we help mankind” illusion. Please don’t fall for the altruistic spin that pharmaceutical industry spokespeople present to the public. Big Pharma is no more in the business of helping mankind than is Big Tobacco. But they do talk a good game through a very large megaphone. And if you’re a doctor or a patient, you will run into many of Big Pharma’s fear-based promotions that try to convince you not to leave the fold. Beware: your doctor may be brainwashed. But some are not … and that number is growing by the minute.

Natural Is Out!

Big Pharma is not at all interested in natural remedies that do as well as, and often much better than, their expensive, patented products—and without side effects. The drug industry cannot patent natural products and therefore can’t make much money on them. So it’s business as usual. Those few doctors do who lean towards natural approaches for their patients do so without the blessings of the pharmaceutical industry and can even get themselves into trouble if not careful. But here’s a harmful twist that is further eroding our freedom to choose what goes into our mouths: Through lobbying efforts across the spectrum, Big Pharma is now trying to get monopolies on the natural supplement business … to their own benefit, of course. And the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in their corner because growing control and restriction of consumer choice is what the FDA is all about. The “safe and effective” part of their mission is grossly over-hyped to render control.

Next post – Recognizing the Difference Between Health Care and Sick Care & Identifying the Side effects, Damages, and the Cost

Yes, medicines are Big Business—a 500-pound gorilla with plenty of power and influence. But it’s the influence that Big Pharma has over the public mind—through massive and deceptive marketing efforts—that can have so much impact on you and your family’s well-being.

 
For decades Big Pharma has been applying shifty and shameless strangleholds to government regulators, conventional medicine, and dollar-influenced journalists in order to peddle its expensive and profitable products. To make matters worse, the big gorilla has invaded our living rooms with absurd, hypnotic TV commercials that show happy and carefree drug consumers playing, prancing, sleeping better, digesting better, smoking less, breathing more freely, or feeling their conjugal oats. Meanwhile, a huge list of ugly side effects is paradoxically voiced over soothing background music. In truth, these commercials are brutal. They are designed to penetrate the subconscious mind’s pleasure center through a form of hypnosis that few can resist unless they know what to look for. Not only that, the hypnotic techniques used in these commercials are tailored to make you see yourself as a patient. For example, the Abilify® commercial uses the phrase, “my depression,” over and over again. The intent, of course, is to make sure you take subconscious ownership of your supposed affliction. They want you to think of yourself as a victim who can be freed by taking their drug—their Utopia in a pill!
 
Behind the scenes, Big Pharma drools at the prospects that commercial viewers will ask their doctors to give them the drugs they saw on TV. The commercials say, “Ask your doctor if Kostlitox is right for you,” but they fully expect that you’ll do more than simply ask if it’s “right.” They want you to ask for the drug, period. And you know what? Patients in large numbers are doing exactly that! What’s more, their doctors are succumbing to the pressure because they find themselves with few options. That’s why you see an endless stream of drug commercials. They work! In fact, they work so well that true healing is not even a thought that crosses the minds of viewers. No, it’s all about the wonderful pleasure of symptom relief. That’s what Big Pharma has taught the public and conventional medicine practitioners to expect: symptom relief. To make matters worse, the commercials stimulate such a pleasure reaction in viewers that the viewers subconsciously dismiss the long list of side effects as problems other people experience. It’s all done with smoke and mirrors! For a quick assessment of this Big Pharma TV strategy, take a look at the YouTube.com video clip, “Big Bucks, Big Pharma” (type in the title at the top of the YouTube.com webpage).

Next post – Naming the Four Primary Problems of Big Pharma’s Influence, The Evolution, and It’s Dealth Tolls

I want to share some information from my book with you.  The things that bother me about how we are far to often throwing medications at things and calling them cures, or fixes … I see them as, like I have titles this months blog posts, Deceptive Sins of Omission.  I will be sharing this info with you all month long, so join in, read on, comment freely.  Ask questions, find answers. Now, let’s get to the bottom of this and find true health together!

Legal drugs, whether acquired by prescription or over-the-counter, do not, cannot, make you healthy or keep you healthy because that is not their aim. What’s more, the time spent in using pharmaceutical drugs and suffering from their brutal side effects is time lost in halting and reversing the underlying health problems that bring people to drug stores in the first place. Does that sound far-fetched?

From experience I can tell you what I’m about to present doesn’t sit well with most people. It may not sit well with you. For sure, it seldom sits well with the vast network of mortals who earn their livings in conventional medicine and the medical insurance system, or those who work in the drug development, approval, regulation, distribution, and sales chain. If you want to see why, take a look at the eye-opening educational parody on YouTube.com called “The Town of Allopath.” That’s what we call a “reality check.”

Reality checks are unwelcome by mainstream thinking. This is true in every endeavor. Reality checks disturb masses of people who hold cherished beliefs. They threaten the status quo of those who benefit from the continuous spread of misinformation, whether that spread is intentional or not. Indeed, reality checks often shake our foundations in the short term. They are very uncomfortable because they disturb our peace of mind. But over time, they pay big dividends in a personal sense. Truth wants to have its way with us despite popular beliefs! But do we want to submit? What kinds of hidden fears are we dealing with that prevent our acceptance of greater levels of truth?

Next  I will invite you to consider some of the truth that’s shaking the foundations of our pharmaceutical-infused culture. Many have become furious about what they’ve been learning about the legal drug industry and a hypnotic dependence on its prolific products. Maybe you will, too (although it’s best that you avoid the fury because it just creates negative stress).

Next post … Influencing Mainsteam Thought

In this video Dr. Webb explains how Netflix can help inspire you to start the program in the right mindset. Attitude really makes all the difference but you have to click on the screenshot below and it will send you to a page on our website. So don’t be scared to click. Everything will be okay.

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Click Here to Watch More of Dr. Webb’s Exclusive Patient Education Videos

Dr. Webb’s Series: 10 Objections to Living an Abundant Lifestyle

Dr. Webb explains the 10 objections to health and why you should look at our explanations to put your health in a better perspective.

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10 Objections to Creating a Healthy, Abundant Life:

1. I donʼt have the personal knowledge to make the correct lifestyle choices.

a. You have the power to choose to learn. If you are open to learning, our personal mentoring program will guide you along an easy to follow path. Our programs our structured in a manner that gives each and every patient the information needed to bring independence to their life. You do have the choice to avoid the all too common dependency of a care-giver or assisted living environment.

2. I donʼt have the time to take appropriate care of myself.

a. We all live in a world that gives each of us 24 hours /day. What we do with that time is a personal decision based on values (real or perceived). If you do not take time to care for yourself, you will have to take time to try and repair yourself. Pro-activity and maintenance are required for optimized health. It takes no more time to eat correctly than poorly. Proper exercise requires no more than approximately 35 minutes 3-4 times / week. If youʼre honest with yourself, you recognize it really
is based on what you judge as a valuable use of your time. Hum? TV, or a thriving, abundant life.

3. My family wonʼt be on board with the changes I will need to make.

a. I recognize this sounds like a silly thought, but also realize it is a real concern for some. You would certainly think that all family members would be on board, however, in infrequent situations a spouse or family member may be negative toward your new enthusiasm. This usually comes down to a lack of understanding of what your lifestyle program entails, as well as some distrust of whether this approach will really work. It may help to steer these family members to our site, www.drcharleswebb.com, and view some of the incredible testimonials from our patients. Without taking the time to learn about our programs and proven success it is only human nature to be cautious. Once familiarizing themselves, you will not only get support, but an accountability partner to help ensure your success.

4. Eating right is too hard and expensive.

a. If you have not been eating right, you should already understand how expensive eating wrong can be. Health deteriorates and medical bills escalate with each year that these poor choices are made. Like any habits, there are good and bad. Once you develop a habit it can be a challenge to change or alter. Once the good, or correct habit is developed it will be hard to break. I would challenge anyone to compare grocery bills of a cart full of healthy food compared to one full of junk. And speaking of expense, this is not just a financial term. Losing out on the joys and experience in life because your not feeding your body nutritious foods is a terrible, unnecessary expense.

5. I canʼt afford a lifestyle program or hire a health coach.

a. Most people recognize the importance of an education, whether this is a high school, college or even an online education. Itʼs widely accepted that this is an investment that must be made in order to have the best insurance of meeting our financial needs. The return on this financial investment can materialize into a very secure and abundant life. Although there are situations in life where funding higher education can seem impossible, we witness people everyday finding solutions to “get it done”. These individuals simply think differently. They do not accept anything less than their God given potential. I am suggesting that your health should be viewed as at least as valuable as your financial situation. What value is wealth if you do not have the health and vitality to enjoy it. At Imagine Wellness, we work with each individual to overcome any financial obstacles. We have solutions to allow those on fixed budgets and retired to easily move forward.

6. Iʼm afraid that proper lifestyle changes might isolate me from my friends and family.

a. It is true that not all of your friends will share your newly found optimism toward taking control of your health. Friends who do not place high priority on their health often play down healthy lifestyle choices. Although they may not mean any negative intent, this behavior is sabotaging. In one of my patient member videoʼs I discuss this as being all too common and some tips to disarm this behavior in a non-confronting manner. The bottom line is those who truly care for you will support your decision to place your health as a priority.

7. My doctor may not approve.

a. I will always be open and willing to work with any doctor or health professional you currently have. They also, should be open and willing to do the same if the goal is to optimize health and improve lifestyle choices. This includes reducing and/or eliminating unnecessary medications. A doctorʼs main concern and intent should always be to aid in the optimization of health in his/her patients. This begins with “Do No Harm”. I am always cautious of a physician that dismisses any holistic and natural approach to health. In summary, you are ultimately responsible for your health and therefore, the final decision and direction you wish to pursue.
8. I donʼt have the self discipline to make permanent changes.

a. Self discipline is not a trait that we are born with, but one that is developed over time through life experience. Discipline coincides with positive experience. In other words, as your actions result in positive changes you will be inclined to continue these actions. One could look at this as positive habits or simply, discipline. Self discipline is also strengthened thru accountability held by loved
ones, a friend or a mentor.

9. What happens if I commit to a lifestyle program and then hate the experience and give up?

a. Life is a series of ups and downs. We do not always enjoy the duties required for the end result we are seeking. Itʼs funny how these duties or actions can initially seem to be difficult or “no fun”, but later take on an uplifting emotion. This is because we come to recognize the most meaningful successes we have in life came from such actions. Having a successful marriage; raising children; optimizing our health and becoming financial independent all require discipline and actions that sometimes have us wanting to “give up and quit”. Those of us who continue to play the game are allowed the pleasures of earned rewards.

10.I donʼt have the personal confidence to take action.

a. Very few of us have a natural born instinct of confidence. This comes from continually taking action even when we are fearful. The actual definition for this is courage. As we continue to develop skills from taking these bold steps, we become less fearful or confident. My son, Landon, has always lacked confidence as he enters a new sport. He is often hesitant to even giving it a try. Once he jumps in, regardless of the fear, he begins to develop skills that ultimately lead to enjoyment and yes, confidence! We are here to mentor you and support you. We do not judge or chastise. We offer an environment that anyone at any level can feel comfortable and genuinely cared for. As you become a veteran in the art of wellness, you too will become very confident.

Tip 1: Movement

Yes, we understand that you may work at a desk in front of a computer nine hours everyday so your options may be limited, and after work you may feel so tired that you don’t even have the energy to work out. Not so fun-fact: roughly 250,000 deaths per year in the U.S. are directly related to a lack of regular exercise.*

A half hour a day of exercise is recommended, but recent studies show that shorter, spaced out workouts in a day can also do the trick. So if you’re feeling cooped up in your office, break up the day by taking small walks around your building to bump up your heart rate instead of dreading a workout before or after work.

courtesy of The Georgetown Dish.com

1. Chocolate is made from the seed of the Theobroma cacao tree. In its raw form, the seed possesses a bitter flavor. In the production of chocolate, the seeds are fermented in order to change the flavor.
2. Due to a high concentration in flavanols, recent research suggests that the cardiovascular system may benefit from chocolate. Flavanols improve blood flow to the heart and brain, lower blood pressure and have antioxidant qualities.
3. Flavanols are also the reason for chocolate’s natural bitter taste. The more processing that occurs in creating your favorite candy, less flavanols remain in the chocolate. Less flavanols means less healthy. Food manufacturers are currently exploring techniques to preserve flavanols in the manufacturing process.
4. The specific flavanol thought to be responsible for most of these cardiovascular benefits is called “epicatechin.”
5. Research into the potential health benefits of chocolate was in-part inspired by the Kuna people of Panama, who drink five to seven cups per day of a cocoa drink. The Kuna people have higher kidney function and lower rates of heart disease than other Panamanians, which sparked interest in the possible correlation between the cocoa drink and health.

The earliest documented consumption of chocolate was in 1100 BC, and it has remained one of the world’s most popular food types and flavors. Now isn’t that delicious? You know what I have the taste for right now?