Chapter Four
Understanding the whole picture
Integrative & functional medicine.
A wider lens on the same body of evidence, practised alongside, not instead of, conventional medical care.
Integrative
Integrative medicine combines conventional medical care with evidence-informed lifestyle, nutritional and complementary approaches where appropriate. The person is considered as a whole, not as a collection of separate systems.
Functional
Functional medicine looks upstream, at the lifestyle, hormonal, nutritional and physiological factors that may contribute to symptoms, while remaining grounded in evidence-based medicine.
These approaches are not alternatives to conventional medicine. They broaden, rather than bypass, the standard of care you should expect from any physician.