Functional Medicine: Getting Started Guide One of the most common questions we receive is about how to get started with functional medicine. Whether you are a health care practitioner looking to learn more about functional medicine and how to incorporate it into your practice, or a patient looking for an aligned health care practitioner, we hope to answer a lot of these questions in this episode of Pursuing Health Pearls.   What were doing isnt working Today in the United States, six out of every ten adults has at least one chronic disease, and four out of ten have two or more. Chronic cond ..read more

What we’re talking about is systemic, low-grade inflammation where the body’s barometer for this inflammatory response is turned up just modestly. This contributes to a whole host of diseases. Diseases of chronic inflammation that range from type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease with heart disease and stroke, neurodegenerative disease, fatty liver– which is now epidemic in our society– as well as autoimmune disease. So, now these diseases which are non-communicable– you can’t catch them– they are the leading cause of death on our planet right now and they’re being driven by chro ..read more

Given that the coronavirus seems to be a major topic of conversation these days, we thought it would make for the perfect topic for our first edition of Pursuing Health Pearls. These are short, ideally 10-15 minute podcast episodes (although this one was a bit longer!) meant to offer succinct, high-yield info on common health concerns. You can listen to the episode in audio format, or you can read a more detailed write-up in the blog post below. In this article, well first shed some light on what coronavirus is, how it is transmitted, who is at highest risk, how we can decrease our risk, and ..read more

“This question also leads us into some big announcements that we have, because we realize that there is a huge gap between all the information that youre getting from the fitness world and the wellness world out there, and medical care. And weve been living in both of these worlds. Weve been living in the fitness world through CrossFit, weve been living in the medical world through our training for the past ten years, and we see that theres a huge gap, and we feel like that is really our purpose and our position is to fill that gap, to bridge that gap. So, that being said, today we are lau ..read more

What does good movement mean? And what are the principles of good movement? And sometimes people have a hard time articulating that, physiatrists, physical therapists included. Because we focus a lot on, is this person strong, do they pass these strength tests? But we dont look at that necessarily from a more central nervous system standpoint of how is this person moving, what is the coordination and neuromuscular involvement in certain tasks. Even in physiatry thats a bit of a novel concept, surprisingly. Dr. Amy West Dr. Amy West is a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation specialist ..read more

Im still the Director of the Games. Im still Director of Training, also. I still have that responsibility to conduct it. I still have a lot of freedom to conduct it the way that I see the direction that I want that event to go. I was still in a very good place. Dave Castro As Director of the CrossFit Games and Co-Director of Training for CrossFit Inc, Dave Castro has witnessed the growth and evolution of CrossFit from a grassroots fitness movement to a worldwide professional sport. Dave served as a Navy SEAL from 1998-2010 and first caught wind of CrossFit in 2005 when he started followi ..read more

We, ultimately- we love CrossFit, but we also view CrossFit as a way for us to be fit and do things outside of the gym. And do them together. We always try to continue reminding ourselves of that, so, in the spring we’d like to do an obstacle course race. And I think thats a new mindset shift for me, is that, it used to be, oh no, I cant do that, Im going to get hurt. But then its like, well why do you have all this fitness? So, you have it to compete, but I think for me its like, Ill go to the Games. I will do my absolute best. I love to compete, Im not gonna just go there and not try ..read more

I believe something as fundamental as nutrition shouldnt be complicated, and if you keep it simple, and you help people make changes, and you encourage them and find bright spots- find positive things in what theyre doing Theyll make those changes. Nicole Aucoin, MD, RD When it comes to fitness and disease prevention, regular exercise is just one piece of the puzzle. Quality nutrition lays the foundation for better health, and yet its a component that is often overlooked by both fitness professionals and their clients. Nicole Aucoin is a Registered Dietician and the founder of Healthy Steps ..read more

But if my model works, I am positive people can copy it. And group visits certainly have been part of the solution. You see a lot of patients, you provide more services, you overcome barriers, you do it in a culturally competent way. People get to know one another, they have a better sense of community, theyre less scared, they have less anxiety, less stress, and then they have better outcomes. And I get credit for, as a doctor, when my patients have better outcomes, and have so little to do with it, that at least if I can put them in a good spot to get healthy, Im moving the right way ..read more

She said when she went in with the lump they basically denied her mammogram and said, Youre too young for breast cancer, and they wrote on her medical documentation mammography recommended at age 40. And, once I heard that, I knew that her story needed to be heard. And that, number one, I wanted to make sure that that never happened to another woman again. And for me, it was more about advocating, I think thats what CrossFit has really taught me, is how to advocate for my own health, how to advocate for my body, how to be aware of my own health, and how to take ownership in that, right? A ..read more