In the age of information and social media anecdotes, it seems to have made health and wellness more confusing rather than clearing things up. Every year we see studies that warn us about the dangers of taking vitamins and how they may even harm our health. So what is the truth?

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The Truth About Vitamins

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When it comes to your own nutritional needs, one size does not fit all. In addition to this fact, we have some miscommunication about what constitutes a vitamin or supplement. What Big Pharma calls a “vitamin” are often parts of a vitamin or isolates. These are made from non-food chemicals. Even when companies say “all-natural,” there are still chemicals used. These chemicals function differently in the body than food-derived vitamins.

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Vitamins appear in nature as a complex. This is why we recommend using vitamin complexes derived from food. The body knows what to do with nature’s vitamin complexes. From here, you’ll need to address the issue of picking the right supplement. This is where functional nutrition can be helpful.

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What Is Functional Nutrition?

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Functional nutrition is the practice of considering every aspect of one’s health, diet, and overall lifestyle when giving nutrition recommendations. In this way, functional medicine follows a holistic systems approach to healthcare. It takes into consideration how interrelated every part of the body is. This strategy seeks to look at the big picture of health by restoring optimal function to the body’s various systems. Functional nutrition looks at symptoms as clues for discovering your primary health problems.

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Standard healthcare tries to suppress these symptoms with medication. Functional nutrition, on the other hand, sees symptoms as clues for understanding the underlying issues within your body. It considers small signs and symptoms as well as underlying imbalances as things that can be discovered and corrected. The emphasis is on optimal function and balance rather than what is “broken.”

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Often lab tests are not used as the first step in functional nutrition. Instead, a more detailed assessment and health history are used to establish a comprehensive look at each person individually. Labs can not fully explain how you feel. Understanding the whole person is needed to achieve the goal of restoring health.

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Function Medicine Verse Functional Nutrition

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While the terms “functional medicine” and ‘functional nutrition’ are often used interchangeably, they refer to different approaches. Functional medicine is a broad medical approach that treats health problems as a part of a system breakdown in your body. In contrast, functional nutrition takes this perspective one step further by highlighting the ways that food is a fundamental component of health as well as the cause of many physical problems. An example of this might be how some foods disrupt hormones, causing imbalances. While this can be treated with hormones, it also can often be treated by restoring your natural balance.

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Why Vitamins Are Vital

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Vitamins and supplements are vital. They are, in fact, essential for wellness. In today’s world of high stress, chemicals, depleted soil, prepared foods, and aging, it is near impossible to get everything your body needs from diet alone. Make sure you are taking the right supplements that are food sourced and bioavailable. It is equally important to make sure the vitamins are right for you. Vitamins and supplements should help you achieve your health goals, increase strength, and health, and restore balance.

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Functional nutrition can help with this. More importantly, it can also help you learn about your body as well as its function and needs. This puts you back in control of your health.

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Who We Are

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Putting you back in control of your health is the goal of Your Vitamin Guru. Our functional nutrition practitioner is Rick Jahn DOM Lic #AP3073. He has over 20 years of experience as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, one of the world’s oldest forms of functional medicine. Over the years, he noticed that many of his patients were tired of taking pills they didn’t understand. He also noticed how many of his patients felt like they were not listened to when it came to their health goals. Your Vitamin Guru was created to help people understand the obstacles to better health as well as to teach, empower, and help people regain control of their health. This is why we call it “guru”, teacher.

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Dr. Rick has lived and worked in China, Thailand, New Zealand, Alaska, and Florida. He has lectured on cruise ships and taught people how to regain their health in diverse settings over the years. Your Vitamin Guru is primarily a telemedicine-based service. In Florida, many people travel out of state for half the year and this shouldn’t be a reason for health and wellness to fall to the back burner. We want to be able to help people with their health goals no matter where they are.