There is a revolution happening in the health industry.
It’s no longer about the cure, it’s about all about the health.
In this article, we will dive into how to prevent and treat illnesses by looking at the profound work done by health master, Dr. Mark Hyman.
There is nothing as important as your health. If there is one thing that you need in order to live your best life, it is your health.
So many people today view their health as a mystery. And while there’s no surefire way to predict every single health issue that may come your way, the average person has more control over their health than they think.
And it all comes down to what you decide to eat.
You are in control and you can make a difference.
In fact, you can change the way that certain systems in your body operate and can actually upgrade your biology with the right diet.
It all starts with functional medicine.
Is Mark Hyman A Medical Doctor?
Yes, Mark Hyman is a practicing family physician and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.
He is also the founder and medical director of the UltraWellness Center located in Lenox, Massachusetts.
No matter who he is working with, Mark Hyman’s goal is simple—to tackle the root of chronic disease by harness the power of functional medicine to transform healthcare.
What Is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine has been the topic of several of Dr. Mark Hyman’s books.
But what is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is the science of how the body works as an integrated whole.
And instead of focusing on symptoms, you need to focus on treating the root of the disease.
Managing symptoms is only half the battle. It will never deliver the lasting results you are looking for.
Masking symptoms of a disease is not the same thing as being healthy. This is where functional medicine comes in.
Functional medicine standing in stark contrast to the “naming, blaming, and taming” paradigm of mainstream medicine.
Instead, functional medicine is all about the cause, not the symptom.
It focuses on the why instead of the what. You are optimizing your health by giving your body what it needs to function while removing things that impediment your health.
Our health, medicine, and food are all connected, we just need to take the time to understand how.
This can all be done by eating the right things and taking care of your body.
And this is why so many of Dr. Mark Hyman’s books focus on food, recipes, and eating. Functional medicine isn’t just about eliminating disease, but about upgrading your biological software so that you can optimize your health.
Dr. Mark Hyman’s Approach To Upgrading Your Biology
In the 21st century, our tastebuds, our brain chemistry, our biochemistry, our hormones, and our kitchens have been hijacked by the food industry.
— Dr. Mark Hyman
At the forefront of this functional medicine movement is Dr. Mark Hyman, the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and the author of ten #1 NY Times best-selling books.
Dr. Hyman’s philosophy is simple. He believes that we all deserve a life of vitality and that we have the potential to create that life for ourselves.
As one of the biggest voices in the functional medicine movement, he has not only helped countless individual patients regain their life and their health but worked with organizations, policymakers, and influencers.
If you read Mark Hyman’s books, you will notice one, overarching theme: our healthcare system today needs to change in order for people to finally get healthy, stay healthy, and avoid chronic disease for good.
In fact, Mark Hyman’s books are filled with detailed plans, tips, tricks, and pieces of advice. But they all start with one thing: food.
In many of Mark Hyman’s books, including his popular title, Eat Fat, Get Thin, he encourages people to start thinking of their grocery store as their Farm-acy, or the place they can go to get the real farm-fresh foods they need to treat their conditions for good.
Functional medicine is considered, by many, to be the future of the medical industry.
This focus on taking preventative measures to keep the body healthy, before the presence of disease, is already helping people maintain their health longer than ever before.
And while the basic concept of functional medicine is rather simple — just eating healthy to stay healthy — it’s already bringing about massive change.
What Does Mark Hyman Eat?
It might interest you to know that Mark Hyman doesn’t just talk the talk. He also walks the walk.
So, it should come as no surprise that he eats the very diet he recommends in his books. He focuses on eating high-fat, plant-based foods.
Hyman describes his diet as a cross between paleo and vegan. He avoids meat and dairy and mainly consumes vegetables, whole grains, beans, and fruits.
What Supplements Does Mark Hyman Recommend?
Now, what about supplements?
While you’d ideally net the bulk of your nutritional supplements from your diet, sometimes it’s not possible to get all you need all the time.
So, which supplements should you add to your diet?
Hyman recommends the following supplements: vitamin D3, Omega-3, Magnesium, Chromium, and PGX.
3 Steps To Upgrading Your Biology Today
The key to your health and fitness is your purpose. It’s not the how, it’s the why.
— Jon Butcher, Author of Mindvalley’s Lifebook Program
It is important to remember that your body is an entire system.
Instead of looking at the body as different components that need to be treated separately, functional medicine encourages you to look at the body as the large, fascinating inter-connected system that it is.
Keeping that body healthy through real, healthy, nutrient-filled food, is like upgrading your biological software. It simply helps your body function as it should.
Applying the principles of functional medicine to your everyday life is actually much easier than it seems.
Here are three ways to start upgrading your biology and making the healthy changes you need in your life.
1. Change How You Think About Food
So many people view food as a treat or as a way to relieve stress. But food is so much more than that.
Food is medicine and the fuel our bodies need. You can completely reset your system and upgrade your biology in a matter of days. And it all starts with the right foods.
In his book, Eat Fat, Get Thin, Dr. Mark Hyman discusses all of the powerful changes that can happen to your body when you start eating the right type of foods.
The focus on staying thin has distracted so many people from eating the foods their bodies need.
Don’t be tricked by popular fads and food industry ploys.
Giving your body what it needs in the right quantities is what’s going to give you the results you want.
2. Recognize That Food Addiction Is Real
For many people, it isn’t just adding healthy foods to our diets that are difficult. It’s eliminating the unhealthy foods that are destroying our bodies and our systems.
And according to Dr. Mark Hyman, emerging science has shown that food addiction is worse than cocaine or heroine addiction.
According to Dr. Hyman, if you put a rat in a cage and have either sugar or cocaine in front of him, he will always choose cocaine.
The processed, sugar-filled foods we eat today are so addictive and it can be really difficult to overcome that addiction.
And in Dr. Mark Hyman’s book Eat Fat, Get Thin, he details how people are so scared of the word fat, that they are no longer eating the good fats that they need in their diet. They mistake low-calorie, processed foods for being healthy — even when they have no nutritional value.
3. Just Start Cooking
Dr. Mark Hyman’s books explain how you can start upgrading your biological system and actually cut out your food addiction by changing the information that goes into your body.
This is the easiest and most effective way to upgrade your biological software. And it all starts in the kitchen.
Dr. Mark Hyman recommends spending more time in your kitchen, starting today. He believes that most Americans spend more time watching cooking shows on television than actually cooking in their homes.
Cooking is a skill that everyone needs to create health for themselves, which is why Dr. Mark Hyman encourages everyone and their kids to get in the kitchen, fill it with real food, and start cooking.
It is a skill that you can have for life and a skill that can change your life for the better.
