Tag: functional medicine doctor

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Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Explained By the Colorado Functional Medicine Doctors at Restore Health

Colorado Functional Medicine

Have you been having issues with gluten and you’re not sure whether you have celiac disease? The Colorado functional medicine doctors at Restore Health Center are here to help you figure it out Celiac disease is best diagnosed with an intestinal biopsy or blood test, however determining intolerances and sensitivities can be more complicated. Our approach is to obtain a thorough history, then guide you through an approach that will not only help you figure out food reactions, but put you on the path to overall improved gut health. Some of the tools we use include tests for food sensitivities and allergies, plus evidence-based elimination diets. A gluten sensitivity is not as serious as celiac disease, but it can lead to several uncomfortable or painful symptoms, including bloating, abdominal pain, skin issues and more.

What Is Gluten and What are Some of its Effects in the Digestive Tract? 

Glutens are proteins found in barley, wheat and rye. The proteins are like glue that helps food maintain their shape. Wheat, barley and rye contain proteins that are not efficiently broken down by digestive enzymes, which is one reason why some people are sensitive or allergic. For a number of reasons, gluten can negatively impact the lining of the gut, leading to “leaky gut,” in individuals with and without celiac disease. After digesting gluten your body will release a called zonulin. Zonulin modulates the permeability of tight junctions between cells of the wall of the digestive tract. Particles within the intestine (like incompletely broken down foods, bacteria and bacterial byproducts) will “leak” into the bloodstream. This results in an immune response that can create systemic inflammation. In genetically susceptible individuals, this may even induce autoimmunity. 

What Is Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity?

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) occurs when symptoms in the intestines and extraintestinal areas are triggered by foods containing gluten. You might have a non-celiac gluten sensitivity if a wheat allergy or celiac disease have been ruled out. Doctors think that a gluten sensitivity could relate to components other than gluten. Symptoms of NCGS are similar to celiac disease, with gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal symptoms. The most common symptoms of NCGS are similar to irritable bowel syndrome, which is why it can be difficult to diagnose.

Elimination Diet Recommended By Colorado Functional Medicine Doctors

If you have noticed that you have a negative reaction after eating gluten, try an elimination diet and see how you feel without it. Additionally, when you remove gluten from your diet you make room for more nourishing foods like vegetables, protein and healthy fats. You might start noticing a difference in how your body feels, your mood, skin and digestion. After removing gluten from your diet for at least 21 days, you can reintroduce it and observe your symptoms. If you still notice that you can’t tolerate it, you can remove it for good and prevent any future symptoms. 

If you would like to get tested for gluten sensitivity or allergy or discuss any gastrointestinal symptoms that you can’t seem to figure out, contact us at Restore Health Center. We’re here to help you live your healthiest life!

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3 Reasons to Consider Restore Health When Searching for a “Functional Medical Physician Near Me”

Functional medical physician near me

Have you been looking for a way to achieve overall health and wellness in your life? You’ve come to the right place! When you search for a “functional medical physician near me,” you will find Restore Health Center. We use advanced Functional Medicine practices to identify what is holding you back from improving your quality of life, addressing the root causes of your health concerns so you can feel your best. We believe in treating more than just symptoms to help you find optimal health. Here are 3 reasons you should consider Restore Health Center when searching for a functional medical physician:

  1. We have the expertise – Dr. James Howton, our founder, started out training in family medicine but over time transitioned to Functional and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Howton designed Restore Health Center to focus on issues currently not being addressed by a traditional medicine model and to emphasize health optimization rather than simply disease care. His diverse background in conventional medicine, combined with his passion and expertise in Functional Medicine, make him uniquely qualified to help people who are not finding good answers in traditional medicine. He has the expertise of both worlds to be able to adequately diagnose your health concerns and find lasting treatment options that will have you feeling better overall. 

    Dr. Rachel Fischer is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine and is trained in both internal and preventive medicine. Dr. Fischer maintains a healthy and active lifestyle and has witnessed firsthand the benefits of preventive medicine in her own life. She is passionate about helping others to achieve the healthy life they desire and deserve, and to experience the positive effects that come from such lifestyle changes and maintenance.

    Dr. Howton and Dr. Fischer are experienced in both Functional Medicine and traditional medicine allowing them to choose the best from both worlds in order to help you achieve your health goals. They are here to help when you are looking for “Functional Medicine physicians near me.”
  2. Your “functional medical physician near me” and the services we offer – At Restore Health Center, we offer you the best treatments, ranging from traditional medical interventions to innovative modalities. We provide nutritional supplementation through IV therapy, ultraviolet light therapies, detoxification, bioidentical hormone restoration, lifestyle consultations, and so much more. 

    We offer treatments for gastrointestinal disorders, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, and thyroid dysfunction. We also offer specialized services for women and men. 

    At Restore Health Center, we’re committed to your overall wellbeing. We’re your partner in solving and effectively treating disorders and health concerns. We have the tools to diagnose your health concerns and the necessary treatments to address the root causes of your ailments. We’re not here just to treat your symptoms or prescribe another pill, but rather to find the underlying causes of your pain and discomfort and stop them from happening. 
  3. We truly focus on Functional Medicine – Functional Medicine is a methodology that addresses the underlying causes of chronic disease rather than simply managing symptoms. The tools and philosophy that we use as your Fort Collins Functional Medicine physicians help us to identify how patients become ill and any patterns involved that cause the disease or ailment. A Functional Medicine approach allows us to be more efficient and effective when treating patients, because we look at the body as a whole and work to understand how your unique system functions. 

    We also understand that diagnoses are not always simple – sometimes it requires out of the box thinking and a willingness to keep digging. We also know that a diagnosis for our patients often involves looking for more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors – sometimes it has to do with one’s brain chemistry, but other things like gut health and inflammation can also certainly play a role in your mental health. Each cause can manifest itself differently depending on the individual’s environment, lifestyle, and genes. Only treatments that address all of the causes will have lasting benefits on your overall health.

    Restore Health Center is an innovative medical practice focused on helping you get your systems back to optimal function. With our complete wellness approach, you can live your healthiest life.

Ready to get started and take control of your health? Restore Health Center is your “functional medical physician near me,” and we’re here to help you. We are focused on identifying and removing the things that push you toward disease to help you fill your life with things that create overall wellness. Click here to learn more about our services, and contact us to set up a consultation. You can be on your way to optimal health today!

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Meet Restore Health: the Loveland Functional Medicine Doctor You’ve Been Looking For!

Loveland functional medicine doctor

Taking control of your health is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself. Functional Medicine involves healing the body as a whole – not just addressing your symptoms – to help you attain optimal wellness. Drs. James Howton and Rachel Fischer are Restore Health Center’s two top Functional Medicine physicians located in Loveland, CO. We’re conveniently located for individuals living in Loveland, Fort Collins, and Northern Colorado, however, we offer services to people living throughout Colorado and surrounding states. We provide a preventative approach to traditional medical practices. If you’re on the lookout for a Functional Medicine doctor, taking a look at Restore Health Center will be worth your time. 

Functional Medicine is relatively new. It is an area of medicine that still relies on the traditional medical practices you’re used to, including utilizing lab tests and studies, but Functional Medicine addresses the root cause of problems instead of just treating the presenting symptoms. Optimal health and wellness are our top priority. As Functional Medicine doctors in Loveland, we’re here to provide life-style based and natural solutions for your complete wellness.

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional Medicine is when doctors look into their patient’s histories, genetics, and environmental and lifestyle factors to see how they could influence long term health or lead to chronic disease. It focuses on treating the body as a whole organism, not just a collection of organs. It is more effective in the management and prevention of chronic diseases. 

When a patient-centered approach is used, physicians can support the healing process better. Health and illness are components that are affected by their environment. The goal of Functional Medicine is to change a person’s health from illness to overall well-being through shifting lifestyle and environmental factors.

What Do We Do At Restore Health – A Loveland Functional Medicine Doctor?

At Restore Health, we approach health challenges by addressing underlying issues first and focusing on disease prevention, not just treating symptoms with medication. We will take a close look at how your body interacts with food, environmental exposures, stress, and more. We serve patients living throughout Colorado and neighboring states, but we’re conveniently located for patients living in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Northern CO.

We offer treatments for autoimmune disease, thyroid dysfunction, gastrointestinal disorders, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, and more. We also offer specialized services and treatment options specific to men, like GAINSWave, as well as specific treatments for women, like Geneveve.

As functional medicine physicians, we strive to offer the best that medicine has to offer, ranging from traditional medical interventions to innovative treatments like bio-identical hormone restoration, targeted nutritional supplementation, detoxing therapies, and more. 

How Do We Address Common Chronic Medical Conditions? 

We start by identifying and removing the things that push you toward disease. Then we help you fill your life with practices that create wellness to prevent disease and keep you healthy. When you work with us, we help you achieve optimal function.

At Restore Health, we believe in using food, nutritional supplements, exercise as well as meditation and stress reduction methods to address the underlying causes of your health problems. We work with you to find how best to help you achieve complete and lasting wellness. Restore Health Center is your destination for a Loveland Functional Medicine doctor. We are dedicated to helping you achieve overall wellness, identifying and removing the things that push you toward disease, and filling your life with practices that keep you healthy. Contact us today at 970-278-0900 to schedule your consultation and learn more about how we can help you achieve the quality of life you’ve always wanted!

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3 Things to Look for When Searching for a Functional Medicine Doctor Near Me

Functional Medicine doctor near me

If you’ve been searching for a “Functional Medicine doctor near me,” then you’ve come to the right place. At Restore Health Center, we are dedicated to a new model of health care that is focused on achieving optimal health rather than just treating disease. We focus on disease prevention, as well, to avoid any future health issues. We work with you to help get your body’s functions working properly to remove the things that are causing your symptoms. When choosing your Northern Colorado Functional Medicine doctor, it’s important to do your research. We’ve come up with three key things to look for when searching for a Functional Medicine doctor. 

1. What experience does the Functional Medicine doctor near me have?

Finding a Functional Medicine doctor with the appropriate experience and knowledge is important. Functional Medicine is a relatively new area of medicine, so it’s best if you can find a doctor who has been practicing it for a while. 

Our founder, Dr. James Howton, originally trained in family medicine. Over time, Dr. Howton transitioned his practice to a Functional Medicine/Regenerative Medicine model. His desire to address the root causes of problems, rather than covering up symptoms, has made him a leader and innovator in the field.

Dr. Rachel Fischer is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine and is trained in both preventive and internal medicine. She received her fellowship training at the University of Washington in Seattle and is board-certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She completed her Functional Medicine training through the Institute for Functional Medicine. Prior to joining Restore Health, she practiced in Portland, Oregon, where she was named one of Portland’s “Top Docs” by the Portland Monthly.

Dr. Howton and Dr. Fischer are highly proficient in numerous forms of Functional Medicine and are dedicated to helping you live your best and healthiest life. 

2. What services does the Functional Medicine doctor near me offer?

When you are looking for the right Fort Collins Functional Medicine clinic, you should always look at the array of services they offer. In addition to lab tests and treatments, they should also offer an evaluation of your overall lifestyle. Rather than just making a diagnosis and determining which drugs will best treat a condition, Functional Medicine should look into the patient’s history and biochemistry to figure out the root cause of their condition. 

At Restore Health Center, we avail ourselves of the best that medicine has to offer, ranging from traditional medical interventions to innovative modalities, such as targeted nutritional supplementation through IV therapy, bioidentical hormone restoration, ultraviolet light therapies, detoxification, lifestyle consultations, and so much more. 

3. Is Functional Medicine right for you? 

You should also decide if Functional Medicine is right for you. There is tremendous value in modern medicine – particularly when it comes to acute injury and illness. Primary care doctors are perfect for acute illnesses and injuries. But for everything else, there is usually a lifestyle solution that can address inflammation, nutritional status, and hormonal balance. This is where Functional Medicine comes in. Functional Medicine can address the root cause of the problem rather than trying to prescribe more medications. Medications can help with issues like back pain, high cholesterol, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and skin problems, but they cannot fix the root cause.

Functional Medicine doctors work to address the underlying causes of problems, with a wide range of treatments at their disposal. These treatments include everything that traditional medicine offers, as well as non-traditional remedies such as meditation, diet, stress reduction, exercise, and nutritional supplements. At Restore Health Center, we work intimately with you to find what works best for your body. We’re here to help provide you with natural solutions to achieve complete wellness.

Restore Health Center is your premier destination for advanced wellness services for a “Functional Medicine doctor near me.” Our team is dedicated to identifying and removing the things that push you toward disease, and to filling your life with the things that create wellness, so you can get healthy and stay healthy. Contact us today at 970-278-0900 to schedule your consultation and learn more about how we can improve your quality of life.

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Talking to Your Fort Collins GI Doctor About Eating for Your Microbiome

Fort Collins GI Doctor

If you haven’t heard of the term “microbiome,” you likely will sooner rather than later. The health of your microbiome is something that your Fort Collins GI Doctor may be monitoring as part of your overall wellness. If they’re not, maybe they should. So what exactly is a microbiome? According to the University of Washington’s Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, a microbiome is the genetic material of all of the microbes that live on and inside the human body, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses:

“The bacteria in the microbiome help digest our food, regulate our immune system, protect against other bacteria that cause disease, and produce vitamins including  vitamin B12, thiamine, riboflavin, and Vitamin K, which is needed for blood coagulation.”

This microbiome is an essential aspect of our overall health. In fact, having a healthy microbiome is essential for human development, immunity and nutrition. Autoimmune diseases like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and many others are associated with dysfunction in the microbiome. This is due to the fact that if disease-causing microbes accumulate, they can change gene activity and metabolic processes in your microbiome, which results in abnormal immune response. Researchers have also discovered that a person’s microbiome may influence their susceptibility to infectious diseases and contribute to chronic illness.

“Maintaining a homeostatic balance between microbial activity and host immune response toward it is what allows the immune system to function appropriately to defend against infection yet demonstrate appropriate tolerance,” according to the Institute for Functional Medicine, or IFM.

So how do we maintain this balance in our microbiome? Well, there are a number of things that we can do to ensure that our microbiomes remain healthy and balanced. One of the most important things you can do is eat for your microbiome. If your GI doctor isn’t talking about your microbiome, consider seeing a functional medicine physician about the best way for you to specifically eat for your microbiome, but here are a few guidelines:

Eat a plant-based diet with lots of fiber

Plants are rich sources of many nutrients that are important for good gut health, including unsaturated fats, vitamins (like folate), minerals (like potassium), fiber and protein. Plant-based foods also consist of prebiotics, these indigestible fibers are the preferred fuel source for your gut’s good bacteria. Try foods like onions, garlic, artichokes, oatmeal, rice and potatoes.

Consume Fermented Foods

Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, or tempeh all contain beneficial bacteria that can help fight bad bacteria, leading to a healthier balance of bacteria in your gut.

Eat your Polyphenols

These are the dark-colored micronutrients found in red wine, green tea, blueberries, pomegranates, cherries and dark chocolate. They’re antioxidants and decrease inflammation while stimulating beneficial bacteria growth.

If you would like more information on eating for your microbiome, contact one of the top functional medicine doctors in the Fort Collins area, Dr. Rachel Fischer at Restore Health Center. She would love to talk with you about what foods to eat and other ways to ensure that your microbiome is healthy, balanced and functioning at peak levels.

Dr. Fischer is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine and trained in both internal medicine and preventive medicine. She received her fellowship training at the University of Washington in Seattle and is board-certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She completed her functional medicine training through the Institute of Functional Medicine. Prior to joining Restore Health, she practiced in Portland Oregon, where she was named one of Portland’s Top Docs by Portland Monthly Magazine. While she addresses a wide range of chronic health challenges, she has a particular interest in gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases, as well as optimizing athlete health.

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Restore Health: Your Local Fort Collins Functional Medicine Clinic

Fort Collins functional medicine clinic

Taking control of your health is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Restore Health is the premier Functional Medicine Clinic in Northern Colorado. We exist to help you take back your health. We offer Functional Medicine services to people living in Fort Collins, Loveland, and the greater Northern Colorado area as a better and more preventative alternative to traditional medical practices.

We are dedicated to a more effective model of health care that is focused on achieving optimal health rather than simply treating disease. We approach health challenges in a systematic manner, addressing underlying issues rather than chasing symptoms with medications. We are proactive, focusing on disease prevention, rather than reactive, focusing only on symptoms. At Restore Health Center, your local Fort Collins Functional Medicine clinic, we utilize a Functional Medicine approach to help you achieve optimal health and resolve issues poorly addressed under a traditional medicine approach.

Continue reading to learn more about Functional Medicine and what you can expect with your Fort Collins Functional Medicine doctor:

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional Medicine is a relatively new area of medicine that relies on the traditional tenets of science-based medicine, including lab-based analysis, tests, and studies, but instead of just treating the presenting issue, functional medical practitioners work to address the root causes of problems with a wide range of treatments at their disposal. These treatments include everything that traditional medicine offers as well as non-traditional remedies such as diet, meditation, stress reduction, exercise, and oftentimes nutritional supplements and herbal treatments, all based on the labs and studies doctors have come to rely on. We work intimately with you to find what works best for your body and needs. Health and wellness is your top priority, and as your Fort Collins Functional Medicine Clinic, we’re here to help provide you with natural solutions for your complete wellness.

Restore Health – Fort Collins Functional Medicine Clinic

Restore Health Center is an innovative medical practice focused on identifying and removing the things that push you toward disease while filling your life with the things that create wellness, so you can stay healthy or get healthy. Rather than simply relying on medications to treat symptoms, we work with you to help get your systems back to optimal function. We think in terms of how your body works within its genetic predispositions and how it interacts with food, environmental toxins, and stress. We use conventional medications and testing when they are needed, but we also use food as medical therapy along with targeted clinical approaches. With our complete wellness approach, we strive to identify the root causes of your symptoms and get you on a path to optimal wellness.

Fort Collins Functional Medicine Clinic Services

At Restore Health Center, we’re committed to your total health. We’re your partner in solving and effectively treating functional gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disease, thyroid dysfunction, autoimmune diseases and more. We also offer specialized services and treatment options specific to both men and women.

To address all of your needs, we also offer services to address mental health issues, including adrenal issues, brain disorders, and chronic stress. We also provide services for your total body, including stem cell treatments, IV nutrient therapies, and hormone therapy.

As the new year rolls around, there is no better resolution than to commit to getting healthy, and staying healthy! Restore Health is here to help you achieve this goal. Ready to get started and take your health into your hands? Restore Health is your Fort Collins Functional Medicine clinic, and we’re here to help you. Please click here to learn more about our services and contact us to set up a consultation.