Nutritional therapy and lifestyle medicine that I practice is an evidence-based preventative healthcare approach that uses diet and lifestyle interventions, as well as therapeutic supplements, to support clients managing chronic health conditions. This approach is also aimed to help lower the risk of illness later in life and support healthy ageing.

Lifestyle medicine is the equivalent of Functional Medicine (FM) in the US. During my training we were taught to use the FM model in clinic with clients. FM is a preventative, proactive, client-centered approach, which takes into account the client’s complete health and family history, biochemical individuality, lifestyle as well as cultural, social and ethical factors. FM strives to understand the underlying causes and any physiological imbalances that are at the root of the symptoms that the individual is presenting with.

While conventional medicine aims to pharmaceutically manage symptoms of a labelled disease, often in a “one-size-fits-all” manner, lifestyle medicine/FM practitioners dig deeper into the root causes by assessing and addressing the individual’s functional imbalances, environmental inputs and genetic predisposition, and their mutual interactions. Since all body systems and functions (digestion, absorption, energy production, defence, detoxification, communication and transport) are interconnected and form complex networks of interactions within the body, any environmental factor, whether harmful or helpful, will create a cascade of interrelated physiological responses.

In chronic diseases, almost always one or more of these functions has been declining for a relatively long period of time, creating functional imbalances over years, before a full-blown disease develops.

After a thorough assessment, including a full personal and family medical history and potential laboratory testing, clients are offered nutritional and lifestyle advice, based on the most up-to-date research available. By using dietary and lifestyle interventions that address the root causes such as blood sugar imbalances, dysbiosis (imbalanced gut microbiome) or inflammation, it may be possible to restore balance in any of the challenged areas and ultimately prevent, or even reverse, disease. The fundamental aspects of lifestyle medicine/FM are represented in the Functional Medicine tree in the following figure.

The Functional Medicine Tree – For the tree and it’s crown to flourish, it needs strong foundations, i.e. roots. When seeing health like this, the importance of taking care of these most basic foundations of health becomes clear. The roots are influenced by predisposing genetic factors (‘antecedents’), events that provoke dysfunction (‘triggers’) and others that promote ongoing physiological processes (‘mediators’), which can lead to functional imbalances. If these imbalances are not addressed, it eventually leads to signs, symptoms and disease. However, by using lifestyle interventions that investigate, understand and address the root causes, it is possible to restore balance in any of the challenged functional areas and ultimately prevent, or even reverse, disease.

The food you eat talks to your genes.

GENES load the gun – the ENVIROMENT pulls the trigger!

Your genes don’t work in isolation from your environment. Your diet and lifestyle choices, your toxic exposures and even your thoughts affect how your genes are expressed – either switched on or off. Poor, ultra-processed diet is like shouting at, or bullying, your genes that will start misbehaving, i.e your illness genes will be expressed (switched on). Nutrient-dense, balanced real food diet teaches your genes to behave in a healthy way, keeping your illness genes silenced.

“It is now recognized that as we grow older, approximately 20% of our health is determined by the hardwiring of our genes, while the remaining 80% is influenced by the ways our lifestyle choices and our physical and social environment contribute to the expression of our genes.”
–Jeff Bland, “The Father of Functional Medicine”

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Last updated Setpember 2026