The Challenge – Get the Message Out!

Given the chronic lifestyle and health issues that the population is now increasingly faces, the principles behind ancestral and functional health movement are becoming more and more relevant.
As it was discussed at one of the sessions during HEALTH Unplugged Conference in London a couple of weeks ago, more and more health professionals from doctors to coaches are now looking to incorporate ancestral and functional ways to help their patients and customers. However, there are many potential obstacles to implementing these ideas. “Challenging the perceived wisdom on diet and other lifestyle issues can be potentially difficult especially if you are going against conventional ideas.” This is how Jerry Dhillon, co-founder of HEALTH Unplugged introduced a panel discussion, that was all about the challenges surrounding the public engagement of ancestral principles. It was a really interesting panel for me to watch live (you can catch the replay on Jimmy Moore’s Periscope), with great experts including Owen Raybould, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, Jimmy Moore, and Darryl Edwards.

The key message for me was that more and more great people are spreading the message of functional and ancestral healing all over the world – including Europe! – which is really good news and I am really excited to be part of this movement! Every little step counts:) And bigger ones even more so!

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee just took a huge leap in getting this message out there. In a new three-part health series on BBC, the Doctor in the House is teaching ancestral principles to his patients to transform their lives! Not only their lives, but hopefully the lives of many others who are currently sitting there in their couches watching TV shows in the evenings…
What are the ancestral principles that Dr. Chatterjee and all of those other great folks in the Functional & Ancestral Healing world are so eager to teach to the public?

What are the main ideas of functional healing on nature’s prescription?

To answer this very important question, I am going to quote from experts, from different sessions and panels of HEALTH Unplugged that I attended. I completely and totally agree with all of these statements and I am on the mission to apply all these in my health coaching practice as well.

• It is finding ways to apply ancestral principles in our modern word – as Dr. Chatterjee put it.
• It is taking time with patients. It is thoroughly taking their health history to figure out most of the answers to their burning health questions, supported by functional laboratory testing when clues from their health history are pointing to this direction. – as Dr. Tommy Wood outlined in the “Ask the Docs Q&A Session”. (Thanks Ivor Cummins for capturing this informative session!)
• It is to take a Systems Analysis Approach to put all pieces of the puzzle together. It is to look at all the factors that are possibly contributing to one’s health complaints. To look at cause and effect and how they balance each other around – and on the way maybe even find more clues and effects contributing to the big picture. – as of Dr. Tommy Wood
• It is to use nutrition to treat and prevent chronic disease. It is to use “Non-Standard” diets that are featuring real, whole foods that are lower in carbohydrates, higher in natural healthy fats, and very high on the nutrient density and on the food quality scale. It is to use nutrition as a tool to address chronic inflammation and oxidative stress to treat and prevent chronic disease.  A holistic approach by Dr. Jeffry Gerber, Denver’s Diet Doctor.
• It is to get to the root of the health problems and to heal the gut. It is to shift your gut bacteria and feed your good old friends, as Dr. Terry Wahls explained in her talk at HEALTH Unplugged.
• It all comes back to taking a look at the big picture. For You, it means to find someone who can support you in this journey from a holistic point of view. Someone who takes everything in context. Whether that person is a doctor, a nutrition practitioner, or a life coach, looking at the big picture is what will start make a difference. Remember though, the decision and the first step will always be Yours! And that is, to start implementing those lifestyle changes, which all starts with food. Real Food. And it does not stop there. The big picture is all about eating well, moving well, sleeping well, but it also about managing your stress, thinking well, socializing and being part of nature.

Let’s Put These Ideas into Action!

Watch Dr. Chatterjee on BBC as he puts all these ideas into action! Take this inspiration, spread the word about it and apply these changes into Your Life! Apply these principles to transform your life, just how I transformed mine, all those other folks’ lives whom I was hanging with in London at the HEALTH Unplugged a couple of weeks ago. Come, watch this and you too join this tribe! 🙂

On Thursday November 19th at 4pm EST / 1pm PST / 9 pm GMT, the show will make it’s primetime debut.

Hint: for those of you who are not from the UK (and can not stream BBC – just like me), as a courtesy of the Functional Forum, you can catch the show by following these steps:

1 – Set that time in your calendar
2 – Follow @mrjamesmaskell on twitter
3 – Look out for the Periscope link at that time on the twitter feed

See you there!

(Picture credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/46/doctor-in-the-house)