The APO E Gene Program is an integrative medicine program founded in 2003. Literally thousands of people have now completed this program and seen an incredible shift in their health, from disease to wellness.

Do you then wonder, what is integrative medicine and how can it help me?

While it is important to understand what integrative medicine is, it is also important to understand what integrative medicine is NOT.

As a practitioner of integrative medicine for almost two decades, I find that while many major medical centers have some sort of integrative medicine program, and the public is becoming more familiar with the term; most people do not know what it actually is.

Dr. Andrew Weil is widely recognized as the world’s leading teacher of integrative medicine, teaching a perspective that is quite different to that of the commonly endorsed view of alternative medicine. In 2005, I graduated from the Integrative Medicine Fellowship training with Dr. Weil at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. After graduating I joined the faculty as a medical advisor for the Nutrition and Health Conference.

I also joined an advisory group whose job was to educate and encourage medical providers to bring researched solutions from the field of integrative medicine, into the exam room. This supported them in providing an alternative treatment for the patient, other than a prescription for a drug. During my fifteen years serving as a faculty member, I saw an incredible void slowly being filled in the options being offered patients as doctors, nurse practitioners, registered dietitians, osteopathic doctors and physician assistants, chiropractors, physical therapists, exercise physiologists and exercise specialists were utilizing the incredible research that was being presented on how patients can get better using the New Medicine – Integrative medicine.

What is this “new medicine,” this different perspective I speak of? The world of medicine is primarily viewed as a practice which treats patients with two options. Medications — “a pill for every ill,” and surgery. This is so regardless of whether the patient is seen in urgent care, a primary care medical office, or hospital emergency department.

Conventional medicine and the technology it works with serves us well in many ways. You would not want to go to an emergency room after being in a car accident, and not have the modern technology and pharmaceuticals available to you, that we have today. Mainstream medicine is very good at providing pharmaceutical solutions when they are most needed, handling emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes, and broken bones, as well as surgeries.

The problem is that pharmaceuticals pills and surgeries are almost always given as the first recourse. They are used to treat every situation, at every level of medicine. Most treatments are extremely expensive, and invasive. Older patients often find themselves on multiple medications with multiple side effects. Some of my patients are spending a large part of their monthly social security checks on medications, before learning that they had a choice to heal, to get better and to get off the medications.

This is where integrative medicine comes in.

Today, in the United States — as in many other countries — we have an obesity epidemic, a diabetes epidemic, and now a dementia epidemic. Out of an obesity epidemic comes a diabetes epidemic, and out of a diabetes epidemic comes a dementia epidemic. Of course, these epidemics are not solely due to the connections between these three — obesity, diabetes and dementia — but this is a pattern that I frequently see. And, there is no question that obesity and diabetes weaken the immune system, making people more susceptible to dis-ease. It is perhaps more evident than ever with COVID 19, that peoples’ immune systems are badly compromised. 

This means it is more important than ever to look carefully at our health, and our health care system, and at what patients are learning in the examination room. Does another pill or surgery best treat this patient’s condition, or should we introduce a more comprehensive view of the possible underlying causes of this patient’s condition, and how to best support their body in healing?

I believe this requires an understanding and application of integrative medicine.

What is Integrative Medicine?

Integrative Medicine is healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between patient and practitioner, and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.

As defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institute of Health, Integrative Medicine “combines mainstream medical therapies and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for which there is some significant high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.”

The Principles of Integrative Medicine:

• A therapeutic partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process
• Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response
• Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease. Thus including mind, spirit and community, as well as body
• A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically
• Recognition that good medicine should be based in good science, be inquiry driven, and be open to new paradigms
• Use of natural, effective, less-invasive interventions whenever possible
• Use of the broader concepts of promotion of health and the prevention of illness as well as the treatment of disease.

These principles illuminate the core values of integrative medicine. They are rarely evident in main stream medicine, where the usual treatment is medications or a surgical procedure. Some providers don’t believe a person has an internal healing system, let alone recognize that a person’s diet is directly connected to a person’s disease process.  This however is not the case with integrative medicine.

The APO E Gene Program is an integrative medicine that focuses on the prevention and reversal of serious diseases such as:

• autoimmune diseases
• weak immune system
• heart disease
• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• neurological diseases
• Alzheimer’s disease
• obesity and weight problems
• chronic illnesses

In addition, the APO E Gene Program:

• Addresses the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.
• Provides a personalized nutritional and exercise plan for each APO E genotype
• Is based on clinical research in sports medicine and nutrition science
• Utilizes cutting-edge genetic testing and medical technology
• Emphasizes a therapeutic relationship based on respect and collaboration
• Provides an integrative medicine solution for disease prevention and disease reversal.
• Is a proven, award-winning program

Six Actions to Take Now to Boost Your Immune System:

1. Consider a free health assessment, to learn more about your risk factors.
2. Learn how to improve your diet
3. Use exercise to strengthen your immune system
4. Learn what supplements could support your immune system
5. Learn how to improve your sleep
6. Learn some simple mind-body techniques to help reduce stress.