Dear Friends,

Welcome to the new year.  For us, 2013 was a year of transition.  Of recognizing the power and boundaries of our current health care system.  Of rethinking old ways of practicing medicine and setting out on new paths.   And of connecting with individuals as committed as we are to reshaping how people pursue their health.

One of these individuals is Andrea Nakayama, an internationally recognized nutritionist grounded in functional medicine.  Functional medicine is a relatively recent movement in medicine that addresses a patient’s illness not as isolated, organ-specific symptoms but as integrated systems gone awry.  Andrea runs the website Replenish, where she has created an excellent series of classes, articles, and counseling opportunities to teach people the building blocks of renewing health.

Andrea’s work and functional medicine have strong parallels to Conscious Medicine.  Andrea and I spoke recently about the role of food and nutrition in digestive health, physicians’ attitudes on diet, and how behavioral change can be facilitated on the road to health.  Check out excerpts of our conversation here:[ilink url=”http://www.replenishpdx.com/2013/12/post-christmas-digestive-wellness/” style=”tick”]Interview[/ilink]

Here’s to more conversations like these, and a new medicine in 2014.