Live from the Integrative Healthcare Symposium

Photo Cred: Pixabay/Pexels

By Katherine Shagoury

The Integrative Healthcare Symposium will take place this week, February 20-22, 2020, at the Hilton Midtown in New York City. 

Integrative Practitioner will be reporting live from the conference sessions and the exhibit hall floor, bringing you exclusive interviews and an insider look at some of the top presentations.

If you can’t make it to New York City, we’ll be rounding up our live coverage here all week—consider this your VIP pass to IHSNY20. Enjoy!

How food can save health, economy, community, and planet

We need to focus on the food system as healthcare providers, said Mark Hyman, MD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City. Almost everything is connected to the industrial food system. However, food is medicine and what we eat can have a tremendous impact on not only health but economy, community, and planet. 

Click here to read the full article. 

Breaking News: Mimi Guarneri named “visionary” at IHSNY20

World-renowned integrative cardiologist Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABOIM, was recognized as the recipient of the Visionary Award earlier this morning at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Click here to read the full article. 

The role of environmental toxins in disease

Holistic integrative health can be a global solution for the health of people and the planet, said Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABOIM, co-founder and medical director at Guarneri Integrative Health, Inc., at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Western medicine is good in acute care, said Guarneri, but that acute care does not promote health. Practitioners must focus on creating health through nutrition, sleep, mind-body practices, and, by and large, cleaning up the planet, she said.

Click here to read the full article. 

Nutrition education through culinary instruction

Culinary instruction should be incorporated into the nutrition care process, said Jeanne Petrucci MS, RDN, founder and managing director of the non-profit Living Plate, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Petrucci had a patient who was diagnosed with cancer and prescribed an anti-inflammatory diet. She had been given a folder of information on what she was supposed to do and eat but had no clue how to apply it in her own life. She was completely overwhelmed. Petrucci knew she did not need to give this patient more information, but rather needed to teach her how to use the knowledge. After working with this patient, Petrucci made it her mission to make sure patients are never again paralyzed by the overwhelm and stress of feeding themselves and their families.

Click here to read the full article. 

Integrating clinical specialties for optimal patient outcomes

In integrative and functional medicine, there are vast practitioners but confusion on how to break down silos and work together, said Robert Silverman, DC, DACBN, DCBCN, MS, CCN, CNS, CSCS, CIISN, CKTP, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Silverman led a panel of integrative healthcare experts, including Carl Germano, CNS, CDN, vice president of Verdant Oasis; Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABOIM, co-founder and medical director, at Guarneri Integrative Health; David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, neurologist, author, and lecturer at Empowering Neurologist; Marc Grossman, OD, LAc, co-founder of Natural Eye Care; and David Bouley, chef at Bouley Test Kitchen.

Click here to read the full article. 

Natural eye care through an integrative lens

Vision happens in the mind, said Marc Grossman, OD, LAc, co-founder of Natural Eye Care, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

“If we can change our mind, we can change our eyes,” he said. “If you have a narrow way of thinking, you’ll have a narrow way of seeing.”

Click here to read the full article. 

Cancer stem cell research in integrative practice

There is value in all systems of medicine, but conventional cancer care can fall short, said Holly Lucille, ND, RN, owner of Humility Inc., at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 to eliminate cancer and since then billions of dollars have been spent on finding a cure. There are more nonprofit organizations dedicated to cancer than heart disease, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke combined, Lucille said. The failure rate of potential new cancer treatments in clinical trials is 95 percent, she said.

“Beyond all of the pink and promises, cancer happens,” said Lucille. “And I think we can help do something about it.”

Click here to read the full article. 

Understanding the inflammation spectrum

This is the age of inflammation, said Will Cole, DC, IFMCP, founder of Cole Natural Health Centers, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

More than 60 percent of American adults have a chronic disease, and 40 percent have two or more chronic disease, Cole said. Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds, cancer is the second leading cause of death, 50 million Americans have an autoimmune disease, and almost half of Americans has prediabetes or diabetes.

What do these conditions have in common? Inflammation, Cole said.

Click here to read the full article. 

Recipes, remedies for thyroid health

There is medicine in your kitchen, said Andrea Beaman, HHC, AADP, chef, holistic health coach, and herbalist, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Beaman was previously diagnosed with thyroid disease and a goiter and told her she would need radioactive iodine treatment and prescription medications. By using food as medicine, she was able to turn her health around, and remains passionate about helping those with thyroid conditions.

Click here to read the full article (recipe included). 

Breaking News: John Weeks accepts leadership award at IHSNY20

John Weeks, editor-in-chief of The Integrator Blog, accepted the leadership award this afternoon at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

The Leadership Award, presented annually at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium, recognizes a pioneer whose contributions have shaped integrative healthcare and paved the way for other practitioners. Notable past recipients include David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, Joseph Pizzorno, ND, Mark Hyman, MD, and Mehmet Oz, MD.

Click here to read the full article. 

The evolution of integrative medicine

Practitioners and leaders need to remain engaged, take action, and work together to move the integrative healthcare industry forward, said John Weeks, editor-in-chief of The Integrator Blog, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Vaclav Havel, the Czech poet and revolutionary political leader, has famously argued that “hope is not the same as optimism” to explain how people can be activists despite compelling evidence of negative trends. Havel’s perspective has animated the Weeks’ work in his 37 years in the field of integrative health and medicine.

Click here to read the full article. 

The role of lifestyle choices in decision making

Our modern world is fundamentally reshaping our brains, altering decision-making towards impulsivity, instant gratification, and the type of choices that lead to poor health, said David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, neurologist, author, and lecturer at Empowering Neurologist, and Austin Perlmutter, MD, internal medicine physician and author, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

The standard medical paradigm that physicians use to treat patients is to take their education and hope that they can change the patient’s behavior by providing information. The patient is supposed to take that information and put it to use. 

Click here to read the full article. 

Integrating health coaching in medical practice

There is a growing demand for health coaching in medical practice. Gemma Nastasi, CAPP, CHNC, Laura Calascione-Nguyen, FMHC, NBC-HWC, and Jennifer Hanawald, NBC-HWC, during a panel discussion at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Health coaches specialize in skillful conversation and strategies to actively and safely engage patients in health behavior change and can be an invaluable member of a care team. However, lack of regulation and consistent standards has led to confusion in terms of what different health coaches are qualified to do and how health coaches fit in to different models of practice.

Click here to read the full article. 

Nutrition strategies supporting planetary health

Sustainable diets are the solution, said Mary Purdy, MS, RDN, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Global warming is impacting the world’s food supply, Purdy said. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report said global emissions are reaching record level, leading to air pollution, heatwaves, floods, and risk to food security. Human influence has been established, Purdy said.

Click here to read the full article. 

Ketamine and natural remedies for chronic depression

Ketamine can teach us a lot about natural remedies for depression, said Peter Bongiorno, ND, LAc, co-medical director of Inner Source Health, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Historically, ketamine has been used as a hallucinogen and clinical anesthetic. In the 1990s, it became used in sub-anesthetic doses for psychomimetic and dissociative effects.

Click here to read the full article. 

Making nutrigenomics simple and accessible

Practitioners often struggle putting genetic and genomic data into clinical practice, said David Brady, ND, DC, CCN, DACBN, IFMCP, FACN, director of the Human Nutrition Institute, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Human physiology is influenced by various biochemical processes, which is in part influenced by one’s genotype, Brady said. Biochemical individuality is a major pillar in the practice of precision functional medicine Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) largely influence our biochemical individuality.

Click here to read the full article. 

Ancient wisdom and the future of healthcare

Genes are impacted by experiences of living, said Jeffrey Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, CNS, president of the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute, at the 2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

Historically, people have been able to live long and healthy lives without disease or disability. Age is the greatest independent risk factor for disease. Modern medicine has not been successful in improving quality of life and protecting from disability. Bland said practitioners should focus on health span, looking and being healthy for as long as possible, by adopting gene compatible lifestyles.

Click here to read the full article.