Alternative approaches to health and anti-aging are all the rage at the moment, but not every option offers a clear course to a more vibrant you. To get an insider's perspective on the most reliable ways to kickstart better health and reverse the signs of aging, we turned to Dr. David Marquis, an experienced chiropractor focusing on integrative medicine.
Younger.com: Healthy living trends and research already support many alternative approaches, but what is happening right now that's prompting so many people to turn to these approaches for their health and their appearance?
Dr. Marquis: In the past several decades the common diseases of aging like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes have increased in prevalence; interestingly, at the same time, we are seeing a strong increase in the disease states that lead up to those problems.
Alternative and complementary medicine have taken the lead in helping people suffering from many of those causative problems, for example obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune diseases, endocrine imbalances. We are at an age where results drive demand, and when traditional medicine fails -- often miserably -- to offer a solution, people are going where they know their problems will be resolved.
Younger.com: What are some of the key starting points that you feel an effective treatment has to include?
Dr. Marquis: You need a protocol designed unique to each individual and their needs. Inflammation, whether it is in the joints, connective tissue, GI tract, or brain, is the first step in all disease and degeneration, so every treatment plan that I develop aims to enable the body to reduce systemic inflammation. When that happens, healing begins; in a nutshell, that is the foundation of effective anti-aging.
In practical terms, I approach this process on three different levels --
• Remove foods and compounds that promote inflammation
• Regulate the endocrine system for any hormonal imbalances
• Bring balance to the neural transmitters in the brain that were causing less-than-ideal cognitive patterns.
Younger.com: How do you decide which treatment plan works for a specific person?
Dr. Marquis: Finding the right avenue to take when investigating anti-aging protocols should start with the basics. The process has to begin with a comprehensive picture of a person’s neuro-endocrine system, so the lab work is very important.
Laboratory testing in this area consists of studies using blood, urine, and saliva; and from these samples we can determine a person’s current hormone levels, food sensitivities, sources of inflammation, and brain chemistry. All of this information gives me a very clear idea of the changes that need to happen in order for larger-scale healing to take place.
Younger.com: What do you see on the horizon for alternative medicine?
Dr. Marquis: These approaches will keep gaining momentum as researchers and patients continue to give these methods serious attention. In just the past few years remarkable new advances in laboratory sciences have created a whole new trend in medicine that allows for answers to questions that previously no one thought to ask. This "ask a different question, get a different answer" approach is what birthed the whole field of Functional Medicine, and from that field has grown the anti-aging movement with groups like the A4M.
These are already making an immense impact on how we approach the aging process, and that trend is only going to continue.
David Marquis, DC, DACBN (http://www.drdavidmarquis.com) is a doctor of chiropractic providing integrative approaches to alternative medicine from his offices near Pismo Beach, California. After completing his doctorate in chiropractic, Dr. Marquis received an additional 3 years of advanced training in nutrition to earn board certification from the American Clinical Board of Nutrition. Dr. Marquis previously lived as a missionary in Japan and has served patients through his private practice on the California Central Coast since 1997.
Younger.com: Healthy living trends and research already support many alternative approaches, but what is happening right now that's prompting so many people to turn to these approaches for their health and their appearance?
Dr. Marquis: In the past several decades the common diseases of aging like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes have increased in prevalence; interestingly, at the same time, we are seeing a strong increase in the disease states that lead up to those problems.
Alternative and complementary medicine have taken the lead in helping people suffering from many of those causative problems, for example obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune diseases, endocrine imbalances. We are at an age where results drive demand, and when traditional medicine fails -- often miserably -- to offer a solution, people are going where they know their problems will be resolved.
Younger.com: What are some of the key starting points that you feel an effective treatment has to include?
Dr. Marquis: You need a protocol designed unique to each individual and their needs. Inflammation, whether it is in the joints, connective tissue, GI tract, or brain, is the first step in all disease and degeneration, so every treatment plan that I develop aims to enable the body to reduce systemic inflammation. When that happens, healing begins; in a nutshell, that is the foundation of effective anti-aging.
In practical terms, I approach this process on three different levels --
• Remove foods and compounds that promote inflammation
• Regulate the endocrine system for any hormonal imbalances
• Bring balance to the neural transmitters in the brain that were causing less-than-ideal cognitive patterns.
Younger.com: How do you decide which treatment plan works for a specific person?
Dr. Marquis: Finding the right avenue to take when investigating anti-aging protocols should start with the basics. The process has to begin with a comprehensive picture of a person’s neuro-endocrine system, so the lab work is very important.
Laboratory testing in this area consists of studies using blood, urine, and saliva; and from these samples we can determine a person’s current hormone levels, food sensitivities, sources of inflammation, and brain chemistry. All of this information gives me a very clear idea of the changes that need to happen in order for larger-scale healing to take place.
Younger.com: What do you see on the horizon for alternative medicine?
Dr. Marquis: These approaches will keep gaining momentum as researchers and patients continue to give these methods serious attention. In just the past few years remarkable new advances in laboratory sciences have created a whole new trend in medicine that allows for answers to questions that previously no one thought to ask. This "ask a different question, get a different answer" approach is what birthed the whole field of Functional Medicine, and from that field has grown the anti-aging movement with groups like the A4M.
These are already making an immense impact on how we approach the aging process, and that trend is only going to continue.
David Marquis, DC, DACBN (http://www.drdavidmarquis.com) is a doctor of chiropractic providing integrative approaches to alternative medicine from his offices near Pismo Beach, California. After completing his doctorate in chiropractic, Dr. Marquis received an additional 3 years of advanced training in nutrition to earn board certification from the American Clinical Board of Nutrition. Dr. Marquis previously lived as a missionary in Japan and has served patients through his private practice on the California Central Coast since 1997.
