Feel Like Crap? Functional Medicine Experts Explain Why Live At revitalize

It's day one of mbg's exclusive event, revitalize, where we talk with experts in the fields of health, wellness, and integrative and functional medicine. Earlier today we chatted with Aviva Romm—a physician, herbalist, midwife, and best-selling author—about the best diet for women and the unique challenges we face in terms of fertility and hormone health in the modern world. This afternoon, we sat down with Dr. Vincent Pedre, Dr. Mark Hyman, and Dr. Frank Lipman to talk about the future of the microbiome and why our mitochondria are ruling our health. Here's what we learned:

It's true! Paternal mitochondrial DNA have a built-in mechanism that causes them to self-destruct upon fertilization. The mitochondria are the energy centers of our cells—responsible for producing cellular energy called ATP—so this means you inherit your energy levels from your mom.

We think about the microbiome as the good and bad bacteria in our gut—but it's much more complicated than that. Besides having a name that sounds important, the metabolome represents a concept even larger (and more difficult to grasp) than the microbiome. Basically, the beneficial bacteria in our gut also produce a number of metabolites and compounds (like amino acids). Therefore, gut health is not just a matter of good and bad bacteria; it's an insanely complex ecosystem with endless factors. Taking care of your metabolism is like tending to a garden—one plays a major role in your immune system, energy levels, mood, and metabolism.

Scientists are starting to make connections between the health of the mitochondria and a whole array of diseases including Alzheimer's and diabetes. As Dr. Hyman puts it, problems with the mitochondria are usually related to the very common FLP (feel like crap) syndrome that so many people suffer from.

Functional medicine is all about looking at the body as a whole and supporting major biological systems to achieve optimal health. In other words, a functional medicine doc will look at the big picture of your health instead of just individual symptoms. The health of the mitochondria and microbiome have severe and far-reaching effects on your health, so they are two of the major systems functional medicine will try to support with diet and lifestyle change.

So how do you take care of your mitochondria? There are so many ways—and the good news is that you might already be doing some of them. Here's some inspiration:

Make sure you don't miss any other inspiring talks by tuning in to mbg this afternoon to watch our livestream, presented by INFINITI, and follow #mbgrevitalize on social!