Since medieval times, the quest for the Holy Grail – the vessel that held miraculous powers providing happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance- inspired many stories in literature. Today, the quest for youth, anti-ageing and keeping young is just as great, but like the Holy Grail, it is unattainable, realistically. Perhaps, if we embrace ageing as another step in life’s circle, we can rather concentrate our energy in doing it well, so that we can enjoy a good quality of life and health in our later years.

I was recently invited to a Metagenics Media event where the guest speaker was Dr Sara Gottfried, M.D. and in her words: “wife, mother to two incredible young women (ages 13 and 18), friend, scholar, seeker, yoga teacher, Harvard-educated MD with 25+ years of experience, board-certified gynecologist”- and author of three New York Times bestselling books, The Hormone Cure, The Hormone Reset Diet, and Younger. Using her own path from being tired, fat and frazzled to enjoying a well-balanced, healthy life, she inspires others to try a similar journey to being well.

The philosophy of Jeff Bland, founder of Metagenics and the Institute of Functional Medicine resonates with Dr Sara’s approach to health- it’s a system of personalized lifestyle medication that addresses the root cause of the problem instead of just medicating to mask the symptoms. Lorraine Leas (also a founder of Metagenics, 20 years as a retail pharmacist)  started questioning the validity of chronic medication in 2002 and so she brought the Metagenics and Institute of Functional Medicine model to South Africa and established Functional Medicine South Africa alongside Metagenics. Functional Medicine is a collaborative effort that brings doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dietitians and others, together.

 https://hellodoktor.com

The key to being healthy and well is realizing that we are all individual, unique beings and what works for somebody else may not necessarily work for you. In a nutshell, part of Dr Sara’s protocol of staying healthy throughout your life is:

 Eating healthy food

Doing some form of exercise you enjoy

Spending good quality time with your loved ones

Adding  supplements to your diet that are right for YOU

You've heard all the cliches about age being just a number- but it's the number of ailments that come with ageing that make us miserable-if we don't tackle them correctly and forge our own path to being well and living life to the full.

For more information on Functional Medicine South Africa, visit http://www.functionalmedicinesa.co.za/ and for more information on the products and retailers of the Metagenics products, visit http://www.amipro.co.za/

Metagenics products are branded with transparent labels which indicate formulas that qualify as non-GMO, gluten free and vegetarian.