Is the Medical Approach to Diabetes Backwards?

   Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-accident lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults.  In 2012, the cost of the disease was estimated at $245 billion.
   If America is one of the world’s leading super-powers, then why is it that we are suffering from so many chronic health conditions? 
   I would contend that part of the issue is that modern medicine is taking a backward approach to treating many chronic conditions.  Today, I will contrast the medical approach with the functional medicine approach to diabetes, and you can be the judge.
Functional Medicine
   Functional Medicine is a treatment approach that seeks out and treats the underlying cause of a disease rather than the disease itself.  By contrast, traditional (or allopathic) medicine treats the disease itself.  This can be a hard concept to wrap your head around, so let’s look at an analogy.
   Imagine that there are a bunch of people drowning in a river, and there are a number of people who are on the river banks working very hard to save lives.  Some are throwing life preservers, others are using ropes to pull people ashore, and others are performing CPR on the river bank.  All of these people are really good at their specialties and all of them are doing their best to use their particular specialty to save lives.  These are examples of a ...