Dr. James Nicolai : Integrative Medicine By Sharon McKniff

  Dr. James Nicolai from Miraval spoke with Rotarians on February 28, 2013 about “Integrative Medicine.”  Dr. Nicolai is on staff with the Andrew Weil Wellness Program at Miraval and has a special interest in addressing a patient as a “whole person” with an approach that combines regular medicine with holistic and personal medicine. 

 Dr. Andrew Weil is a leading proponent of integrative medicine and has written books about the subject.  Integrative medicine is not used instead of conventional medicine, and does not suggest that you skip seeing your doctor about health issues.  Integrative medicine can be used effectively to speed up the healing process, or to suggest alternative substitutes to medicines that bring along negative side effects.  Additionally, integrative medicine can assist in a patient’s feeling of well-being and positive outlook, which has always proven to aid in the recovery process. 

 Integrative medicine was defined by Dr. Nicolai as “an intensive combination of conventional medicine with the best of alternative medicine” as an approach to treating a whole person rather than treating symptoms alone.  For example, Dr. Nicolai said that a body has a natural healing response that can be accelerated with alternative medicine.  A patient and his doctor use conventional medicine to set and cast a broken bone; then that patient and his integrative medicine doctor find ways to accelerate the healing process via supplements, lifestyle changes, etc. 

   “We are more than our disease,” said Dr. Nicolai.  This is easily understood when we consider the effect of stress on ourselves, i.e. elevated blood pressure and/or insomnia.  At Miraval, they address the “upstream problem” to investigate the causes of the stress and your reactions to that stress.  This cannot be accomplished in a typical 12-minute conventional doctor appointment.  This kind of attention and care takes time.

   Dr. Nicolai wrapped up a very informative talk with some suggestions to help the aging process.  First, he suggested that you find out your Vitamin D levels.  There is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency today, often caused by our use of sunscreen and sun-protective clothing.  Without direct sun exposure to our skin, our body cannot produce vitamin D.  Also, our bodies produce less vitamin D with the same amount of sun exposure than our body produced when we were younger.  Vitamin D deficiencies can cause depression.  There are studies that link vitamin D deficiency to some cancers.  And a direct relationship has been found between a vitamin D deficiency and the occurrence of flu and/or pneumonia in individuals.

Second, Dr. Nicolai suggested that we investigate an “anti-inflammation diet”.  By eating certain foods or combinations of foods to decrease the amount of inflammation in our body, we help avoid heart disease and other forms of disease.  For instance, the Mediterranean diet consists of lots of olive oil, which “dials down” inflammation in the body. 

  Dr. Nicolai’s job at Miraval is to help people navigate through many options in order to achieve maximum health and recovery after illness, and to help prevent symptoms in the future.  He stated, “This is the medicine of the future.”  Dr. Nicolai has written a book entitled Integrative Wellness Rules.  Additionally, he shared that we may have an interest in reading Dr. Weil’s magazine entitled “Guide to Healthy Eating”, and he placed a copy of that magazine in the HOA1 library.  Another recommended book is Dr. Weil’s Healthy Aging.  Additional research and information can be found at Dr. Weil’s website:  drweil.com.  It’s never too late to make changes that result in better health.  Good health can affect every aspect of our life.