Functional Medicine in Miami: How It Differs From Conventional Medicine

What Is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine emphasizes understanding why symptoms occur by exploring nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, environment, and genetics. The goal is to support healthier function across body systems with an individualized plan. It’s complementary to conventional care—not a replacement—and is often used for long-standing concerns that haven’t improved with prior approaches.

Core Principles of Functional Medicine

• Identify potential root contributors, not just manage symptoms
• Personalize plans to your lifestyle, history, and genetics
• Use nutrition and lifestyle strategies; medications when appropriate
• Emphasize prevention and long-term wellness

Functional vs. Conventional: Key Differences

Bottom line: Functional medicine can help you act on daily habits and contributors to health while your conventional care addresses diagnoses and necessary treatments.

The Benefits of Functional Medicine 

• Helps Manage Chronic Health Concerns: Functional medicine looks beyond symptoms to understand what may be contributing to chronic health concerns, such as autoimmune conditions, metabolic issues, or long-standing digestive problems. By identifying factors such as inflammation, nutrient patterns, or lifestyle habits, it helps create targeted plans that support long-term symptom management. This approach aims to help you better manage current conditions and may reduce the risk of flare-ups or worsening over time.

• Encourages Healthier Lifestyles: Functional medicine focuses heavily on daily habits that affect your overall well-being. It encourages balanced nutrition, stress management, quality sleep, and regular movement. By improving these areas, your body becomes stronger and more resilient. This lifestyle-focused strategy can help lower your risk of certain long-term health issues while also improving your day-to-day well-being.
• Personalized to Your Unique Needs: Functional medicine understands that everyone’s body is different. It avoids one-size-fits-all solutions and instead, practitioners take time to understand your medical history, environment, genetics, and lifestyle. This information is used to create a plan tailored specifically to you. This personalized care is intended to make your treatment more targeted and to align more closely with what your body truly needs, which can help many people feel more confident in their care.
• Focuses on Natural Healing Methods: In addition to any necessary medications, functional medicine supports the body’s natural ability to heal. It often uses nutrition, supplements, lifestyle changes, and stress-reduction strategies to help support balance. These natural approaches are usually designed to work gently with your system and may help reduce side effects and support overall wellness from within.
• Aims for Long-Lasting Health Improvements: One of the goals of functional medicine is to support changes that may lead to a healthier, more vibrant life, not merely to address symptoms in the short term. This approach is designed to support long-lasting and sustainable changes by addressing underlying contributors to health problems. Enhancing lifestyle choices and supporting healthy body functions can contribute to long-term health maintenance.

Our Approach at Integrative Health Miami

Dr. Yeisel Barquin is a board-certified internal medicine physician and functional medicine doctor in Miami who provides comprehensive, individualized care. She reviews your medical history, environment, genetics, labs, and lifestyle to design a plan that fits you. You’ll get clear next steps, progress check-ins, and education to help you make informed choices.

• In-person & virtual options available
• Collaboration with your existing medical team when needed
• Clear action plans you can follow between visits
  
  

What to Expect at Your First Visit

• Thorough intake: history, priorities, lifestyle, and review of prior labs
• Goal setting: define what better looks like for you
• Personalized plan: nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and supplement considerations (when appropriate)
• Follow-up: track progress, fine-tune steps, and coordinate with your conventional care

Note: Functional medicine is typically used alongside your standard medical care. Always consult your physician regarding diagnoses, medications, and treatment decisions.