SERVICES
Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine in Chicago for Whole-Person Health
A Personalized, Root-Cause Approach to Better Health
At Acupuncture for Balanced Wellness, we believe the body has a remarkable ability to function and thrive when given the right support. Functional Medicine fits naturally with that philosophy.
Rather than focusing only on symptoms, Functional Medicine looks at the bigger picture—nutrition, digestion, metabolism, sleep, stress, movement, environmental influences, and other factors that may be affecting how you feel and function. The goal is to identify areas of imbalance and create a practical, individualized plan that supports better health over time.
Our approach emphasizes the foundations first: food, lifestyle, targeted supplementation, and acupuncture when appropriate. Laboratory testing may also be used when it can provide meaningful information that is likely to change our recommendations.
What Is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a patient-centered approach that looks beyond an isolated symptom or diagnosis to explore the factors that may be contributing to a person's health concerns.
Instead of asking only:
“What can we do about this symptom?”
we may also ask:
“Why might this be happening, and what factors can we realistically change?”
Diet, blood sugar regulation, digestive function, nutrient status, sleep, stress, physical activity, medications, health history and environmental exposures can all influence health. Functional Medicine considers these relationships and uses them to develop an individualized plan.
This whole-person, individualized framework is central to Functional Medicine generally and is also reflected in the training provided by Functional Medicine University.
Our Functional Medicine Approach
Foundations Before Complexity
Functional Medicine can sometimes become synonymous with extensive testing, complicated protocols and long lists of supplements.
That's not our philosophy.
We believe in starting with the interventions most likely to make a meaningful difference.
Food First
Nutrition is one of the most powerful tools we have for influencing long-term health. Rather than prescribing a single diet to everyone, we look at your current eating habits, health concerns, preferences and goals to develop realistic dietary recommendations you can actually maintain.
Lifestyle Matters
Sleep, movement, stress, recovery and daily habits can profoundly influence metabolic, digestive and overall health. We help identify practical changes that can fit into your life rather than expecting perfection.
Supplements With a Purpose
Supplements can be valuable, but more isn't necessarily better. When supplements are recommended, we focus on quality, appropriate dosing and a clear reason for using them rather than creating unnecessarily complicated protocols.
Testing When It Adds Value
Advanced testing, including comprehensive gut microbiome analysis, may be recommended when additional information could help guide your care. Rather than relying on unnecessary testing, we take a thoughtful, individualized approach, using results alongside your health history and symptoms to help inform meaningful treatment recommendations.
Our Current Functional Medicine Areas of Focus
Metabolic Health
Metabolic health affects much more than weight. Blood sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular health, energy, body composition and inflammation are interconnected—and changes can begin long before someone develops a diagnosed metabolic disease.
Our approach focuses on sustainable changes in nutrition, protein and fiber intake, movement, sleep, stress management and other lifestyle factors, with targeted supplementation and laboratory evaluation when appropriate.
Functional Medicine may be helpful for people looking to improve:
- Blood sugar and insulin resistance
- Prediabetes and metabolic risk
- Cholesterol and triglycerides
- Energy and body composition
- Weight management
- Cardiovascular risk factors
- Long-term metabolic wellness
Gut & Digestive Health
Digestive health can affect how you feel far beyond the digestive tract.
We take an individualized approach to concerns such as bloating, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, IBS and other persistent digestive symptoms, while looking at factors including diet, fiber intake, digestive function, medications, stress and lifestyle.
When appropriate, additional evaluation may help determine whether a more targeted strategy is warranted.
Our goal isn't simply to eliminate foods indefinitely or prescribe supplements for every symptom. It's to help create a healthier, more resilient digestive system while identifying practical strategies that support long-term gut health.
FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
Looking at the Bigger Picture
While metabolic and digestive health are our primary Functional Medicine focus, the same whole-person approach may also be useful when addressing concerns involving:
Hormonal Health
Nutrition, metabolism, stress, sleep and lifestyle can all interact with hormonal health throughout different stages of life.
Chronic Inflammation
Diet, metabolic health, stress, sleep, digestive health and other lifestyle factors may influence the body's inflammatory environment.
Where Functional Medicine and Acupuncture Meet
Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine developed from very different traditions, but they share an important idea:
The body is interconnected.
Chinese Medicine has viewed health through this lens for thousands of years. Rather than separating the body into isolated systems, it looks for patterns and relationships and seeks to restore balance.
Functional Medicine uses a modern framework to explore many of those relationships—examining how nutrition, metabolism, digestion, stress, sleep and other physiological and lifestyle factors interact.
For some patients, combining these approaches provides the best of both worlds. Acupuncture can support the nervous system, pain management, stress regulation and overall well-being, while Functional Medicine allows us to take a deeper look at nutrition, lifestyle, metabolic and digestive factors.
Not every Functional Medicine patient needs acupuncture, and not every acupuncture patient needs Functional Medicine. When combining them makes sense, however, they can complement one another as part of a personalized whole-person plan.
Functional Medicine Training
Experienced Care With Additional Functional Medicine Training
Angie Ng, L.Ac., CFMP®, is a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner through Functional Medicine University, completing postgraduate training in Functional Medicine in addition to her education and clinical experience in acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
Functional Medicine University's certification curriculum includes training in patient-centered assessment, complex chronic health concerns, functional laboratory evaluation, nutrition, lifestyle interventions and targeted nutrient strategies.
This additional training allows Angie to bring another perspective to the same philosophy that has guided Acupuncture for Balanced Wellness from the beginning: look at the whole person, understand the factors contributing to imbalance, and give the body the tools it needs to function as well as possible.
A Practical Path Toward Better Health
You don't need a perfect diet, dozens of supplements or an exhaustive list of laboratory tests to begin improving your health.
We start by understanding where you are now, what you're experiencing and what you want to change. From there, we prioritize the steps most likely to make a meaningful difference and build upon them over time.
Our goal is not to make healthy living more complicated.
It's to help you better understand your body and give it the right tools, in the right order, for the right reasons.