About the Author

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As a patient Dr Herbst traversed the healthcare system to receive a mess of diagnoses and an auto immune disease without a cure. Not willing to give up, she fought for answers- why did her body respond the way it did? Lifestyle and dietary changes were merely the beginning for her restored health. This was also the start of her life passion to change the way we look at illness. In this book she will share her functional medicine approach to common illnesses with supporting scientific literature and case examples for common primary care health challenges. Dr Herbst studied naturopathic medicine and then went on to be an osteopathic physician with MD residency. She ultimately, integrated the philosophies of her training with Functional Medicine, as one of the first 88 in the world to be certified. Dr Herbst integrated Functional Medicine into her own life, years before it was a certified training program- to which she attributes her health! Passionate about helping others, she started a lifestyle counseling practice with emphasis on diet and detox. Then later in life, she practiced as a board-certified family physician with Functional Medicine in rural Oklahoma. Dr Herbst was later recruited to Cleveland Clinic to help start the Center for Functional Medicine, alongside the famous, Drs. Hyman and Hanaway. That was just the beginning, because as she has had the opportunity to help thousands of patients in both insurance and cash-based practices, she is now passionate about education. In her public speaking and now through penmanship, Dr. Herbst is teaching healthcare providers how to start optimizing biochemical and physiological systems and she hopes to teach the patient to be empowered. Both to create a dynamic patient -doctor relationship - for the best patient outcome in our current primary care model.