In this episode, I interview top functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole.  He is the author of Ketotarian® and was named one of the top 50 functional-medicine and integrative doctors in the nation and is a health expert and course instructor for the world’s largest wellness brands such as Mindbodygreen and Goop. In this episode, Dr. Cole talks about: Functional medicine and emphasizes the importance of our relationship with our body and food He shares a few powerful messages. One of which is “You cannot heal a body you hate.” We talked about transitioning from vegetarian to ketotarian, Why conventional medicine has failed us And much more Learn more about Dr. Will Cole here https://drwillcole.com/   [0:35] Dr. Cole’s interesting childhood  He grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and he lived his childhood a little bit different than most kids. He grew up eating organic foods and drinking Adaptogenic Tonics which are not normal during the 80s and 90s.  He learned and understand food and developed his relationship with health and wellness at a very young age.  When he was 16 years old, Dr. Cole already knew he wanted to get into wellness in some way. At Southern California University of Health Sciences, he started focusing on functional medicine.    [4:08] Practicing virtual functional medicine Hundred percent (100%) of Dr. Cole’s patients/clients are online.  Dr. Will Cole together with his team consult world wide in Autoimmune, Brain, Gut, Hormone, and Thyroid health.  It is convenient for people who may not have access to a nearby functional medicine doctor.   [5:54] What is it like living in Dr. Cole’s household? Dr. Cole and his wife have 2 wonderful kids, a son and a daughter. One cool thing about being a functional medicine practitioner who gets invited into workshops or seminars is him being able to bring his family and give them front row seats for his talks.  His son is very much into the concept of helping people.  Of his two kids, his son will most likely be into the health and wellness field as well.  On eating healthy foods: Dr. Cole shifts his kids’ mindset into eating healthy foods.  He would normally say to them “Look at the healthy food we get to eat and feel great as a result of it.” Loving your body enough to feed it well: For adults, little boys and little girls, it is very important to have a healthy relationship with food. See you child as an individual and observe how they receive information. Make their foods age-appropriate as well. Foods you eat impact your hormonal levels. It’s not about punishing your body by not having all the good stuff. It’s really about focusing on all the good stuff and the grace that we get from feeding our body good things.    [10:45] Why is it important to get a comprehensive health history of patients? Most of Dr. Cole’s patients have seen previous doctors before they consult with him.  His job as a functional medicine practitioner is to find out what’s been missed out on his clients pile of laboratory reports. Thorough medical history is not respected enough even though it gives a lot of information.  If you have a doctor or a medical practitioner who’s asking you basic questions and not digging into your history, consider that a red flag.   [14:36] Rigged system: Experiencing symptoms but not sick enough to be diagnosed The system is broken and it is distracted on things that are not the most effective but with the least amount of side effects.  The system is largely trained to diagnose a disease and match it with a medication.  Main options of people with autoimmune issues are steroids, immuno-suppresants and biological drugs.  They don’t put everybody on this medication but when it gets bad enough, they basically punish and suppress the immune system down.  These problems don’t happen overnight. By the time it gets to the point where they want to put you on these medications, that’s an average of 10 years prior to the diagnosi