My role as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist is to promote health and fitness. I do not manage disease. That’s what medical doctors do. For the most part, they manage disease by suppressing symptoms with drugs.

It’s not the symptoms you should focus on, but rather the cause. Get to the root of the problem if you truly want to cure the condition. As Dr. Rangan Chatterjee points out during his TED talk: “If we do not address the cause, we will never get rid of disease. Diseases are the symptom.”

Label a condition any name you like – call it cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, diabetes, depression, whatever – the approach may be the same. Restore health and let the body cure itself. Instead of a laundry list of pharmaceuticals, make diet, exercise, and lifestyle the drugs of choice.

The causes of disease can involve many factors, most notably stress, infections, environmental toxins, and a lack of essential nutrients, sunlight, beneficial bacteria, sleep, and activity. The last one, physical inactivity, is where I come in to play. That’s my role in the circle of health. I’m a fitness expert and I can help tailor an exercise regimen that is specific to your needs.

Don’t get me wrong, I can help you with some of the other aspects of the health circle as well. I can certainly provide you with the basics to help restore your health. Many times that’s enough to get you back on track. Sometimes, however, we need to call upon experts that specialize in the other areas of the circle for help.

Bottom Line: Start making healthier choices and stop chasing symptoms with drugs to make chronic diseases disappear.