Hello all! My name is Raymond Escalona, my friends know me as Dr. E and I’m one of the first certified Functional Medicine doctors in the Philippines! Through a series of blog posts, I hope to share with you not only the things I’ve learned studying abroad, but also my personal anecdotes and insights into the world of Functional Medicine, which I believe is the best path to an optimal state of health.

In Functional Medicine we tend to look at migraines/headaches as one of the earliest signs of a condition called mitochondrial dysfunction. This may sound complicated and scary, but it’s actually quite simple.

The other day, I received a message from a good friend asking me if I could help his mom through her decade long rheumatoid arthritis. After replying to him and arranging how we could get her the care that she needed, I paused and reflected on how the state of healthcare in the Philippines has not changed in the past decade.

A few weeks ago I celebrated my birthday and turned 31. In most Filipino families, it’s a tradition to always serve a noodle dish during the celebration, although the truth is there aren’t a lot of healthy noodle recipes out there.

I recently spoke with a friend of mine about vulnerability and how difficult it is for many of us (myself included) to embrace imperfection. In my case, I’ve always had the knee-jerk reaction of comparing myself to others to provide a gauge if I’ve done well or I’m good enough.

Diets! Love them or hate them, at one point we’ve all been that person that’s said “I’m on a diet”, but do we even have the faintest clue about dieting? The common understanding when a person ‘diets’ is to remove certain foods sticking to certain types in our meals. A good example of this is shown in our cultural avoidance of fat.

This fantastic Mediterranean Quinoa recipe was one of the first recipes I learned during my winter quarter attending Bastyr University . This recipe combines a variety of nutrient dense ingredients, diverse colors and yummy flavors making it my all time favorite to go to when i don’t know what to cook during the week.

I spoke to a friend last week who was telling me about the summer heat that made it difficult for her to be productive during the day. On top of a 4-hour commute was her constant exposure to car pollution. Afraid of the long term consequences, she sent me a message to ask my advice.

Every week I see patients with chronic inflammatory conditions disguised under the names of Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Psoriasis, Eczema, Asthma, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative colitis and others. All of these come under the umbrella of Autoimmune Disease or illnesses where the body’s immune system attacks itself. In this article I’ll be teaching you about how undigested food can trigger this ‘self-attack’ response leading to the conditions.

This week were applying our theme of balanced nutrition into the Filipino favorite, chicken Afritada. Get cooking!

• 3 tablespoons high-heat stable cooking oil (coconut, avocado or grapeseed)
• 1-2 lbs. antibiotic-free, hormone-free chicken, cut into serving pieces

When we are born more than 100 trillion bacteria called the gut microbiome are seeded into our gastrointestinal tract as we pass through our mother’s birth canal. These bacteria come from different families and help our digestive tract improve our immune system, neurologic system, digestion and ability to remove toxins.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a request teaching him how to cook healthy food. I decided to start him with soup recipes – they’re perfect for meal preps, have a pretty good margin for error and are extremely healthy. This Minestrone recipe was the first recipe I cooked in my Whole Food Production class at Bastyr University. It’s a tomato-based recipe full of plant phytonutrients. This recipe was adapted from the recipe of Cynthia Lair and her book Feeding for the Whole Family.

Now that I’m back in Manila, one of the most requested topics people ask about is the Ketogenic Diet. Before diving in, it is very important to understand that nutrition is highly personalized and there is no one single diet that fits all. To know how best to optimize this particular diet to YOUR genetic make-up or simply know more about it, I’d like to dive into the science from a Functional Medicine perspective and provide easy tips at the end to know if this is the right eating program for you.

Continuing from where we left off last week, the topic for this week will be a quick look at how to best optimize a Ketogenic Diet to your specific needs.

In the spirit of eating a balanced meal, here is a recipe that includes many of the colors of our Nutritional Rainbow. A special mention goes to the Purple color that is known to support a number of functions in our body stemming from its abundance in nutrients called Anthocyanins. These pigments help reduce toxin load in the brain by acting as potent anti-oxidants. This ratatouille recipe showcases the use of an eggplant which is highly available in the Southeast Asian region.

Half a year ago, I came across and studied the work of a brilliant researcher and scientist, William Walsh, PhD who has been researching and working with patients with mental disorders for more than 38 years. While he was working with them he regularly collected blood and urine samples from more than 30,000 patients and examined the samples, which allowed him to get to the bottom of the nutritional imbalances found in psychiatric, mental and often depressed patients.

Our last blog post dove into the work of William Walsh and how his work with more than 30,000 patients afflicted by psychiatric and mental disorder allowed him to uncover biochemical patterns for the differing diseases. For the 2nd part of the series, we will dive into food strategies for improving gut function that helps improve nutrient absorption and lower brain inflammation for less chances of being affected by mental disorders.

Last week we talked about some of the more technical kinds of depression, in this week’s wrap up on the topic of depression we'll tie it all together by giving a run down of the food lists that can support people who you think may have or are currently afflicted by depression.

Gluten-free pancakes are a very health conscious choice in cholesterol and Filipino breakfast choices like tapa, tocino, and longganisa. If you don’t want to feel sluggish after breakfast then Gluten-free pancakes are the best way to go!

In today’s more informed health circles, it is understood that weight is not just about what you eat and how much you eat. Our weight issues that we struggle with on a daily basis are caused by internal and external factors asking our bodies to adapt. This body-environment interaction is a key insight when we look into and talk about weight gain.