Welcome to Practical FxMed! My name is Bill Shaddle and I’m the author of the posts on this blog. I want to share ideas, opinions, experiences and observations on and about functional medicine. I welcome your comments as well, but I do reserve the right to control the content here, and my decision on what gets posted (or removed) is final.

I have been involved in the support of functional medicine since well before it was called that; I started out as a sales rep for a Chicago-based nutritional supplement company in 1974. Back then few medical doctors were using nutritional interventions (diet or supplements) as a therapeutic tool. So much has changed in the intervening 40-plus years! Today few doctors (of any stripe) would deny that the food we select can have a profound impact in our prospects for health, and not just from the challenges of obesity. Most chronic diseases are recognized to be influenced (either in a positive or negative way) by diet and lifestyle choices (exercise, stress, alcohol, environment, etc.). The operative term of course being “choices.” No one sits on our chest and force-feeds us junk food.

Anyhow, I hope this blog becomes a useful resource whether you are a patient, a practitioner, or just an interested party. Welcome aboard!