What if your symptoms are trying to tell you something? How do we make sense of why they show up to begin with?
Why This Talk Matters
If you’ve ever been told “your labs are normal” but still feel off…
If you’ve tried the diets, supplements, and mindset work but still don’t feel like you’re getting closer to your best self…
If your care has felt more like chasing and taming symptoms than solving them…
This is for you.
In this talk, Dr. Kenny introduces the 5 Root Cause Breakthroughs that shift care from transactional to transformational, offering a fresh, evidence-based way of thinking about healing rather than reactively managing disease.
Quick Summary
Too many people are stuck in what Dr. Kenny calls Symptom Land—a place where every symptom is treated in isolation and the bigger picture gets lost.
But real healing happens when we:
- Look for the why behind the what
- Use labs that catch dysfunction early… not just disease late
- Connect the dots between our complex, interconnected systems, not just symptoms
- Understand that it’s rarely just one root cause (hello, thumbtacks!)
- Create the right inputs and environment to allow the body to heal
This talk explores what it takes to step outside this dated and incomplete paradigm and into a personalized, root-cause approach that actually works to create healing, not just covering up signs and artificially patching up holes in our function.
Mic Drop Moments & Timestamps
🕒 5:23 — “Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal. And it doesn’t have to be normal for you.”
A reminder that our health system normalizes dysfunction, but you don’t have to accept it as your baseline or at all “inevitable.”
🕒 10:02 — “Healing in Symptom Land is transactional. Functional healing is transformational.”
In the conventional model, you get a pill to hide the problem. In functional medicine, we ask: what created the problem in the first place?
🕒 14:15 — “A diagnosis is the name for a pattern. It is not the cause.”
Whether it’s IBS, Hashimoto’s, or depression, the diagnosis explains what is happening, not why it’s happening. And exploring why is where healing begins.
🕒 20:45 — “Normal labs don’t always mean optimal function.”
Most conventional ranges only catch extreme dysfunction. Functional labs look upstream to find issues before they become disease.
🕒 24:00 — “Your body works in systems, not silos.”
Gut health influences hormones. Stress affects digestion. The body is a symphony, and functional medicine listens to the whole orchestra.
🕒 28:32 — “You can’t heal if you’re sitting on 10 thumbtacks.”
It’s rarely just one thing. If you don’t address all your underlying stressors, emotional, physical, biochemical—healing stays out of reach.
🕒 34:40 — “Healing = Inputs + Environment (H = E + I)”
Even the best supplements or diet won’t work if your environment is still stressful, toxic, or dysregulated. Healing is holistic.
🕒 41:22 — “Healing is a skill—not a fluke or a privilege.”
When you understand what’s driving dysfunction, and how to support your system, progress becomes predictable.
Next Steps
Book a Free Health Clarity Call
If you’re sick of wondering about the “WHY” behind what’s actually driving your symptoms, let’s have a conversation. This call is a strategic session to explore your patterns, root causes, and whether my approach is a fit for lasting healing.
My personal favorite part about being a functional medicine practitioner is seeing my patients get better and empowered to prevent and tackle health issues more holistically as they arise.
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About the Author
Kenny Mittelstadt is an acupuncturist and functional health practitioner based in San Antonio, Texas. He is trained through the Institute for Functional Medicine and received both of his doctorate degrees with highest honors from Southern California University of Health Sciences. He focuses on empowering patients through creating opportunities for integrated understanding and personalized root-cause healing - starting with gut health and growing beyond!