Many thanks to our guests, Dr. Claudia Karam and Susan Yarrow, for providing our program last Tuesday.
President Paula Brahan presided over the meeting. Thanks to Steve Ramp who gave the invocation and to Mallory Donald who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thanks to Shane Germany and Paula Brahan for serving as our greeters today.
Mike Ratliff welcomed our visitors. Steve Ramp has Ellen Ramp as his guest. Mary Cromartie has her husband Dean as her guest. Mike McPhail has Andrew Hatten as his guest.
Erik Graham noted that there is a new business in town. Member Shane Germany is now a new partner in Landry, Lewis and Germany. Congratulations!!
Paula reported that she attended this year’s Rotary Mid-Year Check-up. The check-up is an excellent opportunity to review the many things our club has done thus far this year, and there have been many service projects completed. She also says it is very interesting and informative to learn what the other clubs in the district are participating in.
Faye Gilbert distributed information about the upcoming 2018 Economic Outlook Forum which will be held January 25th at the Thad Cochran Center Grand Ballroom on the USM campus. Registration is required but free. Register at usm.edu/economicoutlook2018 or call 601-266-4659 for more information.
Susan Yarrow with the Hattiesburg Clinic then introduced today’s guest speaker, Dr. Claudia Karam, a physician at Hattiesburg Clinic’s Functional & Integrative Medicine. Prior to this position, Dr. Karam practiced in New York City. She relocated to the Hattiesburg area for marriage.
She treats a wide array of issues including weight loss, gut disturbances and other complex chronic diseases using her concept that food is medicine. The form of care offered at the Clinic incorporates nutritional counseling, lifestyle modification and personalized supplementation based on the patient’s needs. All of these to address the root cause of illness.
Nutrigenomics, a scientific study of nutrients is revealing many new treatment options and opportunities for patients. Dr. Karam says everything we eat sends messages to our genes. Every food either turns a gene on or off and those genes influence our health. They play a major role in disease development as well as prevention. Eating a healthy diet is a foundational principal in functional medicine.
That’s why she recommends that we eat only “real food.” Real food is described as unadulterated and unprocessed natural foods. To get an idea of what she’s talking about she suggests that you shop only on the perimeter of the grocery store and say out of the isles.
Functional medicine identifies and addresses the root cause of disease. It sees the body as one integrated system.
Dr. Karam maintains that the future of medicine is a personalized medicine approach. She spends an hour with each patient to understand all of their history. Conventional lab testing is used to obtain more patient information. Patients are involved in their treatment plan and process. The goals are to eliminate hormone issues, stress factors, toxins and to discover the patient’s genetic history.
If you would like to talk to Dr. Karam she invites you to give her a call. She offers a 10 minute free telephone consultation. Her number is 601-261-1690. She will also be presenting a Nutritional Detox Workshop in February at the Clinic. Follow their website for specific information.
With no other business or announcement Paula adjourned the meeting with our motto, “Service Above Self."