Patients initially went on Dr. Mark Hyman's "systems medicine" to treat maladies like depression and allergies. But some say they discovered a surprising side effect -- weight loss.
Kaki Martin was once a vibrant young woman, but suddenly she changed for the worse. Her health began to erode.
"I'd been suffering a wide range of symptoms: chronic sinus infections, a really suppressed immune system and depression," Martin said. "I was gaining weight without a sort of real understanding of why."
She gained 30 pounds, and her successful career as a landscape architect began to unravel.
"I just felt cruddy -- extreme fatigue," she said. "I would sort of crawl home after work and really not be able to function beyond what I really had to get done in a day.
"When I would be home at a holiday with my family, I literally would be in bed the whole time, completely exhausted," she continued. "Everyone was saying, 'What is wrong with you?' "
After repeated visits to various physicians, Martin still had no answers. Then she took her mother's advice and went to see Hyman.
"I was at end of my rope when I saw him," Martin said. "I just thought, 'I can't feel like this all the time.' "
Her symptoms seemed to indicate chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder Hyman once battled himself. His recovery from it inspired his practice of "systems medicine" and his new book, "Ultra-Metabolism."
Systems medicine "is a way of understanding how our bodies were designed and using food to match our genes, so we turn on genes that create health and weight loss," Hyman said.
Hyman began Martin's treatment by looking at her unique genetic makeup, what food was appropriate and which allergies lurked within.
Hyman found that Martin was having a reaction to her mercury fillings, which she removed. She also followed some alternative health practices.
