From left, Drs. Aidanne MacDonald-Milewski, Joanne Aponte and Sarah Axtell stand in the teaching kitchen of their new offices at 3510 N. Oakland Ave.
You Are What You Eat
Lakeside Natural Medicine guides patients along nutritional path to optimal health BY JENNIFER ANDERSON | PHOTO BY PATRICK MANNING
Believing that the body has the power to heal itself is a basic BUSINESS premise of SPOTLIGHT naturopathic medicine. At Lakeside Natural Medicine, a natural health and wellness clinic that in May relocated to a larger space at 3510 N. Oakland Ave., owner Sarah Axtell’s goal is to help repair each patient’s health through the right combination of nutrition, herbs and supplements. “We want to empower people to take their health into their own hands, and that starts in the kitchen,” Axtell says. A licensed naturopathic doctor, Axtell earned her bachelor’s degree in nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then trained as a primary care physician at the National University of Natural 32 SHOREWOOD TODAY SUMMER 2020
Medicine in Portland, Ore. — “the mecca of natural medicine,” she says. The eye-opening education led to her decision to “pioneer this medicine in the Midwest.” At Lakeside, Axtell works alongside two other naturopathic doctors, Aidanne MacDonald-Milewski and Joanne Aponte, as well as her husband, Chris, who manages the business. At 2,000 square feet, Lakeside's new offices are over twice as large as those in its former space at 4433 N. Oakland Ave. There's also a teaching kitchen where patients can learn how to make healthy meals, and where the doctors can also hold group cooking workshops to share their philosophy with a broader audience. “I want this to be a community space,” Axtell says. “Our vision is to be a ‘food is medicine’ center in the city.” Lakeside’s doctors work with patients to address issues from chronic disease to
weight management using nutrition, diet and lifestyle changes. “Instead of spending seven minutes with someone and prescribing them a pill, we spend an hour with new patients,” Axtell says. “We really try to get a sense of their lifestyle, their stress level and their history so we can address the root cause of their problem.” Lakeside partners with several labs to test patients for issues like underlying food sensitivities and hormonal imbalance. Axtell, who lives in Shorewood with Chris and their two daughters, has been delighted by the community’s response to her business. “Shorewood residents are very forward thinking and open-minded,” she says. “We want to empower people to take their health into their own hands, and they’ve really embraced our message.” n lakesidenaturalmedicine.com 3510 N. Oakland Ave., Ste. 203 414.939.8748
