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What is Functional Nutrition?
Simply put, functional health and nutrition seeks to identify and address the ROOT CAUSE of your symptoms. It views the body as a fully interconnected system, and as such, it seeks to holistically + comprehensively support the WHOLE PERSON, and not just your (seemingly isolated) symptom presentation.
Unlike the disease-centered focus of the conventional healthcare model (which typically provides acute and/or reactionary care, often alongside the heavy use and/or promotion of pharmaceuticals), the functional model:
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places great emphasis on client - care
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empowers people to be their own health advocates, and to take a proactive, preventative approach when it comes to their wellbeing
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helps people restore + optimize health through targeted nutrition, pertinent lifestyle recommendations, functional lab work, and adjunctive therapeutic supplementation
Ultimately, addressing one's health from a functional, root-cause perspective takes time + commitment. It's not the easy path, but the journey is well worth the reward!
"Wellness experts of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will (heal) and prevent disease with nutrition."
All prospective new clients are encouraged to book a FREE,
30-minute Discovery Call. During this session, you can tell me a little more about your concerns, I will answer any questions you might have + share a bit more about my client process and services, and ultimately, we can determine if working together feels like a good fit for us both.
Following this, those interested in working together will begin the new client onboarding process by filling out several online (electronic) forms, including an 8-day Food & Mood Journal Assessment. Once this is completed & received, I'll provide a calendar link for you to book our Initial Consultation. In this session, we'll take a deep dive into your health history & eating habits, assess your routines, clarify any lingering questions, and get you started with some initial feedback + recommendations for moving forward.
Step 3: Working Together
Human bodies are extremely complex, and what's optimal for one person, may or may not work for someone else. This is because there's NO "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to health. We are BIO-INDIVIDUALS, and as such, our dietary approach (along with other recommendations) should reflect this!
Depending on YOUR unique needs & goals, I offer several packages for local + distance clients in a 1-on-1virtual setting:
Foundational Dietary + Lifestyle Coaching
Performance Nutrition for Athletes
Pre/Post-Op Surgical Recovery Nutrition
Functional Lab Testing & Bloodwork
In addition to the above, I also help clients address more complex health issues through the use of functional lab work and fully customized healing protocols, with specializations in digestion, gut health, blood sugar handling, hormone imbalances, skin issues, energy & fatigue issues, chronic immune challenges, metabolic concerns & more.
No matter your motivations for working together, ALL clients are fully guided & thoughtfully supported through the entirety of their journey, receiving ample education alongside tailored advice that promotes long-term, sustainable habit & behavior change, in an accountable & encouraging environment.
Functional Nutrition & Foundational Wellness for SPORT, RECOVERY, and LIFE!
"Your gut is not simply a food-processing center –
the gut is the center of health itself."
Lab Work
Test, don't Guess!
Although not required (or necessary for all clients), functional lab work is a powerful clinical tool that provides helpful insights in the form of objective data specific to the individual, to clearly identify & more accurately address various imbalances, deficiencies, and/or dysfunction within the body that are commonly at the root of people's symptoms and health issues.
As a practitioner formally trained by Restorative Wellness Solutions (a reputable certification program for qualified wellness experts), I am certified to utilize & interpret labs through a "functional lens" (ie. optimal ranges) as a means to dig deeper into potential root causes and better support my clients in their quest for optimizing their health ---- in sport, recovery, and life!
So, who can benefit from lab work? Ultimately, this can be summed up by two, primary demographics:
(1) those who feel pretty good (or even great!), and desire to keep things this way (aka: those looking to take a proactive approach with their health to optimize wellness + longevity, prevent the onset of dysfunction, and support their body and the aging process as best they can); and (2), those plagued by various, nagging, overt + chronic symptoms, who don't feel their best, who can't seem to get the answers they seek, who desire to get to the root of their health issues, and resolve + heal from the inside, out.
Determining which labs are needed or recommended once again boils down to bio-individuality, and warrants considerations that include your health history + journey thus far, your symptom presentation, your concerns + goals, your commitment level + mindset, financial considerations, along with my clinical judgement of what might be best for you at the present time.
For most clients, this isn't necessarily the place we start our work together, unless certain dietary & lifestyle factors are solidly (and comfortably) in place. Because although labs are incredibly helpful + powerful tools, they are typically a waste of time + money if you're unwilling to consistently adopt a diet of mostly whole, real, nourishing foods alongside prioritizing + addressing important lifestyle factors including things like your stress levels, quality sleep, exercise, relationships, work-life balance, and your mental + emotional wellbeing.
Current testing options for the right clients and/or situations include: comprehensive wellness panels (aka: blood chemistry), gut testing, food sensitivity testing, thyroid testing, adrenal testing, male + female hormone testing (for cycling females & peri-/post-menopausal women), bone health testing, mold + mycotoxin testing, heavy metals + environmental toxin panels. I am partnered with Evexia Diagnostics, LabCorp, DiagnosTechs, Precision Analytical, Now Leap Laboratories and Rupa Health.
Important Disclaimer: Although fully qualified to run + interpret labs, I am not a doctor, and I do not diagnose or treat disease. I always encourage my clients to share their lab results (along with any other dietary, lifestyle, and/or supplement recommendations they plan to implement) with their PCP, and to consult with their doctor about any possible questions or concerns they may have.
What About Supplements?
A catalyst to optimize function.
To be clear: I firmly believe that the most bio-available nutrients are those found in nature’s best multivitamin: a diverse, nutrient-dense real food diet, that's minimally processed (aka: "homemade/prepared") and ideally from local + organic sources, as often as resources allow.
But here's the catch: most people aren't consistently eating in this way...and even if you ARE,
you probably still need a little extra support to account for things like soil depletion, chronic stress, increased toxic load, insufficient sun exposure, overly sterile environments --- all products of our modern times that can leave us in a nutrient-deficient + functionally sub-optimal state.
How much and to what extent depends on your diet, your lifestyle, and what’s currently going on in your body. Lab testing can further provide specific insight into your unique needs, as can other components of your health history and your symptom presentation.
All that to say, most people can benefit from some form of high-quality, third-party-tested, professional-grade supplementation (alongside necessary dietary + lifestyle considerations) either as an "insurance policy" and/or as an adjunctive, therapeutic support in our efforts to comprehensively rebalance, restore, and optimize function within the body.
