What is Functional Nutrition?

Functional Nutrition follows the principles of Functional Medicine, which seeks to achieve “root cause resolution.” This means that we evaluate the core systems of your body to look for imbalances or hidden causes that might be contributing to your symptoms. These imbalances are “healing opportunities” that help point you in the direction of better health. By taking a root cause approach, we are more likely to resolve your health issues for good rather than relying on symptom management. Symptoms don’t appear out of nowhere. They are signs from your body that something is wrong. If you correct the underlying factors, symptoms can naturally fall away on their own without the need for lifelong management. By balancing your body, you help build a strong foundation upon which you can thrive.

Sounds great, but how does it work?

We’ll take a comprehensive look at your history, symptoms, and goals and put together a plan that will help guide you in building your health from the ground up. The body as a whole needs attention for the best results. It is important to remember that as a Functional Nutritionist, I do not diagnose or treat specific diseases.

1. Thorough intake process

You will be asked to fill out several intake forms prior to our work together. This is an important step in learning about your health story. Some of the forms will be revisited periodically to measure your progress. 

2. Functional lab work

Labs will be recommended at your evaluation. While not required, they can help us pinpoint your personal healing opportunities and customize your plan for the best results. Lab results are always correlated with your personal presentation as we are ultimately concerned with helping you feel better, not just improving the numbers on the paper. Typically we start with comprehensive blood labs and can dig deeper as needed or desired depending on your goals and progress.

3. Personalized protocol

An action plan will be created together during each appointment based on the unique findings from your sessions and lab results to help you stay on track with your progress. The areas addressed in your plan will be nutrition, sleep, stress support, movement, and supplementation. But not all at once! We’ll gradually add all these components in as you’re ready and based on your case. For the best results, all five of these components need to be optimized. So many of our root causes track back to one or more of these areas and we need all of these areas in play to be able to have good long term health since they all impact each other. They are what build the strong foundation your body needs to thrive. You know when you build a house you build a strong foundation first. It's the same for your body! After your first session, we’ll have a sense of which areas need the most focus. Optimizing these four areas frequently helps reverse most if not all of someone’s symptoms and if it doesn’t your body will be in a stronger place to tolerate and sustain any more advanced strategies you may need.

4. Education

I want to make sure you understand why the different aspects of your personal plan were recommended. We’ll talk about how the body functions and what it means for you personally. There is always time for questions during sessions. The most important question in Functional Medicine is “why?” And you should know “why” too. It is your body, health, and life after all.

5. Support

I am invested in your health and want to see you reach your goals. I will offer my best support during our work together. In addition, I encourage you to find support from family, friends, and other health practitioners as needed.

6. Commitment

I commit to you by providing the support, education, and assessment tools. You commit to yourself and the work involved to get well. We all want quick fixes, but in reality, health doesn’t work that way. A heartfelt commitment to yourself and the healing process is the bedrock of your success. It might be unclear to you why you’d want to commit to yourself. That’s okay - we can explore your why in sessions.

Click here to learn why symptom management alone can be a bad idea.