FAQ’s
Is Functional Nutrition just about food?
Functional Nutrition is not just about food. Simply put, it is about where food meets physiology. It’s a field that is all about food's impact on our physiologic systems and how we can use a whole foods-based diet to heal those systems to achieve optimal health. Our body systems are all interconnected and don’t reside in isolation as we once thought. To then make our physiologic systems even stronger, add positive lifestyle choices. A Functional Nutritionist addresses these, too. I truly feel everyone should have a Functional Practitioner to help them understand that the choices they make every day are the best health intervention.
How does Functional Nutrition fit into the current medical system?
Functional Nutrition does not exist in isolation from other health or medical supports but runs in tandem with them. That's because other healthcare practitioners don't have the time to listen to each patient's unique health story. Have you ever felt better when you shared your story? Now you can with Functional Nutrition and be guided into proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices.
Functional Nutrition recognizes the role of the patient in their health care. This is the way it should be. We have become too reliant on others telling us what to do to our body in a five or ten-minute appointment. As your Functional Nutrition Counselor, I am here as your guide to help determine the best and most fitting modes of patient-centred self-care. This also helps other practitioners focus on what they do best if we are a healthier version of ourselves. It takes the confusion out of downstream conditions.
Why is my own health terrain important to understand?
Your terrain is your complete health landscape. It's everything that has happened to you, including any life circumstances. Examining this gives clues to the root cause of one's illness or condition. The root cause is the potential reason(s) a condition may have expressed. It involves looking at one's epigenetics, digestion, and inflammation. To find clues to the root cause, I map your terrain using specialized frameworks and tools to collect the data. I then use in-depth physiologic knowledge to help form connections between your story and your biological systems as they currently stand. I suggest and educate on healthy whole food options to help you to heal and educate on the importance of lifestyle as the final approach to solidify one’s change in diet.
Is Functional Nutrition about expensive tests?
Many people who struggle with their health have done lots of tests. This can get expensive and create more confusion for the average person to sort through. Many of the test results are not explained, nor are they integrated into one’s concerns to make them relevant. Many tests are also negative, creating fear in the individual for the “what’s going on in there” question. When this happens, the patient is usually left on their own accord because obvious maladies have been ruled out. Some of the visits to the ER may be from fear because a person is not understanding their symptoms. If one had someone to relay their symptoms to as long as they weren’t in an acute emergency, they would have many answers about where to start to help themselves. Our system needs Functional Nutritionists.
A Functional Nutritionist does not order expensive tests but relies on Terrain Assessment (see above). We use tracking tools like take-home Food/Mood/Poop journaling to reveal body stressors. We also use systems-based frameworks like the Functional Timeline and the number one tool in Functional Nutrition, called the Functional Matrix, to map physiological connections. This includes examining one’s story on epigenetics, mediators that have made one better, or triggers that have made symptoms worse. The Matrix also looks at the interconnectedness of one’s symptoms or diagnosis so that people can understand that their health does not exist in a vacuum but rather in an interconnected symbiosis of interactions and discussions between many systems through neurotransmitters and hormones. That’s why we call the former the soup - it looks at every branch or symptom and diagnosis as ingredients in the soup. Finally, the Matrix completes with a look at lifestyle skills we all need to develop further to aid the body in moving toward better health. This includes areas like sleep, nutrition, exercise, bowel movements, stress management, and social connectivity.
We come away from assessments with new tools to show what areas need work and the subsequent care steps for the individual. We methodically and slowly help patients change their current approaches and address root causes to make more sustainable results. Every person needs to know there is no quick fix or magic solution but communication and continued assessment to help the person be the best, healthiest version of themself.
Is there a magic pill or test that needs to be done to make me better?
Functional nutrition paves a new approach to an ill-conceived perspective that the magic pill, test, or procedure exists to cure all woes. If you are reading this, you likely know that this does not exist, particularly if you have a longstanding health condition.
Society tends to look for quick fixes to health problems. Marketing on social media often promises this, too. Many are also on several medications with global terrain side effects preventing sustainable healing and locking one into the continuous hamster wheel.
We have existed in a model for hundreds of years that has us seeking medical care for solitary issues. We often seek and receive a quick fix. Remember, this approach with the current medical system lasts about 10 minutes and can’t possibly take into account our full health story to aid in a resolution. Acute care can and often does work in this model, but chronic care — not so much.
The Functional Nutritionist has an in-depth knowledge of the physiology of biological systems and takes time to educate and make connections with people, creating that ah-ha moment so they can make sense of their symptoms. The Functional Approach puts the patient in control of their health's reins and not the drug or medical system. What we do for ourselves is the biggest mover to the health dial. Beneficial results will take time, and that’s the way it should be.
Is Functional Nutrition about Supplements?
The difference from many practitioners is that we first believe in a whole-food approach to healing. We only recommend supplements by using a “Deficiency to Sufficiency” Approach. We must allow our bodies to be self-sufficient with the foods we ingest, though if deficiencies do exist, then briefly add supplementation. For example, suppose we develop a condition where we don't absorb nutrients that we need, i.e., Colitis or Chrons. In these cases, we may need supplements to help our body function better for a short time to make us more comfortable while healing occurs. There are also nutrient deficiencies that develop as we biologically age, and those areas may also need support, according to research, to help us feel optimal.
What if I feel overwhelmed with making dietary or lifestyle changes?
At the outset, many of my clients admit that they feel overwhelmed about where to start making changes in their health. I break recommendations down into manageable steps so clients understand their body's physiology and, from this education, develop confidence in new approaches to lay out a path of recovery. I don’t follow the latest trends, but I follow the best evidence-based practices so that we take myths out of incorrect processes that are blindly spread over social media.
The Functional process begins by completing an assessment to make sense of all aspects of one's terrain. Then, it's about trusting my expertise to follow the recommendations. As you heal, we follow a cycle called the Art of the Practice (ART), where we cycle through Assessment, Recommendation, and Tracking of your condition so you are not alone in your healing journey. We pull the weeds to clear the path on your health quest.
What does Allostatic Load in Functional Nutrition mean?
There is no sole cause for any condition. One factor might be heavily weighted in the picture, but it is never the only reason for us to feel the way we do. I explain this concept to my clients by asking them to think of a bucket; in that bucket, we place everything that has happened to us. If we remove some of the weight in the bucket, our overall resilience improves, and we feel better. The takeaway is that we can feel better by adding mediators (positive things that make us feel better) and removing triggers (negative things that make us feel worse) to our Allostatic Load. Knowing this concept makes us realize there are many reasons why we feel the way we do. We are not powerless to take matters into our own hands to improve the outcome. Uncovering and addressing the root causes will help patch holes in the roof, leading to a better house.
It also stands to reason that the older we are, the heavier the Allostatic Load, hence the more time it may take to heal. We must be patient. A condition that has been present for a while cannot heal completely in two months. The body is amazing and takes time to heal.
Is Functional Nutrition recreate what other health professions accomplish?
Some patients get stuck shuttling around from practitioner to practitioner trying to find an answer to their health issues, and I’m not saying these practitioners don’t have answers, but they are not trained to assess one’s full health Terrain, nor do they have the time. Most practitioners see patients for individual concerns. Many do get better, but for many chronic conditions, this approach is only a portion of the puzzle and does not lead to sustainable change. People need help getting out of the weeds of their condition.
The Functional Approach is what healed me from many of my symptoms and disease expressions. I have the good fortune of already being a health care practitioner in a regulated field, but I realized the lens I was missing after I began to practice functionally by understanding that we are all different and hence require different approaches. A protocol treatment will not work for everyone. According to the Pareto principle, an 80:20 rule, 80 percent of people may do well with our current medical system, but the other 20 percent may need extra help. The Functional Nutritionist fills this needed gap. I believe everyone should have a Functional assessment to understand their power in their health. To do this, one must be open to change and not rely on previously ingrained health practices of giving over the reigns of our plight to a practitioner who does not know our body. We all have our own story and hence, different root causes for any condition expressed downstream.