My philosophy: Functional Nutrition
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is based on a "client-centered" approach. The client and I will develop a personalized diet to improve their health by preventing or reversing significant dysfunctions or diseases. Functional Nutrition, a branch of the Institute of Functional Medicine, acknowledges no one-size-fits-all "food plan" or "ideal diet." People are unique based on their genetics, dietary preferences, lifestyle, environment, and biochemistry. It takes into account the whole person, not just their symptoms. Functional Nutrition provides personalized nutritional and lifestyle interventions to help you achieve lasting and transformative health through one-on-one guidance. All recommendations are backed by evidence-based scientific research to create a customized food plan.
How is Functional Nutrition Different?
Functional Medicine (FM) is a patient-centered approach that examines each person with fresh eyes. It does not just “group” people together based on their disease, condition, or symptoms but rather examines each individual person’s case and history to determine what brought them here today. FM hopes to promote health and vitality within every person, not just the absence of disease.
Functional Medicine integrates the qualities of Western medical practices with more “integrative” Medicine by emphasizing nutrition, diet, and exercise. It incorporates the latest laboratory testing and diagnostic techniques, prescription of drugs and/or botanical Medicine, supplements, therapeutic drugs, detoxification programs, and stress-management techniques.
FM does not look at the “what” of a disease or condition but the “why?” It examines the origins, prevention, and treatment of a chronic disease. Instead of putting a band-aid fix and preventing associated symptoms of a disease, it looks at the complex web of interactions that led to the illness – What is their history? Lifestyle? Career? Stress level? Diet? It considers a person’s genetic susceptibility to a disease, their social, and physical environment, and the body’s mind and spirit.
What is it like working with a Functional Nutrition practitioner?
As a Functional Nutrition practitioner, I understand the biochemical processes that are affected by your diet at a cellular level. For example, a deficiency of a critical nutrient may significantly impact the causes and triggers of dysfunction. But why is this person deficient in a particular nutrient? It could be from low dietary intake, being unable to properly absorb the nutrient within the gut, being inhibited by a specific medication, or having a genetic SNP that impacts the person’s ability to metabolize the nutrient properly. These are all elements that I consider as a Functional Nutritionist. Many parts of health can be affected at the cellular level, including detoxification, regulation of hormones, neurotransmitters, immune system function, how you produce energy, and more. Simply put, any of these processes are influenced by an underlying cause, such as their environment or genetics. A Functional Nutritionist like myself will take the time to find where the imbalances or disturbances are for you.
