FAQ's

Functional Medicine, rooted in endocrinology, immunology, and nutritional science, is a holistic, biology-based approach to healthcare. This approach recognizes the interconnectedness of the body, mind, and spirit in maintaining wellness. While conventional medicine is crucial for acute and traumatic health issues (such as visiting the ER for a broken leg), Functional Medicine combines Western medical practices (like lab testing) with knowledge from modern science, ancient physicians, and time-tested alternative health practices. It offers a more personalized healthcare experience by investigating and addressing the root causes of chronic illnesses. This is particularly valuable for anyone suffering from long-term symptoms and chronic health issues, as it employs a method that delves deeper into the underlying root causes of illness. Functional medicine practitioners tailor treatments to specific needs of the individual, promoting self-healing. This personalized approach seeks to uncover and treat root causes, fostering long-term health improvements for lifelong wellness.

Through targeted nutrition, detoxification, lifestyle adjustments, supplementation, and other natural interventions, a Functional Medicine practitioner can help you get the right vitamins, minerals, and nutrients into your body, balance hormones, strengthen immunity, reduce inflammation, restore metabolic flexibility, improve stress resilience, safeguard cognitive function, fire up your libido, disable and prevent dis-ease, age powerfully, and ultimately look and feel like a million bucks!

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) allows us to work in partnership with your body while we explore the most appropriate food and nutrients to keep you functioning well and feeling good. As a Functional Diagnostic Practitioner (FDN-P), my job is to help uncover the underlying contributors to your body’s imbalance. Everyone is different. The one thing we all have in common is this, in “every body,” symptoms are the last thing to occur.

Using functional diagnostic lab testing as appropriate, clinical correlation of symptoms, and a complete holistic process, we uncover the hidden food and chemical triggers, hormone imbalances, compromised immune and organ function, all causing distress within your body. These findings allow us to identify the healing opportunities that will enable your body to engage its innate healing response, build your vital reserves, and resolve the underlying root cause of your symptoms. This process, over time, can restore your health.

It all begins with a comprehensive health history and a conversation exploring your current lifestyle habits: how you eat, how you sleep, how you move your body, and how you cope with everyday stress. As we work together, I’ll explain the different types of lab testing available – the diagnostic tools that offer you a more in-depth look at the function inside your body. Think of it as insider information explicitly designed to help us move more expeditiously, uncovering the hidden stressors that are depleting your vital reserves and contributing to a whole host of symptoms.

I guide women away from medical illness and towards wellness using a holistic approach grounded in science, deep nutrition, and fasting protocols. By working with me, you will gain access to valuable resources such as:

• Advanced lab testing done in the comfort of your home
• Individualized, data-driven results, recommendations, and protocols that are biology-based and backed by research
• Empathetic leadership to solve metabolic health and hormone issues

I excel at constructively addressing problems that many people avoid or ignore, hoping they will improve on their own. While hope is important, it is not an effective strategy for solving complex hormone and health issues!

If you ask my clients, they will tell you that I provide the support of a spirited friend, a sister, and a problem solver focused on root causes. I love helping women tap into their bodies' natural power and intelligence—you would be amazed at what your body can achieve!

Once you’ve finished my 4-month foundational program, you can choose to continue working with me, either through a 6- to 12-month add-on program or ongoing annual maintenance. Many of my clients stay with me for years!

Labs and health coaching services may be covered by flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, and health reimbursement accounts — check with your provider to see if you’re eligible for coverage. (Note: as Functional Medicine and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® are designed to uncover and address underlying root factors before they become costly health crises, paying out of pocket now can save you from additional expenses, stress, and pain in the future.)

I encourage collaboration and communication between healthcare professionals in the interest of your best care. Although I'm not a doctor, I'm happy to send your primary care doctor or specialist a note to ensure we are all on the same page regarding your best health.

When you’re in a fasted state, your blood sugar levels come way down. This triggers your body to switch from sugar metabolism to fat metabolism — from fat storage to fat burning. This is a significant reason why so many people swear by fasting, but it’s far from the only benefit!

For example:

• After 13 hours: growth hormones go up, slowing down the aging process and helping you burn fat, and the inflammatory blood marker CRP goes down. 
• At 17 hours: you stimulate autophagy and your cells start to prioritize efficiency and repair themselves. 
• At 24 hours: your body resets her entire gut microbiome and new intestinal stem cells start to repair the whole inner lining of the gut. 
• At 36 hours: your body finds that stubborn fat specifically around your belly and it starts to burn that for energy. 
• At 48 hours: you begin to get new dopamine receptor sites. Why? Because your brain-body biology knows you must get motivated to get food. It’s so intelligent that it reboots the whole dopamine system. 
• At 72 hours: your whole immune system reboots and recycles itself! 

Autophagy occurs when your cells realize that there are no more nutrients or glucose coming in. This triggers the cells to “clean house,” pushing out anything that isn’t serving their cellular energy, such as viruses. They also identify and get rid of any weak members of the team, such as cancer cells or zombie cells that age us faster. Autophagy helps your body ditch trillions of cells that aren’t serving you. This isn’t a process that can be triggered by a pill or supplement — it can only be initiated by fasting!

The current science on fasting is mind-blowing. All of the above benefits occur simply from fasting — not a single drug or supplement in sight! The miracles your brilliant body is capable of are incredible, and that’s why the pushback on fasting is so frustrating. When you work with me, your progress will be monitored through your follow-up or maintenance appointments, and I’m always available to discuss your concerns.

Yes, what you eat is absolutely important to your overall wellness and can affect multiple systems in your body. For example, everybody has cancer cells in their body at any given time. Your immune system is responsible for seeking them out and shutting them down through maintaining a healthy level of inflammation. (That’s right, inflammation can be good in certain contexts! It’s chronic inflammation that’s bad.) 

Under ideal conditions, your immune system can do this job well. However, a diet packed with highly inflammatory foods and beverages (aka the Standard American Diet) can put it into overdrive and prevent it from getting to those cancer cells — oops.

Don’t worry; changing your diet doesn’t have to be overwhelming! I can help you implement sustainable dietary changes that balance nutrition, taste, and convenience and find the foods you enjoy!

Your dietary recommendations will be tailored to fit your needs. You won’t have to eat anything you don’t want to!

Your body wants to be in a state of perfect health. In order to give her what she wants, you’ll need to go through a body-wide elimination process to get rid of waste products, toxins, and old tissues and set the stage for regeneration and healing. During this process, all systems of the body work together — it really is a team effort!

A “healing crisis” refers to the reactions that may pop up as these stored wastes and toxins are shaken loose and move through your body before being fully disposed of.

Possible reactions can range from mild to severe, and may include:

• skin eruptions or boils
• nausea
• headaches
• insomnia
• fatigue
• diarrhea
• ear infections
• head or chest colds
• brief flare-ups in chronic conditions or recurrence of past symptoms

When you’re not expecting them, these symptoms can easily be mistaken as part of a disease crisis rather than a healing crisis. Some people get discouraged at this point and fall back into old habits — don’t fall into this trap! Sticking it out will allow your body to toss out the toxins and start her regeneration phase.

A healing crisis usually lasts around three days, but may take up to a week depending on your energy levels. You can help your body push through and get rid of toxins by giving her lots of rest and liquids, especially water. Reducing stress through meditation is a great idea during this period!

Note: more severe conditions or dysfunction may require your body to go through many small healing crises in order to fully eliminate toxins and waste. This is normal and something that you should keep in mind as we work together!