Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) is an alternative, natural and effective approach or complement to caring for your health and overcoming disease. Drugless protocols and behavior requirements supporting the body’s innate healing ability are at the core of this health care philosophy. Using diet, lifestyle changes, lab work, and proper supplementation, a personalized protocol is built to help you create optimal health.

The training to become certified in functional diagnostic nutrition (FDN) is rigorous and research-based. Understanding western science to describe pathologies is coupled with the understanding of the intertwined complexities the whole body presents. An FDN Practitioner is trained to have an investigative mindset that always seeks to identify and act upon the healing opportunities instead of just treating the symptoms.

God has designed our body systems each individually and yet connected and dependent on one another to properly do its part (Romans 12:4-5). So, like an ecosystem, there is no single entity that creates balance.

Therefore, an FDN Practitioner looks at the results of labs and clues to the underlying cause of symptoms to help the body regain normal function. An FDN Practitioner does not provide the healing, but coaches healing within the body. FDN Practitioners do not diagnose or treat anything specifically but work with everything non-specifically to find the underlying cause of the individual’s health problem.

• • Receive a personalized diet plan
  • Learn new behaviors to promote complete rest
  • Utilize therapeutic supplements
  • Pay attention to the. mind-body connection
  • Design a personalized exercise routine

  We look at the whole history of an individual as part of their health story. Emotional events, stress, and trauma are all examples of factors that can influence your health. Environmental toxicity from conventional self-care and home products can cause a slew of health degradation. Stress is the #1 causal factor for malfunction and disease within the body. Stress contributes to 50% of all illnesses, and 70-80% of all doctor visits are for stress-related illnesses. FDN Practitioners, trained to identify both external and internal hidden stressors, look at every aspect of your life before creating a process to achieve optimal health. Forming optimal diet and lifestyle habits now keeps your body in a balanced state and allows you to experience peace and longevity in life. When being proactive, not reactive in your health, you honor your body as the temple that God has instructed it to be (1Corinthians 6:19).

While conventional doctors hand out prescriptions for symptoms, functional health care specialists look to heal the root cause. FDN Practitioners select and analyze the lab work and interpret the results to grasp a full perspective of where pathologies and dysfunctions stem from. Conventional ranges tend to indicate extremes, yet don’t account for the degree of how a patient feels in these values. Take the thyroid for example. Many people with hypothyroidism go undiagnosed by a conventional practitioner because they don’t test a full thyroid panel or look at a more specified range of values in relation to one another. Again, conventional health care looks at symptoms as separate issues to be treated individually. On the other hand, an FDN Practitioner can gather from your symptoms and history that potential thyroid dysfunction is occurring and recommend, based on a more specified lab value, a personalized protocol for optimal health.

FDN Practitioners do the job that doctors don’t have time for. The average primary care physician visit is less than 8 minutes long. And many of the complaints people go to doctors for can be addressed with diet and lifestyle recommendations along with supplementation. People are crying out for providers to help them. Medical treatment is for specific diseases or “diagnosis” or managing symptoms only. The average American is on multiple medications, battles chronic illnesses, and thinks their problems are genetic and/or there is no significant cause. FDN Practitioners look heavily at epigenetics, the well-researched fact that our diet and lifestyle influence the expression of our genes.

I see people doing their best but making choices that negatively impact their health, simply because they don’t know any better. I became an FDN Practitioner to change how my community understands and treats their health. Doctors don’t have time to explain the connections of diet and lifestyle to health. It’s easy and more cost-effective through insurance to hand out a pill for a symptom and look no further. FDN Practitioners don’t exist to put down the work of conventional medicine. They exist to complement it. The balance is when we focus on the lifestyle as well as the healthcare.

I believe with conviction that to save the rapidly declining health of our nation requires a switch from treating symptoms to healing the root cause of illness. This means listening, validating, recommending attainable changes, and following through with the individuals seeking optimal health.

Those who could benefit most from visiting an FDN-P… 

• Have been to multiple doctors for symptoms but haven’t gotten answers or symptom relief.
• Need to be heard and have their whole health history reviewed.
• Are looking for science-backed clinical knowledge of how the body works.
• Believe with conviction that inflammation is at the root cause of illness.
• Aim to prevent future health conditions.
• Want to treat their body with a holistic mindset and live a more natural lifestyle.

I will meet you where you’re at in your health journey. I’m an advocate for your optimal health and I encourage you to make change, without judgement. I found an integrative natural approach for myself after conventional doctors had failed to help me. They didn’t have the time or knowledge to look for what was causing my illness. I had to become my own health care advocate or I would have never felt better.

• Food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities
• Weight loss
• The immune system
• Chronic conditions and diseases
• Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• ADHD
• Disease prevention
• Sleep
• Anxiety and stress
• Healing the gut and improved digestion

The above list is by no means complete, just a snapshot of the many scenarios FDN Practitioners are trained to work with. As a Certified FDN Practitioner, I have taken coursework in biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, endocrinology, and digestion and detoxification to name a few. I consistently attend continuing education seminars based on the latest research in the Western world. Some of these have included Homeopathy, Essential Oils, and Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis. In the future I plan to become certified to treat those suffering with Lyme’s Disease and other chronically debilitating issues.