What is Functional Nutrition?

As defined, “Functional Nutrition is the advanced practice of applying a personalized nutrition care process with the goal of promoting optimal health and well-being and preventing diet and lifestyle-related disease using the principles and concepts of integrative and functional medicine.” It goes beyond the standard dietary advice.

The Holistic Approach of Functional Nutrition

Trained and certified functional nutritionists look at the overall picture of a patient’s assessment and/or diagnosis and prioritize how to support them in a variety of ways. Sometimes this support comes in the form of improving lifestyle habits like sleep hygiene or daily movement, other times it comes in the form of improving diet and food habits. At times a few supplements may be helpful. Often people have lab work done and while it may be seen as acceptable or borderline by some, functional practitioners look at the numbers from the perspective of functioning optimally, not just getting by. It is important for me to clarify that functional nutritionists do not diagnose or treat, we are there to support a patient and their health care team.

A Personal Journey with Vertigo and Migraines

Years ago, I was struggling with vertigo/dizziness and frequent migraines and was sent by my primary doctor to a neurologist for further evaluation. I am thankful I had health insurance and could afford this specialty doctor and was hoping for some answers with these symptoms. I had a brief appointment going over my health history and completed some basic neurological tests. A few labs were ordered and because there were no obvious red flags, I never heard from the doctor again. This was before I had a handy app on my phone that sent the results to me even before my doctor could review them. I wish I had better access to my health data at that point. What I would have seen was that my numbers were solidly in the prediabetic stage. Pre… meaning I was on my way to diabetes and was already experiencing symptoms.

Recognizing the Signs: The Impact of Pre-Diabetes

I look back on photos of myself at that time and I can see it in my face. Puffy, inflamed and not the picture of good health and I couldn’t figure out why. The ironic part was at that time I was in the middle of training for my third half marathon. Meaning, I was running many, many miles many days a week and still had inflammation. Have you ever heard of the saying “you can’t exercise yourself out of a bad diet?” But because I am a consistent user of meal planning calendars and still have those records, I can tell you exactly what our dinner meals were at that time and they were what is probably considered fairly healthy by most people. I can now say that these healthy meals would have been healthy for some, but not for someone marching toward diabetes.

The Search for Solutions: Conventional and Functional Approaches

Many more years went by and I continued having the same symptoms. I was desperate at this point and ready for any prescription I could be given so I sought out another neurologist. I ended up seeing another conventional doctor that was covered by my insurance, but this time one that had the sense about her to ask about all my symptoms, not just my main complaints. Before prescribing me a prescription I was hoping for, she asked a few simple yet profoundly helpful questions, “how is your sleep, have you ever tried a magnesium supplement and have you tried reducing or eliminating your dairy consumption?” Those questions prompted me to do some research: migraines and dairy consumption, magnesium deficiency and quality of sleep as it related to headaches. More research lead me to learning about blood sugar issues which led me to a million other questions about health and nutrition which led to where I’m at today, vertigo free with a significant reduction in unexplained migraines and no longer headed toward diabetes. The questions the doctor asked me were not conventional. The conventional approach would have been to diagnose and treat, often with a prescription. I am so thankful she took the time to dig deeper, caring about the root cause of my migraines.

The Comprehensive Care of Functional Nutrition

A functionally trained practitioner would have been trained to look at the whole picture from the beginning (diet, lifestyle, sleep habits, health history, possible stress and toxin exposure, nutritional imbalances, etc.).  Through a functional lens, there are many tools to try to help support someone like me without jumping to medication or writing off the symptoms I was having. Integrative and functional medicine and nutrition is a growing and important field especially given the chronic lifestyle diseases we have in our country.  Even people like me who have tried their best to have good health over the years can get lost chasing down doctors and appointments and advice from various professionals. It doesn’t have to be like that. 

Learning and Growing with Functional Nutrition

I learned and practice the saying “when you know better you do better” and that’s exactly where I’ve been for years now. I’m happy to continue educating myself, sharing the healthy food and lifestyle habits that I have learned and stuck with and perhaps little bits along the way can help you, too. Just because something like diabetes “runs in the family,” doesn’t mean that is the path you have to take.

Cheers to good health,

Christina