Meet Lauren: What is an FDN Practitioner?
My health journey has been nothing short of just that….a journey. What started as a way to get out of my postpartum darkness transitioned into a full time career change fueled by the determination to help as many women rediscover themselves again (my ultimate passion!)
I started my one on one coaching business four years ago because I truly fell in love with nutrition. Nutrition changed my life. I went from being a postpartum mama staring at a bottle of anti depressants desperately searching for light, to a mom who slowly started coming back to life the moment she changed what she was eating on the daily. I found myself finding joy in the little things, feeling confident enough to date my husband again, and being a more present mom. Nutrition changed how I felt mentally, emotionally, and physically. It became so much less about looking good and so much more about feeling good.
It all started with a nutrition certification, then a personal training certification, followed by a macronutrient certification. These three certifications combined helped me to jumpstart my 1:1 coaching business which now has helped countless women and men finally create a sustainable healthy lifestyle coupled with results they had been wanting for YEARS (does it get any better than that!?).
While I absolutely love the continued work that I get to do within my one on one nutrition and fitness clients, I knew I wanted more. As my health journey continued to progress, I wanted my business to as well. While I knew so much about nutrition prior to this new venture, I wanted to know more. I wanted to have ALL the answers. I wanted transformational, life changing answers and I knew the only way to have this information was to incorporate functional testing into my offering.
After years of prayers, saving, and feeling God's pull that this was the best next step, I signed up for FDN. It has been the most thorough and humbling process I have been through. Prior to starting my own business I was in medical sales for 11 years and this training trumped everything I did in those 11 years (and I even sold into the operating room). I worked through 7 oral practicals dissecting case study results and creating healing protocols with mentors who have been doing this for years. I also got to do my own lab testing and it was beyond eye opening (will be sharing this as well!). Needless to say there were still many changes that I needed to make to ultimately feel my best. That knowledge now gave me a super power that I didn’t have before which is what I want for you. It was preparation in the best of ways!
So let's break this down……
What is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner?
A Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner is looking for healing opportunities to promote balance and restoration in the body through functional labs. We will run specific functional labs to get a greater understanding of any and all dysfunction and imbalances occurring within your body. We will then take this result data and clinically correlate it to all the symptoms you are currently experiencing so that we can determine where healing needs to occur in order to relieve you of your daily symptoms while turning dysfunction back into function. We then create a 90 day healing protocol that will include diet, lifestyle, and supplement recommendations in order to give your body exactly what it needs in order to come back to a place of safety and optimal functioning.
How is this different from seeing my doctor?
Anytime that a physician orders lab testing they usually are doing it for the intent to diagnose or treat (for insurance to cover the test it has to be diagnostic in nature). They will read the results and most of the time they might tell you that your results are normal (when in reality their ranges are off…stay tuned for more information on this). If your results are not normal, they will usually give you a prescription to treat the results on the test that were out of range or they might give you medication to relieve you of your symptoms (both of these potentially causing more side effects). The issue with this method is that symptoms are not normally the problem, they are the result of the problem. They manifest due to dysfunctions happening further upstream. When we just treat the results and do not look further upstream at other imbalances that could be causing the dysfunction we are missing the healing opportunity. Doctors unfortunately just do not have a lot of training on nutrition (which is about to change!) so they usually will just refer you to the hospital nutritionist and send you on your way. A FDN approach uses the test results as clues, but looks further upstream as to determine what caused the symptom to start with so that we can tackle the real reason you feel the way you do. The healing protocol is then designed to heal the ENTIRE body, not just one specific symptom.
What types of labs can you run?
I have access to running so many different lab options, but to gain the best understanding of what healing opportunities we need to target I recommend.
Stress and Hormone Panel: This includes cortisol testing, DHEA (the counter balance to cortisol), the steroid sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone), melatonin, and SigA (gives insight into gut health and the immune system)
Metabolic Wellness Profile: This gives insight into protein digestion, fat digestion, potential liver congestion (which includes detoxification pathways), and oxidative stress.
Mucosal Barrier Assessment: This gives insight into the mucosal barrier in the small intestine which houses our immune system and gut. This tests for zonulin (the tight junctions that can lead to leaky gut), histamine (inflammation), and DAO (the counter balance to histamine).
GI Map: This gives insight into the environment and health of the microbiome and gut. This test includes all types of bacteria, parasites, pathogens, fungi, viruses, and intestinal health markers.
Mediator Release Test (AKA Food sensitivity testing): This tests for 170 common foods, chemicals, and additives that you could be sensitive to. Food sensitivities do not have to be a forever thing as many of them develop due to the toxic load on the gut. This can help to relieve symptoms and be reintroduced after the healing process has been initiated.
I absolutely love what this certification offers as it is truly all about what YOUR body needs. Nutrition and lifestyle changes have the power to transform your life and your body. It has the power to give you back your life. Stop normalizing the symptoms you experience on a daily basis and attributing them to aging or your season of life. For every woman who has not felt seen by her doctor (this was me, that story is coming!) I am sorry. You deserve better. I hope this provides you encouragement that the way you feel isn’t normal and it's your body crying out for help.
I am in the process of getting all of my logistical steps set up, but will be accepting a small number of clients shortly (I can only take a small number at a time to provide the highest level of support). If you are interested, feel free to click the link below to learn more about my programs and join my waitlist. This will keep you up to date on when new client openings are available. I would love to chat in more detail about your specific journey. Your best self is a healing journey away!