There has been a lot of talk in the past couple of years about “Functional Nutrition” and “Functional Medicine.” There are functional medicine doctors, functional nutritionists, and various training programs.
But what are functional nutrition and functional medicine? What is the difference? Is this just an overrated trend?
Functional Medicine
According to the Institute for Functional Medicine, “Functional medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.”
Functional medicine doctors are board certified doctors, who practice within the framework of “functional medicine.”
This means that a functional medicine doctor will usually take more time with each patient, carefully assessing the patient’s whole body. Their objective is to find the root cause of the patient’s symptoms, instead of just treating the symptoms alone.
Functional medicine doctors prescribe medicine, diagnose illnesses, and treat illnesses. They may or may not be covered by health insurance.
Functional Nutrition
Like functional medicine doctors, functional nutrition practitioners focus on root cause resolution. However, we do not diagnose, treat or prescribe.
Functional nutrition practitioners also use a systems-biology-based approach.
This means that we have an understanding of the body’s systems, how they are connected, and how they function.
We collect information from our clients about their health history and take the time to understand their health within the context of their story.
We educate our clients so that they can make specific dietary and lifestyle changes that will help them feel better.
Functional nutrition practitioners are part of our clients’ health care team.
We play a supportive role in helping to change the terrain, or the “soil” that the roots of their illnesses grew in so that it becomes healthy and vibrant.
Functional Nutrition is an Art
Although it may sound strange, functional nutrition is an art. Someone may come to me experiencing chronic acid reflux and they are tired of being on medication.
Instead of suggesting some herbal remedies or supplements that may help to soothe the reflux, we work on finding what factors are leading to their reflux in the first place.
As a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor, I take a comprehensive look at each body system, and some of the factors that I focus on include:
- Immune/inflammatory balance
- Oxidative stress
- Nutrition
- Hormones/neurotransmitters
- Environmental inputs
- Gastrointestinal health
I ask a lot of questions! This allows me to see patterns and to start connecting the dots in order to uncover the root cause of the symptoms. We can then put together a personalized plan of action.
“Personalized” is an important word in functional nutrition.
We start with the premise that each person is unique – their genetic makeup to their life experiences – everyone has a unique set of circumstances that have led them to where they are now.
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