What is functional nutrition?
Our bodies are incredible. An amazing network of systems (like the digestive system), organs (like the brain), tissues and cells and they all work together as one whole organism. When balanced and functional it is a beautiful thing but when things go out of balance our body is great at letting us know by communicating to us through symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, bloating, PMS, brain fog, gas, the list goes on and on.
Functional nutrition looks at the whole body and looks for those areas of imbalance, using the incredible power of nutrient dense, whole food to support the body’s proper function enabling it to restore balance and have you feeling your best.
There is no one size fits all approach to functional nutrition. Your body is as individual as your fingerprint and functional nutrition is about listening specifically to what your body needs right now and creating the support needed for you to live the life you want.
If you choose to work with me, initially I will ask to complete some paperwork:
An Initial Interview form
A Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire. This consists of over 300 questions and takes around 30 minutes to complete.
A four day food diary
A disclaimer to sign. The disclaimer helps to provide information around what I am certified to help you with.
Once these completed forms are returned to me, and during our initial interview together, I get to put my detective hat on, searching out clues in your health history and symptom burden. I will ask some detailed questions around your health journey and seek to understand all the factors contributing to your current health picture.
After this appointment the detective work continues as I analyse the data and consider all the information you shared with me. This helps me to narrow down what may be contributing to your current health picture.
During our functional assessment appointment, I will undertake to get information from your body about organ systems that are struggling and what nutrient support you might need.
This includes:
Taking your blood pressure and pulse
Palpating reflex points*. You will be asked to lay on your back on a therapy table, and your FNTP will request permission to touch you for the purposes of evaluation only. Using their knowledge of the innate connection between the nerve endings at skin level and the body's internal organs, your FNTP will ask you to rate the level of tenderness as they palpate the reflex point*. Most reflex points are throughout the torso, on your abdomen and rib cage.
The aim is to understand which organs are under-functioning and contributing to your body's overall dysfunction, never to hurt you. Your FNTP will encourage open communication at all times to ensure you are comfortable. If you are not comfortable with this part of the process, your FNTP can simply just work with the information they have collected from the forms and initial interview and make general recommendations.
Lingual Neural Testing. Using the results of the fact-finding and the initial examination, your FNTP will test several nutrients that you may wish to consider to assist your body's recovery. He or she will do this by asking you to place a small sample of a nutrient in your mouth. When the message from the nerve endings on your tongue (your taste buds) has travelled to your brain and out to your external nerve endings (around 15-30 seconds), they will re-test the reflex points that were most sensitive. You will be amazed at how the tenderness rating will change when your body senses the right nutrient to help it heal.
* Reflex points connect to the neuro-vascular and neuro-lymphatic pathways which surround every organ system in the body. When an organ is in stress, these pathways accumulate fluid around them (called venous or lymphatic congestion) to support healing. This congestion results in tenderness of the reflex point.
Description taken from NTA Australia website
From here I will give you clear recommendations linked directly to your health goals. I want to make sure you understand the reason for my recommendations and help set you up for success.
The best results will come from working with me on an ongoing basis. We don’t build dysfunction within our body quickly and it can take time to restore balance. This is no quick fix.
Follow up appointments can be anywhere from 2 - 8 weeks apart depending on your health picture and circumstances but ultimately I am working with you to get you to a point where you don’t need to see me anymore, reconnecting you with the life you want to live.