• You’re done feeling tired & sluggish all day long.

• You feel hormonally imbalanced.

• You feel achy and have headaches.

• You want more energy. Period.

• You’re tired of feeling bloated or gassy after meals.

• You’re looking to resolve your symptoms, not get a quick fix.

• You’re concerned about having or managing a chronic disease.

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is an evolution in medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms.

Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and examining the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic diseases. In this way, functional medicine supports each individual’s unique expression of health and vitality.

Why Do We Need Functional Medicine?

Our society is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, dementia, autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, and troublesome conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. Patients’ treatment for these and other chronic conditions is often inadequate. This is due, in part, to:

• Focus on acute care. The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care—the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. The acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methods and tools to prevent and treat complex, chronic diseases.
• The gap between research and practice. The way many doctors practice isn’t up-to-date with new research. The gap between emerging research in the basic sciences and its use in medical practice is enormous—a few decades or more—particularly in complex, chronic illnesses.
• Shortfalls in training. Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic diseases and apply nutrition, diet, and exercise strategies to treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients.

How Is Functional Medicine Different?

Functional medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic diseases. Hallmarks of a functional medicine approach include:

• Patient-centered care. Functional medicine focuses on patient-centered care, promoting health as a positive vitality beyond the absence of disease.
• An integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with
  both internal (mind, body, and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
• A combination of best medical practices. Functional medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what are sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, food detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.

What is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach?

According to the Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, “Health and Wellness Coaches partner with clients seeking self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values, which promote health and wellness and, thereby, enhance well-being. In the course of their work health and wellness coaches display unconditional positive regard for their clients and a belief in their capacity for change, and honoring that each client is an expert on his or her life, while ensuring that all interactions are respectful and non-judgmental.”

What does it mean to work with you as a Health Coach?

I respectfully work with you to reach your highest health potential in a way that honors your time, goals, and values. When we work together, your goals guide our time together. Our coaching sessions can be via video chat or phone, depending on your preference.

Six in ten adults in the US have a chronic disease and four in ten adults have two or more according to the CDC.

Our current healthcare model is a sick care model. Doctors do not yet have enough time to counsel people on nutrition, lifestyle modifications, activity levels, stress, supplements, etc. This is where individualized functional medicine can help! I have more time for personal interactions, which can be key to creating sustainable change.  I also know you are the expert in your own care. We follow your lead so that changes become sustainable lifestyle choices.