Why I Became an FDN-P
Like many career paths, my journey to becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® practitioner is not a straight line. While I have always valued the part food played in our lives, and studied nutrition in college, it wasn’t until 2004 that it really hit home for me personally.
In 2004, I went to my doctor to for my annual checkup and blood draw. A few weeks later, she called to inform me the blood work looked normal except for the marker ANA, which was borderline.
“What is ANA?” I asked. The doctor informed me was an autoimmune marker.
“What does this mean?” I asked. She responded that it can suggest an autoimmune disease. Next, she said there is nothing I can do right now, but sit tight and see what happens.
SEE WHAT HAPPENS
See what happens? I wondered what this meant for me and my health down the road.
It didn’t feel right to just sit tight while my body was working on developing a potential disease.
I now know THIS IS NOT OKAY! And, I had an alternative.
More than 12 years later, I learned to cultivate health rather than support disease. But, in the traditional medical model, where doctors are trained to diagnose and treat conditions and diseases, what my doctor told me was standard procedure for the wait and see paradigm.
TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
How well is the traditional medical model working for you?
We live in a system where more than 125 million Americans, or 50% of all adults, have at least one chronic condition, such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, obesity, arthritis, glaucoma, and heart disease.
Nearly half of this group has two or more chronic conditions.
To manage these chronic illnesses, 60% of American adults are taking prescription drugs. 15% of these people are taking 5 or more prescription drugs every day and this number is climbing.
Do people get better on these meds? No.
Their symptoms might abate, but the disease does not go away. Furthermore, the condition gets worse because the root cause has never been addressed.
On top of that, the medications bring side effects that inevitably cause more symptoms and disease. What a bleak picture!
THE SOLUTION
The solution? Promoting health rather than disease.
This requires lifestyle tweaks and mindset shifts!
We are dealt specific cards in the form of DNA handed down from our parents. These genes determine only 10-20% of our long term health outcome.
The remaining 80-90% is determined by the choices we make!
This is why FDN is so exciting to me. I feel empowered to control my health!
Sure, I feel a big responsibility to strive for my best health. Living my best self enables me to be present for loved ones and to fulfill my life’s purpose.
FDN
In the FDN world, we have no interest in diagnosing or treating a specific condition or disease.
Instead, we have proven in thousands of cases that general principles of health building can outperform specific treatments. So, we work non-specifically on everything.
What this means for you is we investigate underlying causes of your unwanted condition(s) including lifestyle choices, the environment, and inborn and acquired weak links in metabolism. Nobody has your history, biochemistry, dysfunction, imbalances, deficiencies, stressors, and point-of-view so we don’t assume there is one standard solution to help you. In fact, what works for one person may not work for the next person and may even make a third person worse!
So, it does not matter if you have an elevated ANA, diabetes, allergies, joint pain, headaches, multiple sclerosis, hashimoto’s or any other autoimmune disease or condition, GI discomfort, pain, constipation, diarrhea, eczema, anxiety, depression, and the list goes on…All these conditions indicate your body is out of balance and inflamed.
As a health detective, I help you assess and then address inflammation, hormonal balance, gut health, detoxification capacity, immune function, digestion, energy metabolism, and neurotransmitter production and balance.
The good news is by staying true to the FDN health building principles, strict application, and trusting the process, we can help 100% of the people we work with, regardless of the unwanted health condition(s.)
I also teach you self-care skills so you learn to listen to your own body and don’t need me anymore. In turn, this motivates you to live to your highest potential.
Are you willing to sit tight and wait and see OR are you ready to act now and live the rest of your life with energy and passion?!