Functional Nutrition emphasizes the importance of high-quality foods and phytonutrient diversity to address clinical imbalances and move individuals toward the highest expression of health. An advanced nutrition assessment and a thorough Functional Medicine based history are used to develop a personalized therapeutic intervention that promotes optimal health and prevents diet and lifestyle-related disease.
Why we need Functional Nutrition:
The prevalence of complex, chronic diseases is escalating globally, from heart disease and diabetes to irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, mental illness, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders.
Chronic diseases are diet and lifestyle-related diseases and require dietary and lifestyle solutions. A major strength of Functional Nutrition is its focus on the molecular mechanisms that underlie disease, providing the basis for targeted, innovative solutions that can restore health.
The current healthcare system fails to take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or the ability of food, toxins, and other environmental factors to influence gene expression. The interaction between genes and environmental factors is a critical component in the development of chronic disease and plays a central role in the Functional Nutrition approach.
Most nutrition professionals are not adequately trained in integrating nutrition assessment at the molecular and cellular levels with emerging research in nutrition and nutritional genomics. These advanced practice skills are essential for preventing and managing today’s chronic disorders.
What distinguishes a Functional Nutrition Practitioner:
The Functional Nutrition Assessment offers an ABCD organizational approach to support the clinical analysis, and it allows for nutrition-related findings and clinical patterns to emerge. From the medical history, physical and laboratory exams, and a diet and lifestyle review, the Functional Nutrition Assessment improves the identification of insufficiencies/imbalances through the PFC-MVP model; representing Protein, Fat/ Oils, Carbohydrates, Minerals, Vitamins, and Phytonutrients.
The ABCD of Functional Nutrition:
Anthropometrics help to identify altered body composition patterns and abnormal vital signs
BioMarkers and functional laboratory findings uncover PFC-MVP nutrition insufficiencies and physiologic patterns linked to clinical imbalances
Clinical Indicators from the physical exam identify signs related to nutrition abnormalities that can be further explored through laboratory and functional assessments
Diet, Nutrition, and Lifestyle Journals explore daily or weekly food intake, PFC-MVP assessment, patterns of eating, cravings and habitual foods, and stress eating associations
Ancestral Nutrition
At Resilient Roots, we leverage the knowledge of our ancestral lineage to maximize outcomes for our clients. Looking back upon indigenous populations we see peoples who have lived long, healthy, happy lives devoid of what we have come to think of as common in our modern society. We utilize an ancestral perspective to ensure maximum nutrient density inline with our genetics to increase wellness and ensure thriving.
The Power of Ancestral Nutrition:
- Based on the knowledge of our evolutionary development
- Inline with our genetics
- Nutrient dense
- Whole foods
- Variety