Diagnostic Tests
I see my clients and their issues through a unique, Functional Nutrition, lens.
Western medicine tends to run a series of tests to name the ailment (diagnose) and from that prescribe treatment (drugs, surgery, sometimes – rarely – vitamins…) Yes, I’m familiar with the many ailments my clients suffer from. But I’m no walking encyclopedia of diagnoses.
Why? Everything is connected to everything; anything can cause anything. In functional nutrition, we explore all symptoms, labs if available, a detailed health history, current pattern, and design an individualized Clinical Nutrition Program.
I was taught, like most nutritionists, to give certain supplements and adjust diet depending on the ailment. Magnesium can mitigate constipation (but not always)—even if most of us are deficient. Probiotics (and even fermented foods) are often helpful in boosting immunity (but again, not always). Vitamin C can help with “the flu” but…
Practicing Functionally is NOT about simply matching a symptom to a possible remedy.
Rote memorizing X supplement at Y dose for Z symptom causes healthcare professionals to miss the patterns that indicate the underlying cause. It’s easier to prescribe a harsh remedy that understand the physiology causing the problem and work with a client to rebalance.
There is a better way.
Symbiosis… Let food meet physiology
Symbiosis is the concept of mutually beneficial interactions between two organisms living in close proximity. For example, yellow tang fish clean sea turtles in the warm waters of Hawai’i that might hinder movement or even create infection.
Humans have symbiotic relationships with certain bacteria in the gut—the microbes that help us digest certain foods, produce nutrients like vitamin K that is vital to get calcium into bones and butyric acid that feeds the liver and brain.
But there’s another symbiotic relationship that we need to understand in order to resolve unwanted symptoms—the relationship between food and physiology. Or, more specifically, the relationship between the specific foods you’re eating, or the toxic chemicals and metals in and around you, even pollen or mold, and the reaction of your unique physiology.
We are all different!
Functional: "THE WHY" — why do you have symptoms?
WHY do my joints ache?
WHY don’t I have energy?
WHY am I feeling so bloated? Not pooping? Pooping too much?
To practice Functionally, and find the true roots of your suffering, a practitioner must understand not only that a client has eczema, but also why she has eczema.
Is her unique body rejecting the supposedly innocuous (and supposedly healing) avocado she’s been eating?
Is her recent divorce causing a spike in cortisol that’s wreaking havoc on her hormones and showing up on her skin? (And if so, is there a way to use food as medicine to guide her back to balance?)
Is something in his environment overloading his liver and showing up on his skin?
To answer those questions, and help you feel better—we need to understand the relationship between food and physiology; the relationship between organs and systems; the relationship with herbs, essential oils…
We need to understand not just what nutrients do, but how they do it, because that leads to where and why they will behave in any one unique individual.
A recent client came to me with a report from her doctor that she’s anemic. She eats an ancestral diet high in animal protein and lots of leafy greens—the two greatest sources of iron, how could she be anemic? These should provide the iron that her body needs, but in her case, they aren’t. Why not?
Without evaluating digestive patterns, a quick question about heavy menstrual cycles, zero diet records (enough vitamin C? Too much?)… this individual was prescribed iron supplements and felt worse.
Start with simple
A functional look at routine tests:
IMPORTANT: A lab’s reference range includes 95 percent of all people who are tested by that lab.
Do you believe that 95 percent of the population are healthy?
A Functional Nutritionist knows how to look at relationships; to “read between” the in-range, out of range lines; to look at patterns—what is a healthy range and what is not. Doing so is important!
If the doctor’s office can only say “all’s fine”, and you don’t feel fine, then they aren’t making the most of these tests.
Sure, I could request $1000s in specialized testing and I was taught how to do that.
EXPENSIVE TESTS MAY NOT BE NECESSARY!
At least not at first if full panels are run. At a minimum, get these; ALL must be fasting, not even coffee:
A Comprehensive Metabolic Panel plus Uric Acid, GGT, Hs-CRP, and ESR tell a lot about anti-oxidant status, sugar handling, hydration, electrolyte imbalances, and underlying inflammation that may be pushing up blood pressure, cholesterol, causing sugar imbalances, and affecting other organs. Routine diagnostic tests can suggest whether that inflammation just started or has been there a while—whether it might be a low-grade infection, parasites, or something else.
A Complete Blood Count, especially the size and color-intensity of red blood cells, can be suggestive of nutrient deficiencies. To absorb iron we need a functional digestive tract, we need other nutrients. To use it in making hemoglobin we need B vitamins. A copper deficiency can masquerade as an iron deficiency.
The Western Medicine view of a Lipid Profile (cholesterol) is “the lower the better.” But below total cholesterol of 180 and we begin to see increased rates of neurologic diseases and cancer.
And please add Vitamin D.
These basics tell the story, for starters. Many physicians like to run abbreviated panels; let’s do good medicine and get the complete, basic picture at least once annually. These tests are usually covered by insurance as an annual wellness exam if recommended by an MD or DO.
Test further if basic tests show indicators of malfunction or deficiencies—after inspecting them functionally (this means that the situation is complicated—you keep running tests and aren’t getting answers). BUT if correcting nutrition based on basic labs helps you feel better, then more testing isn’t necessary—you feel better, right?
Even better news
Neuropathy
Well… this is a personal story by Marie. Went to Whittier to pick salmon berries with dear friends. Next thing I know, I’m stumbling like a drunken fool and had to lean on Captain Jim. As a ship’s captain he knows much about health considerations and reads people well. Good man that he is, he took me home and stayed there to make sure I was OK. I was, sort of. The next morning I asked him to please do a Nutrition Response Testing session on me. Consider this: he’s bold and a ship’s captain who runs spill clean-ups out of Whitter AK when not halibut fishing. He knows the power of Nutrition Response Testing and boldly got to work (saying he “knew nothing”)
Here’s the beutiful bit:
With zero training, just my guidance,, Jm refined my program to help my 3-years-ago damaged brain. In just three days I felt great. I see improvement every day. He is officially “Dr. Captain Jim”
A few other friends are stepping in to support me with tools they believe will help. A few clients mentioned changes they noticed. When people show love and caring in amazing ways and I can hear them easily (not critism) this is why I do what I do. My team goes both ways. I love every one of my clients. You each bring me joy.
Marie
If you are married to naming the disease (diagnosis) get the fancy tests. That’s why we have 77,000 names for disease.
If you want results, keep it simple. Please. Basic blood tests hold a wealth of data for the professional who truly knows how to look beyond “high” or “low” or “you’re fine” when you don’t feel fine. Relationships.
With Nutrition Response Testing® we can find out WHY the body is complaining (symptoms). We can understand the imbalances and sources of stress on the body. We can create a specific whole foods, herbal, and/or homeopathic remedy to restore balance and health.
YOU will feel immensely better, quickly.