1. What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine addresses one of the key issues in healthcare today – the prevention and management of complex, chronic disease. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of healthcare 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 looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. They utilize the emerging research base to identify effective interventions, tailoring them to the unique needs of each individual in order to promote optimal health and wellness.
2. What is Nutritional Therapy?
Nutritional Therapy emphasizes the importance of nutrition – nutrient-dense foods, phytonutrient diversity, adequate hydration, nutrient digestion and assimilation, blood sugar balance and essential fatty acid balance – and lifestyle (proper sleep, healthy relationships, emotional balance and physical exercise) – to address clinical imbalances and move individuals toward the highest expression of health.
Nutritional therapists utilize an evidence-based, functional medicine approach to individual care – focusing on the body as a whole while seeking the root causes of health concerns, rather than simply addressing the symptoms – and aim at helping clients achieve their health and wellness goals.
Working in partnership with a trained nutritional therapist and functional medicine practitioner, clients make informed dietary and lifestyle choices that allow them to really be in charge of their own health and well-being.
3. What is a Registered Nutritional Therapist?
A BANT-member Registered Nutritional Therapist – a professional registered with the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) – is a graduate from a course accredited by the Nutritional Therapy Education Commission (NTEC), has the necessary training to understand the theory and practice of nutritional therapy and is qualified in both the science of nutrition as well as clinical practice.
4. How is a Nutritional Therapist different from other nutrition practitioners?
A Nutritional Therapist considers each individual to be unique and makes personalised nutrition and lifestyle recommendations rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Therefore, a Nutritional Therapist takes into account every client’s unique health history, lifestyle, eating habits and physiological function, in order to provide a fine-tuned nutritional and lifestyle program. No other nutrition practitioner or dietician uses this comprehensive, individual approach to nutrition.
Note: Nutritional Therapists never recommend nutritional therapy as a replacement for medical advice and always refer any client with ‘red flag’ signs or symptoms to their medical provider. They will also frequently work alongside a medical professional and will communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in the client’s care to explain any nutritional therapy programme that has been provided.
5. Who would benefit from Nutritional Therapy?
Nutritional Therapy is designed to serve people with a wide range of health concerns and wellness goals over a wide age range – whether they suffer from a specific condition (e.g. IBS, autoimmune disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, thyroid disease etc.), a collection of symptoms (e.g. weight gain, bloating, low energy, headaches, skin issues, seasonal allergies, body aches, etc.), or simply want to be healthier, Nutritional Therapy can benefit them.
6. What can I expect from a Nutritional Therapy & Functional Medicine consultation?
The nutritional therapy process involves the following steps:
Health Check Questionnaire:
Before the first consultation, the practitioner usually provides a health, diet and lifestyle questionnaire for the client to complete.
Initial Consultation:
This involves gathering information about a client’s current health concerns, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, medical history, family history, lifestyle, levels of physical activity, use of medication and supplements and diet.
Functional Evaluation:
Your practitioner looks “upstream” to identify the complex interactions in the client’s history, physiology and lifestyle that can lead to illness. This provides the practitioner with valuable clinical information about the body functions that require support.
These functions are related to:
- detoxification
- regulation of hormones and neurotransmitters
- immune system function and inflammatory responses
- transport and circulatory mechanisms
- digestion and absorption of nutrients and the health of the digestive tract
- how you produce energy
- structural integrity
Personalized Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan:
This is created based on the functional evaluation and an extensive evidence base for nutritional science and lifestyle medicine and aims to bring balance to the whole body.
Follow up:
Follow up consultations involve tracking and monitoring progress, making necessary adjustments to the personalized plan and providing additional support.