{"id":18287,"date":"2021-03-11T05:47:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T00:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/functionalnutritionlab.com\/blog\/?p=1695"},"modified":"2025-08-28T14:52:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T14:52:15","slug":"functional-nutrition-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/blog\/functional-nutrition-in-practice","title":{"rendered":"Functional Nutrition in Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a recent discussion with some Full Body Systems graduates, I asked them to describe what nutrition means to them. Some answers identified the bioindividual approach to care that I teach in Full Body Systems\u2014to go slow and meet patients where they are with their needs for dietary change. And some others discussed nutrients directly\u2014like the power of bringing in a nutrient-dense green smoothie that helps clients actually feel the difference of a cleaner diet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My favorite response was a pure definition. Although brief, I think it encompasses how we look at the effects and interactions of the foods we eat throughout the entire body.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h4><b><i>Nutrition is the process of taking in food and using it for growth, metabolism, and repair.<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While that\u2019s a great definition of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nutrition<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Functional perspective requires us to look at and understand how <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growth, metabolism, and repair<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have different physiological requirements dependent on the individual. This is why a personalized approach to diet and lifestyle modification is key for our success and the future of healthcare. That\u2019s the work we do as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/functional-nutrition-counselor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Functional Nutrition Counselors<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today I want us to put aside the psychological aspects for the most part, the areas where we meet patients where they are in terms of execution of dietary change so that they can <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stick with it<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and see sustainable results. I always say that we <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cannot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> remove the psychological from the physiological, but in this blog, I want to consider the ways in which a client\u2019s \u201cstory\u201d impacts what their nutritional needs may be. This allows us to focus on some of the factors that influence bioindividual nutrition therapy.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The ATMs of Functional Nutrition<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s first consider what we call the ATMs in Functional Medicine. The ATMs are the <\/span><b>a<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ntecedents, <\/span><b>t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">riggers and <\/span><b>m<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ediators. They\u2019re what we need to understand when assessing a client&#8217;s history in relation to their nutrition and nutritional needs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I like to think of the ATMs as a person\u2019s \u201cstory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Antecedents<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may consider ancestry, alleles, or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to be part of a client\u2019s antecedents. Be sure to assess how these factors impact an individual&#8217;s ability to take <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> nutrition and utilize the food they eat. An example here would be a client with a known MTHFR polymorphism. Folate metabolism is, of course, an upstream factor to many downstream conditions such as fatigue, irritability, shortness of breath, and more. So this individual who has an MTHFR polymorphism, if expressed, could have difficulty getting their folate needs met and could benefit from eating more leafy greens, egg yolks (if tolerated), chicken liver and potentially taking a methylated folate supplement.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But hold on\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t think you have to know somebody\u2019s genetics to help them eat and obtain the nutrition the body needs for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growth, metabolism and repair<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You don\u2019t. I think of genetic testing as a backdrop. It&#8217;s like the wallpaper in the background, because, honestly, we don&#8217;t know if those single nucleotide polymorphisms, even when they appear as present on those reports, are turned \u201con\u201d or \u201coff.\u201d So read on, as there\u2019s so much more we can consider as part of a client\u2019s antecedents in our dietary recommendations.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What else? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An easy one to think about is lactose, which may bring us back to ancestry, but also to personal history. Some cultures (East Asian and West African, to name just a couple) have lactose intolerance after their young childhood while others (Northern Europeans) have more tolerance. The intolerance (meaning that the body does not naturally produce enough of the enzyme lactase to help digest and absorb the lactose) impacts what we might consider a \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d food. This means that we can&#8217;t say that a raw and pasteurized dairy is <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/bioindividuality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">good for <i>everybody<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because that (unfortunately) won&#8217;t be the case if they have a lactose intolerance, or if they have other immune factors that prevent them from healthfully receiving the nutrients in that raw dairy.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>This example helps us to see that it\u2019s not always about the food. Instead it\u2019s more about what the body can <\/i><\/b><b>do<\/b><b><i> with the food.&nbsp;<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Factors like birth order and mom\u2019s prenatal nutrition may also be antecedents that better help us understand each individual\u2019s need, while mom and dad\u2019s health histories can play a role as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Triggers<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Triggers will also impact the recommendations that we make. Triggers are the things that happened between birth and this moment in time that may impact dietary needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can assess if somebody is on any drugs, any medications that act as \u201cdrug muggers,\u201d meaning that they are \u201cmugging\u201d or depleting nutrients from the body through their pharmacological actions. These can easily become biological deficiencies. Sometimes these deficiencies lead to signs, symptoms and can even contribute to a diagnosis of their own. A good example here is the pharmaceutical drug Metformin (used for diabetic treatment), which robs the body of B12, a nutrient needed for the well-being of red blood cells, brain health and nerve function. Or the popular statin drugs (prescribed for lipid management), which decrease the body\u2019s utilization of CoQ10, a nutrient necessary for cellular and mitochondrial function.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, repeat antibiotics throughout someone\u2019s life span are going to impact their microbial terrain and diversity, making probiotic foods and even supplements a potential part of our therapeutic nutritional recommendations.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even pregnancy depletes the body of certain essential fats because a fetus requires those essential fats to support the development of the brain and nervous system. So mamma can become more depleted dependent on the number of pregnancies she\u2019s had.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Triggers also include every infection and insult that may have altered your client\u2019s terrain&#8211;from a car accident to food poisoning to a significant life event. Triggers also can include your client\u2019s past relationship to food itself and to their body. (This is where the psychological <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be considered as physiologically relevant. You don\u2019t want to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the trigger!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember that nutrition is, by definition, the process of taking in food and using it for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growth, metabolism, and repair<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Yet, based on just a few examples we can see that the needs of an individual to obtain growth, metabolism, and repair can be quite different.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out the completed Matrix where I mapped this same topic&#8211;Functional Nutrition&#8211;on my podcast, the 15-Minute Matrix. In this blog, we\u2019re focused on just the left side of the Matrix (those ATMs).<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/15minutematrix.com\/57-mapping-nutrition-with-andrea-nakayama\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1701 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/15MM-IG-NUT-THER-164-square.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"427\" height=\"427\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s keep going\u2026 Let\u2019s think about <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nutrition<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through the lens of working with a child who has Crohn&#8217;s or Ulcerative Colitis. Despite eating a healthy diet, they\u2019re still experiencing \u201cfailure to thrive\u201d (i.e., little growth) because they can&#8217;t utilize the nutrients they are taking in. In these cases, there&#8217;s physiological repair that needs to happen in order for growth to occur. (And remember, growth is one of the main purposes of nutrition.) This is where we think through the clinical or physiological lens that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">repair<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may be prioritized before <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growth or metabolism<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be achieved. We shift our focus to one where tissue and mucosal restoration are paramount in our nutritional interventions.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Mediators&nbsp;<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mediators are my favorite part of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/functional-nutrition-matrix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Matrix<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;and of clinical practice. They\u2019re what put the client back in the \u201cdriver\u2019s seat\u201d of their own health because they recognize what makes them feel better and what makes them feel worse. Mediators also help us to understand the truth behind the saying, \u201cone person&#8217;s food is another person&#8217;s poison.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier I mentioned eggs as a main source of folate. They\u2019re also one of the best sources of nutrient choline. These two nutrients are critical for optimal nervous system function. However eggs are also a top inflammatory food.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What to do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personally, I have an inflammatory response to eggs. I\u2019ve learned, by understanding my mediators, that I can eat them inside of a paleo-style baked good on occasion, yet if I eat them regularly, or independent of the baking process (remember food is chemistry and the heat and cooking method will affect the protein structured differently), I will experience swelling and tightness in my hands and fingers.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helping a client or patient to identify their mediators is a journey. The body must be in a \u201cclear\u201d and \u201ccalm\u201d state to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">receive<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the messages and make the necessary connections. While this is one of the most gratifying parts of being a&nbsp;<\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/functional-nutrition-counselor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Functional Nutrition Counselor<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it is also a process that takes caring, empathy, real service and deep understanding.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nutrition is deeper work than a client can find in a handout or on the internet. As I&#8217;ve said, this is the work of a new paradigm of thinking where diet and lifestyle modification take their true place in the realm of clinical intervention, as we all know that they should. And this is work that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">we<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can and must do.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately it comes down to a better understanding of where food meets physiology, or as I like to think of it, the symbiosis between the two. And it\u2019s not just food, but all diet and lifestyle modifications, and how they meet and impact the physiological systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Related Blogs:<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/functional-nutrition-counselor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Functional Nutrition Counselor<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/functional-nutrition-matrix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Functional Nutrition Matrix<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/articles\/bioindividuality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Bioindividuality<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent discussion with some Full Body Systems graduates, I asked them to describe what nutrition means to them. Some answers identified the bioindividual approach to care that I teach in Full Body Systems\u2014to go slow and meet patients where they are with their needs for dietary change. And some others discussed nutrients directly\u2014like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[177,178],"class_list":["post-18287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epigenetics","tag-antecedents","tag-triggers"],"_yoast_wpseo_sitemap-include":null,"_yoast_wpseo_canonical":null,"_yoast_wpseo_redirect":null,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":null,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":null,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"[]","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":null,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":null,"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Functional Nutrition in Practice - Functional Nutrition Alliance","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Discover the importance of bioindividuality in nutrition as we explore how personalized dietary changes impact growth, metabolism, and repair. Learn about the Functional Nutrition approach with insights from certified nutrition counselors.","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Functional Nutrition in Practice","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.6 (Yoast SEO v25.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Functional Nutrition in Practice - Functional Nutrition Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the importance of bioindividuality in nutrition as we explore how personalized dietary changes impact growth, metabolism, and repair. 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