CERTIFIED NUTRITIONIST    •    
BOARD-CERTIFIED IN HOLISTIC NUTRITION® 
   •    CERTIFIED FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE PRACTITIONER

Transformational Approach/Process

At Fortitude Functional Nutrition we spend quality time with clients, listening to their histories, struggles and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle choices, including food, exercise, stress management and emotional well-being. On a deeper level, we determine how the biochemistry of the body interacts with nutrients, hormones, and vitamins, identifying deficiencies and surpluses, as well as addressing chemical processes in the body that may be defective or under/over-functioning.
Functional nutrition is highly personalized. It identifies specific factors that are contributing to a given collection of symptoms. As we dig deeper, we utilize functional testing to identify issues unique to the individual client. The human body is an extraordinarily complex system. By addressing it with functional nutrition, we are essentially putting the body in a place where it can help repair itself.
Book FREE Virtual Appt. Here 

5-R's Phased Approach

A properly functioning digestive system is critical to good health. In fact, problems with your gastro-intestinal (GI) tract can cause more than just stomach aches, gas, bloating, or diarrhea. GI issues may underlie chronic health problems that seem unrelated to digestive health, including weight gain, hair loss or thinning, autoimmune conditions, skin problems, chronic fatigue, and heart disease (to name a few). We also use the 5-R’s Phased Approach (or Process) that the Institute of Functional Medicine refers to as the Five “R” Framework and labs may refer to as the 5R Treatment Protocol. The elements of our 5R-phased approach are described briefly below:

Remove

Remove stressors. Get rid of offenders negatively affecting the environment of the GI tract including allergic or intolerant foods, biotoxins, parasites, and problematic bacteria and yeast.

Replace

Replace digestive secretions to restore proper digestion. Supplement for proper digestion that may be compromised by food choices, medications, diseases or other factors.

Repopulate

Recolonization with healthy, beneficial bacteria. Supplementation and foods that contain probiotics, along with prebiotics, help re-establish the proper microbial balance.

Repair

Help repair damage to the gut by supplying key nutrients that are often in short supply within a compromised gut.

Rebalance

Address whole-body health and lifestyle choices. Sleep quality, stress levels, work-life balance, and social support will all be assessed. Any imbalances can negatively affect the GI tract.

Adjusting, Based on Client Response

The client is monitored and tracked, and if showing improvement our CONQUER IT NOW HEALTH PROGRAM is working. If not, then more key contributing factors will be addressed and other advanced functional tests can be completed. Throughout our program we continue to fine-tune each client’s protocol until we conquer the client’s health goals.

Why a Functional Medicine Questionnaire:

Imagine that somehow last winter your backyard garden had a spill of gasoline and you didn’t know about it. In the spring your seedlings do not take root and grow, leaving you wondering “what’s wrong with these seedlings”? If a botanist looked at a plant and saw the leaves were turning brown, they would not just spray paint the leaves green again. The botanist would look at the stems, the roots, and the soil for information which may provide the healing solution. This is how our functional approach works. That’s why a “Big Picture” history is so important on each client.
Your current state of health and symptoms are an accumulation of actions, events, and environmental influences that have taken place over the course of your entire life. Events in your distant past, even your childhood years, may provide clues to solving the puzzle and identifying the root cause. Though we may not think so, events that occurred before or at birth may play a role. Scientists are discovering that our genes and the way they are expressed are influenced by what our ancestors may have experienced several generations ago. In fact, this discovery has spawned a whole new scientific discipline – epigenetics – to understand how our nutrition, lifestyle, environment, and events in our daily life influence gene expression.

The value of the Functional Medicine Timeline

As an intake tool for organizing your history chronologically, the Functional Medicine LivingMatrix™ Timeline is a graphical representation that allows us to identify factors that predispose, provoke, and contribute to pathological changes and dysfunctional responses with each client. In this way, Julie Olson will be able to view temporal relationships among events which can reveal cause-effect relationships that might otherwise go unnoticed. 
By covering the period from preconception to the present, the timeline reflects the connection between your whole lifespan to your current state of health. Once you see your personal timeline, you will have a much better understanding of why the date entries we ask for (all symptoms, illnesses, conditions, and full family and health history) are a very important part of the process. By documenting the actions, events, and environmental influences that have occurred in your life it allows for the construction of meaning and a “Big Picture” view of how your body got to where it is today.

"Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything.”

~Leonardo da Vinci

The Functional Medicine LivingMatrix™ Report is
Organized in 3 Sections:

Your Story

Organize the story of your pathogenesis into “antecedents, triggers, and mediators” on the timeline

7-Core Imbalances

The Living Matrix contains what is considered to be the “seven potential core imbalances” that may underlie any health problem

Lifestyle Factors

These are areas which you have control over and can modify to support healing and rebalancing of your health

Section 1:

In re-telling your story, LivingMatrix  enables you to easily document the unfolding phenomena that led to ill health.  Something which typically happens over many years.  We organize this information on your timeline into three main categories.
Antecedents are any factors that predispose the patient to being unhealthy. These could be genetic or environmental (nutrition, physical fitness, etc.).
Triggers are any factors that provoke the signs and symptoms of a condition. Some examples are infection, trauma, environmental toxins, or allergic, intolerant or sensitive foods.
Mediators are any factors that contribute to clinical changes and dysfunctional responses. These mediators can include biochemical factors like hormones, or they might be psychosocial factors, like the client’s thoughts and beliefs.

Section 2:

The Functional Medicine LivingMatrix contains what the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM) considers to be the “seven potential core imbalances” that may underlie any health problem. By filling out the questionnaire, each client will create their own health matrix. These include:
Assimilation includes digestion, absorption, respiration, and the gut microbiome.
Defense & Repair refers to immunity, inflammation, and infection.
Energy deals with energy regulation and mitochondrial function.
Biotransformation & Elimination involves toxicity and detoxification.
Transport describes the cardiovascular and lymphatic systems.
Communication is comprised of neurotransmitters, endocrine, and immune messengers.
Structural Integrity encompasses everything from subcellular membranes to musculoskeletal structure.

Section 3:

Our approach connects the dots between imbalances and symptoms, delving into the root causes – which is an integral part of our program and helps us tailor each client’s lab recommendations, personalized protocols, customized meals plans and targeted supplement programs.


Get Your LivingMatrix Report

Put the pieces of your health puzzle together so you can conquer your health today!
GET STARTED
695 S. Colorado Blvd
Suite 340
Denver, CO 80246

(720) 580-2078
© Copyright 2023 - Fortitude Functional Nutrition 
All Rights Reserved
userchart-barsbicycle linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram