What is functional nutrition? | Functional nutrition plan

Modern nutritional science likes to pretend that it simplifies the age-old question of what’s for dinner tonight. In reality, most of us are more confused than ever. If you’re tired of struggling with conflicting advice about optimal eating plans, it’s time to embrace a different framework: functional foods.

But what is functional food? And how can you put it into practice? The answer may not be as complicated as you think.

What is functional food?

Functional nutrition is the practice of considering every aspect of health, diet and overall lifestyle when making nutritional recommendations. It aligns with the ideologies of functional medicine.

Functional medicine takes an approach to health care that considers how interconnected every part of the body is. This strategy attempts to look at the big picture of health by restoring physiological function.

Functional nutrition views symptoms as clues to addressing your primary health concerns, whether they are related to diet, disease, medications, lifestyle factors, exposure to toxins, antibiotic use, or other factors.

While standard health care attempts to suppress these symptoms with medication, functional nutrition and functional medicine see them as clues to understanding underlying issues in the body. By considering the impact of seemingly unrelated factors on health, functional nutritionists will create a holistic health plan that considers every aspect of health.

For these reasons, functional nutrition is never one-size-fits-all. Instead, it is a highly adaptable holistic health perspective that takes into account your unique situation to support healing at the cellular level.

Get your free guide to becoming a holistic nutritionist

Discover the important role of holistic nutritionists, what it takes to be successful as a holistic nutritionist, and how to build a lucrative, impactful career in the nutrition industry.

Functional Medicine vs. Functional Nutrition

Although the terms “functional medicine” and “functional nutrition” are often used interchangeably, they are not technically the same thing. Functional medicine is a broad medical approach that treats health conditions as part of the entire interconnected body system. Functional nutrition takes this a step further by emphasizing how food is a fundamental part of health. Functional nutrition focuses on eating habits, but also considers the other components of health and whether food may be part of the root cause.

The functional nutrition process

Clients come to healthcare providers with a variety of complaints, including inflammation and chronic diseases.

In most cases, a functional nutrition approach requires practitioners to follow a series of steps to determine which dietary changes will provide the most benefit to their client. While these steps can vary considerably, they typically include the following:

• Comprehensive evaluation of medical history
• Overview of organ systems
• Overview of medication and supplement history
• Overview of current eating and lifestyle habits
• Review of previous medical tests and results
• Nutrient test to measure possible deficiencies

With these results, a functional nutritionist will work to develop a customized program that targets the root cause of their client’s health issues. Program options may include suggestions for dietary changes, such as eliminating overly processed foods or entire food groups like gluten or dairy. Sometimes, taking a supplement to improve digestion or encourage the establishment of beneficial bacteria is recommended. Other times, they will teach their client how to manage lifestyle factors, such as learning how to manage stress or how to better manage their nervous system impulses.

In other words, it is generally outside the scope of a functional nutritionist to diagnose, prescribe, or treat their patients for specific conditions. Instead, their role is to look at all health issues with a holistic approach, educate patients about the ways in which their behaviors are interfering with optimal health, and make suggestions for improvement.

How to follow a functional nutrition strategy

Contrary to popular belief, there is no single functional food diet. Instead, the right dietary strategy for you is the one designed to address your specific health concerns.

However, there are some general principles that apply to almost everyone who wants to eat in a way that supports their body. The following principles outline what functional nutrition can look like for you on a personal level.

The five key principles for following a functional nutrition plan are:

Replenish your supply of essential nutrients

The components of your food are the building blocks of your entire body. Nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, essential fatty acids, probiotics, and complex carbohydrates are essential to keep your body functioning properly. By feeding it what it needs every day, you ensure that your system stays healthy.

Avoid toxic growing conditions

In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to know exactly what’s in your food. Products from factory farmed animals, GMO crops and products contaminated with pesticides all fill your digestive tract with substances that people weren’t exposed to 80 years ago, and the impact on your health can be extreme. Make sure you buy your food from places you can trust to ensure that every bite contains exactly what you expect and nothing more.

Stick to quality food

Just as the quality of the gas in your car makes a difference in how well you drive, the components in your food determine how well your body will function. When you fill up on heavily processed foods, you prevent yourself from getting all the nutrients you need, potentially compromising your system.

Prioritize gut health

Hippocrates told us that health begins and ends in the gut, and eating the world’s most nutritious diet won’t do you any good if your digestive system isn’t prepared to process it. More than 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, and when it’s not functioning properly, you’re at risk for infection, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, and hormone imbalances, many of which can be misdiagnosed as other conditions.

To take care of your gut, you need to keep it healthy with beneficial bacteria and prevent pathogens and undigested food from causing problems. Know the signs of intestinal permeability, irritable bowel syndrome, and other conditions so you can tell when something’s out of place.

Take care of your microbiome

Healthy digestion is not possible without a robust supply of beneficial microbes in your stomach and intestines. The human gut contains ten times more bacteria than all the cells that make up your body.

These bacteria are collectively called a microbiome, and they are responsible for a multitude of health processes that affect your immune system, mental health, memory formation, and your risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease. Making sure you eat foods packed with probiotics will keep your microbial levels high, which will help your immune system function as it should.

Starting a dialogue about your functional food diet

Let’s summarize: why is functional nutrition so powerful? It allows you to use food to support your body and set it up for optimal health. By recalibrating your relationship with food and thinking about the ways in which every aspect of your physical and emotional life is connected, you can shift your entire paradigm around food to make it easier to make healthy choices.

How do health professionals determine which functional nutrition strategy will make the most sense for their clients? Most use a “functional medicine matrix” to explore how a client’s medical history, lifestyle choices, and current diet may be contributing to their health problems.

In general, the importance of eating a variety of foods rather than a range of “foods” is emphasized. Functional nutritionists generally recommend eating a diet that is rich in nutrients and consists of whole foods that are low in processed ingredients.

Keep in mind that a functional food diet is not a one-time event. It is a dynamic process where you are continually experimenting with your diet and lifestyle, adjusting the variables until you find what works for you. Success comes from listening to your body and being aware of how it responds to different factors so that you can support it on an ongoing basis.

This level of ongoing dialogue is not always possible in the modern healthcare system, which is why it is so valuable to your health journey to seek advice from a functional nutrition expert.

Functional nutrition: the healthcare of the future for optimal health

Holistic thinking is gaining popularity in the medical world and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Functional nutrition offers answers to some of today’s most significant health issues. The approach of looking at individual health issues holistically can make a world of difference in your overall health and quality of life.

By taking the time to learn more about this paradigm shift, you can begin to support your body with nutrition and pursue optimal health.

Get your free guide to becoming a holistic nutritionist

Discover the important role of holistic nutritionists, what it takes to be successful as a holistic nutritionist, and how to build a lucrative, impactful career in the nutrition industry.