Andrea Nakayama’s Field Guide: An Excerpt From Our Functional Nutrition Certification Program

Practitioners striving for clinical and business success often ask me if there’s a protocol that I follow for each of my clients, or a diet that I recommend for everyone. I’m here to share my secrets for success with you, and I’ll be doing just that in the Field Guide to Functional Nutrition ebook.

Click here to download the free Field Guide to Functional Nutrition ebook now!

The foundation of Functional Nutrition

Practicing Functional Nutrition has several key facets that I’ll reveal throughout the Guide. One feature I want you to consider right from the start is that it’s all about bioindividuality and finding unique solutions for each client. This is what Dr. Jeffrey Bland, the father of Functional Medicine, calls the N-of-1 experiment—where each patient is their own “control”.

Bioindividuality rules

In Functional Nutrition, as in thinking of each patient as an N-of-1 experiment, there’s no one-size-fits all approach. That means, ‘no’, there is not one protocol I follow for each and every client that walks in the doors of our clinic. Yet we do need some place to start, right?

It can be so difficult to know where to begin when bioindividuality rules.

How to navigate complex cases

Working with difficult cases is simultaneously intriguing, frightening and frustrating. And while you know you’ll be able to help more people if you can work with complex health issues, it can be anxiety-provoking as well. It’s easy to feel lost when you don’t have a system that works for all your clients and to find yourself continually on the hunt for that protocol that will work for everyone (or everyone who has X, Y, or Z condition). I call this the Quick-Fix Trap!

So, are there things you should be doing with all of your clients even if they are each unique and bioindividuality rules? Many of the coaches and clinicians who join the Functional Nutrition Alliance community ponder questions like these:

• Should I always introduce fermented foods to my clients?

• Should I do so before removing problematic foods or during the process of elimination?

• At what point should I address their water intake?

Systems that make complexity manageable

As I’ve established in the Field Guide to Functional Nutrition ebook and stated just above (but cannot say enough), one-size-never-fits all. But while there may not be one dietary approach that works for all, there are principles and frameworks to follow that do allow us to step out of the vast unknown and into systems that work. They’re functional systems (meaning they DO work!).

This is exactly what I share in my free ebook that I don’t want you to miss. I reveal the key Terms, Tips, Tools and Principles that you need to implement with each and every client (and the most common Traps practitioners make that cause them to miss these important concepts!)

Elevate your practice with a Functional Nutrition certification

There aren’t protocols that will work for everyone, but there are systems that will teach you how to work with each client who is seeking your help and support.

The systems I’ve created have allowed me and my team to help thousands of people who couldn’t find relief anywhere else. We’ve become known as the “last, best stop” on our client’s journey, and I want the same for you.

If you want to learn the principles that work for every client, so you too can become the “last stop” on your client’s journey, click the link below to get your free copy of the Field Guide to Functional Nutrition. From there, consider continuing your education with Full Body Systems, our Functional Nutrition certification and comprehensive training program in the science and art of the practice. I doubt you’ll be sorry you did!

As coaches and clinicians, we all want to be the one to solve our clients’ issues. We want to be the one who finds the underlying cause, so that when we remove it (or them) the client truly feels better.

By: Andrea Nakayama, FxNA Founder & Functional Medicine Nutritionist

Functional Nutrition Alliance provides the comprehensive online Functional Nutrition training in the Science & Art of the Functional Nutrition practice. Learn to address the roots of your clients’ suffering with client education, diet & lifestyle modifications.