At the end of last year, I made a conscious commitment to myself to take my health seriously. In October I found out that I was pre-diabetic. I took things into my own hands and went Keto because I knew that eliminating carbs and sugars from my diet would help. It did and I was ecstatic but I still felt off. I was approached by a nurse with a functional healthcare practice to learn more about how their practice was different from a standard doctor. And now? I never want to go back to a normal doctor if I don’t have to.

Ok cool, but what is functional healthcare?

Functional Healthcare: The Healthcare That Actually Cares

I remember going to my primary care physician (PCP) and being significantly lighter and healthier than I am now and the first thing he told me was that I was overweight before I was prescribed the oldie phentermine. He didn’t ask what my nutrition or exercise consisted of–at the time I ate around 1000 calories and ran a minimum of 5 miles daily. There was no talk of lifestyle, what I did, how I felt. None of that.

When I went to my most recent PCP appointment, I had a full out anxiety attack fearing that my doctor would just tell me I was fat, prescribe something for that and then not follow up with me. My appointment didn’t go that way and this nurse practitioner that I saw was the first time that I felt like I had the space to speak about what was going on with me. And then I met Athena Nowell from STAT-Wellness.

Functional Medicine In A Nutshell

All doctors perform tests. Based on these tests is how they determine treatment. Traditional medicine treats the ailment whereas functional medicine treats the root of the issue. For example, last year I found out that I was pre-diabetic which was a shock for me because I generally don’t eat a lot of carbs of sugar. When I went to STAT-Wellness and had some further testing done, we found out that the inflammation in my body was 11 and the healthy average is around 1. So my treatment plan included changes in my lifestyle to decrease the inflammation in my body.

Image courtesy of The Institute for Functional Medicine

Another huge difference that functional medicine practitioners have is that they include more information than just what the tests show. While tests have the ability to reveal a lot of information about our bodies, they don’t include the information that our lifestyles add too. This is important because if a true change is going to be made in our health, it needs to be an entire lifestyle change for it to stick.

My Experience With STAT-Wellness

Everything about STAT-Wellness is different. Prior to your appointment, you complete a questionnaire about your lifestyle. It asks about your stress levels, general home life, nutrition, activity and more. When you walk in, you’re greeted cheerfully by someone at the front desk before being escorted to a comfortable waiting area. They have coffee and tea with collagen peptide, honey and other options–yes, this matters to me!

During my first appointment, I got a tour of the office. There are quiet rooms that have a zen-like feel as you get IVs filled with vitamins, minerals, or whatever you need before having my body composition completed. There’s a workout area where fitness classes are held. During my first appointment with Athena, we reviewed the questionnaire that I completed prior to my arrival. It was really easy to talk to her about everything that was happening. I’m pretty sure that I just unloaded everything on her and it was really easy too because I was comfortable.

We went over my body composition which included my weight, muscle mass, body density and more. I love this because it enabled us to set some realistic goals together. My upper body has more muscles than my lower so we talked about ways to increase my lower body’s muscle mass. We also set healthy and realistic lifestyle goals before setting up an appointment for my blood to be drawn for testing.

The Testing Process

I chose to have the DUTCH Test completed in addition to the blood test. The blood test is more extensive than the normal blood test from the doctor’s office and gives more insight to what’s going on with the body. The DUTCH test helps in identifying any hormone imbalances, cortisol levels and more.

My Test Results

First thing: my levels confirmed that I was out of a pre-diabetic state.

via GIPHY

I was so excited about that. But I also found out the following:

  • My body naturally doesn’t produce a lot of insulin so while I’m no longer pre-diabetic, sugars & carbs are not my friends.
  • My lifestyle is inflaming my body–which makes sense since I’m allergic and intolerant to dairy and on keto I ate a lot of it and I’m in a state of stress often.
  • My cortisol levels fizzle out around 1pm which explains why I’m tired most afternoons.
  • My testosterone that governs oily skin is elevated which explains my Hidradenitis Supportiva.
  • My vitamin D, B6, & B12 levels are deficient.

These were my main takeaways and the most impactful for me right now. So now what? Because STAT-Wellness doesn’t really prescribe drugs, they suggest supplements that will aid in helping with my body’s deficiencies. So here are some of the things I’m taking:

In addition to these supplements, we decided that while Keto gave me what I needed to in order to ditch pre-diabetes, the dairy is just not good for me. Athena sent me the initial outline for an anti-inflammatory lifestyle which includes eating the rainbow in fruits and veggies and exercising more frequently.

At the beginning of the year, I knew that I wanted to embrace a lifestyle that was for my body and functional healthcare has helped me to do just that.

Ready to give it a try?

I got an exclusive discount for my readers with STAT-Wellness. Use code CRUNCHYMOMMY for a reduction on booking your first appointment. Shoot them an email at info@statwellness.com to get started.

At the beginning of the year, I made the commitment to take my healthcare seriously. Functional healthcare has helped me to do just that. Read on.
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