How I Became an FDN‑P Functional Health Coach: My Journey & Key Takeaways
BECOMING A FUNCTIONAL HEALTH PRACTITIONER - MY STORY
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FDN-P, what does that mean? FDN-P stands for Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner. I joined FDN last year on my birthday after much thinking, since you all know I’m an artist by profession. I’ve been MIA, this is why, I was furthering my education, although in a different field.
WHY HEALTH? HOW I BECAME AN FDN-P, LET'S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING
No one has a couple of hours to read as I explain my entire medical history. In fact I really don’t discuss it in detail with anyone. I’ve been dealing with health issues since I can remember but no one listened, no one really cared, until I did.
To make it sweet and to the point, I became so tired of discussing how I felt and how things didn’t appear normal first to my mother, then to my general practitioners (because I went to several), and my gynecologist. Just a few examples, because there could be so many more:
why is my period irregular and so painful?
why do I gain weight no matter what I do?
why am I constipated?
Answers I would get: it’s normal, eat less & exercise more and my favorite women always suffer from constipation. I heard that from other women AND doctors! Passing down WRONG information. I know this now but at the time, I thought they knew more than me.
FIRST OBVIOUS HEALTH SIGNS
I had kept my weight down, even though it was such a struggle and sometimes in unhealthy ways. I still had irregular periods with the difference that I listened to my doctor who put me on birth control to make my period “regular“. Living life in the, this is how life is kind of mentality. I thought that since I had been following what the doctors had told me I was better, or somewhat healthier than before.
Then came the first face burn, I call it that because it felt like my face was on fire. My skin was red around my cheeks. I ran to a dermatologist because come on, this is not normal. I was told I had rosacea. Great! Add more to the list of medical crap I know nothing about. Soon after I happened to be at a beauty counter with a friend and I happened to mention my skin and they all made it sound like you guessed it, it was normal. They said all women go through this with their skin changing when they get to their mid 20’s. Again passing down information that is not true, but they’ve heard so much that to them it is the truth.
Fast forward to what I know now… Sure the skin may change, as in you may start loosing elasticity but it is not normal for someone out of the blue to start having bumps or red painful burn marks on their face.
MORE REASONS TO COME
On our wedding day, as I danced with my father in law, I cheerfully told him we were going to get pregnant right away. Unaware of what was to come. I was ready to be a mom, my husband was ready to be a father but my health had other plans. But that’s a story for another day.
I was living, more like going through the motions because I was often battling with something. I started loosing my hair a little bit before my wedding, and not the 100 strands a day that people say is normal kind of loss. I was told it was nerves from the wedding. Yet, after the wedding it continued to fall. Talked to my stylist and she advised a bit of secret layers to add volume to hide where I had less hair. Cosmetic solution, I thought they would have heard something from styling so many women, nope. Again, I guess this is normal.
AFTER YEARS OF INFERTILITY...
We both went to specialists, acupuncture, massages, drank specialized drinks and nothing. Yet, I added another diagnosis to the list, PCOS to my amazing medical record. I was beginning to think it was not in the cards for us to be parents. I began bracing myself, one of us had to be strong, he wasn’t, he couldn’t let go of the fact that we weren’t going to be parents. How it happened and we welcomed our blessing is too long, and I’ve written about it on another post. Read about it here.
But all was not peachy. I had a not so pleasant pregnancy. Although I ate as healthy as possible, or as healthy as I knew of at the time, I didn’t feel well. I had never heard of anyone saying they didn’t like being pregnant. Was I strange? What was wrong with me?! I didn’t know at the time but it was my body that was unhealthy. Due to my PCOS my doctor monitored my weight, I wasn’t allowed to gain too much because with PCOS and too much weight gain during pregnancy = higher chance of diabetes. I was careful, anything to avoid yet one more medical issue and to make my baby healthy.
POST PREGNANCY
Yes, all mothers say it was all worth it. It was the same for me, as soon as I had my baby in my arms I was in love and forgot all the bad. But then I started noticing the little issues with my baby. Skin problems, what they call baby acne and at times signs of eczema. Pediatrician said the magic words, it’s normal and gave me topical cream to put on the baby. I think I put it on maybe twice. I didn’t like the idea that a brand new human already needed medicine. Something was not right. What I didn’t do for myself, second guess what the doctors say, I did for my baby, my little so awaited baby.
I started slowly dipping my feet in the rabbit hole, like my husband started to call it. I was able to link skin issues with the bath time shampoo & bath soap of a very well known baby product that I was gifted at my baby shower. I had never really thought twice about what I put on my face or body. Yet, here I was, with a new baby that was reacting to ingredients in a brand I had used often in my life. Further down the rabbit hole I entered.
Just as an FYI it is not normal for babies or even little kids to get acne or eczema, no matter what they say. It’s a reaction from within the body or something you are putting on them.
THE FINAL STRAW
Here I was thinking I was going to keep this really short and sweet. It’s turning more passionate and reinforcing why I chose to go back to school. If I can reach one person that is or was going through a similar situation, then I did my duty.
I had solved one problem that arose for my baby. Although we were living with another, that every mom out there told me was normal for babies, painful gas. Here I am thinking moms of numerous kids would know better than me, the first time mom. Uhm nope, we are both as clueless unless you have gone down the rabbit hole, you really do not know.
My little baby boy was developing and exploring all there was of life. If you kept up with my stories, you saw that I took him to so many things. Me and my little bestie. He was on track for everything, until one day he wasn’t. I’m not going to go into detail because it’s his story to tell if he chooses to do so one day. I will tell you that God or whoever you choose to believe in gave you a mommy gut for a reason. I began second guessing what doctors, my mom friends, my family all said was normal and searched outside the box. I found a different type of doctor, a Functional Medicine doctor, one who isn’t tied by the insurance belt. She ran so many tests, tests I wish would have been done a year before and some when he was born. One major thing we were dealing with was inflammation, add a dairy allergy and no one noticed for years. For people that have a food allergy you know how this affects the body. He had been consuming it since he was born. I consumed it because I kept hearing that I needed to pass it down to him in my breast milk. If you are a parent who loves their child you do not want to hurt your child in any way but that is what had been happening for years.
INSERT FDN- WHAT IS A FDN-P CERTIFICATION
Healing my child was my number one and only priority. Then I had a talk with my beautiful cousin and she reminded me that I also needed to work on my health because he needed me to be healthy to be his Mom Doctor. No one is going to care about your child’s health as much or at all like you, the parent.
Since I was questioning it all at this point, I started reading about PCOS, alternative and natural ways to heal. PCOS is so common it’s crazy how common it is. You will not believe it but a few months later after applying what I had learned, I started noticing my periods were getting more regular. Until one day I knew the exact date of my next menstrual cycle, and no more painful cramps. All with no medicine, no birth control, just food. The old ways of doing things.
Then finally I joined a mom group with moms from all over the world, some with very similar stories as mine. Allergies, digestive issues, PCOS, you name it. One that stood out was a mother who had gone down the rabbit hole and had helped her daughter. How? She went back to school and now was able to run her own labs and figured out what her child was missing. Again becoming Mom Doctor. She did a lot of research and ended up at FDN. I contemplated the idea for like five minutes. Here I was barely getting back into art, being in exhibits and now thinking of looking at an entire different career. Crazy right?
THE UNIVERSE SHOWS YOU THE PATH
After a much needed vacation with one of my oldest friends, as in two weeks off and no mom duties I returned to the it moment. I left my little one with his father, I left instructions of in case this, do this and so he did but a little too much. You know how men can be, you have to spell it out for them in every possible scenario. Either way that mistake of his had a reaction on our child. Another thing to try to find answers for, a reaction to phenols. Phenols for those that have never heard of them I will tell you in the simplest way, they are found in some high antioxidant foods. Which they are good for you! But too much of them in certain people or where the bodies can’t process them can be bad. I had come across an entire research discussing this exact thing about six months prior and it all hit me like a brick wall. Here it was another health situation that I the artist had to find on my own without any help.
As I spent the next two days cleaning up his diet and detoxing him, my husband told me that I was already a health coach without going to school. He was right, why was I delaying what I already knew I wanted to do? I had this immense passion at this point to get answers, real answers. Plus, I was already helping other people around me with the information I had been learning through my health journey. I could still learn more and make it official. That is how on my birthday, my husband, ever my biggest cheerleader gave me the final push to enroll to become a FDN-P. Time and time again it had been showing its face and I kept ignoring it, until this day.
Here I am on the final stretch, chipping away on final exams. I’m also adding to my wait list of clients that I will start working on when I graduate. To summarize the reason I am sharing this, you do not have to have years of medical school under your belt to want to learn about health, you do not have to accept what one person tells you as the only way, and you can start taking control of your health and therefore your life today. There are tons of books, podcasts, videos and self help books by people like me, that got tired of not getting answers and just wanted to HEAL.
IF YOU WANT ANSWERS, GO GET THEM
If you’re a parent and this resonates with you, don’t be afraid to reach out. Or share with someone that may be experiencing something similar. If you are going through any health situation that doesn’t seem right for your body don’t just accept a THAT’S NORMAL response, always seek second, third or even many more.
If you want to follow my footsteps and be able to get your own answers you can look into becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist Practitioner yourself. I can’t say enough good things about the program, the teachers and like minded classmates I have met from various parts of the United States and the world.
You can click here and find out all about the FDN world and what Reed Davis, the founder has started. There is a Summer Open House coming up. FDN offers a free course, who doesn’t like to try something before they buy it?
As always I only recommend what I have tried and loved. You know I loved this since I enrolled, about to graduate and days away from working with clients.
