Functional Nutritionists

Hi all.

I am desperately trying to find myself an FDN, or someone who has a lot more knowledge than I do about the workings of the body, and deciphering issues through blood work and other tests.

are there any of you guys on here? and if so are you in OZ?

would love to speak to someone

bret

I'm in the final stages of my FDN Cert. I just need to take my final exams. 

What is it that you are having problems with?

Hey jules, thanks for the reply. 

we can take this to email make it easier I think, 

bk@functionfitpt.com is my email address

Bret

No worries dude.

Julianaldag@yahoo.com

Send me a message

Nutritional functionist, lol

Ravn said:

Nutritional functionist, lol

Have you been drinking again?

Reminds me of this. No offense! 

we can't all know everything about the body like yourself Ravn. No offence

I know I know very little. Others know a lot. Still think it's a funny title, and you gotta admit, there's a lot of bullshit titles out there.

there is definitely. I did shorten it, but you probably know that.

Bret Kennedy said:

we can't all know everything about the body like yourself Ravn. No offence

Hmm, your response aroused my curiosity, so had to Google what you were talking about.

Sorry man, sounds very much like yet another quack money making scheme.

http://functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/what-is-fdn/

The organization doesn't appear to have any sort of medical credentials, yet it charges money to 'educate' others on health and lab testing, and charges money to examine you?

If you feel ill, go visit your MD. This smells like bullshit.

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately your scepticism is wrong. My MD would know nothing about adrenal fatigue, or a pregnenalone steel, or why my liver is not functioning correctly, when my labs come back with the average "Homer simpson" levels which are within norm which are just 3 of the things that FDN work on among others. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but unfortunately sometimes it takes a lot of years and dedicated controlled studies for science to catch up to clinical work. 

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition uses labs that they have clinically proven to help find underlying issues that 'Doctors' tell you are nothing.

The problem is that sometimes you feel great, yet there is an underlying issue that is either causing you to miss out on your goals, or if you are not feeling great, an underlying issue that isn't able to be fixed allopathically.

Anyway like I said, everyone entitled to their own opinion, I feel yours is very limited because all you have done is criticise a web page, rather than delve deeper into something that has been around and working, and gaining momentum for well over 40 years.

Ravn, the recent Biosignature thread demonstrated that slick marketing, and fancy pseudomedical terminology always trump science in these types of internet debates. It's probably best to just move on and let people do what they want with their money and health.

My point is, if a MD doesn't know, no one knows. If other people claim they know, what they're really doing is guessing. And in that case, my guess is as good as theirs, essentially. The key concept we're dealing with here is 'evidence based'.

You said it yourself, sometimes it takes really long to produce good trials with respect to these matters, but this means simply that FDN is no more in the loop than the rest of us.

But go ahead, it's your body. What's bothering me is just that you put money into the pockets of quacks.

Unfortunately Ravn, you are wrong about MD's knowing everything. Just like how they know jack shit about nutrition. Also they are looking for a quick patch up job by giving you drugs ( the medicine 'economy' is run by the drug companies but thats a whole other post)  to suppress whatever symptoms you are having.  FDN (as well as other functional medicine programs) use the lab testing to find out what is going on inside the body and help the body heal through diet and lifestyle changes.  

An example could be someone with chronic acne. The dermatologist would likely just give them a cream (or put them on the pill). But acne can happen because of food intolerances, congested liver ( if the liver gets 'backed up' it can often be shown as the skin trying to detoxify) and also hormones imbalances.   Functional medicine looks at the body as a whole and not in pieces. 

There are plenty of people who have an interest in Health that are not doctors.  Take Gary Taubes (good calories/bad calories) for example. A brilliant researcher, but not a doctor.   Also the Medical director of the program is a DO.  

Thats it for me. I dont feel the need to aggressively defend functional medicine, but to hopefully give you some insight into what this and other functional medicine programs are about.  

Jules

I haven't bothered to look into this fictional nutrition stuff but I completely agree that MDs are not the fountain of knowledge when it comes to the human body. A lot of them can get it wrong or just want to fix the problem with pills without bothering to find out what is wrong... I have 4 MDs in my family and while they are all quite good they all agree they don't know everything and sometimes they just prescribe the pills because that's what patients want, a quick fix for the symptom not a solution for the problem.

If I have an issue I'll see an md but I certainly don't trust everything they say because I've always been screwed by doctors. They are often lazy or they think you are not intelligent enough to understand the problem so try only give you half the information.

While I'm first in line at the skeptics convention, I don't think it's impossible to get good advice from people without years of medical training behind them. But the quality of the advice will probably be very dependent on who's giving it, the certification by itself probably doesn't mean much of anything.

I certainly don't agree with my doctor on everything. I was talking to him about his thoughts on vitamin K2 since I was getting my vitamin D and calcium level checked. He said that its only effect is on blood coagulation. If he'd read a research paper in the last 15 years, he's know that knowledge had advanced a lot since he was in school.

You just need to be your own best advocate, ask lots of questions and don't take anything at face value. Look for people who question themselves and their own beliefs, and are able to discuss and explain their reasons. And those who are willing to change their opinions as they learn over time. People who think they already know everything and give advice based on a larger philosophy are to be listened too very cautiously if at all.

jules said:

 

Take Gary Taubes (good calories/bad calories) for example. A brilliant researcher, but not a doctor.

 

Hmmm, no comment. 

Let me specify - Of course I don't mean that individual MDs know everything. I am talking about the entire worldwide community of MDs, including the repositories of knowledge. The science of medicine essentially. Yes, our knowledge is limited and imperfect, but hey, at least we know that that's the case, and yes, some (probably many) MD's are not updated on the latest findings. Still, let's not get lulled into a belief that anyone questioning the science of medicine are somehow freedom fighters against an oppressive yoke of reactionary MD's, and that for this sole attribute they deserve our attention.

In my eyes, anyone complaining that MD's don't know everything refuse to face a hard reality head on, and should beware where their desire for 'perfect' knowledge leads them.

Edit: Wow, 1300th post! I've definitely got too much time on my hands!

" Still, let's not get lulled into a belief that anyone questioning the science of medicine are somehow freedom fighters from a an oppressive yoke of reactionary MD's, and that for this sole attribute they deserve our attention."

This.

There is too much wishful thinking nowadays, you want your opinion to be true and you argument without taking an objective stance.

A little off-topic I guess, but still true.

Ravn said:

My point is, if a MD doesn't know, no one knows. If other people claim they know, what they're really doing is guessing. And in that case, my guess is as good as theirs, essentially. The key concept we're dealing with here is 'evidence based'.

You said it yourself, sometimes it takes really long to produce good trials with respect to these matters, but this means simply that FDN is no more in the loop than the rest of us.

But go ahead, it's your body. What's bothering me is just that you put money into the pockets of quacks.

An MD doesn't know anything about nutrition unless they have additional training.  I have several physicians who are my nutrition clients and sporadically give talks to MD's at their offices.  They need much more help than you think.