The Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast

In this episode, we're discussing how the brain directly affects your hormones, the distinction between consuming and integrating information, and ways to train your brain to be more resilient to life's stressors. Welcome to the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast. I'm your host, Erin Holt. I've got a bone to pick with diet culture and the conventional healthcare model that are both systematically faili...

Birth control - it’s a hot topic in more ways than one. There are many misconceptions and misguided information when it comes to understanding birth control and its effects on your body. So today Erin sits down with Rachel Mistry, RD, MSN,  the Lead Practitioner on our team, as we dive in and discuss what is “Post-Birth Control Syndrome”, how birth control affects our cycle and different syst...

Do you ever feel like you’re in an endless loop when it comes to your health? Have you been diagnosed with Long Haulers or another chronic condition and feel like you’re in a vicious cycle of fear and anxiety? Have you been made to believe that it’s “all in your head”? What if we told you that is technically true? Well…sort of. Your brain plays a key role in chronic conditions, but that doesn’t me...

If you or anyone you know has gotten COVID, did you ever wonder why the recovery period took longer than it should have? Instead of weeks to recover, it turned into months? Well, there is an answer for that: Long COVID. Today, Erin sits down with Rachel Mistry, RD, MSN, our lead practitioner to talk about Long COVID’s foundations, the factors as to why its recovery phase earns its label, what kind...

Today Erin is talking about Ozempic and Wegovy, popular medications used for Type 2 Diabetes and weight loss. Today is *not* a show to convince you to do anything or not do anything. Instead, Erin recorded this for people interested in these drugs to better help you understand the potential risks, and for practitioners to better help their clients/patients understand these medications. Erin also p...

Today’s episode was inspired by a recent poll on Erin’s Instagram, where she asked “What’s something that bothers you about wellness?” There was a strong recurring theme in your answers - Folks are overwhelmed with broad sweeping generalizations, and exhausted with feeling like better health requires an all-or-nothing approach. It’s easy to feel like we’re falling short when we’re being inundated...

For the last podcast of the year, we’re bringing you an unscripted conversation between two friends and colleagues. Erin and Michelle are two nutritionists who exist in the gray area - the messy middle - of nutrition and wellness. They both live and practice in the space that requires nuance, context, critical thinking, compassion…and conversation. Today’s episode is a convo between two wellness p...

You enjoyed our last Manifest Your Health™ coaching episode so much (thanks for the feedback!) that we brought it back! Today’s episode covers a listener struggling with insulin resistance, prediabetic blood sugar, PCOS and hormone issues - despite doing ALL THE THINGS. Erin unpacks this from a multidimensional approach - not *just* addressing the physical concerns, but also asking insightful ques...

A recent moment of serendipity led me to an invitation for a Mastermind event in Santa Monica. It was WAY outside my comfort zone. And I went anyway. But not without fear, discomfort and anxiety. In order to expand beyond the edges of your comfort zone, you have to first find those edges, and bump up against them. And that sh*t is uncomfortable. Attending this event asked me to punch holes in a LO...

On today’s show Erin sits down with Angelo Keely, the Co-founder and CEO of Kion, a supplement and functional food company dedicated to helping health and fitness enthusiasts live long, fun, active lives by providing clean, energy enhancing solutions. Angelo knows his stuff when it comes to protein intake, so this is exactly what this episode is all about - protein needs, different types of protei...

Whether you like it or not, social media is a pretty omnipresent part of our life. It’s here, and it’s here to stay. So it makes good sense to figure out how to engage with it in a way that supports us and makes us feel good. And based on Erin’s recent Instagram polls (oh, irony), this is currently not the case for many. In today’s episode, Erin examines how she has been feeling about social media...

Get a taste of how Erin blends functional medicine, energy anatomy & intuitive medicine in her unique functional alchemy approach. This Manifest Your Health™ coaching episode addresses a listener’s struggles with SIBO, IBS, GERD & constipation. Podcast listener Hillary is a classic example of someone stuck in the symptom ⇒ diagnosis ⇒ prescription of conventional medicine (without feeling...

There's no doubt that autoimmune illness is on the rise. Maybe you've been diagnosed with an autoimmune illness or you have a history of autoimmune illness in your family, and you want to learn more. It's important to understand the possible triggers of autoimmunity and flare-ups and the tests available to understand which triggers have the greatest effect on you. You really want to be able to ide...

Self-compassion: not typically considered a healing "biohack", but today's show might change your opinion on that. It's fair to say that most of us struggle with self-compassion. With easy access to external influences (hello social media, beauty standards, and manipulative marketing), it becomes easy to view ourselves through an excessively critical lens. Self-compassion is an important part of a...

Part three of the Understanding Autoimmunity series explains why autoimmunity is becoming so prevalent. Erin dives into the roles our modern food sources, microbiome, and environmental chemicals each play in autoimmunity. If you have been diagnosed with autoimmunity, this episode should help you understand your own unique story. Erin also provides information to help you understand ways to prevent...

In part two of the Understanding Autoimmunity series, Erin unpacks the immune system. If you missed part one of the series, Episode 226, it is recommended you go back and listen to that episode first. Today, Erin discusses the components of the immune system, things that can get dysregulated with autoimmunity, and some conventional lab testing you can use to establish a baseline that will help you...

When Erin was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness, she found herself in a new, somewhat unknown, world. Her autoimmune illness allowed her to grow to a new level in her career and expanded her understanding of her body and health. She realized that autoimmunity is widely misunderstood by both professionals and patients. Many people are searching for information on autoimmunity and they don't know...

One of Erin's Instagram posts recently received a lot of attention and A LOT of comments. The post was a video showing how to make a no-soak, no-strain (read: CONVENIENT) nut milk. Many of the comments expressed the concern for antinutrients in nuts. Today Erin sits down with nutrition vet Deanna Minich to tag team the antinutrient discussion and answer the question: how concerned should you be wi...

Have you ever wondered what Erin means when she talks about “going deeper” with her clients? This episode explores exactly that. Functional medicine promises a “root cause approach” but in order to do this, we must go deeper than blind testing and cookie cutter protocols. Critical thinking, individuation & a deep reverence and understanding of the mind-body connection is key. Approaching healt...

In this re-release, Erin answers your questions about the effect of fragrance on your hormones - plus what to be aware of with the products we use on our bodies and in our home. Most people have no idea how harmful synthetic fragrances can be - or how often we are using them! The chemicals used to create or prolong these “fresh” scents impact our neurological health, metabolism, and immune system....

There is this old, pervasive omnipresent idea that women can’t handle information about our own bodies. We’ve been fed a storyline that our bodies are too complex – AND that we’re ill equipped to handle information about the complexity. This is bullshit, and it’s one of the reasons so many of us are so twisted up about our bodies. Today on the show Erin is discussing why knowledge is power…but *ju...

In the past Erin referred to the lymphatic system as an unsung hero of the body. It’s responsible for maintaining fluid balance, for circulating hormones and immune cells throughout the body, as well as transporting toxins out of the body—but it wasn’t something many people talked much about. Increasingly over the past few years, however, lymph is getting its time in the spotlight: more and more f...

Functional lab testing has been gaining in popularity over the last few years. More and more folks are seeking answers to their health issues, and providers are responding by offering various options for hormone and other functional lab testing. But not all providers provide in the same way, and we’re increasingly seeing an algorithmic, “if this, then that” approach to labs in the functional medic...

There’s a bit of a misunderstanding in the health world that endometriosis is just a hormone problem, but this line of thinking is incomplete. Hormones can absolutely contribute to the endometriosis picture, but they are not the cause of endometriosis. And part of treating endometriosis should include strategies to support the hormones, though that’s not where the support should end. Today on the...

If you’ve been considering joining the next round of the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy in September, but want to know what the experience of being in the school is all about, listen up! Hear directly from current FNA student Lori Fish Bard, MS, CNS, LDN as she shares why she joined and her experience thus far. Also…Extended Financing for FNA Now Available! Check our full show notes with the link b...