The Midlife Fashionista: March 2025

My Experience With a Functional Nutritionist

My journey to better health at 63.

Digestive issues, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Osteoporosis, and now Pre-diabetes.

Yep, that's my reality at 63.

Despite dealing with stomach problems since childhood, I’ve always managed to stay relatively healthy. But around the age of 55, the dominoes started to fall—one health issue after another, and I found myself facing a whole new set of challenges.

While I firmly believe in the value of conventional medicine, I’ve also been open to exploring natural approaches. Over the years, I’ve tried homeopathy, vitamin drips, and worked with naturopaths, but unfortunately, none of these efforts seemed to bring the results I was hoping for. However, I always felt that my diet was something I needed to focus on more (self-professed junk-food junkie here).

That’s when my friend and co-founder of Kicking Cancer in Heels, Michele Nadeem-Baker and I interviewed Margaret Floyd Barry, a well-known functional nutritionist, during one of our Instagram lives. I was fascinated by her approach, which uses a scientific method (bloodwork) to tackle gut issues—problems that can cause inflammation and lead to other illnesses. It made so much sense to me.

After the interview, I reached out to Margaret about working together, but since she had stopped taking on new clients, she referred me to her colleague, Ellen Syversen. I scheduled a free consultation with Ellen, and I instantly connected with her. Her thoughtful approach and warm, kind personality made me feel at ease right away. During our conversation, we discussed my diet, my health problems, my longstanding cravings for sweets, and my lifelong struggle with chronic constipation (I know, TMI—but it's real, and I’m not shy about it).

Since then, I’ve had several eye-opening Zoom sessions with Ellen, including a comprehensive review of my blood work. While many of my lab results are good, a few numbers indicate inflammation, which puts me at risk for more serious health issues down the road. Because Ellen believes that diet is highly linked to inflammation, we've been working on a healthier eating plan with a big focus on lots of protein.

I’ve learned a lot through this process, and one thing I’ve realized about myself is that I can’t make too many changes at once—I get overwhelmed easily. Thankfully, Ellen understands this, and she’s been guiding me through manageable steps, making the transition feel much more achievable. I’m learning to pay closer attention to what I eat and make better, healthier choices.

What I love most about Ellen is that she’s realistic. Life isn’t perfect, and I can’t promise that I’ll never have ice cream again (in fact, I had some today!) or skip a piece of birthday cake. But what I can say is that I’ve made a lot of positive changes, and for the most part, I’m sticking to them.

Next up on my health journey will be ordering a blood sugar monitor so that Ellen can track glucose spikes and help me identify which foods might be causing increases in my levels. This is especially important since I have pre-diabetes.

Ellen is truly helping me to feel more empowered to take control of my health by getting to the "root cause" of my issues. Interested in learning more? Read her interview below and schedule a complimentary consultation with Ellen here. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Meet Ellen Syversen.

Ellen can you please explain what functional nutrition is and how it differs from traditional nutrition counseling?

Functional nutrition is an integrative approach to food and nutrition based on individual needs. Traditional nutrition is more general and does not necessarily look at the bio individual needs of the person. For example, a traditional nutritionist may recommend the food guide pyramid for all clients without considering the client’s unique needs.

To elaborate on that point, functional nutritionists do not necessarily ascribe to one way of eating! We honor the specific nutritional needs of the individual which vary from person to person based on many factors such as:

✅Blood sugar regulation

✅Food sensitivities

✅Digestive function

✅Current symptoms plus health history

✅What clients know to be true about their body

✅Stress levels

✅Activity level

We look at all these factors plus specific testing to get to the root of what is happening in the body. Then we work to strengthen the body by removing blocking factors.

Do certain foods really cause inflammation? What is inflammation and why is it bad?

I have looked at hundreds of food sensitivity panels that show which foods are causing a mild, moderate, or severe amount of inflammation. So yes, food does cause inflammation for many of my clients. The food triggers will be different for everyone, and so my counsel will be different for each person. I usually do food sensitivity testing in conjunction with a GI panel/stool test. If you are eating inflammatory foods, your gut will not function properly, and conversely, if your gut is out of balance, you are more prone to food triggers as you are not digesting, absorbing, and breaking down the food you eat.

What is your approach when working with clients to identify underlying causes of their health concerns?

Functional nutritionists use a test do not guess approach which considers client symptoms in conjunction with lab results. My philosophy is test, assess, and address! Functional nutritionists do not use testing to diagnose or treat a client, but to see where things are functioning well and where there are imbalances.

The purpose of the testing is to get information about the current state of the client’s health so we can get to the root cause. It is about rebalancing and strengthening the body by removing blocking factors. For example, if a client came to me with an inflammatory condition, and we did a test to assess food sensitivities, we would eliminate the foods causing inflammation for a period of time to assist in decreasing inflammation. Food sensitivities can trigger inflammation in the body, and inflammation is often a root cause for many symptoms and conditions.

What role do lifestyle factors, such as stress, sleep, and exercise, play in your nutritional approach?

Stress, sleep and exercise are all extremely important. Many of my clients are chronically stressed 24/7. This can lead to blood sugar imbalances, sleep disturbances, and the inability to move forward with a wellness program as they are in a state of fight or flight. Stress can also affect gut health, as we can only digest our food when we are in a state of rest and digest.

What types of tests or assessments do you commonly use to help diagnose nutritional deficiencies or imbalances?

I usually start by looking at gut health and food sensitivities. There are tests that look at nutrient sufficiency, and in some instances, I will use those tests. However, the first thing we need to assess is the health of the gut. When you support digestive function, remove inflammatory foods, address pathogens, and support the microbiome (the balance of good and bad bacteria), then you are restoring the body’s ability to break down and absorb food which is paramount to overall health.

What should we be looking for on food labels?

When you look at ingredients you want to make sure the food is clean with minimal food chemicals (all those things you cannot pronounce) and ideally no industrial seed oils like canola, soy, cottonseed, and sunflower/safflower oil. This is a good place to start. I like the concept of clean eating, meaning foods that are as close to nature as possible.

Ellen's Top 5 Tips for Nutritional Health