Introduction

Welcome to the HVMN podcast. In this episode, we are joined by Reed Davis, a certified holistic health practitioner, certified nutritional therapist, and an expert in functional lab testing and holistic lifestyle medicine. With over 10,000 clients served during his tenure as the health director at a wellness center in Southern California, Reed Davis is a seasoned clinician with a wealth of experience in the field. Today, we'll explore the distinction between conventional healthcare and Reed's Functional Diagnostic Nutrition methods, shedding light on a holistic approach to well-being.

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition: A Deeper Understanding

Reed Davis's approach to health and wellness goes beyond conventional medical diagnoses. While the term "diagnostic" is used, it's not about labeling diseases; it's about evaluating data to identify underlying causes and areas for improvement. Functional Diagnostic Nutrition focuses on assessing various functions in the body, including hormones, the immune system, digestion, and detoxification.

Diving Deeper: A Holistic Approach

The core principle of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition is to address the root causes of health issues. Rather than focusing on symptom management, this holistic approach aims to empower individuals to take control of their health. By identifying imbalances and dysfunctions within the body's systems, practitioners can guide their clients toward improved well-being.

An Example: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Reed discusses an example of a common condition: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. While conventional medicine might diagnose and prescribe treatments to manage symptoms, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition takes a different path. By assessing the hormonal, immune, digestive, and detoxification systems, practitioners aim to uncover the root causes of fatigue and other symptoms. This approach allows clients to make lifestyle changes that promote overall health, not just symptom relief.

The Different Diagnosis

Reed Davis emphasizes the contrast between medical diagnoses and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. Traditional diagnoses often label conditions and treat symptoms, whereas Functional Diagnostic Nutrition seeks to uncover the interconnected web of factors contributing to health issues. It's a shift from disease-centered thinking to a more holistic perspective that encourages individuals to take charge of their health.

Conclusion

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition is not about quick fixes or symptom management. Instead, it offers a comprehensive approach to well-being, understanding that health issues are often the result of multiple causal factors. By connecting the dots between metabolic pathways, practitioners can guide clients toward lasting health and vitality. Functional Diagnostic Nutrition empowers individuals to improve their health and take control of their well-being.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Reed Davis, a certified holistic health practitioner, discusses his approach called Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, which delves into the root causes of health issues through a holistic lens.
• Unlike traditional medical diagnoses that often focus on labeling and treating symptoms, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition assesses the interconnected functions of the body, including hormones, the immune system, digestion, and detoxification.
• This holistic approach aims to empower individuals to take control of their health, addressing the underlying causes of symptoms rather than just symptom management.

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Transcription

Dr. Latt Mansor:

What is your usual process in? First of all, identifying what the root cause is and therefore what the solution would be. 

Reed Davis:

So that's a great, introduction to our system. It would be to check the hormones. We'd look at your cortisol to DHA ratio, see if you're in a catabolic state. That means your body's breaking down. And usually then your sex hormones will be out of balance as well. So you've got things you could work on right there.

Then there's this cascade that occurs. If that's true, your body's breaking down, one of the first things to go might be your mucosal barrier, your secretory IgA, which we measure. And so we're going to do these measurements, we're going to look at, again, for those dots, those healing, multiple healing opportunities.

And we'll, so we'll do the hormones, including cortisol to DHEA, the sex hormones. Melatonin is a hormone that's measured, and the immune system, so look at secretory AGA. We'll also look at dysbiosis, we'll look at the microbiome. So we look at the immune system pretty well. We find interesting things there that can, and along with the digestion, and when you have a dysbiosis, an imbalance in the gut flora, you're not going to be breaking down your proteins very well.

Those are really important, the amino acids. Neurotransmitters that are created. So you start to see this cascade go downward spiral. Meanwhile, the person might at first only have vague complaints. Like you mentioned fatigue. Eh, a little tired. And what might someone who's into diagnosing say?

They look at the standard blood work and say nothing's wrong with you. You look fine. But our functional labs, which are much more, they're just going much deeper into these little imbalances and things. Tell us your... You have, our one diagnosis, if you will, we call it metabolic chaos. And again, you have the hormones out of balance, mostly due to stress, it affects the immune system.

That affects digestion, you're not breaking down your proteins. You're malnourished, actually. And from there, the dysbiosis gets worse. You can have bigger, badder bugs come along, the parasites and bacterial. Overgrowth and fungal overgrowth and biofilms that might form all in the gut. And then from there, you end up with what we call hyperpermeability or leaky gut.

And now you've got some of these immune complexes and antigens actually getting into the bloodstream where all hell breaks loose. And it's just a long term downward spiral. And it applies to whether you're looking at chronic fatigue or almost any of these common conditions. For which most people want relief.

Yes, relief's not bad. Get relief. Also figure out what's really going on and try to go back upstream. And when you have all of these points of light, if you will, or data points, you can see the big picture and take a holistic approach. One more thing on that is that... When you multiple, in every case that you, we, these kind of common long term chronic, degenerative, downward spiraling, spiraling conditions.

You'll see that people are yeah, they're looking for relief here and there. But these causal factors, there's always multiple causal factors. There's never one cause. You, your wife hates you. Whatever it is. Like some kind of weird stressor. Or you're exposed to chemicals. Or. You name it.

There's just so many causal factors in play and they're having an effect on each other. That's where it gets really hard to measure. Most of those interactions and causal factors aren't singly measurable. So we have come up with just the best stab so far at what is the, what are those multiple causal factors that data points the assessments we need to have.

What are the healing opportunities? So that's how it also emphasizes how different it is from medical diagnosis. That's not necessarily looking for what needs to improve. It's how do we stop this or block that. I just did this morning a podcast with a, our science officer. We talked about Alzheimer's disease and how for years and years, we've been worried about these amyloid plaques building up and tau proteins and things that build.

So the medical establishment looks at how do we block that? Our approach would be to say, amyloid plaque isn't the problem, it's the result of the problem. It's the result of poor lifestyle and too much sugar, especially in fructose and these other things that of...

Metabolic chaos is my word for it. So we just don't look at the body as something to be medicated. If medication was going to solve all the world's health problems, it would have been done a long time ago.

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