The Role of Functional Testing in Naturopathic Nutrition

By Marion Colledge

What is Functional Testing?

Functional tests can be used to get a better understanding of what is going on in the body, beyond the tests which are available through your GP. They can be in the form of blood, urine, breath or stool tests, depending on what we are looking at. Most of these are easy to do at home and then shipped off to the lab for analysis.

The results can be helpful for identifying imbalances, nutrient status, presence of inflammation, presence of parasites, food intolerances, hormonal imbalances, dysfunctional stress response, genetic predispositions, gut barrier function and more. With test results as a basis for a nutritional protocol, the support can be more targeted, completely individual and therefore lead to faster results.

Why should I do functional testing?

It can be a good way to get to the root of what is causing symptoms or for identifying any individual health trends or risks.

For example, for menstrual issues such as irregular periods or very heavy periods it can be useful to perform a DUTCH test (dried urine test) which gives a good snapshot of your sex hormones as well as your stress hormones and allows us to be quite specific with any nutritional and herbal interventions. On top of this, genetic testing (Nutrigenomics) can be useful as this gives us great insight into how the hormones are broken down in the body and whether there are any genetic permutations which mean that some pathways are not working effectively.  Once identified, this can be supported with the right nutrients, foods and herbs.

Ongoing digestive issues which have not responded to more general interventions may be due to suboptimal gut barrier function, inflammation in the gut associated with food intolerances, candida, or a bacterial overgrowth such as SIBO. There is a range of tests available to identify the problem, giving us the ability to be more targeted in our treatment approach.

When are tests appropriate?

This depends fully on the individual circumstances and will vary from patient to patient. We can get a lot of information from the initial consultation which includes a detailed medical history, look at current symptoms, lifestyle and diet. Often this is enough to get a good picture of what is going on in the body and which areas need support.

However, if the issues have been going on for a long time and not responded well to previous interventions or if you would prefer to know with more certainty what is happening, then testing can be a great way to get closer to the root of the problem.

Can I get these through my GP?

GPs offer full blood counts, including thyroid function test, Vit D, Vit B12, Ferritin and other diagnostic tests such as stool tests or urine tests.

Functional tests as described in this article are currently not available on the NHS and can only be accessed through private providers such as functional doctors or nutritional therapists.

What is the cost?

This varies greatly depending on the type of test, the lab and also the provider you are getting your test through.

Want to know more?

You can take a look at the Naturopathic Nutrition page on our website and/or before booking an appointment with Marion, you can arrange arrange a free 15 minute discovery call to establish whether she is the right person for you to work with.

Book a Free Discovery Call

Perimenopause: Why rest is profoundly important

By Emma-Jane Bunn

Perimenopause – those few years prior to menopause – can make itself known in your early 40’s with a long list of symptoms;

• Low mood, anxiety & mood swings

• Problems with memory or concentration (brain fog)

• Disturbed sleep

• Hot flushes

• Bloating & poor digestion

• Changes to body shape & weight gain

• Headaches and migraines that are worse than usual

• Muscle aches and joint pains

• Reduced body confidence

One of the most common complaints is the overall sense of tiredness and fatigue.

The main cause for fatigue during this period is that your hormone levels drop. As your body prepares for the onset of menopause it decreases the amount of oestrogen that it produces. Since oestrogen serves as a counterweight to progesterone, when there is less oestrogen there is a disruption in the balance of the two hormones. And since progesterone can make you sleepy, its effects can be magnified with less oestrogen in your system.

Oestrogen also serves as an important control on cortisol levels. So with less oestrogen, cortisol’s negative effects become magnified – leading to the same type of cortisol rush you see in any stress response. And you can experience the same type of energy crashes you might endure after any other stressful situation. The long-term activation of the stress response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones can disrupt almost all your body's processes, and this puts you at increased risk of exacerbating your other symptoms.

And of course, those other symptoms can - when added together - enhance that fatigue; your sleep is disturbed, you have night sweats, your body is sore and your memory sucks… all of this can become a bit of a cycle; contributing to and compounding that sense of physical, mental and emotional fatigue. If you add to this our tendency as a society to “push through” these symptoms we can so easily start to deplete our scant energy reserves and tip ourselves further towards exhaustion and away from our usually resilient selves.

As well as addressing these issues with dietary changes and supplements, rest and relaxation are critical during perimenopause and that means napping when necessary(!), or using other relaxation techniques to help reduce your stress levels.

As well as making some lifestyle changes (can you take anything unnecessary out of your diary?); meditation, pranayama and yoga are an excellent choices for these relaxation efforts.

Mindfulness Meditation - A mindfulness practice has been shown in studies to reduce the reactivity of the amygdala (the brains emotional response centre) allowing us more control over how we react to stressors, and therefore enabling us to reduce the release of stress hormones into the body. Studies also show that meditation can provide the nervous system with a rest that is five times deeper than sleep!

Restorative Yoga - A slow and spacious yoga practice that invites the body into positions that encourage rest and recuperation. This type of practice facilitates the opposite of the “fight & flight” stress response; activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, or “rest & digest” functions in the body.

Pranayama (breathwork) - While mindfulness asks us to be present with the breath as it is, Pranayama invites us to work gently with the breath (changing its speed and length) to further help the body “down-regulate”. Most of us will notice that in times of stress our breath gets shorter and faster, and when we’re stuck in this pattern for too long the body starts to struggle.

Somatic Movement - It may seem odd to recommend movement for rest purposes, but somatic practices (including some yoga) can help us to close the stress cycle and dispel excess stress hormones from the body. Once we’ve used up these hormones it makes way for the parasympathetic nervous system to release the more restful hormones and can help to bring us into a deeper state of connection and relaxation.

It can be tricky to know where to begin, especially when you’re exhausted, feeling under-resourced and struggling with your symptoms, which is why I am thrilled to be a guest facilitator on the “Empowered” program, co-hosted with Marion Colledge and The Honor Oak Wellness Rooms. Join me on week three, where I’ll lead you through some simple practices that you can add to your toolkit, and most importantly - take them off your mat and into your everyday life.

EMPOWERED: A Perimenopause Program

A six-week program for women who want to improve their wellbeing before, during and after menopause..

Find out more

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Emma-Jane Bunn (@almae.wellness) is a yoga and mindfulness facilitator with a long-standing interest in using these practices as tools to support mental and physical health. Emma espouses the benefits of rest and offers you an opportunity to cultivate relaxation with an intuitive and holistic approach; offering you practices to calm and regulate your nervous system and build inner resilience from a compassionate and grounded place.⁠ Emma's work is rooted in years of experience working with stress and recognising how it manifests in the body. ⁠Emma holds a trauma-informed space.

Perimenopause: Why consider nutrition and herbs when I can just take HRT?

By Marion Colledge - Nutritional Therapist Dip CNM and Medical Herbalist BSc(Hons)

There are so many reasons why good nutrition is very relevant, whether you are taking HRT or not.

When we hit perimenopause our levels of progesterone and oestrogen begin to fluctuate and eventually decline and this can cause a range of symptoms including brain fog, fatigue, low mood, loss of sense of self, abdominal weight gain, anxiety, sleep issues, hot flushes, night sweats, muscular aches, joint stiffness, dry hair and skin. The symptoms vary greatly from woman to woman and there are at least 34 recognised symptoms of which some will experience plenty and others almost none. HRT is short for hormone replacement therapy and there are different forms of HRT which women can have to replace the decreasing levels of their own oestrogen and progesterone as well as sometimes testosterone.

Whilst HRT can help to improve menopausal symptoms, it is not a panacea and therefore not the whole story when it comes to moving through this phase of your life... And of course, many women choose not to or are not able to take HRT, can feel quite excluded from the conversation and often don't know where to look for support.

Oestrogen and progesterone don't just regulate our reproductive system, they play important parts in many other areas of our physical and emotional health. Declining or fluctuating levels of these hormones affect our gut, nervous system, bone health, cardiovascular health, brain function, immune system to name a few. And this is where nutrition comes in.

Good nutrition is about laying solid foundations for continuing good health well beyond menopause. With the right nutrients we can support the areas which are affected by hormonal changes and - let's face it - ageing to create and maintain long-term physical and mental wellbeing. Areas which benefit from support are the musculoskeletal system, gut and digestion, blood sugar balance, adrenal glands and stress response. Supporting the above can help to reduce some symptoms and improve overall wellbeing.

And it is about so much more than symptom control. With a rounded approach to healthy living which includes eating well, but also rest and relaxation, social connections, movement and having fun, we can increase our overall resilience to stress as well as our chances of staying healthy into old age. We want to increase our health span, not just our life span. One example of this is that studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet high in vegetables and fruit, legumes, good quality protein, olive oil and low in processed foods was positively associated with bone density and muscle mass in post-menopausal women as well as improved outcomes for cardiovascular health and increased life span.

Perimenopause is a critical window for women’s health. Small problems, if unaddressed, can turn into larger health issues which is why this can be a good time to assess how we are and whether there is anything we could pay more attention to. This is also a time when nourishing your body is particularly important: nutrients from food form the building blocks for hormones, neurotransmitters, and the functioning of metabolic processes in the body and in every single cell.

This is not to say that every woman needs to radically change her diet when she hits perimenopause. Often, it’s just small changes and little tweaks which can make a big difference. It can be a valuable exercise to look at what we are eating and to check whether we are getting enough beneficial nutrients such as good quality protein, healthy fats, complex carbs, fibre and plenty of fruit and veg. Are we getting enough Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium and B-Vitamins? Our metabolism also changes as we age and we can find that certain foods don’t get digested as easily as they used to or we notice weight gain around the abdomen which wasn’t there before. Sometimes testing can be useful to ascertain nutrient status, metabolic function, stress hormone levels and more.

Where do herbs come into this?

A herbal prescription can be a valuable tool to help support physical and emotional health. With many herbs to choose from they can be an effective addition to any nutritional plan. The combination of Black Cohosh and St John’s Wort has been found to improve perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms including hot flushes, night sweats and mood swings. Adaptogenic herbs such as Ashwagandha have shown to improve sleep and reduce anxiety and can be particularly helpful during stressful times. These are just two examples of how herbs can form part of an alternative approach for those not on HRT as well as alongside it - if this is managed by a Medical Herbalist.

You can find out more about how you can optimise your health during perimenopause (and beyond) in our upcoming six-week program “Empowered.” We’ll offer you the knowledge to be able to make positive lifestyle changes, feel informed, understood, and confident in making the right choices for you.

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EMPOWERED: A Perimenopause Program

A six-week program for women who want to improve their wellbeing before, during and after menopause..

Find out more

5 Ways To Maximise Your Chiropractic Treatment

So you’ve been in for treatment, you’ve booked in your next appointment… what now?

We’ve compiled 5 tips to help you get the most from your Chiropractic adjustments. Read on to find out more!

1: Stay Hydrated

While it’s always important to stay hydrated, it’s particularly wise following a chiropractic adjustment. Drinking plenty of water can flush out toxins that may have been released into the body during your treatment (such as lactic acid), and help your body heal more quickly. If you don’t hydrate yourself the toxins could settle back in, potentially causing more aches and pains.

2. Keep Moving

Movement following a chiropractic appointment stimulates blood flow, which can help speed up the healing process that begins with your adjustment. Try gentle exercise; yoga, a walk, or a short swim. Avoid heavy workouts, vigorous exercises, or weight lifting. Your chiropractor can help you gauge how much is the right amount.

3. Get Adjusted Regularly

We recommend to maximise your experience that you attend your appointments regularly. Your treatment plan has been established by your Chiropractor to get you back to your regular activities as quickly as possible. Missing appointments hinders that process and may even end up prolonging your recovery.

4. Get Some Sleep

Sleep is essential to every process in the body. Although movement and exercise are essential to unlocking the full benefits of chiropractic adjustments, rest is equally as vital. Your body regains it's strength and promotes healing while you’re asleep.

5. Actually Do Your Rehab

It's important to invest time outside the clinic into your own healing. Your chiropractor may prescribe you a rehab plan and if you want to get back to your better self in the timeline discussed with your practitioner, we recommend you utilise your program!

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