Episode 305: Functional Lab Testing: Do’s & Don’ts
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This episode is a sneak peek into one of Erin’s Q&A’s within the Funk’tional Nutrition Academy. Erin answers commonly asked questions from providers regarding when and how to utilize functional labs, how to leverage your intake form for the best success, the pitfalls of the industry and the reality of imposter syndrome. Although this episode may seem like it’s geared towards practitioners, this is an insightful resource to use as guidance when looking for a provider.
Registration for the Funk’tional Nutrition Academy
Spring cohort is now open!
Limited spots available
In this episode:
When it’s a good time to start utilizing functional labs in your practice [11:33]
Why functional medicine can have a bad reputation [14:18]
Leveling up your intake form to best meet the needs of your client [19:17]
How functional lab testing tends to be overdone [24:59]
Impostor Syndrome & how to build your confidence with lab testing [28:54]
The importance of layering in one lab test at a time [32:40]
Resources mentioned:
Funk’tional Nutrition Academy™
Ned Natural Remedies (get 15% off your order with code FUNK)
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
Qualia Senolytic (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Learn more about Gut Health & Functional Nutrition
Related episodes:
245: Our Favorite Functional Labs
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Erin Holt [00:00:02]:
I'm Erin Holt, and this is the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast, where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions, and our beliefs all affect our physical health. This podcast is your full bodied, well rounded resource. I've got over a decade of clinical experience, and because of that, I've got a major bone to pick with diet, culture, and the conventional healthcare model. They're both failing so many of us. But functional medicine isn't the panacea that it’s made out to be either. We've got some work to do, and
Erin Holt [00:00:34]:
That's why creating a new model is my life's work. I believe in the ripple effect. So I founded the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy, a school and mentorship for practitioners who want to do the same. This show is for you. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing, please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment.
Erin Holt [00:01:00]:
I would love for you to follow the show, rate, review and share because you never know whose life you might change.
Erin Holt [00:01:06]:
And of course, keep coming back for more. Good morning. I have my morning voice on for you all today. My family is still sleeping. It's very early in the morning, so if I sound a little calmer than I normally do, that's why. Okay, so today is going to be part of a Q&A class that I did a couple of months ago. So let me back up. Every single month in FNA.
Erin Holt [00:01:32]:
FNA is the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy. It's our 14 month practitioner training and mentorship. And in addition to the monthly curriculum, every month we host three Q&A's live classes, and the first one is hosted by an industry expert. So we hire visiting faculty to come in and teach us about a very specific subject and then answer student questions. Number two is Rachel, our lead clinical mentor. And so this is a clinical class where you get to ask any questions about labs, about your case studies. And then I also teach a live Q&A every month. And this is where we can get into intuitive functional medicine, coaching and more of the business side of things.
Erin Holt [00:02:12]:
So today is a segment of one of those Q&A's where I answer one of our student questions. And the reason that I'm sharing it here is because it's something that a lot of folks in functional nutrition, functional medicine, or really any healing space struggles with, especially if you are just starting out. So today we're going to get into when is the best time to implement functional lab testing in your practice? What's the best first test to start with? The importance of proper intake, dealing with impostor syndrome in our private practices, and then how to navigate the pitfalls of functional medicine. Because there's a few, and I just want you to be aware of them. Now, this episode isn't just for practitioners because I think it's going to help shine a light on what makes a good practitioner. And so if you're currently searching for a practitioner, this conversation might be helpful for you too now, because enrollment for FNA's spring cohort opens next week, April 1. I will be speaking more into the practitioner side of things on the podcast over the next few weeks, which, interestingly, I know a lot of our non practitioners also enjoy these episodes. So just a heads up to you all now.
Erin Holt [00:03:21]:
FNA is a 14 month advanced practitioner training and mentorship program. It's for clinicians who are looking for comprehensive training in functional nutrition and functional medicine. We open up 25 seats per cohort, and once they are filled, they are filled. So if you haven't got your application in, I recommend you do it now. If you already have your application in, I do encourage you to join sooner than later as spots are filling up for the spring cohort. So in today's class, you'll notice that I talk about blood chemistry. I touch into it a little bit, so I want to expand more on that here, especially for folks considering FNA. Many trainings in functional nutrition functional medicine don't include trainings on basic blood chemistry or comp analysis, comprehensive metabolic panel analysis, which is a shame, because even though they're not the sexy, glamorous, popular functional medicine labs, they sure do deliver a lot of information.
Erin Holt [00:04:29]:
We believe that blood work should be an integral part of a functional medicine workup. Blood work can detect nutrient deficiencies, thyroid dysfunction, glucose mismanagement, and a lot more. And all of this data can play a huge role in the clinical picture. Basic blood work is also a lot more affordable than some of the more popular functional labs. So if you're not including it, you should be. And by the end of month one in FNA, you will be able to order and interpret blood work with ease. So that is something that we make sure that you get right out of the gate. Our trainings are very robust and very comprehensive.
Erin Holt [00:05:09]:
That's something that we pride ourselves on, and it's feedback that we consistently get. So I just want to let you know that this is not the program for someone who just wants high level, broad strokes. This is not the program for someone who's like, I just want to learn how to run a GI map. This is for someone who genuinely loves functional medicine. This is for someone who really wants to do a deep dive with their education so that they can do a deep dive with their clients. This is for someone who wants to be able to handle the more complex cases and get their clients better results. And like, at the end of the day, that's why we're all here. We're just trying to help people feel better.
Erin Holt [00:05:46]:
I'll also make this quickie announcement that we are adding some new content, this cohort, including trainings on HTMA and minerals. So that's hair tissue mineral analysis lab, and I know a lot of you guys are going to be excited about that. Okay, so before I hit play, I have one more thing to say, and that is, FNA is more than just career and clinical skill set development. It's also a lot of personal growth and development, too. And to be honest with you, that was really born out of necessity. Over the past 13 years, as many of you know, I have built a career in health, nutrition, functional medicine, a career in helping others heal. Over the past four years, I've also been lucky enough to help other practitioners get their medicine out into the world, too. Through enhancing their clinical skill set, through enhancing their clinical confidence, but also through enhancing their self confidence, allowing people to see the true value in what they offer, understanding the unique medicine they bring to the world.
Erin Holt [00:06:51]:
I believe that we all drop in with a unique mission and we have unique medicine to share. I believe that we make the biggest impact when we are doing our soul's work. I saw this quote on Instagram the other day. If you want to know where to find your contribution to the world, look at your wounds. When you learn how to heal them, teach others. I am absolutely enamored with helping people see their wounds so that they can heal them, so that they can then go on to help others heal. And this is why so much of my mentorship work is helping you remove all the BS storylines and all the conditioning that tells you why you can't do it. It's moving you out of resistance and into your purpose.
Erin Holt [00:07:38]:
Because what I've found is that it isn't enough just to teach you the trade, just to teach you how to interpret labs, just to teach you the systems biology approach. We do that. And like I said, we do it really comprehensively. But it's not enough because amassing knowledge doesn't always translate to confidence and belief in oneself. And this is what we ned to really thrive, to really shine. So if you feel like you've been living out a small percentage of your potential, if you're ready to stop holding yourself back, if you've been waiting on someone to give you a permission slip to go live out your dream, this is it. This is your permission slip. I'm writing it right now.
Erin Holt [00:08:18]:
FNA opens next week. Get your applications in today. And again, if you're already in active application status, just go ahead and join. I double dog dare you. This is an investment you will not regret, and I cannot wait to get started with you.
Erin Holt [00:10:49]:
I've had my private nutrition practice for a couple of years where I provide conventional nutrition and psycho nutrition services. So for reference for everybody, Nicole is a clinical nutritionist with a specialization in eating disorders. She says, I started studying functional nutrition and with the FNA certification I'm making it more formal. I'm gradually shifting my practice toward the functional side, approaching cases and blood conventional analysis of my patients from that perspective. I am putting into practice what I am learning along the way. However, I feel that I'm at a point where I'm doing a bit of everything and I have many blind spots due to what I still need to learn. I'm only in my fourth month, so Nicole mentions feeling confused around her next steps.
Erin Holt [00:11:33]:
She says, I'm also wondering when is a good time to start sending functional tests to my patients, such as DUTCH, GI Map, et cetera. I feel like I should wait until I'm an expert and complete the certification to be truly ready. But at the same time, I know one needs to start somewhere. So I'm going to take some time to answer this question because it's a big one. And Nicole is not the first or only person to feel this way, not by a long shot. And in fact, if you're feeling this way now or you have felt this way in the past, maybe just chime into the chat so Nicole knows she's not a man on an island with this one. And I actually really commend you, Nicole, for submitting this question because it's not always easy to do, you know, to admit our vulnerabilities in a room full of our peers and our colleagues. So I want to make sure that I really do my due diligence in answering this one and give it the space that it deserves.
Erin Holt [00:12:33]:
And I'm going to start off by telling everybody that, okay, so there's a lot of people in the chat who share this sentiment. Confusion isn't always a bad sign. The brain doesn't like it, right? We don't like to feel confused. It is a huge stress trigger for a lot of us. We like to know the lanes, what to expect, the clear map, the clear path forward. Confusion for many of us registers as something is wrong, something bad is happening here, but it really shouldn't be. And so we need to reframe confusion. Oftentimes we feel confusion when we've jumped ponds.
Erin Holt [00:13:11]:
So what I mean by that is when we're learning a new skill set, it can feel like we have moved from being a big fish in a little pond to being a little fish in a big pond. And that is scary. But it's also great because it means there's so much more available to us in that big pond. There's more to learn. There's more tools, there's more resources, there's more ways to help people. There's more clients and people who need our help and need our new skill set. So it's a good thing. But that transition, man, it can feel so rough.
Erin Holt [00:13:46]:
So I want to validate that for you because it sounds like it's feeling a little rough for you, and that's okay. There's definitely normalcy to what you're experiencing, but what you are looking at as a negative, like your lack of experience with labs and functional nutrition, I actually see that as a positive, and I want to make a case for that today. First thing is that you are aware of your blind spots. Not everybody is right. So that is the first positive. When somebody is not aware of their blind spots, that's when real problems set in. Problems for you in your practice, and problems for your clients as well. I just this weekend put a sticker box on Instagram because I wanted to know what questions people had about functional lab testing.
Erin Holt [00:14:37]:
And it was specifically not for practitioners. It was like, for the average Joe, the average population, where are you struggling? What questions do you have? And inevitably, I got a good chunk of practitioners in my audience. So practitioners were asking questions, and I was kind of flabbergasted by the types of questions some of the practitioners were asking me. I've joked before, like, hey, your continuing education shouldn't come from an Instagram sticker box. If it is, that's a problem. But the questions that some people had about the labs that they were running, I was like, you shouldn't be running these labs if these are the questions that you have about these labs. And I know I'm a jerk for saying these things. I get it.
Erin Holt [00:15:22]:
That's how it's perceived. But somebody has to be saying these things because functional medicine, you guys, it doesn't have the best reputation right now in a lot of circles. And this is the primary reason why people are just, like, slapping functional on their title in their Instagram bio, running labs, and not really knowing what they're doing. And people are looking to functional lab testing to do the heavy lift of their job. There is, I think, too much of a dependence on these high ticket labs right now and not enough focus and emphasis on the coaching behind the labs. If you cannot be a good coach without labs, you will not be a good coach with labs. This is why people are struggling so much with functional medicine model is because we've misperceived the functional medicine model to mean I run a bunch of expensive tests, I have functional next to my name and I run a bunch of tests and that's what I do. That is my practice and that's a problem.
Erin Holt [00:16:28]:
And that's why people are struggling and that's why the functional medicine model is failing a lot of people, a lot of people. Just go read the comment section of any of my posts. People are struggling out there, and they're not just struggling with a conventional model, they're struggling here with the functional model. So I think that the issue with putting labs at the forefront in terms of what's important is we are reinforcing the idea that all we have to do is do the right lab or series of lab, find the exact right root cause, come up with the magic bullet protocol to deal with that root cause, and then we're healed. And we all know, everybody in this room right now knows that that's not how healing work works. So when we set up our practice this way, we are also setting up our clients and ourselves for failure. So I am saying all of this because I want to remind you of the tools that you already have, the coaching tools that you already have, that you've already been using. Those are really, really important.
Erin Holt [00:17:32]:
And in addition to that, you have a lot of really good resources at your fingertips. So adding functional lab testing to your tool bag is great. Obviously I love it, but it's not going to replace the skill set that you already have. It's only going to enhance it. Okay, so I wasn't looking at the chat, but if any of you have seen this, if you feel this, if you're seeing kind of like a sea change in your clients, just share in the chat if this is resonating with you or if you're seeing similar stuff. But I want to explain especially to Nicole, only in month four. So far, month one of FNA is established in the way that it is by design for a reason. So I really want everyone to get really skillful at everything that's mapped out and outlined in month one.
Erin Holt [00:18:31]:
First, it is month one for a reason. FNA is obviously advanced training. Like, I think we can all agree with that. So in month one, a lot of what is presented should be kind of a review for a lot of people, again, by design. But my intention is that it's like kind of review with an upgrade, it's review plus you're starting to think about the things that you already know, perhaps in a new, different, more sophisticated, more enhanced way. That's kind of the intention, but we have to nail everything in month one before we start moving on to month two. So even if you're taking a couple of extra months with month one, that's fine, that's great.
Erin Holt [00:19:15]:
Get good at it. So one of the things that we talk about is the intake form. So, Nicole, before I ever added a functional lab to my practice, I relied on a really good intake so I could practice functional nutrition without leveraging functional labs. I was able to practice all the pillars of functional nutrition without including functional labs, because the intake process was so good. And I believe that a thorough intake, in asking the right questions, in listening to the answers, is more important than any lab test. That's going to get you further than any lab test, like nine times out of ten. And so I give you access to the exact one that I use. The intake form that I use has been kind of like cobbled together and developed over the years.
Erin Holt [00:20:11]:
I've pulled dribs and drabs from other intakes and questions that have come up in trainings or things that I've read in books. And so the way that I've put it together, it kind of helps me dial in on the questions that I need to know and understand in order to guide next steps. It helps me see where are the healing opportunities for this particular client. So you can use it exactly as is. Or I also encourage you guys to take the bones of that and kind of retweak it and restructure it, edit it, refine it in a way that makes sense for you, that elicits the information that you're looking for with your unique lens in the way that you practice, you can take that. There's no IP issues with that. Tear it up, flip it, reverse it, do whatever you need to do with that to create the best intake process for you. But a good intake process, it's going to give you insight into potential obstacles and roadblocks too, right? When we bring the power of presence to our clients, which is really hard to come by, having somebody fully present with you and sit with you in your pain and in your suffering and in your struggle, where are you going to get that? In Instagram? No, that in and of itself, somebody really being with you, bringing full presence to it, bringing full presence to you, is a healing in and of itself.
Erin Holt [00:21:33]:
So if you can practice that. That's like, lights out.
Erin Holt [00:21:38]:
That's lights out, right? So get good at that. The very first meeting that you have with somebody, be all in. Be fully there. When I'm here, I am nowhere else. When I'm teaching a class, I'm nowhere else. When I'm with a client, I am nowhere else. I'm all in fully here where my feet are. People can feel that.
Erin Holt [00:22:00]:
You can feel that. So practice that, and when you're there, you can start to sense into the right questions to ask. You can bring that listening ear. You can hone your intuition. And when we can do this, it kind of gives us foresight into where our clients might struggle in the future, so we know how to coach them through it. Anyone else? You kind of caught something not based on a lab test, but just, like, based on dialogue. You're like, oh, this is like a thing. Maybe it didn't even come up in the intake form, but in the conversation after the intake form, you're like, whoa, this is a thing.
Erin Holt [00:22:39]:
Just by being fully present, just by listening. Let me know if that's happened for you, because when that happens, it's like, it's a good feeling. But the point is, we have to take the time to have these conversations before we get started with lab testing and protocols. My opinion, you are totally. Feel free to throw it in the garbage. If you're, like, I fundamentally disagree, it's okay. That's my opinion.
Erin Holt [00:24:59]:
All right, so what we're seeing now, kind of collectively, and what I'm speaking into is there's definitely a tendency to overdo it with labs in the functional nutrition space. And that's especially true if you kind of haven't honed that discernment yet. You're like, what labs do I need? What data do I need? So I'm just going to order all of them because I'm not really sure. But getting really skillful with the intake process can help you with that discernment of, like, how much more information do I need? If you're not starting with an intake, are you practicing functional nutrition? I don't know. I pose that as a rhetorical question, but feel free to disagree again. So again, I want to remind you of something that everybody here knows to be true. Every time I post this on Instagram, people are like, yes.
Erin Holt [00:25:52]:
I'm like, but are we practicing this, though? Are we practicing this though? The foundations, what I refer to in month one as the base six, those six base foundations, nailing those can fix like 80% of what we're trying to throw lab testing and complicated protocols at. Right? It's true. We all know it to be true. We've all seen it. I think the trick and part of our job is convincing people that it's true. It's like convincing our clients that it's true. And so this is where really good coaching can come in. It's helping people make that sustainable behavior change, because it doesn't matter.
Erin Holt [00:26:40]:
And again, we've all seen this, too. It doesn't matter how many labs you run or how good your protocol is or how many milligrams of oregano oil you're including. The results won't last if the lifestyle and the behavior change isn't dialed in. That's actually what moves the needle. That's actually what gets people well. And then we can argue, and I've certainly made a case for this, that sometimes labs help us do this, labs help to validate the experience, and they can be a coaching tool to get people to make the change that we actually need them to make. That's one of the benefits of labs.
Erin Holt [00:27:21]:
But labs should be one tool in your toolbox, not the whole kit and caboodle. If you are leaning on functional labs to do the work for you, just don't be surprised if your business and your private practice doesn't blow up in the way that you want it to. Right. So what else do I want to say here? Something else that we discuss in month one is when to consider and what to consider with functional lab testing, like when to know it's the right choice. So we kind of unpack a lot of those, you know, that might be a good refresher to go back and remind yourself of. We don't need to use them in every single situation all of the time, but they can be useful in certain scenarios. I love, Nicole, that you're already doing basic blood chemistry. I think that's fantastic.
Erin Holt [00:28:12]:
We have modules in that in month one for that reason. We can start with basic blood chemistry, and we can kind of get our feet wet. Right. Looking at labs that our clients already have, but looking at it through a functional lens, right. That's really where we can get people the most bang for their buck when we're interpreting labs that they might already have from their primary care physicians through more of a functional lens. Right. So you're already doing that. So really good job.
Erin Holt [00:28:39]:
We got to take the wins, seize the wins, and be like, yeah, all right, thanks. Good job. Good job. Right? Thank you. Good job. That's to yourself. This is what you're saying to yourself as proof positive that you are, in fact, doing a good job. Now, this is what I want to sink my teeth into, the old waiting to be an expert before I start something.
Erin Holt [00:29:02]:
Woof. Right? We all feel that we've got the old impostor syndrome going on. The trick, the catch 22 here, is that the only way to become an expert on something is through repetition and experience. The only way to become skillful with lab interpretation is through practice. But this is the catch 22. We don't want to be using our clients as guinea pigs. We don't want to be having them spend a bunch of money on maybe unnecessary labs that we might not be super ready to analyze just because we're not totally sure of what we're doing. So that is really tricky.
Erin Holt [00:29:49]:
And the only answer that I have for that is like, join FNA. So brilliant, you're here. That is the beauty and the benefit of being in a container like this, because we do give you the training to interpret these labs, but you also can ask questions on these live calls. You can post questions as they come up in the community. You can schedule one on one lab review sessions to go over client and individual labs. There is support. What I would recommend you start doing right now is to start to listen to all the recorded lab review sessions that Rachel has done with everybody else in FNA, because now we've built out, like, a really robust library. Sometimes I go in there and I just listen because I'm just like, catching a vibe, like, the way something is phrased or the way it comes up in context in somebody else's health situation.
Erin Holt [00:30:45]:
I'm like, oh, I'm learning stuff that is such an untapped resource if you're not already using it. And that's one of those things that I would like. When I go for a walk, you put it in your ear. You don't have to sit down and be like, study. I'm going to take notes unless you want to. You can just have this on in the background because it familiarizes yourself. It's almost like getting yourself ready to do the thing before you do the thing. So by the time you're running labs, you're like, wait a second.
Erin Holt [00:31:13]:
This feels familiar. I've seen this before. Where have I heard this before? This has come up here before. You know what I mean? It's going to grease the wheels for you ahead of time. So I would definitely lean on that now, even though you're going to be a little bit feeling lost, because if you haven't run these labs yet, it's going to be confusing for you, but it's going to help you get it and get familiar and understand the nuances of the testing before you even start the testing. So that's an actual, practical, tangible recommendation that I would make right now. I would also encourage you to start thinking about what patients of yours would be good candidates for DUTCH testing.
Erin Holt [00:31:55]:
So Nicole says she's in month four, and we know that we get through all of the neuroendocrine and hormone stuff by the end of month five. So she'd already been through three months of neuroendocrine education in DUTCH test interpretation. Right. So I think this would be a really good place to get started. I think you're probably there and you're probably ready. I never want to push somebody before they're ready in an irresponsible way. So I wouldn't be like, oh, you've never done a GI map test before and you haven't gotten to those education modules. Yeah, definitely start it.
Erin Holt [00:32:30]:
I wouldn't say that, but I would say that with maybe thyroid panels and DUTCH tests, like, I think you're good to start that now. And then the last thing that I will say here is that it is perfectly fine to layer in one lab at a time. You don't have to learn all the things all at once. You don't have to offer your clients all the labs all at once. So layer in one at a time. I almost think that it's preferable because we know that the more changes that we try to make at once, the less likely it is for those changes to stick with our clients. Right. The more intense the overhaul, the more intense the protocol that we put them on, the less sustainable it is.
Erin Holt [00:33:14]:
Maybe they'll do it for like a week or two, but then they're going to kind of peter out. And so what I see as a trend is that we run a ton of labs, we get a ton of data, and then we kind of barf out all that data to our clients. And I have been there, done that for sure. It's kind of the hallmark of a greed practitioner. We're like, we're so excited. We've got all this data. I'm going to tell you everything. And then your clients, just like, deer and headlights, like, blinking at you, like, help. As the practitioner,
Erin Holt [00:33:46]:
if we're receiving a lot of that data, we have to use discernment about how much of that data are we going to weave into a treatment strategy? How much of that are we going to weave into how we explain it to our clients? So if you haven't been able to hold back, if you haven't built up the machinery to hold yourself back, then just start with one lab and integrate that into some changes. When we're trying to take all the information from all of the labs and integrate all of that into change, we're setting people up for failure. We really are. So it's like, okay, based on all of these labs, we're going to have you remove all of these foods. According to your food sensitivity panel, we're going to have you go on a low fodmap diet because there's a SIBO positive breath test here. We're going to have you start intermittent fasting because of your fast glucose and you're fasting insulin. We're going to need you to start strength training too. Because of this.
Erin Holt [00:34:41]:
I want you to start a daily sauna practice because your mycotoxin results were a little wonky. And then go outside first thing in the morning. First thing in the morning because you had low carb on your DUTCH test. So we're going to put you on 52 supplements and 27 of them you have to eat on an empty stomach. So are we good? Are we good? And obviously I'm joking, but show of hands or post a one in the chat. How many of you have had clients come to you with this actual story? Like they had gone to another provider and that was, like, their work up? We've seen a ton of this, so no wonder why people aren't getting well. No wonder why people aren't getting better. So part of running functional labs is knowing what to do with that information and how to kind of drip it out and in what order for our clientele.
Erin Holt [00:35:35]:
So that's why I say it's not necessarily a drawback that you don't have experience with all of these labs all at once. Maybe just get your feet wet with one. Try one on, see how you do. Build up some momentum, build up some confidence, and then by the time you hit future modules, you'll be ready to integrate another lab into your. So, okay, any questions? I'm just going to look into the chat. Those are all the questions that were submitted were answered today. So we have a few more minutes so I can expand on some of that. Elizabeth says, just like, go for it, just dive into the testing.
Erin Holt [00:36:19]:
So she's cheering you on, saying, like, I'm going to actually read this. I think you need to dive into the testing. Use FNA one on ones in the company you ordered through online videos, and one on ones to guide you through until you gain confidence. Lindsay says, I've noticed it's really easy for people to abandon themselves and their needs, but hard sometimes for them to see that the foundations are what are most important in feeling better. Yes, Kara. I also remind myself, no matter what, we know so much more than the client reviewing the labs. Good call. Once I start talking, I can't believe how much is in there that I didn't realize.
Erin Holt [00:36:51]:
Oh, that's a really good feeling. I'm just reading everybody's comments for people who are catching the replay. So all of that to say, Nicole, you really do know so much. You have a leg up because you've already been coaching and practicing nutrition and working with clients long before this course. So you've got a lot of tools in your arsenal, and I think you can lean on them and just start to approach things through a functional lens even before you add labs. I think go for the labs because you've got the support here. You've got the resources, you got the support, so go for it. But you know, a lot more than I think you're giving yourself credit for.
Erin Holt [00:37:39]:
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Functional Nutrition podcast. If you got something from today's show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.
