Episode 425: FNA Case Study: Stage Four Endometriosis, 8 Years of Infertility & a Natural Pregnancy
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
FNA graduate Alyssa Chavez had been trying to conceive for eight years. She had stage four endometriosis, debilitating periods, two rounds of IVF, a miscarriage, low AMH, and doctors telling her IVF was basically her only shot. But somewhere inside her, there was still this knowing: there has to be more than this.
In this episode, Erin sits down with Alyssa, to talk about the functional approach that helped her finally move the needle in her own body. Alyssa shares how learning to understand her gut, inflammation, immune system, environment, hormones, and bio-individual needs helped her go from painful periods and infertility to conceiving her baby girl naturally the SAME month she graduated from FNA!
Erin and Alyssa also talk about the bigger ripple effects of addressing your health, and how FNA helped her build a business on her own terms.
In this episode:
How bloating, bowel changes, gut health, inflammation, and immune function became key pieces of Alyssa’s endometriosis puzzle
Why 14 months is not “too long” if you’re learning to practice real holistic care
How bio-individuality applies to your body, your clients, and the way you build your business
What Erin means when she says her work is about “storying people into possibility”
Why comprehensive, whole-person care matters even more in an era of AI-generated health advice
Resources mentioned:
Enrollment for the Fall 2026 cohort of The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy is now open! If you’re ready to become a certified functional health practitioner, apply now.
Connect with Alyssa on Instagram and her website, Aligned to Rise.
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Alyssa Chavez:
We were told that, hey, if you ever wanna even have the slightest chance at having a baby, you're gonna have to do IVF and that's your only option. We went through 2 rounds of IVF. I actually ended up having a miscarriage after our second round, which was just kind of like the rock bottom moment for me. I actually remember after I had a miscarriage going back to the doctor and saying, hey, something feels off. I just feel like there's more that I can do. And I even asked her, is there anything I can do as far as just my diet, lifestyle, anything like that that could help? And she kind of said, And, whatever you think might help. And, that made me go, hmm, there's got to be more than that.
Erin Holt:
Welcome to the Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast, spelled with a K, because we do things a little differently around here. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I've got 15 years of clinical experience as a functional nutritionist and mindset coach, creating a new model that I call Intuitive Functional Medicine™, where we combine root cause medicine with the innate intelligence of your body. This is where science meets self-trust. Your body already knows how to heal, and this show is going to show you how. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health, be sure to follow and share with a friend because you never know whose life you might change.
Hello, my friends. Today we have Alyssa Chavez on the show. Alyssa is an endo and infertility warrior turned functional nutritionist.
She is also a graduate of the Funk’tional Nutrition Academy, which is our 14-month practitioner training and mentorship, and it's currently open for enrollment. So you can kind of catch a vibe of the type of work that you'll be able to do on the other side of graduating. Today, we're going to get into specifically what Alyssa learned in FNA that helped her conceive her baby girl naturally after 8 years of infertility. Such an incredible, powerful story. She's going to share why a comprehensive bio-individualized approach matters most, especially with where healthcare is headed. We're going to talk about that. And she's also going to share with us how she built a business that allows her to do work that she's so passionate about while also being home with her baby. She is building her life on her terms, which I think is something that we all can aspire to.
I know that I have a lot of practitioners that listen to the show, but also business owners and moms, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy this one. And oh yeah, we're going to talk about why this program is 14 months. I really appreciated her take on all of that. Alyssa helps women who are struggling with period problems, endometriosis, and infertility get to the root of their symptoms so they can actually feel good and understand their bodies. Alyssa takes a whole-person approach, supporting the physical body as well as the mental, emotional, and energetic body to help women move forward, bring themselves back into alignment, and truly thrive through life again. I just love her. I love her energy. She's such a wonderful person, and I'm so excited to have her on the show and share her experience, not just in her business but also with her education in training here on today's show.
And just as a reminder, we are open for enrollment. So if you're interested in joining FNA, you got to do it by the end of the month. So make sure you fill out your application. You can schedule a discovery call with us. We'll answer all the questions that you have, and we would love to see you in fall cohort. All right, here's the show with Alyssa. Okay. Hi, Alyssa.
I'm so happy to have you here today.
Alyssa Chavez:
Hi, Erin. I am super excited to be here today.
Erin Holt:
So you sent us an email a couple of weeks ago. I want to start with that. I think that the universe works in interesting ways because there's no way that you would have known this, but like at that exact moment, I was having a time for myself. I was just, it was in the middle of like eclipse season. It was just, it was a, it was a weird time, but I was, a lot of imposter syndrome stuff was coming up kind of like that. Like, does my work actually matter? Who even cares? There was some visibility wounding, you know, all things that we go through as business business owners pretty much like all of the time, but I just happened to be in a season of that. And hopefully, you know, as business owners, we have the tools to navigate through those things. So I, I was using some of my tools and I went for a walk and I sat down.
There's this trail in the woods about a mile and a half from my house, and there's this one tree that I always just sit down. Sometimes I have a little bit of a cry for myself. So I was doing that, and I don't know why I picked up my phone and opened the email browser, because you sent it to the support inbox. So that's like a little bit weird. I don't usually check that. I think it was a weekend, and I saw your email, and I was like, oh, like the universe really wanted me to see this.
Alyssa Chavez:
Totally.
Erin Holt:
Isn't that so cool? Isn't that just like the best?
Alyssa Chavez:
It's really cool. And just timing-wise too, because it literally just popped in my head that morning. I was like, I don't think I've actually shared this story with Erin. She should probably hear this, you know?
Erin Holt:
And I just love that it dropped in at that exact right time. So are you cool with me reading the email that you sent?
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, absolutely.
Erin Holt:
Okay, so you wrote,
“Hi, Erin and team. I know you're getting ready for a new FNA launch coming up. And it made me realize that I have a story to share regarding FNA that you may be interested to share with your audience. I graduated FNA in June of 2025. And it just so happens that's the same month I ended up conceiving my baby girl after 8 years of trying to conceive. Similar to Rachel, I have stage 4 endometriosis. I first learned that back in 2019, when I was already a couple years into my fertility journey with my hubby. In In fact, that health journey is what got me into wanting to get into the world of functional nutrition in the first place. I just couldn't believe that it wouldn't be possible for me to conceive, and that I would be stuck with debilitating pain until menopause, despite what all the doctors told me. I'd been listening to the podcast for years prior to enrolling in FNA in 2024. And what I learned really helped me along the way, both as a practitioner and as a person trying to get healthy. But going through those 14 months in FNA, learning from Erin and Rachel and applying everything I was learning both to myself and my clients, it was a game changer. Yeah, I love that. Myself and my clients is what I believe what nudged the needle for me to be able to finally having completely pain-free periods, and then being able to live out my dream of actually conceiving my little miracle girl naturally. Oh, and it's allowed me to grow the business of my dreams so that I can actually spend time with my beautiful baby girl and work on my own terms. Anyway, I just wanted to share that in part to say a huge thank you for what you've created. I will gladly continue to stay in the Grad community for the long haul because I see the value in being in FNA, in continuing to learn along with you, but I also wanted to share in case you wanted to use my story as you get ready for this upcoming FNA launch.”
So here you are on the podcast doing exactly that. You close it out by saying, either way, I'm eternally thankful for what Erin and FNA have given me. It truly has changed my life in ways I never could have expected. So first of all, thank you for sharing all of that because there was a lot of that that I didn't know. There were some parts that I did know, but a lot of it that I didn't know. So it was a really wonderful thing to read. Thank you.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, we were just talking about this before we hopped on our interview here, that just, it just was, I think, divine timing for both of us. It just, I mean, my baby's 5 months old now, so it's not like this just happened yesterday, and it just popped into my head of like, I should really share this with Erin, and it just seemed to be perfect timing for all involved.
Erin Holt:
You know, we obviously talk so much about health here on the show, and specifically trying to connect our audience to resources and answers and solutions to their health challenges. But what I want today's episode to really highlight is how much our health can impact our whole life.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah.
Erin Holt:
Addressing our health issues doesn't just impact how we feel. Obviously, that's a huge part of it. For you, it was getting out of debilitating pain. But it can also change the trajectory of our lives. It can change the trajectory of our families, of our careers. Addressing health challenges can literally change what your life looks like. You're obviously such a beautiful example of that, and I can relate to that so much. Addressing my health issues from the root is really what allowed me to build the business of my dreams and be home with my kiddo while I did it.
And so I think for you and me, I don't want to speak for you, but I think it's just so easy to stay passionate about this work that we do when we see this type of effect. Would you agree with that?
Alyssa Chavez:
Oh, totally. It makes me just want to shout it from the rooftop.
Erin Holt:
You know, I remember years ago a friend asking me, how are you so passionate? How do you find the passion? I'm like, I just look at my life every single day and I'm like, everyone needs to know about this. Like, this is such a big deal. And not only do we get to see it with ourselves, but obviously in our clients. So anyway, all of that to say, thank you so much for being here. I'm really excited to share your story with everybody else.
Alyssa Chavez:
Oh, well, thank you. I'm glad to share. Like I said, shout it from the rooftops for all to hear.
Erin Holt:
Starting next week, we're actually kicking off a whole endometriosis series here on the pod. And we really want to unpack the condition, help women understand it on a much deeper level. There's a lot of confusion around the condition. But I think this conversation with you is going to be a really powerful preframe to that series. So maybe that's where we kick things off. You said you went from stage 4 endo, you went from infertility, debilitating pain to completely pain-free periods, and conceiving your baby girl naturally. What did a functional medicine approach offer you that other things you have tried did not? Because I'm going to assume that in all of those years you tried other things.
Alyssa Chavez:
Oh yeah, most definitely. And I think I, I tried all the things, really. I mean, I first started off really more with a conventional approach just because that's— I don't want to say that's all I knew. I've always been a little more holistically minded, but that's all I was offered, I'll say. You know, when I first found out I had endometriosis, it was because I went to see a fertility specialist because my husband and I had already been trying to conceive for about 3 years at that point in time. And, you know, basically we were told that, hey, if you ever wanna even have the slightest chance at having a baby, you're gonna have to do IVF and that's your only option. And so here's a bill for many thousands of dollars and here's a whole list of medications you get to put in your body. And some of the medications were, you know, let's suppress the endometriosis, which we all know basically means just shutting down your, your natural hormones.
And, you know, we did, we went through that whole process. We actually did move forward with IVF. This was back in 2020, which was a great year for many reasons. But it was quite an experience, both I think mentally, emotionally, just it's a lot to go through, but also Physically, I was just finding like, oh, I'm working with this doctor who supposedly, you know, works with this condition all the time, knows what she's doing. And not to negate her expertise or anything, but I was just left feeling worse in all the ways. I mean, we went through 2 rounds of IVF. I actually ended up having a miscarriage after our second round, which was just kind of like the rock bottom moment for me. And I was feeling horrible.
I mean, all of my symptoms were worse. My periods were the worst they had ever been, and I was just bloated. I felt just yucky in my body, and just really, I wanted to understand because I actually remember after I had a miscarriage going back to the doctor and saying, "Hey, something feels off. I just feel like there's more that I can do." And I even asked her, "Is there anything I can do as far as just my diet, lifestyle, anything like that that could help?" And she kind of said. Yeah, whatever you think might help. And that made me go, hmm, there's gotta be more than that.
Erin Holt:
Were you doing nutrition at this time? Were you in the functional medicine, alternative health space at all?
Alyssa Chavez:
This was when I started getting into the functional space because right at that point in time, it started with me just doing research for myself. And that led to like, I wanna actually get education around this so I'm not just reading random books, listening to podcasts, like it just didn't feel like it was bringing it full circle for me. I actually worked with a practitioner for a little while back at that time and then went into functional training myself because I wanted to learn how to take care of my own body and also be able to help support other people who were struggling. So that was my jumping off point.
Erin Holt:
It's like the gateway drug.
Alyssa Chavez:
Exactly.
Erin Holt:
Our own health challenges.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yes.
Erin Holt:
When you said you did functional training, did you do something prior to FNA?
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, I call myself a little bit of an education junkie. I just— once I learned something, it's one of those, it opens the doors of realizing there's so much more to learn. So I've kind of hit pause now because I have a baby and I'm trying to focus on spending time with her. But from like 2020 through 2025, that entire time was just me going through various trainings, educations of different kinds, some of it nutrition, functional trainings, obviously went through FNA. And then I've gone through a couple of trainings more related to like, you know, mental, emotional health as well, like kind of the full spectrum, which I know really aligns with the work that you do as well.
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What specifically about a functional approach— nutrition, functional medicine— supported you on your endometriosis and infertility journey?
Alyssa Chavez:
Were there certain practices or Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was learning to really understand what was happening in my body and learning how food and supplements and all of those things can help support. So to get specific with that, I did go through doing a lot of work on my gut, was definitely a huge help, which I know you've talked about that a lot of late. Because I did have a lot of gut symptoms as well, which I know is super common. I mean, there's studies showing that upwards of 90% of women with endo also have gut-related symptoms. Like, it's super, super common. I had all the bloating and just weird bowel movements and just everything going on. That moved the needle a lot for me. That helped me to feel a lot better just with that.
Alyssa Chavez:
I definitely have made a lot of changes in my general day-to-day dietary approaches. Just, I feel like that helped me really reduce inflammation in general. And we know also now too that there's a huge immune system component when it comes to endometriosis that's not talked about a whole lot. I used to have the understanding of it's just all about hormones and the reproductive system and starting to realize there's a lot more to the picture. So, So I think that the helping to support my gut definitely helped with the immune system side of things as well. And there's just been a lot of layers since then. It's just been, as I'm learning, I'm kind of continuing to connect dots and put things together and work on more and more pieces. But I would say the biggest things that helped me were making some major changes to my diet.
So I previously kind of ate I don't want to say anything and everything. I was relatively health conscious. Like I ate vegetables. It's not like I was eating McDonald's every day, but I didn't have really anything specific that I was doing. And so through learning about nutrition and functional nutrition, it really helped to guide me into figuring out what foods actually worked well for my body. Not like I'm following this specific anti-inflammatory diet that I found on the internet, but just experimenting and really figuring out what foods resonated well with me, what my immune system was reacting to, what it wasn't reacting to, and pinpointing things there was super, super helpful as well. And also, I know you were talking about this even within FNA. We did a recent— well, within FNA, but also publicly to other people who were coming in, you did a hormone training.
I know you were talking about this with other practitioners, how even when it comes to the hormones, that there's It's not really about the hormones directly. It's about what's impacting the hormones, all of the things that go into that picture. And so learning all of that and kind of seeing like, okay, yes, my hormones may be not quite where they should be, but as I learned to understand what was actually impacting them, things like the environment that I was in as far as This has been years since I've changed this now, but, you know, products I was using in and around my body, you know, laundry products, and even food and things like that. You know, again, the gut piece of it, how well are my hormones being detoxified, my— the health of my liver. I feel like there's so many things.
Erin Holt:
So many things. Not to overwhelm listeners, but there really is so many things. When it's a whole body inflammatory condition, there are so many things that contribute to that whole body inflammation. inflammation. And so there is a little bit of a lifestyle overhaul, which I think when you're, you know, struggling for so many years, there's this one thing that you desire so badly that you can't get. I think you're very highly motivated to make those changes. And I think sometimes people look at the way that I live my life, and it can look like a sacrifice. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, this isn't hard.
This isn't the hard part. Eating well, moving my body, you know, avoiding toxicants. That's not the hard part. Being sick all of the time and living in fear of my health. That was really hard. This is a cakewalk in comparison.
Alyssa Chavez:
100%.
Erin Holt:
Were you shocked when you conceived naturally? And so that coincided with your graduation at FNA. Were you surprised about that?
Alyssa Chavez:
Oh, yes. I think shocked is the understatement of the century. I mean, it literally was— my husband and I got married in 2017. And that's also, I went off birth control, I think in 2016 before we even got married. And we started trying to conceive right away. And through that entire time from 2017 until 2025, I had never conceived naturally. Like that never once happened. And so when I woke up one morning and peed on a stick and got a positive pregnancy test, I about fell over.
It was shock of the century. And for it to have happened so effortlessly and naturally. And, and also considering that I'm now in the geriatric pregnancy phase of life at the ancient age of now 37— I was 36 during my pregnancy— it was like, I'm in the time when everyone's telling you fertility declines. When I had gotten my AMH checked, it had been fairly low, which they make that sound like a death sentence that you'll never conceive, which I'm I'm learning so many things about that as well now too. But yeah, I mean, when I actually got that positive pregnancy test, it was an enormous, enormous shock. But at the same time, I was like, well, yeah, if that makes sense.
Erin Holt:
It does make sense. And I think that so much of, you know, when we were talking about this before we started recording, so much of my work, or at least my goal, my intention, my mission of my work is to story people into possibility. Like, these are the things that you've been told, these are the cards that you've been dealt, And there is this limitless potential available to you. And I try to instill that in people with their health, but also that's like the hallmark of FNA too, is like, you know, for your career, for your business, what you think is possible for your entire life and what you see as success for yourself. And so I think it makes sense that you were like, this is shocking and also maybe not so shocking.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah.
Erin Holt:
You said that FNA allowed you to grow the business of your dreams. so that you can actually spend time with your beautiful baby girl and work on your own terms. I would love to hear you speak a little bit more into this, and I know listeners would too. We have a lot of business owners, we have a lot of moms. The whole working mom thing can be really challenging. It can be a super struggle, especially when you are running your own business. And again, that is another area where I'm like, this isn't hard. Like, this is my life by design.
This is like a beautiful, wonderful thing, and I'm just grateful every single day that I get to do this work that I love so much and be home with my kiddo. She's 12 years old now, so like I don't have to be as available to the 12-year-old that I did to the 5-month-old. But speak a little bit into that.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, I think as far as from me going through FNA, I think the biggest thing that I learned is basically you can build your business however you want to, you know, because I think so much of what I've learned in the past when it comes to business is like This is what's worked well for me. This is what you should do. And what I really appreciated about the way that you talk about business is just, you can do it however you want. You can charge whatever rates you want, higher, lower, whatever feels good to you. You can structure it the way that you want. You can work the amount of hours that you want. And for me, it's kind of opened me up to the possibility of I can absolutely create the life that I want in all of the ways. Because I think I grew up very much in the belief system of you have to work, work, work all the time in order to really be successful and to see the results and to make the kind of money that you want to make and all of the things.
And to be able to take a step back and say, I don't want to do that. I love the work that I do. I'm incredibly passionate about it. The fact that I get to spend every day helping other women who are going through things similar to what I went through is incredibly rewarding, and I love doing it. But I do also have a baby now, and I want to actually be there with her and watch her grow up and learn things. And as far as navigating being a working mom, I'm only 5 months in, so like, this is a learning curve for sure. But just the mindset behind it has been huge for me of just, hey, Like right now, I've intentionally set for myself a relatively limited amount of these are the clients I'm taking on right now because I also want to have this time and space to be with my baby. Whereas when she gets a little older and she's more self-sufficient, that may look a little bit different, but I can shift that over time.
But I love just the impact of that, being able to do this work that I love and I'm so passionate about and And honestly, being able to be a wonderful example to my little girl with that too. I think in all the ways, the fact that I'm able to spend time with her and actually be a present mother, but also do the work that I'm passionate about and be able to take care of my health at the same time. So I'm not just working myself sick like I think I used to do in my old life. And I actually have been an entrepreneur kind of forever. I haven't had a real job since I was about 21 years old. Like, it's been a long time. But the past 5, 6 years now that I've had my nutrition business here, and especially this last couple of years since I joined FNA, just things have really, really shifted in a way where I feel like I finally have the freedom to build it the way that I really want and be able to find that the way to have it all, so to speak.
Erin Holt:
And I think that's totally possible. I heard this recently, you can have it all, but you can't necessarily do it all. And so I always try to be really honest and transparent, especially now. I'm like, I have a wonderful supportive partner, you know, I have a— my husband is great. He's an active participant in this life that we are building. Like, I try to be really clear. I also have one kid, you know, what you were talking about made me think of something that I heard recently, and it's about seasons. I was listening to somebody on a podcast, and she was talking about like hustle culture versus like the slow life and like soft girl culture.
And she like, it's like neither one is really all that great. She's like, first of all, good luck building an actual profitable business, like living your soft girl life. Like show me one example of that actually happening. It's not real. You know what I mean? That's Instagram pretends the world, like that's not real. But then hustle culture, we know that our bodies as women are not designed to grind, grind, grind, push, push, push. But also running a business for requires you to work. So there's also that.
But she described it in terms of seasons. Like, there's gonna be seasons of hustle, and then there's gonna be seasons of, like, you know, doing your soft girl thing. But, like, that's kind of true for parenthood too. Like, there's just—
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah.
Erin Holt:
Everything is a season. Everything changes, you know? And so I think it's such a beautiful thing to be able to, like, be running your business, running your company in this, like, very dynamic and adaptable way where you can meet the needs of not only your daughter, but how you want to mother her too. I think that's just such a spectacular thing. And I think we just need more examples of women doing this, which is part of the reason I wanted to chat with you about this on the show. Like, yes, definitely tell me about the infertility. But can we also talk about business too? It's kind of a big deal.
Hey guys, if you've been following me for a while or you've been listening to the podcast, you probably already know that when it comes to your health, there's more to the story than what you've been told. A lot of you guys are really smart. You've tried things, you've run labs, you've worked with practitioners, and you're still sitting here like, why doesn't my body feel better yet? That's actually the exact person we work with inside our one-to-one care. You are not doing anything wrong. It's just that no one has really put the full picture together for you. Inside our one-to-one functional care method, we look at everything together— your gut, your hormones, your nutrient status, your nervous system, your history. We don't see them as separate issues, but as one connected story, because it is. And then we help you actually work through that with real support, ongoing guidance, adjustments, and helping you understand what your body is doing and why. Our goal isn't to just help you feel a little bit better for a few months. It's to actually create something that lasts. We don't go for 90% better. We keep it 100%. So if you're dealing with chronic symptoms, gut issues, hormone imbalances, autoimmunity, and you feel like you've tried everything, I really do get it. And at the same time, I'll say this. I know. When we work with someone like you, it's very rare that we don't find what's missing because that's what we do. We're a team of highly skilled practitioners working on complex cases every single day. You're not doing this alone. You have ongoing support, messaging access to your practitioner, monthly appointments where we're looking at your progress, your labs, what's working and what's not, and actually adjusting those things in real time so we can find what works for your You can apply to work with us through the link in the show notes, and our team will take a look and guide you from there.
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I'm curious, just for folks listening who may be considering FNA and on the fence, maybe a little bit nervous. Nervous about it. So it sounds like the actual clinical curriculum was helpful, not just in your building your practice or growing your practice, but also in your own body, in your own life, learning things that you could then apply to your health. On the business side of things, outside of me just being like giving everyone a permission slip to do it your way, was there anything that stuck out to you that has been really instrumental in you building this business for yourself?
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, I think that the biggest thing that has stuck out for me, and this kind of goes FNA as a whole, not necessarily just the business side of things, because for anyone who's kind of looking into it or not as familiar, there is a whole curriculum for the clinical side of things. There's also a whole curriculum for the business side of things. We have calls for both as well. But for me, kind of the overarching thing for all of it is just It comes back to this idea of bio-individuality and kind of tailoring things to the specific person. And I think that can apply in so many ways. And I have applied that in so many ways, obviously to my own body, as we've talked about with having endometriosis, having, you know, struggling with fertility and being able to flip things around there. Also within my practice, Really learning to look at the person in front of me and be able to work with their unique situation, their unique needs, their symptoms, what they're actually telling me in combination with their lab results. And I think that applies both in the clinical and the business side of things, because at the end of the day, it's a little bit one and the same when you're running your own business.
Alyssa Chavez:
There's definitely some overlap there because whoever you're working with, they're a client, right? Like they're paying you for your services, but you're also helping them with their health. So it's all kind of just blended together, but it's that idea of just looking at the person in front of you, making it work for that unique individual, and kind of being able to bring in all these pieces that we've learned. But I think one of the big things that really helped me in FNA that kind of took it a level beyond what I've learned in other education programs that I've been through is just that it's so comprehensive. It just feels like it's, you know, you can just go from beginning of the program all the way through and it, it really ties it all together rather than learning a little bit about hormones here, learning a little bit about the gut here, learning about how to interpret lab results here, and kind of of piecing things together. I really loved that there was a, a very cohesive approach to it all and that it helped me to think more critically as a practitioner and just have a better understanding of what I'm doing and what I'm trying to work on with somebody rather than just taking, you know, this is what I learned about this lab and the protocols that I was suggested for that. These are the supplements that another practitioner told me about. Like, it feels a lot more like I am using the information that I learned, but also embodying that myself and being able to apply that in a more rounded and individualized way to the people I'm working with. I hope that made sense.
Erin Holt:
It made a lot of sense to me. As the person who built the program, I'm like, great.
Alyssa Chavez:
Sure. That was my goal.
Erin Holt:
You know, I will say often, piecemeal education leads to piecemeal results for your clients.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah.
Erin Holt:
That is exactly what I mean. It's like when you are doing the trainings, and you know, I am also an education junkie. I'm never not enrolled in something. I'm like a Sagittarius rising. Like, I'm just like, I just stay learning all the time. I love it. So I'm not saying that that's a bad thing, but when we are trying to build functional medicine practice, or a functional nutrition practice, where we are telling our clientele, we see the whole picture, we're looking at all aspects of you, but our education does not deliver that, that creates a little bit of a conflict, or a little bit of like friction, a little bit of rub. If I'm going to learn about hormones here, and then I'm going to learn about this lab here, and then I'm going to learn about gut over here, but there's nothing pulling it all together for you, that's when we start to Yeah.
You see a lot of fragmented care. And I don't know about you, but in our practice, the vast majority of our clients that apply to work with us are coming from other functional medicine practices. And the reason that they are not getting the results and the reason that they are coming to us is because they've experienced that fragmented care. And I'm like, I know exactly why we're in this situation. It's because people want to skip steps. And they want to just like kind of like do it quick. And I recognize FNA is a 14-month program, that is a chunk of time. But it takes time to really understand this comprehensive approach.
It doesn't mean you have to wait 14 months to start practicing. But it does mean that it takes time to really learn to practice in this way and to— you use the word embody— to really embody what we say we're doing. If you're saying you're giving holistic care, like You gotta be giving holistic care, not piecemeal fragmented care. I'll get off my soapbox now. But I was also thinking about this, something you said. I got this email a couple of days ago, and it was like totally a spam email. But it was from a company that had built an app for clinicians. And it was all AI generated.
And it was basically to reduce time spent on client care. And so it was a lot of Like, this is a systematized approach. So your clients feel like they're talking to you, but it's actually AI that's talking to them. And I am like, maybe I will be left behind like the dinosaurs, but I'm like, ew, gross, gross. That is not what we're fucking doing here.
Alyssa Chavez:
No.
Erin Holt:
Like, nobody gets into this line of work to let robots talk to their clients. Like, I just— nobody's looking for that. Clients aren't coming to us. Looking for an automated response that you're going to send out to everybody. But I think that in an era of business that is moving into so much automation, that is really prioritizing efficiency, the clinicians like you that are really meeting people where they're at, that are seeing the person in front of them, that are connecting to that person, You guys are the ones that are going to stand out because everyone else is going to do the easy thing. You know, like you can have AI interpret your labs. You can take a client's labs, dump them into ChatGPT, and have ChatGPT or Claude spit out a whole protocol for your clients. If it's that easy, everyone's going to do it.
And if everybody's doing it, how are you as a practitioner going to set yourself apart? And everything you just described is how to do it. So I'm just so grateful to people like you who are You know, willing to practice in this way because I genuinely believe that this is what people need.
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, I totally agree. Because at the end of the day, if you're going to go that route, why couldn't the client just upload their own results to AI and get a protocol and move on with it? Like, that's— I think the biggest thing that we as clinicians can really offer is the human side of it, the human touch. Because at the end of the day, What AI and robots are not going to do for you is listen to how you're responding to what we're doing, you know, to a protocol or whatever, to listen to even just for me, when, when I hear the word, like, I love the idea of bio-individuality. That's something that's really stood out to me from the very, very beginning of when I started digging into all of this, which is just, you know, looking at somebody's unique needs. But to me, that goes so far beyond the physiological side. It's not just about what your physical body needs; it's also what's going on in their life. You know, how much do they have? Like I have one client who's a mom of four kids, and I have another client who is a college student and kind of just starting out her life. Like they're in very different places and have very different things going on in their life.
They're very different ages. like my approach to them can't be the same just for that reason alone. You know, in this case, like they both have endometriosis, they both even have similar symptoms going on. But that's, I think, where a lot of people run into trouble. It's like, okay, well, I've seen this before, this is what's going on, so this is what we're gonna do. Whereas for me, I'm really looking at where are they in their life? What's their history? What have they done before? What have they tried before? 'Cause, you know, my client who's super young and just starting out, she hasn't even really done a whole lot yet. Like we're just kind of starting fresh, whereas the other client has kind of been through the wringer and done a lot of things. And so, yeah, it really is exactly what you said.
It's meeting them where they're at and bringing in that human touch side of things, I think is honestly what's going to be needed and valued the most moving forward. Yeah, anyone can upload lab results to AI.
Erin Holt:
Yeah, and not anyone can sit across from somebody who is suffering and just like hold space for that, you know? That takes an actual human to do. So totally yay for more humans doing this work. Well, thank you so much, Alyssa. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your experience with all of this. Is there anything else you'd like to say before we close out?
Alyssa Chavez:
Anything you want to I think the biggest thing is just, it comes back to the whole mindset of it. Like, I know for me, just coming back to FNA for a moment, but I know when I was first learning about it, hearing, because I think I was, have been listening to you talk about FNA since you started it back in, what was that, 2021 or 2020? I think 2020. Yeah. I remember I've been listening to your podcast probably since even before that. And I remember hearing you talk about it and just even before I signed up, it was like a 14-month program. Like it's a big commitment and, you know, a lot of time. And it is like, it's definitely a huge commitment, but I think similarly to anything that we do in life, like anything worth doing is worth doing well and thoroughly. And the way that I always look at it, whether it comes to your health or your education or really anything that you're doing, The time is gonna pass by anyway, right? Like—
Erin Holt:
True.
Alyssa Chavez:
Those 14 months are still gonna happen. Or if you're somebody who's looking into getting support with your health, like, because I know with the work that we do, we're typically working with people for 6, 7, 8, 9 months. I have clients I've been working with extended periods of time, you know, a year and a half, 2 years, not as intensively as time goes on. But that time is gonna go by whether you're doing something or not. You know, I think we we fear what's going to go into, like, it's going to take all this work. But it's kind of like what you were saying before. It's like the hard part isn't doing the thing. The hard part is the challenges that you're currently going through that are holding you back, right? And so coming to the other side of that, I think, is huge and, and so worth it from either perspective, either as a practitioner or as a, a client looking for So really, really, really great perspective shift.
Erin Holt:
I think I'm gonna steal that one and use that. Like, the time's gonna pass by anyway, you might as well just get on in here. Like, what are you waiting for? Come on. All right, Alyssa, thank you so much for your time. And why don't you share with our listeners where they can find more of you?
Alyssa Chavez:
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm pretty active on Instagram. You can find me there @aligned.to.rise, Aligned to Rise, uh, website www.alignedtorise.com. And I also host my own podcast called, surprise, Aligned to Rise. So you can find me any of those places, and I'd love to hear from you.
Erin Holt:
The branding game is strong. I can appreciate that. Love it. All right, Alyssa, thank you so, so, so much. And you guys go check out Alyssa's podcast and check her out on Instagram, and I will see you all next week.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast. 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. If you got something from today's show, don't forget, subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more.
Erin Holt:
Take care of you.