Functional Medicine

Functional medicine seeks to find and correct the root causes of illness and disease, so it’s an all-encompassing approach to health. At Candid Apple: Nutrition & Functional Medicine, the team, led by Kerri Rachelle, RDN, LDN, CSSD, combines traditional medical practices with evidence-based healing therapies to restore balance and boost your health. The telehealth-based practice operates from Charlottesville, Virginia, but telehealth appointments are available in all 50 states. Call the office or click the online scheduler to learn more now.

What is functional medicine?

Functional medicine is a comprehensive health care approach that looks to detect and treat the underlying sources of illness and disease. 

Additionally, functional medicine emphasizes preventive care and whole-person well-being, with its ultimate goal being the restoration of bodywide healthy function. 

How are functional medicine and nutrition connected?

At Candid Apple: Nutrition & Functional Medicine, the experienced team offers one combined five-step pathway to wellness encompassing nutrition and functional medicine. 

Functional medicine focuses on in-depth nutritional testing, which can detect problems like sensitivities and imbalances and explain your health issues or symptoms. 

Depending on your unique needs, à la carte diagnostic lab testing can also uncover other root causes of illness like hormone imbalance, thyroid dysfunction, toxicity, and many other problems that are often not detected with traditional lab tests. 

Functional medicine uses the specific results from your lab tests, lifestyle evaluation, and symptom assessment to create a highly personalized nutrition plan, alongside other approaches like supplements and lifestyle changes. 

Why is nutrition so important in functional medicine? 

Nutrition is a crucial aspect of bodywide health and disease prevention. Put simply, your body can’t be well or function properly if you don’t have enough calories, macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat), and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). 

These things come mainly from the food you eat, so you can’t expect your body to survive, let alone thrive, when you don’t fuel it properly. For example, the only micronutrient your body produces is vitamin D (from sun exposure), so you need to make sure you get the right fuel for your body and in the right amounts.

Eating unhealthy foods or getting too little of certain nutrients can set you up for serious health problems later. For example, poor nutrition is a central facet of many chronic diseases, including diabetes. 

Many people experience symptoms they don’t understand, like fatigue, gut health issues, and brain fog, and those problems are often linked to food intolerances and micronutrient imbalances. 

Because nutrition is often the source of health problems, it can also be the solution, and that’s where the functional medicine approach to personalized nutrition coaching comes in. 

The Candid Apple: Nutrition & Functional Medicine team works closely with you to give you the best functional medicine and nutrition support through convenient telehealth visits. Their concierge approach ensures you feel valued and cared for as you journey toward your health goals. Book your appointment online or call the office to start today.