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Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 8am - 3pm

http://www.realfunctionalhealing.com/

Real Functional Healing, Denver, CO (2026)

06/08/2026

Blood sugar and hormones are like a married couple: When one is unhappy, the other one knows it 😒

This is one of the first things I walk clients through when we start working together.

Most women come to me focused entirely on their hormones. They want to know why their estrogen is low, or their progesterone is off, or their thyroid isn't cooperating. And those are all valid questions.

But when we look at the data, 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 is almost always part of the story. Every spike and crash sends a ripple through the entire hormonal system.

😖Cortisol rises to compensate.
😖Sex hormone binding globulin increases.
😖Receptor sensitivity decreases.

This means even if the hormones are there, the body 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺.

So one of the first things we do is make the invisible VISIBLE 🔎

The tools I use with clients to track and understand their own patterns:

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬. A CGM takes the guesswork out of blood sugar entirely. Instead of a single fasted reading once a year, clients can see in real time how their meals, sleep, stress, and movement are affecting their glucose.
Patterns that would take 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 to identify through standard labs show up within days.

𝐎𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. Sleep quality and stress recovery are critical pieces of data when it comes to hormones. They directly impact cortisol, blood sugar regulation, and hormone production overnight. The Oura ring makes that data measureable, so we can start tracking.

𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. This gives us a comprehensive map of s*x hormones, adrenal hormones, and their metabolites, including how the body is actually 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴. This is the piece standard hormone panels completely miss.

I don't use these tools to overwhelm clients with numbers. I use them to help women 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 understand what their body has been trying to tell them 📣

When you can see your data, patterns stop feeling random. And when patterns stop feeling random, change starts feeling possible 💗

06/04/2026

Her standard hormone panel looked "normal." But one marker nobody had checked was telling a completely different story...

This client came to me post-menopausal, on Prempro HRT, with diagnoses of Graves disease and Crohn's.

Her symptoms when we started:

😱Weight gain
😱Low libido
😱Hot flashes + night sweats
😱High blood pressure
😱Chronic GI symptoms and diarrhea

Several different bodily systems were involved. And yet nothing was being connected.

When I reviewed her thyroid panel, the marker that stood out was 𝐓𝟑 𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, flagged low at 22. Her previous result was 19.

T3 uptake tells us how well the body is actually 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦. It reflects how much of your ACTIVE thyroid hormone is getting to where it needs to go.

In her case, two things were driving T3 uptake down:

1- Gut inflammation from Crohn's damaging cell receptor sites where T3 binds to do its job

2- Elevated binding proteins that were "locking" her thyroid hormones away, making them unusable.

Her results after just 3 months of working together:

- DHEA-Sulfate moved from 𝟐𝟎.𝟏 𝐭𝐨 𝟏𝟏𝟑.𝟎
- Testosterone moved from 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝟑 𝐭𝐨 𝟏𝟎
- GI symptoms 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝
- Energy, libido, and menopause symptoms 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝

T3 uptake is one of the most frequently overlooked markers in thyroid management. If your thyroid medication isn't working the way it should, it may not be the dose.

It may be your body's inability to USE the hormones.

06/04/2026

Most hormone replacement protocols fail before the hormones ever get a chance to work...

Women come to me on stacks of hormones - estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and DHEA - questioning why they're on them and, more importantly, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 🥵

The protocols look good on paper. She's on the "correct" dose. She's doing everything she's been told. But she still feels off.

The fatigue and brain fog won't lift.
The weight isn't moving.
The mood swings are still there.

So the protocol gets adjusted. More hormones, or different delivery method. Add another peptide. Try a new supplement stack.

What nobody stopped to ask is 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨.

There are two things I look at before anything else when a client is struggling on HRT:

𝟏- 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. Chronically elevated blood sugar drives up cortisol. Cortisol increases s*x hormone binding globulin (SHBG), a protein that essentially locks up your hormones and makes them unavailable to your cells.

💫You can be on a perfectly dosed HRT protocol that's now biologically useless simply because your blood sugar isn't well regulated💫

𝟐- 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Chronic inflammation damages hormone receptor sites. Now hormones cannot get into the cells.

💫Taking more hormones doesn't fix the issue when they can't get where they need to go💫

This is why I don't start with more hormones, stricter elimination diets, intense exercise protocols, or a longer supplement list when someone isn't responding to HRT.

Because you need a strong foundation to ensure that 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 🔥

05/29/2026

She came to me with anxiety, chronic acid reflux, weight loss resistance, and inflammation. Doctors had checked everywhere 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘵 🤦‍♀️

She had been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, sinusitis, and gastritis ("itis" literally means inflammation).

Every system was on fire, including her brain - which is why she was feeling so anxious. And she had been to multiple providers, with no clear answers connecting any of it 🚫

When we ran her GI Map to test her gut, this is what we found:

☑️𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐚: this bacteria produces serotonin and supplies tryptophan (which turns into serotonin in the brain). At undetectable levels, her gut's ability to make serotonin was significantly impaired.

☑️𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚: Akkermansia supports a healthy gut environment and serotonin manufacturing centers.

☑️ 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐁𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦: these bacteria help you make more serotonin and support other serotonin-producing cells in the gut lining.

☑️ 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 + 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬: high levels of these species are linked to weight loss resistance and systemic inflammation.

𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐬: her gut was not producing enough serotonin, her gut-brain connection was seriously compromised, and the resulting inflammation had lit a fire across multiple body systems 🔥

Using the GI map data alongside functional bloodwork, we built her a bio-individual plan.

Fast forward to today:

🙌 Over 40 pounds lost.
🙌 Chronic GI symptoms resolved.
🙌 Pain levels under control.
🙌 Anxiety well-managed without medication.

The data was there. 𝘐𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

05/27/2026

My childhood gut issues led to chronic depression and anxiety. Doctors and therapists never connected the dots...

For most of my adult life, I struggled with mental health challenges. I tried therapy, and I tried medication. While some of it helped, none of it explained 𝘸𝘩𝘺 I felt the way I felt 😔

I also struggled with chronic digestive problems that started in childhood. When puberty hit, I struggled with hormone imbalances and skin issues that persisted into my 30s. And to top it all off, chronic fatigue and brain fog that medications didn't touch.

When I started studying the gut brain connection in school, things finally started to click. And when I started addressing the gut, my mental health shifted in ways nothing else had touched.

Then, years into my career, I got another piece of the puzzle: a late ADHD diagnosis 🧠

I finally understood what had been underneath so much of what I had labeled as anxiety or a personal failing.

This is why I specialize in the 𝐠𝐮𝐭-𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

And why I work with women who are exhausted, anxious, and tired of being told their labs are normal 😵‍💫

I've been there, stuck in that endless loop of searching for answers. And I know the answers are there, once you know where to look.

05/27/2026

Your anxiety might not be a mental health problem... It might be a gut problem 🤯

Every week, I talk to women who have been handed an anxiety diagnosis and a prescription. And while I'm not saying medication is never appropriate, what I am saying is this: We are missing an enormous piece of the picture.

𝟗𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐭.

Not your brain, your gut. That means when the gut isn't healthy, serotonin production drops.

And low serotonin leads to symptoms like anxiety, irritability, mood swings, and frequent feelings of sadness. It can also affect focus, concentration, and memory.

I see women who have been in therapy for years, tried multiple medications, and still can't shake the anxiety or the brain fog. And many tell me they believe the anxiety is a 𝘣𝘺𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 of their symptoms, not the 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 of them.

I'm not anti-medication. I'm 𝘱𝘳𝘰-𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. I believe every woman has the right to be educated on what's happening in her body, so she can make informed choices about her own physical and mental well being.

And when we run comprehensive GI testing, we can see it in their results:

🦠Hidden infections.
🦠Gut inflammation.
🦠Lack of healthy bacterial species that directly influence serotonin production.

If your anxiety has never fully resolved despite "doing all the right things," it may be time to look at what's happening underneath.

PS. I help driven women find real answers through functional lab testing and targeted nutrition + lifestyle changes. If you've been managing symptoms without ever getting to the WHY, I'd love to have a conversation.

05/26/2026

Funny how this kitchen transformation ended up feeling a lot like my own ✨

I started planning this update years ago, before this house became a rental and before life pulled me through some of the deepest seasons of growth and change.

Now, in a very temporary chapter of living here again while preparing to sell, I finally finished it.

And honestly… it feels sort of symbolic.

Looking at these before and after photos, I can’t help but see myself in them too. "Before" feels darker, chaotic, where pieces don't quite fit together. "After" feels lighter, more cohesive, more in flow.

This home held so many versions of me. And I’m deeply grateful for all of them 💕

So until this place sells, I’m going to fully enjoy the beauty of what I built.

Here’s to honoring the chapters that shaped us… and to having the courage to let them close ✨

05/20/2026

I was told my hormones looked like a "post-menopausal woman's"... I was in my 𝘮𝘪𝘥-𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.

My periods had always been brutal 😭

Cramps that took me out of work or school. Heavy bleeding. Severe mood swings.
The type of exhaustion that I could feel in my bones.

I pushed to get my hormones tested. And the results came back showing levels so low that my OBGYN told me they looked like "the hormones of a woman who had already gone through menopause." Her words.

And her recommendations? Stress less, sleep more, and consider going back on hormonal birth control 😡My internal response was: 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦?

I was in grad school and working full time and somehow still managing to sleep eight hours a night, because I couldn't not🫩And I had spent years working hard to get off the pill because of how it made me feel.

I went to multiple specialists. MDs, functional providers, holistic practitioners. People who were supposed to dig deeper and look for root causes.

Not ONE of them asked what I was eating. Not a single one asked how often I was eating, or whether I was eating enough.

They handed me elimination diets, stacks of supplements, and stress reduction techniques. None of them addressed what was actually happening underneath.

I had spent years under eating and over exercising. My blood sugar was chronically low. My ADHD brain was running on fumes.

And my body, doing exactly what bodies do when they're starving at a cellular level, was not making hormones. It couldn't. It didn't have the raw materials or the fuel⛽

The first thing that actually moved the needle for me wasn't a hormone protocol. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. Stabilizing blood sugar. Giving my body a reason to believe it was safe enough to produce hormones again.

I share this because I know firsthand how exhausting it is to go looking for answers and keep coming home empty handed.

And because blood sugar is almost never part of the hormonal conversation in conventional or integrative care, and it 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦.

05/19/2026

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 (and probably not in the right direction 😵‍💫).

Women spend years chasing hormonal symptoms with supplements and protocols, when what they needed first was a stable, consistent fuel supply.

Unstable blood sugar (𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲) is one of the main drivers of hormonal chaos. And most women with irregular cycles, low libido, painful periods, or energy issues are being treated at the hormonal level, when the real problem is happening much earlier in the chain.

𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠:

When blood sugar spikes repeatedly from refined carbs, sugar, or lack of exercise, your body pumps out more and more insulin to manage it.

Over time, that excess insulin tells your ovaries to produce more androgens, the testosterone-like hormones that drive symptoms like acne, irregular cycles, and the hormonal pattern seen in PMOS (formerly know as PCOS).

It also throws off communication between your brain and your ovaries. When that signal gets disrupted, ovulation becomes irregular, progesterone drops, and estrogen dominance creeps in.

On the other end, chronically low blood sugar is just as damaging. When your body is running on empty, it activates cortisol to pull your blood sugar back up. Cortisol and progesterone are made from the same raw materials.

𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥:

Anxiety.
Poor sleep.
Irregular, heavy, and/or more painful periods.
Mood swings you can't explain.

Blood sugar is not just a diabetes conversation. It is a foundational hormone conversation, and it should be one of the first things ANY trained provider discusses with women in their practice.

Want to learn more? 🗓️ We'll be talking all about foundational blood sugar balancing practices in my 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 this Wednesday 5/20 @ 12 MST. Link to sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19ZB3mnQg7d_UUP4OZ5hKSfQ7DLvEO6Rh4HPODPzrqW0/edit

05/18/2026

Running on caffeine and willpower is not a business strategy 🚫

And yet 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦. Most high-performing women I know are doing exactly that, and wondering why their focus is shot by noon, their energy crashes before the workday is done, and their brain refuses to cooperate no matter how hard they try, or how much coffee they drink ☕

This is not a hustle problem. It is a 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 problem.

Want to learn more? I'm hosting the second round of this 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 on 5/20 at 12 pm MST specifically for female entrepreneurs, executives, and business owners who are ready for a different conversation about what's keeping them stuck.

If you're ready to optimize your mental performance, energy, and focus, and gain that "edge" you've been searching for, this is for you!

What we'll cover:

- What to eat for breakfast that actually sets your brain up to perform
- How to balance blood sugar so your energy is stable, versus spiking and crashing
- Why caffeine on an empty stomach is working against you
- How to pair carbohydrates to maintain focus without the afternoon drop
- Simple, practical daily habits that shift how you feel and how you show up

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. It is interactive, tangible, and limited to 8-9 people so it stays a real conversation.

Space is intentionally small. If you want a seat, we have 3 left! Grab your here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdK_K6X2Jx6UJjjOdX9zMwYq_GJtI6nHTJrdsq3qrAQQlJ4Hw/viewform?usp=header

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