Reveal Functional Nutrition 2024: A Whole-Person Approach

DeliveryRank chats with Mandy Rother, a functional registered dietitian and PMDD Warrior dedicated to helping menstruators achieve peaceful periods and balanced moods. With a comprehensive holistic approach, Mandy empowers individuals to live out their purpose all month long. Drawing from her own journey, Mandy went from rock-bottom to embracing her cycle with open arms. Now, she combines her data-driven process and trauma-informed approach with compassionate coaching to help others do the same.

Mandy, the philosophy of Reveal Functional Nutrition emphasizes a whole-person approach to uncovering the root causes of health issues. Can you share some success stories or transformative moments where this approach has significantly impacted the lives of your clients?

Many of the clients that come to us have literally tried it all. They’ve often been to multiple doctors, been in therapy for years, have tried dozens of supplements and diets, and have even seen other holistic practitioners. So rightfully so, they sometimes come with a degree of skepticism and ask, “What makes this any different from what I’ve tried before?” The first transformative moment is when they understand HOW it’s different. At our very first appointment, we identify the missing links in their past approaches and map out a drastically different and deeper approach to get them relief.  Our unique approach combines functional nutrition and testing along with nervous system tools and menstrual cycle awareness.  Our method focuses on the whole person, not just a set of symptoms. 

The next transformative moment is also at that first appointment why they finally feel seen and understood. Because we listen and take in all aspects of their health history and symptoms we often hear, “Wow, nobody has ever asked me that.” Or, “I’ve always thought those symptoms were connected but nobody ever listened or connected those dots.”  They immediately feel validated as well as hopeful that we’re forging a new path. From there, the entire process is transformative. 

As they make progress month over month, they continue to see the transformation in real time.  They are seeing that symptoms are reducing while also noticing that they feel more and more like themselves. Once clients graduate from this process, we love to watch them live more fully and live out their purpose, giving back to their own communities.  You can read their stories in their own words here: https://www.revealfunctionalnutrition.com/testimonials 

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a challenging condition that affects many individuals. What inspired you to specialize in supporting those with PMDD, and how does your unique approach differ from conventional solutions in addressing this condition?

My passion and commitment to working with menstrual mood disorders like PMDD stems from my own lived experience with the condition.  I was diagnosed over 15 years ago back in college. I was struggling with depression and anxiety that dramatically worsened and became debilitating a week or two before my period.  I experienced firsthand the toll that can take. When I was experiencing symptoms, it impacted every aspect of my life and started to infiltrate my identity and self-esteem. 

I initially tried conventional options like multiple types of birth control and antidepressants.  Some of the medications I tried helped initially but only short-term.  Other medications made me feel worse or not like myself, causing me to feel more fatigued, gain weight, or feel like a Zombie. Once I started listening to and working with my body, my healing journey truly began.  Since I wasn’t getting relief, I knew I needed to explore options beyond conventional first-line treatments.  

At that point, I had already studied nutrition and psychology and had been working as a dietitian for years.  I started studying functional medicine and doing lab tests.  I uncovered underlying issues that were worsening my symptoms such as digestive health, nutrient deficiencies, and hormonal imbalances.  Optimizing those areas of my health along with learning nervous system support and coping tools completely revolutionized my health.  I was able to reduce my symptoms and even enjoy symptom-free cycles for years. 

Now I help others do the same.  My team and I have helped hundreds of people to go from debilitating mood and menstrual symptoms to enjoying peaceful periods and stable moods with our unique comprehensive approach. 

Our approach combines the science of functional medicine along with the art of menstrual cycle awareness.  That means that we address the underlying physiological imbalances with lab testing and data-driven strategies. We do that alongside teaching menstruators to learn about and honor their cyclical rhythm.  We are cyclical beings and are not meant to be the same every day, every week of the month.  That combination is our special sauce.  It’s a privilege to watch our clients stop losing days of each month suffering from these debilitating symptoms.  They’re able to reclaim their lives and feel like themselves all month long. 

Your background includes a combination of nutrition and psychology studies. How do you integrate psychological aspects into your functional nutrition coaching, and why do you believe this mind-body connection is crucial for overall well-being?

As a child I started to notice and become fascinated with the mind-body connection.  I noticed that if I felt mad and went rollerblading, I would feel better. I noticed that if I ate a certain food, I’d feel more anxious.  Then growing up and experiencing hormone and mood challenges as a  young adult, I 100% understood what it felt like to feel broken and at war with my body and mind. 

This experience led me to studying both psychology and nutrition.  I had considered becoming a clinical psychologist.  Then I realized my calling was to work with the cross-section between the two. 

The mind-body connection is integrated into our approach and everything we do.  For example, we have to consider how physical stressors like inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, microbiome imbalances, and glucose dysregulation impact our brain and our moods. And it goes both ways.  Our thoughts, feelings, and perception of stress impact our physical health.  We teach people how to tune in and tend to their nervous system needs by teaching our clients to create their own toolbox–something we call a NeuroMap.  Overall, we’re always connecting the dots.  It’s a whole person approach, through and through. 

The psychology of behavior change along with mindset is also woven into each step of the client process.  We tap into the reason WHY someone wants or needs to change a health behavior and how that connects to what’s important to them and their values.  Change is hard so it has to start there.  

We also evaluate their barriers to change and how that shows up in the daily health decisions they make or don’t make.  We can’t rely on motivation or willpower.  We need to look at how we can shape the environment to make the change easy as well to reduce external resistance to the change.  From there we work together with our clients to reduce internal resistance to change.  In other words, rather than white-knuckling it and forcing ourselves to change we can look for ways to make it easy and enjoyable and even safe for our nervous system.  

Last, we utilize the psychology of dopamine and reward with the way that we measure progress throughout the process.  We measure the positive change that’s happening, like a reduction in symptoms, it gives that dopamine hit and helps maintain the motivation to keep going. Those are just a few examples of how it’s woven into coaching.  It’s essential. 

In your extensive career, you've worked in various roles, including leading a national team of dietitians. How have these experiences influenced your approach to helping clients cut through the guesswork and create personalized nutrition plans?

I’ve worked in various roles and each of them have shaped the way I work today in some way.  My first job was as a retail dietitian for a supermarket chain.  In that position, I did community education, media, and launched an employee wellness program.  It taught me how to communicate health education in a way that interests and inspires people. 

I later transitioned to working overseas at a weight loss spa in the Middle East.  While I enjoyed learning about a new culture, that position highlighted in a lot of ways the things that I feel are wrong with the weight loss industry and the impact that it has on people, especially women.  I saw so many people trying to lose weight with quick fixes without addressing the underlying issues that were causing the weight gain in the first place.  I was able to spark some change while I was there by educating other dietitians in the surrounding countries on the psychology of weight loss.  It also solidified my resolve to teach others to ditch crash-and-burn diets by working with their body through a root-cause approach. 

I then moved on to work for a premier wellness and fitness company.  I initially did face-to-face coaching and led a team of local nutrition coaches. For the first time, I had access to tools and resources to truly take a whole-person approach for the first time.  We combined fitness, nutrition, supplements, and functional lab tests to help people achieve their wellness goals.  

I was later promoted to lead both regional and national teams of dietitians.  I reviewed literally thousands of lab assessments and saw the power firsthand of using lab data to gut out the guesswork and create effective protocols unique to each individual’s needs.  

All of these experiences influenced my work today, both by shaping my beliefs about nutrition and wellness and also by providing me with the experience that helped me give me the confidence to launch my own practice. My professional training and work experience combined with my lived experience of my personal health challenges is what led me to create the unique brain-body method I now use with each and every client. 

The Reveal Functional Nutrition approach aims to stop guessing and work with the body instead of against it. Can you walk us through the typical process a client undergoes, from functional assessments to creating a personalized roadmap, and how this leads to tangible improvements in their health and well-being?

The process starts with the client and their goals.  We evaluate what they are aiming to accomplish, why it matters to them, and how we’re going to measure progress along the way.  From there, we do an initial assessment to look at a client’s history, symptom pattern, and even timeline. We identify initial changes in nutrition, lifestyle, and supplements to start getting relief as soon as possible–hopefully within weeks of starting our work.  From there, we use that history information to identify where we need to dig deeper with functional lab assessments.  

Unlike one-size-fits-all programs, we use that lab data to cut through the guesswork and identify each person’s unique physiological barriers.  Based on what we uncover with those assessments, we’re able to connect the dots between their symptoms and why it’s been so hard to reach their goals before (often for the first time).  Then we work together to bring those systems back in balance through therapeutic diet, lifestyle, and supplement changes.  

Ultimately, we finish our work by evaluating progress and measuring how far they’ve come.  We also outline how they’re going to maintain that progress with strategies that are sustainable for the long haul.  The long term maintenance plan should always be sustainable, flexible, and fun so that they can live the life they were meant to live (rather than worrying about their health plan).  My favorite part of this work is seeing a client graduate from our program and go on to do something that benefits their family or has a positive impact in their community.  They feel more fully like themselves and have more capacity to go out and live their own purpose.  I call that the “Ripple Effect.”  

If you would like to find out more about Reveal Functional Nutrition, please visit https://www.revealfunctionalnutrition.com/