Functional Medicine Articles & Blogs
Why Eating “Carnivore” Can Be Harmful Over Time
The carnivore diet may lead to short-term improvements in weight, blood sugar, or digestive symptoms, but that does not automatically make it a healthy long-term solution. Eliminating nearly all plant foods also removes fiber, dietary variety, and important nutrients while potentially increasing cholesterol and making it harder to identify the real cause of ongoing symptoms.
What Foods Actually Have Fiber?
Fiber is important for digestion, blood sugar, cholesterol, and gut health, but not every plant food provides the same amount. Learn which foods actually contain meaningful fiber, how much you may be getting, and simple ways to add more without overcomplicating your diet.
Pre- and Post-Workout Nutrition: What to Eat, When to Eat, and Why It Matters
What you eat before and after a workout can affect your energy, performance, recovery, and hunger for the rest of the day. The good news is that workout nutrition does not need to be complicated. This guide breaks down what to eat 30 to 60 minutes before training, how to build a balanced meal when you have more time, and what your body needs afterward to recover well.
Should You Train Fasted? Usually, No.
Fasted workouts are often promoted as a shortcut to better fat loss, but burning more fat during a workout is not the same as losing more body fat over time. For most people, eating before demanding exercise supports better energy, performance, muscle retention, and recovery. Fasted training may be fine for short, low-intensity sessions, but it is rarely the best default for strength training, intervals, long workouts, or anyone already dealing with low energy and inadequate recovery.
What Actually Helps Manage Blood Sugar? Should You Avoid Carbs at Night?
Should you stop eating carbs after dinner to balance your blood sugar? Probably not. In this article, you'll learn what really affects blood sugar, why nighttime carbohydrates aren't the enemy, and the daily habits that have the biggest impact on your energy, hormones, cravings, and long-term metabolic health.
PCOS Might Be Getting a New Name. Here's Why It Matters... and Why It Doesn't
Imagine finally getting an answer after months, or even years, of wondering why your body feels different.
Maybe your periods have become unpredictable. Your skin suddenly breaks out like you're a teenager again. You're noticing hair growth where you don't want it and thinning hair where you do. You've cleaned up your diet, you're exercising consistently, and yet losing weight feels like trying to run through quicksand.
Your doctor orders an ultrasound, glances at your lab work, and tells you, "You have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome."
Health Coach vs. Dietitian: What's the Difference and Which One Do You Need?
Learn the difference between a health coach and a dietitian, including how each supports nutrition, hormone health, gut health, weight loss, and long-term wellness. Discover which approach may be right for your health goals.
What Does Zonulin Mean on a GI-MAP Test?
Wondering what elevated zonulin means on a GI-MAP test? Learn how zonulin relates to leaky gut, intestinal permeability, gut inflammation, and digestive health.
What Is Metabolism, Technically Speaking? Understanding What Your Metabolism Actually Does
Most people think metabolism is simply how fast they burn calories, but that’s only a small part of the picture. Your metabolism is responsible for every chemical reaction that keeps you alive, from producing energy and balancing hormones to repairing tissues and supporting your immune system. Learn what metabolism technically is, what influences it, and how to support a healthy metabolism naturally.
What Progressive Overload Really Means (And Why It Matters More Than Your Workout Plan)
If you've spent any time around strength training, you've probably heard the phrase "progressive overload." It's one of those fitness terms that gets thrown around so often that many people assume everyone already knows what it means. In reality, it's often misunderstood, oversimplified, or explained in a way that makes it sound far more complicated than it actually is.
How Functional Medicine Helps Hashimoto’s When Standard Care Doesn’t
Many women with Hashimoto’s are told their labs are “normal” while still dealing with fatigue, weight changes, brain fog, and more. This post explores how functional medicine looks beyond thyroid medication to uncover root causes like inflammation, gut health, blood sugar balance, and stress that may be driving ongoing symptoms.
Why Your Nervous System Might Be the Missing Piece of Your Health Puzzle
If you’ve been doing “all the right things” — eating clean, trying supplements, squeezing in workouts, maybe even getting labs done — but your body still feels off, your nervous system might be the thing no one ever taught you to pay attention to. And honestly? It’s the piece I see ignored the most by women in Salt Lake City, Park City, and all across Utah County who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or like they’re spinning their wheels.
The Funny Thing About Water
Learn how much water women actually need, why electrolytes matter for energy and hydration, and how to recognize signs of dehydration. This blog breaks down hydration in a realistic, functional way!!
The Role of Your Liver in Hormone Metabolism
When women think about hormone health, they usually think about the ovaries, thyroid, cortisol, or reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone.
Very few people think about the liver.
But your liver plays a massive role in hormonal balance.
In fact, you can produce hormones normally and still experience hormone-related symptoms if your body is not properly processing and clearing those hormones efficiently.
This is one of the most overlooked pieces of hormone health.
Fertility in Your 30s and Beyond: What You Should Know
Fertility conversations online tend to swing between two extremes:
“You have plenty of time.”
or
“If you’re over 30, it’s too late.”
Neither is actually helpful.
Yes, fertility naturally changes with age. Egg quantity and quality decline over time, and conception can become more difficult in your mid-to-late 30s and beyond. But fertility is also influenced by far more than just your birthday.
YEAST: Candida Overgrowth and the Vaginal Microbiome
Candida is a naturally occurring yeast that lives in the body, primarily in the gut, mouth, and vaginal tract. In a healthy microbiome, it plays a relatively harmless role. But under the right conditions, it can overgrow and lead to a range of symptoms that impact gut health, hormones, immunity, and especially vaginal balance.
Rachel Claire Functional Health Wins Gold for Best of SLC
Rachel Claire Functional Health was voted Gold Winner for Best of SLC 2026 in Coaching Services. Learn more about Rachel’s functional medicine and holistic health coaching approach for hormones, gut health, thyroid conditions, metabolism, and women’s wellness in Utah.
Hormonal Birth Control and Mental Health: What You Need to Know
For years, hormonal birth control has been framed as an easy, almost effortless solution. Prevent pregnancy, regulate your cycle, clear your skin, move on with your life. And for many women, it does serve a purpose. But there’s a growing shift happening, especially among women in places like South Jordan, Salt Lake City, Draper, and Lehi, where the focus is expanding beyond just physical symptoms.
Women are starting to ask better questions. Not just “Is this working?” but “How do I actually feel on this?” That shift matters, because mental and emotional changes are often subtle at first. They don’t always show up as something obvious or dramatic. Sometimes it’s just a sense that your baseline has changed, like you’re a little more anxious, a little more irritable, or a little less like yourself.
Why Over-Relying on Cardio Is One of the Biggest Mistakes Women Make in the Gym
For decades, women have been told the same fitness advice:
If you want to lose weight, just do more cardio.
So women run, spin, stair-climb, and sweat through endless high-intensity classes. And while cardiovascular exercise absolutely has benefits for heart health, endurance, and mental health, relying on cardio as your primary form of exercise can actually work against many women’s health and body composition goals.
If your goal is better metabolism, hormone balance, and sustainable fat loss, cardio alone isn’t the solution
The Impact of Environmental Toxins on Hormonal Health
From plastics to skincare, learn what’s affecting your hormones and how to reduce toxin exposure in Utah.
Areas of Practice
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Hair loss, thinning hair, cold hands and feet, unexplained weight gain, chronic fatigue, dry skin, brittle nails, brain fog, poor concentration, nervousness, anxiety, heart palpitations, and irregular heart rhythms can all be signs of an underlying thyroid imbalance. These symptoms are often dismissed as stress, aging, hormonal changes, or burnout, but they may point to deeper issues with thyroid function, metabolism, and hormone regulation.
The thyroid plays a critical role in regulating energy production, body temperature, metabolism, cardiovascular function, and nervous system balance. When thyroid hormones are too low, too high, or not properly converted at the cellular level, the entire body can feel the effects. Many individuals with hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, or thyroid hormone resistance experience these symptoms long before lab values fall outside conventional ranges.
Even if you are currently taking thyroid medication such as levothyroxine, Synthroid, or natural desiccated thyroid, you may still experience persistent symptoms. Medication can normalize lab markers while underlying issues like poor T4 to T3 conversion, chronic inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, gut dysfunction, or autoimmune activity remain unaddressed.
Most conventional medical providers test only TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), which does not provide a complete picture of thyroid health. A comprehensive thyroid panel should include Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, thyroid antibodies (TPO and TgAb), and markers of inflammation to better assess thyroid function, hormone conversion, and autoimmune activity.
Taking a functional and integrative approach to thyroid health means looking beyond a single lab value. It involves supporting optimal thyroid function through nutrition, gut health, stress regulation, micronutrient status (including iodine, selenium, zinc, and iron), blood sugar balance, and addressing root causes such as autoimmunity and chronic stress.
If you are experiencing ongoing thyroid symptoms despite “normal” labs, your body may be asking for a deeper, more comprehensive approach to healing and hormone balance.
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Bloating, excessive gas, food sensitivities, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), acid reflux, heartburn, painful digestion, abdominal discomfort, constipation, loose stools, diarrhea, and unpredictable bowel habits are some of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms people experience. These digestive issues are often normalized or brushed off as “just how my stomach is,” but they can signal deeper imbalances within the gut microbiome and digestive system.
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a central role in nutrient absorption, immune function, inflammation regulation, hormone metabolism, and overall health. When digestion is compromised, it can lead to symptoms such as post-meal bloating, early fullness, cramping, undigested food in stool, chronic constipation, urgency, or alternating constipation and diarrhea. Conditions like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), dysbiosis, leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability), low stomach acid, enzyme insufficiency, and gut-brain axis dysfunction can all contribute to these symptoms.
Food sensitivities and intolerances to gluten, dairy, FODMAPs, histamine-rich foods, or highly processed ingredients may develop when the gut lining is inflamed or when the microbiome is out of balance. Chronic stress, antibiotic use, infections, environmental toxins, and poor dietary patterns can disrupt the balance of beneficial bacteria, allowing opportunistic bacteria, parasites, fungi (such as Candida), or viruses to take hold in the digestive tract.
Comprehensive stool testing and functional gut assessments can help identify underlying contributors, including bacterial overgrowth, parasitic infections, fungal overgrowth, inflammatory markers, digestive enzyme output, bile insufficiency, and microbiome diversity. Understanding these root causes allows for a targeted, personalized approach to restoring gut health rather than relying on symptom-suppressing strategies alone.
By addressing microbial imbalances, supporting stomach acid and enzyme production, repairing the gut lining, and restoring healthy bacterial diversity, it is possible to reduce digestive discomfort and move toward symptom-free eating. The goal is not to eliminate foods indefinitely, but to rebuild a resilient digestive system that can tolerate a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods without pain, bloating, or fear.
If you’ve been told your symptoms are “normal” or that IBS is something you simply have to live with, it may be time to take a deeper, root-cause approach to healing your gut and reclaiming comfortable digestion.
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Excess facial hair (hirsutism), persistent acne, hair thinning or hair loss, low libido, vaginal dryness, painful intercourse, intense menstrual cramps, irregular periods, heavy bleeding, anxiety, mood swings, breast tenderness, chronic fatigue, unexplained weight gain, and difficulty losing weight can all be signs of an underlying hormonal imbalance or menstrual cycle dysfunction. These symptoms are often dismissed as normal PMS, stress, or aging, but they may indicate disruptions in estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, insulin, or thyroid hormones.
Hormonal balance is essential for reproductive health, metabolic function, mood regulation, skin health, and energy levels. When hormones fall out of balance, it can affect ovulation, menstrual cycle regularity, and the delicate communication between the brain, ovaries, adrenal glands, thyroid, and metabolic systems. Conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), estrogen dominance, low progesterone, hypothalamic dysfunction, adrenal dysregulation, thyroid disorders, and insulin resistance can contribute to these symptoms.
For example, excess androgens (male hormones) may lead to acne, facial hair growth, and scalp hair thinning, while low progesterone can contribute to anxiety, sleep disturbances, and severe PMS. Estrogen imbalances may cause breast tenderness, heavy periods, and mood fluctuations, while cortisol dysregulation from chronic stress can worsen fatigue, weight gain, and cycle irregularities. Insulin resistance can further disrupt ovarian function and hormone production, creating a cascade of metabolic and reproductive symptoms.
Comprehensive hormone testing, including cycle mapping, thyroid panels, blood sugar markers, and functional assessments, can help identify root causes rather than simply managing symptoms with temporary solutions. Addressing nutrition, stress regulation, sleep quality, gut health, micronutrient status, and blood sugar balance plays a critical role in restoring hormonal harmony and supporting a healthy menstrual cycle.
If you are experiencing ongoing hormonal symptoms, painful periods, or cycle irregularities despite being told everything is “normal,” your body may be signaling the need for a deeper, root-cause approach to hormone health and menstrual wellness. True balance goes beyond symptom suppression and focuses on restoring resilience, rhythm, and long-term well-being.
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Are you looking to prevent type 2 diabetes, improve insulin sensitivity, stabilize blood sugar levels, or increase your daily energy? Blood sugar imbalances and insulin resistance can show up in subtle but disruptive ways, including energy crashes, mood swings, brain fog, intense sugar cravings, increased hunger, weight gain (especially around the abdomen), poor sleep, and difficulty maintaining focus throughout the day.
Insulin resistance occurs when the body’s cells become less responsive to insulin, the hormone responsible for moving glucose from the bloodstream into cells for energy. Over time, this can lead to chronically elevated blood sugar, increased inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and a higher risk of prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hormonal imbalances. Many people experience early warning signs long before lab values fall outside conventional ranges.
Energy fluctuations, irritability between meals, cravings for sweets or refined carbohydrates, and post-meal fatigue are common indicators that blood sugar regulation may be impaired. These symptoms can also affect cortisol rhythms, sleep quality, appetite hormones (ghrelin and leptin), and overall metabolic resilience.
A personalized, root-cause approach to metabolic health focuses on stabilizing blood sugar through targeted nutrition, balanced macronutrient intake, fiber-rich whole foods, protein timing, stress management, sleep optimization, and sustainable lifestyle modifications. Rather than relying on restrictive dieting or quick fixes, this approach supports long-term metabolic flexibility and consistent energy throughout the day.
With tailored guidance, ongoing support, and individualized strategies, it is possible to reduce sugar cravings, improve mood stability, enhance energy levels, and lower the risk of developing insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. The goal is not just symptom management, but restoring metabolic balance so you can feel steady, focused, and energized without relying on caffeine or quick sugar fixes.
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Functional strength training focuses on building strength, mobility, balance, coordination, and core stability in ways that translate directly to everyday life. Rather than isolating single muscles on machines, functional training uses compound movements and multi-joint exercises to improve how your body moves, performs, and recovers in real-world situations.
Whether you’re lifting groceries, hiking steep trails, climbing stairs, playing with your kids, rock climbing, skiing, or simply getting up from the floor, functional strength supports the movement patterns your body relies on daily. This approach enhances muscular strength, joint stability, posture, injury prevention, and long-term mobility.
Functional training is appropriate for:
Beginners starting a strength program
Active individuals and athletes
Women seeking bone density and hormonal support
Adults managing back pain or joint instability
Individuals improving balance and fall prevention
Anyone wanting strength that translates to daily life
About Your Coach
Hey! I’m Rachel
I’m a board-certified (NBHWC) functional health + fitness coach based in Utah, and I help women get to the root of their health issues so they can stop feeling exhausted, bloated, and frustrated and start feeling like themselves again.
Need-to-know-info
I work virtually anyway in the US (using Labcorp for testing)
Primarily working with women 20-50
Gut issues, hormone imbalances, thyroid problems, autoimmune conditions, or unexplained fatigue.
Functional labs, treatment protocols, 1:1 coaching, and supplements (not MLM).
I started this work after my own health struggles with hormones and digestion left me searching for answers beyond “everything looks normal.” Functional medicine changed my life and now I get to help other women find that same relief and clarity.
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