What Are The 12 FDN Advanced Courses? w/ Detective Ev What Are the 12 FDN Advanced Courses?

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, AKA Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on the FDN Advanced Courses.

Similarly to the episode that we had just released before this, I will be flying solo. But it’s still going to be a good episode. I know some of you guys like my solo episodes anyway, I appreciate that. But this one’s going to be interesting.

It’s going to be on a topic that we have not ever really touched on at all, I don’t think, in the FDN podcast. At the very least it’s been maybe a second or something that we’ve touched on it. It just got brought up briefly. It’s the topic of FDN Advanced Training Courses.

This episode is actually somewhat similar conceptually to the episode I just released. What I mean by that is that episode was meant to address some common questions that come up that aren’t always answered in a super public fashion. There are questions that come up in our direct messages on Instagram and they get answered there, but it’s answered in a direct message. Obviously only one other person can see that.

Or it’s a question that comes up a lot in our FDN training group, which is something that people who are going through the course can join, it’s free. Basically, you just get to be with other trainees, the founder of FDN, mentors. You can ask questions in there. It’s something that’s actually included to you in the cost of tuition. It’s pretty cool. Those questions get asked there and they do get answered.

Why Do the FDN Advanced Courses Exist?

But then think about it, it’s a Facebook group. So, the post goes farther and farther down over time and people won’t see it. They don’t really think to search in the search bar for their questions before they ask something in the future. The trainees that got the answer eventually move on out of that group and graduate from the course. We see these things over and over and over again.

Now one topic that I really wanted to touch on was this FDN advanced thing, because I don’t think this gets enough light at all. I think once people find it, there’s a lot of confusion. They’re wondering, well, wait, can I take these courses if I’m not an FDN? Do I need to take the advanced modules? Will the FDN Certification Program alone be enough for me to start my own business and help people? Why would they have these advanced courses if I didn’t need them? I’m here to answer all of that today.

Then as a bonus, we are actually going to go through the descriptions of every single one of the advanced courses that we currently list. It’s quite numerous. I’m looking at it right here, it’s 12 advanced courses that we have at the time of recording this. There’s some other ones coming out soon. I cannot release those yet. So, we’re just going to do these 12 for now.

First and foremost, let’s address the common questions that come up with this. Why does FDN have these advanced courses if the certification itself is supposed to be enough for people to go start a business or work for someone else and make a living doing it? That’s a fair and great question.

Take the FDN Advanced Courses to Become a High-level Expert

The reason that we have the advanced modules is because there’s a certain type of person that comes into FDN. Generally speaking, they are a lifelong learner. They don’t ever want to stop learning new things. They’re obsessed with health. So, because of that, you gotta keep feeding them information.

Now it is absolutely true that the FDN course in and of itself, the main course that is, is designed and works to actually help you start your own business, have a successful business, and be able to help people very much so, to the point that they’re happy to pay you for it by just doing the principles learned in the FDN course.

But if I can help someone 80% of the way, 90% of the way, pretty much all of the time, there’s going to be certain cases where I want to take them to that a hundred percent. I want to be the guide for that. Maybe I’m working with a specific type of person. Maybe I know my niche really well. Maybe I have a personal story that applies to a certain type of testing or a certain topic. I really want to become a high-level expert in that.

That is where the FDN Advanced Courses can be utilized. Do you need to be an FDN to take them? No. If you are listening to our podcast and you’ve never done the FDN certification program itself, you are able to take the FDN advanced courses as standalone courses.

Only Taking the FDN Advanced Courses May Encourage Tunnel Vision

I wouldn’t recommend this because I do believe that as standalones, it leads us to kind of the same issues as we always see in the functional space. You get people that are very tunnel visioned on one or two tests and they run those on everyone.

It might be very helpful for some people, and it doesn’t really help other people at all. Because the body is a large system, we need to be looking at many different things if we actually want to help sick people get not sick. I know that’s not perfect grammar, work with me here. It’s not just going to be one or two tests normally. They’re going to need to be looked at through a variety of different tests and that’s how the FDN system came to be.

If you ever want to go back to the full explanation of this, go to Episode 100. It’s with the founder live in San Diego, that’s where his house is. We talk about the FDN system and how it was created. Then there’s also another one, Episode 149, where he comes on again, and he explains all five labs. So, there’s a little bit of a difference between those two episodes.

Definitely check those out if you need to understand why the FDN certification program in and of itself is so valuable. But for the advanced stuff, yes, you can take these as standalones.

There’s a few that it might be a little more relevant for someone that is not ever planning to do FDN to take. We’ll explain what each of those are as we go along here. I want to break down each of these. I’ll give the names of all of them first, and then we will go through the descriptions for you guys.

In no particular order, we have our Advanced Thyroid Function Course, Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis, Oxalates, Stress and Hormones, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (otherwise known as SIBO), Qigong (believe it or not), Mitochondria, Foundations of Herbalism, Organic Acid Testing, Coaching Skills and Teaching Emotional Wellness, Blood Sugar, and Scientific Literacy.

These are all the advanced courses that we have available to us as FDNs right now, or as non FDNs at the time of recording this. Let’s break them down. I’m going to start with one that I believe is probably the main one on here, although there is one or two others. But it’s the main one on here that I think could be taken totally as a standalone, never need to take FDN, and everyone would still benefit from it completely because it’s something that everyone should know. And it’s also one of the cheapest ones on here, it is a steal.

It is the Scientific Literacy Advanced Course. This one is designed to teach people how to understand scientific studies, how to actually analyze things, and know what the heck you’re talking about. Guys, if you’re going to come into FDN like I did, I’m not a doctor. I didn’t even go to college for anything relevant to health or functional medicine or anything of the sort. You are taking a pretty powerful course.

You’re going to be working with really sick people. You’re going to know how to talk the talk. Because of that, sometimes you’re going to be dealing with high intellect, very knowledgeable people. They might challenge what you’re saying. Now you are not obligated to put up with any one person or anything yelling at you or saying, what are you doing here? How do you know this kind of stuff? Where did you get your education? That doesn’t actually really happen that often.

But if it does, some people take that seriously and they want to be able to make sure they can talk about the things that they know in a very scientifically backed way and be able to make a case for that. I think that is one of the biggest and strongest aspects of the Scientific Literacy Course is the fact that you are learning how to actually decipher what is good science and what isn’t good science.

I think everyone should have to do this, especially with the world of social media. Because Facebook people that aren’t in the world of health or science at all post scientific studies all the time. You click on the link and read the reference, if there even is one. You realize this is total crap, this didn’t even make sense, but they don’t know that. We need to know how to do this stuff.

I already have a pretty good idea. I taught myself through different lectures I watched throughout the past, but this is the course I’m about to buy. It’s relatively new, that’s why I’m just buying it. But I’m about to buy this cause I want to sharpen my skills.

FDN Advanced Courses: Scientific Literacy Lessons and Description

And this thing, at the time of recording this, again, I’m not just trying to be repetitive. I know I keep saying that, but these prices can change. This still has an introductory price, it’s only $97. To me, that’s a no brainer. I’m like, okay, I’m going to go do this. And I’m going to actually walk you through the lesson descriptions really quick.

Lesson one is Parts of an Experiment. Lesson two is having A Critical Eye. Lesson three is the Correlation Cannot Equal Causation (because we’ve all heard this, right? Any good scientists knows that correlation is not necessarily causation. So, they talk about that.) Lesson four is Statistics Must Be Significant (That is a huge part of studies. That’s one of the things that people miss most of the time, I think.) Lesson five is Putting It All Together. Lesson six is Demonstration and Practice. And lesson seven is Examples of Research Activity.

Then there’s also the description for what the course will cover. It’s, how to understand scientific studies; how to distinguish between good and bad science; how to tell if reported conclusions are validated by a study; how to find your own research; how to identify flaws in scientific studies; how to know if your recommendations are supported by science.

That sounds like something pretty important to know if we are going to be unlicensed practitioners. People could come at you all day and say, well, you’re not a doctor, you’re not this. But they cannot deny good science. You do not need to be a PhD. You don’t need to be an MD.

You don’t need to have any doctorate of any sort to learn how to decipher between good and bad science and use that effectively for yourself and your clients’ health. So, number one is the Scientific Literacy Course. Really cool thing there. I can’t wait to take this.

The next one I’m going to go to, a relatively new one as well, is our Blood Sugar Management Course. This one is at $397. That’s the range of the price for most of these advanced courses.

By the way, if you just recently listened to our episode on AFDNP and Business School that only came out like two episodes ago, AFDNP members actually get 20% discounts on all of the advanced courses. Maybe it doesn’t make that big of a difference for your wallet with the blood sugar one. But when we’re talking about courses that are $400 or $500, that’s when it can make a huge difference.

So, with the blood sugar management one, the course will cover blood sugar, anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry; common signs and symptoms of blood sugar dysfunction; underlying causal factors of blood sugar dysfunction; blood sugar support 101; herbal support for blood sugar; how to test for blood sugar (This is something, if you don’t know, you could do this easily. You don’t have to be a doctor. You can buy a glucometer from your local CVS or Rite Aid or whatever drugstore you have near you and a client can do this for really cheap. It’s something we actually teach in the FDN course. I think it’s something that people skip over.)

FDN Advanced Courses: Blood Sugar Management Lessons

People want to know about these super fancy labs and sometimes they get a little caught up in that and forget that just measuring blood sugar is huge. There are a lot of studies showing how blood sugar levels for certain amounts of times, like if your blood sugar is at a certain level for X amount of time, how that can correlate with your health, longevity, risk of dying. Really, really crazy stuff there.

You’re going to learn how to interpret the tests and identify basic patterns of dysfunction; strategies for intervention; and case studies and further investigation.

All of these advanced courses have case studies, by the way. That’s what’s really, really cool and special about the advanced courses that we have. Just like the FDN course itself, we are always giving you practical, real-world examples so you can see how this actually works on a real human being. Then here’s how the lessons are broken down. I think that’s how I’m going to do this for the rest of these, by the way, I’m going to talk about what the course will cover and then go to the lessons themselves.

So, lesson one is Basic Carbohydrate Physiology – A Quick Background. Lesson two is Deeper into Blood Sugar Controversy. Lesson three, When Things Go Wrong. Lesson four, Supporting Blood Sugar. Lesson five, Blood Sugar Chemistry Panels and Patterns of Dysfunction. Lesson six, Case Study Review.

By the way, the first advanced course was two and a half hours of video lecture. This one is four hours of on-demand video, downloadable lesson videos, downloadable course slides, quiz at the end of each lesson, links to the studies, podcast interviews, and articles for further learning. Sounds like a good deal.

FDN Advanced Courses: Coaching Skills for Goal Setting and Sticking with a Plan

We’ll move on to our next one here. This is certainly the most different one from all of these other things. It’s the Coaching Skills and Teaching Emotional Wellness. This was added in as an on-demand type of course. You do not need to take this. You will be totally fine without this if you’ve taken other coaching programs and stuff.

But what we started to see happening, thankfully, is that the people who wanted to do FDN were going through FDN first, a common theme that we had noticed throughout the years. I am actually one of the people who did this myself.

People were wanting to become health coaches or health practitioners. They would go out and choose the one with the best marketing first at the time. I’m not going to name any schools, we actually like a lot of these schools. Certain schools teach just coaching, that’s what it is. They give you a lot of knowledge that’s not really applicable. Then they teach you how to guide someone through goal setting and sticking with a plan, which is very valuable.

It has to be done because if you can’t have someone stick through a plan, well, the plan that you give them is not going to really work so well. You could have the best plan in the world and if someone doesn’t have the ability or habit set to get through it, that’s not going to work.

Now, many of our FDNs either have one of two things. They’re natural healers, their empaths so they kind of get how to work with people very intuitively. Maybe they don’t feel that they need this, that’s fine.

Or number two, again, they come from these other courses where they learned a lot about coaching, and they just need to know the practical science side now. They’re done with all the coaching stuff, so the FDN course is perfect for those types of people.

However, as we get bigger and we get better with our marketing, really learning how to target the right people first so that they don’t have to go waste $5,000 to $10,000 elsewhere when they didn’t even really want to learn the stuff they learned there. We are finding that some of them come through and they would like to learn the coaching side as well.

This one is our most expensive advanced courses; it is very in depth. It is $997. Remember, that’ll have a 20% off discount if you are a member of AFDNP.

This one is 14 hours of on-demand video, of course, the downloadable lesson videos and course slides, 28 downloadable resources, there’s quizzes, all of that’s pretty standard for all of these courses.

Now, in terms of what it will cover, you’re going to learn coaching skills; coaching theory; motivational interviewing; active listening; self-efficacy; self-determination theory; social cognitive theory; coaching through resistance; habit changing; teaching emotional wellness; facing fears; embracing authenticity; shame resilience; positive mindset; mindfulness; boundary setting; and last, but not least, gratitude.

A lot of content here.

FDN Advanced Courses: Coaching Skills & Teaching Emotional Wellness Lessons

This is a much more in-depth course than some of these other ones. I would say this content’s probably easier to digest than some. So maybe saying that it’s less in depth is kind of subjective. But I mean, in terms of this sheer time and the amount of hours that you’re given, 14 hours is a lot of content.

Now in terms of how the lessons are broken down themselves: lesson one is What is Coaching? An Introduction. Lesson two is Belief, Defining Health, and What Ifs. Lesson three is Belonging, Values, and Fear of Failures. Lesson four is Creating a Vision and Fear of What People Think. Lesson five, Strengths-based Coaching and Fear of Success. Lesson six is Open-ended Questions and Positive Mindset: Surroundings, Gratitude, and Affirmations. Lesson seven is SMART Goals (I love those), Kindness, Compassion, and Boundaries. Lesson eight is Stages of Change, Assuming Forgiveness, and Blame. Lesson nine is Habit Changing, Awe, and Meditation. Lesson 10 is Personalities, Spirituality, Presence, Stillness, Certainty, Shoulds, and Intuition.

As you can tell, again, a lot there. That’s our Coaching Skills and Teaching Emotional Wellness Course.

Next one here is our Organic Acids Testing Course, lot of content in this one as well.

This was created by a guy who is an FDN. His name is Brendan Vermeire, perhaps you guys know of him. He’s known as The Holistic Savage on Instagram and Facebook. The guy is an expert in all things organic acids, very well versed in mold as well.

He lectures to doctors. The guy doesn’t even have a degree. I’m young, he’s only a few years older than me, I think a couple years older actually and he is lecturing to doctors because of what he has done in this space. A very impressive individual here.

This one is only $597 despite having 16 hours of content.

I promise you, knowing this guy’s stuff and how it works, 16 hours of content is a lot more than 16 hours because one, he shoves a bunch in there, and two, you’re going to have to review this. It’s not just going to be a one and done.

FDN Advanced Courses: Organic Acids Testing Description

In this course you will cover organic acid testing basics and the background of it; section-by-section analysis of the OAT (which is the organic acid test, if you’re not clear on that); how to correlate with other screenings; how to effectively clinically correlate (Which is what we teach in FDN. How to look at the paperwork and clinically correlate it with the person’s symptoms without being someone who just diagnoses or treats the symptoms. That is not what we do as FDN. We don’t want to do that. It doesn’t work usually for a lot of chronic issues and that’s why you’re doing something like FDN or got into the space. We don’t want to do that. Clinical correlation is a lot different, at least in terms of the results that it gets); how to properly interpret the OAT to your client (because it’s a pretty advanced test and gets very complicated, it’s very medical. It can be hard to give them the answers sometimes. So, we want to make sure we know how to explain it to them.); how to construct an effective protocol (like I said); retesting and additional testing considerations; then of course, case studies.

FDN Advanced Courses: Organic Acids Testing Lessons

The lessons on this one are very intriguing. It’s stuff that you probably are already interested in so it’s going to be kind of cool to hear.

Lesson one is the Introduction to the Organic Acid Testing. Lesson two is Fungi and Yeast (When I mention this, this is the fungi and yeast markers on the test to be clear.) Lesson three is Bacteria. Lesson four is Clostridia. Lesson five is Oxalates. Lesson six is Glycolysis. Lesson seven is Mitochondria Function and the Citric Acid Cycle Metabolites. Lesson eight is Neurotransmitter Metabolites and Mental Health. (He’s really passionate about that.) Lesson nine is Pyrimidine Metabolites. Lesson 10 is Ketone and Fatty Acid Metabolites. Lesson 11 is Nutritional Markers. Lesson 12 is Detoxification Indicators. And lesson 13 is Amino Acid Metabolites and Phosphoric Acid.

Lot of cool stuff there. That’s our Organic Acid Advanced Course.

Next, we’re going to be talking about our Foundations of Herbalism Course. This is a cool one because it’s not one of those things that you would ever need to become the perfect FDN. But because we are so well trained in supplements, we use a lot of herbal supplements.

I have never been through this advanced course myself, so I don’t want to just hype it up for the sake of hyping it up. I haven’t done it. That would be inauthentic.

But I would imagine, because I know a few FDNs who have been traditionally trained in herbalism, they know their crap. They know these different ways and have these abilities to utilize supplements in such a unique way that you would never think about otherwise because of this training. So, if you’ve ever felt called to something like that, I think this could be for you.

FDN Advanced Courses: Foundations of Herbalism Course Description and Lessons

This one is $497 and will cover the following.

How to use taste to learn about herbs (which is already intriguing in and of itself); how to learn about herbs; herbal dosage and safety; how to assess the energetics of herbs, people and health issues; herbal medicine making techniques that are the best for your formula; how to create energetically-matched herbal formulas for your clients; advanced herbal biochemistry for the taste of herbs; then, creating herbal formulas for four mock clients.

You’re also going to get eight hours of on demand video in this one, and the lessons are broken down as such.

Lesson one is Taste of Herbs, Medicine Making, and Studying Herbs. Lesson two is Formulas and Dosing. Lesson three is Hot Energetics, Sweet Herbs, Powders, and Honeys. Lesson four, Cold Energetics, Aromatic Oils, Teas and Oils. Lesson five is Tense Energetics, Bitter/Acrid Herbs, Tinctures. Lesson six is Lax Energetics, Sour/Astringent Herbs, Vinegars. Lesson seven is Damp Energetics, Salty Herbs, Infusions, and Plasters. Lesson eight is Dry Energetics, Demulcent Plants, Salves, and Poultices.

I will be fully honest, I had to look up some of these words. Now I’m really feeling I need to take this course more than probably anyone even listening. I’m going to become an herbalist. Lesson nine is Putting it all Together: Formulas and Cases. So that is our Advanced Herbalism Course.

FDN Advanced Courses: Mitochondria Description and Lessons

Now moving to the mitochondria one.

This one is of particular interest to Detective Ev. If you’ve heard my stuff about light and cold therapy and the other things that I do, I’m very big and up to date with the research showing that mitochondria function is very much linked to disease states or the lack thereof. So, this one is one that I will be taking in the future myself.

It is $497. It has five hours of on-demand video.

The course overview is the following: mitochondria anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry; common signs and symptoms of mitochondrial dysfunction; underlying causal factors of mitochondrial dysfunction; mitochondria support 101; mitochondria herbal support; mitochondrial testing (that is very interesting); test interpretation and identification of basic patterns of dysfunction; strategies for intervention; and of course, case studies.

The lessons are broken down as follows. Lesson one is Basic Mitochondria Physiology. Lesson two is Deeper into Mitochondria Biochemistry. Lesson three is When Things Go Wrong. Lesson four is Supporting the Mitochondria. Lesson five is Mitochondria Blood Chemistry Panels and Patterns of Dysfunction. And lesson six will be your Case Study Reviews.

I’m not going to spend too much more time on that one. If you are in this space and you know the significance of mitochondrial health in terms of it’s relation to chronic disease, then you already are probably having your ears perked up ready to take that advanced course. I would assume that one can be done very easily as a standalone training, by the way.

FDN Advanced Courses: Qigong

The other one that kind of stands out along with the coaching one is the Qigong training. Though it’s kind of a simple course, it’s cute, it’s our actual cheapest one. I misspoke when I said the scientific literacy one before this one. It is $47.

What you’ll basically learn is some fundamentals of Qigong. It’s kind of a fun thing. What it helps with, Qigong that is, is reducing anxiety, discovering kind of yourself, managing stress, mood swings, helping with self-esteem. So, you’ll kind of learn some of the benefits of this in certain practices that you can do.

It’s not anything wildly in depth. You’re not going to become like a Qigong practitioner afterwards. But this could be something really great for someone just looking for a Qigong intensive.

Again, super cheap advanced course if you want some continuing education credits as well. I think I forgot to mention that in the beginning. All of these advanced courses will contribute to you getting your continuing ed courses, which are probably too loose right now. They’re probably going to make them a little more strict, cause we don’t require that much. If we’re going to maintain our status as well-respected individuals in this space, I think it’s going to be essential. So that’ll probably happen. At least you have these advanced courses to get it done.

The next one is definitely a super popular one.

It is the SIBO course, otherwise known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It is only $297 without the discount that you get if you are an AFDNP member.

What you will learn in this, this one isn’t broken down with the lessons as a description. It’s kind of just all in one. So, what you’ll learn is what is SIBO (what does that actually mean?); the different types of gases produced by the bacteria overgrown in SIBO (Because if you don’t know this already, one of the ways that we’re able to test this, actually Western medicine, if you can convince them that you have it, will test for it. They’ll use a breath test. What they’re looking for amongst other things is methane gas. Kind of interesting.)

You’ll learn how SIBO affects the small intestine; why SIBO occurs and what the risk factors are in underlying mechanisms; symptoms of SIBO; SIBO testing options; which SIBO test is the best; other tests that may suggest SIBO; how to do the SIBO test; possible scenarios that show up on SIBO tests and how to interpret them; the three types of SIBO treatments; which treatment to choose; treatment protocols and tips; possible scenarios that show up on SIBO re-tests and how to interpret them; what to do post-treatment to prevent recurrence of SIBO (That’s such a big thing. It usually gets addressed for people, and then it comes right back. We’re going to show you how to keep it down and not have it constantly recurring in the individual.); and then other possible contributing factors that may need to be addressed.

You already know that there are going to be case studies including in this one. So that is our SIBO course.

This one is something that’s been around for a while, and it’s been updated and modified it.

It is really a big asset to the people that are going to be working with women clients. Now there’s obviously times that it’d be relevant for men as well. But I find that a lot of the women who are super serious about FDN, assuming that they’re working with women clients, they take this one. It’s our advanced course for stress and hormones.

Now, if you have been through FDN or you’re going through even a little bit right now, you already know how much we cover with hormones. You’re probably thinking why on earth do I need an advanced course? Again, you really don’t in a sense. This is for those people who want to just take this to kind of a ridiculous level in my opinion.

This is a great course. There is, If I’m not mistaken, I believe 20 hours of content with this one. It is actually centered around the DUTCH test. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a dried urine test for hormones.

In the course we teach something called the FDN SHP, which is our stress and hormones panel. We use four salivary markers that are taken by the client throughout the day. They’ll do one in the morning relatively close to waking, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and nighttime before bed.

I’m not going to explain in this episode exactly why we do it that way, but it works very effectively. It’s actually served the purposes I’ve needed it for throughout my time as an FDN. I’ve never gone through this advanced stress and hormones course. But I know a ton of people who have, and they rave about this thing.

FDN Advanced Courses: Stress and Hormones Centers Around the DUTCH Test

If you’re going to run something like the DUTCH, I’m not saying that maybe it doesn’t work a little better or you can’t get a little more insight, but you gotta know what you’re doing.

There is something that’s very alluring about many of these fancy tests, especially as they come out on the market. What we want to do is, we want to go use that new test and run it with this client. Then we’re going to show them all the results and stuff.

The best test on the market is not literally the test with the best technology, it is the best test that you have the ability to interpret. That’s what the best test is.

There’s hundreds if not thousands of tests out there that you could use in the world of functional medicine. One might be completely useless to you, even if it has the best technology, because you don’t know how to interpret it. So, the DUTCH is great and that’s fine. But people have to know where they stand with this stuff.

I know I’m not in that wheelhouse yet. I don’t understand the DUTCH. I’m not running it then. I’m not actually helping my client just by running a fancier test that I don’t know how to interpret. I hope that makes sense.

FDN Advanced Courses: Stress and Hormones Description

So in this one, what you will learn is how the endocrine system responds to stress; the importance of the HPA Axis; possible causes of HPA Axis dysfunction (You’re noticing some similarities between the beginning of FDN, the course itself, and then this advanced course, but we differentiate pretty soon.); why the term adrenal fatigue is an oversimplified way to describe HPA Axis dysfunction; how to test for HPA Axis dysfunction using the DUTCH; why it’s critical for salivary testing to include CAR (which is cortisol awakening response, which we do include on our salivary test, by the way); general diet and lifestyle recommendations for HPA Axis dysfunction; assessing HPA Axis function with the DUTCH test and other tests with cortisol markers; how to read the DUTCH test in terms of like the HPA Axis function reports; the four cortisol patterns – test interpretation and protocols; disrupted diurnal rhythm; cortisone rhythm and what it means in relation to cortisol rhythm (so cortisone versus cortisol).

We’re going to look at DHEA test interpretation and protocols for low and high DHEA; melatonin; why it’s helpful to evaluate hormone metabolites in the urine; estrogen; estrogen metabolism; progesterone; testosterone; and I did not even mention everything else that’s on here.

There is a ton of stuff in this advanced course. It’s jam packed and, in my opinion, underpriced. So, you might as well grab it while you can once you graduate the FDN course.

Almost finished up here.

FDN Advanced Courses: Oxalates

We have our oxalate training next.

If you don’t know what Oxalates are, I’ve heard them described (and I think this is probably the best description), they’re kind of like these tiny little glass-like shards. Now they’re microscopic, you can’t go see this laying on your desk or your table. But they’re typically coming from plant matter like avocados are high oxalate foods, sweet potatoes are high oxalate foods. That does not mean that they are bad, but it does mean that eating in excess, they can be wrong for certain people.

It’s usually highly implicated in fibromyalgia, by the way. If you want a neat little trick, have a friend or family member that has fibromyalgia read up on high oxalates. You’ll probably indirectly convince them then to try a low oxalate diet. Even though that’s not the cause of their fibromyalgia per se, it’s going to help their symptoms a lot. It’s really interesting how that kind of works. Their pain from their body is just this buildup of the oxalates beating the heck out of them.

They’re also considered antinutrients right, because they interfere with the absorption of minerals. It’s not great. It loads up in tissues and organs, you don’t want them. We want to keep them as low as possible.

FDN Advanced Courses: Oxalates Description

In this course you’ll learn exactly what they are (You’ll get the more technical explanation, rather than just the glass-like shards thing.); sources of oxalates; normal oxalate metabolism; reasons why oxalate levels become excessively elevated in the body (that’s more of the issue as opposed to the oxalates themselves, by the way.); how excess oxalates harm the body; where oxalate crystals can accumulate in the body; the connection between oxalates, mineral deficiencies, yeast overgrowth, and heavy metal toxicity (We’re just combining all these things here.); symptoms of excess oxalates; how oxalates become a problem; why gut dysfunction causes oxalate issues; which foods are exceptionally high in oxalates; which vitamin deficiency cause the body to produce more oxalates; when to suspect an excess oxalate problem; when to test for excess oxalates; how to test their levels and quite a few more things.

I think that’s more than enough to give you guys the overview of this particular advanced course. So that is our Advanced Oxalates Training. It’s only $297, not counting the 20% discount that you would get if you’re a member of AFDNP.

This is one that’s not talked about nearly enough, even though it is very effective and useful in practice with your clients.

Second to last one we’ll talk about today is Functional Blood Chemistry.

I have went through this myself. It is one of my favorites, just because of the high level of instant applicability it has. You’re only getting about; I think it’s like six hours of actual like video content in this one. But the woman that does this, Lisa Pomeroy, six hours with her is probably like 18 hours with most people. It’s not because she talks fast, it’s because everything she says, you feel like you have to take notes with.

She’s a naturopathic doctor by trade. She does all of these educational things for people that are practitioners like us in terms of getting them the ability to interpret labs and just what to do in the trickiest of cases. She is an absolute genius.

This course is $397. In addition to the video itself, what you’re getting with this is you’re going to learn how to analyze a lot of the stuff that Western medicine would provide your clients with in terms of a functional perspective.

So, you’ll get a CMP, which is comprehensive metabolic panel. This includes things like glucose, uric acid, BUN (otherwise known as bun), creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride, are things that typically come up on many Western medicine things, because they’ll run a CMP.

They will run a comprehensive metabolic panel. They will just interpret it differently than us. So, we’re teaching you how to interpret it from a functional perspective.

Lipid panels are also in there very common in terms of being run by Western medicine, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL versus LDL. You’ll get a CBC as well, which is a complete blood count.

FDN Advanced Courses: Functional Blood Chemistry Description

You’ll see white blood count, red blood count, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes.

There’s interesting patterns, by the way, between some of those markers and autoimmune patients. Many people that come to FDN practitioners have either been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or they’re on the autoimmune spectrum. So that can be interesting.

Iron panels. Then of course, thyroid panels, because no one talks about thyroid markers properly. So, you’ll get a little taste of that here. This isn’t to be confused with our advanced thyroid course, but this is something that can at least get your feet wet in addition to all these other things that are there.

You also get vitamin D, blood sugar regulation markers, and methylation markers.

This has been a huge asset to me. Many clients have had routine blood work done before they get to you as an FDN. When I tell them that I utilize functional lab testing in my practice, their question is, oh, can you analyze my blood work?

I would say this is one of the most directly useful courses in terms of clients, because they are going to have this. They’re going to ask about it usually. Then when you can say yes, one, that increases your credibility because you can actually say yes, I can do this. Then, it’s very cheap. It’s one of the cheapest tests out there. It’s one of the most scientifically backed lab tests that we have out there. Blood testing has been studied for decades. We might as well learn how to use it.

FDN Advanced Courses: Functional Blood Chemistry Excel Sheet

You also get this really cool plug and play Excel sheet. What I mean by that is, I can take the markers from someone’s blood work that was ran by Western medicine and it will automatically tell me from a functional perspective as to whether or not it’s low or high. It’ll adjust for the reference range.

Let’s say, TSH, a classic example in Western medicine, cause they constantly screw this up, thyroid stimulating hormone. We generally believe in the world of functional medicine that this should probably be between maybe like, 1.5 to a 2 or 2.5. So not a really large range there. Whereas Western medicine will go all the way up to a 4.5.

If you know the history of this, they’ve had it as high as 10 and even higher, which nowadays would get you like an instant diagnosis of hypothyroidism, and you’d probably go on medication. But we had people running around forever and we thought that was completely normal. So TSH is a really common thing.

You’re going to learn how to analyze that from that functional perspective. That Excel sheet will automatically tell you that, hey, from a functional perspective, this is high or low, depending on the client. That is our Advanced Blood Chemistry Training Course.

And last, but certainly not least, is our thyroid course.

We talk a lot about the thyroid in FDN itself. I don’t know that you need this one per se. This could be a good one for those that aren’t going to go through FDN and want to learn about the thyroid. Or it could be really great for people who want to kind of niche down in their business to thyroid problems.

My mom, for example, she had Graves’ disease. She’s been on this podcast way back when, like last August of 2021 or something. That’s a three-part episode if you’re interested in that. A few people actually really loved it, even though we don’t get too nerdy on that. It’s very story based, but people seem to really appreciate that.

So, she had Grave’s disease. That is the autoimmune condition that is, the simple way to explain it is this, if hypothyroidism is correlated with Hashimoto’s, right? Because you need hypothyroid symptoms to really have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Hyperthyroidism is the one that correlates with Graves’ disease.

So, instead of people having the common symptoms of hypothyroidism, which would be, they eat barely anything, and they still gain a bunch of weight. They are very fatigued. They have very slow processes in all areas of the body.

FDN Advanced Courses: Thyroid Function, Evan’s Mom’s Story

My mom was literally the opposite. We had no idea what was wrong with her.

She was coming home and eating an entire box of CHIPS AHOY cookies, she had this craving, all of a sudden for this. She wasn’t gaining a pound. She was staying super lean. Her heart rate was sitting at like 120 or 130 beats per minute while she’s on the couch trying to relax. She would only need three or four hours of sleep.

This is taking its toll on the body, by the way. Cause some people think, wow, this sounds great. Right? I can eat a box of CHIPS AHOY, I only need three hours of sleep. No, no, no, no, no. It’s not that that actually works. It’s that you feel that you can do it for some period of time and then bam, you get hit like a brick wall. That’s what happened to my mom, unfortunately. And it happens to millions of other people out there.

If you are going to niche down into the world of Hashimoto’s or Graves’ disease, I would highly recommend this course. If not, this might not be something that you need. The FDN course itself might just be enough in terms of having the basic information of the thyroid.

FDN Advanced Courses: Thyroid Function Description

Lesson one in here is going to be Basic Thyroid Physiology. Lesson two is going to be When Things Go Wrong. Lesson three is going to be Thyroid Blood Chemistry Panels and Patterns of Dysfunction (That is more in depth, by the way, than just the Functional Blood Chemistry Advanced Course). Lesson four is going to be Foundational Principles for Healing Thyroid Dysfunction and Restoring Health. And lesson five will be your Case Studies and your Clinical Toolkit in terms of getting this stuff resolved.

Whew. That is almost 40 minutes of a podcast where I have been reading off the screen pretty much the entire time and then just giving my little ad lib here. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I’m probably going to take a little break from talking about the advanced courses for a while. Although I will give you reviews as I go through some of these. I’m about to go through the Scientific Literacy Course.

I’m going through FDN Business School right now, which is not an advanced course per se, but I want to make sure I give you guys the reviews on all these too and what I thought about them.

Conclusion

If you have any specific questions about any of these advanced courses, you know where to find me. Go to our Podbean, search for the Health Detective Podcast on Podbean, it’s a podcast platform. Sign in via Google and then you can leave a comment there. I read all of them and we sometimes make episodes even based on those comments. At the very least, we always respond to them.

Next time I will be back with another episode. We’re talking to a woman who was diagnosed with MS at a very young age, and she is completely symptom free of this thing 10 years later. She’s kicking butt helping the world because MS is a really scary one. Not that any autoimmune disease would be classified as fun, but MS can kill people. It’s one of the few autoimmune diseases that can actually lead to death eventually.

So, the fact that there’s a woman that’s getting on our podcast that is showing people, hey, I had this. I had it for years and I do not have the symptoms of this anymore. I think that’s pretty important and worth sharing with many people who actually deal with this.

I’m looking forward to talking to you guys again at that time. But until then, please take care. I gotta go take a little break from reading things and walk the street.

Talk to you guys again soon.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com. This is also where you can order the FDN Advanced Courses.

If you want to hire a coach, go to fdnthrive.com.

For a free Health Review, go to fdnthrive.com/match/.