I’m a root-cause dietitian who is also a big fan of band-aids. Because sometimes figuring out WHY you feel like crap takes time and busy moms shouldn’t have to feel like roadkill while we work on it.
NOVEMBER 5, 2026
I have perhaps an unpopular opinion, at least in the functional medicine* world.
Functional medicine is essentially a "root cause" approach to healing, where practitioners ask and investigate why someone has the symptoms they do, instead of just trying to cover those symptoms up with meds. This approach tends to take into account a person's entire physical, emotional, and mental health and collaborates with the patient on treatment plans. This is the kind of nutrition I practice as a functional medicine RD.
So what's my unpopular opinion?
I'm a big fan of band-aid treatments.
Using supplements or other methods to help with symptoms in the short term that don't necessarily address the root cause.
Lemme explain.
Why root-cause treatment isn’t always enough right now
The work that I do with my clients is... thorough.
We’re digging deep with labs and long conversations about your day-to-day to look for reasons WHY you are having hormonal symptoms, or feeling exhausted, or having gut issues, or gaining weight.
Nutrition, food, supplements, stress management, meal timing, lifestyle medicine, we do all the things as part of the plan.
BUT. Sometimes we need some band-aids. 🩹
Sometimes, the root-cause treatments can take a long time to start kicking in.
And I want you to feel better NOW.
I work with moms, and we can’t afford to feel like roadkill.
We’ve got too much going on.
So while we work on uncovering and addressing the root causes of why you feel like crap, we can also do a little band-aid therapy.
Let me give you some examples.
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How short-term support can help with sleep, cortisol, and energy
Patient A is sleeping like crap (thanks, babies), which is causing major cortisol drama during the day, leading to cravings and weight gain.
More sleep is the real flex here, and we're working on going to bed earlier.
But the broken sleep is likely to remain for some more months due to her baby's age.
So we're adding in some adaptogens to help based on her cortisol test results.
This helps bridge the gap between what's going on right now with her body and the time gap before we can fully resolve the root issue.
How symptom relief can help while working on gut health
Patient Z is dealing with a ton of gut issues, and we found a lot of microbial overgrowth and slow motility on her gut test.
While we work on this with foods and herbs that can help move things along and eradicate the bad bugs, I recommended some fennel tea on days she's feeling particularly bloated.
This doesn't get to the root, but helps her feel more comfortable while we're working behind the scenes.
Can root-cause treatment and symptom relief work together?
So as you can see, it’s not either/or.
It’s not root cause, only using food and nutrition OR using supplements or meds.
There’s a place in the middle.
And this middle area is where I like to hang out with my clients.
So yes, we're addressing the root cause, but we're also realistic about how hard that sometimes can be for busy moms.
So a little adaptogen here, a little hormone supplement there can be helpful to feel better faster.
And that's the goal.
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When to get help figuring out the root cause of your symptoms
If you’re tired of throwing random supplements at your symptoms or being told to just live with them, we can dig deeper.
When we work together 1:1, we look at your symptoms, nutrition, health history, and functional and conventional lab testing when appropriate to figure out what might actually be driving how you feel.
And yes, sometimes we work on the root cause and give you a band-aid while we're at it.
Because you have shit to do. You don't need to feel like roadkill while we wait for everything else to catch up.
👉 Learn more about working with me here.
xo
Alison
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