Make a real change.
Eight percent of your immunity is located in the gut. EIGHTY PERCENT. A compromised GI tract affects every system in your body through its activation or dys-regulation of the immune system. If GI health is compromised, you can't fully heal any other system in your body. If you are tired of putting bandaids on symptoms and want to get to the root cause of your symptoms, there is no better approach than a gut centered approach with targeted testing, protocols, and reports.
It's Best For
Autoimmune Related Conditions
For those with diagnosed autoimmune conditions, pre-autoimmune markers, or family history of autoimmune disease.
This baseline package will give you insight into the state of your GI health and potentially contributing food sensitivities.
With these results we will work to place you on a specific diet, supplement, and lifestyle regimen that will work to heal your gut and then reintroduce foods back in once your GI tract is healed.
Hormone Imbalances & Infertility
Imbalances such as PMS, PMDD, weight loss resistance, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, infertility, and more are often treated with birth external hormones, masking the root cause of the issues. We will assess the state of the hormones, hormone metabolites as well as look at gut health as a root cause of hormone imbalance and address any concerns.
Arthritis and Pain
For clients suffering from pain and inflammation due to arthritis and/or gout (for rheumatoid arthritis please see autoimmune packages). This package will assess your gut health, gluten sensitivity, potential cross reactive foods, nutrient status, and gut flora. With this package we can make actionable personal changes to heal gut health, decrease inflammation and reduce symptoms of pain.
GI Symptoms (IBS, IBD, GERD, SIBO, etc)
This package is best for those suffering from GI symptoms such as pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or GERD whether associated with IBS and or IBD, or not. This package will give us an in-depth analysis on the state of your gut health to make all the actionable changes right away to reduce inflammation, heal, and promote optimal flora balance.
Longevity and Wellness
This package is for those that don't currently have any active symptoms but want to learn more about optimizing their health for longevity. In this package we will screen you for leaky gut, which is often a silent precursor too many ailments and symptoms. We will use epigenetic aging reports and aging algorithms to provide a comprehensive picture of biological aging. We will pair the epigenetic report with genetic testing in 36 health areas such as immunity, diet, exercise, hormones, heart and brain functioning.
Hi,
I'm Kelli Shallal MPH RD CPT
The one thing I've learned after a decade in private practice is that it's so much easier to make necessary lifestyle changes to feel better, improve blood work, and gain your optimal health when you can see what you need to do in black and white in front of you.
For years I avoided many functional nutrition tests thinking that my clients "didn't need them to feel better." There are so many functional nutrition protocols you can "try" without using functional lab tests to help you feel better. Then, one day I was sitting in a functional medicine seminar and I heard a doctor say something about finding the root cause to patient symptoms I'll never forget. Pain isn't an opioid or NSAID deficiency, ADD isn't a ritalin deficiency, diarrhea isn't a Imodium deficiency and that's why conventional medicine doesn't treat the underlying root cause. And damn if my mind and entire approach to helping my patients wasn't totally rewired in that moment.
That's when I realized, testing is the only true way to see in black and white what YOUR body needs you to do to feel better and retesting lets you know when you've healed. It takes the frustrating guesswork out of the situation. The more I started to use functional tests specifically focused on gut health to pin point the right nutrition, lifestyle, and supplement protocols the happier and healthier my clients were right away. I started to value the power of testing over guessing more and more.
The more clients I meet with, the more I noticed that we couldn't get to the root cause of any of their ailments without looking at GI health. Sure, we could make improvements, but without healing the GI tract, their symptoms would never fully resolve (remember 80% of immunity is located in the gut!) I put together these gut centered packages based on whats worked for clients in the past. These packages give you a full picture of nutrition, GI health and more without getting lost in the weeds or guessing on nutrition strategies that may or may not work for you. It's a clear blueprint to your optimal health through the gut that we can walk through together for results that help you feel better right away. I absolutely still work with clients who don't want to use functional lab testing, but if you are interested in looking deeper, these packages were specifically designed to get to the root cause of your symptoms quicker.
Hungry Hobby LLC, owner/dietitian
How It Works
Sign up for a package and functional nutrition consult fee. Fill out paperwork, gather any past bloodwork tests, and schedule your first nutrition consult. We will get started while you wait for your labs to come back!
You will then be sent order forms for the functional lab tests that come with your package. Once you pay for these they will be drop shipped to your house. Depending on the package you chose it may include blood, urine, or saliva tests. Blood tests typically have an extra $20-75 fee to complete the blood draw.
Complete your lab tests, they will take 2-3 weeks to come back. Schedule another consult with Kelli 3 weeks from when you sent in your last test.
Meet with Kelli to review lab test finding and revise nutrition and lifestyle interventions based on findings.
Do I need this much functional lab testing?
Maybe, maybe not. These packages are designed for those who feel like they've "tried it all" and aren't getting the desired results. Functional lab testing is one of the best tools we have to personalize results and find the root cause of illness. However, it's not always the best place to start, especially because in most cases it's out of pocket costs. If you aren't sure, then starting with a gut health consult maybe the best option for you. We may be able to improve your symptoms without testing or by using fewer tests.
Will Insurance Cover These Packages?
There are two portions to these packages.
Nutrition Services
My website is set up to take HSA/FSA for my services and products. You can use an HSA/FSA card for the initial payment here. This is the cost for me to review your lab results, create protocols, and ongoing support for you. Other than HSA/FSA, I do not accept insurance at this time.
Lab Testing
After you sign up, you will be sent order forms for the tests, some of those also have availability for HSA/FSA as well, but most often insurance will not cover the tests out right. The lab ordering company does have payment plans available. I do not up-charge the cost of testing, you will pay the same fee I pay for testing. My income comes from the nutrition services piece.
Leaky Gut Testing
Every package comes with a leaky gut test or a test for intestinal permeability. You can learn more about leaky gut here. This test looks for antibodies in your blood to proteins found in the GI tract. If your body is making antibodies to these proteins then it's likely it's because their intestinal hyper-permeability and those proteins are "leaking"into the blood stream where the immune system is recognizing them as a foreign invader. It also looks for microbial damage to the GI tract.
GI MAP - Stool Analysis
Most of the packages below include a GI MAP or stool analysis. Did you know that we can actually sequence your gut microbiome? We can look to see if you have enough good guys in your microbiome, if any "bad" guys that are normally found in the flora have started to overgrow, and if your digestive function has been compromised? Sometimes these things can happen with minimal to no GI symptoms, so it's important to look at the gut when trying to improve symptoms in other areas of the body.
Food Sensitivity Testing
Is food sensitivity testing legit? It's been my experience that people do get better results following a food sensitivity test than an elimination diet protocol. However, the results aren't meant to be followed long term. The idea is that with the except of sensitivities to dairy and gluten that you are able to liberalize your diet after we heal the GI tract. The results shouldn't permanently limit your diet.
Bonus:
You will have unlimited access to nutrition consults for up to six months. This is huge as most practitioners charge you per appointment making it difficult for you to get your questions answered without paying more. You can hop on with me anytime during your protocol! You can also communicate with me over text or email during your program as well! I'm here to support you on your healing journey because I know dietary changes can be very challenging and confusing. I want you to have unlimited support so you can be successful on your plant!
Custom Nutrition and Functional Medicine Strategies
The packages below are uniquely designed to target specific issues, but all packages utilized a gut-centered approach:
Pricing
Note pricing does not include the cost of supplements, food, or lifestyle change recommendations that are made after the results of your tests come back. Average cost of protocols can be anywhere between $200 to $1500 dollars, depending on your needs! Please factor that into your decision making! I always try to recommend and work with what you have on hand when possible.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely! These are my recommended packages, but if you want to change something feel free to email me at kelli@hungryhobby.net or just indicate it in the sign up process. This will likely change the cost of the package.
I developed these packages based on working with clients for over a decade. They are best case scenario starting points for each categories goals. If you have questions you can always reach out and do a consult with me to start!
Sign up for your package and make your initial payment. Your tests will be ordered and you will finish the payment process!
Packages include nutrition counseling and cost of tests. They do not include any supplement, food, or lifestyle product recommendations that come from reviewing your tests.
I can not guarantee desired results for everyone especially because each persons goals will be different. But, I am a god fearing ethical person and would not be offering these services if I didn't believe in their power for healing and use them myself. I believe personalized results are the best shot we have at holistic healing.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding I recommend waiting until at least 90 days post pardum/post breastfeeding has finished to sign up for any of these packages.