The Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast

We’re back with Part 4 of the Endo Uncovered series, and this one is all about surgery. How to think about it, how to prepare for it, and what Rachel wishes more women knew before going in.
Erin and Rachel are talking through some of the biggest questions that come up when someone is considering endometriosis surgery: How do you choose a surgeon? What’s the difference between excision and ablation? Is a hysterectomy really a cure for endometriosis?
Rachel shares about her own endometriosis surgery process, why excision is considered the gold standard, hysterectomy nuance, and exactly how she prepared her own body before surgery, from reducing alcohol and prioritizing protein to increasing iron-rich foods, vitamin C, omega-3s, pelvic floor PT, strength training, walking, and strategic supplementation.
If you are considering endometriosis surgery, preparing for surgery, recovering from surgery, or trying to understand what questions to ask, this conversation will help you feel more informed and grounded.

In this episode:
How your surgeon’s training and experience can influence recovery, outcomes, and recurrence risk
The vitamin C-rich foods, omega-3s, ginger, turmeric, and liver-supportive options Rachel used before and after surgery
The key difference between excision and ablation surgery
Why Rachel significantly reduced alcohol before her surgery
What’s coming next in the Endo Uncovered series: the MCAS, histamine, and endometriosis connection

Resources mentioned:
Manifest Your Health is the neuroscience-backed membership that helps you regulate your nervous system, integrate the parts of you that keep you stuck, and become the version of yourself your body can actually heal as.
Listen to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Endo Uncovered series.
Subscribe to her Substack where Erin shares the (raw & unfiltered) BTS of her own business & life – so you can steal what applies to yours. All things health, wealth, ambition & manifestation.
Apply for 1:1 Endometriosis Support here if you’re navigating painful periods, suspected or diagnosed endometriosis, gut symptoms, hormone issues, or inflammation.
Order The Gut Panel to uncover the hidden root causes behind your “mystery” symptoms.

FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/430-endo-series-part-4
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi Supplement Powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing Powder (Use code FUNK and get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia Creatine (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Fullscript is Erin’s trusted, go-to source for ordering supplements.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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What does your nervous system have to do with your digestion, hormones, immune system, inflammation, sleep, symptoms, and healing? And is “regulating your nervous system” just another wellness buzzword?
Your nervous system is constantly scanning your internal and external world for cues of safety or threat. And when your body keeps perceiving threats (even when you consciously know you’re safe), it can keep you stuck in inflammation, immune activation, digestive dysfunction, and chronic symptoms.
In this episode, Erin explains why nervous system regulation requires both top-down and bottom-up work. Breathwork, meditation, and yoga can be amazing tools, but if you never address the beliefs, patterns, trauma, emotional suppression, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and subconscious threat signals underneath the dysregulation, the work may only go so deep.

In this episode:
The gas pedal, brake pedal, and “optimal healing mode” nervous system states
How chronic stress activation can impact thyroid function, fertility, sex hormones, blood sugar, sleep, and the gut barrier
How subconscious beliefs, early programming, filters, and past experiences shape your nervous system
Erin’s invitation into her 5 day nervous system reset before the holiday season

Resources mentioned:
Sign up for our 5 Day Nervous System Reset
Apply for 1:1 support here if you’re navigating painful periods, suspected or diagnosed endometriosis, gut symptoms, hormone issues, or inflammation.
Manifest Your Health is our neuroscience backed membership designed to help you reconnect with your body, regulate your nervous system, and finally break out of the symptom loop.
Episode 424: Your Default Mode Network, Your Identity & the Story Keeping You Sick

Want more of Erin?
Subscribe to her Substack where Erin shares the (raw & unfiltered) BTS of her own business & life – so you can steal what applies to yours. All things health, wealth, ambition & manifestation.

FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/429-nervous-system-regulation
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi Supplement Powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
Qualia Creatine (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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You finally got the endometriosis diagnosis. Now what do you actually do after years of pain, dismissal, weird symptoms, confusing imaging, surgery, or being told everything looked “normal”?
While a diagnosis can feel validating, it can also bring a whole new wave of fear, especially around fertility, surgery, symptom management, and whether this condition is going to define the rest of your life.
In part 3 of the endo series, Erin and Rachel walk through the labs, nutrition, lifestyle shifts, gut support, hormone testing, nervous system work, and supplements they think about when supporting clients with endometriosis. Rachel also talks about excision surgery and why you still need a whole body approach.

In this episode:
The two biggest questions Rachel hears after diagnosis: “Can I still have kids?” and “How do I manage this?”
Why Rachel considers the DUTCH test a necessity for endometriosis, especially for hormone metabolism
Why broccoli sprouts are the little overachievers of cruciferous vegetables
How emotional suppression, people-pleasing, over-functioning, trauma history, and chronic stress can amplify symptom expression
The supplement Rachel used after excision surgery that helped with her post-op period pain

Resources mentioned:
Manifest Your Health is the neuroscience-backed membership that helps you regulate your nervous system, integrate the parts of you that keep you stuck, and become the version of yourself your body can actually heal as.
Applications for the Fall 2026 cohort of The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy are now open! If you’re ready to become a certified functional health practitioner, apply now.
Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of the Endo Uncovered series.
Episode 425: FNA Case Study: Stage Four Endometriosis, 8 Years of Infertility & a Natural Pregnancy
Subscribe to her Substack where Erin shares the (raw & unfiltered) BTS of her own business & life – so you can steal what applies to yours. All things health, wealth, ambition & manifestation.
Apply for 1:1 Endometriosis Support here if you’re navigating painful periods, suspected or diagnosed endometriosis, gut symptoms, hormone issues, or inflammation.
Order The Gut Panel to uncover the hidden root causes behind your “mystery” symptoms.

FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/428-endo-series-part-3
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi Supplement Powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing Powder (Use code FUNK and get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia Creatine (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Fullscript is Erin’s trusted, go-to source for ordering supplements.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

We’re back with Part 2 of the endometriosis series, and this one is personal.
Lead practitioner Rachel Heintz shares her own story with stage 4 deep infiltrating endometriosis. You’ll hear about the symptoms she didn’t realize were clues, the functional work that helped her feel dramatically better, and the surgery that revealed just how severe things really were.
Rachel walks through her timeline: going on birth control for acne, coming off the pill and experiencing debilitating periods, dealing with extreme allergies and histamine issues, living in a moldy apartment, and eventually discovering endometriosis in a pretty unusual location.
Erin and Rachel talk about why surgery is not a failure, why not every OB/GYN is an endometriosis expert, why getting another opinion can matter so much, and what Rachel’s excision surgery ultimately revealed.

In this episode:
How birth control may have masked Rachel’s endo symptoms for years after she originally started it for acne
Why Rachel believes mold exposure in a damp college apartment may have been a major immune and mast cell trigger
Why untreated endo could have created bigger issues for Rachel’s bowels, kidneys, appendix, fertility, and overall health
How Rachel is feeling 10 weeks post-op, with a smoother-than-expected recovery

Resources mentioned:
Applications for the Fall 2026 cohort of The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy are now open! If you’re ready to become a certified functional health practitioner, apply now.
Apply for 1:1 Endometriosis Support here if you’re navigating painful periods, suspected or diagnosed endometriosis, gut symptoms, hormone issues, or inflammation.
Order The Gut Panel to uncover the hidden root causes behind your “mystery” symptoms.
Want more of Erin?
Subscribe to her Substack where Erin shares the (raw & unfiltered) BTS of her own business & life – so you can steal what applies to yours. All things health, wealth, ambition & manifestation.
Manifest Your Health is our neuroscience backed membership designed to help you reconnect with your body, regulate your nervous system, and finally break out of the symptom loop.

FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/427-endo-series-part-2
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi Supplement Powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
Qualia Creatine (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

We are officially kicking off the endometriosis series. In this first episode, Erin and Rachel Heintz, lead practitioner at The Funk’tional Nutritionist, are untangling one of the most misunderstood, underdiagnosed, and wildly dismissed conditions in women’s health.
Painful periods might be common, but that does not mean they should be normalized, trivialized, or ignored.
Erin and Rachel explain what endometriosis is, what conditions commonly overlap with it, why it is considered a chronic inflammatory whole-body condition, and how it can show up far beyond the uterus. Spoiler: we’re going inflammation hunting, and no, you do not have to just suck it up and suffer your way through being a woman!

In this episode:
The difference between normal period discomfort and the kind of pain that should not be brushed off as “just cramps”
Why recurring SIBO can be a clue that something deeper is driving the overgrowth
How toxin exposure can drive or exacerbate painful periods and endometriosis symptoms
The hopeful research Rachel shares around genetics, imaging, and the future of endometriosis diagnosis
Obscure, less common symptoms that can still be part of the endo picture

Resources mentioned:
Manifest Your Health is the neuroscience-backed membership that helps you regulate your nervous system, integrate the parts of you that keep you stuck, and become the version of yourself your body can actually heal as.
Applications for the Fall 2026 cohort of The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy are now open! If you’re ready to become a certified functional health practitioner, apply now.
Subscribe to her Substack where Erin shares the (raw & unfiltered) BTS of her own business & life – so you can steal what applies to yours. All things health, wealth, ambition & manifestation.
Apply to work with us 1:1 here.
Order The Gut Panel to uncover the hidden root causes behind your “mystery” symptoms.

FOR OUR FULL LIST OF LINKS + RESOURCES, HEAD TO:
https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/426-endo-series
Check out The Funk’tional Nutritionist: Website | Instagram
Organifi Supplement Powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
OneSkin (Use code FUNK for 15% off your first purchase)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing Powder (Use code FUNK and get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia Creatine (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Fullscript is Erin’s trusted, go-to source for ordering supplements.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy