Meet Alissa Hodgson, a Certified FDN Practitioner and Holistic Health Advocate with a background in molecular biology. Her journey from scientist to holistic health stems from personal experiences with mainstream medicine. Now, through Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN), Alissa empowers individuals to thrive naturally, offering personalized coaching and self-help programs that integrate physical and spiritual well-being. MysticMag has the pleasure.
Who is Alissa Hodgson? Can you share a few details about yourself and your professional background with our readers?
I originally began pursuing my bachelor’s in molecular biology with the goal of going to medical school and becoming a doctor. I’ve always been fascinated with biology and health and the intricacies of how our body works and is put together, and passionate about helping others. However, as I began building a vision for what I wanted my life to really look like, I knew I wanted a family and children and didn’t feel being a doctor would give me the kind of time with them I wanted. So, I graduated with honors and began a career in the laboratory as a scientist instead. I loved it! I loved designing experiments, putting on a lab coat and glasses every day, running the experiment, processing the data, and knowledge sharing and collaborating around what the results meant and how they would inspire change. Of course, now I can see how this experience helped prepare me for what I’m doing now, but at the time, I was happily cocooned in my little world of science.
I had multiple experiences I had with the mainstream medical community that began reshaping my mindset around health and wellness. First was that my mom was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and beat it through chemo and a bone marrow transplant over the course of two years. She was in remission, yet just two months after receiving the flu vaccine in order to return to work, my mom died from the flu. Her oncologist used fear and appeal to authority to manipulate her into choosing that vaccination against her wishes, intuition, and knowledge on the subject, and I had my own concerns about it as well. This opened the door to questions about vaccines and doctors I could not ignore.
The second experience that shaped my view on health and wellness was becoming a mother. I experienced the fear and manipulation used to force mothers into medically unnecessary interventions. For the first time in my life, I was responsible for another person’s health, and I felt the weight of that responsibility. I’d had my first child while my mom was going through chemo, and I was unable to visit her at times due to my child receiving certain vaccines, cueing more questions not easily satisfied by my pediatrician’s surface-level answers. My second child was born at home, but we were whisked out of his newborn checkup at four days old to the NICU because our family doctor saw the warning signs of a heart defect. The doctors in the NICU told us they were certain he didn’t have a heart defect, and insisted he must have some sort of infection due to being born at home. We spent three days denying prophylactic antibiotics without evidence of infection and finally convinced them to do an echocardiogram on a Friday before the cardiologist went home for the weekend. I’ll never forget the energy shift in the room as the technician performing the echo went from chatty to silent. I’ll never forget not being able to make sense of what was on the echocardiogram screen because of the severity of the heart defect.
My son had a complete AV canal defect (CAVCD) and would need open heart surgery as an infant. Once they discovered the CAVCD, they mentioned the connection with Down syndrome and recommended genetic testing. We’d been in the NICU nearly a week and nobody had mentioned Down syndrome once. Suddenly, the shape of his eyes and feet were no longer familial traits, but soft markers for Down syndrome according to the doctors. I was told, while breastfeeding him, that he wouldn’t be able to breastfeed due to the CAVCD and possible Down syndrome, that I should prepare to use formula, and that there was nothing I could do to alter the composition of my breastmilk to better meet his needs. We received genetic testing results two months later and learned our son does have Down syndrome. Ultimately, we had MANY experiences, up close and personal, with the mainstream medical community, witnessing first-hand the good, the bad, and the ugly it had to offer. We learned how to educate ourselves, advocate for ourselves, and trust God’s voice and our own intuition when it comes to making decisions. Ultimately, I left my career in the laboratory to stay home with my children. Which opened the door for me to learn about Functional Diagnostic Nutrition®, become certified in it, and help people the way I am now.
What does FDN stand for and how does it work?
FDN stands for Functional Diagnostic Nutrition®. I am a Certified FDN Practitioner (FDN-P) and Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner. It is a data-driven method of helping people thrive and heal naturally. FDN is based on the following principles:
1. The human body is designed to heal from almost anything if we give it more of what it needs and less of what it doesn’t.
2. Knowledge is power. The objective data from functional labs reveal hidden stressors and eliminate the guesswork involved with chasing symptoms.
3. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to health and wellness. The FDN methodology works for everyone, but the resulting protocols are highly personalized.
4. We embrace change! As FDN-P’s, we challenge the status quo, are lifelong learners, and look for innovative ways to serve our community.
Can you talk about the spiritual aspect of your transformational healing?
My mission is to help you find transformational healing in a way that honors God’s design. I believe each human is made in the image of God, that we are designed on purpose for a purpose, and that the ultimate form of healing takes place with salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are not merely a physical body; we are a mysterious, miraculous, divine combination of mind, body, spirit, and soul. We can’t separate our physical health from our mental health, emotional health, or spiritual health. It’s all connected! In addition, I believe God designed our bodies to heal themselves naturally, using the tools and resources he’s gifted us throughout nature.
My methodology is centered around these foundational beliefs, and I work with clients from all faith backgrounds, from Christian to Muslim to no faith at all. I don’t restrict myself to working with those who claim the same spiritual beliefs as me, but I am intentional about creating a space to show up authentically, and that begins with me being candid about my faith. As much as my clients are willing, I explore the connections between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. My clients may come to me focused on their need for physical healing, but their experience is more transformative when they realize they need healing in these other areas as well. When we give our whole being more of what it needs and less of what it doesn’t, by God’s design, transformational healing happens.
What does your One-on-one Coaching look like?
I offer three different programs, ranging from three to 12 months in length. I’m looking to partner with folks who are ready to commit to the process of learning, unlearning, changing, and growing over time. I follow a step-by-step process in my one-on-one coaching, designed to eliminate the guesswork of chasing symptoms and avoid the oversimplification of only considering test results.
1. Identify hidden stressors and dysfunction using functional lab work. I don’t diagnose or treat anything, but work non-specifically, mirroring the way the body heals naturally by addressing multiple organ systems simultaneously.
2. Provide highly personalized recommendations based on the individual’s health history, symptoms, and test results. This involves a heavy dose of education about what needs addressing and how they might do that. Knowledge is power.
3. Coach clients through the process of adopting health-building behaviors. This includes FDN’s DRESS for Health Success® self-care system, which teaches clients the holistic approach of optimizing Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress-reduction, and Supplementation to promote healing naturally.
I work with children and adults, meeting with clients virtually where we work through the steps outlined above, and I teach them about Metabolic Chaos®. When stress and dysfunction in one part of the body cascade into stress and dysfunction in other parts of the body, Metabolic Chaos® is the result. Creating sustainable, life-giving change is important, and I love helping clients get creative about the best ways to do that. I specialize in helping individuals struggling with chronic health problems, ranging from constipation, immune dysfunction, and digestive issues to ADD/ADHD, autism, and Down syndrome.
What different Self Help Programs programs do you offer?
I love teaching, and so from time to time, I host live events to help teach people about holistic and natural health. I offer recordings of these events for people to purchase and experience at their convenience. One of my areas of expertise is understanding the unique biochemistry of individuals with Down syndrome and the power of epigenetics/nutrigenomics to help restore balance to the chaos caused by having an extra chromosome and multiple overexpressed genes. I am also passionate about helping women honor their bodies and understand their hormones from a place of compassion and empowerment, rather than shame and resentment. Currently, my self-help programs center around these topics, but who knows what ideas will be represented as I continue my own journey of learning and empowering others!
Is there anything else about your work that you’d like to share that we haven’t covered?
I’ve felt a calling on my life to be an ambassador of sorts; an ambassador between the realm of science and everyday people who have been told it’s not for them, that they should stop asking questions, and just trust the “experts”, that they aren’t educated enough or don’t have the right credentials to be able to understand their health and the impact of their choices on it. I seek to help people find freedom from fear, understand their divine design, reconnect with their intuition, and step into their God-given authority as choosers and doers on their journey toward optimal health.
To learn more about Alissa and her work, you can visit www.findempoweredhealth.com
