How we feel is on us.
Are you suffering from digestive or memory issues? Is your brain or entire body giving you signals that are now impossible to ignore? My name is Cecilia, I am a Functional Nutrition Counselor and a Board Certified Health Coach. I can help you find out your healing opportunities.
Pain attention.
All my life, I believed that we were born with a certain genetic blueprint that determined the kind of disease we would ‘inevitably’ get. In reality, genes are only telling us if we have a predisposition to a disease, but they don’t guarantee it. They’re not telling us who we are, only who we might be. They’re like light switches that we can turn on or off. How do we do that? With food and our daily lifestyle choices. Think of a 3-piece puzzle; one = our genetic makeup, two = the state of our gut, and three = our level of inflammation. By changing the last two, we have the power to ‘hack’ the first one.
How we feel is on us. No. More. Fear.
Once I learned that we have power over our genes’ expression, I felt responsible for my health. I realized that If I didn’t take action, I was doing an injustice to my body, my family and my community. I started to love the foods that love me back. We don’t ‘catch’ an autoimmune disease or a chronic condition overnight, like we catch a cold. These types of diseases happen over years, decades even.
My mom was vibrant, courageous, spiritual, a freethinker, a very hard worker, a single Mom and everyone loved her. She was a psychoanalyst and had a thriving practice in Paris. Mom developed Alzheimer’s disease. On her side of the family, there’s a history of dementia, stroke, brain tumor and depression. I am already aware of what my ‘weak link’ may be and I owe it to myself to do whatever I can to avoid such devastating degenerative processes. My biggest hope is that you will do the same.
Growing up in Paris in the 70’s - in a family of artists, healers and educators- I shared my time between my Mom’s and grandparents' apartments. My grandma, Yvonne Dulac, was a nurse, and loved all things spiritual. Her passion as a young woman was acting.
She practiced energy healing and used homeopathic and herbal treatments to heal us. One day, I heard her say to our next door neighbor, “to lower your cholesterol, try grapefruit for breakfast!” I felt my eyes go wide open and thought “what???, you can change your health with food?!?”. Little 6 year old me was already blown away by that.
As Dr. Deanna Minich points out in her book, “The Complete Handbook of Quantum Healing”, “Throughout our lifetimes, we ingest several hundred thousand pounds of food and drink. It would be unreasonable to think that our relationship with food and eating doesn’t impact our health”.
Too many of us are unaware of the power we have over our own well-being. Too many out there don’t believe they can take action and become an active participant in their own recovery. People don’t realize the impact of their choices, and that with the right foods and lifestyle, they can turn things around. This perspective is new to a lot of us, it goes against the grain of what we’re used to. And sadly, many continue to faithfully follow recommendations that simply do not work.
It’s an assault to their beliefs, an assault to their identity.
Have you noticed that once we step into a doctor’s office, we stop asking questions? We rely on the medical ‘authorities’ to know what’s best for us, even if they don’t know the first thing about us. We don’t participate in our own healing.
In the 21st century, things are different.
They have to be, because the way things are currently is not sustainable. Neither humanely, nor financially. Patients have been patient enough and we need a new system. Functional Medicine IS the medicine of the 21st century; it considers the person as a whole, it understands how and why illness occurs by addressing the root causes with a natural and holistic approach.
Patients have been patient enough and we need a new system.
Functional Nutrition is filling the gap between a practitioner and a patient, or client. It’s a holistic, individualized and promising approach that focuses on the person’s terrain, our inner ecosystem, our first line of defense, our gut health. We explore how the gut communicates with everything else in the body. Our organs work synergistically, they don’t exist in a vacuum.
Functional Nutrition is an exercise in bringing awareness to what’s going on in our body, and reframing beliefs about ourselves and the current model for healing. It’s less of a protocol and more of a paradigm shift, and it understands the importance of bio individuality - what may work for you may not for someone else. With this methodology, we can prevent, reverse, manage a condition or prepare to even receive a treatment.
“In the current structure, medical training becomes more about understanding how medication works, surgery and modern technology. There is a void that needs to be filled within the current model. Let’s bring back the art and humanity in modern medicine“- Dr Venu Julapalli.
Acute care is amazing, there is no downplaying this fact. For many surgeons, not a week goes by without them saving lives. But when it comes to chronic and autoimmune diseases, our current healthcare (should it be called disease care?) is not up to speed, it needs to be updated. Infectious diseases have been brought under control thanks to modern medicine, improved hospital conditions have reduced the number of deaths at birth. This mostly explains why our life expectancy is higher than ever. We may live longer, but we don’t live better. Now, I am not asking you to join a camp (the functional camp) and turn your back to the other (the allopathic camp). We can all work in tandem, on your behalf while you remain the conductor. It’s about you teaming up with your body and the practitioners who are here to help - the MD’s, Coaches, FX Nutrition counselor, Functional and integrative doctors.
Functional Nutrition is filling the gap between a practitioner and a patient, or client. It’s a holistic, individualized and promising approach that focuses on the person’s terrain.
As a child, and thanks to my uncle -a multidisciplinary artist- I discovered the art of flamenco. Following my family’s artistic path, I went off to Spain, learned flamenco dance and toured the world sharing the stage with amazing artists for 15 years. Then, I moved to New York City to become a hairstylist working in fashion and with A-list Hollywood celebrities for two decades.
“To create” is to make things that didn’t exist before. I am a creator and an innovator. I’ve spent decades creating steps, movements, choreographies, wigs and hairstyles. Now, I am helping you design the best version of yourself. Together we create health using the Functional Nutrition methodology.
Self care is the new healthcare. I am an advocate for what Andrea Nakayama calls - at the Functional Nutrition Alliance - ‘non-violent communication with self’. This means teaming up with your body, tuning in, listening in to what it’s telling you; engaging in self-care, movement, meditation, consuming nutritious (and delicious!) foods - as opposed to empty calories type foods - good quality sleep, your networks, relationships and your mindset. Self care is about all the things that nourish you.
Self care is the new healthcare
I am your guide and your ally and I can help you face the right side of the dis-ease/ wellness continuum. I work within my scope of practice. That scope is not to diagnose, prescribe or treat. Instead, I help you become an expert in your own health using Functional Medicine principles.
Are you ready to activate your health?
Cecilia Romero, CFNC, FMCHC, NBC-HWC
Cecilia has helped me to develop good habits that all added up to significant improvement in my wellbeing. I have been eating better, resting better, feeling more confident to exercise. Overall, I was able to set achievable goals, realistic plans, and effective actions. I am very excited about looking after myself again, which I have wished for for years.
- Aileen C.
Since working with Cecilia I have lost 30 lbs, I sleep better, I drink more water, I have more mindfulness, I eat healthier, and I feel more light and more in control of what I can do for my body, mind, spirit, health and wellness. She has led the way to show me what I can do instead of focusing on what I can not do, each step she has helped guide me on my road to feeling well and better.
- Sarah S.
“Everything is connected. We are all unique. All things matter. “ - Andrea Nakayama, Functional Medicine Nutritionist.