About

Hi, I’m Diana, a recovering perfectionist that lived a busy stressful lifestyle trying to meet the demands of family and career to the detriment of my health. My spiritual life was weak and my relationships were superficial or toxic. I had all the ingredients to destroy my health and traditional medicine failed me. After sacrificing my gall bladder, I knew it was time for a different approach. Holistic medicine provided my body the opportunity and resources to heal. I am now driven to share my journey of recovery to elevate, educate, and empower my clients to seek natural alternatives to health challenges. I also encourage my clients to be active participants in their own healthcare. My clients reach out searching for accountability and resources to reach their health goals.

I originally fell in love with the human body during my pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Dance Education. I continued my curiosity as a hobby through my journey obtaining my graduate degree in Business Administration/Marketing and eventually alternative certification to teach in a formal public school classroom setting. Over the course of a decade I taught Biology, AP Environmental Science, Zoology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Medical Terminology. I resigned from the classroom in search for a larger platform to reach more people with my experience and knowledge.

I am the founder and CEO of Optimally You and own Revolution Health and Wellness and Against the Grain Podcast with my husband, Dr. Chad Edwards. We utilize these platforms to deliver a functional and integrative approach for patients and clients while educating and empowering them to continue to seek holistic approaches to their health.

My formal functional medicine health coaching training was obtained through the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy which is designed and delivered in collaboration with The Institute for Functional Medicine. My education was provided by functional medicine pioneers such as Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. David Haase, Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum, Dr. Deanna Minich, and Dr. Margarita Tarragona. I also reinforce my foundational training with annual attendance to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine World Congress.

I have been passionate about health and wellness through nutrition and lifestyle changes since my own health crisis in 2011. Headaches, chronic fatigue, bloat, rashes, excess mucous, depression, anxiety, fuzzy mouth and tongue, joint aches, skin aches, acne, irritability, halitosis, continual dental issues, weight gain, brain fog, gall bladder symptoms, difficulty taking a deep breath, poor hunger signals, binge eating, hair loss, and rapid vision changes are just a few of the symptoms that I researched and ALL concluded a connection to my gut.

I began a nutritional overhaul with a personalized 3 week elimination diet removing all inflammatory foods and continued through the 5R Gut protocol. I lost 30 pounds and ALL my symptoms while gaining a vibrant, healthy, optimal life! I am 8 years beyond that revelation and continuing my journey and research to help others experience a better quality of life. As a recovering perfectionist, I am able to help clients practice grace and forgiveness as they begin the process of personalizing their lifestyle and nutrition choices.

After experiencing my own success through nutrition and lifestyle change, I began focusing on my family. Converting my pantry to clean, anti-inflammatory options, exchanging hygiene and cleaning products for a chemical free home, and personalized supplementation has allowed one child to ditch his ADHD medicine, one no longer experiences asthma or allergy issues and has fully recovered from a TBI, teenage acne is under control, and diagnosed anxiety has become virtually non-existent. My family is thriving and learning sustainable practices to manage their own health.

My passion to conquer chronic disease through lifestyle change has forever empowered my clients to be advocates for their own health in an ever changing medical terrain influenced by big pharmaceutical companies and insurance giants. My clients are successfully ditching ADD/ADHD, depression, anxiety, hypertension, and blood sugar medications by altering nutrition, stress management skills, and better sleep practices. I have helped clients conquer and manage chronic diseases through facilitating lifestyle changes that are co-created to fit their existing routines and resources.

My clients love how their improved agility and energy levels allow them the opportunities to enjoy adventures later in their lives. I am a meal plan expert helping my clients optimize their health results one meal at a time based on their personal nutritional needs. Along with meal planning, I am a champion for self-care! My clients have reported experiencing lower anxiety and more joy in their personal, professional, and spiritual lives based on our co-created plans to manage stress and invest in themselves. I have had the privilege to celebrate weight loss victories, improved self-esteem, conquered health goals, bad habit permanent dismissals, lab work improvements, chronic disease remissions, and discovered self-worth!

I am the motivation mogul you need to connect your inner desires with results. Through guided exploration and positive psychology my clients discover their WHY to maintain their lifestyle changes when faced with challenges. I help clients identify obstacles and develop skills and strategies to overcome the identified challenges through mindfulness. My sessions are organized to honor my clients as the experts in their own lives which allows for personalization based on each client’s personal WHY.

My training and certification through Functional Medicine Coaching Academy provides the unique ability to facilitate the implementation of physician recommendations common to integrative medicine based on lab values. My sessions help clients become and remain compliant through ongoing education and communication. My clients are crushing their goals and shifting their lab values through our co-created plans to apply the physician guided changes.

I believe lasting change is based on bio-individuality. Everyone is unique and requires a customized approach to their achievement of optimal health. This creation of a personal lifestyle and nutrition plan is tailored to the individuals current lifestyle, stress level, lab values, nutritional requirements, palate preference, culinary capabilities, financial commitment, social support system, or pre-existing health conditions.

I practice a holistic approach to health and wellness. I work with each client to understand how each area of their lives are connected. I support my clients in their journeys to design personal plans for lifestyle factors of the functional medicine matrix. Sleep/Relaxation, Exercise/Movement, Nutrition/Hydration, Stress Resilience, Relationships/Networks all impact quality of life and the ability to optimize health outcomes. Creating balance within and between these areas of life provides lasting results. Many of my clients are celebrating independence from sleep medications as we tailor evening routines that support better sleep quality. They are waking up rested and the new energy is being invested in co-created exercise programs that achieve their desired results. Better sleep and more movement supports stress resilience in other areas of their lives.

What is a Functional Medicine Health Coach?

Coaching sessions allow you the opportunity to explore your goals to reach optimal health while focusing on the whole self. At Optimally You, your coach works in tandem with your health care provider and collaborates with you to create a personalized plan to fit your specific needs on your health journey based on lab values and provider recommendations. A functional medicine coach also spends time exploring the areas you declare most important while encouraging you to discover a course of action for your topic of focus. The time spent with your coach gains you access to a variety of resource and education to help reinforce the plan you co-create during your sessions.

Functional medicine health coaching helps clients reboot their health through personalized motivation. Clients can experience their full potential by addressing uniquely designed goals to move from surviving to thriving. Coaching packages create moments to construct a comprehensive journey to vibrant health. Exposure to functional medicine health coaching sessions will provide education necessary for sustaining the desired established goals. Client empowerment through the coaching process is a priority for maintainable lifestyle or nutritional modifications.

Your Health and Wellness Coach partners with you seeking self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with your values, which promote health and wellness and , thereby, enhance well-being. In the course of your work the health and wellness coach displays unconditional positive regard for you and a belief in your capacity for change. The coach honors that you are the expert in your own life while ensuring that all interactions are respectful and non-judgmental.

Coaching sessions help you address barriers to health improvements, implement physician recommended lifestyle changes, engage you in your own health care plan, help identify obstacles to change and create strategies for forward movement, helps facilitate behavior change in a structured, supportive partnership between you and your coach. Functional medicine health coaches are the wellness authority in combatting chronic illness and disease through customizable implementation of minor adjustments to stimulate major change in health outcomes for the client.

As a functional medicine health coach, focus will be applied to helping the patient to understand how functional medicine differs from traditional medicine by finding the root cause of the disease instead of matching a pill to the ill. Functional medicine understands bio individuality and builds a health plan based on your lifestyle, chemistry, needs, and labs to optimize your wellness. The coach provides additional support for compliancy and integration of new health regimens with the same approach…unique to the individual and their existing lifestyle.

The use of positive psychology during sessions helps to promote your strengths in the achievement process of health goals. The positive psychology concept is founded on the basic principle that the human race desires to live meaningful and fulfilled lives, foster their positive strengths to enhance their lives, and magnify their experiences of love, work, and play. The idea is that we innately seek joy in life and base our decisions on achieving joyful outcomes. This idea allows the client to make changes to maintain a course in life that increase the moments and feelings of happiness. Optimal health and wellness fosters happiness and positive outcomes in life so daily healthy decisions should be made. A functional medicine health coach facilitates the discovery of positive strengths in the client to make the journey to health and wellness more achievable and sustainable.

A functional medicine health coach spends time with the client focusing on mind-body medicine as well. Mind-body medicine is a field of study recognizing the connection between the mind, the brain, the body as a whole, and behaviors. The notion of this field of study believes emotions, behaviors, mental state, spiritual life, and social life impact our physical health. For example, anxiety is perceived as a mental state but will manifest with physical symptoms like rapid and irregular heartbeats, shortness of breath, nausea, and trembling. Building a plan to address the state of mind, harness emotions, create healthy social support systems, and raise spirituality will increase the success of physical health.

Functional nutrition is a foundational principle of functional medicine and encouraged by a functional medicine health coach. Nutrition from a functional approach considers many areas of your life such as diet, health, and overall lifestyle when designing personal recommendations. Examining the interrelations of every part of the body helps to understand the best approach to restore physiological function and imbalances through food and lifestyle management. In order to maximize the impact of functional nutrition on health, the coach and client will co-create a nutrition plan respecting the client’s unique nutritional requirements as well as the symptoms being experienced.

Coaching sessions create opportunities for client discoveries of connection between multiple areas of their lives. Exploration of healthy relationships allows the client to acknowledge their support system and avoid potential challenges or sabotage of their health plan. Past successes or obstacles are also investigated to bring awareness to patterns and behavior to strengthen the resolve of the client and increase the odds of a positive outcome for the client.

Balance is key! Sessions are intentionally focused on encouraging foundational transformation to honor balance through seasons of transition while implementing lifestyle changes. Working with a functional medicine health coach fosters a relationship and environment for the client to fully surrender preconceived or projected expectations of self and fully step into alignment with true self. This alignment helps strengthen the adoption of change and compliancy. Recognizing healthy boundaries of impact guides the session in the development of goals. For example, if proper customized nutrition cannot be completely committed to by the client then the goals focus on bolstering other areas so the nutritional impact on health is minimized.

Working with a functional medicine health coach provides access to expert counsel in areas such as:

  • ACHIEVING OPTIMAL WEIGHT
  • REDUCE FOOD CRAVINGS
  • ESTABLISH RESTFUL SLEEP PATTERNS
  • MAXIMIZE ENERGY
  • CUSTOMIZE NUTRITION
  • STRESS RESILIENCE
  • HYDRATION
  • HABIT REFORMATION
  • PERSONALIZED MOVEMENT PLAN
  • SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
  • BALANCE
  • TOTAL TOXIC LOAD
  • TIME MANAGEMENT