Restore Health Now

612-308-7353

• You're overwhelmed, exhausted, depleted and need a guide to lead you on your hero's journey
• You're stuck and confused about how to achieve optimal health and find symptom resolution
• You're looking for guidance on how to approach your health care team so you can make desired changes
• You need help building a bridge to achieving your goals or dreams
• You're ready to become empowered to be your own health advocate
• You're ready to take responsibility for your own health by making sustainable choices that improve your quality of life and allow you to achieve your dreams

My name is Laurie Vork.  I'm a functional nutrition health coach dedicated to helping my clients uncover the road blocks that are preventing them from achieving their desired health goals.  My education and personal experience overcoming health issues the past several years equips me to take a functional nutrition approach to guiding you on your journey.  That means seeing you as the whole, unique person you are, not just as a set of symptoms or a diagnosis.

As a functional nutrition health coach, I search for clues in all areas of your life: physical, lifestyle, spiritual, emotional and social. Together we'll work to uncover why you're experiencing your symptoms and explore how to best heal your unique underlying root causes rather than merely trying to mask them. What's going on inside your body that's preventing it from achieving it's natural state of health?

The body has an amazing capacity for self healing if provided with the proper building blocks and removal of causes that prevent it from returning to optimal health.  This is where simple (not necessarily easy) nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, relaxation, sleep and other choices will be explored until we find the right mix for you. Of course not all conditions are reversible, but many can be improved by implementing the strategies I teach you.

Education is key in this process. You'll become more adept at "listening" to what's going on inside your body so we can uncover what may be generating your symptoms or preventing you from achieving desired symptom relief.  You may be delighted to find that when true healing starts to take place in one area of your body, a cascade of positive changes may reduce symptoms in other areas as well.

Symptom relief often happens rapidly when changes are made, but for some people it may take some time.  Healing is unique for every person.  Your situation is dependent on how long you've been ill and  how quickly and thoroughly you can implement suggested modifications. Symptoms are an indication that something is no longer functioning optimally in your body; a cry for help from the body.  I'll teach you how to listen to your body's signals so you can make course corrections and start feeling better sooner.

Patience and perseverance will generate great rewards. As you become empowered, you'll find that you're a better advocate for yourself when working with other health care providers. Too often we relegate our health outcomes to our doctors or other providers. That's unfair to them, especially when we have total control over what we eat, how we move, how we sleep, if our social connections are strong, etc.  It's their job to guide us and make recommendations that promote healing, but it's our job to take responsibility to live a life that promotes our desired health outcomes.

We've probably all grown up with the idea that it's the doctor's job to make us better.  In truth, your body is its own best healer and your doctor and other trusted members of your team should be valuable resources that encourage healing to take place. For you, it may take a team approach in order to get well.  This is where I can help you bridge the gap between what your health provider recommends and how you are best able to implement or make those changes.

Why am I so passionate about helping you?  Because I've been in your shoes and my journey has taken me down many winding roads.  I've been there and done that.  My passion is to help shorten your recovery time by applying what I've learned through education and personal experience.  Your situation may not be as complex as mine, but my complexities uniquely qualify me to help you on your own journey; I've been there.

I've suffered with a myriad of symptoms most of my life.  As a young child I had frequent throat and ear infections which led to having my tonsils radiated to shrink them.  I'm sure I was on several courses of antibiotics prior to that treatment.  Around the age of 10 I was diagnosed with pretty severe asthma.  I had frequent asthma attacks which led to many ER visits, was hospitalized, was on several meds and inhalers, and forced to spend many hours alone in my room with an air purifier running when lawns were being mowed or when the wind blew from certain directions.  My prayers for healing seemed to go unanswered.

As a teen I was overweight, had trouble exercising because of the asthma and had lots of zits on my arms and legs.  My skin problems prevented me from wearing sleeveless tops because I was so embarrassed by all the blemishes.  Photos seemed to reflect that I wasn't a very happy child.  Perhaps I just wasn't feeling good.

I think I've always had undiagnosed food sensitivities (dairy and gluten for sure) and many environmental triggers like animal allergies, dust, mold, cigarette smoke, tree pollen, grasses, etc.  Even seeing a couple of allergists growing up and into adulthood didn't seem to have much impact on symptom relief, although I was on many allergy meds and had many years of allergy shots in childhood and adulthood.  I had no idea at the time that all the asthma meds & antibiotics over the years contributed to depleting my gut of the healthy inner eco system that is required to keep us healthy.

Perhaps some of the unhappiness was due to the drugs I was on for asthma or feeling so different from everyone else.  It was during this time that I became interested in becoming a doctor, probably in an effort to try to heal my own condition.  I was always interested in watching the medical dramas of the day like, Marcus Welby, MD, Medical Center, ER, etc.  As I look back at this time, I realize I was interested in the stories these patients presented with and the care of the doctors as they tried to figure out how to help each patient.   Seeing the engagement these doctors had with their patients, and hearing the patient's story, is what I was drawn to.

Fast forward many years and I realize that I'm now fulfilling a childhood dream of helping others in my role as a functional nutrition health coach.  I'm incorporating some of my love of medicine by applying functional principals; the intersection where food meets physiology.  By understanding how food meets your unique physiology I can now mesh my dreams of being in the medical field with my desire to build a bridge to my client's story through my education, compassion and empathy.

Throughout my adult life, I suffered many sinus, throat, bronchitis and ear infections.  I continued to struggle with asthma, but not to the same degree as in childhood.  I struggled with the pain of unexplained infertility.  Weight issues were a continual problem.  I developed sleep apnea, but wasn't diagnosed until many years later when others started complaining about my snoring.  My hair was starting to thin and I thought this might be something hereditary - I had a grandma with thin hair.  I also developed acid reflux and was on antacids for many years.  Constipation was an issue.  And I developed carpal tunnel syndrome.  I discovered much later that all of these symptoms were likely manifestations of undiagnosed Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Before the bottom fell out, I started seeing a chiropractor to find help with alleviating the carpel tunnel pain.   The only medical solution I was given for this was wrist braces, which helped, but they were cumbersome.  I was told that surgery down the road was likely the only solution.  I wasn't happy with that option so I was hoping chiropractic care would prevent that eventuality.

After working with him for awhile, I was eventually able to stop wearing the braces.  I also noticed that when he made adjustments on my back, I often felt like more air could fill my lungs and I could breath much deeper.  Eventually I was able to discontinue all of my asthma meds, both pills and inhalers.  He also encouraged me to get off the reflux drugs and I was able to wean myself off of them after a short period of time.

I was likely able to discontinue these medications through the combination of adjustments along with removing gluten and dairy from my diet.  I explored the diet modifications after taking a 6 week nutrition class where I learned about the connection between food and common disease states.  The changes weren't immediate for me, but I did notice after being off gluten and dairy for about 6 months, that things were starting to improve in a couple areas of my life.  Couple that with the adjustments and I was starting to see improvements in my health.

Another benefit of changing my diet was fairly effortless weight loss of about 60 pounds.  I had always eaten pretty well, but I also enjoyed fast foods, processed foods, reduced fat frozen foods  for lunch, and I had a tremendous sweet tooth.  By changing to a more whole food diet, I  started to notice a shift in food cravings.  I no longer craved sugar like I had in the past.

Things finally came to a head in 2008 when I started having strange symptoms.  I was having trouble sleeping due to heart palpitations, which led to mild anxiety because I couldn't sleep.  I had a pretty severe infection that may have contributed to a thyroid storm that seemed to  escalate my problems.

My thyroid lab tests were becoming abnormal and after trying some different medication approaches, my PCP referred me to an endocrinologist.  The discomfort of staying on Synthroid was too much.  I took myself off to see if that improved my palpitations and sleeplessness.  The symptoms seemed to improve, but the lab tests continued to go downhill.

During this time I was a small business store owner.  I worked long hours, had long commutes, tried to maintain my usual household commitments and attempted to have a shred of a social life.  I wasn't getting much sleep during these early years of the business, so that contributed to my desire to find a way to sleep the few hours that I could.

I was exhausted and started to develop symptoms of slow thinking, it felt like my brain was trying to work in quicksand.  I had brain fog, and at times I was having trouble thinking of even simple words.  It was all so subtle I had no idea what was going on and couldn't make the connections.  It affected my ability to be effective at work with my partner, employees and customers.  It was difficult to be an effective business leader and the hardest part was not knowing what was going on or how my condition was impacting what I was doing.

After many tests and unsuccessful Synthoid dosing options, the endocrinologist just wanted me to continue on the Synthroid.  He kept telling me I needed to be on it, but the heart palpitations and sleeplessness continued.  After several good faith attempts to do what I was asked to do, I stopped taking it.   My body was in overwhelm.  At this point, he became frustrated and wanted to refer me elsewhere because he didn't know what else to do.

I didn't know where to turn.  Since one of my sister's is a nurse, so I asked her if she knew of any good endocrinologists.  She said the one I was seeing was good, so that was a dead end.  However, she continued to search and came upon a local doc who was doing a lot of work with thyroid patients.  He turned out to be a functional medicine doc, thus my continued journey into exploring "alternative medicine".

Through his leadership and partnership with a functionally minded allergist, they started exploring the possibility of a Hashimoto's diagnosis.  I started working on all my food and environmental allergies though an elimination diet and allergy drops, but was still unable to get my thyroid lab tests in line.  I'd tried iodine (before the Hashi's diagnosis) and some natural thyroid meds, but I continued to have the same reactions with every attempt.

They suggested trying to find another endocrinologist to see if we could make more progress.  So, I tried two other highly recommended docs.   Neither could come up with anything new and continued to recommend Synthroid.  I tried to follow their protocols again, but continued to have the same reactions.  At this point, neither was interested in working with me if I couldn't follow their protocols.  I later discovered that I was  likely reacting to inactive ingredients, fillers or dyes in the Synthroid.  I was also likely reacting to the natural thyroid hormones I tried due to a pork sensitivity.

So, with the knowledge of my functional doc, I've been off all thyroid meds since 2008 and we've been working on diet, supplementation and lifestyle modifications to improve my condition.  Even though my lab reports are always outside of normal, I feel so much better than I used to.  My doctor is treating ME, rather than the lab results, and I continue to make progress. I'm now focusing on clearing toxins from my body which may be one of my last root causes to deal with.  Time will tell.

To be clear, I'm not advocating or suggesting that everyone remove themselves from taking thyroid hormone replacement.  It's often necessary and quite effective for many patients, but as we are all unique, each person needs to find a solution that works for them.  Don't be afraid to find support from someone who is willing to work with your uniqueness.  I also don't diagnose or treat clients, but I do educate you and help you understand how your body works in an effort to guide you to make different choices that may help you better achieve your health goals.

Many root causes have been uncovered during my journey, so I'm well versed in helping you uncover yours.  Time and trying different healing modalities are bringing about improvements.  I feel good in spite of sub par lab reports and I continue to press forward.  My TSH was hideously high a few years ago, but has improved dramatically over the years with the interventions I've been using.

I've also implemented many of the protocols I've learned in school.  I've been addressing sleep, adrenal health, stress and blood sugar control.  I still continue to do the work and have not yet arrived.  I still battle weight issues, which is likely due to some thyroid imbalances and my toxin burden.  Yet, I press on.  It's a life long journey.

It's been a long, winding journey for me.  I've chased down and made corrections to many "root causes" that have contributed to my health struggles.  I've slowly been able to improve my gut health, find a diet that works best for my body and make some necessary exercise, sleep and lifestyle modifications that have greatly improved the state of my health.

My care team includes a functional DO, functional allergist, chiropractor, massage therapist, acupuncturist and others.  They've all been valuable resources on my healing journey. In addition to help and education from my team, I've also spent many hours researching and using myself as a guinea pig to hack what works best for my body.

Making a career change that will better serve my health goals and future plans was part of my healing journey.  That's when I discovered a functional nutrition approach to health coaching. This elevated my understanding of how all the body systems intertwine and impact the healing process.

Knowledge gained provides the tools I implement when building a healing program for each client's journey. It's taken me a long time and a lot of money to figure things out.  My goal is to help you speed up your healing journey so you can enjoy greater health and vitality much quicker.

So, what are you waiting for?  All you have to lose is years of suffering and frustration.  You CAN live an abundant life.  The choices you make today will forever change your future.  Improvements in your health can happen with every forkful.  You can  overcome your endless fatigue, ditch the brain fog, lose the weight, renew your energy and reclaim your life.

Let's find out what's holding you back!  Call me at 612-308-7353 to schedule your free 30 minute discovery session.