Functional Root

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Functional Root Doctor of Holistic Health (BCDHH)
Naturopath & Homeopath (BCN & BCHP)

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10/16/2026

Eleuthero, sometimes called Siberian ginseng, is traditionally used to support the body's capacity to handle repeated stress over time

10/15/2026

Chasing individual symptoms one at a time rarely gets to what's actually producing them.

MYTH: If you don't feel stressed, your cortisol must be fine.FACT: How stressed you feel and what your cortisol is doing...
10/15/2026

MYTH: If you don't feel stressed, your cortisol must be fine.

FACT: How stressed you feel and what your cortisol is doing don't always tell the same story.

Cortisol follows a natural daily rhythm, typically rising toward morning and declining throughout the day. That rhythm can be influenced by sleep, illness, medications, chronic stress, and other physiological factors.

And here's the important distinction: you don't have to feel anxious or overwhelmed for cortisol regulation to deserve attention.

Changes in sleep, energy, and metabolic health can sometimes occur alongside altered cortisol patterns, although those symptoms alone cannot tell us whether cortisol is high, low, or following an unusual rhythm.

This is why telling someone to simply “manage stress better” may not answer the underlying question.

When cortisol assessment is appropriate, the type and timing of testing matter. Multiple measurements across the day can provide information about its daily rhythm, while other testing approaches answer different questions.

Feeling calm is valuable. But it isn't a laboratory measurement of your stress physiology.

Have you ever gone through a demanding period without feeling particularly stressed, only to notice changes in your sleep or energy later?

Yelena Tselenchuk, BCDHH, BCN, BCHP

Digestion is a resource-heavy process, and your body treats it as optional the instant it senses pressure. Blood flow sh...
10/14/2026

Digestion is a resource-heavy process, and your body treats it as optional the instant it senses pressure.

Blood flow shifts toward muscles and alertness instead, useful if you're actually in danger, not useful at all if you're eating lunch at your desk between meetings.

What this can look like:

→ Bloating or discomfort after meals eaten during a stressful stretch, even from food that normally sits fine

→ Slower digestion generally during a demanding week

→ Appetite that disappears under pressure, or spikes toward something fast and easy instead

This doesn't mean something is wrong with your digestion itself. It means your body made a call about where blood flow mattered more in that moment.

A few slow breaths before eating, in for four, out for six, signals your body that it's safe to redirect blood flow back toward digestion. Small, and it works in the moment.

Have you noticed your digestion changing during a stressful week?

The exact same workout can build strength in one woman and leave another completely depleted.And it isn't necessarily ab...
10/13/2026

The exact same workout can build strength in one woman and leave another completely depleted.

And it isn't necessarily about fitness level or how hard she's willing to work.

HIIT, heavy lifting, and intense cardio are deliberate physical stressors. That's part of what makes them effective. Your body responds to the challenge, recovers, and gradually adapts.

But what happens when recovery is already falling behind?

Poor sleep, ongoing stress, inadequate nutrition, and hormonal changes can all affect how well your body responds to additional demands.

Cortisol plays an important role here. It helps regulate energy availability and your response to stress, but its activity is influenced by what's happening throughout the day, not just during your workout.

The same principle applies to two wellness practices gaining popularity: fasting and cold plunges.

Both introduce physiological stress. And just because something is considered healthy doesn't mean more of it, or doing it more intensely, will automatically produce better results.

Here's something worth paying attention to:

After a demanding workout, fasting period, or cold plunge, do you feel clear, steady, and able to recover? Or do you end up wired, foggy, unusually exhausted, or crashing a few hours later?

Those responses are useful clues. They don't diagnose a cortisol imbalance, but they can help identify when your current routine needs a closer look.

This is why I consider cortisol rhythm alongside sleep, nutrition, hormonal patterns, metabolic health, and daily demands. When appropriate, testing cortisol at multiple points throughout the day can provide additional information, but the results need to be interpreted in context.

The goal isn't to see how much stress your body can tolerate. It's to find the level of challenge it can actually recover from and adapt to.

Have you ever tried a popular wellness practice that was supposed to make you feel better but ended up leaving you more depleted?

Yelena Tselenchuk, BCDHH, BCN, BCHP

Your brain can want a particular food even when your stomach isn't asking for another meal.Have you noticed that certain...
10/13/2026

Your brain can want a particular food even when your stomach isn't asking for another meal.

Have you noticed that certain foods become much more appealing during demanding weeks?

There's an interesting connection between stress physiology, cortisol, appetite signals, and the brain's reward system.

And it goes beyond simply feeling hungry.

What's particularly interesting is that changes in glucose regulation and eating patterns can contribute to similar experiences, making it difficult to understand what's influencing a craving from the feeling alone.

I explored the research, the physiological mechanisms involved, the clues worth paying attention to, and what may help in my latest article.

Read the full article below

Yelena Tselenchuk, BCDHH, BCN, BCHP

Cortisol has a job most people don't associate with stress at all: it can contribute to breaking down muscle for fuel.On...
10/12/2026

Cortisol has a job most people don't associate with stress at all: it can contribute to breaking down muscle for fuel.

One of cortisol's functions is helping maintain blood glucose during periods of increased demand. It can promote the breakdown of muscle protein, providing amino acids your liver can use to produce glucose.

Short term, this is a normal survival mechanism.

But when cortisol exposure remains excessively elevated over time, muscle protein breakdown can increase, making it harder to preserve muscle mass.

And that's an important distinction from the familiar stress-and-belly-fat conversation.

Chronic stress can also affect sleep, recovery, appetite, and how well your body adapts to exercise. These factors can compound one another, particularly during hormonal transitions.

This is one reason I pay attention to stress physiology when evaluating women who are struggling to build muscle, maintain strength, or improve body composition.

And here's where individualized assessment matters.

Cortisol follows a daily rhythm. Its level naturally changes from morning to evening, so understanding the timing, testing method, symptoms, and broader hormonal and metabolic picture is far more useful than looking at one isolated number.

Because supporting muscle isn't only about what you're doing during your workout. What happens between workouts matters, too.

If you're noticing changes in muscle, strength, or body composition that don't seem to make sense, feel free to reach out. I'd be happy to help you explore what deserves a closer look.

Yelena Tselenchuk, BCDHH, BCN, BCHP

10/12/2026

Your resting heart rate before getting out of bed is a simple clue to overnight recovery. Even a few beats above your usual baseline can signal increased stress before you feel it.

10/11/2026

Parsley is more than a garnish. It provides vitamin C and apigenin, a plant flavonoid with antioxidant and liver-supportive properties. A small addition that adds more nutritional value than most people realize.

10/10/2026

Milk thistle contains silymarin, a compound studied for supporting liver cell health and protecting against oxidative stress. It's one of the more researched herbs for liver support, available as tea, capsule, or tincture.

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Cleveland, OH

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Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm

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+12162824520

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