The 100-hour Certification Program

The CCWFN certification program is designed around the Nutritional Exam and an expanded version of The Foundation of Nutritional Therapy (FNT) seminar series. This program focuses on the foundational issues and those root causes that upset body chemistry. In other words we are looking at function not pathology. These programs were developed over the last 16 years to support the practitioner, their staff and their patients with real tools that help make a practice grow. The CCWFN Certification is not just another piece of paper to hang on the wall; it gives you a solid foundation, with a systematic approach using verifiable clinical tools to track your patients.

The Nutritional Exam which is an important part of this program incorporates many simple hands-on tests that help the practitioner better manage his or her patients through quick verifiable results. This program is intended to help you manage your practice in a true wellness model through a comprehensive program of practice management and better understanding of the foundational model.

All the classes and support materials offered in this program were designed to reinforce the issue of function and the body’s need for real, natural food for maximum longevity and health.

Introduction and Overview

The purpose of this program is to help guide the practitioner from a disease base practice to a wellness model.  Relevant issues covered in thisSeminar Series and its supporting courses, include sugar handling, (pancreas, liver, and adrenal gland inter-relationships), digestion, (stomach, small and large intestine) and liver/biliary function. These issues are  directly related to the root cause of many of today’s heath problems.

The core of this program is the FNT course and the Nutritional Exam  which consists of many hands-on tests and workshops.  These tests were extensively used as part of the physical exam taught in most medical schools throughout the 1940s and 1950s.  They offer a quick and easy evaluation that looks at function vs. pathology. Although most of these tests could be run and interpreted with accuracy within five minutes, their use was discontinued in favor of new technology that is many times more expensive and time-consuming.  This methodology lacks the intimacy and personal contact the original standard tests offered to the all-important doctor/patient relationship.

Food, whether liquid or solid, is the source of all nutrients required by the body to perform its many biochemical processes; and, without these required nutrients, the chemical processes are unable to come to fruition.  Since nutritional deficiencies are normally not life threatening at first and take time to manifest themselves, most patients tend to ignore subtle warning signs.  As a result, existing deficiencies may eventually manifest themselves in varying degrees of illness through a pattern of symptoms, depending on the state of the patient’s health.  The practitioner must be able to identify these abnormal patterns, verify the abnormalities through appropriate testing, and improve the patient’s nutritional status, ideally through changes in eating habits, but more likely through whole food concentrated supplements combined with changes in diet and lifestyle.

It is paramount that the practitioner educate the patient about what he/she ought to eat, as well as why.  It is the goal of the CCWFN program to educate health-care practitioners to carry on the work of the early nutritional pioneers, who saw with unerring accuracy the folly of Western man’s destruction of the foods we eat.

Each individual person has a unique biochemical thumbprint.  This thumbprint, however, is similar enough in function to respond to and benefit from certain fundamental nutritional principles.  For example, the body is a self-healing mechanism.  It is capable of healing, repairing, and reconstructing itself when provided with adequate amounts of good water, air and proper food.

However, body processes may become so unbalanced that the standard potency of food is insufficient, or the food available lacks the required nutrients and minerals.  Today’s use of processed foods, genetically engineered foods, and foods grown on depleted soil has greatly reduced the availability of proper foods needed to meet the body’s requirements.  As a result, the use of whole-food concentrates over an adequate amount of time is often necessary to correct the resulting deficiencies, promote healing, and return the body to a state of homeostasis.  Two present day examples of commercially produced foods that lack the nutrients found in their organic counterparts include the tomato and spinach.  One study revealed that commercially produced tomatoes contain 1 mg of iron and 0-5 mg of vitamin C, while organically grown tomatoes have 1,938 mg of Iron and 125-250mg of vitamin C.  Commercially produced spinach contains 49 mg of iron; its organic equivalent contains 1,584mg.

The primary pathways leading to unbalanced body chemistry are: Improper diet/lifestyle, sugar handling (pancreas, liver and gland interrelationships), inadequate digestion (stomach, pancreas, small and large intestines), and liver/biliary congestion.  Take for example, cardiovascular disease.  In most cases it is not the source of a given deficiency but where the principal dysfunction “landed.”  The practitioner’s task is to lead the patient back to health by finding the route his/her body took to arrive at its current condition.

If a patient has a history of ingesting “bad fats,” i.e. hydrogenated oils and trans-saturated fats, digestion may become unbalanced and result in the blockage of the liver and biliary.  As blood attempts to pump through the liver, the heart becomes overworked and blood pressure increases, eventually leading to cardiovascular disease.  In this case, it would be wise to support the heart, but the focus should be on the digestive pathway that led to the cardiovascular dysfunction in the first place.  Increasing digestive function and thinning the bile may accomplish this.  Increased bile and liver function allow the metabolism of vitamins B, C, and E, as well as fatty acids, to support the deficiency and relieve adrenal stress, which is nothing more than supporting the lack of function of other systems.

In the case of potential cardiovascular disease, deficiencies may be determined through the use of digestive palpation exams, postural blood pressure testing, computerized Symptom Survey software, and/or Acoustic CardioGraph tracings, among others.  The overlaying of multiple modalities is crucial to obtaining a clear picture of the source(s) of a patient’s physical imbalances and nutritional deficiencies.

The purpose of these clinical tests in the Nutritional Exam are to confirm not only the patient’s current condition, but also the originating dysfunction.  The various areas covered in these classes and materials include:

Digestion is the key to success in nutritional therapy.  A failure to address digestion is often the cause of protocol failure.  This session will provide you with the ability to swiftly and accurately evaluate patient digestion status and confidently intervene with the appropriate digestion support.

Sugar Handling is an important session because Americans consume an average of 150 lbs. or more of sugar per year. The more you focus on handling sugar problems, the more you will find that it is the way to successful handling of patients of all types.  This session will help you accurately identify, treat, and successfully manage your patients with blood sugar imbalances.

Musculo-Skeletal is a session that will provide you with vital tests and procedures for the nutritional management of your patient’s musculo-skeletal system, including those with inflammation.  Areas covered in this session include essential fatty-acid metabolism, essential fatty-acid therapy, and management of the fibromyalgia patient.  This section also includes popular nutritional programs to positively enhance athletic performance.  Each program addresses a particular athletic activity.

Endocrine and Male/Female Hormone Dysfunction is a very popular session that provides the practitioner with the ability to address hormonal imbalances in a systematic manner, and with confidence.  It also covers nutritional support for common endocrine and female hormonal conditions including nutritional management for the pregnant patient.

Immune/Allergy is the systematic approach to the foundational issues, when applied to the immune/allergy patient, yields consistent successful outcomes.  You will master the tools for a complete and systematic approach to deal with allergic and immune challenges, including the successful management of candidiasis and dysbiosis.

Signs and Symptoms offer insight to a better understanding of the root cause of your patients issues.    Through the Symptom Survey and its 224 questions that make up the questionnaire, you will be able to identify 90% of your patient complaints.  Depending on the course they can run from an in-depth commentary of clinical insights to a discussion on whole foods and how they support certain areas of consideration.

Managing & Marketing Your Nutritional Practice will enhance your management skills and guide you in creating a thriving and profitable nutritional practice.  This session includes a special emphasis on improving patient compliance and on the design of a health maintenance nutritional program.

By the completion of this program the practitioner should have the tools and knowledge to prove the biochemical similarities throughout the population.  The human body responds and benefits from certain fundamental nutritional principles, thus enabling the practitioner to identify with a high degree of certainty those foundational issues and root causes.