Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Benford.
Hi Andrea, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started my nursing career working in the hospital shortly after graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing. I worked seven years on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) taking care of the sickest patients. It was my work in the ICU that opened my eyes to the complexity of chronic disease. I was seeing that most of the chronic conditions patients were diagnosed with and lead them to my care could have been prevented. I wanted to switch my focus from Acute Care to the preventable side of medicine, and that was when I made my decision to go back to attain a Master’s of Science in Nursing as a Nurse Practitioner from UAB. Upon graduation, I started working in Urgent Care. It was working in Urgent Care that made me think there has got to be a better way to help patients get to the root cause of their symptoms. I prescribe medication that may provide rapid relief but will not help in the long-term as symptoms come back because the root cause of there illness is not being addressed.
Root cause of symptoms not being addressed is something I can personally relate to. In my junior year of undergraduate nursing, I became very sick. Seemingly out of the blue, I developed severe abdominal cramps and vomiting for days. I ended up being hospitalized on a Morphine PCA (this medication is self-administered via a pump the patient can control for pain) and having several colonoscopies that did not reveal the cause of my extreme abdominal pain. The diagnosis they settle on was Irritable Bowel Syndrome flare-up. I had no idea during that time that IBS could cause such extreme complications. I wanted to know how to prevent it from happening again, but I did not receive much guidance and no one mentioned nutrition to me at all. It was through that experience that I learned about Functional Medicine (FM) and I started to heal my gut and decrease my stress levels using FM principals. It took a couple of years to get back on track, but I have never had an “IBS Flare-Up” again. At that time, I did not know there were FM programs I could attend, so I went back to get my Master’s of Science in Nursing.
Fast-Forward, after working four years as a Nurse Practitioner, my passion for wanting to dig deeper and find out the root cause of patient’s symptoms burned brighter than ever. I decided to research programs to obtain my certification in Functional Medicine. I graduate next month with my certification as a Functional Medicine Health Coach and I am currently in attendance at the School of Applied Functional Medicine to became a Functional Medicine Practitioner.
Currently, I have a virtual health coaching practice with the capability to see patients from around the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not always been smooth. It was a struggle in the beginning to divide my time between an intense one year long coaching program while also working full-time. However, my passion for helping my clients achieve whole-body wellness was worth the long hours. Additionally, I have been blessed with supportive family and friends who continue to help me along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I help women break free of gut issues such as bloating, fatigue, anxiety, stubborn weight loss, and hormonal imbalances causing them to have a decreased quality of life. I help women uncover the cause of their symptoms and correct them so they can spend time doing the things they love and enjoy.
My personalized approach to whole-body healing is what sets me apart. My approach is tailored to fit my client’s lifestyle.
In my six months transformational program, we will work on gut restoration, hormone balancing and investigating food intolerances/allergies/sensitivities. The program is set up to work on mindset, detoxing the body, and movement. Through a set of highly specialized lab tests and in-depth intake forms; I will get an entire picture of what is going wrong in a client’s body and I can come up with a custom plan on how to correct it. Those two things together is often where root cause of a client’s symptoms are uncovered.
My client’s also get access to pharmaceutical grade supplements. As well as exclusive access to me via phone, video-conferencing, and email. That is extremely valuable, it’s like having an expert in your back pocket for whatever questions you may have, that level of support is not common in medicine.
How do you think about luck?
I believe luck is where opportunity meets preparation. I am constantly upgrading my skills so I will be ready for all the opportunities that come my way.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@andreabenford.com
- Website: https://andreabenford.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/andrea.benford/
- Tik Tok: @andreabenfordhc
- https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdB5rjfy/
- Other: 10 Essentials For A Healthy Gut Checklist: https://andreabenford.com/checklist
