Amy Spindel, MSHN, MSSW, BCHN, AFMC
Functional Holistic Nutritionist & Certified Microbiome Analyst
Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition™️
Applied Functional Medicine Certification
Founder & Owner
Hi! I’m Amy.
I’m a nutritionist that uses food and lifestyle changes to help you rebalance your gut and your hormones.
I look at the whole body, and how different components interact with the food we eat and the environment we live in.
I founded Food With Thought in 2018, after careers as a clinical therapist and a pastry chef, and inspired by the life-changing learning and healing journey that my son and I took soon after his birth. Because he and I needed to draw upon many different approaches and strategies in our journey to wellness, I am committed to continuing to develop my clinical toolbox to better serve my clients.
These eclectic tools start off traditionally enough: We start by exploring diet, environment, and lifestyle. But then we delve more deeply, according to what you and I find to be particularly salient and relevant to your health narrative: What labs might we need to better understand your body’s dynamics? Where has your body gotten stuck with a pattern that at one point was helpful, but is now no longer serving you? How will you respond to trialing a particular dietary pattern or supplement? How are your cells functioning at a molecular level, and how can we optimize this? Where might there be trauma, your own or intergenerational, stored in your body and is this having an impact? What is getting in your way to healing yourself? How does a symptom in one area of the body reflect ongoing? Etc.
As we undergo your customized healing journey, be prepared to learn more about yourself on all levels: physical, mental/emotional, spiritual, and psychological, genetic and epigenetic, nutritionally, microbially, and more.
Specialized Trainings
- Tufts University, BA, Clinical Psychology, Magna cum laude
- Columbia University School of Social Work, MSSW, Heath, Mental Health, and Disabilities in Clinical Practice
- Hawthorn University, MSHN, Holistic Nutrition, Summa cum laude
- School of Applied Functional Medicine
Level 1, Level 2, Level 3/AFMC Certification
Activator Training Program
Platinum Inner Circle Mentorship Group - Clinical Mentorship with Dr. Jason Hawrelak, Probiotic Advisor
Naturopathic & Functional Medicine Approaches to Gastrointestinal Disorders Level 1
Advanced Microbiome Manipulation Level 2 - Clinical Mentorship with Dr. Liz Lipski, IFM and MUIH Professor
- Ongoing coursework in topics such as digestive health, parasites, heavy metals and detox, hormones, metabolic function, functional lab testing, hair testing and mineral balance, genetics, etc.
Affiliations, Certifications, & Other Professional Activities
- Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (BCHN)
- Applied Functional Medicine Certification (AFMC)
- Certified Microbiome Analyst
- Certified Healthy Gut Practitioner
- Certified Holistic HTMA Pro Practitioner
- Certified Gluten-Free Practitioner (CGP)
- Certified Dietary Supplement Professional (CDSP)
- HTMA Expert Certification (expected summer 2024)
- School of Applied Functional Medicine (SAFM), Clinical Education Team
- Phoebe Prenatal & Postpartum Support, Staff Nutrition Expert
- National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP), Professional Member
- Collin County Community College, Certificates in Culinary & Pastry Arts
- Trauma-informed, airway-informed, mental health-informed
Heather Tesch, MS, AFMC
Client Care Coordinator
Applied Functional Medicine Certification
Health Coach
Heather had symptoms since she was 2 years old, but thought they were part of the normal human experience. It wasn’t until she became severely sick in her early 30s that she gained deep insights into messages her body was sending her. She dove head first into a variety of healing modalities, just to find herself always coming back to Functional Medicine.
After feeling heard and validated, as well as enjoying the comprehensive approach FM practitioners took, Heather decided to become formally educated in the FM principles as well. Heather now coaches clients in her 1:1 practice and also supports other functional medicine practitioners to run their practices with greater ease.
Heather has a BS in interior design, and ironically her favorite aspect of design was mapping out the most functional use of space (similar to client mapping in Functional Medicine)! She has a MS in Change Leadership and certifications through the Coaches Training Institute and Institute for Integrative Nutrition, is a Reiki practitioner (Level 1 certification), and is Applied Functional Medicine Certified.
Heather will be supporting all clients in the practice through health coaching and administrative capacities. She also offers distance reiki to our clients.
Marigold, Blue & Gold Macaw
Office Manager
Professional Bowl Banger
Marigold, based in the Plano virtual office, works closely with Amy to ensure that nearly every functional coaching call has a little noisy humor and subsequent apology embedded in it, whether it’s from squeaking her toy to banging her metal food bowl repeatedly. She does not like to be left out of the conversation. Occasionally, though, she decides that session time is the perfect time for a cozy quiet nap, and so no noisy humor is required.
Other pastimes include going for walks, sitting in the crepe myrtle tree, eating nuts, hiding under the bed, shredding toilet paper, and generally making a mess that only a parrot could make.