Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Olsen.
Hi Rachel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Nutrition is a second career for me, but it was always my first choice. When I graduated high school in 2000, I applied and got accepted to the Nutrition program at Rutgers University in NJ. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the program as my mother, who was a Brazilian foreign service employee (think diplomat), got transferred back to Brazil, and the whole family moved back home. Back in Brazil, I did start a nutrition undergrad, but it was an expensive program, and I had to change it to something else that was cheaper and had better internship opportunities. That way, I could use the internship money to pay for college. The easy and obvious choice was to go to law school because my whole family was in legal professions. So that is what I did. In Brazil, a law degree is a 5-year undergrad program, unlike the US. In my second semester, I got hired as an intern at a local law firm and was able to pay for all of my tuition with the money from that. I graduated law in 2010 and started working for the government at a regulatory agency. In the summer of 2015, I took a 3-month leave from work to go live in Montreal, Canada to study French. One of my classmates was a nutritionist, and she told me about how she got her nutrition degree online. That same day I went back to my AirBnB and searched online nutrition programs in the US. I applied for that fall and started a distance learning program at Barton Community College based in Kansas. I chose the community college to take the pre-nutrition courses and save some money. After completing those, I applied to the nutrition program at University of Alabama. All this was being done online while I still lived in Brazil and worked for the Brazilian government in the legal field. However, in the Spring of 2018, I was accepted to an internship program at UA that required me to be on campus, so I moved to Alabama to finish that. At the time, the plan was to finish my undergrad and go back to Brazil to practice nutrition back home. Things don’t always go as we plan, do they? When I was nearly done with undergrad, I was invited to apply for the master’s degree, and at the same time, I started a functional medicine training with the Institute for Functional Medicine – IFM. I graduated undergrad in 2019 and went to Texas to work as a dietitian for 8 nursing homes; I did that for a year while I was still studying for the master’s and functional medicine then finished my functional medicine certification and my master’s degree in 2020 and started my functional nutrition practice right away. Since then, I have been helping patients with digestive issues and autoimmune diseases find relief a new sense of wellness. What happened in the meantime was that I met a wonderful guy, and I ended up changing my plans of going back home to practice nutrition and decided to stay here with him. Best decision ever! I am enamored with functional medicine because it searches for and treats the root causes of symptoms rather than just trying to manage symptoms. With functional medicine patients can find long-lasting health rather than just management of symptoms.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all! Omg!
Going back to school to get a new degree when you are 34 years old is very scary. I was hesitant, but someone told me “Time will pass regardless of what you do, so let is pass while you do something you love”. This was the push I needed to start.
I had no idea that upper education in the US could be so expensive! I know, very naive of me, but I was unaware of the gap between community college tuition and university tuition, not to mention the jump in tuition when you get to the graduate level, plus all my functional medicine training. Bare in mind that I was paying all this with Brazilian currency, which started to steeply lose its value as soon as I moved to the US in 2018. When I started the education journey in 2015, my currency was worth 3 to 1, meaning one dollar cost me 3 Brazilian reais. When I finished my program in 2020, the currency was up to near 6 to 1. Needless to say, that many family memembers had to pitch in to help me pay for all that. Note that as a foreign student, I am not eligible for student loans, and tuition is three times more!
Money aside, it’s not easy leaving all your family and friends behind to move to another country. Even if the original plan was to get the degree and move back home, being completely alone is not easy. I think the biggest challenge is leaving a VERY stable career going into something new with no guarantee that it would work out.
My government job in Brazil was amazing. I had great pay, awesome benefits, a super kind team, and job security. It was also familiar. I was not passionate about it, but I knew how to do it and do it well. Leaving all that behind is NOT an easy decision! It’s scary as hell! Luckily, I love this mission so much, and I have so many people that believed in me and supported my business that I was able to be successful in very little time.
I REALLY love what I do, and I am grateful I took the leap.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a solo practitioner with an office in Homewood, AL. In my practice, I will look at the WHOLE patient, not just their symptoms. I use a well-rounded approach that includes personalized eating patterns for each condition and patient, functional foods, lifestyle adjustments (movement, sleep, relaxation), and supplements if needed. Patients can expect to be fully heard, thoroughly assessed, and carefully guided in the areas of lifestyle and diet. I prescribe my interventions based on how far the patient is willing to go, modifying as needed to fit the patient’s wants and readiness level.
I specialize in digestive problems such as acid reflux, gas, bloating, and chronic diarrhea or constipation. I also have experience with improving a variety of autoimmune and metabolic diseases.
I am known for truly caring for my patients. I love close contact and frequent communication with them. My patients can expect my full attention and dedication. I want to support them as best as I can so they can feel good and find their best version.
What sets me apart is my dedication and kindness. I really care!
I am most proud of the potential for TRUE healing, not just putting band-aids on symptoms.
I offer single visits and comprehensive packages that are described in detail at: https://www.fxnutritionbyrachel.com/services
P.S- I am having trouble with GoDaddy and my website. People who access my website are getting a message that it is not secure; that is not true! GoDaddy has not been able to figure this out, and my web person is going to have to rebuild my website soon to try to solve it by starting over in another domain.
How do you define success?
Success for me is impacting as many lives as I can by helping people restore health and go from just surviving to thriving.
Pricing:
- Single Consultations $295 each (90-min)
- 3 Month Package with labs $1900
- 3 Month Package without labs $1300
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fxnutritionbyrachel.com
- Instagram: @fxnutritionbyrachel
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachel.olsen.7169
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-olsen-ms-rd-b38662144/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKcP6__Z_tRbAcQhOk0Lz3g
Image Credits
Rachel Olsen
