Functional Fueling Nutrition

Functional Fueling Nutrition Functional Nutrition Solutions for Thyroid and Hormone Imbalances.

We are a team of registered dietitian nutritionists that specialize in personalized, evidence-based nutrition solutions for hypothyroidism, hashimotos, PCOS, and other hormonal imbalances. Functional Fueling Nutrition is a Los Angeles and virtual based nutrition practice specializing in functional medicine and hormones. Our Registered Dietitian, Lauren, helps women ages 25-55 restore hormone imbalances using advanced lab testing and functional nutrition to get to the root cause and achieve optimal healing.

03/19/2026

If you’ve been experiencing chronic vaginal infections like yeast infections or BV, here’s what you should know.

Many patients come to us already feeling defeated. Alongside hormonal, digestive, and immune symptoms, they’re also dealing with recurring vaginal infections.

They’re often prescribed antibiotics and sent on their way, only for symptoms to return the next month.

Think of these as opportunistic infections. When the terrain of the endocrine and immune systems is compromised, they continue to recur because the body doesn’t have the right environment to keep them in check.

That’s why looking deeper, at chronic immune stress, the microbiome, and estrogen balance is such an important and often overlooked piece.

We start by running the right testing to understand what’s happening in these systems, then support healing through a phased approach targeting both immune and hormone function.

Comment or DM “🍑” and I’ll send you a link to our recent blog where we break down these root causes and next steps!

Many people with Hashimoto’s are told the same thing: “There’s nothing you can do about it.”But in my experience working...
03/17/2026

Many people with Hashimoto’s are told the same thing: “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

But in my experience working with hundreds of individuals with Hashimoto’s, many of whom are already eating well and exercising when they come to work with us, we often see meaningful improvements in symptoms, antibody levels, and disease progression through our work together.

When patients come to us with Hashimoto’s, our workup goes far beyond checking TSH. We look at the physiology driving why thyroid function became disrupted in the first place.

That means evaluating patterns across multiple systems in the body, including:

• immune activation and inflammation
• viral or environmental triggers
• mitochondrial and metabolic function
• nutrition and exercise stress
• gut-immune signaling
• hormonal and nervous system patterns

Because when these key systems become dysregulated, the immune and endocrine systems can as well.

Our goal is to identify the underlying drivers contributing to autoimmune activation and thyroid dysfunction, so we can build a strategy that supports the body as a whole.

In many cases, we begin by supporting immune balance, and once that system stabilizes, we shift our focus to optimizing thyroid hormone function itself.

Every patient receives a personalized clinical roadmap with phased treatment, education, and adjustments along the way based on their history, lab patterns, symptoms, and response to care.

If you have Hashimoto’s and feel like you’ve tried everything but still don’t feel like yourself, there may be deeper patterns worth exploring.

Learn more about working with our team at the link in bio 🤎

03/14/2026

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that helps keep prolactin levels in check 🧠

It does this by sending signals to the pituitary gland where prolactin is made, to slow down prolactin release.

But when dopamine output decreases, prolactin levels can rise.

One very common reason this happens is chronic stress. Stress can suppress dopamine production, which removes that key regulatory signal from the brain. Without dopamine helping regulate prolactin, prolactin levels can begin to climb.

Over time, chronically elevated prolactin can interfere with cycles by lowering estrogen and progesterone, which can contribute to irregular cycles or anovulatory cycles.

This is something we commonly see when working with our 1:1 clients, which is why prolactin is a hormone we often evaluate when someone is experiencing irregular cycles, fertility challenges, or low thyroid function.

In this week’s episode of the Hormones podcast, and I break down the dopamine–prolactin connection, other reasons prolactin may be elevated, and what to look for if your prolactin levels come back high.

Comment “PROLACTIN” and we’ll send you the link to listen

03/12/2026

There’s a lot of factors that go into pre-conception support but if I had to pick the one that has the most profound impact on outcomes it would be this.

Like most things it’s a two way street, we have to first address what’s driving the oxidative stress and then replenish the body of targeted antioxidants to neutralize it.

This process starts in the immune system where we look at processes that are causing what I call ‘energy leaks’ to occur. Essentially energy is getting diverted away from reproduction and towards more essential processes like regulating immune function. This often comes down to areas like chronic viral load, mold and the gut microbiome.

But we also look at psychological stress/nervous system state and exercise stress because exercise is another overlooked source of oxidative stress. This oxidative stress during exercise is necessary to get stronger and fitter but when it goes uncontrolled or when the body doesn’t have the resources to extinguish this fire quickly, it becomes chronic inflammation, breaking down hormone communication.

Targeted nutrition, exercise modifications, immune system modulation via , therapeutic vitamins and minerals are all part of the puzzle pieces to restore balance to this system, ultimately improving egg quality, ovulation, implantation and even thyroid hormone function.

Listen to the full conversation on Everything Is the Best Podcast with 🤎

03/10/2026

Elevated ApoB? It’s not just ‘bad genetics’

While ApoB levels are estimated to be about 40–78% genetically driven, genetics are only one part of the story.

If you’ve ever had a more advanced lipid panel done, you’ve probably had your ApoB levels tested.

Why we care about it is because ApoB tells us how many atherogenic particles are circulating in the blood, and it’s considered one of the strongest markers we have for cardiovascular risk.

While genetics influence ApoB levels, I’ve seen dramatic clinical improvements when we address the metabolic hormones that regulate lipoprotein production and clearance and their root causes.

Two of the biggest hormonal drivers: insulin and T3.

When insulin is chronically elevated or thyroid signaling is impaired, the liver makes more ApoB particles and clearance of these particles slows.

When we improve these metabolic hormones by improving blood sugar regulation and t3 levels, ApoB often improves alongside it.

ApoB isn’t just about the heart, it’s driven by metabolic hormones and the root causes influencing them.

We break down ApoB, lipoproteins, and the cardio-metabolic connection in this week’s blog.

Comment “cardio metabolic” and I’ll send you a link to learn more

Behind every podcast episode, every blog post, every treatment plan, and every client journey are these women who care d...
03/08/2026

Behind every podcast episode, every blog post, every treatment plan, and every client journey are these women who care deeply about the work we do 🤎

Today we spend our days helping our patients understand their bodies, navigate complex hormone and immune conditions, and find a path back to feeling like themselves again.

I’m grateful everyday for this team and the ability to support our amazing clients!

03/04/2026

5 years ago I was first exposed to mold and it was the catalyst that propelled me to go layers deeper in my root cause healing. I didn’t know it prior to being exposed but there was a lot of underlying reasons I was susceptible to CIRS and why it set off my thyroid.

Recently, we discovered mold in our home again. And this time, my body responded very differently.

I’m sharing this story because so many clients ask:

“Will I always have to keep fixing my gut, my hormones, my immune system?”

And the answer is NO. Once we change the terrain, your body will be much more resilient when things like mold exposure, immune stressors, etc. present.

In this week’s podcast episode I’m sharing the tactical of everything I did this time around from a remediation perspective.

The most important lesson I learned this time: to tell my body I was safe and to trust my body.

Comment “moldpodcast” and I’ll send you a link to listen to the full episode.

02/27/2026

If you’re like me and a lot of our clients your body feels like it’s more sensitive to exercise stress.

You try to push it and instantly your hormones say not so fast.

T3, your active thyroid hormone is typically one of the first to show signs of this.

Here’s my top 5 recommendations if you’re trying to get stronger but want to keep your T3 supported in the process.

1. Manage stressor load, consolidating workouts that are more nervous system taxing allows for more recovery time getting your body out of a chronic high cortisol state which drives down T3 levels.

2. Keep workout stimuli intentional. Circuits and high intensity exercise drive more oxidative stress and thyroid cells are incredibly sensitive to it. By keeping workouts focused on strength you will get stronger and build muscle and improve metabolic health faster.

3. If doing any cardio type exercise, we want to be mindful of not driving more oxidative stress. It’s not cardio itself that is hard on your thyroid, it’s the intensity in which you may be doing it.

4. Parallel your fueling to support your training. For example, if a workout demands more carbs, eat them prior. You can’t outsmart physiology. Or if a workout needs some oxidative stress to get stronger, allow it for a short time period.

These tweaks can make a world of a difference in how your hormones respond to exercise and ultimately influence how you progress with your exercise goals.

➡️Want to learn more? Check out these podcast episodes of mine to dive deeper: 6, 63 and 118

02/26/2026

Do you feel like you run a higher baseline of inflammation and vitamin D supplements don’t seem to move the needle?

Your vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene may be part of the picture!

A polymorphism is a small inherited variation in a gene that can subtly change how that gene functions.

Polymorphisms in Vd1 and Vd2 influences immune activity, inflammation regulation, how estrogen and progesterone communicate with one another, blood sugar regulation and so much more.

When VDR signaling is less efficient, you may notice:
• Higher baseline inflammation levels
• Autoimmunity
• Greater susceptibility to chronic infections
• Or a poor response to vitamin D supplementation

Comment “135” and I’ll send you a link to listen to this podcast episode

02/20/2026

The lymphatic system is one of the most overlooked pieces of thyroid healing with Hashimoto’s especially

It’s such a key piece to immune regulation and resolving inflammation.

When not properly supported, it can make resolving inflammation and improving thyroid function much more challenging.

In this week’s blog we unpack all the lymphatic system does, signs yours might need support and some places to start with supporting it.

Comment “lymphFFN” and I’ll send you a link to learn more

02/04/2026

Overtraining syndrome isn’t just something elite athletes deal with- it affects highly active people too.

Especially if you’re pushing your body to the limit in other areas outside exercise like work, stress, under-fueling, detox, etc.

Exercise is a good stressor until your body can’t adequately recover from that stressor and it starts breaking you down. Your hormones are one of the first places to take the hit.

Comment “132” and I’ll send you the link to listen to this weeks podcast where I break down how overtraining affects the body, why it’s about so much more than just training volume and intensity, and where to start if you suspect you may be experiencing this

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San Diego, CA

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
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Functional Fueling Nutrition is a nutrition private practice owned by Lauren Papanos, MS, RD, CSSD. Lauren specializes in a root-cause, personalized approach to nutrition. Lauren is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a board certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics and is trained in functional nutrition. She holds both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Nutritional Sciences. She has worked as a Division I Power 5 Performance Dietitian as well as in outpatient functional medicine clinics. She has been featured on websites like Women’sHealthMag.com, Active.com, Insider.com and published research in several medical journals.

Her specialties include:


  • thyroid and metabolism

  • women’s hormones