I spent a lot of my life sad, anxious, overweight, and frustrated—convinced that if I just lost weight, my life would change. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on doctors, diets, supplements, medications, and fitness plans, trying to find a magic pill to help me lose weight quickly. I thought losing weight would cure my crippling anxiety and fatigue and lift my depression. My first diet was in elementary school. I tried the Cabbage Soup Diet in high school and became a vegetarian in college. No matter what I tried, nothing seemed to work.

In my twenties, I endured a personal health crisis that marked the beginning of my health journey. I lived in Washington, D.C., and was a rising star in the fast-paced, high-stress world of national politics. I was an aide to some of the top politicians in the country in one of the most important battleground states, working long hours at a grueling pace and ignoring the impact that stress was having on my body because I believed this was my dream job. On the outside, it seemed like I had it all together, but inside, I was miserable—disconnected from my body and struggling every day.

The facade cracked when, at just 28, I became crippled by what I would later find out was an undiagnosed autoimmune thyroid disorder. Thirty pounds overweight, depressed, chronically anxious, suffering from debilitating panic attacks, and so low energy that I struggled to get out of bed, I went from doctor to doctor, desperately seeking answers.

Once again, despite my best efforts, my frustrations only increased while my health deteriorated. Though I often felt hopeless, I was certain there must be more beyond the lack of answers I was getting from the traditional medical community. Terrifying though it was, I opted to trust myself, quit my job, pack up my life in D.C., and devote myself to getting healthy.

I know first-hand that there is no magic pill. I regained my health, lost over thirty pounds, and found a new life purpose by identifying the root cause of my symptoms with the right functional medicine testing, which included a stool test to evaluate my gut health, an advanced thyroid panel beyond just the standard TSH that I received from my doctor, evaluating my nutrients levels to uncover deficiencies that were ignored by my medical team, and detoxing from mold.

It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly, my body started to heal. My quest for wellness has taken me everywhere, from practicing yoga and meditation deep inside the Costa Rican jungle to classrooms and hospitals studying health and functional medicine nutrition with top experts across the country.

After a decade of training and experience helping a variety of clients, I’ve now combined these trusted methodologies to create a system that helps women identify the root causes of their digestive health, hormone imbalances, and mood symptoms. I recognized that there are four key root causes of health challenges that no doctor in the traditional medical system was talking about. When these root causes are identified and properly resolved, clients stop feeling frustrated, start feeling seen, and achieve results they didn’t even know were possible.

This includes results like eliminating digestive conditions without high-dose prescription medications (conditions they were told they would just have to live with for the rest of their lives), reversing thyroid disorders, regulating their cycles without hormonal birth control, and overcoming mood symptoms.

My method starts assessing your unique root causes through comprehensive health history and functional medicine lab testing to understand the unique pathology of your symptoms.

Knowing your root cause is the first step in succeeding faster, decreasing your overwhelm, and finally feeling good in your body again for the long term.

Most traditional doctors and dietitians give you band-aids for your symptoms (like laxatives for constipation or birth control to fix your period and acne) that get you no long-term relief. Instead, I focus on discovering the root cause to fix your gut health, restore your hormonal health, get your energy back, and improve your mood symptoms for good.

Schedule an assessement call. 

Kerri Axelrod is a functional medicine nutritionist, founder of Kerri Axelrod Wellness, and a nationally recognized expert in a holistic, integrative approach to gut health, women’s health, and mental well-being. In her work with clients, Kerri utilizes nutritional science and the integrative modalities of functional medicine, Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation. Her private practice work focuses on working 1:1 with clients, and she is the creator of The Anxiety Blueprint, a ground-breaking group program that helps women get to the root of their gut issues and mood symptoms once and for all. She has been featured in national publications such as PureWow, Real Simple, Byrdie, Reader's Digest, Prevention Magazine, and Well + Good.

Kerri completed her nutrition and dietetics training at Simmons University in Boston, MA, graduating summa cum laude. She trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, has completed numerous advanced trainings in functional medicine and functional medicine nutrition, received her 200-hour yoga training from Boston School of Yoga, her Ayurvedic training through Boston Ayurveda School, and completed the Stress Management and Resiliency training at Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Before her work in nutrition, Kerri had over a decade of experience as a media spokesperson and marketing communications strategist and began her career in national political communications. Among many political roles, she served as the Pennsylvania Communications Director for Organizing for America, handling communications on behalf of the Democratic National Committee in one of the country’s key battleground states during the Obama administration. She holds a B.S. in International Relations from American University in Washington, DC, focusing on U.S. Foreign Policy.