May Newsletter Highlights
As we wrap up the month of May, we can look ahead ot summer and all the happiness that comes with it. It's almost time to officially pull our hiking boots, kayaks, beach towels, and flip-flops out of storage. As the days warm up, our health and nutritional needs evolve to support increased physical activity. Our newest team member, Carolina Cartier, is a clinical nutritionist and she has written a fantastic article about eating to support your metabolic health. She brings enthusiasm and energy to ICM and she's accepting new patients! There are also important updates regarding semaglutide and tirzepatide, as well as a summer special on lipotropic injections.
Important GLP-1 Medications Update
May Blog Post: "Eating in the Real World"
"What's In My Supplement Drawer?" Weight Management Edition
Summer Special! Lipotropic Injections
Team Member of the Month: Carolina Cartier
Eating in the Real World
By Carolina Cartier, Clinical Nutritionist
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably asked yourself: Why is it so difficult to get the results I want when I’m doing all the right things? That question is what led me to where I am today.
I came into the world of functional medicine through my own health journey. Years ago, I was diagnosed with PCOS, and like many people, I was handed a prescription a little else. But I had a strong feeling there had to be more I could do. I believed there were real, practical lifestyle choices that could actually lead me to better health. So I started learning, experimenting, and listening to my body. That process changed everything.
Today, I focus on helping others build metabolic health, vitality, and longevity in ways that actually work in real life. I’m not in the business of extreme or unrealistic routines. I believe in practical strategies that fit into your lifestyle. That means you can still enjoy dinners with family, happy hour with friends, and the activities that make life meaningful while making real progress toward your health goals.
I like to start patients off with the foundation of “Protein and Produce”, however that fits with your dietary preferences or restrictions. From there, we build a plan that works for you. This approach gives us a flexible, nutrient-rich starting point, and we customize it together so your plan feels personal, manageable, and sustainable. Metabolic health is the foundation of everything from energy and mood to hormone balance, physical performance, and quality sleep. Whether your goal is improving health outcomes, better endurance in the gym, building muscle, managing stress, or simply having more energy throughout the day, it all starts with understanding how your body works and what it needs. You don’t have to turn your life upside down. Small, consistent changes make a big impact over time.
I’m especially passionate about helping people feel connected to their bodies again with both intuition and health technology support. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the conflicting advice out there. My approach is to cut through the noise and help you focus on what really works. Maybe that means stabilizing your blood sugar, improving digestion, getting more restful sleep, or finding a meal routine that supports your workouts and keeps you full and energized.
In the end, health is about more than just numbers or checklists. It’s about how you feel when you wake up in the morning, how you show up in your workouts, how you interact with the people you care about, and how much energy you have to live the life you want. I’m here to help you build a version of health that’s sustainable, empowering, and grounded in your everyday reality.
Prior to becoming a nutritionist, Carolina had a decade long career in finance as a licensed stockbroker. The long hours and high stress environment combined with less than ideal lifestyle left her in a state of constant fatigue. She took a leave of absence to focus on improving her health and fertility resulting in a 200 pound weight loss. Having experienced the medicinal power of dietary change in her own healing journey, she became determined to investigate how nutrition and lifestyle impact health. She has a passion for metabolic health and chronic illness, with a special focus on fertility, reversing PCOS, macronutrient composition, and meal timing.
Carolina believes nutrition is the foundation of health. She utilizes a whole food approach and works collaboratively with clients and the Vida team in the health building process. She concentrates on education to support clients in achieving their goals with a plan tailored to their needs and preferences. Carolina recognizes the challenges of implementing lasting change, so she guides clients with detailed methods of integrating food preparation within their daily routine. Her goal is to support clients to impart sustainable and enjoyable changes that fit within their lifestyle to not only heal, but thrive with sustained energy and endurance, stable mood, consistent sleep, no cravings, and no digestive issues or bloating.
In pursuit of lifelong learning and research, Carolina is also working towards becoming a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (IFMCP). She enjoys hiking in the forests of the PNW with her three sons, de-stressing with Yin yoga, weightlifting, and playing with new recipes.