Hello there!
My name is Nhi (pronounced like “Knee” and it means “Little”) and I am Vietnamese-American. I believe in a root-cause approach to resolve, if not reverse, a multitude of medical conditions. I found my way to the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) in 2017 when I was job-hunting as a Physician Assistant/Associate (PA) for my first career after returning from an inspirational internship in Santa Rosa, CA at the TrueNorth Health Center (A Water-Fasting facility). I honestly didn’t want to start practicing in a conventional medical setting as a PA for my first job at that time, because I was mind-blown by my experiences at TrueNorth and have witnessed how REAL FOOD and/or the lack of toxic food-like substances is actually the real medicine. As a result, my ultimate goal is to help others facilitate their healing by unifying the foundational understanding of health and wellness with prevention and/or reversal of chronic medical conditions through optimizing all the pillars of health. I want to be able to share a variety of resources from all the places that I believe in and support the causes of, leading us to living a sustainable lifestyle with joy and empowerment.
During my first 4 years practicing as as PA, I began and completed my training with IFM and received my Board Certification in 2021, and then found my way to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) in early 2022, as I felt its foundation complements the Modifiable Lifestyle Factors under the Functional Medicine Matrix very well. At this time, I am also Board Certified in Lifestyle Medicine through the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine as of December 2023. I love utilizing the tools in both organizations to help my patients and loved ones, and to provide take-home points and handouts. I became a Member of ACLM shortly after I started working full-time with my current employer in the beginning of 2022. Since then, I got more involved with ACLM Member Interest Groups (MIGs), especially the Physician Associate LM MIG, the Primary Care LM MIG, and the Cancer LM MIG, with their on-going actionable projects! I have been fortunate to be a part of leading an incredible project of creating the FIRST lifestyle medicine for cancer risk reduction and survivorship toolkit through ACLM with a Five-Member-Team of Taskforce Leaders. As time goes on, I realized I have been practicing lifestyle medicine on myself all along as I had adopted a mainly whole-food, plant-predominant lifestyle while honoring the principles of wellness, and I was so happy to discover there is a whole organization with practicing health professionals who are so like-minded!
While practicing as a PA since 2017, I also enjoy creating free lectures and hosting hour-long classes for my patients and community members. I focus on the different pillars of health for each interactive lecture and always remind everyone about the foundation of NUTRITION. I graduated from the University of Florida (UF) in 2014 with a Bachelor in Nutritional Sciences (and a Minor in Health Disparities in Society) and have learned a whole lot more beyond the books since then! I returned to UF for my Master of PA Studies from 2015-2017 and have always been drawn to lifestyle medicine. Therefore, I love to present the updated information on this topic and provide much-needed resources to all walks of life, along with simple tips and tricks. From one pillar of health to another, I started gathering a dense list of resources.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure where this Resource Blog will go, but I am 100% sure it feels right to share my little story on how I currently implement what I learn into my day-to-day practice. Indeed, I AM STILL a work-in-progress and I am far from perfection. I’m happy to say that the materials I have provided to my patients and loved ones so far are received quite well! I explained to them how I am a member of IFM and ACLM, and these professional organizations and their partners are where the free handouts and resources mostly come from. I keep a packed stack of organizers full of copies of various handouts for the different pillars of health in my office. As I grab each one to hand out to a patient or a loved one, I often internally remind myself, “Nhi, keep practicing on that one too!”
Here is a little glimpse of A-Day-in-a-Life of Nhi Mã Đỗ:
NUTRITION: I make my own overnight-oats or green smoothie every morning for breakfast, and try to stay as plant-predominant as possible throughout the day (but I may be a “Cheat-gan” at times) 
It’s a challenge around my family and a culture of Vietnamese with meat/fish-based dishes too, so I eat smaller non-plant portions to honor my family at our get-togethers. I often host an hour-long free class monthly at the clinic I work at, and I always love to start off with the foundation of nutrition. I began eating a product called JuicePlus+ which was introduced to me in 2022 by another ACLM member who is also a PA in practice, and it has been a simple solution to enhance my nutritious lifestyle!
MOVEMENT: I practice yoga nearly every day since 2011 and got my RYT-200 certification to teach in 2022, so I have been teaching and recording free online classes (YouTube @nhimado). I used to teach the clinic staff at work after our Monthly meetings and had hosted Beginner’s Power Yoga free classes for patients and community members 2022-2023. Almost every day of the week, I achieve my step goal of at least 10,000+ daily steps!
SLEEP: I do my best to get my 7-8 hours of restorative sleep nightly and try to always stay consistent whether on weeknights or weekend nights. Our internal Circadian rhythm is very intricate and requires lots of training to be in sync; routinely keeping healthy sleep habits is key!
DE-STRESS: I do try to continue working on the De-stress pillar, and part of that is not taking on too many projects all at once, since I do tend to sign up for a lot of opportunities and have late-evening meetings after my regular work hours. Particularly, I need to start a regular meditation practice since that’s one thing I feel a need to make time for, besides journaling nightly, which I do try to keep up with!
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS: I’m an introvert by nature, but a sociable one if that makes sense, since I’m genuinely curious. I enjoy spending time with my family in all occasions and making quality time with those I love and care about. I often like to work in the background to make things happen for a group and I perform best in smaller group settings that are more intimate and relatable!
AVOIDANCE OF RISKY SUBSTANCES: I don’t pick up on any or ever will.
NATURE TIME: I love eating outside on my lunch break and taking walks in nature at sunrise or sunset. I remind myself to treasure simply fresh air!
I am sure there are many more pillars of health that is important to you and I, so please feel free to add on your own!
When I started thinking of making a Blog beginning in 2023, my passion for spreading the knowledge and sharing resources drove me to ACTION: Let my VOICE be heard, START a community of finding common grounds, and create a way to ORGANIZE my go-to resources in order to SHARE with others! Wherever that you are reading this, I am thrilled to share my passion with you. I surely hope you enjoy my LOUD COLLECTION as much as I do! 
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please contact me at learning@nhimado.org