MEET Dr. RAYMS

Nutrigineering (Nutritional Engineering) was first conceptualized and started by Raymond Escalona MD – known to his team and his patients as Dr. Rayms – in June of 2017. The journey started with Dr. Rayms’ firsthand experience of the conventional medical system when his grandfather suffered a stroke at the age of 62 leaving him bedridden, paralyzed and unable to live a normal life without 24-hour medical support. Dr. Rayms was just an undergrad and saw how the next 18 months in and out of various hospitals had drained his family emotionally, physically and financially.

The experience prompted Dr. Rayms to search for a better, more sustainable way of providing healthcare that was able to complement the current conventional medical system. He sought for a practice that put the patient at the heart, enabling better medical and sustainable outcomes. His search finally brought him to the work of the Institute for Functional Medicine – the global leader training healthcare practitioners with the science-based model to assess and manage the root-causes of complex chronic diseases.

Having completed a degree in Ateneo School of Medicine in Public Health, Dr. Rayms discovered that he had a deep passion for public health and social impact. He worked in a number of positions in various non-government organizations within the Philippines until finally creating his own advocacy in 2016 entitled Bridging Lifestyles and Health: The Road to 100.

In an effort to advance the paradigm of chronic disease treatment, Dr. Rayms left the Philippines and underwent further studies at the world’s pioneering and longest running natural medicine institution – Bastyr University – to obtain a Master of Science in Nutrition for Wellness degree. He simultaneously pursued prestigious certification from the Institute for Functional Medicine to be one of the first certified practitioners in Southeast Asia. The results of his rigorous training in leading science-based nutritional knowledge opened the door for him to incorporate a food first perspective in his patient care. This has afforded him extensive experience fully realizing the power of food to prevent, treat, and reverse complex chronic diseases.

Today, he holds the position of Director of Medical Education in the internationally recognized LifeScience Institute. The LifeScience Institute is a collaborative partner of the Institute for Functional Medicine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia working to elevate the Functional Medicine perspective to be the standard of care for chronic disease management within the region.

MEET HEALTH COACH ROANNA

Roanna Medina is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach who works as a strategist, motivator and accountability partner to clients who are open and ready to make sustainable diet and lifestyle changes towards better health and life balance.

Concurrently, she is a student of the Nutrition Certification Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (www.integrativenutrition.com) - considered the world’s largest online nutrition school based in New York City. She’s also an entrepreneur who has launched businesses which at their core support her mission to empower people live their most vibrant and healthy lives.

Roanna believes that we all have the capacity to heal ourselves and our bodies naturally, and that we can achieve the health goals which we commit ourselves to given the right tools and guidance. Her conviction doesn’t just come from her training in science-based nutritional knowledge, but was sparked and affirmed by her own experience overcoming a disease.

In 2014, Roanna was diagnosed with a toxic thyroid which conventional medicine assessed as genetically-caused. She manifested most if not all clinical symptoms of a hyperthyroid: goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland), tachycardia (with a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute), tremors, excessive weight-loss, increased appetite, anxiety, irritability, brittle hair, sweating and an increased sensitivity to heat, insomnia and changes to her bowel movements and menstrual cycle. Only in her 20s at the time, she had already been prescribed to take 60 mgs (12 intakes) of an antithyroid hormone suppressant drug, and beta blockers typically used to treat patients with high blood pressure and heart rhythm disorders.

Within a few months of treatment, Roanna then manifested a different set of symptoms from an underactive hypothyroid: proptosis (bulging of both eyes), weight gain and an increased difficulty to lose weight, decreased appetite, sluggishness, fatigue, cold intolerance, frequent muscle cramps, excessive hair loss and balding, dry skin, constipation, memory loss, and still, an abnormal menstrual cycle.

Years had passed, and progress was always inconsistently achieved giving her less and less hope for a full recovery. Fearing to face a lifetime of dependency on prescribed drugs, she sought alternative treatments which led her to Dr. Raymond Escalona whose approach to disease treatment helped her reclaim hope. More importantly, his perspective from Functional Medicine allowed her to take ownership of her health which empowered her to start implementing changes from a deeper understanding of the root cause of her condition.

She then learned she had Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition wherein her own body attacked her thyroid. With help and guidance, Roanna focused on healing holistically, living mindfully, and with consistent results towards recovery, there was no turning back.

Today, Roanna is very proud to be completely free of Hashimoto's disease or any form of medication. She believes she’s reclaimed her best self, and has taken her own experience constructively, combining that with the knowledge and training she continues to invest in to be able to share with others these invaluable truths to living optimally.