Student Spotlight: Günseli Saygi

Earlier this year, we celebrated the September 2025 FMCA Community Impact Scholarship recipients. These individuals are committed to transforming the health of their communities through functional medicine health coaching. Thanks to the partnership between the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, the Institute for Functional Medicine, and generous support from VoLo Foundation, these scholarships provide full tuition for our Health Coach Certification Program.

Today, we’re proud to introduce Günseli, a schoolteacher from Bursa, Turkey, who has turned her own healing journey into a mission to support students, families, and future generations. After years of digestive issues, fatigue, and unanswered questions from conventional medicine, Günseli discovered the power of functional medicine. Her exploration led her to uncover gluten intolerance, balance her blood sugar, and take control of her health through nutrition, strength training, and therapy.

“Without health, the rest is nothing. You can’t enjoy your life or accomplish your goals. The first thing is your health—so we must take control of it. And that’s why I want to be a health coach and help people.”

Günseli Saygi, incoming FMCA student

As her symptoms resolved, her purpose came into focus. Now, she’s leading by example in her classroom, modeling healthy habits, sharing fruit and nuts during breaks, and encouraging her students to think differently about wellness. With her FMCA education, Günseli hopes to expand her reach by offering seminars to parents and teachers, starting a bilingual Instagram account, and publishing a children’s book to help kids build healthy habits early. Her goal is to support not just her students, but their mothers and grandmothers, too. Functional medicine helped Günseli understand that healing is never just physical, but it’s about the whole person. And now, she’s ready to pass that knowledge on, one classroom and one community at a time.

Watch the Interview

Watch Günseli’s Student Spotlight interview with Dr. Sandi here.

Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Well, I want to be the first to congratulate you. We are so excited that you are one of our scholarship recipients, and we’d like to introduce you to our community. And if you can just share a little bit about why you happen to…why you’re interested in becoming a functional medicine health coach and how you found FMCA. So, love to hear your story, Günseli. And I know that this is something that you have really wanted for a while. And so, I’d love to have you share your story.

Günseli: Okay. First, I’m very grateful for having this scholarship. I feel like dream come true. It was my dream for maybe four or five years. My story began, I think, in 2020 because my body was giving some warning signs I had. I started to have health problems like digestive problems, bloating. Whenever I eat something, I was like six months pregnant, like a six-month pregnant woman. I was tired all the time. I was an overthinker. I had acne problems, and it was going like this. And I started to see doctors. And doctors had some blood tests, ultrasound, and everything went okay, normal. They said, “You’re fine. There’s no problem. And just do some more exercise, and drink enough water.” And this wasn’t enough for me.

So, I started to search more. Like, I was asking my friends, colleagues, do you have this symptom? What can we do? I think it was the first time I met online on Instagram, I guess, from a functional medicine doctor. Well, it’s interesting, I said. It got my attention. I started to search for it. I learned that gut health is very important. And then I worked on that. I read many books about gut health and microbiome, because I would like to talk about my childhood. I was seven months born, and I got, like, four months breast milk. And my immune system was so weak in my childhood because I was always on antibiotics. Maybe four or five times a year that I was taking antibiotics. It’s too much. I learned that it’s too much. And I was a very tired child. I had always illnesses. I wasn’t like my friends. But I didn’t know this is something…I thought it’s normal. I never thought it’s something. They were the symptoms. My family didn’t know, of course. They thought it’s normal. And then I found out, okay, I can change it because I have to change my life, my diet.

I learned that I have a gluten allergy, a gluten intolerance. I’m not celiac. I’ve got that test, and I have gluten intolerance. I thought that I have an allergy to dairy products, but I don’t have. Now, I’ve got the test, and I don’t have any allergy to dairy products. I cut sugar. I think that was the first thing that I’ve done. Like, 21 days I stopped using sugar, any kind of. So, it really helped me. It was the first step that I took. Then I start not consuming gluten, then dairy products. But still I had some problems. It wasn’t enough for me.

So, I started to look for doctors in my city, like functional medicine practitioners. I found one. And I see him, I think, in, like, 2021 or 2022. I’m not sure. He truly examined me and had some functional medicine panel blood tests. It was, like, a one-hour examination. It was very deep. Like, he asked many questions. I answered many questions from my childhood, at this age, my family members, even about…I talk about my grandmother. And he said, “Okay, you have gluten intolerance. You’re not going to have gluten the rest of your life, but time to time on special occasions you may have. And please do not use…do not consume sugar.” He also said that I have a problem with my insulin. I didn’t know that I had a problem with insulin. I didn’t have insulin resistance. And then he told me that I have to do resistance training. And I have to eat more protein. I love eating vegetables and fruit. It’s perfect. I like the Mediterranean cuisine. It’s wonderful. But I learned that I have to eat more protein. I have to intake more protein.

So, now, I care about it. Daily, I watch what I’m eating and I count. Like, I learned how to count how much protein that I have to take. After a while, everything went…you know, I was started…I started to heal. Everything was okay. But there was a time that I had problems again. I had swings in my blood sugar. I thought I’m doing everything correct. I’m doing yoga. I’m exercising. I have good relationship with colleagues, friends, family. I thought, “What’s wrong? Why am I having this problem?” Then I started to have therapy.

That time, I had some problems changing things that I don’t like. With therapy, I changed those things. And all of a sudden, everything went smooth again. I don’t have any blood sugar problems. So, then I understood that this is a whole person thing. I have to think my soul, my mind, my body. It’s not just diet. It’s not just about water, or it’s just not about sporty, being a sporty person. And by all of these, my respect…I had a respect for functional medicine institution, coaching institution.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah. So, how did you find Functional Medicine Coaching Academy?

Günseli: I think online on Instagram. That’s why I think it’s very important to have an Instagram account about this. I also found some Turkish coaching, health coaches.

Dr. Sandi: Yes. We have graduates in Turkey. And that, I should have said at the beginning that, to our audience, this is where you were from. What city in Turkey are you…?

Günseli: Bursa. It’s very close to Istanbul.

Dr. Sandi: Okay. Yeah. We have graduates in Turkey. So, what made you want to become a functional medicine health coach?

Günseli: Since I began the heal, I started the…people around me, oh, listen, you have to do this. If you do this, you feel perfect, like I am feeling great now. And I want you to do this. But they were like…you know, they weren’t so sure. But how do you know it? You’re not a doctor. You’re not a nurse. First, I have to talk with the doctor, but doctor told me like this. But you’re saying vice versa, it’s not the same. That’s why I wanted to be knowledgeable about this, and help people around me, like, okay, I know. I got the education. I can help you. That’s the first thing I want. And without health, the rest is nothing. If you don’t have health, then you can’t enjoy your life. You can’t accomplish your goals. The first thing is your health. So, we must take control of our health.

And that’s why I want to be a health coach and help people, help my students, especially students. I think I’m a good model for them. For example, during break times, my students offer me snacks. I never accept it because I have to be a good model. I said, I don’t eat those kind of things. Maybe we can share an apple or some nuts. That will work better. And I tell them how to eat. Maybe we can have a fruit party. Sometimes we do that at break times. So, now, they say…when someone offers me some snacks and the other student says, no, our teacher never eats those kind of things. She takes care of her health.

Dr. Sandi: Oh. So, you’re a school teacher?

Günseli: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Sandi: How old are the children that you teach?

Günseli: They’re aged between 8 to 14.

Dr. Sandi: Okay. Yeah. So, you are a wonderful role model.

Günseli: I’m willing to.

Dr. Sandi: Yes.

Günseli: I would love to work with their mothers and their grandmothers as well. Because women are very important on health, I think.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah. So, tell us what you would like to do after you become a functional medicine certified health coach.

Günseli: Well, I think I will have a bilingual Instagram account to reach more people because nowadays, that’s the thing that we can reach people. They first look on Instagram and YouTube. And then this is the way that we can reach people. I will have that account. I want to create informative, inspiring content for people. I would love to write a storybook for kids, because I want them to have that awareness that health is very important from very early ages. And they love colorful books. I’m working on it right now. Maybe next year, I can publish my books, my storybook.

Dr. Sandi: I love it.

Günseli: And I want to have volunteer seminars for my community, for my parents, my students’ parents, my students. I can prepare. And also I can prepare seminars for teacher training programs, because teachers are very important on the health issues. They can be very good models, not one person. Maybe the others can also do the same. One is not enough. We have to be more. I don’t know how that will work, but maybe I can have one-to-one clients. I don’t know. We’ll see later.

Dr. Sandi: I love it. And I have such a spot in my heart for…it is very dear to me when I hear teachers have this mission. And I started out as a teacher many, many years ago. And we get many people who are currently teachers or retired teachers, who come to become functional medicine certified health coaches. And I love the idea of a children’s book. That will be so great to have that for your community. This is the time to teach kids the importance of these principles.

In fact, I’m going to connect you with somebody whose kids are on this mission. Her name is Dr. Madiha Saeed, and she’s a good friend. And her kids have a podcast, “The Holistic Kids” podcast. And so, I’d love to make that connection for you.

Günseli: Mm-hmm. I’d love to.

Dr. Sandi: But this is a community supporting one another. It is a growing community. So, we really want to welcome you to FMCA.

Günseli: Oh, thank you.

Dr. Sandi: And again, congratulations on being one of our scholarship recipients. And I just can’t wait to support you on your mission, and see that children’s book. I’ll give it to my grandkids.

Günseli: Oh. I would love to.

Dr. Sandi: So, look forward to seeing you. And we will stay in touch, and we will get more information to you regarding the upcoming class.

Günseli: Thank you. I look forward to it as well. I don’t know how can I wait till September.

Dr. Sandi: Well, stay tuned. You will get emails. We have orientation. We have meet and greets, where you will get an opportunity to participate and meet the fellow students.

Günseli: Oh, okay. Thank you.

Dr. Sandi: Oh, thank you. It’s been a pleasure to be here with you.

Günseli: I’m glad to meet you, too.

Dr. Sandi: Bye now.

Günseli: Bye-bye.