Hey, I’m Timothy Frie
I’m a neuronutritionist, nutritional neuroscience researcher, health equity activist and writer dedicated to helping people who have experienced trauma, grief and an autoimmune disease heal, grow and recover.
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Growing up, I saw the mental, physical and economic toll that systemic health inequity and health injustice had on my family and community.
I was born into a family that lived in a rural area in poverty or near-poverty for most of my childhood. I was physically and mentally abused and neglected for the majority of my childhood by my parents (both of whom have also recovered and grown from much of what plagued them during that time.) Since we lived in a rural area and couldn’t afford quality health care, we didn’t have the opportunity to receive the care we needed and deserved.
For as long as I remember, chronic illness and trauma had a death-grip on my family. The majority of my family struggled with substance abuse and addiction. Both of my maternal and paternal grandparents had a variety of autoimmune diseases and cancers. Despite being “young and healthy,” my father was diagnosed with several chronic diseases and an autoimmune disease in his mid-thirties. I began struggling with my mental and physical health as a child as a result of a genetic immunodeficiency and prolonged exposure to black mold, rodent and insect infestation in our home and childhood trauma.
From a young age, I knew I wanted to break the cycle of trauma in my family and heal them.
Before I was out of elementary school, I was reading medicine and psychology textbooks in an effort to teach myself why my family was the way they were. I was intellectually gifted and on the autism spectrum. Unfortunately, my family didn’t have the means of providing me with the support and care I needed. As a result, I struggled academically, mentally and socially for a good part of my childhood.
When I was in high school, I enrolled in a vocational school and studied nursing. At eighteen years old, I was working in my community hospital and had a full scholarship to study nursing. But after just two years working in the field, I realized that health care in America was fundamentally broken.
So, I took a completely different direction with my career.
I left clinical care and worked on the business-side of health care and real estate industries. I was spending 16+ hours a day in front of my computer, doing work that I eventually learned was killing my brain and body. I was struggling with depression, anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, joint pain, “unexplained” heart and gastrointestinal issues, and cystic acne. I was bouncing around from doctor-to-doctor, getting test after test, but feeling worse and worse.
My research kept pointing me to food and fitness. Even though I was doing all of the “right things,” I was still sick. Even though I was going to therapy every week, I was still depressed, anxious, uncomfortable in my body, and exhausted with my mind. I was taking so many nutritional supplements and trying numerous diets, but wasn’t getting anywhere. I eventually developed two eating disorders and spent the majority of my days thinking about food and my body.
Despite doing everything I was “supposed to” and “should” be doing, nothing was working. Despite following all of the nutritional medicine strategies, practices and protocols I was learning about in graduate school, it felt like my brain and body just weren’t capable of healing. I felt like my body was betraying me and that my mind was out of control. I felt lost inside of myself. I felt like I didn’t want to exist.
In the summer of 2017, I began watching Law & Order: True Crime, which depicted the childhood trauma and abuse of the Menendez brothers. For the first time in my life, I Googled “health effects of childhood trauma.”
That Google search altered the trajectory of my personal, professional and familial destiny.
I learned, for the first time, that childhood trauma and traumatic stress was associated with almost everything that me and my entire family experienced. I learned that trauma changes our DNA expression patterns, alters our immune function, impacts our neurobiology, and can cause systemic disease.
I learned that nutrition has a direct impact on these very same things. I learned that nutrition is required, not optional, for the cellular basis of our very existence. Nutrition and food can have a monumental impact on our neurochemistry and brain health, and subsequently, our ability to heal from the cellular and neurochemical changes caused by traumatic stress.
I also learned that the stories we tell ourselves about our brain and body also have a direct impact on these very same things.
I learned that my health was not my fault, and that there was still something more I could do to take care of myself.
I discovered what me and my family needed to heal, grow and recover.
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From the moment of that Google search, I dedicated myself to deepening my understanding of how to heal, grow and recover from traumatic stress and autoimmune disease. I completely shifted the direction of my academic pursuits and career. I built upon the foundation of psychology and nutrition knowledge I had from my undergraduate and graduate education and started studying the neurobiology of trauma, nutritional neuroscience and narrative medicine.
After years of educating thousands of nutrition, health, fitness, and wellness professionals about the importance of trauma-informed nutrition care, I returned to clinical practice working exclusively with people who have experienced trauma and subsequently developed an autoimmune disease. I also returned to school to earn a doctorate degree in health and medical sciences.
Along the way, I developed an entirely new approach to caring for people who have experienced trauma and have an autoimmune disease, called Narrative Neuronutrition. You can learn more about it here.
All of this brings me back to you.
If you’re here, I have a hunch that you can relate to some of my experiences bouncing from doctor-to-doctor, supplement-to-supplement and diet-to-diet without experiencing any results. You’ve learned that trauma has an impact on your health, but you’re not really sure what exactly that means for your brain and body.
I’m here to help you learn what your mind, brain and body need to heal, grow and recover. I’m here to be a source of support, guidance, education, and care along the way.
Before you go further, you need to know that:
Your brain and body cannot heal in a malnourished state. Nutrition is necessary for your biological existence. The nutrients from food are required for virtually every vital cellular function that is responsible for keeping you alive and safe. That’s why ignoring your nutrition and focusing solely on a single medication or counseling to heal, grow and recover might not seem like it’s enough for you.
Your brain and body are unique. Your brain, body and health are uniquely shaped by your life experiences, events and exposures. Dozens of factors influence your biochemistry, thoughts, beliefs, and actions -- not just your individual choices and decisions. That’s why one-size-fits-all or cookie-cutter strategies and plans don’t always work.
You need to feel safe in your body to heal. Trauma and autoimmunity can cause your cells and subsequently, your mind, to believe that your brain and body are in perpetual danger. That’s why shaming, guilting, discipling, and forcing yourself to comply with diets, plans and protocols don’t always work.
You deserve to know how to take care of yourself. Most of us never have the opportunity to learn how to understand, decode and apply the messages and information we receive from our body. That’s why we end up chronically dieting, blaming ourselves for our health and feeling frustrated with our body.
You can alter the trajectory of your health destiny. When you learn how to give your brain and body what they need to heal, grow and recover, you will be able to feel safe and connected with your body in ways you never have before. That’s why learning how to nourish yourself at the cellular level is a vital prerequisite to healing, growth and recovery.
Professional Bio
Timothy Frie (he/him) is a neuronutritionist, nutritional neuroscience researcher, writer, educator, and health equity activist. He is the founder & CEO of the Georgia Center for Neuronutrition (GCNN), the southeastern United State’s first and only neuronutrition clinic.
Timothy has pioneered an emerging approach to traumatic stress, autoimmunity and neuroinflammatory diseases that integrates innovative and novel applications of precision nutrition and applied nutritional neuroscience with narrative medicine. He specializes in working with people who have experienced traumatic stress and subsequently developed an autoimmune or neuroinflammatory disease.
He has completed two years of post-graduate education in public health and interdisciplinary health sciences and is a doctor of health sciences candidate. He holds a master of science in human nutrition and functional medicine, dual-bachelor of arts degrees in industrial and organizational psychology and leadership, a post-master’s certificate in trauma-informed clinical practice, graduate certificates in neuroscience and trauma and medical sociology, and an associate’s degree in human resources administration. He has completed multiple certifications in nutritional psychology, trauma and resiliency, health and wellness coaching, and nutrition and wellness education. His professional development and continuing education has been focused on nutritional neuroscience, neurodivergence, grief and loss, and trauma-informed nutritional counseling.
Timothy and his work have been featured in CBS, Fox News, BBC, Newsweek, The Independent, New York Post, Medical News Today, Health News, along with several books and health, nutrition and wellness podcasts.