About Dr. Sauer and Our Functional Medicine Team

Dr. Forrest Sauer 
Owner, Founder

Our Purpose Is:

Make Chronic Disease Optional

Dr. Sauer is a functional doctor based in Fargo, ND. Over his career in medicine, he’s seen many people rediscover their vitality and joy through holistic care. With every person, his goal is to listen closely and develop a personalized wellness plan for each person. It’s why he’s one of the region’s most trusted functional doctor. 

Is This Right For You?

I’m guessing you’re here wondering how to improve your health. It can be frustrating can’t it? The amount of information out there is, to put it simply… overwhelming. After struggling for years with depression, brain fog, moodiness, IBS, being overweight, fatigued and just overall not feeling motivated, I started transforming my health through lifestyle changes. That’s what led me to become a functional doctor in North Dakota.

It so radically transformed my life, that we coach and educate every one of our clients on those same methods (that took me YEARS to figure out). We condense it in a mere matter of months and give our members a very clear path on what to do and why.

After having success with hundreds of clients, and handling just about any kind of health condition and situation I would say we are pretty good at it. Today, we see clients across the country. People from Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska meet with our team online because they’ve seen the power of functional medicine. Our entire team is committed to helping you reach optimal health and vitality by treating your whole body.

The real question is… are YOU up for it?

 
– Dr. Sauer 

Online appointments available.

Meet Our Amazing Team

Our team is dedicated to helping people just like you, succeed in finding their way back to health. 

Dr. Forrest Sauer

Owner, Founder

Dr. Forrest Sauer

Owner, Founder

Since 2014, Dr. Forrest Sauer has been at the forefront of Functional Medicine. He first received his doctorate in Chiropractic in 2014. During this time he spent a year interning at a Functional Medicine practice where he saw cases ranging from the common cold to complex neurological, hormonal and autoimmune cases. All while applying the power of functional medicine. It was here that Dr. Sauer was able to take his knowledge of biochemistry, science, and the human body and tie all of it together in a real clinic setting.

He has since been busy continuing his education with organizations and professionals on the cutting edge of this growing field. Additional certifications include but are not limited to:

·        Mastering Brain Chemistry – University of Bridgeport

·        Functional Blood Chemistry – University of Bridgeport

·        Mastering the Thyroid – University of Bridgeport

·        Understanding Autoimmune Signaling Systems and Blood Glucose Issues – University of Bridgeport

·       Mastering Endocrine Disorders – University of Bridgeport

·        Applied Kinesiology & Functional Medicine Certification

·        Functional Neurology Training  – Functional Neurology Seminars 

·        Gluten, Leaky Gut, and the Autoimmune Connection – University of Bridgeport

Robin Flores

Health Coach

Robin is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner with over four years of experience helping clients move beyond symptom management by identifying and addressing root causes. Her work is deeply informed by her own journey of overcoming chronic illness through functional and holistic approaches, allowing her to bring both professional expertise and lived experience into her coaching.

As part of the Twin Oaks Health team, she serves as a Functional Health Coach, where she is passionate about getting to know each client and supporting their unique needs and health goals.

Outside of work, she is a wife and a boy mom to an energetic four-year-old. She enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, hiking, and strength training.

Elianna Gilenson

Client Experience Specialist

Elianna Gilenson is a client experience specialist with a strong background in functional health, functional lab interpretation, and women’s metabolic and hormone support. She is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P), Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), and holds a degree in Nutrition.

As a girl mom to three daughters (ages 4, 8, and 10), Elianna understands firsthand the challenges women face with hormones, metabolism, energy, and overall wellbeing—especially throughout pregnancy and postpartum. Her own journey overcoming metabolic and autoimmune struggles inspired her to enter the functional health space so she could help others get clarity, support, and real solutions.

In her role as Client Experience Specialist, Elianna partners with patients to ensure they feel informed, supported, and confident throughout their care journey. She strives to make every client feel seen and understood, and she is passionate about helping people take the next step toward better health.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to the questions we receive the most about functional doctors, our services, and policies.
If we missed anything, please do not hesitate to contact us. We’ll be happy to help.

No, this is not your run-of-the-mill-meal-replacement-shake-weight-loss-balongue-program. This is not a protein bar or cutting calories thing. It is food that you purchase in the grocery store, bring home and prepare like humans were meant to do. We never ask you to starve yourself… ever. 

It’s not that we don’t accept insurance, it’s that insurance doesn’t cover proactive care. They are not interested in reversing diseases, merely the management using medications and surgeries. Which is exactly what most people want to avoid. It’s pretty clear that insurance will never do what it takes to get your life back. 

Yes! Functional Medicine doesn’t rely on space-age technology or clunky machines. We create your personalized treatment plan to be as natural as possible, which means online sessions can be incredible productive. Lifestyle changes can be done at home!

We believe that you should know not only what you should do to radically improve your health, but also know why your doing it. This is called educational healthcare. We believe in training and educating our practice members to live a life that gives them the freedom in their health and life.
 

This is something that we hear all of the time… when your labs are coming back normal, yet you still feel like crap. This is unfortunately normal. Insurance is only going to pay for what they can medicate for and you are being compared to all of the other sick people who are feeling just as terrible as you.

The answer is to take comprehensive labs and look at them proactively. Proactively meaning don’t wait until you actually get the disease take action early.

We work with moms and dads with kids and families all of the time. The good news is you’re not going to have to prepare more than one meal for the whole family. There’s nothing worse than watching your family sit down to pizza and you’re stuck with a dry salad.

When we mean lifestyle we mean everybody goes through the change together. It may not mean that they take as drastic changes as you, but you are in this as a team.

The truth is is we all have 24 hours throughout the day. You get to choose how you spend it. If you are too busy to focus on your health now you are going to be forced to focus on your health later.

This is simply a choice. Are you going to decide to take action now and make the most of your life, or are you going to wait till you’re forced to do it later?

We’re not asking you to become a fancy chef. It’s about learning how to cook delicious meals that are simple and effective.

And if you really hate to cook there’s always a way to keep you out of the kitchen and on to your new healthy lifestyle!

We have clients who are ages 23-90 years old, single moms, single dads, retired, fixed budgets. People from all walks of life that have been able to get started on a program to help get their health and quality of life back.

The real answer is… it depends. We use supplements to fix what is going on underneath, not simply take care of symptoms. This allows our clients to have to take fewer and fewer pills over time. The only job of a vitamin or mineral is to speed up the healing process, not be a life long sentence.

No, we walk our clients though step-by-step and find out what foods are right for them. This is not a one size fits all approach. 

First off… go you! You’re stronger than most, and you know better than anybody that your kids solely depend on you. Now more than ever you need to focus on your health, so when the time comes you can rely on yourself.

We’ve helped many clients who are globe trotters. It’s about having the right resources at the right time to keep you on your health calls.
Don’t let this become an excuse to put it off until things are more “convenient”.

I have seen too many “hopeless” cases turnaround around and they are able to adopt beautiful healthy energy-filled lives to doubt your success to get the same results.

The body (this is including yours) has the ability to heal and transform the way we were truly designed. You are only done if you decide to be.