Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Bookhamer.
Hi Leah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My interest in health began with challenges of my own that eventually manifested as Hashimoto’s. For more than a decade, I managed my symptoms while searching for answers, but the experience that truly propelled me into functional nutrition happened in 2013.
A serious dog attack sent me to an infectious disease specialist, who placed me on six weeks of infused antibiotics. By the time the treatment was over, I was a mere shell of my former self. My skin was ashen, my hair had lost its shine, and I knew my body needed more than conventional medicine could offer to help me rebuild my health.
Even before the attack, I had been struggling with extreme inflammation. Every sinus cavity in my head was filled with fluid, resulting in one relentless sinus infection after another. I repeatedly asked the doctors I saw whether my diet—specifically gluten—could be contributing to what was happening. The answer was always the same: a shrug followed by, “I don’t know.”
That response stayed with me. I knew there had to be a deeper explanation for why my body was struggling, and I became determined to find it.
That search led me to functional and foundational nutrition, where I began learning about the connections between food, digestive health, inflammation, toxic burden, mitochondrial function, and the body’s natural ability to heal. As I restored my own health, I realized I wanted to help others find the answers I had struggled so hard to uncover.
I became a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and began working with people facing complex, often long-standing health concerns. Because animals have always been an enormous part of my life, my work eventually expanded to include pets. I saw that they, too, are affected by food quality, digestive dysfunction, medications, environmental exposures, and the cumulative burden placed on the body over time.
Today, I’m a Functional Nutritionist for people and pets and the founder of Open•Bind•Restore Wellness. My approach begins with the foundations: real food, proper digestion, supported elimination pathways, cellular energy, and individualized nutritional support. I also use energetic muscle testing to help create protocols tailored to the individual rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.
My Open • Bind • Restore Method grew from both my personal healing journey and the way I have worked with clients for years: open and support the body’s natural elimination pathways, bind unwanted compounds in the digestive tract, and restore the nutrients, gut health, mitochondrial function, and resilience the body needs.
What began as my own search for answers has become my life’s work—helping people and the animals they love build stronger foundations for health, detoxing one bite at a time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. For more than a decade, I lived with symptoms, managed Hashimoto’s, and searched for answers that no one seemed able to give me. I was repeatedly dismissed by doctors who believed I was exaggerating or making up my symptoms. I was even asked to leave medical offices. Knowing that something was wrong while being made to feel as though it was all in my head was one of the most difficult parts of my journey.
The dog attack and six weeks of infused antibiotics in 2013 became both a physical low point and a turning point. Rebuilding my health afterward was not quick or straightforward. As I began peeling back the layers, other issues were revealed—including a parasitic infection, and mold illness, which became major pieces of the puzzle.
Addressing the mold required much more than detoxing and taking supplements. I had to address the exposure in my living environment while also supporting the effects it had on my health. I then began recognizing that my pets had been affected as well. That experience gave me an even deeper understanding of how our environment influences the health of every living being within it.
Healing has required patience, persistence, and a willingness to keep searching when the conventional answers fell short. Building my practice has followed a similar path of growth—from working with people to expanding into pet health and eventually creating Open•Bind•Restore Wellness to fully reflect the foundational way I work.
Those struggles shaped the practitioner I am today. They taught me to listen carefully, look beyond isolated symptoms, and never dismiss someone who knows that something in their body—or their animal’s body—is simply not right.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Open•Bind•Restore Wellness is a functional nutrition practice for both people and pets. I work with clients who are looking beyond symptom management and want to better understand the underlying contributors to their health concerns—or the health concerns of the animals they love.
My work begins with the foundations: real food, digestion, hydration, liver and bile function, healthy elimination, the gut microbiome, and cellular energy. I often work with complex concerns involving chronic inflammation, digestive dysfunction, autoimmunity, parasites, mold and environmental exposures, toxic burden, and mitochondrial challenges.
What sets my practice apart is the Open • Bind • Restore Method. OPEN focuses on supporting the liver, bile flow, lymph, kidneys, and other natural elimination pathways. BIND focuses on capturing unwanted compounds within the digestive tract so they can be carried out of the body. RESTORE focuses on replenishing nutrients, rebuilding gut health, supporting mitochondrial function, and helping the body regain resilience. The order matters because adding more supplements is not always the answer—sometimes the body first needs help processing and eliminating what is already burdening it.
Every client is different, so I do not use one-size-fits-all protocols. I consider the individual’s history, symptoms, food, lifestyle, environment, and previous health challenges. I also incorporate energetic muscle testing to help determine which foods and nutritional supports are the best fit for that person or animal at that particular time.
I am also a founding partner and educator with PetAmpLife, a company created by four people who share a concern about the cumulative burden today’s pets face from ultra-processed food, environmental chemicals, medications, pesticides, and other everyday exposures. We saw a need for more than isolated supplements or temporary solutions. PetAmpLife was created to provide pet parents with a foundational system that combines purposeful nutritional support with education about real food, detoxification, and cellular health.
Our Open • Bind • Build framework supports liver and bile function, helps bind and remove unwanted compounds through the digestive tract, and nourishes mitochondrial function and cellular energy. Our products—including TUDCA Shield, Daily Detox, and Longevity+—were designed to work together as part of that system. Just as importantly, we teach pet parents why these foundations matter and how everyday choices can influence an animal’s long-term health.
One of the things I am most proud of is helping create brands that bring people and pets into the same larger conversation about foundational wellness. Their nutritional needs are not identical, but both are deeply affected by food quality, their environment, their ability to digest and eliminate, and the cumulative burden of everyday exposures.
Through Open•Bind•Restore Wellness, I offer individualized consultations, nutritional and lifestyle guidance, functional testing when appropriate, customized supplement protocols, and education that helps clients understand the “why” behind each recommendation. I want people to leave feeling informed and empowered—not overwhelmed.
Open•Bind•Restore Wellness represents everything I wish I had when I was searching for answers: someone willing to listen, look at the whole picture, and recognize that symptoms are not random. My goal is to help people and pets create stronger foundations for long-term health—detoxing one bite at a time.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was quiet and a little shy, but fiercely independent. I was also very active—swimming, riding my bike, climbing trees, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.
Growing up in the South during the 1970s came with a wonderful sense of trust and freedom. During the summers, we would leave home on our bikes in the morning and return at sunset for dinner. I loved being surrounded by nature and having the freedom to explore. That love of the outdoors and wide-open spaces has remained with me throughout my life.
We respected our elders and generally did what we were told. But that era also carried the belief that children were meant to be seen and not heard. I didn’t realize until much later how deeply that mentality had shaped me. When doctors dismissed my health concerns, I didn’t push back as hard as I might today. I had been taught to respect authority, remain quiet, and assume the adults or experts knew best—even when I knew something was not right within my own body. Learning to trust my instincts, find my voice, and advocate for myself and my pets became an important part of my healing journey.
My love for animals was also apparent from a very young age. I wanted to bring home every stray dog I encountered—and many times, I did. I remember telling my mom that rescuing animals was what I wanted to do when I grew up. Her very practical response was, “Well, how will you pay for that?”
Although I did not personally grow up on a farm, farming and animal care were part of my family history. My grandparents and great-grandparents had been dairy farmers and horse breeders, so I believe that connection to animals, the land, and farm life was ingrained in me.
Today, my husband and I live on a small farm in Elfin Forest with our dogs, sheep, chickens, and pigs—most of whom came to us through rescue. In many ways, creating this life feels like returning to my roots. Our farm brings together so many things I have always loved: animals, nature, freedom, and open space.
That fiercely independent little girl who wanted to save every stray and spend her days outdoors grew into a woman who found her voice, created a life surrounded by animals, and built a career helping both people and pets.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://foodienutritionaltherapy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_bookhamer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leahbookhamer/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahbookhamer/
- Other: https://petamplife.com/
