Life Zone Wellness

Cynthia L. Smith (Caldarella) is the CEO of Life Zone Wellness, in Chicago.
She is a Nutrigenomic Counselor. She is not a medical doctor. I found her name in the MTHFR​.Net Physician Directory, although I noticed that she is not listed there anymore.
In September 2015 I decided to have a comprehensive consultation with her for $ 450.00.
During the consultation I found out she is a firm believer of the Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey. This is an extreme diet which goes against everything I’ve been taught about what’s good for us and what isn’t. If I had known that she advocates it, I would have never agreed to do the consultation with her. Unfortunately, her website does not mention the Bulletproof Diet.
After filling out a comprehensive questionnaire and after the phone consultation, Cynthia sent me a detailed and individualized plan with recommended supplements and dietary changes that I was to follow in 3 phases with her guidance. However, her help didn’t go beyond phase one. Often, if I asked her to clarify something she had written in the plan, she would be slow in answering and when she did, she would answer in monosyllabic replies, or replies that were so full of typos I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
Cynthia suggested that I undergo 2 medical tests from Genova Diagnostics and, luckily I only decided to do one (the GI Effects Comprehensive Stool Profile) or I would have had to pay a lot more money out-​of-​pocket than I already did. She told me the test would cost $ 499 and that she would check if my insurance would cover it, which they did. However, I would have to pay upfront an amount of $ 109, which was fine by me.
Once I received the test results back, Cynthia was going to recommend a treatment plan based on the results but that would require another consultation which meant paying more money, something I was not willing to do at this point. To make matter worse, I received a bill from Genova Diagnostics telling me to pay $ 286. This is after they had charged my insurance not $ 499 but $ 2,700 of which my insurance paid $ 1,200, leaving me with a total out-​of-​pocket expense of almost $ 400.00.
Genova Diagnostics does not tell patients how much tests cost unless the clinician allows them to disclose that information. So, I relied on what Cynthia had told me which was a huge mistake. When I told Cynthia about the bill, she initially suggested that I try to negotiate down the bill with Genova Diagnostics. However, that didn’t happen and Genova Diagnostic threatened me to report me to collection if I didn’t pay the balance.
Ten days ago Cynthia promised me she would call them. Five days ago, when I still hadn’t heard from her, I e-​mailed her but she didn’t reply. So, yesterday, I called her (this was the first time I ever called her on the phone). She let me know right away that she was eating her lunch. I apologized for disturbing her and asked her if the had gotten in touch with Genova Diagnostics. She told me she had and that I had to pay the balance because of some deal she hadn’t been aware of in regards to my insurance. I asked her how it could be possible that Genova Diagnostics billed my insurance over $ 2,700 if she had told me it was $ 499. Her response was that the retail cost for this exam is $ 2,900, which is something she had failed to mention to me.
When I initially looked Cynthia up I was hoping to find a review on her but was unsuccessful. So I hope this review can help others make an informed decision.