  We propose a method for microscopic calculations of nuclear ground-state
properties in the framework of density functional theory. We discuss how the
density functional is equivalent to the effective action for the density,
thereby establishing a constructive framework for density functional
calculations from nuclear forces. The presented approach starts from
non-interacting nucleons in a background potential (a simple approximation for
the mean field). The nuclear forces are then gradually turned on, while the
background potential is removed. The evolution equation yields the ground-state
energy and density of a system of interacting nucleons, including
exchange-correlations beyond the RPA approximation. The method can start from
non-local low momentum (V_{low k}) or chiral interactions.
