“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself” Adelle Davis
Nutritional Therapy takes a whole-body approach to improving health and for this reason, it includes both diet and the use of supplements.
What we eat and drink has a major impact on our health and wellbeing. That is to say, it influences everything, from Type 2 diabetes and heart disease to IBS and obesity.
What we eat and drink are driven by:
- Family culture and social norms
- Cost, income and accessibility
- Our knowledge and attitudes to food
- Our beliefs about what’s good for us
- How much time we have to prepare food
- Our stress levels and relationship to food
Many of my clients come to the practice with a long list of symptoms, such as long term persistent pain, chronic exhaustion, even though they simultaneously feel wired and tired. By the time they walk through my door, their symptoms have significantly affected their relationships, their career and even their libido. In view of this, it makes sense to examine their food choices, not to mention what they choose to drink and what they use for snacks.
Would I need to change my diet?
Possibly and possibly not!
Most people intuitively know they need to cut down on or remove certain foods from their diet, typically sugar, caffeine, alcohol, gluten, or dairy. Often, it’s two or three of these for a limited time, allowing them to see if it makes a difference.
Would I need to take supplements?
It depends on what we are treating. Over many years, I have found that Nutritional Therapy can be extremely effective when used correctly. It can help with the following:
- Reducing inflammation – from injuries, back pain, recovery from surgery
- Healing the gut and improving digestion
- Rebalancing biochemistry – many vitamins and minerals are co-factors that enable enzymes to function properly. Hormones require specific nutrients to function properly.
- Assisting detoxification – specific vitamins are required for the different detoxification pathways
- Supporting hormone function – certain vitamins and minerals can help with PMT, menopause
- Increasing energy levels
One of the areas that is fast gaining popularity is providing nutritional support for the body’s detoxification processes.
We know that the body is designed to detoxify and eliminate toxins. If a time comes when it can no longer handle the overload of toxicity present in our environment it can lead to many debilitating health problems, such as headaches, chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain. Recently, researchers have linked toxicity to cancer.
It is estimated that more than 84,000 chemicals are used in household products, cosmetics, foods and food packaging which have never been tested for safety!
Nutritional supplementation can be invaluable to help the body detoxify the wide variety of toxins we’re exposed to on a daily basis.
Sources of Toxicity
- Benzene from petrol fumes
- Bisphenol A [BPA] from food cans and plastic packaging
- Out-gassing from new carpets, new wood furniture
- Household cleaning products
- Wood floor finishes
- Pesticides on food ie Glyphosate
- Cigarette smoke
- Artificial sweeteners
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Tattoo Ink
- Non stick pans, aluminium cooking pots
And many more !!!
Nutritional Therapy
Your ability to remove or detoxify toxins is an important factor in protecting yourself from toxin related health conditions. Nutritional Therapy can play a big role in your recovery if you suffer from nutritional deficiencies or your detoxification pathways need to be supported.
The old adage “You Are What You Eat” has never been more true. We now need to add “You’re as healthy as your ability to detoxify”.
Using lab tests for nutritional deficiencies is extremely useful because results are measurable.
