What is Nutritional Therapy?

The number one aim of nutritional therapy is to treat the whole person, a holistic approach if you like.

Nutritional therapy gets at the source of ill-health and does not just look to solve the symptoms.

In my practice as a nutritional therapist I meet people from all walks of life and with very different conditions.

They all need to be given special attention, and no two cases are the same.

So how do I go about treating my patients?

Well, I use a special programme which starts by making an assessment of the individual, a diagnosis of their condition.

Sometimes this can be provided by the medical practitioner (or GP) usually with many chronic disorders,while in less serious cases by myself as nutritional therapist. Then, if diagnosis was made by the medical practitioner, I do an in-depth evaluation of the client's condition.

This includes doing a health-check questionnaire which covers their dietary habits and other lifestyle behaviour, such as how much and what kind of exercise they do.

I find this has to be thorough otherwise we could overlook something very important.

I should stress how important it is to build a trusting relationship with my patients. This makes for a much better result, which is, after all, what people want in the first place.

So, we've got a good understanding between the nutritional therapist and patient, a diagnosis and a big picture of what food and drink they are taking. Now the nutritional therapy approach is starting to take shape.

With this knowledge I first move on to advising which foods are unhealthy and should be cut out. Why so?

Because it is these unhealthy foods that are most likely causing the allergies or nutritional imbalances, and so are the main cause of poor health.

We often hear our governments and health authorities stressing the need to eat more fruit and vegetables, well, that's for a very good reason. A balanced diet is a healthier diet.
I will make suggestions for improving my client's nutrition by pointing them towards appropriate fruit and vegetables, pulses and low-acid forming foods.

Eating healthy, natural foods reduces stress on the liver and digestive system and enables the body to use energy from food to help boost the immune system which revitalizes the body’s defences against disease. The body is able to start healing naturally.

Now that we have organised a new balanced diet it's time to eliminate those "baddies", yes the Toxins. What are these and how do you recognise them?

Are they labelled "This food is toxic" or "Eat this and you die"?

Unfortunately, no. We need to sort out the good from the bad.

Processed foods containing high levels of fat, sugar and salt cause problems for the digestive system. This leads to a build-up of toxins in the body that becomes difficult to get rid of and can leave a toxic residue.

Then there are the additives (100's of them), pesticides and fertilizers often found in mass-produced food. These can put a huge additional strain on the body.

As a nutritional therapist I help the client to build a clear strategy to clear their body of these toxins.

Now that we have a diagnosis, a full picture of what the client eats, and suggestions as to what they should eat and should cut out, we come to the extras, if you like.

Supplements can act as extra building blocks to helping the body recover from a deficiency or to boost the immune system. It is very important to choose the correct quantity of essential vitamins and minerals.

If my clients take too high a dose then this can cause a different problem. With so many products being offered today, it's really important that people get good advice in this area.

With nutritional therapy I have seen dramatic improvements in my clients's health when they stopped taking "unhealthy" foods. And you should remember, of course, the longer a condition has been present the longer it may take to be relieved.

With food intolerance and allergies, improvements are almost instant with continued improvement as the body's defences strenthen.

I hope this introduction to my work as a nutritional therapist has helped you see what potential there is to improve your food diet.

Nutritional therapy is only part of a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle, but an important one at that.

The above article is provided by Jan Walker and does not reflect the views of Anglesey Today.

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