What is Nutritional Therapy?
Nutritional Therapy has strong roots in naturopathy, as well as allergy and environmental medicine movements.
It is a complementary therapy, which means it can work alongside orthodox medicine. It is a way of using food and supplements to encourage the body’s natural healing, which is achieved by:
- detoxifing the body
- correcting vitamin, mineral and other micronutrient deficiencies
- restoring healthy digestion
- developing a positive attitude.
In order to achieve the above goals, a therapist asks a lot of questions about all aspects of your health and well-being including medical, diet and family history, menstrual problems, digestion, stress and energy levels and exercise. This helps the therapist discover if you have problems such as food allergies / intolerances, nutritional deficiencies, toxic overload or general nutritional problems.
Besides asking questions, in some cases the therapist may suggest doing tests, such as hair mineral analysis, hormone tests or food intolerance tests, in order to get a better understanding of your current health status.
Nutritionist vs Dietitian
Nutritional therapists work with optimum amounts of nutrients, which are the amounts needed to minimise heath problems and promote optimum health.
Dietitians work with reference nutrient intakes (RNI) or recommended daily allowances (RDA), which are set by the government and are the amounts needed to prevent deficiency diseases in the majority of population.
Nutritional therapists work on prevention of health problems, as well as encouraging the body to heal itself, and incorporate environmental factors into their treatment plans. They also look at the patient holistically.
Dietitians tend to focus on a particular health problem and do not necessarily take environmental factors into consideration. Therefore their approach to treatment can be more symptom rather than patient-oriented.
Why Nutritional Therapy?
Main positive aspects of the therapy are:
- safety of use across a wide range of age groups and life-stages (including pregnancy, infancy and the old age)
- compatibility with other therapies (both complementary and orthodox medicine)
- patient-directed approach (the therapist is mainly a mentor who helps you to find a way to a healthier lifestyle and diet but you, the patient, are in charge of the process)
- working with something that you are already doing (we all have to eat, so we might as well use the food as a weapon in our battle for good health)
- the pleasure factor (because a healthy diet can be much more than the proverbial lettuce leaf and wheat-bran)
Can Nutrition Help me?
Nutritional therapy can help a wide range of individuals from children to mature adults and the elderly,and a wide range of conditions from headaches and migraines to digestive and cardiovascular problems; fatigue to hyperactivity and insomnia; autism to depression, to name but a few. Nutritional therapy will also be of benefit if you have no specific illness, but want to maintain a state of optimum health.
It is particularly helpful for the management and optimisation of:
- stressful lifestyles and resulting low energy levels
- vegetarian, vegan and other special needs diets
- children’s diets
- pre-conception and pregnancy diets
- weight-loss and sports programmes
Nutrition and Illness Link
- Asthma
- Autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis)
- Chronic headaches
- Degenerative diseases (e.g. cancer, motor neurone disease, etc)
- Multiple allergies and sensitivity to chemicals
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue
Nutrition and Illness Link
Listed below are some of the most common complaints linked to nutritional deficiency, food allergy or sensitivity and toxic overload.
Nutritional Deficiency Link:
- Adult Onset Diabetes
- Birth defects
- Depression
- Frequent infections
- Hyperactivity or Agression
- Infertility
- Lack of energy
- Menstrual / premenstrual and menopausal symptoms
- Mental illness (some types)
- Mood swings and other behavioural problems
- Nausea and vomitting in pregnancy
- Skin problems (different types)
Food Allergy / Sensitivity Link:
- Asthma
- Colitis
- Eczema and psoriasis
- Fluid retention and bloating
- Hay fever
- Hyperactivity and aggression
- Indigestion
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Joint pain
- Migraine
- Severe constipation
- Sinusitis
Toxic Overload Link:
- Asthma
- Autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis)
- Chronic headaches
- Degenerative diseases (e.g. cancer, motor neurone disease, etc)
- Multiple allergies and sensitivity to chemicals
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue
Nutritional Consultation
Before your first appointment I will ask you to keep a food diary for one week. When treating you, I will analyse your diary and suggest foods you should eat and foods to be avoided. I may also recommend a specific type of diet and supplements to help your body heal itself. I will give you a review date, so that your progress can be monitored and changes can be made to your programme to encourage your body’s further healing. First consultation normally takes approximately up to 2 hours, during which your medical and diet history is taken, your presenting complaint is discussed and initial diagnosis is made. All the recommendations will be presented as a written report, which you will receive within a week of your consultation. Follow-up appointments are shorter, normally up to 1 hour. During that time I will assess your progress and modify the programme as appropriate. If there are significant changes to the programme, I will write a second report for you.
