Food as Medicine
What is Nutritional Medicine?
Nutrition Forms the Basis of Complementary Medicine!
Foods not only influence our short term feelings of wellbeing and satiety but they also profoundly affect our long term health, longevity, antiaging and risk of developing both acute and chronic diseases.
Our Diet is one of the essential factors in determining our health.
Nutrition Medicine Is A Integrative Medicine
Nutritional Medicine is one of the modalities used in the field of ‘integrative medicine.”‘
Integrative nutrition integrates more than just nutritional evaluation and treatment; it represents a way of healing through using food as Medicine.
Healthy Whole Food Is The Original And Best Medicine
Incorporating the concepts of food as Medicine into your life is an efficient decision because of the way specific foods activate your body’s natural healing force. You can prevent and heal your body safely and effectively.
The scientific study of nutrition aims to determine how different nutritional substances interact with life processes and contribute to healthy functioning. To learn how food may be manipulated and used to help prevent and treat diseases.
Nutritional Deficiencies Result In Disease.
Nutritional Medicine embraces the philosophy as using ‘Food As Medicine’.
The nutrients found in food, the healing benefits of a balanced nutritious diet.
The impact of deficiencies of nutrients in disease and how to fuel the body to prevent illness holistically.
Bio-Individuality
We are biochemically unique!
We, as humans, are all individual and unique in terms of biochemistry, metabolism, anatomy and genetics.
Age, Genetics, Environmental Exposures, Drug Consumption, Pathology, Emotional Response are all influences that make an individual, individual and unique in the context of nutritional requirements. A nutritional medicine practitioner discusses and considers all of these areas in consultation before prescribing a personal dietary prescription.
Hence the saying ‘One Mans Food is another Mans Poison'.
Nutritional Medicine teaches the use of healing with foods that are natural and haven't been tampered with – sprayed, genetically altered and processed.
Good Food is Healing
Nutritional Medicine – healthy food choices are essential for normal organ development and functioning, for growth, repair, maintenance and normal reproduction.
It is vital for optimum activity level and working efficiency, resistance to infection and disease, and the ability to repair bodily damage or injury.
Nutrition is the relationship of foods to the health of the human body. Proper nutrition means that all the essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins,
Proper nutrition means that all the vital nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins, minerals and water are supplied and utilised to balance to maintain optimal health and wellbeing.
Treating the body with adequate nutrition and sensible eating habits cannot be overemphasised.
It is challenging to have optimal health without paying sufficient attention to Diet and lifestyle. This does not mean being obsessed about how you live your life, because relaxation and joy are essential to good health; it simply means being mindful of over-indulgence.
Nutritional Deficiencies Result in Disease
The importance of good quality food (seasonal, organic, biodynamic or genetically modified-free foods) eaten in moderation, gives your body the daily nutrients, vitamins and minerals to provide your body with the fuel and energy but also the nutrients to prevent disease.
Healing Whole Foods
Occasionally, it may be advisable to use specialised nutritional supplements for a short period.
The implementation of dietary supplements is ideally only considered when nutritional changes have been exhausted, or a patient is unwilling to take time to eat and cook healthy. Supplements are not natural; they do not contain any lifeforce (healing energy).
Vitamins and Minerals from Food
A naturopathic practitioner will always choose to heal using nature, not laboratory-made synthetic drugs.
“Food is a complex source of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (plant chemicals), which all work together. Supplements tend to work in isolation. Research has shown that a food component that has a particular effect on the body may not have the same effect when it is isolated and taken as a supplement. The vitamins and minerals in foods are influenced by other components of the food, not just the ‘active ingredient’.
Phytochemicals are an essential component of food and are thought to reduce the incidence of heart disease and some cancers. Supplements do not provide the benefits of phytochemicals and other components found in food. Taking vitamin and mineral supplements is no substitute for a healthy diet”. Reference: Better Health Victorian Government.
Nutritional Medicine is Vital for Preventing Disease
Nutritional Medicine Programs & Nutritional Therapy
Nutritional Medicine is a vital part of health care (Complementary & Integrative Medicine), preventative medicine modality.
Your health will improve when you choose to eat whole foods in their natural form. Selecting fresh, seasonal food and learning to use ‘Food as Medicine' not only strengthens and heals your body but also your emotional health.
Some conditions that significantly improve with nutritional therapy are:
- Skin Conditions – acne, psoriasis, eczema,
- Lung & Respiratory Conditions; asthma, arthritis, sinusitis, allergies,
- Hormonal conditions, infertility,
- Behavioural conditions – attention deficit disorder (ADHD),
- Metabolic health conditions – type II diabetes, hypertension, obesity
- Digestive conditions – digestive issues, IBS, Crohn's disease, Colitis
- Mental and Emotional conditions – stress, anxiety, panic attacks, addictions, mood swings, depression
- Viral, Fungal, Bacterial conditions – Candida, fatigue,
- Cancers
- Athletic performance
- Sleep conditions – insomnia
The word ‘Diet' comes from the Greek word ‘dieta', meaning a “way of life”.
Often people associate this word with weight loss, but that is wrong.
Diet being a ‘Way of Life' is the reflection of what you eat every day and how with time the way you eat can reflect your health and wellbeing.
Your health and wellbeing will optimise when you use nutrition as Medicine.
As a Nutritionist and Naturopath Health Practitioner, I use food as Medicine to heal, strengthen and support your overall health. I create dietary changes for you to heal your body and improve your overall health.
Nutrition programs include a few days of food plan suggestions, with recipes, a shopping list to make cooking nutritiously easy for you.
Nutritional Medicine programs offer you a guide and the Motivation to try new healthy recipes and to try cooking different food, stepping you out of comfort zone introducing you to more healthy options that you may not have tried.
Having a Nutritional Medicine consultation individualises your eating plan, fine-tunes your Diet, using food as Medicine, giving you healthy options to reach your health goals.
My Energy Plus 7 Day Nutrition Plan and recipe book give you a head start to kickstart your nutrition. Download for Free!
Prescription Only Nutritional Supplements
If on occasion as mentioned above if your situation warrants supplementation, I will only prescribe ‘Practitioner Only ‘Supplements.
These are high quality researched and produced Nutritionals that are only available after a consultation with qualified health and medical professional.
They are only available with a prescription given explicitly to you after a Naturopathic consultation.
These supplements are not the products found in a health food shop or at the front of the chemist shop. They are stored behind the counter just like a drug like an ‘antibiotic'.
For my patients, after a consultation, I will create an account with one of the top health product companies that supply ‘prescription only health products'. These products are drop-shipped to your door after processing your prescription.
Three of the companies I currently use are:
My ‘Energy Plus‘ Nutrition & Lifestyle Program & Makeover offers you the tools and choices for Successful Nutrition.
Choose food for nutrition and herbal and homoeopathic Medicine to heal and benefit ‘Your Style of Life.
My ‘Energy Plus‘ Nutrition & Lifestyle Program & Makeover offers you the tools and choices for Successful Nutrition.
Choose food for nutrition and herbal and homoeopathic Medicine to heal and benefit ‘Your Style of Life.