"All diseases begin in the gut" - Hippocrates
Frequently asked questions
What is Nutritional Therapy?
Nutritional Therapy is the process of determining any underlying nutrient deficiencies within our body – that may be manifesting in the form of symptoms or diseases – and treating those deficiencies with a wholefood, nutrient-dense diet and/or supplements.
Nutritional Therapy harnesses the power of real food – along with recommended lifestyle changes – to balance body chemistry and achieve optimal wellness.
Functional Clinical Assessments allow Nutritional Therapists to evaluate nutritional imbalances and deficiencies both at the body system and at the organ level – enabling us to create a tailored set of recommendations designed to support your lasting wellness.
What is the significance of gut health?
Our systems don’t exist in isolation.
Our gut is responsible for everything from absorbing to breaking down to digesting to excreting food waste. The gut should remain intact, preventing food from entering to bloodstream.
When our digestion is compromised, the food we consume is not digested. As a result, there is a cascade of downstream detrimental effects on our health.
Digestive issues today are rampant, and a compromised gut can be linked to more serious issues such as autoimmune conditions.
Furthermore, an unhealthy gut can also impact our moods, mental health, and can manifest itself through the following symptoms:
- Gastrointestinal symptoms - Bloating, Burping, Gas
- Neurological symptoms - Anxiety, Brain fog, Depression, Fatigue, Headaches
- Skin symptoms - Acne, Dry Skin, Eczema
- Other symptoms - Autoimmune disease, Food sensitivities
Insufficient chewing, food sensitivities, and even stress can contribute to a leaky gut, with food entering the blood stream.
Addressing gut-health is at the core of what Nutritional Therapy is about, as the practice adopts a holistic approach from a nutrition and lifestyle point of view, treating each and every individual on the basis of their unique requirements.
How is Nutritional Therapy different to a diet plan?
Nutritional Therapy is not a diet plan.
Diets have a singular focus, and present only one path. Their focus is to reduce your body weight, and the path taken to get there is through calorie counting.
Furthermore, most ‘one-size-fits-all’ diets don’t take into consideration:
- Your bio-individuality – our bodies are influenced by what we eat, what we think, the environment we life in and our lifestyle. As a result, each unique individual has individualised nutrient requirements
- Your food sensitivities – how your body reacts to various foods (e.g. broccoli may be a highly nutritious vegetable but if you have a food sensitivity to it, it is doing you more harm than good)
- Understanding the root cause – understanding the underlying cause of a symptom (e.g. leaky gut) is more important than providing a band-aid solution to ensure the symptom (e.g. headache, bloating) is at the core of what Nutritional Therapy is about.
Without attempting to understand an individual’s bio-individuality, diets can deprive a body of much needed nutrients and – in some cases – replacing them with “foods” that contain synthetic ingredients.
Nutritional Therapy therefore does not focus on ‘diets’, but rather on helping people transition into a lifestyle of high-energy, improved mental clarity through a diet of nutrient-dense wholefoods complemented, if required, by supplements.