The best thing about what I do is to work with those who have had the courage to try something different. And it does take courage for people to contact me.
It is easy to slip into familiar patterns regarding our health whether that is in diet, supplements or the professional health advice we get. For me the starting point is to acknowledge that no person or branch of health sciences has a monopoly over your health. Medicine, nutrition, physical therapies and some alternative practices all play a part.
My discipline of Nutritional Medicine is a little unique as we sit somewhere between medicine and naturopathy. We rely mostly on the diagnostic tools that medicine offers and regularly refer clients to be assessed. The difference is that I treat chronic problems mostly by diet and supplements.
As an example many people contact me with joint problems commonly with osteoarthritis (OA). This can be very disabling and unfortunately is a condition that medicine has few answers outside of surgery and pain relief.
Like many chronic problems OA responds well to nutritional therapy. While an anti-inflammatory diet can help, in my experience it is personalised supplement programmes that make the biggest difference.
I usually start people on solid doses of Omega 3 alongside my OA support supplement. I generally like to initially target around 1500mg of chondroitin sulphate, the same of glucosamine and add a potent 95% curcumin (turmeric) extract. Most people notice the difference in 8-12 weeks.
In some problems such as hypertension we work closely with medical advice. This is one problem that can respond very well to targeted foods high in nitrates to dilate and relax blood vessels. Adding antioxidant supplements and specific minerals especially magnesium can all combine to reduce blood pressure.
Poor circulation is another problem that can respond well to nutritional medicine. Many people have issues with poor circulation generally to their lower legs. Like most vascular problems the cause is a combination of several factors. My goal is to dilate blood vessels to improve blood flow while helping to improve the structure of blood vessel walls. In particular we target the nutritional processes involved in the formation and maintenance of the collagen that provides strength to blood vessels.
Sometimes just the act of getting started is the hardest. Be honest with yourself and ask the really hard questions. Is my health where I would really like it to be? Based on my health today, what are my expectations over the next 5-10 years?