As a Holistic Nutritionist, I am aware of the importance of what we put in our bodies, and how nutrition affects overall mood, health, state of mind, etc. Most people think that if they eat their "recommended daily intakes" of veggies, grain, dairy, protein, and water along with a multi-vitamin, that they should be able to maintain health.
Unfortunately, the more I study, and the more clients I see, the more I realize how impossible it is for the average person to obtain optimum health--even with what most would consider a "good" diet.
The most convenient way to use nutrition is in a concentrated form called HERBS! I know, for most of my clients lifestyles, including myself, that it is easier for us to take a daily handful of pills, than to find or grow, prepare, alternate and consume several different types of ORGANIC vegetables and fruits and food groups for balanced nutrition. Herbs are foods, and they are concentrated foods. I also use vitamin therapies in my practice as the situation calls for. I only use supplements that are pesticide free, and in a company that believes in quality control. Herbs are nutrition.
I also believe that there are basic food laws that apply to almost everyone, and as always, I suggest to my client the importance of a balanced, healthy diet, and help them to understand the importance of a WHOLE FOOD DIET. Meaning that food is best closest to the way it is served to us by nature--whole, unprocessed, uncooked and raw. As a reasonable person, I also know that not all of my clients are going to eat an exclusively raw food diet. Therefore, I know there is a need for supplementation to make up for what we are not getting in the diet, and for cleansing the harmful things that we ARE getting in the diet. I have two types of situations in which I help people with Nutrition:.
- Therapeutic use of herbs = Medicinal use of herbs
- Maintenance use of herbs = Nutritional use of herbs
Most of my clients use both, and usually in succession.
When I first help my clients with nutrition, I use tools to assess the client's current and past state of health such as Iridology. Usually people come to me with some type of disorder, ailment or symptom. Sometimes I see clients who have had past medical conditions, and who have already changed their lifestyles to one conducive to health. For the latter, we usually build a program for them to MAINTAIN, and ensure optimum NUTRITION. The majority of clients however, are the former, and we need to start from scratch, working up to lifestyle changes. I usually start off these clients with what I call a THERAPEUTIC HERBAL PROGRAM.
The Therapeutic program is a program of supplements: enzyme, herbal, homeopathic or vitamin combinations as the case may require. This program is usually somewhat extensive, and can require what seems like large doses of several types of supplements. This is when the herbs are used MEDICINALLY. The body has been working up to a condition of irritation, under/over acidity, undernourishment, etc. for years, and this first Therapeutic program is used to BACK TRACK all these conditions that have been built up or neglected until the time the client comes to my office. Many times this requires a cleansing of toxins from the body. The concentration of nutritional supplements support this process. I suggest that this first program be continued for at least three months. It takes the body three months to change at a cellular level. Depending on the condition of the client, this process of using Supplements MEDICINALLY, can last up to one year to retrace some of the toxic conditions built up in the body, and to assist the body in restoring old, weakened tissues with new, stronger tissue.
At this point, the client should have a good knowledge of the herbs/supplements that seem to work for his particular body. Then, the client can continue to use the supplements NUTRITIONALLY. As long as the client has changed some of the negative lifestyle habits and added certain practices that help maintain health. I then suggest that we work together to build a MAINTENANCE program. This maintenance program is also customized to the lifestyle, habits and genetic makeup of the client, to ensure and enhance their good state of health. The MAINTENANCE program is usually significantly smaller in terms of variety of supplements, and in dosages.
Iridology finds the body's genetic inherent weaknesses. With this information, after a Therapeutic program, a Maintenance program supports the clients particular weaknesses, and enhances the typical diet of the person. I believe everyone, with the exception of people who grow and prepare their own, organic foods, and have the luxury of living in a place without pollution, electromagnetic pollution, chemical ingestion, stress, and many of the technological pollutants that the majority of us endure, need a supplementation to their diets to create balanced nutrition. We are also all subjected to some type of genetic weakness. Any excess of the toxins made from the body or ingested into the body, will naturally go to our weak areas. Strengthening our weaknesses with herbal nutrition is one of the best ways to work with preventative medicine.
Of course I work with other preventative modalities such as Reflexology and Colonic therapy which I believe enhance the holistic, preventative lifestyle. I also believe that Massage, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, and other forms of natural healing all compliment each other. We are all different and will respond to each modality with different results, however, nutrition is the foundation that each and every one of us is built.