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Nutritional Therapy

What is Nutritional Therapy?

Nutritional therapy is the application of nutritional science in the promotion of optimum health, peak performance and disease prevention. Nutritional therapy encompasses the use of carefully compiled recommendations for diet and lifestyle in order to alleviate or prevent ailments and promote optimal health.

Nutritional Therapy also seeks to identify the cause of the presenting problem rather than treat the symptoms. In assessing and developing an individual dietary programme Nutritional Therapy looks at all aspects of your health, history, genetics, lifestyle and factors that may be contributing to ill health.

A consultation can generally take 1- 1½ hours where a detailed analysis of current diet and lifestyle is carried out. All recommendations are agreed with the client and are designed to provide simple, practical effective nutrition and dietary solutions. They may include guidance on:

• Promoting general health
• Methods to support digestion and absorption
• Avoidance of toxin and allergens
• Appropriate use of supplementary nutrients.

National Occupational Standards for Nutritional Therapy

All Nutritional Therapists must meet the National Occupational Standards for Nutritional Therapy as regulated by the Nutritional Therapy Council. (Information obtained from the Nutritional Therapists of Ireland (www.ntoi.ie).

NUTRITIONAL THERAPY DOES NOT CLAIM TO CURE ANY DISEASE, RATHER NUTRITIONAL THERAPY HELPS TO OPTIMISE HEALTH THROUGH EATING GOOD QUALITY WHOLEFOODS.

Think Nutrition always works on the basis that it has to be both manageable and achievable for the patient and given the current climate something that is not going to add to the individual’s stress load. We also do not want you to become fanatical about food but to enjoy the process of adopting a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy can really improve mood, boost energy levels and it can be fun cooking for friends and family.

How can Nutritional Therapy help?

Nutritional Therapists often work with patients, many of whom have been referred by medical practitioners, who have chronic health issues that conventional medicine finds difficult to treat. These include allergies, digestive and bowel disorders, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, depression or stress, auto-immune conditions, migraine and skin disorders. Increasingly, parents with an overweight child and/ or a child with learning and behaviour difficulties seek to support their child with nutritional therapy as opposed to prescription medications.

The Benefits of Nutritional Therapy

• Improves digestive health
• Aids in weight loss and type II diabetes
• Supports the immune system
• Enhances energy
• Individualised tailored programme as no two people are the same. It gets to the crux of what is right for YOU and YOUR body.  It looks at your metabolism as metabolism is also something that needs to be taken in consideration.

Don’t take our word for it on the benefits of Nutritional Therapy

Fifty years of scientific studies show that most diseases seen in modern countries as well as the leading causes of death are as a result of diet.

Recent research has shown that the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease with a recent analysis of 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrating that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of overall and cardiovascular mortality.

What does the Mediterranean diet involve?

• Getting plenty of exercise.
• Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts.
• Replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil.
• Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavour foods.
• Limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month.
• Eating fish and poultry at least twice a week.
• Drinking red wine in moderation (optional) ^{1, 2, 3}

Another recent study in March 2012 carried out on 43,000 men showed that just one sugary drink a day may be enough to raise a man’s risk of heart disease. This study was published in the journal Circulation. The study shows growing evidence that sugar is detrimental.⁴ A similar study was carried out on women previously and a link was found between sugar-sweetened drinks and heart disease.

We only have to look at research into the area of cancer and to look at foods like broccoli which has been proven over and over again in inhibiting cancer, supporting digestion, the cardiovascular system, the detoxification processes in the body, supporting the skin, immune system metabolism and also acting as an anti- inflammatory and antioxidant.⁵

References:

1. Fitó M, Guxens M, Corella D, Sáez G, Estruch R, de la Torre R, Francés F, Cabezas C, López- Sabater Mdel C, Marrugat J, García-Arellano A, Arós F, Ruiz-Gutierrez V, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, Fiol M, Solá R, Covas MI, for the PREDIMED Study Investigators: Effect of a traditional Mediterranean diet on lipoprotein oxidation: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med 2007, 167(11): 1195-203.
2. Esposito K, Di Palo C, Maiorino MI, Petrizzo M, Bellastella G, Siniscalchi I, Giugliano D: Long- term effect of mediterranean-style diet and calorie restriction on biomarkers of longevity and oxidative stress in overweight men. Cardiol Res Pract 2010, 2011: 293916.
3. Galland L: Diet and inflammation. Nutr Clin Pract 2010, 25(6): 634-40.
4. De Koning L, Malik VS, Kellog MD, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Incident Coronary Heart Disease, and Biomarkers of Risk in Men. Circulation 2012, 125: 1735-1741.
5. Ambrosone CB, Tang L. Cruciferous vegetable intake and cancer prevention: role of nutrigenetics. Cancer Prev Res (Phila Pa). 2009 Apr;2(4): 298-300. 2009.

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