What is Nutritional Medicine?
Note: The information on this website is
presented for educational purposes and
is not a substitute for the advice of and treatment by a qualified
professional.
This document was provided by
Continuum Magazine
VOL. 4 No. 3
The first in a six-part series looking at important nutritional topics that we should be aware of if we are to retain or maintain our health
Many people are confused by food now because the messages that they hear on news reports and in magazines are so often contradictory. This is because they focus on the 'latest scientific research'. Most of the answers you really need have been around for a long time. Still one of the most nutritious meals that you can have is a soup which Hippocrates made famous in the fifth century BC and it was he who said 'Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food.'
What is the point of paying to see a nutritional consultant when you can see an HIV dietician for free on the NHS? The point is that with a nutritional therapist you can address the very problems which are causing you to suffer from certain symptoms. The dietician will give you food which (apparently) will help you to cope with/alleviate the symptoms, but will not address the root cause. Someone who has trained in nutritional medicine will arrange an appointment which usually lasts one hour. They will ask you lots of questions about your life, health and ill health. Your whole life will be looked at in terms of your medical history, what illnesses you had, how they were treated or if they were left alone to run their course, what major events have happened in your life of both the stressful and life enhancing varieties, what jobs you have done and any toxins or problems which you might have been exposed to and of course what food you have eaten. You will not be asked to produce a list of all the foods you have ever eaten, more what eating patterns have you had and your attitudes towards them, for example were you brought up on meat and two veg? How long have you been eating processed foods? Have you been a heavy tea or coffee drinker for years? At what age did you became vegetarian? How many years did your daily round of cheese on toast with tomato sauce last? They will look for any habits that caused you to take in a lot of one kind of food and whether or not your body had the ability to deal with it at the time. Your current diet will be looked at in much closer detail and you might be asked to produce a short food diary.
Once your whole life story has been established the practitioner will be able to work out what toxins you have accumulated in your body, what your current symptoms are being caused by, any mineral imbalances that you may have and the depth of your disease.
Armed with all this information she or he will prescribe a diet for you, tailored to your individual needs at a level with which you can cope, some supplements to support your body in its healing efforts and probably some additional things which you can be doing as well as eating your new diet and taking your nutritional supplements. This could be a kind of exercise, skin brushing, acupuncture, aromatherapy or a whole host of other supportive measures.
Follow up sessions will happen every four to eight weeks and will assess your progress, adjust the eliminatory pressure of your supplements, change your diet or whatever is appropriate. Your course of treatment will always remain unique to you, because whatever disease you are suffering from, the way in which you manifest it will be unique to you.
Nutrition is the foundation for all healing. If you do not provide your body with the nutrients which it needs in order to carry out its normal functions then you certainly wont be giving it the extra boost it needs in order to heal itself. The person who coined the phrase 'you are what you eat' was right in a lot of ways, the very bodies that we walk around in are made from the food and drinks which we have put inside us. A more accurate phrase to start quoting, however, might be you are what you don't shit!
How does this nutrition business actually work then? It is based on the premise that the body, given the right energy and the correct micronutrient support will heal itself. This energy is the life force which pervades us all and has been recognized for thousands of years. It has many pseudonyms such as God, Prana and universal energy. Our bodies would be just a bunch of chemicals if we did not have a life force and they wouldn't hang around together for very long and we would cease to exist. The question of what this energy is has intrigued philosophers and healers throughout the ages. Centuries ago, the predominant point of view centered on the philosophy of 'vitalism', which postulated the intelligence and power to govern the myriad of processes involved in both health and disease. Some animating force or principle enters the organism at the time of conception, guides all the functions of life, and then leaves at the time of death. What does occur at the moment of death? The organism is structurally intact, cells are busily functioning, chemical reactions are still proceeding, yet a sudden change occurs and the body begins to decompose. Reflection upon this fact renders the concept of vital forces not only understandable, but appealing.
Our life force takes a battering if we are run down or depressed, if we have an accident, a friend dies or you go through any major stressful event. We can increase and support our life force by eating foods which are vital, those which contain this life-giving energy. Any food which is fresh from the ground, which has not been through umpteen processing units and had chemicals added to it is vital. You know that feeling when you have a carrot juice or a fresh salad and you feel great? That is the benefit of eating life-giving foods. Every living organism is made from cells which are a part of the whole. The nutritional interactions of the organism takes place on a smaller level within each cell. The human body is made up of a frighteningly large number of cells, each with its own nutritional requirements and demands, proportional to its size and workload. The total amount of food a human needs to consume is simply the sum total of what the cells need.
As with any living thing, a cell has to control what goes in and out of it. This is done by a highly specialized membrane, acting as a barrier, which can selectively import and export different molecules. Without this barrier the cell could not control its chemical balance and it would die.
Damaging the genetic material can prevent successful multiplication of a cell, kill it, or in a worse scenario, it could proliferate unchecked, in the form of tumors. A lack of oxygen or damaging molecules involved in protein synthesis can also kill off a cell.
In order to improve your health it is essential that you remove toxins from your body and decrease the amount that you are exposed to. These toxins come in the form of those produced during metabolism, those taken in with food and other poisons which enter your body from the air we breathe, water we drink etc. To remove toxins from your body you have to start by getting them out of your cells. If the toxins are not removed from the individual cells then the toxins will accumulate in the tissue or organ which the cell is a part of and will damage them - causing disease either now or in the future. Once the toxins are out of the cell you need to remove them from the body. The main system involved in moving toxins from the environment surrounding the cell they have just been thrown out of to the organs of elimination is the lymph. It is important that you exercise to move your lymph around or manually move it around with massage.
Some toxic eliminations occur daily, such as defecation, urination, sweating etc. Some occurs less often like the once a month release of menstrual blood. Other eliminations take a while for your body to build up to and then are very effective, for example vaginal discharges, vomiting and fevers. Fevers are characterized by a high temperature which is a sign that cells are working incredibly hard to throw off toxins and you will feel this cellular effort as heat.
If the organs of elimination are not functioning properly your other tissues and organs can be literally bathed in the blood and/or lymph containing all these toxins. This is an unfortunate position to be in and is known as an aggravation. It is like stirring up a muddy pond and finding that the water goes murky until the bits of mud have settled on the bottom again. If you stir up your toxins they will float around for a while, causing you pain and upset and if you don't release them from your body then they will probably go right back to where they came from.
It is easy to confuse the elimination of toxins with disease and be worried that you are sick. A disease which is related to the organs of elimination and is part of your body freeing itself from unwanted toxins is known as an acute condition. A chronic condition is one where the body can no longer heal itself. To return to good health from a chronic condition you must go through the acute stage - you will get 'ill' as you start to get better and release toxins. It is important to be aware of this and to thank your body for helping you, even when you feel lousy with a throbbing headache and blisters all over your skin, or whatever. Before entering the acute stage in the recovery process from a chronic state you may feel really well. Do not be deceived and think that the hard work is over, this is your body preparing for a big piece of work - a healing crisis.
A healing crisis is an acute reaction taking place in a supported body. It is a very good sign that the natural healing powers of the body have been evoked and are fully functioning. Crises are regarded by most people as a sign of ill health, not recovery. The path to better health is the reverse of what made you ill and it is necessary to repeat past diseases. All those conditions that you have had which have contributed to the state you are now in will be removed from your body and you will feel it. It is a fantastic thing and afterwards you will be amazed at how well you feel.
If the eliminatory organs are prevented from removing toxins it is known as suppression. Most drugs which you get from pharmacists 'work' by suppressing natures healing reactions. The reason that your rash goes away or your spots disappear is because they are pushed back inside your body only to come back more virulently next time. It does seem worth taking the time to go through elimination and reappear stronger and less toxic. Always bear in mind that it takes a long time to create a chronic condition, to actually damage your body that much –whether it is a lot of hamburgers or too many late nights - and undoing that damage will take some time too. You will revel in the difference.
Click here for More About CONTINUUM