Holistic Nutrition
Holistic nutrition is my new preferred name for nutritional therapy! It better explains it and encompasses my own personal approach. Nutritional therapy is holistic of itself. It is an evidence-informed, whole-body approach to nutrition and lifestyle medicine. It addresses potential underlying causes of ill health, rather than focusing on symptoms, it is used to promote health through nutrition and lifestyle support.
However nutritional therapy is often misunderstood as purely assessing nutrients, providing recipes and meal ideas, educating. These are the tools to address the root causes and balance body systems. All of this is truly holistic looking at the whole person to identify the problem and addressing my clients whole life to provide a solution. You read more here
HOLISTIC A DEFINITION
‘It is the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole.’ Holistic medicine is therefore is ‘Treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of an illness.’
For me there is another level and holistic helps explain it, the term holistic has a spiritual component that respects your unique body and innate wisdom. It acknowledges that nourishment comes in many forms; food is only one of them. This encourages just one step at a time, recognizing that change to one dimension of our health affects everything else.
The philosophy that recognizes health as a multi-dimensional; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual is scientifcally more effective! In daily life health is the interaction and expression of the day and night routine, play, cooking and eating, movement and stillness, beliefs and mindsets, attunement and intuition, as well as connection with others and alignment with a greater good.
WHY I LOVE HOLISTIC NUTRITION
I have always been enthusiastic about health and wellness. It was natural to me that true health must embrace all aspects of a person. Nutritional therapy is holistic, like other complementary therapies it considers the whole person. This often refers to the physical body, the soul (mind and emotions) and the spirit. The interpretation of spirit is very individual but this need has been recognised both scientifically and antedotally and accelarated by the pandemic and the onslaught of mental health problems.
As it’s not just about food and nutrition as fascinating and crucial as that is. As a nutritional therapist I see the whole and look at the clients lifestyle as well as diet. We consider mental health, stress, sleep, relationships, even behaviour towards food. Nutrtional therapists recognise that to be healthy all parts of our lives need to be addressed. Sometimes that means finding other specialists to help.
FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
I use a functional medicine approach which means I look at the physical body systems and their interactions with each other, considering the whole to find imbalances. It is based on biochemistry although our language is complementary therapy because we do not diagnose or treat illness. However this approach means we address ‘dis-ease’ finding imbalances both before and once pathology develops.
It is often refered to as nutrtion and lifestyle medicine, but the term root cause medicine is better as it embraces the broader holistic approach. I delve deeper looking for the mediators and triggers that may have contributed to the symptom or imbalance. I consider your family history and lifestyle even your birth and if you were bottle or breast fed. Your own unique metabolism and genetics play a part too with functional testing playing a part to identify this. Root cause approach has multiple benefits because supporting the roots of the problem means the whole person is ulitimately balanced. It isn’t instant but an unravelling which bring wins big and small.
A DEEPER SPIRITUAL MEANING
Including our spiritual well-being is truly holistic. Call it what you want God, spirit, or intuition or even nature. Science shows that cultures who believe in something bigger than themselves thrive. The last few years have led people to explore new ways to support mental health. This includes selfcare, mindfulness, mediation, heart math, that calm our nervous system and open up our awareness. Perhaps you resist this part, I was that person too, take it a step, at a time. Slowing down, deep breathing is a good start and this is where intention comes in.
INTENTION
An intention is a short positive statement of intent that is inspired by your wish to heal, change or enhance an aspect of your life. The big difference between setting an Intention and using resolutions or will power is that it’s not something you can THINK yourself into. You need to feel yourself into it. You may have experienced moments in life when you feel truly inspired and exhilarated. There is a knowing, and that lives within you as an unspoken feeling, an energetic quality, a stirring of your heart’s deepest longing for positive change, you have tapped into intention
Setting intentions is a practice you can develop. You take time to connect with your body and become more aware. This act of really listening deeply to ourselves also involves noticing dreams, desires, longings that you may have dismissed or kept hidden.
HOLISTIC MIDLIFE NUTRITION
It’s crucial at the midlife and menopause to take a holistic approach because hormones interact with all the body systems. Adjusting your lifestyle is also a key part of this process, and managing stress is non negotiable as it exacerbates your menopause symptoms (read about it here). My clients often realise their lifestyle has to change so they can feel like themselves again. They need a new way of living, because the old way isn’t working anymore. They thought they were living a healthy life but something is out of sync. Their body is trying to tell them something, it’s time to listen to your intuition.
HOPE
In amongst all the doom and gloom I am bringing you hope. Hope of course isn’t fragile it is strong and determined and yet has an ease and simplicity too. There are natural ways to balance your health menopause transition. Small simple changes are possible when you have the understanding and support you need to put them into practice.
Find out how I can help you personally with a no obligation online Midlife Health Review, an opportunity to find the balance you need for a healthier, more vibrant life.
REFERENCES
https://www.ion.ac.uk/listing/category/becoming-a-nutritional-therapist
https://www.ifm.org/