Farah Ahmed
MPharmS, DipNT
"The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition."
Thomas Edison
What is Naturopathic Nutrition?
Nutritional therapy is a system of medicine that focuses on supporting and strengthening the body in order to prevent illness. It promotes the use of non-toxic, natural therapies and emphasises eating whole, organic and chemical-free foods, and sees these foods as being the medicine that the body needs to promote its own natural, self-healing mechanisms.
This concept dates back more than 2000 years ago to the time of Hippocrates and is an integral concept that has deep roots in both eastern and western medicine, and in many of the world’s religions. Globalisation and industrialisation has caused us to neglect ourselves in this ever-changing and fast-paced world we live in, with convenience and fast-foods more readily available and cheaper than ever, no matter where we are in the world.
The havoc this is causing on the body, right down to a cellular level, is becoming more and more apparent.
These ancient concepts of health and wellness, however, are re-emerging into popular culture. With a current surge in cancers, diseases of ageing and chronic illnesses worldwide, people are beginning to realise the impact of a negative lifestyle, diet, and environment on their health, that will ultimately determine their future quality of life.
Modernisation is important, but our condition is essential.
We can have it all.
The Root Cause....
Your body is an extremely elaborate and amazingly complex system that is interconnected.
Each body system interacts with another as pieces of a giant puzzle. In any given complaint, the body is looked at as a whole rather than individual, isolated sections. This is Functional Medicine.
Functional Medicine seeks to find the root cause of a problem, rather than just suppressing a symptom and providing temporary relief. It shifts the focus from the traditional disease-centred approach of medical practice to a comprehensive, patient-centred approach.
Symptomatic relief measures, without addressing the ‘root cause’ can have the effect of driving a disease process deeper into the body as the body’s natural mechanisms become compromised and the immune system becomes dysfunctional.
One Size does not fit all....
Nutritional Therapy acknowledges this important concept from the outset. We are all very different. Our genetics define us, and so our mind and bodies are wired differently meaning the information we receive is processed in our mind and body differently, and so our health, wellness and vitality is played out accordingly. A certain type of food, medicine or diet may be beneficial for one person but not necessarily the best option for another- in fact it might be quite the opposite.
Your plan is customised for your body type, addressing your individual needs, interconnecting mind, body and spirit. Just as we would customise our house or our car, we should invest as much in to the one thing that can make or break our future- our physical and psychological health and well-being.
Don't you think the time for neglecting yourself is over?
Ill health is just a logical and reasonable way of our bodies telling us they are not in balance. Food affects how well our body functions and biochemical imbalances and nutritional deficiencies lead to problems.
Integrative healthcare takes into account not only the body but the mind, emotions, social factors and the environment - both past and present- in order to identify what the body needs.
These are all systematically considered when addressing a complaint, and the appropriate evidence-based approach to achieving optimal health and well-being are called upon.
One thing is for sure. Everything has its place. I am not against conventional medicine. It absolutely has its place and this cannot be denied.
Speaking however as someone who has a background in this arena, I have seen first hand how drugs and certain therapies have been overprescribed and over used - and reeked havoc with people’s bodies and minds, to the detriment of our health and our national budgets. And all this when in fact there was a simpler, cheaper and cleaner alternative.
Just as the place of conventional medicine cannot be denied, neither can the place alternative medicine.
This is real holistic medicine.