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Dietary Analysis
We will evaluate your diet in a number of ways. While it is
possible to recommend a "healthy diet", in fact, every bodymind is unique
and requires different foods. We've all heard the saying "One man's
meat is another man's poison." In naturopathic medicine, this is
literally true. A food that is healthy and life-giving for one person
can be the cause of crippling symptoms in another.
We will analyze your diet for:
- Overall nutrient intake
- Balance of macronutrients (Fats, Carbohydrates, Protein, Fiber, Water)
- Food sensitivities: individual idiosyncratic reactions to foods that are a major cause of disease and health problems. An example familiar to many people is lactose intolerance (in fact a person can be sensitive to dairy yet able to tolerate lactose.)
We employ the only truly accurate and scientific method for evaluation of food sensitivities: elimination and reintroduction. Pseudoscientific methods like bioelectronic devices (Vega, Enterro) and blood and skin testing (IgG and IgE, respectively) are all unverified, unverifiable, and likely to be inaccurate.
- Weight Loss/Blood Sugar Balance: Lately low-carb diets are all the rage lately. Ten years ago, many nutritionally oriented practitioners recommended a low-fat diet for everyone. In truth, different people have different body types that thrive on different diets. You wouldn't feed grass to a lion and you wouldn't feed meat to a deer.
We will help you determine what works best for you.
Dietary Coaching
It's simply not that easy for most of us to make dietary changes,
especially the kinds of dietary changes that will result in a true shift
in our state of health. With so much conflicting advice out there about
what constitutes a healthy diet; the difficulty in actually carrying out
a given dietary regimen; the time constraints most of us have in our
lives; and the emotional issues surrounding food and eating, it is no
wonder we have trouble with health or weight loss diets. We
will coach you through your dietary changes, giving you specific advice,
specific meal and snack suggestions, at the same time placing the
impetus squarely on you to take charge of your own health. Many times a
busy M.D. tells a patient "you need to eat healthier" or "lose weight"
without any specific guidance and, seemingly, without much understanding
of how difficult diet changes can be, and how some people don't seem to
lose weight no matter what they do. We take a caring, hands-on
approach to help you meet your goals.
Nutritional Supplementation
Have you noticed how many different nutrient supplements are available
to you these days? Have you wondered whether to take B vitamins and
Selenium separately, or whether you should get them in a multivitamin?
Have you been tempted to take CoQ10 and Pycnogenol and Colostrum and
Astragalus and alpha-Lipoic Acid and a dozen other "cutting edge"
nutrients that get written up in the alternative medicine press? Have
you wondered if there is a difference in quality between the supplement
and vitamin pills you get from a warehouse store, a drugstore, a
healthfood store, and your next door neighbor who just started selling
a line of vitamins? Are you concerned that you should be taking
Calcium, but wonder if there's any difference between Caltrate and Tums,
and whether Vitamin D and Magnesium are important?
With all the conflicting information about supplements in the media - I
haven't even mentioned the anti-supplement "scientific articles" that
the mainstream press is so eager to pick up on - it helps to have an
expert to turn to. We can help you understand which nutrient
supplements are worth taking, which you shouldn't waste your money on,
and which will help YOU the most.
We use nutritional supplementation in accordance with
naturopathic philosophy - meaning
we
uses it to help your body heal itself, and to help you treat the cause
of the problem. Supplements recommended by a health food store, a
pharmacy, a medical doctor, or anyone who is not trained in naturopathic
philosophy are much less likely to serve this same function.
We carry specialized supplements from companies that sell only
to health professionals and licensed pharmacists. The companies that
make these supplements hold themselves to higher standards of purity,
and make their products in small batches under carefully controlled
conditions rather than in a large scale, industrial-type process.
Herbal Medicine
Herbs have been used as medicine for as long as people have been on
earth. (Maybe longer - domestic and wild animals have been observed
selectively eating certain plants when they have certain health
conditions. Many of these plants have subsequently been verified to
have anti-disease activity.) In fact, many of our modern drugs are
actually isolates of one active ingredient from among the many chemicals
in a given plant. One advantage of herbs over drugs is that they tend
to have balancing effects. This means an herb with stimulatory
properties often has properties that are inhibitory or calming, so that
the stimulatory effect of the plant is held in check. These
complementary properties are lost when isolated pharmaceuticals target a
single biochemical mechanism in the body. Whereas, drugs frequently
cause the system to go out of balance (often known as "side effects")
herbs help the system to return to balance.
We use herbal medicine from Western and Chinese herbal
traditions. The products we carry are of the highest purity and
quality, and prepared in small batches under carefully supervised
conditions.
Weight Loss Programs
Perhaps no other condition is as prevalent in America, and receives as much
attention as excess weight and obesity. Americans spend huge amounts
of money on weight loss solutions, both legitimate and bogus. Either way, it can
be just plain hard to lose weight. For many people, it can seem impossible.
Current scientific evidence indicates that weight loss by itself does
not necessarily have the impact we might expect on our risk of heart disease,
diabetes, or cancer. However, it is clear that the more fit we are, the
healthier we are. An in-shape person who is overweight has a lower risk of
cardiovascular disease than a sedentary person whose weight is considered more
“normal.” Having said that, most overweight people will feel better about
themselves if they trim down, and science may yet prove that the extra ten to
fifty pounds the average American has put on in the last 30 years is indeed
dangerous for our health.
Our weight loss programs use two main
components: Amino Acid
Neurotransmitter Therapy and dietary analysis and coaching. For people in whom the emotional
aspect is primary, referrals to other types of programs or
treatments may be made. Of course, exercise is a necessary part
of any weight loss program, and we can give you some
basic guidance on this topic. Our personal and
individualized guidance has helped many people become healthier
and lose weight. We can help you too.
Detoxification Programs
Our bodies are bombarded every day by xenobiotic (literally, "foreign to
life") chemicals that impact every cell and organ. They are
especially toxic to the nervous system, the endocrine system, and the
immune system. Scientists around the globe are investigating the
relationship between these poisons and increasing rates of cancer,
hormonal problems, neurological disease, and autoimmune disease.
These toxins come from industry, residential and commercial pesticides
and herbicides, mercury and other toxic metals in our waterways and
soil; cosmetics; fossil fuels; building materials. In short, despite
our best intentions, it is impossible to avoid exposure to harmful
toxins, and it is impossible to avoid storing these toxins in our
bodies. This has been proven by government surveys that find every
single American, regardless of diet and place of residence, has toxic
material stored in their body (it's worth noting that this is true for
remote Alaskan Island natives as well as for people living in
industrialized and urban areas.)
People with serious illness, or people who would like to prevent serious
illness or who just want to feel better, may be interested in detoxification
programs. Even people who just want to improve their appearance and youthfulness
can benefit from detoxification. Our detoxification programs include
short- or long-term programs; specialized diets; modified fasting;
recommendations for home detoxification treatments like hydrotherapy; herbal and
nutritional supplementation programs that maximize your body's ability to handle
and eliminate stored toxins; and far-infrared sauna therapy, a specialized sauna
program that aggressively eliminates waste through your body's largest organ,
your skin.
Amino Acid Neurotransmitter Therapy
Research on brain chemistry has revealed that chemicals called neurotransmitters (NTs) are directly responsible for mood, behavior, focus, concentration, pain perception, energy level, and many other neurologically-based states and conditions . Drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax, Welbutrin, Lexapro, Effexor, and Ritalin all influence NTs. But amino acids, the natural building blocks of both proteins and NTs, do something pharmaceuticals cannot: they increase NT levels in the brain, and they help create a proper balance of NTs. Drugs, on the other hand, tend to deplete and imbalance NTs.
Because NTs are so crucial to regulation of mind and body, NT amino acid therapy can help a wide variety of different conditions. A partial list of these symptoms follows:
- ADD / ADHD
- Addictions (alcohol, drugs, etc)
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Anxiety, Social Anxiety
- Binge Eating
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Depression
- Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia)
- Fatigue
- Fibromyalgia
- Improves effectiveness of anxiety and depression medications
- Insomnia
- Irritability, Hostility, Agitation
- Migraine headaches
- Obesity, Excess Weight
- Obsessive-compulsive behaviors
- Panic attacks
- Parkinson's Disease
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
- Stress (Physical or Emotional)
- Weight loss and eating disorders
This treatment is called "Neurotransmitter Therapy" because it augments the very chemicals your brain and nerve cells use to communicate with one another. When your nervous system does not function properly, your body and your brain do not function properly - it is that simple. NT therapy corrects the chemistry of the brain and nervous system, the master computer of the body. NT therapy has been used successfully in thousands of people; is based on solid, published scientific evidence; is completely safe and natural; and does not interfere with medication - in fact, it frequently allows medication to work better. Many patients are able to reduce or eliminate medication, especially when they combine NT therapy with a naturopathic approach to health.
To read more about this topic,
click here.
Supplement Review and Analysis
Many people take supplements without being certain that they are
appropriate, or the best for their individual situation. We can
help you understand which nutrient supplements are worth taking, which
you shouldn't waste your money on, and which will help YOU the most.
After going over your medical history, we will have you bring in
your supplements, go through them one by one, and explain what you do
and don't need. We will suggest other strategies that might advance your
health further.
