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Feeling sluggish? Is your digestion impaired? Are you craving carbohydrates and sugar? Finding it hard to shift weight? Are your hormones imbalanced? Do you have high cholesterol or blood pressure? Just not feeling 100%? What we eat greatly affects our mood and well-being and often our ability to digest and absorb efficiently is just as important. Nutritional therapy seeks to treat and prevent chronic illnesses by supporting the body's natural healing mechanisms. Food is the body's only fuel source and so, it must be given the right healthy foods in order to function optimally. Nutritional therapy combines science (biochemistry and nutrition) with naturopathy (natural medicine). It treats the body as a whole, seeking to cure the causes of the problems and not just the presenting symptoms e.g. food intolerances are often the result of impaired digestive function and/or toxin build up in the body. The first place a good nutritionist will look at will be the digestive system since we could be eating the best food in the world but if we are not absorbing the nutrients effectively it will be rendered useless. More often than not simple changes such as chewing slowly, taking water away from meals and sorting out stomach acid and enzymatic action can make a huge difference to overall health and wellbeing. In his 1939 published book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”, dentist and nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price wrote of his belief that physical degeneration occurred when people moved away from their native whole-foods diets and necessary fats. He travelled the world visiting cultures as diverse as the Masai and Jalou tribes of Kenya, the Maori of New Zealand, the Aborigines of Australia, the Andes Indians and Jungle Indians of Peru, the Eskimos of Alaska and the inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and the Gaeltacht in the west of Ireland among many others. He found that modern conditions and illnesses such as headaches, fatigue, allergies, heart disease and cancer did not feature in those cultures adhering to their native indigenous diet but once a typical Western diet of processed foods was adopted, even within a single generation, these same cultures started to experience all of the above. It is only now since low-fat diets have been dismissed as non-sensical and poor nutritional practice that more and more attention is being given to the studies of Weston Price and the adoption of a native whole-foods diet. Fat is after all a macronutrient i.e. (defined as) an essential nutrient required in relatively large amounts similar to carbohydrates and protein so it is absurd to even contemplate cutting it out of the diet. In addition, food is more than the sum of its nutrient parts as Michael Pollan illustrates in his book “ Food Rules” and so when manufacturers produce low fat foods such as milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt etc., they not only cut down the fat but also the fat soluble vitamins which are necessary for its absorption along with that of essential minerals in the body. Important fats and vitamins A,D,E and K are visibly lacking in modern diets with deficiencies causing a myriad of symptoms and conditions from osteoporosis, impaired immunity and mental ill-health to skin conditions, dental problems and low energy. If any of the above apply to you it would be worth consulting with a nutritionist and/or taking some healthy cookery classes with a nutritionist where you can find out about good sources of macro and micro nutrients and how best to incorporate them into the diet. The following conditions respond very well to nutritional therapy: * Digestive problems * Mood/stress related conditions * Sleep disorders * Skin conditions * Hormonal imbalances & fertility issues * Children's health &behavioural issues * Weight management * Low energy * Addictions * Impaired immunity * Food intolerances & allergies * Cardiovascular conditions * Muscular-skeletal conditions * Blood sugar imbalances Nutritionist services include: one to one nutritional consultations; weight control programmes; nutrition lecturing; nutrition and whole-foods healthy cookery classes; corporate and community workshops; nutrition and cookery journalism and writing. Lynda McFarland is a nutritionist in Ireland. Her aim is to encourage her clients to eat nutritious and delicious unprocessed whole-foods to promote great health and to treat and prevent chronic health conditions. Lynda is known for her “Healthy Cookery Ireland” recipes, she finds there is no better way to get the healthy eating message out there than to show people how to cook really tasty quick wholesome meals and snacks. Lynda has also published a range of vibrant, informative and easy to follow nutrition charts as educational resources intended to make learning about nutrition and healthy cookery a little easier and more fun! These include “The Healthy Eating food Plate”, “Herbs & Spices” and “Medicinal foods”.
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