Naturopathic Therapies
How will you increase your health and wellness? Everyone is different and everyone will have a different path to follow according to their realities and needs.
Nutrition
‘You are what you eat.’ The food you eat provides your body with the nourishment you need to thrive. Healthy eating does not mean expensive or complicated diets. On the contrary, getting back to the source and eating unprocessed simple natural foods is what our bodies thrive on. A healthy diet is composed of foods that provide you the utmost energy. In my practice we talk a lot about individualization. Individualization of health plans and individualization of diet according to the numerous factors that make up who you are (gender, weight, climate you live in, age, body type, work load, lifestyle…). This means choosing foods and cooking methods that your body needs to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals and energy.
Vitamin & Supplement Plan
In a perfect world one would get all of their vitamins and minerals from our diet. With our depleted soils, high exposure to pollutants and stress, deficiencies are quite common. Also even if you are consuming the right amounts of vitamins and minerals many factors can interfere with proper absorption such as the health of your microbiome or a food sensitivity. Depending on the deficiency, these can have detrimental effects on ones energy level (i.e. iron), mood (i.e. vitamins Bs, D, magnesium…), beauty (hair and skin health). In certain cases, when there is an important deficiency, it is best to take a high quality supplement to get your body back in proper balance while eating a proper diet.
Modern Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine has a long history, in fact its use dates back to the beginning of civilisation. Modern medical research has shown that the phytochemicals of medicinal herbs have curative properties. Many of the medicines we use today are synthesized molecules imitating the action of these plants. Medical research now endorses a number of herbal remedies. These plants are used to prevent and treat illness as well as enhance health and wellbeing.
Adaptogen plants deserve a high mention here as many people can benefit from them nowadays.
Cleanses & Detox
Detox involves a short simplified diet plan to enable your body to cleanse itself. Our modern dietary regimen of abundance, a sedentary lifestyle and environmental pollutants encourage the build up of toxins in our system. Toxicity causes our body not to function as efficiently as it could and contributes to a number of health concerns including stress, fatigue and glandular imbalances.
What you can expect from a cleanse:
- Increased energy
- Reduction of stress
- Clearer thinking
- Better digestion
- Weight loss
- Better absorption of vitamins and minerals
- Prevention of disease
- Clearer skin
This is not a fast and you will not feel hungry because you will consume three meals per day. You can continue on with your normal activities, however abstaining from extreme physical activity is recommended.
Stress Management & Self Care
Many definitions exists, stress according to Seaward, “is the inability to cope with a perceived threat to one’s mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, which results in a series of physiological responses and adaptations.” Unfortunately stress has become a daily part of many of our lives. Chronic stress have a physiological response on the body and is known to negatively affect health. Scientist have shown the damaging effects of chronic stress on the nervous, immune and endocrine systems which in turn influences other bodily systems.
The good news is that there are a variety of different and effective tools and techniques to help us manage stress. Stress management allows us to cope and change our perceptions of threats which we consider stressors.
I look at how you deal with stress, your coping mechanisms as well the various stressors in your life, sometimes known sometimes unknown to you. Stressors may be related to relationships, social interactions, work, environment, but also nutritional choices, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, toxic load (from various forms of pollutants), etc.
Subsequently, the appropriate tools and techniques are chosen and applied to manage and reduce stress such as: nutrition, herbs, supplements, physical exercise plan, cleanses, breathing exercises, meditation techniques and flower essences.
Aromatherapy
More than simple bath oils and fragrances, plant-derived essential oils are powerful therapeutic tools that promote psychological and physical well-being. Through careful and precise dosing, these oils can be used in a variety of ways, and like plants, for many different ailments. They are usually combined with other natural therapies.
Sleep Coaching
Sleep affects our entire health: mood, energy level, memory, hormonal balance, etc. If more people would understand the scope of its importance in wellness, longevity and chronic disease prevention, more people would prioritise it. This being said although it may seem simple, high quality sleep has been an increasing concern for people in our modern age. In 19… the average amount of sleep per night was 9 hours, nowadays depending on the region you are from it ranges between 6 and 7. Many factors influence sleep quality: food, exercise, stress coping capability, work-life balance, hormones, etc. One of the key ingredients to health and wellness is good quality, adequate sleep (according to the individual needs range between 7 and 9 hours per night). Knowing what to do to obtain it will put your health on a whole new level!
Weight Loss
What is a healthy plate? How often should I eat? What is my ideal diet? What hormones are coming in the way of my weight loss and how can I address them? What habits can I master to remain at a healthy body weight?
Exercise
‘Go hard or go home’. This is the moto I was trained on while doing competitive running as a teenager. Many of us have this misconceived notion that we should push ourselves to the extreme in our workouts to obtain the results we want from our bodies. Science is now proving this wrong.
Such as in nutrition, exercise plans should be highly individualised taking into account not only ones initial strength and endurance but also the body type, stress level (heard of cortisol-conscious workouts?), pre-existing condition, constitution, life cycle, hormonal state, chronotype… Workouts also need to be well scheduled during the day for them to be energy creating rather than energy depleting. Remember that like in nutrition there are fads to work-outs not everyone is made for HIIT, TRX or hot yoga. The key to staying fit might just be finding the right shoe and the right moment to practice.
Lifestyle Counseling
“If you just set people in motion they’ll heal themselves.” – Roth Gabrielle
I’m committed to the education and guidance of their patients and recognize that attitude, beliefs and emotions are an important part of maintaining health. By taking your goals into consideration as well as where you are in your individual health journey, we provide motivation and support to help you overcome any obstacle that may come in the way of your optimal health.
