Food Is Medicine!
Posted by Dr. Della Parker on February 8, 2018
Food Is Medicine!
I see patients all day long with varying conditions. Not to toot my own horn (toot! toot!) But I am damn good at getting people better. I do a very thorough intake, Nutrition Response Testing to figure out how to heal the body, functional lab analysis, and make supplement recommendations. One thing I do with EVERY patient is make a dietary recommendation. Paleo diet is my go to but some patients warrant a more specific protocol. The problem is… Changing your diet is freaking hard! I generally see patients monthly and in that time period they are left to their own devices with diet and exercise. It isn’t for a full 30 days that many patients come back in and report that Yes, they took their supplements, but they didn’t change their diet, so only moderate progress had been made. Why is diet so important you ask? Here are 3 reasons why a change of diet might be the absolute most important thing you can do for your health!! Food is medicine!
Inflammation
When you are eating processed foods, sugar, or foods that your body is intolerant to, you are creating inflammation in the body! Inflammation is the start to all chronic disease! This may be mind blowing but think about it. If your joints hurt, but they feel a little better taking an anti-inflammatory like turmeric. Imagine how you would feel if you just stopped adding inflammation to the mix. Supplements can only go so far to support inflammatory conditions. If you are still adding fuel to the fire, you aren’t going to get much symptom relief. If you are truly interested in turning around your health and decreasing inflammation, you must make a dietary change!
Nutrient Absorption
If you are eating a crummy diet, guess what? Your gut is inflamed! I know… more inflammation talk. But that gut inflammation leads to decreased gut function and inability to absorb nutrients. If you eat like crap and you’re tired, you can’t just take a supplement of B12. Guess what!? Your inflamed gut can’t absorb it! So, when I continue to recommend supplementation and you aren’t cleaning up your diet, you literally aren’t able to even absorb much of these recommended nutrients. You must change your diet, so that nutrients can be absorbed and your organs can start functioning normally. Again, you must change your diet!
Weight Loss
Many people are over weight and for many different reasons. But I can tell you that one of the major underlying reasons is poor diet. If you make changes to your eating habits that result in weight loss you are making drastic improvements to you cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and heck all the systems in the body! Exercise is great. But if you are not changing the fuel you put into your body, you won’t get far.
Now go make a change! Easier said than done right!? It is hard to do this alone, I get it! I wish I was able to offer the hand holding that is often needed to implement these lifestyle changes, but am just not. Although I have many patients thrive and do well with my recommendations, I always wish I could do more for the people who aren’t getting better results. So, here is the answer! Integrative Nutritionist, Amy Hardesty has joined my team! Now my patients have access to the best of both worlds! I can guide them through illness and make the best recommendations for their bodies while Amy provides guidance and accountability in order to make the proper dietary changes their bodies need. The best part is that she will help you stick with it. She has been through this journey herself and can help you make life long dietary changes that will literally add years to the end of your life! Weight loss is awesome but remember, we are also targeting a decrease in inflammation, and increase in nutrient absorption to prevent disease. Food should be used as medicine not poison. It is fuel for your body and should be used to create energy not destruction via inflammation!
Stellar Health and Wellness would love to assist you in reaching all your health goals. We are trying to take over the world with healthy people here, don’t ya know! We look forward to seeing you soon.
Links: