Nutritional medicine explores how food and its nutrients affect health and wellbeing.
What is Nutritional Medicine?
A Nutritionist is trained to understand and work with differences in people’s metabolism, genetics and dietary preferences. The nutritional medicine practitioner recognise underlying predisposition to disease states, and explains how to prevent or treat them. Good nutrition is fundamental to good health and can vary at different stages of life. Therefore, it is wise to have a regular check-up to maintain optimum health.
How it works
The nutritional medicine practitioner provides you with dietary advice and may prescribe practitioner-only nutritional supplements to help in a broad range of health conditions. Much research in this field has been carried out in recent years so in many instances, prescriptions are evidence-based.
Most commonly treated conditions
The nutritionist may assist in a wide range of health issues: from poor immunity to high cholesterol, from pregnancy and breastfeeding to menopause, from food allergies/intolerance to autoimmune disease to autism, and more. The nutritionist also guides vegetarians and vegans towards appropriately balanced diets.
What to expect at your first appointment
On your first visit, which lasts around an hour, the nutritional medicine practitioner will assess your health history. This includes an exploration of your diet, lifestyle, stress and environmental factors, any medications that you are taking, as well as family members’ health.
Physical examination may include performing a check-up of your hair, skin, nails and tongue, taking your blood pressure and/or performing or recommending clinical and laboratory diagnostic tests, including nutrigenomic testing, to determine how your genes affect your health.
How long does it take to treat a condition?
It could take hours, days, weeks or longer. Your nutritionist will educate, inform and involve you in your health care so that you may feel empowered to gain and maintain optimum health.