The starting point for improved nutrition comes from eating a nutritious diet
As a nutritionist I help people solve their health problems, so they can feel the best they can be. And ‘food’ is the medicine I use to help people transform their lives.
A couple of examples include, modifying a patients existing habitual eating pattern or the application of short-term dietary therapy, such as the elimination of a particular food group, as a diagnostic tool for food intolerances.
It’s so rewarding witnessing my patient’s positive outcomes, when healthy diet and lifestyle modifications are embraced. These can include, weight loss, increased energy, improved sleep, mood and glowing skin.
Sure we can skate through life with a sub-standard diet and try to get the missing vitamins and minerals through supplements, but are they really working and what is the long-term cost on your health and wallet?
Patients often come to see me with a shopping bag of vitamins, not remembering why they’re taking some of them, unaware if they’re helpful and many have reached their expiry date.
The implementation of nutritional supplements is only considered as a vehicle for improved nutrition, when a person is deficient (identified through pathology). Most nutrients (there are exceptions) are for short-term therapy to improve a health condition or when the effective dose required cannot feasibly be achieved through food.
There are however, some other clinic scenarios necessitating the use of supplements, such as poor quality food, compromised nutrient absorption and lifestyle.
Taking supplements without getting to root cause of WHY you need them in the first place is essentially avoiding the big issue or simply masking a problem, not dissimilar to taking medication.
As an ambassador for That Sugar Film I educate and provide resources for people to make informed choices to benefit their own health through diet and lifestyle.
There’s no avoiding, if we want to maintain optimal health for life, we need to eat well.
The biggest health problem in Australia right now is ‘poor diet’ and the statistics of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease continue to rise.
I’m a great believer in getting to the ‘cause’ of any unwanted symptoms in the body and working with each individual to bring about balance…and remember the body is an intuitive machine and has an amazing ability to heal itself, given the right environment, air, water, sleep and nutrition.
Ready to eat your way to good health?
Angela Emmerton
Clinical Nutritionist (BHSc – Nutritional Medicine)
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, National Health Survey 2007-08, Cat 4364.0.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2007 http://www.aihw.gov.au/overweight-and-obesity/
National Health and Medical Research Council 2003, Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents.
World Health Organisation (WHO) 2015, ISBN-13: 978-92-4-154902-8
Hechtman, L. Clinical Naturopathic Medicine, 2012, Churchill Livingstone, Australia, 2014
