Treating Illness with Diet

The entire human body is made from food plus air and water.

This simple but profound statement means the quality of the food that we eat is very important to our health. We are what we eat or rather what we absorb. The body is made up of millions of small cells. These cells can be compared to plants since they need very little more than nutrients, water, oxygen and a warm, relatively toxin-free environment.

Environment

If you were concerned about a plant in your house that was not thriving you might consider the factors influencing its immediate environment. For example a lack of light or water, poor nutrients (soil) or anything else that might be causing it stress.

Nutritional therapy uses the same kind of basic, common sense approach to treating human ill health. It is a form of complementary medicine in which the practitioner works with a client to help them eat more healthily and thus improve the way their body functions. By ridding the body of exposure to substances that are stressful to it and by making available those foods that are useful it is possible to make significant improvements to health and well-being. An efficiently functioning body finds it much easier to repair and heal itself.

Diet

A poor quality diet is a big cause of stress for humans . For example if the liver is overloaded from unwise eating or drinking, waste products and pollutants can build up and interfere with the internal chemistry. Eating food very quickly can make digestion difficult and undigested food can encourage toxin-producing bacteria to form in the intestines. This can cause food intolerances.

Most people work against the well-being of their bodies by consuming large amounts of junk food often overloaded with sugar and additives of one sort or another. Eaten regularly this kind of food can render the consumer nutritionally deficient and make them susceptible to all sorts of common health problems. Low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) is a frequent result where an excess of junk food is consumed. Combined with a lack of appropriate minerals in the food a series of reactions can be put in train influencing mood and causing all sorts of antisocial behaviour.

Health

Some other common health problems that can be prevented or helped by improved nutrition are: arthritis, asthma, candidiasis (thrush), chronic fatigue syndrome, gall-stones, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine and headaches, osteoporosis, prostate enlargement, skin problems, women’s hormonal problems and many other conditions.

Ideally we would all eat the perfect diet and there would be no chronic diseases. Unfortunately most people wait until they are ill before changing their diet, but it is never too late to start on a better diet. Improving the type and quality of food eaten is much better and more effective than taking a medicine but, of course, you must consult your doctor before coming off any prescribed medication. However, you can begin today by adding more fruit and vegetables to your diet. It is important to enjoy your food, to eat slowly and chew it up well. Go easy on products full of refined sugar products and drink plenty of water. Consult a nutritional therapist if you would like further advice.

Barrie Anson DHoM, PsyV, DHD, MRadA is a well qualified and experienced natural medicine practitioner. Using homeopathy, hypnotherapy, nutitional therapy and radionics he welcomes the opportunity to help and advise clients, using his holistic approach to alternative medicine.

Based near Chard Somerset, Barrie is centrally placed to give personal service throughout the southwest covering Devon, Dorset, Exeter, Dorchester, Honiton, Taunton, and Yeovil.

Visit his website: http://www.alternativehealing.co.uk/