Why We Do Not Use A Purely Nutritional Approach

“You are what you eat” holds true in a lot of ways. For instance if someone eats a very unhealthy diet full of fast food and refined sugar then they are unlikely to be as healthy as someone who eats a varied organic diet. However, when someone is having health problems eating healthily is important but a lot of issues cannot be successfully resolved using a purely nutritional approach. Instead a more focused approach is needed where nutrition is a part of the solution, not the whole solution itself.

There are so many diets out there claiming to be the best thing for “X” condition but different people’s systems can react differently to the same diet even if they are presenting with the same problem. So let me be clear when I say this – someone’s problems is almost never anything to do with their diet. Foods are triggers to underlying things, food is not the problem itself. Now of course if someone lives on McDonald’s and doughnuts then that isn’t great however by the time someone seeks my help they have usually tried almost all the diets out there to no real avail.

Yes, certain foods are pro-inflammatory however your system should be able to deal with that. If it can’t then it tells us something. Certain foods can cause “allergy” like reactions when they didn’t use to. If that’s the case then it tells us something. If someone is able to modify their symptoms by avoiding a certain food or food group then that tells us something. I have spoken to countless people who claim to have fixed their problem by avoiding certain foods when this happens I always ask whether they can now eat the food that used to cause them problems. If the answer is no then they haven’t fixed anything, they are just avoiding exacerbating the underlying issue by avoiding a food that triggers it. If they have and are living a normal life not needing to supplement or worry about what they eat and have no problems then that’s great but they are in a tiny minority.

As foods act as triggers when starting to work with people I ask them to cut out certain aggravating foods such as dairy, gluten, fermented foods, nightshades, and lectins for 2 weeks as it works as a good system reset. At the end of this 14 days people can add them back in and if they have reactions to certain things then it gives information about what is going on in their system.

It should be the case that you can eat pretty much whatever you want (within reason) and not have any reactions to it. If you are having to avoid certain foods, have developed food sensitivities, or have gut motility issues then this is a sign that your gut is not happy. It should not be like this.