What is Nutritional Medicine?
Nutritional Medicine is the approach to nutrition therapy practiced at Sustainable Diets™. Emphasis is placed on nutrition and lifestyle modification, diet, nutrients, functional foods, and supplements to facilitate healing, prevent illness, increase vitality and reach optimal wellness. Our approach includes a thorough nutrition and holistic lifestyle assessment. The nutritional diagnosis is tailored to each person using a functional medicine, biochemical individuality approach (see definition in the left-hand sidebar).
Chronic Disease Prevention; Centerpiece of Nutritional Medicine
Today, illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, digestive disease, and cancer are epidemic. These illnesses reduce the quality of life for many Americans. Yet they are completely preventable. Chronic disease development can be thought of as a continuum moving from total wellness on one side to frank disease on the other. Long before a person “gets a disease” poor health symptoms can be experienced and if left untreated the symptoms can lead to physiological dysfunction. Illness is a process that starts long before a blatant disease develops.
The Continuum of Health and Disease
WELLNESS—————->>POOR LIFESTYLE HABITS———->>SYMPTOMS————->>PHYSIOLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION————————>>CHRONIC DISEASE
Years before getting a chronic disease many people have signs that something is wrong. Symptoms and signs like headaches, depression, constipation, joint aches, acid reflux, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a growing waistline are signs of dysfunction. If we ignore the signs, like our weight or poor digestion, we risk a body-in-poor-operating-condition. Like a car that never gets an oil change we “wear out.”
Sustainable Diets™ Philosphy on Healthcare
The best approach to healthcare is to intervene on poor diet and lifestyle habits as early as you can. Take action when symptoms are first experienced with a goal to correct the underlying health problem before a dysfunction or a full-blown disease develops.