NUTRITION
An unbalanced diet contributes to an unbalanced body. To strengthen the body’s ability to heal and respond to traditional Chinese medicine, treatment can be combined with nutritional advice that helps a patient understand what foods are best for their individual body and what foods to avoid.
How does a practitioner determine what type of nutritional plan to prescribe?
Each patient requires a unique diet based on what influences the entire body. In addition to symptoms, a range of other factors are considered when developing a nutrition plan, including physical environment, social life, stress level, exercise routine, sleeping pattern, and current eating habits. These factors will help dictate what types of foods are needed to balance the body’s constitution. For instance, health problems caused by too much heat within the body can be combated with foods that aid the body’s ability to cool. Sometimes, a TCM practitioner will ask patients to keep a food diary to help the practitioner determine if nutrition consultation should be added to a patient’s treatment plan.
What specific conditions are well-treated with nutrition?
The human body is complex and must be evaluated individually and holistically. Often times, what appears to be a specific condition, like a respiratory problem, is the cause of combination of physical and emotional imbalances. Nutrition is a critical way to ensure your food intake is helping to strengthen your body, and not contributing to further imbalances or vulnerabilities. Therefore, nutrition can help a patient tackle almost any health condition. Since the body is dynamic, nutrition consultation does not only help determine what’s best for your body to heal, it can also help you adjust your diet as your body shifts and changes over time.