As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner I will offer you in-depth nutritional consulting that will support you on your journey to optimal health.
By counseling you on all aspects of balanced and sustainable low carb nutrition and lifestyle modifications, you will be able to make easily achievable changes that won’t seem daunting.
By me meeting you “where you are at”, you will feel the sense of ownership of the whole process. You are in the driver’s seat!
During the 3 or 6 months that we will be working together, I will offer counseling on each of the following foundations that, in turn, support robust optimal health:
nutrient-dense whole food diet
digestion optimization
blood sugar regulation
adequate movement
stress management
Let’s talk about each of these foundations in a bit more detail.
Incorporating more whole nutrient-dense foods into your diet is the first step. You can think of it as a foundation that holds up a building, in this case that building is your health, your energy levels, mood and cognitive function, productivity, libido and sports performance. Yes! All of those areas benefit from the whole food approach!
Whole foods are unprocessed or minimally processed foods that retain their natural nutrients, like vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and fats. Nutrient density refers to the concentration of those nutrients per calorie.
Heavily processed foods often contain added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, refined grains, artificial flavors and other additives, which provide little nutritional value, lots of calories and overly stimulate the addiction areas in our brains. These foods distort our natural hunger and satiety signals (think poor appetite control!) and it’s very easy to overeat them.
It’s also much easier to lose extra weight on a whole food nutrient-dense diet because it restores the natural hunger and satiety signals in the brain, resulting in an intuitive appetite control without counting calories [2].
Real foods, such as meat, fish, poultry, seafood, eggs, pastured dairy, nuts, seeds, some fruit and vegetables are all rich in vitamins and minerals, such as iron, zinc, copper, calcium, vitamins A, D, E, K, C and B vitamins, which support our immune and reproductive systems, energy production and reduce chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation occurs when the body’s systems are overwhelmed by too many toxic compounds, including those in food, like excess glucose, which leads to increased oxidative stress and that can cause damage to our cells, resulting in disease and premature aging. While we are taught to eat more antioxidant-containing foods, like fruits and veggies, that’s not the whole picture. If your digestion is not working optimally, you may not even get these antioxidants into the cells that need them.
In addition to the nutrients we mentioned so far, it’s very important to get enough healthy fats, because they give us energy, and also help control inflammation and blood sugar, and are required for healthy hormone balance.
So, we have our foundation. Now we are going to talk about the pillars that support your “building” of optimal health and well-being. And the first one is digestion.
Digestion is a complex process that is responsible for breaking down food into nutrients that the body can absorb and use. However, many people experience digestive problems, such as bloating, cramping, gas, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea, which can interfere with their ability to absorb nutrients properly.
By supporting digestion, we can improve nutrient absorption, enhance immune function, balance hormones, reduce inflammation, and even make you happier by changing the balance of neurotransmitters in your brain!
One of the primary ways to support digestion is eating whole nutrient-dense foods. But sometimes that’s just not enough. You might need a more targeted support with supplements and maybe even a period of elimination of certain foods.
For example, avoiding trigger foods, such as sugar, dairy, gluten and fiber, can reduce inflammation in the digestive tract and reduce symptoms.
Optimizing the pH of your stomach is another way to alleviate symptoms such as bloating, gas and acid reflux.
Being gentle with your gallbladder by using certain types of fats is also very important.
Helping out your pancreas with some quality digestive enzymes is also an option.
Often ignored, but equally important, promoting relaxation and reducing stress can greatly enhance digestion by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our “rest and digest” state that enables absorption of nutrients.
The second pillar of health is blood sugar balance.
When our blood sugar levels fluctuate too much, as when we are eating too many refined carbohydrates for example, it can lead to insulin resistance, a condition in which the body's cells become less responsive to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. Over time, insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes, a chronic disease that affects millions of people worldwide and has dire consequences.
What goes up must come down. When our bodies make more and more insulin to lower the constant high blood glucose spikes, it inevitably lowers it a bit too much and that’s dangerous for the body. When blood sugar levels drop too low, it can cause hypoglycemia, a condition characterized by symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue and that urgent “hangry” feeling, when you are so hungry that your mood worsens and you must eat frequently.
The answer here is not to eat sugar to bring the blood sugar back up, but to restore your body’s innate ability to burn our other fuel - fats. The only way to do this is to gradually lower the carbs and increase the fats in your diet. When your body is able to easily get energy from fats, you become less dependent on frequent meals and snacks, because the energy you need is always “on board”. Goodbye hangry, hello happy!
Supporting blood sugar balance with a low carb diet can benefit you in various ways. For example, it can help you sustainably lose weight, improve cholesterol markers, reduce blood pressure, blood glucose and fasting insulin. It can also help you scale down on medications, and in some cases achieve full remission of type 2 diabetes. [3]
Eating enough protein and healthy fats at each meal can help stabilize blood sugar levels and provide more energy throughout the day. For example, consuming a breakfast like an egg and cheese omelet, or salmon and cream cheese rolled up with avocado, can keep your blood sugar much more balanced throughout the morning compared to a breakfast of cereal and orange juice.
We are not going to remove all carbs. We will evaluate your current intake, and determine your own personal carb threshold, which will prevent spikes in blood sugar levels and keep your mood and energy steady throughout the day. Remember, it’s all tailored to you.
Lifestyle changes, such as regular movement and stress management, can also support blood sugar balance. Moving your body (and that doesn’t mean killing yourself in the gym!) can help increase insulin sensitivity. Stress management techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing, and yoga, can help reduce cortisol levels, a stress hormone that can lead to imbalanced blood sugar levels.
Moving onto the third pillar - adequate movement.
I am not going to ask you kill yourself in the gym, but we will look for ways to make you move your body more, naturally. It could be taking a walk after dinner, or parking your car in the far end of the parking lot, or taking steps instead of the elevator.
Each person has their unique health situation and gradually increasing the amount of physical activity is key.
As you’ve already seen in other foundations, regular movement will aid in proper blood sugar control and stress reduction, as well as promote better sleep.
Fourth pillar is stress management.
Chronic stress increases chronic inflammation and promotes insulin resistance..
We can’t remove all of the things that cause us stress, but we can learn how to cope with them better.
The nutrient-dense diet will help your brain produce calming neurotransmitters and achieve a better balance with their excitatory “brethren”, which will make you more resilient to stress.
As a health coach, I can offer you a number of simple stress-reduction techniques that will, in turn, support your mood, as well as digestion and blood sugar foundations.
Come work with me and the only thing you will be wondering is: why haven’t you done this earlier?
References:
[1] CDC. “Poor Nutrition” https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/nutrition.htm
[2] Thio, L. L. (2012, July). Hypothalamic Hormones and Metabolism. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3244537/
[3] Hallberg, S. J., et al. (2018). Effectiveness and safety of a novel care model for the management of type 2 diabetes at 1 year: An open-label, non-randomized, controlled study. Diabetes Therapy, 9, 583-612.