What is Nutritional Medicine?
Nutritional medicine involves implementing dietary changes and use of supplements to improve gut health and ensure the correct intake of essential nutrients. This type of intervention can be vital in sustaining optimum health and prevent or assist in the treatment of many health conditions.

What to expect during a treatment

Initail consultation
In the intial consultation you will receive a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of your health and nutritional history. This is carried out to identify nutritional deificencies, your food preferences and health problems. Once this information has been gathered and evaluated, you will be given a dietary program that suits your specific needs and preferences. This program includes a suggested weekly food and supplement intake plan, along with a symptom assessment form that allows you to make weekly health improvement checks. Great care will also be given to provide a nutritional program that is affordable, realistic and easy to implement, reflecting your food preferences where possible.

Follow up treatments
You will be asked to come back within three weeks to evaluate your progress, both with following the nutrition program and to discuss any health improvements. You may also recieve further health assessments and additional supplement and dietary recommendations.

If there are no further issues or concerns with following the nutritional program, you will be asked to return for follow up evaluations at three 
and six month intervals. This is because it can take this period of time for certain vitamins and minerals to become stored and properly utilised within the body. Once your health condition has improved and the program is completed, you may receive further dietary recommendations and advice on how to sustain improvements permanently.  

                     Conditions treated with nutritional medicine

Medical conditions
Nutritional medicine can be used to help reduce symptoms and promote recovery from many medical conditions. Natural Holistics specialises in providing nutritional medicine for the conditions listed below.

Arthritis
Osteoporosis
High blood pressure
Menstrual conditions
Hormonal conditions
Reccurent infections
Skin conditions (such as eczema and psoriasis)
Depression

Caution: Please note that it is Natural Holistics policy that nutritional medicine is provided only to support and not replace conventional medical treatment for the above conditions. Therefore medical diagnosis and support must be acquired before treatment.

Pre and post operative support
Nutritional Medicine can be highly effective at preparing the body's immune system, strength and energy status when undergoing surgery or other invasive clinical procedures. This in itself can help reduce post operative fatigue, recovery time and risk of infection.

Poor energy levels
Nutritional medicine can help if you suffer from poor energy levels due to health problems or lifestyle stresses. Changes in dietary energy foods and the extra intake of certain vitamins and minerals are often all that is needed to restore and sustain optimal energy levels. Additional therapies offered by Natural Holistics, such as stress management, Cymatherapy, massage and reflexology are often included to provide extra support for this problem.

Stress and anxiety
Natural Holistics provides dietary and supplement strategies in treating any stress or anxiety problem. Common nutritional recommendations include establishing adequate hydration, reducing stimulant consumption, balancing intake of healthy energy foods and providing supplementation of certain vitamins and minerals that are often depleted due to stress.
If required, you can combine nutritional support with additional stress and anxiety treatments offered by Natural Holistics, such as massage, Cymatherapy and reflexology (see stress page for more information).

Weight control and obesity 
Natural Holistics has an effective and sensible nutritional support program for healthy weight loss. You will be advised on intake of healthy energy foods that are adequate for your level of activity so that calories are used efficiently. Guidance will also be given to avoid foods that slow metabolism and consume foods that heighten metabolism so that you can effectively utilise energy from foods. Every effort will be made to provide a personalised dietary plan that is realistic, affordable and suits your preferences. Exercise and lifestyle guidance, along with other therapeutic interventions will also be porvided to enhance and sustain improvements.

General health and well being
Nutritional medicine programs can also be an essential part of general health and well-being. Improving the intake of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are essential for most of us because there are common deficiencies leading to a condition known as 'Type B malnutrition'. This condition is caused by over consumption of processed foods and the general depletion of essential minerals and vitamins in our food due to intensive farming and long term storage.
Gut health and food sensitivities are also a very important issues that can affect the absorption of nutrients from our food.
All of these factors are always considered when designing any nutritional support program. Quite often, simple dietary changes and the introduction of a high quality food based multi-vitamin and mineral supplement are often all that is required to acheive general health and reduce the risk of developing an illness.