Over the years I have helped a lot people with a huge variety of health concerns. When doing so, it is important to address the whole person, which we often divide into physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components for ease of assessment and treatment. However, you cannot really separate them as we all know. Many people will however have an area that they are aware of that is most out of balance, and as a Naturopathic doctor, people often come to me for help with their physical health. That is often the doorway to deeper health. Health is the greatest gift, and without it life on most every level becomes extremely challenging. You can make your fullest contribution to life only if you are healthy.
Some of the health concerns that I have helped people with that have had an important connection with diet include:
- Digestive disturbances (of course) such as IBS, IBD, Colitis, Reflux, Constipation, Hemorrhoids
- Allergies
- Skin rashes of all sorts
- Chronic Respiratory Illnesses
- Neurological illnesses including ALS, Parkinson’s, MS
- Headaches
- Arthritis
- PMS and hormonal imbalances
- High Blood Pressure
- Autoimmune Diseases
- Cancers
When I first begin working with people, we often start with the diet – the foods that we use to energize and nourish – fuel our bodies day in and day out. These foods have an impact on the health of our digestive tract and affect every part of our body from there. Of course emotions have a lot to do with the foods we choose. “The Sanskrit word Rasa means, among other things, both “taste” and “emotion”. According to the convention of Sanskrit grammar, this suggests that Taste and emotion are identical forces on different planes of existence. In fact Taste is to the body what emotion is to the mind. An emotion in the mind tends to produce in the body its corresponding Taste, just as ingestion of a specific Taste tends to create in the mind its corresponding emotion.”* Prakruti; Your Ayurvedic Constitution by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda (1989)
There is a wealth of wisdom in the ancient Ayurvedic teachings regarding helping you to heal by understanding how to use the right foods for your particular body or constitution (and much more than that too). This is an area that I am learning more about in order to better serve my patients – you. J There are many methods that I have been using over the past 18 years to identify the foods that are best for your individual health. They include:
- Muscle testing; asking your body to show us if a particular food strengthens or weakens you. This can be done using foods in your mouth, holding vials that contain the amplified energy of the food, or simply stating the name of the food
- IgG Blood test for food sensitivities, which is a delayed immune reaction (vs. allergic reaction IgA)
- Electrodermal Testing; in a nutshell, sending the energy of the foods into your acupuncture meridian (no needles) and recording your body’s reaction to that food on a scale of 100. Foods outside of the normal range should be avoided.
- Elimination diet, whereby you eliminate all of the most problematic foods (an anti-inflammatory diet) for 3+ weeks until symptoms disappear, and then slowly reintroduce one food at a time, while noting your body’s signals, and if symptoms return then it must be avoided for longer etc.
Each method has its merits. The main thing it is important to eat the right foods for you in order to maintain or improve your health.
If you feel that you would like some assistance with this, please don’t hesitate to call for an appointment 905-690-6123
Dr. Melissa Howe, ND.
