Nutritional & Environmental Medicine
Nutritional and environmental medicine studies the interaction between the nutritional and environmental factors of an individual, along with human physiology, biochemistry, and pathology, and its clinical application to prevent and treat disease.
It looks at the connection between food, our environment, and wellness.
To achieve optimal health, one needs to adopt a healthy lifestyle which looks at regulating diet, exercise, good quality sleep, improved breathing, regular exercise, and adequate fluid intake. These will provide optimal conditions to both prevent and reverse the disease process. The human body requires many vitamins and minerals for its many enzymatic and hormonal functions. They assist in the formation of genetic material, bone structure, and other tissue, as well as help regulate our metabolism. Sometimes, just marginal deficiencies can be the contributing factor for the development of chronic illnesses.
Nutritional and environmental medicine uses food and nutrients to achieve a therapeutic or medicinal effect, and often involves the removal of chemicals, toxic elements, or certain foods from our immediate environment to assist with the body’s healing processes.
As with any complementary modality, nutritional and environmental medicine needs to be applied in an individual manner. It requires the appreciation that we are all unique, and therefore will have unique nutritional requirements. What appears an adequate intake for one person may be inadequate for another.
If you eat, you can benefit from nutritional medicine.
Medical recommendations for a healthy diet invariably include daily servings of fruits and vegetables, but maintaining that ideal every day may not be practical or possible for everyone. Nor are your nutritional needs static over time—your body has quite different nutritional requirements when you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, recovering from illness, or trying to reach and maintain a healthy weight. The aging process also causes subtle changes in your body’s requirements. The nutritional needs that your diet once met may no longer suffice for your current lifestyle.
Researchers know that stress dramatically affects your health, but they’re only now coming to a clearer understanding of how diet and stress relate. Physiological and psychological stress don’t always arise from negative events; taking up a challenging new exercise regimen or getting a promotion at work can also alter your nutritional needs. Vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming more widespread. Nutritional counselling ensures that you receive everything your body needs if you adopt a new way of eating.
Nutritional-related disease states include:
- Allergies
- Anxiety
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Chronic fatigue
- Crohn’s disease
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Menstrual irregularities
- Metabolic syndrome
- Obesity
- PCOS
- Stress related disorders
- Thyroid problems
- Ulcerative colitis
Dr Jaimini Raniga provides an integrative nutritional approach to suit your individual needs taking into account your unique constitution and disease state.
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