Nutritional Counseling

“Let the food be your medicine and medicine be your food”

Hyppocrates

In both, eastern and western traditions, diet, what we eat is an important determinant of how we feel and how we age. Food supplies us with the basic needs of calories and nutrients. An optimal diet should also keep us healthy or at least, greatly reduce the risk of disease and fortify the body’s defenses and intrinsic mechanisms of healing.

A famous doctor of Chinese medicine from the Tang dynasty, Sun Si-miao said that when a person comes to a doctor for help, the doctor should first regulate the patient’s diet and lifestyle. In most cases, these changes alone are enough to solve the problem. Only if these changes are not enough, the doctor should apply other methods like Acupuncture or Herbology. I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Sun Si-miao. Although most of the patients that come to my office do need acupuncture treatments or herbs, if changes in the diet and lifestyles are not done, the treatments do not achieve full effect.

The subject of diet and nutrition is confusing. There is too much information out there. From magazines to internet we are being bombarded with advise, most of the time contradictory, on how to eat, what to eat, how much, how often, what vitamins, dairy or soy. Every time I give a talk on alternative health options and nutrition I get bombarded with questions that reveal to me both, the interest and the confusion on the subject.

I also want to stress the importance of nutrition in children. As a mother of 3 young ones, I can see first hand the struggle 21st century mothers go through to try to balance their busy lifestyles with healthy diet choices. A healthy child will develop into a healthy adult. By teaching them good choices in diet and lifestyle we are building for them a solid base for their future.