Naturopathic Medicine Month – Week #3
Here we are in our third of four weeks spreading the word about Naturopathic Medicine. As with our last two posts, we have a myth, an FAQ, a solution, and a tip!
Myth Buster: “Naturopathic Doctors put everyone on a restrictive diet.”
It’s true that all Naturopathic Doctors believe that food matters when it comes to your health.
Most modern, chronic disease is strongly linked to poor diet, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking. The evidence in the medical literature is overwhelming. So, with that in mind, just about every visit you have with an ND is likely to touch on what you eat.
That can take a number of different forms. It might be dealing with inflammatory foods through food intolerance testing, or simply changing a diet high in “food-like substances” to one high in actual food.
That doesn’t, however, mean that everyone needs to be gluten-free, or dairy-free, or vegan, or paleo, or keto, or whatever the latest sexy diet plan is.
Each individual is different, and the diet that works for each person is also different. Getting to the root of that for each person is a cornerstone of naturopathic medicine.
We have written many blog posts about nutrition that touch on our philosophy–here are a couple from the archives:
FAQ: “Can Naturopathic Doctors order lab tests?”
Just like MD’s, Naturopathic Doctors can and do order labs tests. There are, however, a couple of key differences:
- OHIP does NOT cover lab tests ordered by ND’s. The upside is that patients pay for their own labs, they get to have more control of their testing which keeps them in the driver’s seat for their health.
- ND’s look at labs differently. Although ND’s are trained to recognize abnormal labs, we are most interested in determining if there is a functional problem or pre-disease marker in lab results. Diabetes, for example, shows up as PRE-diabetes long before diabetes shows up. Staying on top of labs and dealing with problems ahead of time is true preventative medicine.
Solution: Hormones!
Imbalances in hormones might be the single biggest root cause of the symptoms that bring patients to StoneTree Clinic.
- persistent weight gain
- fatigue
- mood issues
- poor sleep
- brain fog
- headaches
- menstrual issues
- PMS
- Menopausal symptoms.
The root cause of hormone imbalances are different for every patient, and we use specialized testing to figure out what the imbalance is. We then use our awesome toolbox of herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, and diet and lifestyle changes to get things back where they belong.
Tip: Healthy Eating Made Simple
This hilarious video really captures the confusion that most people feel about what they eat:
- Eggs are good for you, then they are bad for you, then they are good for you again.
- Fats are bad, now they are good.
- Carbs are good for you, then they are not.
- You should eat meat, not eat meat, avoid gluten, eat more fiber….
It’s hard to keep it straight!
The best advice we can give holds true no matter what the new fad diet is:
Eat foods that nature makes, mostly plants, not too much.
(Thanks, Michael Pollan)
It really is that simple.