Nutrition Therapy COntent
HIGHLIGHTS
Functional Nutrition Coaching
In this approach, the patient is unique, with a unique footprint requiring a targeted approach.
Tailormade Solutions
Focusing on providing Individualized support and not a one-fits-all standardized diet.
Why Nutrition Therapy?
“Food is medicine” Hippocrates correctly stated, however certain foods may trigger serious health conditions. Because we are all unique and different, we do not react in the same way to the same foods. Nutrition Theraphy helps to concentrate on your eating habits, sensitivities, potential deficiencies and how our body reacts and absorbs the different macronutrients.
How to Create a Balanced Diet?
Creating a balanced diet can be a challenging task, but with the following tips, you can ensure that you are getting all the nutrients your body needs to thrive:
- Include a variety fresh, locally produced, nutrient-rich foods, mainly fiber rich ones like vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains and fruits. Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and including a variety of colors in your diet can ensure that you are getting a wide range of polyphenols.
- Choose lean protein sources: Protein is essential for building and repairing tissues, and choosing lean sources such as chicken, fish, beans, and lentils can help you meet your protein needs while also reducing your intake of saturated fat.
- Incorporate whole grains: Whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat bread provide fiber and important nutrients such as B vitamins and iron.
- Limit processed and high-sugar foods: Processed foods and those high in added sugars provide little nutritional value and can lead to weight gain and other health problems when consumed in excess.
- Include healthy fats: Healthy fats such as those found in nuts, seeds, avocado, and olive oil can provide essential fatty acids and help to keep you feeling full and satisfied.
- Stay hydrated: Drinking plenty of water is important for maintaining optimal health and can also help to reduce hunger and support weight loss.
- Practice mindful eating: Pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues, and aim to eat slowly and mindfully to fully enjoy and savor your food.
- Take the time to prepare your own meals and to enjoy your self-cooked meals.
- Always try to diversify the content of your meals to benefit from the different micronutrients contained in foods.
Fruits & Vegetables
They occupy a fundamental space in our diet: they are rich in vitamins, polyphenols and soluble and insoluble fiber
Vegetables should occupy the largest proportion of the foods on your plate both for their fiber content and satiety role. Fibers feed your gut microbiome that in return keeps you and your gut healthy. If the bugs in your gut are not fed with your fiver intake, they will start feeding themselves with the carbohydrates present on your gut mucosal lining.
There is just one layer of joint cells lining your gut, and when that is fragilized the junctions are not tight enough leading to what is commonly called leaky gut.
Once we reach a leaky gut situation from an inflamed gut, a lack in diversity of the microbiome we enter a stage in which we can be prone to an immune reaction in the body. Auto immune conditions are irreversible but can be kept under control.
It is a new stage, irreversible, thus it should be avoided or healed as soon as possible.
Fruits should be seasonal, locally produced and eaten with the skin whenever possible. Prefer non exotic fruits and not too ripe for a lower content of fructose.
Do not eat the skin of non-organic fruits.
Regular Exercises
Exercising must be part of your life or healing journey. There is no need to exercise a lot, to engage in strenuous efforts. Exercising must be adapted to your level, physical condition and most of all it must please you. The moment it is not enjoyable, it should be reduced in intensity, altogether suspended and replaced with another activity. In fact, strenuous exercise like running, endurance training, long-duration cardio can help burn calories and promote weight loss, it is not always effective for everyone.
Some individuals may experience an increase in appetite and food intake after exercise, which can offset the calories burned during the workout. And in most cases, it only results in body inflammation, increasing the level of cortisol secretion and ultimately also no weight loss
Cortisol is a hormone released by the adrenal gland in response to stress, and it can increase blood sugar levels and mobilize energy stores to help the body cope with the stressor. However, chronically elevated cortisol levels can have negative effects on the body, such as impairing immune function, increasing inflammation. Thus, high-strenuous exercise can cause the body to produce stress hormones, which can lead to increased fat storage and decreased fat burning and disrupting sleep patterns.
To promote weight loss, it is important to focus on a comprehensive approach that includes both exercise and nutrition. Incorporating strength training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be effective for building muscle mass and increasing metabolism, while also reducing stress and cortisol levels. Additionally, following a healthy, balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats can support weight loss and overall health. It is also important to prioritize sleep and stress management to support optimal health and weight loss goals.
Sleep Quality
Sleep is as important as good food for a healthy life.
Sleep impacts a variety of bodily functions that are often overlooked. During sleep, the body regenerates, reconstructs, and detoxifies. These are fundamental functions to keep us healthy
Proper sleeping is a non negotiable and I address it as a first measure with all my clients
Please head to my workshop slides on sleep for more insight in how to reduce stress and gain back a healthy sleep pattern.
Vitamins and Supplements
It is always preferable to get vitamins and nourishment from foods rather than supplements. The body naturally manages and absorbs only the appropriate quantities of micro numents it needs. In other words, it is capable of regulating deficiencies and surpluses only from food. However, supplements are fundamental in rapidly rebalancing the body in case of deficiencies, or difficulties to digest vegetables, such as cruciferous, or simply when we find it hard to eat a sufficiently large variety of vegetables.
If you choose to take supplements, be sure you go for the highest quality available. Read the label and be sure it contains no preservatives, flavors or coloring and choose gluten free, organic supplements. I found Juice Plus www.juiceplus.com to be the best answer to compensate for vitamin deficiencies with high quality supplements.
Juice Plus are gluten free, dairy free, pesticide free concentrations of fruits and vegetables. That help us reach the target of diversifying our vegetable and fruit intake.
Finding a Balance Can Be Hard, but Eating Healthy Doesn’t Have To Be
As functional nutritionist, I have a holistic approach to solve root causes of my clients. I like to call it bio individuality: each person has a unique situation that needs being addressed as such. Their personal situation, past experiences, potential traumas, eating habits, sleep routine, and genetic imprint all contribute to shaping our unique individuality. Like our finger prints, we share common traits shaped by individual characteristics. Thus, there is not one single diet to lose weight, nor a single approach to address your auto immunity or a single advice to address insomnia…
It takes some effort to identify your personal triggers and gradual adjustments to address them in order to lower inflammation at its root cause. It takes time, investigation and patience and this is exactly what I offer you.
All aspects impacting homeostasis need to be addressed. Among the most common ones, we count as non-negotiables: sleep quality, bowel movements and sugar balance, paired with stress management, leisure time, physical activity and healthy diet.
Unhealthy habits trigger inflammation in our body and it takes substantial commitment to modify them. Most often patients that are experiencing the first signs of inflammation but that they can manage it and have adapted to mediocre sleep, some weight gain around the waist, some fatigue, brain fog or digestive issues. They adapt, resiliently and consider it normal to aging. It is not. One should not accommodate to a “less healthy” life. Small changes implemented gradually but steadily have demonstrated to be most effective.
Together we can identify them and reverse them. The first action is always dietary. Small dietary changes can lead to reversing many triggers and improve your quality of life.
Among them never underestimate inflammatory foods like gluten dairy sugar red meat saturated fats or processed foods.
MY TOP 3 TIPS TO EATING HEALTHILY
1 -The importance of fiber:
Fiber has been linked to a large number of benefits. Among the most important ones let’s mention regulating blood sugar, hunger, cholesterol levels, bowel movements and body weight. This reduces the risk of chronic diseases like cardio metabolic conditions, diabetes type II, obesity or colon diseases. But how is that?
Recent studies have established that the gut microbiota plays a very important role in keeping our body healthy and because fiber feeds the good bacteria in our gut. This contributes to improving the diversity of the gut microbiota that will proliferate and function better. In return, bacteria produce nutrients that are beneficial for the body called short chain fatty acids. (Acetate, propionate and butyrate). SCFA feed the colon cells, reduce gut inflammation and reduce digestive disorders such as Crohn’s disease or IBS.
So, the presence of a healthy microbiota positively impacts our digestion and appetite, energy and metabolism, immune system (70% of our immune system is present in the gut), and provides protection against invading pathogens.
What is fiber? It is an indigestible component contained in plant foods like legumes, beans, vegetables, cereals, whole grains and fruits. There are a lot of classifications for fiber that define it according to its characteristics.
Soluble or non soluble
Fermentable or non fermentable
Viscous or non-viscous
Soluble fiber means it dissolves in water and forms viscous gel like material. It is not digested in the small intestine and it is fermented by the microbiota in the large intestine. Here it slows down the digestive system. This type of fiber helps lower cholesterol and glucose levels.
Examples of soluble fiber: psyllium, oats, barley, carrots, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits,
Insoluble fiber means it is non soluble in water and does not form gels. Fermentation is limited and it speeds up the digestive system. It helps the movement of material through the digestive system and increases stool bulk, thus promoting bowel movements. It is contained in whole wheat flour, nuts, cauliflower, green beans and potatoes.
It is also classified as dietary or functional.
Functional meaning non digestible carbs isolated and added to foods. Whereas dietary fiber
occurs naturally in food.
2 - The Importance of Proteins
Proteins is an essential macronutrient that we need to include in our daily diet.
Proteins are made of building blocks called amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that link together differently to make new proteins that carry out body functions such as grow, repair and build body tissues, provide cellular communication, regulate hormones, produce enzymes for proper digestion, and favor oxygenation of body cells. Finally, protein favor feeling of satiety thus contributing to a healthy weight.
Proteins are also a source of energy to the body. Some amino acids can be made by our body and they are called non-essential amino acids, meaning that we do not need to eat foods that contain them as our body is capable of producing them on its own. However, there are 9 amino acids that our body cannot make. These are called essential amino acids. They need to be present in foods that we consume daily top provide them to our body.
Proteins are plant or animal based.
Animal proteins are contained in: poultry, lean meats, seafood, fish, eggs and dairy products.
Plant based proteins are contained in: beans lentils, nuts and whole grains.
Animal based proteins contain all essential amino acids. Plant based proteins usually lack at least one essential amino acid. Thus, vegans and vegetarians need to include a large variety of protein sources every day to guarantee ingesting all the essential amino acids.
NB Soy products, quinoa and amaranth contain all the essential amino acids.
The quantity of protein needed by day per person varies according to its gender, age, weight and health.
3 - The Importance of Healthy Fats
Not all fats are born equal.
Saturated and unsaturated fats belong to the same macronutrient category but are diametrically opposed when it comes to nutritious value.
Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and saturated fats are solid at room temperature.
Saturated fats form red meat should be limited to 2 times a month. Saturated fats form dairy has a lower degree of negative health effects.
Finally, trans fat are unsaturated fats that have undergone a transformation into hydrogenated fats either by the food manufacturers. they are contained in frozen foods, baked goods, snack foods, margarines or at home when heating seed or vegetable oils at very high temperature for frying or for cooking.
Also an oil that has been used more than once for frying has a higher trans-fat content. An unhealthy content that will be passed to the fried food.
An exception is coconut oil that is extremely stable at high temperatures too. Olive oil and avocado oil have a nice level of heat tolerance. These oils are more expensive and restaurants use oils that are far less stable to fry such as sunflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil or rice bran oil.
Their chemical structure has changed during this process and their regular consumption leads to health issues. Research has established a clear link between trans-fat and diseases such as obesity, heart conditions, diabetes and cancer.
Healthy fats that should be consumed regularly include avocados, fatty fish (rich in omega 3), olive oil, linseed oil, Swiss colza oil, eggs, dark chocolate, chia seeds, linseeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, Brazil nuts and full fat yoghurt.
Gut Dysbiosis
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