Finding Your Way to Health

Hello! Elizabeth here. I’m a busy homeschool mom of 2, an organic beauty artist as well as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. And really, if I can distill it all down, I’m someone with a passion to help others improve their health and quality of life so they can focus in on what really lights their soul on fire! But that whole “soul lit on fire” part is really challenging (and maybe even impossible) if you are struggling to get through each day with adequate energy to get just the basics done. Perhaps your big goals are on the shelf because you are plagued with chronic pain that makes surviving, not thriving, your everyday reality. Or maybe you just don’t feel great in your skin. You have some goals to really get in shape and be your most confident self but no matter how many new dietary and exercise regiments you try you always feel defeated in the end. Nothing feels sustainable. Is it possible to enjoy luxurious food and also feel good in your body? These are challenges I’ve had and the primary driving force behind my passion for a deeper understanding of holistic nutrition and lifestyle and how they produce true vitality and wellness. My training as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner has had a profound impact on my life and I would like to show you how it can do the same for you!

While there are endless components that can be worthwhile to consider while improving your wellness it’s imperative to have some foundational principles that will give you the biggest bang for your buck as far as your health goes. Let’s face it, most of us are busy people with laundry lists of responsibilities and fulltime biohacking is not a realistic pursuit. That’s why I love the concept of the “pareto principle”. Ever heard of it? It’s a phenomenon that has been observed by scientists, philosophers, economists, and even health practitioners. The Pareto principle (also referred to as the law of the vital few) states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Let that sink in for just a minute. Instead of feeling like hamsters on the wheel of endless health trends and tedious supplement programs if we can home in on what’s causing the greatest system disturbances, we can get a lot more gain for a lot less work. So, what does this look like in practice? Here are a few examples. Maybe you are spending a fortune on supplements to help with energy but a deeper understanding of how your diet is causing a blood sugar roller coaster could give you back your energy as well as bolster your bank account. Or you spend countless hours doing cardio at the gym with little to show for it. It’s possible that understanding and tweaking the macronutrients of your food, in combination with a couple days of intelligently scheduled resistance training, could reshape your physique as well as give you back invaluable time with your family.  Or perhaps you have a “spirited” child who struggles endlessly with a lack of focus and behavioral challenges. A properly prepared, nutrient dense diet may have a profound impact on their focus and emotional control thus creating a more enjoyable fun environment for everyone in the home. These are just a few examples of what honoring the 6 foundational NTP principles can do for you. Let’s dig in a little deeper to each principle.

Let’s start with what I feel may be the most important principle of all, a nutrient dense diet. I have often heard of people taking a plethora of pills and potions to get all the magical benefits promoted by the advertisers and yet they ignore the most critically important component to success, what are they eating? Our diet is the centerpiece of all the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, amino acids, and fatty acids that allow our bodies to maintain all its miraculous functions day in and day out. And if we are going to go to the trouble of trying to function at our highest level we better start with the basics. While we are all bio-individual to a degree most of us need healthy sources of both animal and plant foods to achieve the best array of nutrients to support us through all stages of life. Our ancestors understood this intuitively. Much of their energy was expended on hunting, foraging, and planting. All cultures made great efforts to include some animal foods in their diets even if it did not make up a large percentage of calories (Fallon, 2018). They possessed generational wisdom as to what time of year made for the best hunting that would yield the most nutrient dense animal protein and fat. In fact, according to Weston A Price, a founding father of nutritional wisdom, the traditional Swiss held a special ceremony to honor the vitality giving properties of butter from cows milked in the late spring (Price, 1939). Modern science would tell us that this may be due to the fat-soluble vitamins produced when cows have access to fresh green grass. And while not everyone needs a high-fat diet it is imperative that we do include some healthy fats if we are to feel our best.

Carbohydrates have also become a hot topic in modern diet culture, some think there is no limit to their goodness while others insist that every last trace of them should be removed from the diet. How is one to make sense of all this contradicting information? As an NTP I believe that discovering your own personal carbohydrate tolerance is another key to better energy and health. While some may do well for a while on extreme ends of the spectrum, again we can look to ancestral people and note that in temperate regions of the world carbohydrates where typically consumed. But unlike the factory production of most of our quick fix junk foods there is much to be said for learning proper preparation techniques when consuming plants, nuts and even grains if you choose to consume them. Learning to ferment some of your vegetables not only improves the ecosystem of healthy bacteria residing in your digestive track but additionally “predigests” your carbohydrate foods. This can be an excellent strategy for someone struggling with weak digestion or recovering from chronic fatigue.

And on the topic of digestion, I should mention this is another founding principle for nutritional wellness. NTPs like to say, “You are not what you eat but what you digest!” This has never been truer than it is today. Unfortunately, the constant barrage of fast convenient foods not only depletes our bodies due to their lack of nutrients but many of them can directly damage our digestive tract. Did you know most of the nutrients we consume are absorbed via our small intestine? Well at least that’s what is supposed to happen. But a high intake of processed foods as well as foods that cause an immunologic response combined with a lack of probiotic and collagen-based foods lead to intestines that are always being broken down and never being nourished and repaired. And if this goes on long enough…Voila! You have a “leaky gut”. Leaky gut (intestinal permeability) occurs when the cell junctures lining your digestive track lose their structural integrity allowing proteins to escape into the bloodstream where they do not belong. This can lead to a host of problems including digestive complaints, allergies, headaches, and even autoimmune illness. Sadly, these maladies are far too common, but the good news is that creating thoughtful dietary strategies can help to rebuild your system as well as alleviate these symptoms.

After you digest all those important nutrients into critical components like vitamins, minerals, amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids it is critical that your body can efficiently use this substrate to fuel you through your day. When your endocrine and nervous system are in balance you will have stable blood sugar regulation throughout your day and in general feel good! But if you are prone to fatigue after meals, shakiness between meals or even intense mood swings these could all signal blood sugar disturbances. Blood sugar is a hot topic which often gets simplified into overly basic concepts like “just eat 6 small meals a day” or “just don’t eat the carbs”, but blood sugar regulation in a complex dance that involves not only the foods you consume but how you manage stress, sleep, and your emotions in general. It may be prudent to first look at your diet. Are you consuming adequate fat to smooth this rise in glucose after consuming a meal? Are you avoiding refined carbohydrates which cause a compensatory release of high levels of insulin from the pancreases which can, if chronic, lead to fatigue and weight gain? But if you feel like you have turned over every dietary stone and yet you still struggle with blood sugar challenges you should consider looking at your stress and sleep hygiene. Why is this so important? Because the adrenal cortex is an endocrine gland that also plays an important role in blood sugar control by regulating the release of fight or flight hormones such as adrenaline, norephedrine and epinephrine. Great news if you are trying to escape a predator! Unfortunately, our nervous system can have the same experience every time we receive a work-related email, watch a horror film or end of stuck in rush hour traffic. The good news is there are many lifestyle changes and even some dietary ones, that can really help us out of this vicious cycle of stress.

As we learn about blood sugar control, we will naturally learn the important roles that fatty acids play in the body. Fats have become the most unfairly maligned component of our diets and it really is a tragedy that has caused a great deal of harm not to mention many a bland meal. While the history of the demonization of fats, and particularly saturated fats, is the topic of entire books I find it suffice for now to say that the cultural insistence that “fat will kill you” is based less on rigorous science but rather is a long story of political gain, big industry economics and poorly controlled “scientific” data. While anything, including natural fats, can be overdone in the diet the reality is that most people are walking around terrified of eating foods in their natural form because, well, nature always seems to think it best to include fat. Fats are the building block for every cell membrane in your body! Not only that but the type and quality of the fat you ingest directly becomes the type of fat incorporated into your cell walls. In addition to their role in cells fats help modulate a healthy inflammatory response, your immune system as well as your sex hormones. And maybe the most important reason to include some fat in your diet it tastes delicious!

And this talk of fat brings us to our next foundational principle for health, minerals balance. Minerals cannot be utilized in the body without a healthy intake of fatty acids. And although they are only needed in relatively small amounts minerals play so many important roles in our body including proper nerve signaling, muscular function, bone formation, stomach acid production and fluid balance. While minerals are available in many food sources the proper absorption of them is very much influenced by their multiple cofactors. Are you noticing how all these systems work together?

The last foundation may seem so simple that you wonder why it’s even a principle, but the truth is it’s often overlooked and it has an impact on every system in your body.  I’m speaking of hydration. Adequate hydration allows the organ systems inside you to work smoothly. It helps to oxygenate your blood, cushion your spine and joints, enable cognitive function, and flush your body of toxins. Did you know that you can experience deleterious effects with dehydration levels as minimal as 1 to 2%? And while drinking to thirst can be enough for some people the truth is that thirst function declines with age and is less reliable under certain conditions including intense physical activity as well as altitude.

So, there you have it! These are some of the most impactful aspects in your control to lead you to better health and vitality. As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I can provide invaluable insights, tools and strategies to help you utilize these powerful foundations and get you back on track to living a life imbued with passion, beauty and health.