Nutritional Support: Keep it simple and build a solid foundation I really would like to offer more nutritional support to my patients but I just don’t know what or how and I don’t have the time…but I know I should be doing something T Dr. Victoria Coleman is a 1994 graduate of CMCC and a BSc in Kinesiology specializing in Fitness Assessment and Exercise Counsel-ing. Working with patients over the years, it became her mission to teach people that everything you eat, breath, drink, and think affects your health. This fuelled her desire to further expand her career and continue her studies. She is an avid follower of the Institute for Functional Medicine and is currently working toward her certification in Functional Medicine. Dr. Victoria Coleman is also the president of Douglas Laboratories/Pure Encap-sulations Canada. he above comment is something I hear all too often from several different prac-titioners. The focus of this article is to address this concern with easy-to-imple-ment, simple solutions. Enhancing the health of your patients does not have to be complicated. You do not need to hold a degree as a registered dietician or understand the intricacies of every biochemical pathway in the body. This is not to say you should not work with, and refer to, dieticians, naturopaths and other allied professionals, as they are the experts in many cases and a key part of a solid health care team. You can, however, improve the health of your patients by providing support with a few basics that will make a significant impact in their energy, healing, mood, and over-all well-being. SUPPLEMENTS ARE NOT SUBSTITUTES First of all it is important to note that supplementation is exactly that – supplementing an already good diet. It is not an excuse to eat poorly or assume you can mitigate the effects of a bad diet by just popping pills. Unfortunately, we live in a society that expects a quick “‘drugs fix all” solution. This attitude stems from savvy marketing on the part of companies that encourage poor eating by offering so-called “solutions” for the side effects of partaking in chili, wings, and bad take-out. Supplements are, in fact, meant to strengthen the benefits of the healthy eating habits you can help your patients achieve. EATING 101 – WHAT NATURE INTENDED Offering your patients the back-to-basics in eating is simple. Eat the way nature intend-ed. Before you put something into your mouth, either count the number of steps you think it went through, or consider what has been added to it, for it to be in the form it is in. For example, a vegetable or fruit – organic, of course, would be ideal -in its whole form represents one step…it was picked. Chicken breast or fish was killed, cleaned and then cooked -grilled, baked with some spices, olive oil etc. This, too, is fairly minimal. Processed, packaged pizza treat? The steps needed to get this to your mouth – including loading with preservatives, salt, colours, and chemicals – are too many to count let alone try to pronounce. This, then, is perhaps, not the best choice of food to eat. FOOD CHOICES:USE COMMON SENSE Eat eight to 10 servings (need not be large) of fruits/vegetables per day and opt for non-genetically modified and organic whenever possible. Nuts and eggs provide excellent sources of protein and healthy fats. Meats and fish can be prepared without coatings and sauces. Enjoy the taste of that which Mother Nature has provided in herbs, spices and olive oil to enhance the baking and grilling of these foods. Eating out need not be complicated either: most all restaurants will offer a good 22 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | SEPTEMBER 2010 Continued on Page 78 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Victoria Coleman, DC
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