There are as many experts as there are ideas about nutrition – what and how you need to eat. Our approach to nutrition is influenced by our ‘lens’ (paradigm) through which we look at the world.
Nutrition, and advice about nutrition, is a complex area fraught with confusion.
Who Do You Trust? What Do You Trust?
This ‘Wellness & Prevention’ paradigm defines health as progressive improvement of cellular function – because of course, the cells of a body working correctly together is what leads to the whole body working at its best!
From this viewpoint, nutritional research and advice is focused on identifying what are the ideal, necessary essential nutrients that all people need, all of the time to promote best cell function.
It doesn’t vary from person to person, as all people need the same genetically-set requirements - at least as a baseline; these requirements are set by our species type and are species-wide.
It is a long-term regime and approach (ie. for life) rather than a short-term band-aid for whatever your immediate ‘crisis’ (symptom) might be.
Our Vibrant Life Key #2, focused on improving your internal chemistry is the area that looks at nutrition.
5 Key Questions: Nutrition Principles in a Wellness and Prevention Paradigm:
Because we want to work with getting your cells functioning as best as they can (that’s how we determine that you’re healthy!), and because we don’t just want to quiet down a warning signal (suppress a symptom), in terms of nutrition we need to answer five really important questions:
- What are the nutritional requirements for cells to live (and work) at their best?
- What foodstuffs/components do we consume that we know are toxic to all cells, preventing them from living at their best?
- Do cells routinely get what they need, or avoid what is harmful to them (based on the last two questions)
- What menu choices/behaviours are required to ensure cells are sufficient in all that they need?
- What menu choices/behaviours are required to ensure the cleanest, most pure environment, making sure that cells aren’t prevented from expressing their best life?
Common wisdom??
An alternative paradigm informs much of the ‘status quo’ or ‘common wisdom’; the allopathic view defines health as the lack symptoms or disease, such that nutritional advice, protocols and interventions are designed to reduce evidence of symptoms, disease or the risk factors that have been identified as contributing to these symptoms or disease states/syndromes.
There may be a place once the general needs defined for the whole human species is established, for the implementation of specific factors for an individual – bio-individualistic nutrition or advice.
In practice however, most prescription of bio-individualistic approaches arise from an allopathic reference point - where the change being implemented is attempting to heal, fix, treat, cure or otherwise address a particular symptom, dysfunction, disease or syndrome.
What this means is that the nutritional advice you receive is given to ‘fix’ or ‘treat’ a problem you have – Magnesium to ‘fix’ muscle cramping for example. If you subscribe to a wellness model of life, this approach to nutrition is both counter-intuitive AND in conflict with the goals you hope to achieve.
