It is rather surprising when people assume nutritional therapy means meal planning and weight loss. This type of training you can obtain by signing up to a short online course, no need to commit to a two years nutrition course.
What about the training at the New School of Nutritional Medicine?
We are focused on training 21st century practitioners in personalising/individualising a nutritional plan for their client. Nutritional therapy is about working at the root cause. This may sound rather obvious but in today's times we have people taking a supplement in place of a medication, this is not healing, this is not nutritional therapy. This is allopathic 'green' medicine, a natural 'pill for an ill'. Let's explain......
A case of Infertility
Imagine Amina, a 33 year young lady comes to see for a consultation as and you are the nutritional therapist. She has been trying to conceive for the past two years but it is not happening….
infertility
hair growth on face and breasts
overweight
low energy
acne
needs to eat regularly otherwise gets ‘jittery’
acid reflux once in a while
She may have come with a diagnosis, or not. Diagnosis is not really the 'focus' here, it is the INDIVIDUAL with the symptoms.
Birth Control Pill for acne
She had been put on the birth control pill since the 22yr of age in order to help with the acne that disappeared on the pill. But no surprise she comes off the pill 8 years later, acne is back and she has gained a few kilograms too.
She is eating pretty clean, goes to the gym but is beginning to resent it as she feels nothing is shifting. Now here are some options that she may have been advised by well-intentioned friends......
go gluten free, dairy free, sugar free,
go keto
go for IVF
get a personal trainer
change personal trainer
run around the streets naked and tell everyone you are free
Ok that last point was just to ensure you are reading mindfully
Taking The Timeline
You take her full case history, something we call the ‘timeline’. She also mentions, that when she completed her health profile form before the session, she realised that most of her symptoms started following the birth control pill (already your client is making the connections and her nervous system registers the ‘aha’ and relaxes a tad).
You ask questions related to various systems in the body, not just the hormones, not just the regularity of her cycles but you ask about how she eats, when she eats, her average day, what products she uses at home, has she has any new furniture recently, does she have a spring mattress, does her energy improve when she is on holiday, the colour of her urine, does she run ‘hot or cold, temperature wise, her bowel movement habits, such as regularity, consistency, ease ..etc
What is it like to be in 'her shoes'?
You are getting an idea of what it is like ‘in her shoes’ as well as a full birds eye view of her ‘systems’.
You gather all this vital and important information and find out during the session that not only does she have the above symptoms, she also has cold hands and feet and takes pain medication for her periods cramps.
It is not just a matter of hormones?
So rather than looking at infertility equates hormones, you go upstream, what is behind the infertility. Cold hands and cold feet could be linked to anaemia (could be iron related, could be B12 or folate related) this can be related to her low energy too, as these are key for producing ATP (our currency of energy).
She eats clean, but she is not eating enough protein and fat. You order a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis test, in order to find out more about not only overall mineral patterns but adrenal health, thyroid health as well as to check if she is absorbing well.
The birth control pills depletes nutrients
In the meantime, you have more than enough information to personalise her nutrition plan as well as some supplements.
You do a some research and note that the birth control pill (BCP) depletes folic acid, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and magnesium, selenium and zinc. As you put together her plan, you put together a summary report with the foods that are rich in the nutrients that the BCP depletes. You also recommend some B vitamins,and a combination of cell salts; natrum phosphoric, calc phosphoricum, magnesium phosphoricum, zincum muriaticum and selenium metallicum, some bitters with her meals, increasing her fat intake as well as protein, you educate her on how to prepare lentils, pulses and grains for meals, you provide her ‘self check sheet’ so she can start to chart how she is feeling post meals.
At the follow up, she has lost weight, her blood sugar dips (jittery symptoms) no longer happen, her energy is better and she has not experienced any acid reflux symptoms, the cramps are not as bad as before but still there.
You now go through her HTMA results WITH her, explaining to the patterns signifies, that there is some indication she is not digesting/assimilating her food as well she could be. You tweak her nutritional plan integrating the HTMA results.
3 months on, she is pregnant…And 9 months later she has a healthy baby.
This is a true case study taken by a student who was trained by Khush Mark.
Nutritional therapists in general do not provide meal plans and or focus on weight loss alone. Nutritional therapists take the time to understand not only their UNIQUE client, but the workings of their clients biological systems, this may involve some functional tests or it may not.
The goal always is to understand and support the client and THEN personalise/individualise their nutritional plan.
Alongside the life coaching skills, we integrate specific functional tests into our syllabus that we see as valuable for the 21st century practitioner. The nutrition diploma course is fun, relevant, rigorous, practical and we believe inspiring. Download our syllabus for more details on the syllabus.
To WHOLEness!
From the team at The New School Of Nutritional Medicine
Learn about the Founder & Principal of the New School of Nutritional Medicine, Dr Khush Mark PhD HERE.