Why you might need a Functional Nutritional Therapist

Why you may need a nutritional therapist

Functional Nutritional Therapy, which is relatively new in Australia, is a holistic approach to wellbeing that uses personalised nutrition and lifestyle to balance your body’s biochemistry at a cellular level, restoring function and wellbeing.

Australia is experiencing a health crisis

We are living longer
Yet half of us have a chronic health condition, which is responsible for most deaths
Diet-related chronic conditions are among the leading causes of death and disability
Cancer was the biggest killer of Australians in 2013
The leading cause of death for women in 2016 was dementia and Alzheimer disease
The leading cause of death for men in 2016 was heart disease
Autism rose 120% between 2000 and 2015
63% of us were overweight or obese in 2016, and that number is rising
Australia spends 11% of its GDP on health care. While we are behind America, it’s still a lot
We spend $6 billion per year on diabetes sufferers
The current generation is the first in a very long time to have a shorter life expectancy
31% of diseases could have been prevented in 2013 by lowering modifiable lifestyle risk factors

These statistics paint a worrying picture of Australians’ health and show that our current model of health care isn’t working.

What’s going on?

Our health care system is geared towards symptom suppression and disease management. It’s not about health. While this may have been appropriate when we faced acute or short-term communicable diseases and trauma, these days 75% of our system is taken up with people suffering chronic or long-term lifestyle diseases. This includes autoimmune disease and metabolic syndrome conditions related to diabetes.

Symptom suppression is not the long-term answer for these sufferers because it doesn't address the underlying causes. Neither does conventional medicine have sufficient time to explore this. An average consult with a GP lasts around 11.5 minutes in which the doctor has to make the patient feel comfortable, explore symptoms, recommend treatment and write prescriptions. It's simply not enough time to build an adequate picture of what's going on. As a result, doctors often focus on symptom alleviation to bring immediate relief to their patients. We need a different approach.

Functional Nutritional Therapy as an alternative

Functional Nutritional Therapy is a natural approach to wellbeing that uses individualised nutrition and lifestyle to balance the body’s biochemistry at a cellular or foundational level, stopping the downward spiral into disease and restoring function.

A Functional Nutritional Therapist will spend a lot of time getting to know their client’s complete health picture. They take an extensive history, us3 a detailed signs and symptoms questionnaire and conduct a functional evaluation to identify underlying dysfunction at a core level. They then use a flexible personalised nutrition plan and lifestyle recommendations to balance the body’s chemistry, restoring function and empowering their clients to live the lives they want to live.

Functional Nutritional Therapy isn’t a quick fix and it doesn’t use fad diets. It requires commitment and change. The health benefits are profound and long term, putting control back into clients’ hands.

What about the cost?

Putting aside the positive impact on your life, Functional Nutritional Therapy isn’t expensive when you work out the cost per hour.

But perhaps the real way to think about it is, can you afford to go on being unwell? What's the personal cost of ongoing illness? What impact is it having on your ability to earn money and reach your life goals? How much do you spend on drugs and supplements that don’t work? And what would the cost be to you and your family if your health continued to spiral downwards?

You don’t need to accept poor health. It’s not normal or how we’re meant to live, even if it’s becoming increasingly common. You don’t have to accept deteriorating health as your standard.

At Gutsy By Nutrition - founded by Nore Hoogstad - we offer tailored in-person and online nutritional therapy support for adults and children facing health challenges.

Book your free 20-minute discovery call now to see if Functional Nutritional Therapy is for you. When was the last time somebody really listened to you?