Nutrition And Your Health
A lot of people have summer goals to lose weight, eat healthy and start exercising. These are all great goals to have, but the key to achieving these goals is to make simple lifestyle changes that eventually become apart of you daily routine. Some people are able to create a plan on their own and others may need the assistance of a nutritionist, personal trainer, or a Naturopath to develop their own personalized treatment plan to get them on the right track.
The first step to making any change in your life or routine is to understand and appreciate why you want to make these changes. You have to determine why eating healthy and exercising will be beneficial to you. For some people it can be as simple as eliminating a trigger food that has been causing digestive issues, for others it is lowering their sugar intake to reduce headaches or fatigue. Everyone’s situation is different and not everyone can eat the same foods and exercise the same way. This is why it is important to consult with a professional before starting any diet or exercise routine.
The next step to making positive lifestyle changes is to focus on self-care. This can mean reading a chapter of a book at night, taking a relaxing bath, getting a pedicure, taking a 45 minute power nap, taking a sauna or whatever it is that you enjoy doing and makes you happy. This is probably the most important thing you can do for yourself and your health.
After you understood why you want to make the changes and start learning how to focus on selfcare, then you can start your nutrition and exercise regime.
There are so many different diets that are popular and patients often ask what diet they should be doing, or want to know about ones they read about online or ones their friends have tried.
The trending diets are weight watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, Paleo, Portfolio, Isagenix, Mediterranean, Ketogenic, Bernstein etc. Diets can be helpful in losing weight quickly, but it’s making lifestyle changes and making healthy eating apart of your daily routine that helps you lose weight and keep the weight off.
How can a Naturopathic Doctor help you with your summer health goals?
The initial appointment with a Naturopath involves taking a detailed health history, completing focused physical exams and looking at what you are eating. Depending on what your health goals are, your naturopath can develop a nutrition plan catered to you, analyze the supplements you have self prescribed to determine if they are safe and effective, recommend supplements if required, give exercise recommendations, and also treat pain that you may have post exercise or pain that is currently one of your roadblocks preventing you from starting to exercise.
Make sure to make this summer about you!
Author: Melissa Giangioppo graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine as a Naturopathic Doctor in 2014 and received an honours degree in Biology at York University in 2006. As an intern at the Naturopathic college, she dedicated a quarter of her shifts to treating athletes. Helping them better their athletic performance, with nutrition advice and sports therapy.