Chronic disease, illness, sports injuries, stress, and fatigue can all improve with nutrient therapy. In other words, nearly everyone may benefit from nutrient therapy at some point. Here’s what you need to know about nutrient therapy.
Nutrient therapy supports a variety of health goals because it includes a range of services. You may need basic dietary counseling for meal planning or limiting daily calories. Or you may need more intensive nutrient therapy, using food and supplements to treat diseases and heal illnesses.
As nutritional specialists, our experts at Docere Integrated Medicine often recommend nutrient therapy to help many patients overcome health problems, achieve optimal vitality, and enjoy an active, thriving lifestyle.
Nutrient therapy supports many health challenges. It’s especially beneficial for anyone who needs to do any of the following.
Eliminate nutrient deficiencies
Restoring healthy nutrient levels is at the heart of nutrient therapy. Nutritional deficiencies may arise due to absorption problems in your digestive tract, food intolerances, and chronic (long-lasting) diseases. Daily stress and intensive athletic training also deplete nutrients.
You can be healthy and still have a nutrient inadequacy. For example, many children and adults don’t get enough potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A, and dietary fiber in their daily diets.
Chances are you won’t know you have a nutritional problem because it takes time for a deficit to cause symptoms. Or you may have generic symptoms that don’t suggest a nutrient deficiency, such as fatigue, headaches, and digestive problems (diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea).
If you feel tired for no apparent reason or like you’re not functioning up to your usual level, you may need nutrient therapy.
Prevent or treat chronic diseases
Early dietary changes are critical for preventing high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, to name a few of the most common chronic diseases. Nutrient therapy may also help you avoid certain cancers, osteoporosis, and age-related eye diseases.
The best way to learn if you need nutrient therapy to prevent disease is to schedule a checkup and let us evaluate your health, do a thorough risk assessment for chronic disease, and run tests to detect early signs of problems.
After you’re diagnosed with a chronic disease, changing your diet is essential. Your food and beverage choices protect your health by slowing down or stopping disease progression. You may be able to avoid medications with nutrient therapy.
Relieve inflammatory diseases
Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, and other autoimmune diseases cause dangerous chronic inflammation. At the same time, body-wide inflammation leads to chronic diseases such as heart and blood vessel disease, Type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
Your diet can either reduce or increase inflammation. During nutrient therapy, we teach you about inflammation-inducing foods to avoid and help you create a meal plan that improves your health by preventing inflammation.
Rehabilitate from an illness, surgery, or sports injury
Your body needs more nutrients and calories than usual to support healing and rehabilitation after an illness, surgery, or sports injury. For that reason, we often include nutrient therapy as part of the care plan for patients needing physical medicine and sports therapy.
When you need a boost of nutrients to strengthen your immune system, support wound healing, or prevent muscle loss and weakness, nutrient therapy is the solution.
Lose weight
There are many challenges when it comes to losing weight. One of the toughest is reducing your calories while also getting all the nutrients you need to stay healthy. Even if your diet includes nothing but nutrient-rich foods, your nutritional status may decline.
Nutrition therapy offers the support you need for successful weight loss. During therapy, we help you set healthy calorie goals, teach you about the best foods for weight loss, and make sure you get any supplements needed to prevent deficiencies.
To learn how you might benefit from nutrient therapy, call Docere Integrated Medicine or request an appointment online today.