What is it?
Dietary intervention is an important part of the Functional Medicine approach and should be overseen by an experienced practitioner. The practitioner can help you determine which diet is appropriate for the individual depending on gut health, nutrient profile, allergies, food sensitivities, metabolic issues, toxicity and genetic factors.
It is important that dietary intervention be done as part of a total Functional Medicine approach that includes gut healing, supplements and/or detoxification.
Diets most commonly recommended by a Functional Medicine practitioner include; Evolutionary Diet, Casein-Free/Gluten-Free Diet, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Gut And Psychology Syndrome Diet, Body Ecology Diet and Elimination Diet.
Who is it for?
Dietary Intervention can optimise cellular health and therefore works to both treat and prevent treat a range of conditions including but not exclusive to;
ADHD, Allergies, Anxiety, Asthma, Autism, Behaviour, Cancer, Celiac, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Diabetes, Digestive Disorders, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Eating Disorder, Eczema, Food Intolerances, Heart Disease, Infections, Learning Delay, Obesity, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Pyroluria, Schizophrenia, Sensory Integration, Speech-Language Delay.
Children especially may benefit from Functional Medicine because it helps to ensure that the body and brain have essential nutrients during critical developmental periods.
What Are The Benefits?
An individualised diet can help improve cellular health by providing more nutrients and eliminating food toxins. From a Functional Medicine viewpoint, cellular health is the core of disease treatment and prevention as it supports all body systems.
Diet can also improve brain function and strengthen the immune system by eliminating foods that a person cannot digest or metabolise.
Dietary Intervention can also help curb or eliminate unfriendly gastro intestinal microbes (virus, bacteria, fungi, parasites, worms) that inhibit digestion of nutrients, strain the immune system and adversely impact on the nervous system and brain.
By addressing the above issues, diet can help improve concentration, behaviour, speech and overall mental and physical health.
What are the costs?
Costs of Dietary Intervention vary and are best assessed by a skilled Functional Medicine practitioner. They might include consulting fees, lab tests, supplements, some books (with recipes), special foods and consulting from an allied professional (e.g. nutritionist).
