Naturopathy and Meal Planning: What is a Naturopathic Diet?
Dietary recommendations can be based on many different things. In fact, it is pretty much impossible to recommend a diet plan to a patient without knowing a good deal about them first. Moreover, to complicate matters further, a dietary plan could also be prescribed to combat a specific chronic condition, in which case certain foods – even healthy ones – need to be avoided. For example, a patient suffering from chronic inflammation will be advised to specifically avoid some foods which, for others, could have great health benefits. In the case of inflammation sufferers, foods such as eggplant, tomatoes, and dairy are to be avoided.
As much as we can make general assertions about which foods are healthy and which are not, we cannot recommend the same diet to every person. Accordingly, meal planning needs must be patient centered.
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
This is precisely where naturopathic medicine and naturopathic doctors can help. This is because one of the central tenets of naturopathic medicine is that patient information is essential, as any naturopathic meal plan will need to be tailored to each patient specifically. Kiya Longevity, a company offering naturopathic consultations, says that naturopathic doctors are licensed primary care physicians, but ones who do not rely on invasive treatments. Rather their focus is on the long-term promotion of the body’s innate ability to health itself and to stay healthy.
Achieving this goal requires not only a great deal of information about the patient themselves, but also a course of patient education in order for patients to learn about themselves, their condition, and what natural treatments are right for them. In naturopathic medicine, these treatments normally take the form of long-term courses of treatment relying only on natural remedies. That includes diet plans.
A Naturopathic Meal Plan
A naturopathic diet, therefore, will incorporate all these important principles. It will feature only natural foods and supplements, it will rely on a good deal of patient information, it will be geared towards long term results and, most importantly, will be specific to the patient. This is how naturopathic doctors do things.
This is not to say though that naturopathic meal plans will all be radically different. Fine tuning things to the patient does not mean that naturopathic diets do not often have many things in common. A typically naturopathic diet, for example, will usually involve organic vegetables and whole grains. Beyond this, however, it will be tailored to the patient and the specific condition they wish to alleviate. It will never be entirely specific to the condition. All naturopathic treatments are a holistic and long-term approach and will focus on the body’s ability to maintain general health as well. That’s why there are often similarities between different naturopathic meal plans.
Benefits of a Naturopathic Diet
If you are using a naturopathic diet for, say, an inflammation condition, then you can be sure that it will be focusing on anti-inflammatory foods and avoiding those that exacerbate the condition. So much is simply nutritional advice. Where a naturopathic diet is different is that it will be coordinated with a wider treatment plan involving lifestyle advice as well. All of this will be geared towards long-term – but lasting – results. There is no quick fix with a naturopathic diet, but it will be designed with your specific physiology in mind, as well as your future – not just present – health.
Diets are a central part of naturopathic medicine and, in combination with the other aspects of a naturopathic treatment plan, you can be certain it’s working for you – and you specifically.
