The Foundations of Optimal Health
Nutrition can feel overly complicated, especially in today’s digital world where everyone has an opinion or a new diet or quick fix they want to sell. It can be exhausting and getting well can feel impossible when we’re constantly comparing and just trying to keep up with the latest wellness news and trends.
Have you ever felt like your health and healing is a game of Whac-A-Mole? Just as you think you have one issue under control, a new one arises. This is what can happen when we are focused on treating our symptoms instead of getting to the root cause.
As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I believe in using a holistic, bio-individual approach to helping my clients achieve optimal wellness. At the core of my practice is a focus on the foundations of health. By first addressing these six foundations, we're taking a root cause approach to achieving optimal wellness, and oftentimes, our most debilitating symptoms can be addressed by taking it back to the basics.
So what are the six foundations? Let’s dive in.
Nutrition: Eating a nutrient-dense, whole food diet.
The first foundation is about coming back to our roots. True health is not constantly trying out all the latest wellness trends, but in fact quite the opposite. It’s about stripping back the layers of complication we’ve added as part of our modern lives. We need to go back to the basics of whole, unprocessed foods.
According to the Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA), eating a properly prepared, nutrient-dense, whole-food diet provides the fuel and essential building blocks the body needs to maintain health and balance (NTA, 2021). As with everything, we are very bio-individual beings so there is no one-size-fits-all diet that is going to work for everyone. However, there are some general guidelines that are recommended for everyone. These include:
Consuming whole foods in their whole, or nearly whole, state, or in other words, as close to as they appear in nature.
Eating a diverse range of local, seasonal and (ideally) organic fruits and vegetables.
Soaking and sprouting legumes, nuts, grains and seeds to maximize the nutrients and aid in digestion.
Opting for grass-fed and grass-finished meats, pasture-raised eggs and poultry, and wild-caught seafood.
Digestion: Absorbing and assimilating the nutrients we eat.
You’ve likely heard the expression “you are what you eat” or even “you are what you eat eats.” But in actuality, you are really only what you absorb! Digestion is fundamental to nutritional therapy as every cell in the body depends on the digestive system to provide the nutrients it needs. The goal of digestion is to reduce food to molecules so small that the nutrients can be absorbed and used by cells to create energy.
In order to understand how to optimize digestion, it’s first critical to understand that digestion is a north-to-south process. What does this mean exactly? Well, exactly what it sounds like. Digestion starts in the brain meaning digestion can begin as soon as you start thinking about and preparing your food. From there, food goes into your mouth where the teeth, tongue and salivary glands work together to break down your food. From there it travels through the stomach to the small intestine, where all your accessory organs (liver, gallbladder and pancreas) play a role before entering the large intestine before exiting the body. If you don’t properly chew your food for example or if you’re not in a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, all digestion south of the brain and mouth will be negatively affected.
When digestion is functioning optimally, all the pieces fall into place and you will start to see so many other issues and deficiencies resolve.
Blood Sugar Regulation: Ensuring a steady, balanced supply of energy.
In addition to digestion and absorption, blood sugar regulation is another critical foundation for optimal health. The wonderful thing about learning how to balance your blood sugar is that you can begin to feel relief and get off the blood sugar rollercoaster as soon as your next properly prepared, nutrient-dense meal. Blood sugar regulation is controlled by our central nervous system's communication with what we call the PAALS: the pancreas, adrenal glands, adipose tissue, liver and skeletal muscle, along with the HPA axis and additional hormones (NTA, 2021). What's so neat about blood sugar regulation is just how many parts of the body are involved. Considering this, it makes sense why you can feel infinitely better when you have balanced blood sugar levels.
So many of us are stuck on a blood sugar roller coaster meaning we have drastic highs and drastic lows. This happens when we take in too much glucose, so our body tries to overcorrect, and it instead goes too low. As you can see, this creates a vicious cycle. But imbalanced blood sugar can occur from more than just what we eat. Processed and refined foods certainly play a role in creating dysregulated blood sugar, but stress and environmental toxicity are also triggers. Through the adjustment of macronutrient ratios, we can create a balanced hormonal release and utilize all macronutrients for energy. With balanced blood sugar comes increased satiety, reduced cravings, more energy and a more stable mood.
Fatty Acids: Absorbing and utilizing healthy fats for fuel, structure and healing.
Did you know fats make up 15% of our body weight? Contrary to popular belief, a high percentage of diverse, good-quality fats are required for optimal health. Without adequate fatty acid balance in the body, our cell walls can lose their integrity and as a result, nutrient transportation in and out of our cells becomes compromised. Not only does fat provide a long-lasting, slow-burn source of energy, it also aids in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, increases satiety, allows for the proper use of proteins, serves as a protective lining for our organs, helps regulate energy absorption, acts as a building block for cell membranes and hormones, and best of all - it makes your food taste delicious! The best way to maintain optimal fatty-acid balance is to eat high-quality, properly raised fat sources in their most natural form, or fats that do not require further processing to be edible. Think of coconut oil, olive oil, lard, butter, flax seeds etc. Additionally, eliminating any fats that are industrially produced, such as vegetable and seed oils, and hydrogenated trans fats, is critical for your body's optimal production of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances critical for regulating inflammation. By eliminating these toxic forms of fats and including high-quality fats in their natural state, you will increase your body's ability to properly control inflammation.
Mineral Balance: Absorbing and utilizing macro and micro minerals.
Perhaps one of the most essential yet overlooked foundations of health is achieving optimal mineral balance. Minerals carry out countless roles in our body including maintaining proper nerve conduction, contracting and relaxing muscles, regulating tissue growth, providing structural and functional support and so much more. But did you know that humans do not produce any minerals? Therefore, we must obtain our minerals from food sources, yet so many are still mineral deficient. Why? Well for one, the shift to monocultures has led to major mineral depletion in soil so many of the foods we're eating are already less mineral-rich than they once were. And perhaps the biggest contributor is that absorption and usability depends on various other systems in the body to be working properly, and often this is inhibited. By ensuring our other foundations are strong, such as hydration, fatty acids, and digestion among others, we have a much better chance of absorbing and utilizing minerals in the body.
Hydration: Supplying cells and tissues with sufficient water.
We all know the importance of drinking water, but did you know that many Americans still live in a state of chronic dehydration? While the signs of dehydration may seem obvious, our bodies actually start to show signs when our water content drops by as little as 2%. Some early signs of dehydration can include fatigue, dry mouth, cravings, muscle cramps, headaches and more. Some signs of more chronic dehydration can include constipation, heartburn and joint pain among others.
What’s even more shocking to some is that you can be drinking water all day long and still be dehydrated. So how do we ensure we're staying properly hydrated? To start, electrolytes are key. Water depends on electrolytes (minerals that become capable of conducting electricity when dissolved in water) for proper absorption. Without electrolytes and minerals, you can be drinking water all day, but that water is going straight through you instead of into your cells. Check out my blog post on the key to proper hydration to learn more and check out my favorite electrolyte powders.
So how much water do you need? Well, the answer is not one size fits all. Just like with all aspects of nutrition, water intake is very bio-individual. For starters, we want to drink clean water, ideally with added electrolytes, and we should drink when we have a sensation of thirst throughout the day until our urine is light yellow. For those who are working outside, living in a humid environment, sweating a lot, pregnant or lactating, water intake must increase. To avoid too many trips to the bathroom, make sure your water is electrolyte (mineral) rich and sip slowly throughout the day instead of drinking large quantities at once.
REFERENCES
Nutritional Therapy Association. (2021). Basics of Nutrition. Nutritional Therapy Association Student Guide, 1-2.
Nutritional Therapy Association. (2021). Blood Sugar Regulation. Nutritional Therapy Association Student Guide, 4-5.
