Nutritional therapy is a holistic and fundamental principle used since the time of the famous Greek doctor and founder of western medicine, Hippocrates. Nutritional therapy is a complementary therapy, which means it can work alongside orthodox medicine. It is a way of using food and supplements to encourage the body's natural healing. It does this by:

• Detoxifying the body.
• Correcting vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
• Restoring healthy digestion.
• Developing a positive attitude.

Ideally we should get all the nutrients we need from a balanced diet. Unfortunately this is very difficult these days. There is a large array of food to choose from but much of it is very low quality and heavily contaminated with chemical preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings The speed and stresses of modern life encourage the consumption of this sort of food and this in time leads to many chronic health problems.

Environmental pollutants and the use of antibiotics and other drugs also cause changes in the body, affecting its ability to absorb and assimilate nutrients and causing toxins to accumulate. This results in the body not functioning at its optimal level and can lead to chronic debilitating illness.

Many people try diets and supplements recommended in books and magazines and feel no better. This is because each person's nutritional needs are different. Nutritional therapy is a system of healing based on the belief that food, as nature intended, provides the medicine we need to obtain and maintain a state of health. Our food is our medicine and our medicine is our food. Nutritional therapy will also benefit you if you have no specific illness, but want to maintain a state of optimum health. It is safe for babies and children as well as adults, and the change of eating patterns that is typically prescribed usually has far fewer side effects than synthetic medicines.

Nutritional therapy should be geared to treating each patient as an individual, taking into account every aspect of their lives and background which may have a bearing on their present position. They can then be prescribed a diet and supplements carefully matched to their needs. Recommendations will be made as far as which foods and supplements to take as well as those to be avoided. A supplement that is required for one person may be detrimental to another.

In this way many conditions, even those of many years duration, can successfully be treated and reversed.
Excerpts from Discovering Nutritional Therapy by Patricia Quinn