Spring Term 2012
Life continues…even when you’re in med school. I just finished my first week of spring term, which means I survived winter term. As a second year described winter term: “the black hole”. It was a bit of a black hole in the sense that I struggled a bit to find balance between school & personal life. School was intense as usual – about 25 units (& on a quarter system); life was a bit rocky – who knew changing your diet, somewhat dramatically, could have such an effect on mental and physical alertness. Thankfully my mental and physical stamina are much better; they’re even better than before I changed my diet (under a naturopathic physican’s care).
Essentially, I’m in the process of optimizing my system/enhancing my vitality. I met a ND in November at a workshop in Applied Kinesiology; she resonated well with me and, therefore, I decided that she was who I wanted to work with to help my body heal. I wasn’t in a state of disease but I had been dealing with intestinal issues for almost the past 10 years, mainly lactose sensitivity, and chronic, low-level physical ailments for the past 5-10 years.
For someone who loves the outdoors and loves to be physically active, maintaining a low level of physical activity for the past 5 years has been grueling. I’ve been to many different practitioners, many of whom weren’t able to find the root cause of my issues, and some who were able to help my body but I didn’t have the funds to maintain adequate amounts of treatments. Now, being in the Pacific NW and being surrounded by great practitioners, like my ND, I decided that it’s time to optimize this body and that I’ll stick with whatever treatment plan that she developed for me so that I can be as healthy as I can now to prevent disease and so that I can go play & enjoy the outdoors.
Naturopathic medicine is great for assisting in the treatment of complex, chronic health issues and it’s great for preventing complex, chronic health issues.
Part of my treatment plan has been to reestablish the functioning of my intestines through diet and supplements so that I may better absorb nutrients and process those nutrients effectively & efficiently. My ND recommended that I try a modified version of the Paleo diet ~ essentially consuming only lean proteins, vegetables, and a small amount of fresh fruit. The Paleo diet was developed by Dr. Loren Cordain and has been further developed for athletic performance by Joe Friel.
http://www.trainingbible.com/pdf/Paleo_for_Athletes_Cliff_Notes.pdf
The adjustment to eating much more lean protein and a greater variety of protein was the biggest challenge. For the past decade I only ate poultry and seafood. I had cut out eating beef & pork for “health reasons” and now I was being told that my body needed more lean proteins for health reasons. I decided to give it a try and my body has been loving it. I also cut out grains completely ~ no rice, pasta, bread (& I loved baked goods), oats, beer(!!!) or wine. My mental clarity and overall physical energy levels are better now than ever. I also cut out sugars, chocolate, and caffeine. Every once in a while I have “cheated” with either food or drink and my body reacts to it negatively ~ I’ll either get really congested or nauseous. Although this is called a diet I plan on making this a lifestyle change as I have felt the benefits of eating as my ancestors did many moons ago.
Here’s another great article written by a mentor, Dr. Daniel Newman, about eating clean foods:
Enjoy! and Happy eating!
pranahealer 