What is Nutritional Therapy?

From the moment of your conception, the nutrition you've been exposed to has played a pivotal role in your growth, development, and overall well-being. This fundamental principle forms the basis of nutritional therapy, a holistic approach to health and well-being.

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So, What is Nutritional Therapy? 

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Unlike conventional dietary recommendations that merely adhere to essential reference nutrient intake (RNI) guidelines, nutritional therapy digs deeper. It considers your health, medical and dietary history. It uses laboratory testing to ascertain your unique current and future nutritional needs.

 

How Does Nutritional Therapy Personalise My Diet and Lifestyle?

 

An important starting principle is understanding that everyone's relationship with food is as different as our health history. AG Nutrition applies cutting-edge research combined with a comprehensive health history and nutritional assessment to understand your physical, emotional, sociocultural, and cognitive circumstances.

Adam provides you with a strategic, custom-tailored food, dietary supplement, and lifestyle plan to help you introduce changes at a manageable pace. Regular education, motivation and trouble-shooting support deepen your appreciation for the importance of food, exercise, sleep, stress management, and work-life balance in maintaining overall health and well-being, influencing how you look, feel and perform in everyday life.

 

To identify your unique nutritional needs and develop tailored solutions to optimise your health, both now and in the long term, a range of factors will be considered, including:
 

• Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics: How your unique genetics might affect your health and responses to food, nutrients, lifestyle, and other therapies.

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• System-focused interactions: Assessing how different systems might influence your overall health and response to lifestyle changes. 

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• Microbiome health and diversity: Evaluating the impact of microorganisms (good and bad) in your gut, mouth or vagina on health and their response to food and dietary supplements.

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• Nutrient intake, status and metabolism: Determining your needs and factors that might alter your body's ability to process substances. 

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• Dietary habits: Learning about routines, aversions, and emotional, sociocultural, ethical and professional influences on your choices and preferences.

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• Environmental stressors: Understanding how allergens, pollution, moulds and sensitivities may compromise your well-being.​
 

• Lifestyle habits: Considering how .sleep, exercise, alcohol and stress patterns and coping mechanisms contribute to your overall health and well-being.  

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And that is just the beginning. 

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Empowering You to Take Control of Your Health

 

Your nutritional therapy plan can cater to any ongoing health conditions you may have - but it's also perfect for people wishing to adopt a proactive, preventative, and personalised approach to self-care.

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AG Nutrition provides more than just a diet planning service: you gain the knowledge, resources and support you need to take control of your well-being and improve your quality of life. The nutritional therapy packages make it easier to stay motivated, inspired and make informed choices that enhance your health, whatever your goals or circumstances.

 

How Does Nutritional Therapy Support My Health and Fitness Goals? 

 

The food you eat does more than keep you alive. It comprises a cocktail of chemicals that influence the behaviour, structure and function of our cells, organs and body systems; this is why nutritional therapy looks at more than just what you eat. It applies high-quality peer-reviewed research on the short- and long-term effects of these chemicals, provided by food and dietary supplements, to target the most relevant factors to your health and fitness goals.

 

The type, quantity and frequency of the foods and nutrients you consume, and the lifestyle activities you engage in, can affect your energy levels, body weight and composition, mood, physical performance and recovery, and cognitive performance.

Lifestyle medicine has become increasingly recognised as an essential part of tackling long-term health issues that affect so many people, with a particular interest, even among doctors, in nutrition for chronic disease, improving gut microbiome health, and stress management. Lifestyle changes for health can influence the development, progression and severity of many chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Addressing the root causes and exacerbators of health and well-being issues, rather than just the symptoms, Nutritional Therapy aims to promote long-term well-being.

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What Kind of Health Goals and Concerns Can Nutritional Therapy Support? 

 

People seek out Nutritional Therapy for a variety of reasons, including: 

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• Energy levels

  • Sudden tiredness during the day​

  • Frequent, sudden episodes of extreme fatigue, physically or mentally

  • Waking up tired and with no energy throughout the day

  • Feeling like you're always sleepy no matter how much sleep you get. 

  • Iron deficiency anaemia

  • B12 deficiency anaemia

  • Folate deficiency anaemia

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Chronic fatigue syndrome/M.E.

• Cognitive performance ​

  • No motivation to do anything but not feeling depressed

  • Finding it difficult to get motivated when depressed

  • Struggling with how to get the motivation to study

  • Wanting to improve motivation and focus at work

  • Unsure how to get the motivation to lose weight 

  • Attention and concentration difficulties​

  • Poor memory and recall

• Sports nutrition and physical performance

  • Nutrition optimisation when training for a sporting event or competition​

  • Enhancing your fitness goals (e.g. strength, endurance, speed, recovery time)

• Stress

• Difficulty sleeping 

• Diabetes

  • Feeling confused about what is the best diet for type 2 diabetes. ​

    • Should you eat a low-carb diet for diabetes?​

    • Or how about a vegetarian diet for diabetes?

  • Navigating which foods to avoid with type 2 diabetes

  • GP has recommended adopting a pre-diabetes diet plan to prevent type 2 diabetes.

• Cholesterol

  • Your doctor has asked you to eat a lower-cholesterol diet.​

  • You need reliable information about foods that lower cholesterol levels.

  • Unclear which foods to avoid with high cholesterol levels​

• High blood pressure​

  • Interested in how to reduce high blood pressure with diet and lifestyle changes​

    • Hungry to know which foods to avoid with high blood pressure

    • Keen to know what to drink to lower blood pressure

    • Wondering whether to try the DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet 

• Digestive health issues

  • Constipation​

  • Diarrhoea

  • Persistent belching

  • Bloating

  • Flatulence

  • Helicobacter pylori infection

  • Stomach ulcers or duodenal ulcers

  • Coeliac disease

  • Crohn's disease

  • Ulcerative colitis

  • Irritable bowel disease

• Allergies

  • Chronic Rhinitis and Sinusitis​

  • Hayfever

  • Asthma

  • Eczema

  • Chronic urticaria and rashes

• Reproductive health, Pregnancy and Fertility​

  • Benign prostatic hyperplasia​

  • Chronic prostatitis

  • Erectile dysfunction

  • Low libido

  • Low testosterone

  • Low sperm count 

  • Low sperm motility

  • Fertility

  • Irregular menstrual cycle 

  • Painful or heavy periods

  • Pre-menstrual symptoms

  • Endometriosis

  • Uterine Fibroids

  • Polycystic ovaries

  • Menopause and peri-menopause

  • Pregnancy

  • Lactation, breastfeeding and weaning

• Musculoskeletal health

  • Low bone density, osteopenia and osteoporosis​

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Rheumatoid arthritis

  • Lupus

  • Gout

• Skin health​

  • Anti-ageing​

  • Acne

  • Dry skin

  • Oily skin

  • Psoriasis

  • Seborrheic dermatitis

  • Increased skin tags

  • Acanthosis nigricans

  • Lichen Sclerosis

  • Persistent Itching

  • Excess sweating

• Thyroid disorders​

  • Hypothyroidism​

  • Hyperthyroidism

• Cancer​

• Mental health

  • Depression​

  • Bipolar disorder

  • Schizophrenia

  • Addictions

  • Anxiety disorders

• Vegetarian, vegan and plant-based diets​

• Body composition

  • Weight loss​

  • Weight gain

  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis

 

How long does it typically take to see results from nutritional therapy?

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The time it takes to notice the benefits of nutritional therapy depends upon a variety of factors, including your current state of health, your baseline dietary habits, the accuracy and detail of the information you provide, including recent laboratory test results, and how consistently you can follow each aspect of the plan. 

Depending how quickly and easily you are able to make changes to your diet and lifestyle, how complex your health issues are, and your health goals, you can see benefits within the first few weeks of working together. 

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Naturally, if your goal is to significantly increase or decrease your body weight, it is important to be realistic about the time required to achieve your health goals; nutritional therapy does not endorse extreme, quick-fix diet fads since the aim is to achieve sustained, long-term change and whole-body health optimisation. 

Similarly, if you have a number of health conditions, concerns or goals, depending on the situation you may require ongoing support for many months to achieve your goals. Laboratory testing, supplementation, relationship with food, and inconsistent or incomplete engagement with the recommendations can influence the improvement pace.  

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Adam can provide a rough estimate of the potential duration of support required during your free 15-minute discovery call. However, your unique circumstances may vary, and a more precise estimate will only be possible after your assessment consultation. 

 

Are there any potential side effects or risks associated with nutritional therapy that I should be aware of?

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Nutritional therapy is generally safe, but working with a qualified, BANT-registered nutritional therapy practitioner, like Adam Greer, is essential to ensure the recommendations are appropriate for your needs. If you have a chronic condition or are on medication, it's crucial to inform your therapist to avoid any potential interactions. It is also important to remember to provide accurate details, keeping your practitioner up-to-date about any changes to your health, diagnoses or care to ensure the information you receive suits your needs. Some diet or supplement recommendations are only ideal in the short term, and it is essential that you attend regular consultations to receive updated advice and education. 

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The Importance of Experienced Guidance

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Choosing the right nutrition professional is a big decision, and experience matters. With AG Nutrition, you benefit from over 14 years of clinical experience and over seven years of academic education and clinical supervision expertise. Adam specialises in working with complex health issues, which means that whether your health goals are simple or require more intricate attention to detail, you can be confident in receiving evidence-based, relevant and safe information that is personalised to your needs. Adam is registered with BANT and CNHC. He also offers in-person Harley Street London nutrition clinics at The Hale Clinic. Read about Charlotte's Fibromyalgia experience working with Adam.

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