Nutrition

A NUTRITIONAL APPROACH TO HEALTH PROBLEMS

Nutrition should be your starting point for treating most health problems. Timely intervention in many disorders, including digestive disorders, menstrual and menopausal problems, hot flashes, metabolic syndrome, allergies, arthritis, low energy, elevated cholesterol, recurrent infections, etc. ofter respond very favorably to conservative nutritional treatment.

Dr. Post has extensive postgraduate training in nutrition. He is board certified as a diplomate of the American Clinical Board of Nutrition (DACBN) and is the only practicing physician in Rhode Island with this distinction. He has also received membership as a Fellow in the prestigious American Chiropractic College of Nutrition (FACCN). Here again, he is the only chiropractor in RI receiving this distinction.

People differ in their nutritional requirements, and each person's needs must be considered by a thorough history, examination, and appropriate laboratory testing. This will enable him to identify the cause of your condition. Then, by utilizing the appropriate nutrition and lifestyle interventions including diet, vitamins, minerals, herbal formulations, or even avoidance in the case of food, chemical or environmental sensitivities, he will strive to assist you in creating the optimal environment to help you get better. The medical doctor's intervention is directed toward treating the effects of disease, not the cause and prevention. Dr. Gary Post directs his therapeutic efforts toward identifying the cause of your health problems. Treatment is then instituted, the aim of which is directed to correction and rebuilding the body.

For many patients the changes are remarkable. They are often improved enough to eliminate or reduce the amount of medication they take -- and along with it the associated side-effects. Patient's often say that they have more energy, feel more alert, and enjoy an improved sense of well-being.

While most problems can be corrected or controlled without resorting to drugs or surgery, Dr. Post recognizes that not all conditions will respond. In those cases he will make a referral to the appropriate specialists. But, the exciting news is that this conservative care is effective for the majority of health problems.

A LOOK AT NUTRITION AND TODAY'S DIET

The nature of today's food supply is one of the major reasons that nutritional supplementation is often needed.

1. Food grown on depleted soil does not have the same nutrients present as food grown on fertile organic soil.

2. Much of today's food is highly refined, thus disturbing the balance of nature and depleting our nutrient intake. One example is in the refining of whole wheat flour to make it white. This process removes most of the B complex vitamins. In re-enriching the processed white flour manufacturers only put back parts of the removed nutrients, and not in any balanced manner. Again, utilizing white flour as an example, the milling process also removes all the fiber and roughage that is necessary for normal colon (bowel) function. While the beneficial effects of fiber is now well recognized, much of our food, and all of our white flour, remains depleted of fiber. This is to not even begin to mention the differences between organic foods that test extremely high for essential nutrients vs. inorganic foods that test deplorably low on vitamins, minerals and basic nutrients. Simply stated, it is almost impossible to maintain an adequate nutritional status on the standard american diet.

3. High concentrations of certain types of refined food products create a stress to the glandular regulation of our body's chemical balance. One prevalent example of this is in soda pop, where one 12 oz. bottle has the equivalent of 8 1/4 teaspoons of sugar!!! The commonly seen large consumption of this product leads to the stressing of our blood sugar regulating system and contributes to the increasingly high incidence of diabetes. This is not something nature formulated.

4. To combat the increased consumption of sugar and the increasing prevalence of diabetes, our food labs and food manufacturers have introduced artificial sweeteners. There are recognized problems with several of these and some have already been removed from the market. Others, however, are still commonly consumed. One of these, aspartame (also known as "nutrasweet" and "equal") is a neurotoxic substance with many adverse effects on the body. In this instance, some people react more adversely than others. This is not something nature formulated.

5. There is an increasing consuption of products from fast-food chains. These are often exceedingly high in fat and contribute both to the increasing obesity seen in our country today as well as to elevated cholesterol and heart disease.

6. Food producers and manufacturers continue to put more and more chemicals and additives into our food and more and more pesticides and pollutants into our environment. Unfortunately, too little time has elapsed to adequately assess the changes in body function and nutritional requirements caused by these chemicals and additives, including food colorings, flavorings, chemical taste modifiers, and preservatives. What is very clear is that some individuals are very sensitive to some or many of these substances and experience a diverse group of symptoms including fibromyalgia type pains, headaches, depression, and noticable personality changes, to name just a few.

7. The processing of foods often creates an increased need for certain nutritional factors. For example, vegetable oils and polyunsaturated fats are hydrogenated by the processor to make the fat solid and more stable and give a longer shelf life. These fats are called trans fats and require us to utilize more of the nutrients that break down fat in the body.

NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATION AND APPLIED KINESIOLOGY

The effectiveness of nutritional products in a customized supplement program can be observed by the body's reactions either in the laboratory or when in the office. One part of this evaluation is done by applied kinesiology (please refer to that section for more details) and observing changes in body function (including muscle strength) after the administration of a nutritional complex. Perhaps the least effective method of evaluating nutrition is simply reading the label of a product to determine contents. This is because the quality of the ingredients has a great bearing on the effectiveness of the final product as does the processing method, the excipients used, and other factors as well.

The same product (substance and quantity) produced by two different companies may show very different reactions in the same individual when testing through applied kinesiology. This method can also be used to identify food sensitivites and find food products that are detrimental to your health.

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