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After several years of seeing patients I have formulated an approach to treatment that supports a person's total well being.
This approach is designed to create a foundation upon which to build wellness and vitality in people's lives. I refer to this foundation as the 4 Pillars of Health - nutrition, movement, listening to your intuition (spiritual wisdom) and creating and maintaining loving and supportive community.
When patients come into my practice, they are usually looking for help in creating or strengthening at least one of these 4 pillars. As we create a plan that integrates all pillars into their lives their health goals are reached exponentially.
Beginning today and over the next several blog entries, I will explore these 4 pillars of health with you - with the goal of providing an overview of the importance of tending to wellness in all aspects of your life to keep one's self balanced and healthy.
In this blog we will start by looking at Pillar 1, Nutrition. The New College Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines to nourish - to provide food or other substances necessary for life and growth. To foster the development of; promote and sustain.
Nutrition can be food or any way we need to nourish ourselves. Food nutrition focuses on what we are putting into our body. Our food or fuel, affects everything in our being from our energy, to our attitude, to our ability to heal quickly or endure illness longer. The care we take in feeding ourselves is the way we nourish ourselves on every level. Paying attention to ourselves enough to eat well is an important way we nourish ourselves. When I work with patients I want them to understand what is the best for them to eat for their health. I also want them to understand the importance of eating at appropriate times and in appropriate ways.
Patient example:
Female patient, 34 years old over 100 pounds overweight diagnosed with type II diabetes for over 15 years.
Diabetes II is a disease where the body is not utilizing the sugar produced from food correctly. The body is producing insulin, a hormone necessary to utilize sugar in the body, but the body is unable to use it effectively because the body cells are resistant to insulin.
Nutrition is a critical and integral part of the healing process for diabetes II. Normal fasting blood sugars are between 80-90 mg/dl. This patient had morning fasting blood sugars between 250 and 275 mg/dl. This is 3 times the normal blood sugar level. Levels this high over time could lead too blindness, amputation of limbs, and kidney failure, nerve damage, heart disease, and strokes.
The medications that she was taking were not sufficient to keep her blood sugars well controlled. I added a nutrition component along with the medications to get her blood sugars under good control. The plan included a portion controlled high protein and high fiber diet eating meals every 4 hours.
After 1 week, her blood sugar dropped over 100 mg/dl. This was the first time her blood sugar went that low in over 10 years. As she continued on this plan her blood sugars continued to stabilize and we were able to reduce some of her medications. She began to lose weight too. Because her blood sugars had been uncontrolled for so long she began to experience difficulties with her kidneys she discontinued treatment because of a kidney surgery that was scheduled. This patient case is a great example to show even when patients are on medication, food and nutrition can have a profound impacts on their healing process.
BIO:
Dr. Daemon Jones completed her undergraduate education in economics at Northwestern University (graduated 1992). She completed her naturopathic medical training at University of Bridgeport’s College of Naturopathic Medicine (2002). Dr. Jones founded Healthydaes Naturopathic Medical Center in Silver Spring, MD (2003. As a naturopathic physician, Dr. Jones is turning her life’s passion – the pursuit of vibrant health – into her life’s mission for others. She uses private consultations, cooking demonstrations, lectures and workshops as a hands-on way to help people enjoy learning about improving their health. She is a faculty member of Smith Farms Center for Healing and the Arts and Food As Medicine Professional Training program. Dr. Jones is the author of Daelicious! Recipes for Vibrant Health published in 2007.
Visit Dr. Jones at her website:
www.healthydaes.org.
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