Nutrition has the super power to change every cell in your body, starting now
The world of nutrition is often confusing.
It’s full of contradictory information (which is widely available), different political agendas, huge egos, charlatans, mis-information, money making schemes, and often, a distinct lack of scientific integrity.
In this complex, often murky, and constantly evolving field, it can be difficult to understand the best nutritional options for the health of the general population.
And it can be even more difficult to understand unique nutritional requirements for yourself.
That’s where guided, personalised nutrition comes in.
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Personalised nutrition
So if you’re looking for help and guidance through your personal nutrition journey, why should you trust Coho Health?
When it comes to nutrition, our clients are almost without exception curious about understanding ‘what should I be eating, what is the best diet for me’.
By working through, and understanding, the unique factors at play for each unique individual, we can provide a unique combination of recommendations that can result in life changing health and wellness outcomes.
At the time of writing, all of the Coho Health team are qualified Nutritional Therapists, with many of the team also having additional qualifications in Functional Medicine (who knows, in future we might expand the team to include medical doctors and others).
Nutritional Therapy is about:
- Understanding the role of nutrition in your unique body
- How nutrition supports normal function from a cellular level to a body-system level
- How normal function progresses to a state of dysfunction
- How nutritional and lifestyle interventions can optimise function in any disease state or imbalance
at an individual level.
We’ve spent years studying Nutritional Therapy, as well as far exceeding the requirements for continuing professional development, studying new developments and scientific research in our field because it’s our passion.
Book your free 15 minute Discovery Call with Dee Brereton-Patel now
Holistic, evidence based, person centred, and always about achieving results
Our approach to personalised nutrition is, first and foremost, evidence-based and person centred.
This approach recognises that you’re a unique person with a unique life, and helps us to address specific health concerns and optimise mental, emotional and physical health.
Personalised nutrition is a foundational aspect of everything we do at Coho Health.
Personalised nutrition considers individual factors, unique to you, so we can develop nutritional recommendations that are tailored to your unique life.
Individual factors we work with you on include:
- Genetic predispositions
- Health history (including previous medical diagnosis, symptoms, medications, stressors, infections)
- Food or environmental allergies, food sensitivities
- Signs and symptoms
- Medical conditions
- Nutrient status
- Lifestyle factors, such as stress, sleep, chemical exposures, toxins, infections
- Emotional and mental well-being
- Nutrition and lifestyle preferences / choices
- Health goals
As these factors are so highly variable and unique to you, no two Coho Health plans are ever the same.
Personalised nutrition: the true power of nutrition
Every single pathway in the body has a requirement for one or more nutrient, for example:
- Our cells require healthy fatty acids, protein and minerals to function and repair
- We require amino acids and B vitamins to convert food into cellular energy
- Hair and nails require protein and various minerals
- Fibre is required to fuel our beneficial gut bacteria
- Iron is required to ensure oxygen is transported around the body
- Minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients are needed to support our liver enzymes to facilitate normal detoxification processes
- Dietary fats are needed to modulate inflammatory responses, blood clotting and wound healing
These are just a very few examples of body functions that highlight that every process in the body is dependent on nutrition.
If we’re lacking in a specific nutrient, or have an excess of it, then our physiology (how the body functions) fundamentally changes.
If those changes lead to abnormal function (which may then contribute to the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular risk, psoriasis or cancer), then correcting nutrient insufficiencies or excesses can bring about positive changes.
Book your free 15 minute Discovery Call with Dee Brereton-Patel now
The complexities of nutrition
There isn’t a one size fits all diet, and there certainly isn’t a single optimal diet for everyone.
Due to the unique individual factors discussed above and below, a nutrition approach that works for one person, might not work for someone else.
This is why caution should be exercised in taking a short cut, copying that nutrition approach you saw on insta, or that worked for someone you know.
Knowing where to start can be super difficult.
Not only are there a huge array of different diet types out there, there’s also a daily stream of new scientific research, often showing that a particular diet has affected a specific disease, changes to body weight, fat loss, mood, sleep or biological age.
Then consider your own individual circumstances, such as:
- Individual caloric requirements (e.g. based on physiology or energy expenditure e.g. exercise level)
- Health status
- Disease state
- Nutrient absorption capacity
- Genetics
- Inflammation
- Digestive issues
- Mood
- Energy
- Metabolism
When we understand these factors, we can take a step deeper into understanding an individual’s dietary requirements.
If you have signs, symptoms or a specific disease, this often requires specific nutritional considerations, where you may benefit from temporarily avoiding a food type or substance, or changing your nutrition strategy in other ways.
This might be in the form of a diet that is, for instance:
- Low FODMAP
- Low histamine
- Low sulphur
- Low tyramine
- Low / high fibre
- Low / high fat
- High protein
- Low carb
- Dairy free
- Gluten free
- Autoimmune paleo (AIP)
Different life stages also affect nutritional requirements.
For example, nutritional requirements will be unique for:
- Infants
- Young children
- Adolescents
- Pre-conception, in pregnancy & post natal
- During the menopausal years in women
- Later life
Personalised nutrition: food intolerance and allergy tests
Food reaction testing can be a powerful tool to pinpoint individual food reactions, but also in providing insights into digestive health and the immune system.
You can read more about pinpointing food reactions here.
Addressing food sensitivities can help us to feel more energised physically and mentally, can reduce digestive symptoms, and lower systemic inflammation (that could then be felt as joint pain or headaches for instance).
Personalised nutrition: microbiome testing
The microbiome consists of more bacterial DNA than human DNA (!), and forms the community of bacteria in our colon.
The microbiome has wide-reaching consequences for all areas of health, and is as unique to us as our DNA.
Possibly the single most influential factor modulating our microbiome, is our diet.
Personalised nutrition: vitamin and mineral tests
Most of the population have nutritional insufficiencies that go undetected.
Optimising nutrient status could be the single most powerful single healthful change we can make.
Assessing levels of key nutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin B12, folate, magnesium and iron, can make the difference between feeling awful and feeling great.
Nutrient status is assessed for all our clients at Coho Health and addressed through nutritional and other changes (such as optimising nutrient absorption).
Personalised nutrition: genetic testing
Genetic testing is a great tool to better understand what our unique longer-term nutritional considerations might be.
Genetic testing can help answer questions such as:
- Do we benefit from a higher intake of omega 3 fatty acids
- Are we more likely to develop blood glucose metabolism issues
- Could we be more preventative against developing cardiovascular disease if we avoided red meat
- Should we be focusing on a higher intake of antioxidants
- Is gluten likely to be an issue for me personally
- Does the body convert carotenoids to pre-formed vitamin A
- Are we able to methylate optimally, or should we be considering particular forms of B vitamins
- Should we be eating differently to promote weight loss, or to support better appetite regulation
- Are our vitamin D receptors less sensitive to circulating vitamin D
A couple of examples of genetic tests that aid personalised nutritional planning are the Metabolic and Nutrient Core tests:
Book your free 15 minute Discovery Call with Dee Brereton-Patel now
The fast track to optimal health with personalised nutrition
Our comprehensive approach to personalised nutrition helps you to gain a deep understanding of what your body and mind specifically needs to function optimally.
This gives you a personal fast track to an abundance of wellness that supports all your other life goals – how you feel every day, how you perform, how you look in the mirror.
Our team works with a range of functional testing laboratories in the US, UK and EU, to help pinpoint imbalances and nutrient requirements that are specific to you.
When you get the right foods for your unique needs, combined with realistic, fully supported lifestyle changes, your body’s powerful, natural healing mechanisms are empowered to do the rest.
The results can be life changing.
To your optimised, healthy future,
Dee & the Coho Health team
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