I work in nutritional medicine and am a naturopath (ANPA). I work with people who need help with their health and disease. More than 55 years ago I started my first health club.
The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, said “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”. It’s as true today as it was then because most illnesses are caused by your lifestyle and diet (1).
As a clinical hypnotherapist (AHA), psychotherapist, and mental health professional (PACFA), I help you change the way you eat. I also help you recover from eating disorders. You may even get health fund rebates.
Do you eat well?
The likelihood is that you don’t, and your family doctor won’t tell you that because they only had a couple of hours of nutritional training (2). This can also include specialists. They possibly know less about diet than you.
Sure, you’ll get lots of drugs and possibly surgery but that’s unlikely to fix the root of the problem which is you’re not eating for heath.
You, like the rest of us, were brainwashed via advertising into eating an enormous number of poor-quality products. Notice I say ‘products’, not ‘food’, because real food comes as nature intended it to be, not as that which makes the most profit for manufacturers.
I’m trained in science so when I’m educating you on eating, I’m thinking nutrition, chemistry, biochemistry toxicology and healing qualities, as I’m a medical nutritionist.
The eating time bomb
Nutrition begins before you’re conceived and is about what your parents eat and how they live. This affects the quality of the eggs and the sperm, and whether there’ll be a genetic problem for the embryo.
Poor nutrition in the womb can lead to small babies, developmental disorders, and failure to thrive both in utero and after birth. Some things you eat or don’t may affect the baby’s health 60 years after birth.
Poor nutrition in childhood can lead to both physical and mental disadvantages and medical problems for your child, now and in the future. Trying to fix it later might not be possible.
As an adult you need to stay strong to compete in an ever-changing world. For that you need to be well fuelled up to be resilient, healthy and clear-minded.
So, you have to asks yourself the question, “Are you eating for health and well-being or creating a time bomb for your health?”
Diseases that emerge from a poor diet
Wow – how much time do you have?
- Cardio-vascular disease
- High blood pressure
- Heart attack
- Stoke
- Blindness
- Diabetes
- Immune failure
- Senile dementia and Alzheimer’s
- Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Allergies
- Mental illness
And the list goes on and on and on.
The World Health Organization (WHO) (2005) estimated 61% deaths and 49% of chronic disease was due to lifestyle diseases (3).
This figure, however, is under-reported because it doesn’t take in deaths that occur early due to poor nutrition. So, the figures are much higher.
The figures are of course higher in developed countries due to higher availability of highly processed, fast and animal-based foods.
Disease is on the increase
There’s a direct correlation between the increase in disease and the industrialisation of society, particularly autoimmune diseases specifically linked to diet (4).
These diseases were largely absent in more primitive and non-industrialised societies. People lived and followed diets that were closer to nature.
Just as Hippocrates taught us, the more you ignore nature, the sicker you become. We can also see that animals who live in the wild, untouched by the developed world, don’t have the plethora of disease humans now suffer.
T. Colin Campbell’s work shows us that as the Western diet spread across China in the late 20th century, so did the increase in diseases of the Western world (5).
Nature’s medicine chest
For tens of thousands of years, we know humans have used food and plants as medicine very successfully. Cave paintings in France show herb gardens from 25,000 BC, Chinese medical texts go back to 2200 BC, in Egypt the Ebers papyrus is from 1550 BC.
We are discovering more and more about the healing and anti-ageing properties of food and plants. These can be more effective, and the body processes them more easily, than many modern chemical medications (6).
What is also important to remember is that prevention of illness is always more important than cure. If you can avoid diseases, it always makes sense to take that path.
From a medical nutritional perspective, I select specific foods for you to help you recover from disease: Which foods to eat and which ones not to eat, when and how to eat them.
The proof of the pudding
As they say in food preparation, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” This means you don’t know it until you try it.
I and some business partners opened our first health club in 1971. Tens of thousands of people have been through our doors and through my clinics and had a better life when we helped them change what they ate.
At nearly 70, I still have a full-time schedule, research, write and work out 10 to 14 hours a week. I pay close attention to what I eat and am among the top 0.01% of the fittest people of my generation, maybe the top 0.001%.
I teach you to eat clean, to be strong, fit, healthy, and to recover from many diseases, both physical and mental, because the mind and the body are one.
Book your appointment with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, Clinical Naturopath & Medical Nutritionist and Orthomolecular Practitioner at the Australian Health & Education Centre. In clinic or by Zoom anywhere in the world. For help with a naturopathic consultation and your dietary needs: Tel. 0403 398 808.
References
(1) Tsiompanou, E., & Marketos, S. (2013). Hippocrates: timeless still. Hippocrates: timeless still. J R Soc Med., 106(7): 288–292. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3704070/
(2) Devries, S. (2019). A global deficiency of nutrition education in physician training: the low hanging fruit in medicine remains on the vine. The Lancet, 3(9): e371-e372. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30173-1/fulltext
(3) Al-Maskari, F. (n.d.). LIFESTYLE DISEASES: An Economic Burden on the Health. UN Chronicle. https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/lifestyle-diseases-economic-burden-health-services
(4) Kopp, W. (2019). How Western Diet And Lifestyle Drive The Pandemic Of Obesity And Civilization Diseases. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes., 12: 2221–2236. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6817492/
(5) Campbell, T. C., & Campbell, T. (2016). The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health. Benbella Books. https://www.amazon.com.au/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications-ebook/dp/B01LYGP469/ref=sr_1_3?crid=33GR4ACJ51YQR&&keywords=the+china+study&&qid=1700606591&&sprefix=teh+china+study%2Caps%2C240&&sr=8-3
(6) DeWitt, G. (2018). Herb gardens date back to cave dwellers. Beeville Bee-Picayune. https://www.stexasnews.com/beeville_bee_picayune/news/features/herb-gardens-date-back-to-cave-dwellers/article_ca387358-132a-11e8-a80d-0f3a4883801f.html
