Holistic Nutrition 101

What exactly is holistic nutrition? 

Webster's Dictionary

Holistic: adj. of or dealing with wholes or integrated systems rather than with their parts. --holistically adv.

Nutrition: n. 1 the process by which an organism takes in and assimilates food  2 anything that nourishes; food  3 the study of diet and health.

It is the science of using natural, whole foods and nutritional supplements to detoxify, rebuild, and balance the whole person, with an awareness of how these dietary choices are interrelated with the condition of our body, emotions, spirit and the environment. (Clayton College of Natural Health) 

This area of study is becoming a fairly rigorous scientific field, but not at the expense of common sense. Besides, who actually pays for these big double blind studies anyway? With that being said, there are some very good studies out there in the World showing us that indeed food is powerful medicine. There were a lot of things going right historically for us to make it this far, however our environmental conditions are not the same that they were even 100 years ago. With modern medicine at it's peak for keeping us alive, we have the highest rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer etc. than ever before. I believe that there are indeed factors with lifestyle that need to be addressed, but what about environmental factors at play against the ability to experience wellness? Understanding human physiology, the science of nutrition, and working with other health care providers is extremely important. 

Holistic nutrition takes in the many variables of individual needs, genetic makeup/constitution, environmental factors, health history, medications, activity level etc. and is a way to nourish the body in a holistic manner.