5 Reasons You Might Want to Hire an ND

1. 8 years of schooling including over 1,000 hours in clinical nutrition verses 60 hours for medical doctors. I am trained as a primary care physician but with a very holistic and mindful approach to disease and health. We use traditional and state of the art lab work to gain insight into your specific conditions.
2. We spend a lot of time with our patients and we listen. First office calls are often over an hour long and we gather all the history and details so we understand the whole picture and how it relates to your health specifically.
3. Naturopathic Doctors don’t treat disease, we treat people. Each person manifests disease or imbalance differently. Our treatment approach is custom tailored to your needs.
4. We treat the cause, not the symptoms in order for true health to occur. Inherent in the philosophy, Naturopathic Medicine is the belief that our bodies have the innate intelligence to heal itself if we address the root of the problem.
5. We use non-invasive, gentle therapies like lifestyle counseling, botanical medicine and homeopathy. Botanical medicine involves the use of medicinal plants in the form of capsules, powders, teas or liquids to treat imbalances in the body. Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the principles of “like cures like” and involves using remedies that address both mental and physical imbalance in the body.

Case Study

A former patient of mine, who I will call Sandy, came in to see me. I had not seen her for over 5 years. She was coming out of a very stressful time with a former boss which involved a law suit and a new job. She had gained over 60 lbs in the last two years. To make matters works, she was experiencing panic attacks and daily anxiety at her current job. This was effecting her performance at work and keeping her from making good choices around her diet. She knew she was a competent worker and knew what foods to eat but felt isolated and not able to stick with anything.

Together we decided that we needed to address the anxiety right away. I recommended a combination of dietary supplements and an individualized nutrition plan that would support the neurotransmitters that provide a calming response in the body.

Sandy was also very motivated to loose weight and felt like she couldn’t do that alone and needed some support. I have a formal weight loss program that I have used with my patients for over 10 years so we reviewed it thoroughly and she started the program one week later.

At Sandy’s next visit, she reported that her anxiety had decreased tremendously and although it was still there, she was better able to move through it. She never needed the anxiety medication and anti-depressants that her medical doctor recommended.

Her diet was also going well. She went through 3 days of feeling terrible as her body got rid of a lot of processed foods and sugars. She hung in there and had already noticed a difference in her weight. Over the next 3-4 months, she lost over 30 lbs and regained her confidence at work. Because she was feeling better about her body, she started working out more and going to yoga classes and reconnecting with her friends.

Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We need health care providers who will listen to us and help us along in our path. With the principles of Naturopathic  medicine and a provider who listens with an open mind and heart, true healing can occur.