I write a lot about working with clients in 1:1 sessions. I share nuggets and snippets of what I do with them, with you on this list, but I was thinking about it, and I rarely share about WHAT I ACTUALLY DO in my sessions and how that might BENEFIT YOUR family.
Identifying Personal Imbalances
In my practice the goal is to help you find YOUR CHILD’S PERSONAL imbalances. And yes they are VERY different per person and per child. EVEN IF the child has the same diagnosis as another child in my practice.
What that means is I do a very thorough intake that is a health history, as well as 4 days of food and mood journaling, and an extensive symptom questionnaire. These questions align with nutrient deficiencies and body system imbalances telling me WHERE to focus my recommendations and help GUIDE YOU in the process of change.
This process takes about a week, and then we meet over a 90 minute period to talk about those results together and make steps to reach the goals that you have come to my in the practice with. Sometimes the goals are related to your child growing properly, sometimes they are related to digestion, sometimes they are related to fever reduction and more. Whatever they are, we take the results and aim the nutrition and lifestyle changes at those goals to get the result YOU WANT!
Changing Nutrition
This is the hardest part for most people. The goal is always pretty clear, an the intake is actually interesting and exciting for most clients. They haven’t met many practitioners who will take the time to share their results, and sit with them over 90 minutes to come up with a solid plan to actually REACH the goal they came in with. In fact, most people probably have never come with a goal and asked for change related to a goal with a practitioner in their past.
We work on eliminating foods that have been identified as a problem in either reaching that goal or show a body reaction after eating. We replace them with nutrient dense foods that work you toward your goal or alleviating the symptoms you have after eating.
We work on balancing nutrient rations from carbs, to fat, to protein. This is DIFFERENT for every person. This is based on the intake process and is based on the symptoms and feelings you have as we progress through the process and change.
We have you focus on how you FEEL after eating certain foods and identifying what works BEST for your body.
We work on eating whole foods vs eating processed and packaged foods. We learn how to live in a world full of those items but still find the whole food and function the way we should.
Changing Lifestyle & Focus
This is one of the harder things that is worked on for some clients. Sometimes, after intake, the clients are SHOCKED at what we learned through this process together. They did NOT realize that it was QUITE possible (although I clearly do talk with you about this on a consult call) that their MOST FAVORITE foods are causing problems. And that means they would need changing or complete elimination. This is where lifestyle and focus change are so important.
If you can come in knowing that you will have to shift the way you think about food, food preparation, and meals you will move through the process quickly. It will be less painful. Your focus HAS TO BE about the GOAL you came in with NOT about what you are letting go OF! What you are letting go OF are ALL THE THINGS that have caused so many symptoms, pain and distress in your life. So to try to hang on to them while moving through a process to help you work toward a goal that is likely the OPPOSITE of where you are at is detrimental to your health.
Sometimes lifestyle changes are also quite literal. Sometimes they are about buying some new cookware, or equipment that is less toxic and makes the cooking job easier for you. Sometimes it is about adjusting our schedules for more sleep, less stress and more balance in life.
Overall – Is Nutritional Therapy Right to Reach Your PFAPA Goals?
Those are the nuts and bolts about WHAT we do in nutritional therapy. But what really happens is that we get to know each other, and I work with you to GUIDE you on a journey to a goal that you came to me with. I will lead you on the path, but you are with me to make the changes, and to make this work in YOUR LIFE. I cannot make the change for you, I cannot make YOU feel better, ONLY YOU can do that as we take this journey together. I will give you all the guidance and background and targets along the way to reach that big goal you have, but YOU are the one that will need to do the work to make YOURSELF feel better. I am with you to talk through it, brainstorm new ways of doing things, give recommendations on foods, and cookware and MORE, but when you are ready to work on that goal – I AM HERE to help!
