My Health Vision for the Future

During my early 20s, I spent many years living with IBS. This was triggered by an acute Gastrointestinal infection whilst abroad, and am sure was also exacerbated by the pressures of medical school, and living a full and active university life.

After having my self-diagnosis confirmed with a Gastroenterologist, various medications were suggested to help with my symptoms. During this time, I had also identified specific foods and drinks which were troublesome for me. I was keen to avoid medications, so I intuitively trialled elimination diets by excluding those trigger foods and drinks for several weeks at a time. I also unknowingly allowed any inflammation in my gut to settle during the several years when I was a strict vegan. I have since reintroduced these trigger foods, including ethically sourced and produced meat and dairy, raw vegetables, fruits, spices, lentils and beans, and eat a hugely varied and healthy diet. I am still to this day symptom free. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I did my very own primitive version of a Gut Repair Programme! This is a fundamental tool in Functional and Nutritional medicine.

Following my own successful experience of naturally resolving my IBS symptoms with diet alone, I wondered if there were other conditions that could also be effectively managed by other means, perhaps even without medications entirely.  This lead me to learn about Naturopathic and Ancient medicines - I was particularly drawn to the sciences of Nutrition and Ayurveda.  Their philosophy addresses the body as a whole. By focusing on identifying the root causes of conditions, the true underlying issues of disease states are revealed, allowing the opportunity for these to be successfully resolved. This is also the foundation of Functional Medicine.

With so much in today’s world that is out of our control – let’s shift the focus onto the decisions we can make for ourselves. What we eat, drink, and think; what we do, how we speak to ourselves, how we react to others and how we live in our environment.  Our bodies respond to positivity in unimaginable ways - it really is never too late to make changes to impact our health and wellbeing.