My Vision for holistic nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Vision for holistic nutrition - Essay Example While holistic nutrition does not make any claims that a certain food, or a vitamin or mineral contained therein, will cure any degenerative disease, for instance cancer, adequately giving the body what it needs will help the body to heal itself. In holistic nutrition every person is viewed as an individual with different nutritional needs. The Holistic community believes that many variables play a role in establishing what may be a normal nutritional requirement, resulting in a â€Å"tailored† nutritional chart for individuals based on their needs. In contrast, Allopathic medicine looks at the population as a whole; it determines the norm based on an average requirement and applies that calculation to the individual, regardless of biochemical, environmental and physical differences. Holistic nutrition, as mentioned earlier, looks at the person as a whole, keeping the differences in body systems (neurological, structural, immune, reproductive, etc.) in view, and helps deal with the various challenges facing the body for optimal nutritional functionality. For example, instead of approaching depression, skeletal pain, and fatigue as three separate issues, thus calling for three separate prescriptions, a holistic nutriti onist will look at these three different weaknesses on the whole: what do they have in common and what systemic condition could be causing it. Such an approach treats the systems of the body as being interconnected and seeks to improve the health of the person on the whole. Holistic nutrition teaches that food is the best medicine. Dietary intake and supplements are important considerations when seeking to prevent illnesses or to strengthen a body already in crisis. Prescriptions medication may quiet or silence the symptoms of illness, but may not be able to identify and correct the root cause of the illness, which, in turn, will continue to weaken the body. A holistic