Nutrition is the process of supplying or receiving nourishment. It is the food we put, or do not put, into our mouths to feed the body - and the mind and soul as well. Beyond general nourishment, food and diet have been used throughout history as effective tools in preventive and therapeutic medicine.
We are now able to recognise and investigate the valuable role that nutrition can play in a comprehensive health program. Nutrition therapies, such as Orthomolecular Medicine/Psychiatry, are used to help treat diseases like schizophrenia. The term orthomolecular, which means optimum, or right (ortho), molecules, was coined in 1968 by a Stanford chemistry professor who discussed creating an optimum molecular environment in the mind by providing the right concentration of specific biochemicals such as vitamins.

Nutrition has been studied from early times and Metabolic researchers were putting together a picture of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as vitamins and minerals, as being essential to life and health by the turn of the last century. By the 1940's, scientists had identified more than 40 nutrients contained in foods, including 13 vitamins. They also determined that we need minerals, such as calcium, iron and potassium, to regulate various body functions.

There are a multitude of books covering both weight-reduction and disease-prevention diets. Beyond the commercialism, competition and controversies surrounding nutrition theories, lies a growing awareness of eating disorders. Counsellors can help clients to examine their eating habits, the way in which they relate to food, and the psychoemotional issues underlying nourishment and food abuse

People looking for a sensible eating plan or to avoid crisis conditions, such as food allergies, have a wide range of philosophies and diets to explore. The health movement accommodates diverse outlooks. We have heard of everything from 'muscle building' diets to food combining and body cycles, from fasting to the benefits of vegetarianism. A rising popularity of Eastern tradition has also brought a new consciousness about the powers of food beyond the physical. There are traditions which have been adapted and adopted from India, China, and Japan. Most of these systems in their own way, speak about balancing the energies of food.

A Nutritionist will look at your overall health, food intake, eating patterns and life style, and work out a way of eating that improves your health and well-being. Basically, nutritional therapy entails using foods to prevent and treat ill-health. Nutritionists regard many people in today's modern world to be overfed but undernourished. Nutritional therapy attempts to correct this imbalance by advising clients about a more appropriate and healthy diet. This would involve a dietary plan designed not only to keep them healthier in the future but also to treat any symptoms existing at the current time. Some therapists would even provide recommendations about food to remedy particular medical complaints, intolerances and allergies. They may seek to flush out and eradicate 'toxic overload' caused by incorrect diet, environmental and self-induced pollution, and normal by-products of metabolism.

Most people see a Dietitian/Nutritionist for the following reasons:

needing help with losing weight
high cholesterol,
high blood pressure,
diabetes,
problems with digestion,
allergies,
lack of energy/fatigue,
sports people,
gout,
arthritis,
vegetarians wanting to eat a balanced diet,
children,
anorexics, bulimics etc.

A Nutritionist will educate, guide and support you all the way until you reach your desired goal. Consultations take place weekly or fortnightly, once off or over a longer period of time. A Dietitian/Nutritionist studies the human body functions, what can go wrong and how with correct nutrition a lot of imbalances and symptoms can be corrected and improved.