Holistic Nutrition and Spinal Cord Injury
There’s no question that nutrition has a profound impact on our physical, spiritual and mental health, especially for someone living with a chronic illness or medical condition. Life after a SCI becomes a delicate balance of trying to stay healthy and avoid the secondary illnesses that so often seem to come with the disability. Today there are plenty of resources on the Internet that provide a wealth of information about proper nutrition and healthy living. A Google search for “SCI and nutrition” came up with over 400,000 sites! With so much to sort through it makes it hard to know where to start.
I recently spoke with Joanne Smith a CPA member with a special interest in nutrition for
people with a SCI. Joanne is currently completing a program in Holistic Nutrition and she
plans on applying what she has learned to working with people with a SCI and other
mobility disabilities. Holistic nutrition is an individualized approach to staying healthy by
making wise nutrition and lifestyle choices. It’s a preventative health approach.
Joanne’s interest in nutrition began years ago, about 19 years ago to be exact. She sustained a SCI, which lead her on her quest for alternative means that would help her stay healthy. She found herself often frustrated with the traditional medical system. Her secondary ailments were treated with prescription medications, which came with consequences. For lots of folks with a SCI, taking prescription medication is unavoidable however many of these medications can have negative side effects. These side effects can lead to a host of other medical issues. As Joanne explains, “You can get on this roller coaster which includes taking one medication to counteract the effects of another medication which creates this vicious cycle.”
Joanne sought alternative treatments for herself and in doing so came across Holistic Nutrition which she feels will be helpful for people with a SCI. Learning about Holistic Nutrition was a real eye opener for her. She learned a lot about health as it relates to nutrition, an issue that she feels is not addressed enough in rehabilitation for people with a SCI. In fact, the average medical student only receives about 14 hours in total of training in the area of nutrition.
Joanne’s new knowledge, combined with her own experience interacting with other people with disabilities, make her a valuable resource. Joanne states, “In my 11 years working with CBC hostingMoving On I met many people with a variety of disabilities across our country. One of the things that became apparent is that in a lot of cases it’s not the initial disability or injury that prevents a person from living independently and participating fully in society. On the contrary, it’s the secondary health conditions that are associated with SCI that prevent people from living independently.”
As we all know eating properly can help keep us healthy. Good nutrition is an important
part of staying healthy and avoiding some of the complications that come with living with
a disability. Eating healthier takes more planning and can sometimes be more expensive
but it will pay off in the long run. According to Joanne, “What you pay for good food now you will save in health bills later.”
By working with a Holistic Nutrition Consultant you can receive a customized treatment
plan to fit your lifestyle. There is an overabundance of nutritional information out there which at times is confusing and conflicting. A Holistic Nutrition Consultant can help you weed through false claims and help teach you to tune into your body and to gain more knowledge of the proper nutrients that are best for your system.
On average most people rotate about 14 foods in their entire diet.We are all creatures of routine. Lack of variety in our diets, leads to a lack of the nutrients that our bodies need in order to stay healthy. According to Joanne most people need to mix it up more. We need to find alternatives to the same old menu choices that we routinely default to.
Knowing more about what we use to fuel our bodies will help us understand our own nutritional needs. For instance, certain foods help us burn fat more efficiently while other foods help protect our joints and bones. There are also certain foods that help improve skin recovery and other foods that help boost our energy levels. A proper diet for someone with a SCI includes foods that aid in the process of digestion. Food that is poorly digested can be toxic to the body. If food sits too long in our system it can be reabsorbed through the body thereby putting extra stress on our immune system and liver. Eating healthy and preventing weight gain can also help to prevent pressure sores, a common secondary complication for people with a SCI.
Good nutrition overall can help prevent illness and improve our daily functioning. As Joanne says, “Living with compromised systems, we need to ensure that what function we have left is working at optimal potential so we can live independently.” Regaining control –control of our mobility, control of our bodily functions, and control of our lives. That’s really what life is all about after a SCI.