Nutrition is the KEY to healing from any chronic illness.

Most of my patients with chronic health issues have tried lots of diets and supplements. They’ve sought help from their medical doctor, and been put on different drugs. But even with all these treatments they still dealt with uncomfortable symptoms on a daily basis. The reason their efforts weren’t working is because all chronic conditions are a combination of a neurological and a nutritional/metabolic imbalance. It is imperative that both of these components are functioning optimally for the body to heal in a lasting way.

Think of nutrition as the building blocks for good health. If you have a broken car, the mechanic physically CANNOT fix it without the new parts. The same idea can be applied to the body. Your body physically CANNOT heal unless it has proper nutrition (“spare parts”). If you’re only addressing your nervous system by supporting the brain, but you don’t have proper nutrition, it’s like having the mechanic without new parts to work with.

One way to identify a nutritional problem is gut-related symptoms.

Common signs of gut dysfunction are…

• Gas
• Bloating
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Heartburn
• Feeling heavy after eating

These are all signs that your body is not breaking down food appropriately, extracting the nutrients that it needs. Digestive issues could mean that you are malnourished. Even if you eat extremely healthy, if the body is not able to get the nutrients it needs, you can become malnourished.

Other signs your gut dysfunction is causing other health issues is if you have…

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Leaky Gut
• Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
• Gallstones
• Celiac Disease
• Crohn’s Disease
• Ulcerative Colitis
• Hemorrhoids

RISK FACTORS

One factor that is extremely harmful to our health is exposure to more than 80,000 different chemicals, most of which didn’t exist before 1940. The vast majority of these chemicals have never been tested to see how they affect us in either the short or long term, but we do know that these chemicals are now everywhere in our bodies. They’re even in babies when they’re born!

We have to account for the chemicals that are coming in and affecting our nervous system, gut function, and our diet. Most people with chronic health issues are eating some variation of the Standard American Diet, known as the SAD diet. It’s ironic that the Standard American Diet’s acronym is SAD because it truly is. What makes it so sad it that it doesn’t provide the nutritional building blocks that we need for a healthy body. This diet actually depletes our body of the vitamins and minerals it needs to function and repair, and poisons us with preservatives, pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

Humans were designed to eat meat, vegetables, and fruit. These are the foods that our ancestors have been eating for thousands of years. I cannot stress enough how cruital a healthy diet is when addressing any health issue, even something as minute as a common cold. When you are sick it means your body is vulnerable and your immune system needs extra support. You support your body with what you put into it, and food is the one thing humans can’t live without. There is a saying that “food is medicine.” If you ask what the one thing you can do for the rest of your life to ensure better health and vitality, the answer is eating right.

NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION

I’ve seen some patients who want to keep their same SAD diet and take a bunch of pills to mitigate the symptoms. Let me stress that there are not enough pills in the world for you to keep eating the Standard American Diet and treat a disease at the same time, let alone get healthy. However, even if you do clean up your diet, by this point you’ve run such a nutritional deficit that it is almost never enough to just eat clean. After years of eating some version of the Standard American Diet most people still need help making up that deficit. It is necessary to supplement nutrient deficiencies for a period of time in order to restore your health.

Healthy diet and supplementation are KEY to nutrition. Making these changes is the first step to take if you’re going to heal from a chronic illness. You have to make sure the right building blocks are in place and that you’re flooding your system with foods that will nourish and sustain you.

Adding healthy food is just as important as taking away the chemicals and foods that are causing inflammation. The body is a remarkable organism and can recuperate from a lot, but it is not invincible. This is why I integrate Neurology, Chiropractic structural work, and Nutrition – because all three are crucial for you to get better.

Here’s to a better life, 

Dr. Steve Puckette