In today's blog we want to highlight one of our client's case study. Their main complaint was they were experiencing low energy, and wanted to increase their body weight and specifically increase their muscle mass. We determined that this was the result of poor dietary habits influencing their body systems. Being unable to adhere to a regular diet that contains all the nutrients his body needs led to a lack of essential nutrients for proper energy production and muscle growth. In addition to poor diet adherence, an underactive stomach cannot digest the food properly for the nutrients to be absorbed leading to further depletion of essential nutrients for energy production. Poor nutrition can lead to dysglycemia, more specifically hypoglycemia, that can lead to his low energy levels. The other key factor in this case study was that they were on daily medication for the prevention of blood clots. As being a holistic nutritionist and pharmacist team, we designed a plan that would not interact with their medication.
the initial plan
The Initial plan is to focus on the client's underactive stomach, low blood sugar (Hypoglycemia), and developing an effective meal plan to address their main concerns of low energy and body weight/muscle mass. Developing an effective meal plan will Increase their overall nutrient absorption and provide the much needed essential nutrients for energy production. Addressing the underactive stomach improves digestion leading to more efficient absorption of nutrients. By addressing the malnutrition problem we may clear up and reduce the risk of other future problems.
We will also develop an exercise program for the client in order to increase their energy levels and increase their overall weight and muscle mass.
We will also provide recommendations on supplements that can assist in increasing their overall health.
Their blood clot is already managed by other health professionals and we will supplement their care to better improve the client's quality of life.
Recommendations for the client:
Nutritional recommendation
We start by explaining the steps the client will need to consider to improve their overall health by explaining the importance of eating healthy and choosing organic, natural quality foods. These natural/organic foods are not just a diet, it’s a tool that will help improve their health.
Furthermore, we will explain the importance of optimizing nutrients due to their nutritional deficiencies. Their primary diet consists of food that are processed and stripped of all vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and enzymes. Our recommended diet slows the aging process, improves mental capacity, and increases energy levels. This diet consists of eating equal amounts of clean protein sources, healthy fats, and low glycemic carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables and by removing “bad” fats and replacing them with “good” fats. Changing the “meats” to grass fed options changes fatty acid ratios. Non-grass fed meats contain too much omega-6, not enough omega-3. They also bio-accumulate commercial pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and hormones which cause a toxic onslaught, which leads to many cancers, neurological disorders, and chronic illness.
Lastly remove all refined “sugars” and “grains” from the diet. This includes white rice, white pasta, white bread. High glycemic or refined sugars cause elevated glucose, which elevates insulin leading to premature aging and degenerative diseases such as type II diabetes, heart disease (inflammation of the arteries), and cancer.
Lifestyle Recommendation
Exercise has been shown through numerous studies to improve overall health and has been recommended by many health agencies. Current Canadian recommendations is a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week with no more than 2 days of rest in between. We have assessed the client and worked with their schedule and lifestyle to incorporate more active minutes throughout their week. We have also developed an individualized resistance exercise program that will help meet their physique goals. The goal being to improve overall health and increase weight and muscle mass.
Sufficient and quality sleep has been identified as one of the contributing factors in the client's feeling of low energy. The client work schedule made it a bit tricky to consistently get enough sleep each week but we decided to enforce a strict sleep regimen (sleep and wake-up times that factored in their individualized work schedule) to reset their sleep routine and recommended meditation exercises to help de-stress to improve quality of sleep.
Supplement recommendation
In addition to the nutritional and lifestyle recommendations we find it helpful and beneficial to add on some key supplements to help maximize nutrient absorption and improve overall health. For our client we recommended a digestive enzyme to increase nutrient absorption, a quality multi-vitamin to ensure sufficient daily micro-nutrients, and an omega-3 for anti-inflammatory properties and a source of good fats. We recommended separating administration of the supplements and the client's daily medication to reduce risk of any interaction. A thorough interaction assessment was done to make sure the recommended supplements did not interact with the prescribed medication.
4-week follow-up
Prior to the 4 week follow-up we had weekly check-ups and answered any questions and concerns that may have arose from implemented plan.. At our follow up appointment, we discussed the progress made and the challenges the client has noticed while implementing our recommendations. During the 4-weeks the client was able to incorporate the recommended exercise regimen 2-3 days a week and increase their protein and calorie intake to make progress towards their desired weight goal. The client expressed a continued commitment to changing their lifestyle and diet and credits this motivation to having a dedicated health team there to help guide them. There is still difficulty in getting enough sleep and drinking enough water throughout the day but overall they are making healthier choices in their diet and is gradually developing better lifestyle habits.
We reviewed the main health complaints stated in the initial consultation; to improve his overall nutrition and increase weight and muscle mass, and increase energy levels. Nutrition improved because we educated the client on the importance of proper nutrition and by choosing and incorporating healthier options into the diet. Although the client still finds trouble completely following along their nutritional plan, they have made great progress in making the change and makes more conscience decisions in terms of what they eat. With his regular resistance exercise their weight has relatively stayed the same but states that they feel much stronger. We will address the need to further increase their caloric intake to compensate for the increased exercise level.
3-month follow-up
During the 3 months we have provided constant check-ins to maintain progress. We stayed in touch through text, email, video calls whenever needed. We are proud to say that the client has made significant progress to reaching their weight goal and has increased their muscle mass. Their nutrition has greatly improved and we are in the phase where we can implement new ideas. The client is proud of the progress they have made and finds the process to have been challenging at times but knew they had our support to guide them every step of the way. We could not be prouder of the progress they have made and the improvements to a healthier lifestyle. The client has expressed interests in new goals in the near future once they have fully settled into their current recommendations.
If this is something you're going through and would like expert advice we can help guide you better to transition to your ideal body goal or just adapting to a healthy lifestyle to help manage your symptoms or energy better. We offer a free 30 minutes consultation to discuss your situation as everyone is different. Please contact us and we can help advise you better.
Comentarios