Medical science, together with the range of treatments advocated by it, has undergone huge development in the past years. In general, a more comprehensive, long term approach to health has arisen. As well as your physical health, mental health and wellbeing have also enjoyed an increased focus within the medical world.

An overview

Your health is no longer viewed as a list of problems to be dealt with, but as an overall picture taking into account physical influences such as genetics, environment, lifestyle and psychological state, as well as what these mean for your future life.

One of the many areas of study that have contributed to these developments is nutrition. The study and treatment of health with relation to nutrition has become a hugely important area during this time. Nutritional science has been applied within many different contexts, for example sport, where people will be advised on a tailor made diet based on the nutritional impact of food on their physical performance.

Illness

Nutritional advice can make a significant contribution to your body’s ability to heal itself, if you’re suffering from a specific physical illness. Getting the right vitamins and minerals can also help to greatly alleviate the symptoms of illness, affording you an increased quality of life.

As well as having a marked impact on how your body copes with physical illness, diet can play a huge role in how you deal with mental illness. Just as you need to give your body the right combination of nutrients to achieve a state of physical health, your mental wellbeing and general state of mind is significantly dependent on what you eat and drink.

In the longer term, getting the right balance of nutrients in your diet can help to prevent you from developing health problems in the future, whether in terms of serious illness, or just helping you to stop catching too many colds by boosting your immune system’s ability to fight infection.

Our relationships with food

The news today is full of stories about the obesity problem that we now face in the western world. At the other end of the spectrum, we’re also faced with a host of eating disorders, and our young people seem to be coming up against all sorts of body image issues.

The many changes that have taken place within society over the last few generations have resulted in us developing an unhealthy relationship with food. We have access to more different types of food than ever before, but we seem to be struggling to achieve a healthy balance between this and our hugely varied lifestyles. Nutritional science is surely going to play a major role in tackling these issues in the coming years.

A nutritionist is in the prefect position to give you the advice and information to create a healthy diet for yourself and your family, optimising the way you function physically and mentally. Getting the right balance of nutrients involves developing an understanding and appreciation of how your body relates to food, and improving your ability to get the best out of life.