A Healthy Foundation: The most valuable gift you can give your child.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Sue Hughes – Certified Nutritional Counselor.

Just as we nurture a plant by surrounding its roots with nutrient-rich soil, providing the necessary amount of light and water in order to assure that it thrives, so too do we, as living beings, require vitamins and minerals, plenty of water and a healthy lifestyle in order to feel our best.

I believe that nature provides us with everything we need to heal and maintain lifelong health, all we need to do is to tap into these resources in a way that is most beneficial to our individual needs. This is easier said than done, especially when it comes to our kids. Life seems to whiz by at the speed of sound with soccer practices, music lessons and long nights devoted to homework (among plenty of other stressors!) Though we have the best of intentions to nourish our kids physically and emotionally by cooking up well-balanced meals and actually sitting down to eat together as a family, that doesn’t always happen. It just plain can’t always happen! So the kids often have just enough time to choke down their meals while on the run each evening and are probably rushing off to school each morning, often without adequate nourishment (or adequate rest for that matter) to start their day on an energetic note. As moms, we may blame ourselves, knowing deep inside our mommy gut that this isn’t a good thing but we still can’t seem to get off the hamster-wheel of life we’ve jumped onto. The kids are wired. Or tired. Or wired and tired. We’ve lost track. (We are wired and tired too, after all.) But I urge you not to stress over it. This is where I can help you.

I am a Certified Nutritional Consultant and Holistic Health Practitioner who absolutely loves working with kids. Rather than prescribing pills that mask symptoms** (I’m not allowed to do that anyway), I work with you and your child to help balance their body nutritionally, as such an imbalance can be the root of all sorts of concerns like behavioral issues, anxiety and/or depression, weight (over- or under-), digestive complaints, hormone imbalances, athletic performance . . . the list continues. I focus on helping to build on your kids’ health beginning at the cellular level using nutrition and lifestyle practices, which will also simultaneously help them handle stress in a more positive manner both emotionally and physiologically. Empowerment through education is the basis of my practice and my role is that of an advocate and motivator, providing you and your child with cutting edge information and the support necessary for lifelong wellness. Simply a good, solid foundation.

Now for those of you who already buy into the fact that nutrition and lifestyle play a huge role in emotional and physical health, I’ve probably already got your ear. But for those of you who are doubtful, I’d like to briefly explain what I believe is the significance regarding what I do: First, we are a stressed society. Overbooked, over-connected (24/7, right?), focused on “doing” rather than “being”. Well, stress has a nasty way of depleting nutrients that our kids (and us moms) already struggle to get enough of in their diets (I can explain that ad nauseum in our first meeting!) In fact, today we may take in more “anti-nutrients” than nutrients. Anti-nutrients are those food items (think sugar or white bread) that use up more nutrients to generate the energy required for their own digestion than they give back during that process. (Phew! If that was confusing I’ll gladly revisit that!) Here’s an illustration that may help: picture a glass jar filled with marbles and every marble represents a nutrient. Each time we digest a food item, nutrients (marbles) are used up to generate the energy needed for the digestion process, so the jar has less and less marbles. Ideally though, the food item provides a generous amount of nutrients to replenish what has just been used (i.e. marbles should be added to the jar). If not, the marbles (nutrients) decrease until suddenly there are none left in the jar. When that happens in our bodies, vitamins and minerals are pulled from tissue such as bones and muscles and the brain in order to generate the necessary energy. That’s not good. That’s the stuff of chronic emotional or physical illness and it’s a downward spiral that nowadays often begins in childhood. Basically one day our “kids” wake up as 30-year-olds staring down depression and anxiety, high blood pressure, aches and pains, obesity . . . When did this happen? How did this happen? Well, it’s cumulative. Sometimes silently cumulative.

So I believe that this is why it is so important to teach our children, right now, what their/our bodies need to be healthy; how to feel their best; how they can do their best to avoid chronic illness and disease. I really hate to see the downward spiral of illness begin in the first place, and it won’t, as long as there is a strong foundation.

If this post rings true for you, give me a call or shoot me an email to schedule an hour-long consultation so that I can answer any of your questions and develop a better understanding of your health objectives for your child. After gathering information during that meeting (and answering any of your questions) I will then put together a preliminary plan, along with rates, as to how to best proceed to reach your goals. Typically, if you choose to move forward with the program as presented, the fee for the initial consultation is waived and your payment is applied to the program. I’m offering readers of this blog a coupon for a free one-hour consultation – no strings attached. So you have nothing to lose and . . . potentially . . . everything to gain! Remember one important thing though: this truly is a “team” effort with communication being perhaps the most critical aspect. After all, I can provide the recommendations, but you and your child are the ones doing the “work” so to speak! That said, I believe this is the most valuable gift any parent can provide to their child – empowering them for a lifetime of good health!

Please refer to my website, http://healthybynaturehwc.com/ for further information regarding the details of my practice. And please feel free to email me at sue@healthybynaturehwc.com with any questions you may have.

** Please note that I gladly, and carefully, design nutritional programs around existing medications, thoroughly researching and addressing any nutrient-depleting properties of those medications as well as any potential interactions with nutrients or herbs.

The statements on this site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended for the diagnosis, treatment or cure of any illness or disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician prior to making changes.

This is a sponsored post for Sue Hughes – Certified Nutritional Counselor.