Consulting Client Tip #4: Pace the Client

These answers were taken from a student assignment. This student is working with a client and helping her with some lifestyle changes that will improve her health. I added the following suggestions after her suggestions. The student suggestions are in regular font. Mine are in bold italics:


8-10 glasses of water a day (promotes flushing out toxins, body 80% water, helps with snacking and can help avoid the junkaholic time).

6-8 should be fine. Tell her to monitor. Drink the 8. If she feels ill drinking more then the 8 was enough. Recent studies are showing that too much water can hurt people’s ability to digest or absorb certain foods. If she is thin she may not need the 10 glasses.

Eat 5-10 servings of vegetables a day

However, be sure to tell her that even 3 or 4 is great. Sometimes if we set the bar too high for a client they will become discouraged very quickly. You might want to start her on a less intense program first and then lead her into something more intense. The advantage of this is that you can also monitor her response to your “first level” of suggestions and modify the final program even more to suit her needs.

Consulting Client Tip #3: Where Do You Start Healing with a Client?

A student who turned in her assignment for the Nutritional Healing Course today provided a wonderful client history for her client. It had all the details she needed to give the client the good advice they need. I included the following reminder for her that I wanted to share with other students as well - it may be helpful to you in working with your own clients, friends and family members:

Very good client history. You have a lot of details here to work with that can really give you some good clues and direction with her situation. I always especially mark or highlight things that the client says, ‘I sense this is bad for me” or “I feel badly after eating or drinking these”. The reason I highlight these things is that this is a clue as to where a good place to start with this client is. The biggest obstacle to overcome with healing is the clients willingness or readiness to change. If they have already noticed something is harming them then THAT is the area they will most likely be open to changing.

Student Excerpts: The Thirteenth Principal of Health

Aimee turned in her Nutritional healing assignments this week and was the first one (in all these years, believe it or not!) to choose "Creating a Healing Living Space" as her topic for the "Thirteenth Principal of Health". I thought her opening quote and a key paragraph in her paper were wonderful and wanted to share them with you all:

She writes:

Siegfried Gursche, in the Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, quotes: “According to the Environmental Protection Agency, fifty percent of all our illness can be traced to indoor pollution, which is ten times more toxic than its outdoor counterpart.”

Our dishes, pipes, microwaves, pewter, ceramic glazes, blinds, tap water, and insecticides also contribute to our indoor toxicity. Nickle is in our dishes, cosmetics, hydrogenated food, fats, and dental work. Lead can come from batteries, tap water, smoking, glassware, liver, and even in some wine. Cadmium is found in batteries, smoking tap water, fertilizer, and shellfish. Arsenic in laundry soap, fabric softener, poisons paints and even in some mirrors. Aluminum which is linked with Alzheimer's is in our cooking wrap, deodorants, cosmetics, paints, and baking powder. Mercury was a popular dental filling which is no longer used in Canada. It also turns up in fish, salt, cosmetics, hair dyes, and pesticides. All heavy metals can have a horrible effect on the body. The are know to create rashes, constipation, headaches, bloating, diarrhea, block the production of bile, increase of decrease hormone levels, and affect our digestive systems.

Course Corrections: Temperament Course

This is not really a course correction as much as an "alert" - this is something to be aware of as you do this unit. Please read the student comment and my reply below - this will help you understand the temperament unit better:

Student Comment:This unit on typology has been overwhelming, yet very enlightening for me. During my college years and experience teaching English and History, I have encountered the concepts discussed in this unit viz., humor, temperament, melancholic, choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic etc.---but I never understood these terms in their complete historical and medical sense until now. I encountered the most trouble when trying to understand exactly what is a humor and how does it function in the body. The assigned readings were confusing and oftentimes contradicting regarding this matter…

My Reply: One of the reasons I provide different perspectives – even if they are contradicting, is to give people more than one angle on the same topic. I do that on purpose. However, the main lesson is consistent and informational and should provide you with a good base. The introduction to the unit provides an overview of the basics. The other lessons are extras to that – so the reading of the literature was to introduce some “spice” into a topic once the student already understands the temperaments. Note to students reading this: keep this in mind when reading this unit!

Student Excerpts: Temperaments Addition

Correcting student tests today I was impressed with this list included by a student in her test for the Temperament & Typology Unit:

The following are diseases which are not caused by an imbalance of the 4 humors:
A. Improperly shaped organs
B. Narrow or expanded ducts
C. Irregular tissue within or without organs (rough uterine-wall tissue)
D. Excessive organ size (enlarged heart)
E. Displaced organs (transposed liver)
F. Small organs (stomach)
G. Conditions arising from occasional causes (poisonous animals and insects)
H. Accidents, such as fractures, burns, wounds, and the like.

Student Question: Combining Starches and Protein?

Question: For food combining. It says not to eat protein and starches together. We have always made supper as a meat, veggie and potatoe or rice. So that would be protein and starch. So what I am wondering is, how far apart do they have to be to be eaten? For example, if raw foods are eaten as a first course and then the meal and finish up with fruit as dessert, does that give sufficient time for things to be digested before the fruit is eaten, or should it be spaced out even more? The same goes with protein and starch. Could you eat raw foods, then some veggies and starch and then protein after, or should there be more time inbetween eating them both?

Answer:

The way of eating that you are talking about is part of an alkaline diet. Some doctors have made this diet famous by claiming that all people should eat using this method. This wouldn't hurt anyone, but it is not very realistic either, and does not take into account that all people have different needs and lifestyles.

I would suggest an alkaline diet for anyone who has an "acidic" lifestyle. This would include anyone who does heavy exercise or is training for sports, anyone who has a lot of stress in their life, anyone who drinks coffee or sodas or consumes fast foods or "junk foods" more than three times a week, etc...a full profile of what creates an acidic lifestyle can be found in the readings.

I also suggest that if someone is having a "highly acidic" day (one full of stress or a lot of exercise) that it would also be very helpful to follow a more alkaline diet that day.

If you have a vegetarian lifestyle, this diet is not as applicable because beans are proteins AND starches. This is another thing that confuses some people. A vegetarian's diet is naturally alkaline as long as they are eating whole foods and avoiding highly acidic foods such as coffee.

If you are eating healthy, whole foods and balanced meals that are minimally processed and generally include in-season produce, then that should be sufficient for the average person. It is only when our lives become unbalanced that we need to balance with strict diets - sometimes for long periods of time, sometimes for life, sometimes for short periods. It depends on the person and the situation.

One also needs to consider the amounts of protein being used. If you are using protein as a "flavor" rather than a main dish, this results in a more alkaline dish.

You are also correct in stating that if you take your time eating that the time in between your foods will be sufficient. If you finish a meal, you can have your desert or fruit about a half-hour later.

I hope this helps.

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Student Question: Trouble Seeing Iris Patterns?

Question:
I am doing Iridology and am on the first assignment, looking at the iris' of 4 people. I was looking at my youngest girls eyes and found it difficult. I am wondering if it would be because she is only 5, or if it is possible that I am having trouble because of my own eyes. You see, I had a cataract in my left eye and have had surgery. I can see well with it, but I am wondering if that can cause trouble in looking in others eyes. I could see some markings in my daughters eyes, but I found it hard to be able to see if something is raised, etc.

Answer:
It is easier to see the portions of the iris that are raised by shining the penlight from the side of the head - this gives you more of a depth perspective. You can also take a picture of the iris with a digital camera - use different angles of light to do this - use sunlight or a very bright lamp from different angles so you get different views of the iris. Make sure you take visual note of the real colors as they will be distorted if you use a light source other than the sun or a flash. It is possible that your own vision makes it more difficult for you to see some of the iris signs. However, by changing the angle of light and viewing the iris with different lighting you should be able to compensate for this.

As an additional note, you did not say what color your daughter's eyes are. Some very dark brown eyes are difficult to see without first taking a photo or using a very bright light. Some eyes are so dark you cannot do a full iridology reading on them.

Hope this helps!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie