Fitness & Testing For Nutritional Deficiencies

Testing In ActionThus far in my daily range-of-motion routine I’ve seen a consistent loss in fat and consistent gain in muscle. Consistency is good, but it’s been s-l-o-o-o-w. Slow is undoubtedly good for me.

But! I’ve also been curious as to whether there might be more going on with me, in me – could there be anything blocking a more heightened weight loss? And what about my blood pressure? It’s reduced considerably since I’ve been using the ROM, but it’s still high for someone my age. And finally, there’s this pesky (more than pesky; downright frustrating) generalized anxiety that’s reared its head in recent years (I owe you at least a full blog post on that – remind me sometime) – what’s up with that?

I have questions. My Aunt Sharon has answers.

If not answers, at least responses. Good ones. My Aunt Sharon, whom I called Auntie Ra-Ra as a child, is Dr. Hatch to you. Dr. Hatch operates a wellness center in the West Metro Atlanta area that addresses questions and symptoms such as mine, without the use of pharmecuticals or surgery. She has a three-fold approach to health that includes chiropractic care, NAET allergy testing (& removal!), and nutritional testing; while we were in Atlanta last week I scheduled a couple of appointments with her. I already see a good chiropractor in Raleigh and NAET takes several months to do right, so on this brief of a visit we focused on the latter – nutritional testing.  I think her website (which, true confession, I helped her set up) asks a great question with regards to nutrition in general and vitamin and mineral supplements in particular:

Are you tired of wasting hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of dollars on expensive and seemingly useless nutritional supplements? Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly which nutrients your body needs? At the Wellness Center, we provide precise nutritional testing and counseling that specifically targets what you and your family need. Because nutritional needs change over time, we re-test regularly to ensure that you aren’t taking supplments pointlessly – overdosing on vitamins and minerals your body already produces in abundance can actually be detrimental to your health.

That’s been my experience at least – walking into a supplement store (or browsing a ‘health’ website), eyes glazed over – I mean, the way the labels are written you want to take ’em all – I mean, who doesn’t want increased stamina, better eyesight, and silky hair? But the thing is, if (and I realize this is a big “if” these days) you have a basically healthy diet eating real food, you don’t need most of those supplements. In fact, too much of a good thing can be harmful.

So back to Dr. Hatch. She uses a kinesological approach to test your body’s response to different nutrients – if you’re sufficient in an area, or have an allergy to a certain nutrient, she can tell. And if you’re lacking in something she’s testing you for, she can tell that, too. We discovered that my adrenal system is fine (something that can lead to increased anxiety if its out of whack), but my thyroid is off and my blood pressure, while not astronomical, is too high for someone my age. My body also needs a lot of Vitamin B right now. There were other results, too, but what I really cared about was the bottom line – she recommended to me several supplements that I’ll be taking at fairly high doses over the next 45 days, in conjunction with my normal ROM-ming and chiropractic routine. Then I’ll go in for testing again, to see how my body is responding to this nutrient infusion in areas I’m deficient in. She deals directly with a medical-strength supplement company that ensures high-quality ingredients – another relief, since I never know what I’m getting online, really. I was surprised at how affordable they are.

My aunt thinks that my body should respond positively to these supplements fairly quickly – that I should see positive results within 30 days, including a stronger metabolism and lower blood pressure. Perhaps a weight loss acceleration is coming? I can only hope! Stay tuned…

For my continuing whole-health journey, go here!

5 Responses to Fitness & Testing For Nutritional Deficiencies

  1. Elynor August 3, 2009 at 11:29 pm #

    Mike,
    I used to believe in nutritional testing, until I worked in the office of someone who performed it. I can’t possibly communicate to you how much I’ve come to see it as a deception. The practicioners subconsciously project their beliefs about which things will make your muscles strong or weak and apply pressure differently on your muscles depending on their own expectations sometimes not even realizing they are doing so, other times doing it quite consciously…. Double blinded studies have proven that these things don’t work and the practicioners are told these things are scientific and accurate when there is absolutely no scientific basis for any of it and not a single study that supports it. But desperate people fork out tons of money and get taken for the ride.
    Sometimes people DO get better, because the advice given by practicioners who are trained in nutrition and herbs is generally better than what the patient would do on their own, but this is regardless of the muscle tests..
    I hate seeing how this is sweeping across the country and gaining so much acceptance in so many circles. I have seen it from the inside out for many years on end, and it is really twisted and false.
    Hope you don’t feel personally attacked. I’ve just been there from an angle that many other people will probably never be close enough to see. It’s ugly.

  2. Elizabeth August 15, 2009 at 1:44 pm #

    Well in my own experinace the testing I had was different and effective. I didn’t have a nautritional test. I hade a food and alleragy test. Did you know half the time the foods you could be eating might be health but if your intolarant to the food then yes you will bloat or have other issue, like IBS. I mean not everone has IBS, but I know almost all women bloat and sometimes they don’t know why. I had this ALCAT test for food intolorances, who knew I was intoloarant to all wheat, Tuna, goats milk, mushrooms, the list went on and on… With this test they did do research and if you stuck to the foods you were not intolarant to, it was proven to be really effective when losing weigh! check out this site where I reasearched about this test, it helped me with my IBS-http://www.bodylogicmd.com/nutrition/food-sensitivity-and-allergies-alcat

  3. Elynor August 31, 2009 at 10:29 pm #

    Elizabeth,
    The test you said you had, the ALCAT test, is a blood test, correct?

    This is a very different type of test than the test I was refering to in my first posting.

  4. Rod September 25, 2009 at 8:49 pm #

    Low fat Protein is required to help with you build muscle so you can metabolize the excess fat. The increase B vitamin you are short is also helpful with your muscle building and fat burning.
    We have three ROMs at our center and people are seeing great results towards their goals.
    Keep your direction.

  5. playfit June 21, 2010 at 1:46 pm #

    Great post, very interesting concept. You make a good point that all the factors need to come into play.Fitness is essential part of our life.It depends on the service you get.You can visit to our site for more information.

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