Ok, this is going to make me seem old…but I graduated as a naturopath back in 2004. Back then, we received a lot of flack about putting people on gluten-free “fad diets” if they didn’t have coeliac disease (a diagnosable auto-immune condition characterised by severe gluten intolerance). Despite there being a lack of scientific evidence and being scoffed at by orthodox medical professionals at the time, we naturopaths saw people suffering from a range of conditions (from skin, to gut to neurological) improve when they cut out gluten, so we kept doing it and as people felt better, gluten-free options started filling supermarket shelves and restaurant menus everywhere.… Keep reading...

Several years ago I had a 38 year old woman we’ll call “Lisa” come to see me at the naturopathic clinic I was working at because of moderate depression. She could still function ok, but her mood was very low, her sleep was poor and she sometimes suffered from anxiety attacks as well. She kept saying she didn’t have a “reason” to be depressed, that there was “nothing wrong” with her life.… Keep reading...

It’s well-established now that what we eat (and don’t eat) can have a significant effect on metal health and can even cause or exacerbate anxiety and depression symptoms. (Along with several other factors, such as these).

But eating “healthy” is not that simple, especially when there’s so much conflicting nutritional advice out there: low carb, high carb, low fat, ketogenic, vegan, paleo, raw etc! Plus there’s new, conflicting studies and dubiously researched books and Netflix documentaries being published all the time!… Keep reading...