Naturopathic Therapies

Herbal Medicine

Plants have been used for hundreds of years to treat illnesses and provide symptom relief. The human body’s evolution is intrinsically related to that of plants, leading traditional societies worldwide to experiment with medicinal herbs. Today, modern research shows that herbs contain a careful balance of thousands of chemical components that work together to stimulate the body’s healing capacity. Single plant extracts or synthetic chemicals are not yet able to reproduce exactly the gentle and yet powerful effects that medicinal herbs can have on the human body.

Each medicinal plant has an affinity for a particular organ. For example, dandelion acts on the liver, while comfrey benefits the skin and echinacea the immune system. For this reason, medicinal herbs are often prescribed together in a formula that supports several different organ systems. A herbal formula can thus be highly customized to fit a person’s individual needs and health goals.

Lifestyle & Diet Counseling

Did you know that….

- cardiovascular diseases are preventable for 95% of people just by changing diet and lifestyle
- only 15% of cancers are caused by heredity

Those astounding statistics show that our lifestyle has a powerful impact on gene expression – our fate is not entirely determined by our genes! This means that exercising, eating right, and reducing stress can switch on beneficial genes and turn off those genes that lead to illness. A variety of health conditions can therefore be avoided or improved through simple lifestyle changes.

Changing our lifestyle can be challenging for a number of reasons (lack of time, social context…). Your Naturopath is trained to identify key opportunities in your lifestyle habits and offers practical solutions that are easy to implement in your daily life. Diet changes often play a critical role - find out how we make them easy for you with our Personal Chef services and the Healthy Living Package.

Nutritional Supplements

A healthy lifestyle and good eating habits are the foundations of health and play a crucial role in the improvement of any illness. Food has been an important part of medicine for thousands of years, and modern research is now uncovering a growing number of direct links between a wholesome diet and health.

Our lives are very different from those of our ancestors, and the demands of today’s modern lifestyle lead to many biochemical imbalances in our bodies. Our food alone cannot always bring about the drastic results that we expect. As a result, supplementation with vitamins, minerals or other natural nutrients is sometimes necessary to correct an underlying imbalance. Your Naturopath will assess your case and evaluate if any important nutrient is needed in larger doses to help you achieve your health goals.

Homeopathy

This type of therapy was discovered in the late 1700s in Germany and involves the use of minute doses of natural substances to bring about health improvements. Homeopathy promotes balance in both body and mind and is particularly gentle. For this reason, it is the ideal choice for very sensitive individuals.

Physical medicine

Our day-to-day life greatly affects our bodies. We often suffer from bad posture, tight muscles or repetitive strain injury. This stems from sitting at the computer, exercising too much or simply from being stressed. Physical medicine helps address musculo-skeletal problems through the use of targeted massage techniques, interventions on specific acupuncture points, as well as powerful meditation & visualization methods. The goal of these treatments is to bring about pain relief, decreased inflammation, increased joint mobility, better posture and an overall feeling of relaxation.

Hydrotherapy

The use of water as a method of treatment has been used for thousands of years by many cultures worldwide, whether in the form of saunas, foot baths, hot spring baths, ice packs or steam inhalations. Many of us have done hydrotherapy at home without even knowing it! Finnish people, who invented saunas and use them regularly, have one of the world’s longest life expectancies.

The application of hot or cold water on specific body parts has several physiological effects such as blood vessel constriction or dilation, lymphatic drainage, or muscle relaxation. These treatments do not require a lot of equipment and can be done at home. Although very simple in theory, they can have very powerful effects, especially when it comes to detoxification and immune-boosting.