katie.jayne.king 
I was recently contacted by a young lady (who we will call Alice from this point forward) directly interested in Metabolic Balance. She has decided to move forward with the program and I am going to be sharing a bit about her story and her results (as they happen-no fabrication here) so you can follow her journey.
Alice presented to me in clinic like a lot of other clients do, although that’s not to diminish the significance of her struggles in any way. Quite tired consistently and slow, but consistent weight gain over the past 5 years. Some of her symptoms absolutely screamed low thyroid function including low mood, periods of alarming hair loss, low mood and digestive disturbances. Despite this, all of her blood tests had come back ‘normal’ and despite trying quite a few different approaches, she had not felt well for a long time. Nor had she felt in control of her body or her weight.
Alice’s journey will be unique in that she is in the health industry herself. So she does have good awareness of her own body and a very proactive approach to her health. This attitude is one of the key’s to success not only on Metabolic Balance but any health journey. One must value their own health and be open to making changes to achieve the result they want.
When I asked Alice how she was feeling she simply said ‘really inflamed. I feel like things just aren’t right and I’m at a loss as to what to do to improve them.’
We did decide pretty quickly that MB would be the most comprehensive option as far as her food was concerned moving forward. In addition, I made some adjustments to Alice’s supplements because although she had some really good quality options in her pantry, she wasn’t taking them at the correct time or dosage or consistency.
Fast forward a few days and we received Alice’s blood results back from the lab. These are used, along with age, medical conditions, medication and measurements, to formulate the Metabolic Balance food plan. The blood tests are fairly comprehensive and sure enough, a number of inflammatory markers were well outside of normal range, and suspected iron deficiency was confirmed.
Fast forward a few more days and I received Alice’s Metabolic Balance plan back from head office in Germany. Alice is not a fussy eater (which is great – the less fussy, the more ‘ideal’ the plan will be) and at first I was really excited. I had a quick scan and saw a few things I had never seen come up on a plan before! Yay for Alice, I thought. Meanwhile, I was also considering the extra recipes I could add to me Metabolic Balance recipe book. But then on closer inspection….. ‘augh’ was the sound that came out of my mouth. This is REALLY restrictive. There weren’t a whole lot of fish options and overall the protein types were a bit limited… so was the vegetable list. I had about 30 minutes up my sleeve before my next appointment with Alice and so I pulled a few recipes out that would be suitable to help her along and did a bit of brainstorming around meals she could create.
So how did Alice take the news and the plan? Firstly, she was feeling marginally better with the new supplement routine but looking forward to nailing the food side of things. And after an hour together, reviewing her bloods, going through the preparation phase (first 2 days) and then discussing the food plan, we both found lots of positives to focus on. As Alice said, if it was the same old thing than she would simply get the same result, right? 3 meals a day, adequate water for her size and exactly the right foods…. time to get creative and let the journey begin.
In general, I find the ‘worst’ the blood tests are and the more ‘chronic’ someone’s health state is, the more restrictive a Metabolic Balance plan may be. In saying that, many people go through life basically eating the exact same thing everyday, and even Alice’s list can be turned into lots of different fast, healthy meals. We will be reviewing progress and symptoms after 2 weeks and introducing a few more items to the allowed food list. At 4 weeks, its possible things may get more exciting again, but we will wait and see how Alice responds to her Metabolic Balance plan.
I’ll update you on Alice’s journey in a week, when I next see her. The purpose of this blog series is to take you on a journey… because Metabolic Balance is ‘a journey.’ It’s also to show you first hand what kind of improvements and changes to someone’s health we can gain through nutritional medicine. My personal opinion, based on my professional knowledge is that there is no better example of ‘healing through nutrition’ than Metabolic Balance. You will see that truly regaining health isn’t always easy… but regaining ‘life’ along the way certainly makes it worth it!