Interview with Nicole Kellum by Gina White

Nicole Kellum, N.D., a naturopath with Whole Health Naturopathic Medical Center in Manchester, NH, states that in naturopathic medicine we follow the philosophy of Hippocrates who said, "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food." A driving attitude behind their philosophy is prevention with diet at the forefront of that initiative. "We believe in treating the whole person with the least invasive methods which means looking at diet first. By spending a lot of time educating patients about their food choices and how that affects their entire body, we empower them to make changes that will promote better health."

She discusses the pitfalls of the modern American diet."The highly processed diet is one that creates conditions such as intestinal disorders, erratic blood sugar levels, inflammatory responses, and a weakened immune system which can often go unnoticed until the symptoms get very apparent. We see a lot of IBS cases which are usually thought as being very difficult to treat because often the cause is unknown. But we understand IBS is usually caused by the sad American diet leading to food sensitivities, poor digestion and an imbalance in the gut flora, called dysbiosis." Basically, dysbiosis means that the intestinal flora are out of balance leading to bacterial and fungal overgrowth that can devastate the intestinal lining and create other problems outside the gastro-intestinal tract.

"We see unhealthy guts present in many ways such as seasonal allergies, food sensitivities, asthma, sinusitis, arthritis, and eczema which can and should be treated by healing the gut," she says. All of these conditions are related to inflammation and the immune system. "A diet avoiding food sensitivities and processed foods can be really hard initially but is necessary to create the proper flora and to heal the cells in the gut and its mucosal lining thus strengthening the immune system." She suggests products such as slippery elm bark powder, L-glutamine, probiotics, and licorice root to aid in the healing process.

She also warns about the consumption of too much refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup while trying to improve your health. "These ingredients are more addictive to people than many illegal drugs, contributing to the abdominal weight gain and metabolic disorders seen not only among most adults, but in many children." She continues that although seemingly unbelievable, just one teaspoon of sugar reduces the immune system by up to 80% for the next four to six hours! "With the way people consume sugars, it is no wonder we are getting sicker and sicker."

Dr. Kellum concludes, "As consumers, we have to put our foot down and push to ban things like high fructose corn syrup and other destructive food additives which are devastating to our health. We need to avoid processed foods as much as possible and focus on choosing whole, natural and organic foods that are easily recognizable as coming from our earth."