The pitfalls of solutionizing

For those of you who don't know, being a nutritionist is not my full-time occupation - Nutritionist in the City really is in the city on a daily basis due to my day job in a bank!

I joined the banking community fresh from completing my first degree in Economics and have worked there in some shape or form ever since, earning my degree in nutritional therapy along the way.

As with alot of city jobs, a remarkable amount of my time is spent in meetings, particularly with IT, and it was in one such meeting today that I heard the term 'solutionize' (finding a solution) for the first time which brought an involuntary smile to my face as a wonderful example of the management speak that all city folk will be used to hearing!

It was used to refer to the trap when faced with a problem of quickly 'solutionizing' before you've fully understood and considered the situation.

Translating that across to health it would be equivalent to treating a symptom such as eczema with a steroid cream versus finding out the cause of that symptom, such as a dairy allergy or poor stress resistance, and addressing the cause.

When it comes to health, if you jump straight to a quick fix solution you'll often be missing a message from your body that something more fundamentally out of balance that needs addressing.

That's why if you have any recurring but minor health symptoms such as headaches, skin breakouts, rashes, upset stomach etc. instead of going straight to the pharmacy for some over the counter meds you should consider your health and diet as a whole and whether you need to make more fundamental changes to your lifestyle.

For anything major your GP should be your first port of call, but for more minor complaints there is a host of useful information and advice available on healthy living and dealing with minor symptoms. The Patrick Holford and Food Doctor websites and books are an excellent place to find advice and inspiration to make positive changes.

You may have to try some different strategies, but pay attention to what your body tells you and you'll quickly find out what is helping. Alternatively of course you can take the guess work out and go straight to a nutritional therapist!
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