NUTRITION & ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE

Hippocrates’ statement, which led to a thinking about food as medicine states:

“Whatever the father of a disease, the mother is always a poor diet”

Physician and Pharmacist Dr. Philip Boerebach specialises in preventive medicine in many of its facets: Vaccinations, nutritional medicine (also known as orthomolecular medicine) and also conventional medicine.

Nutritional or Orthomolecular medicine focuses on prevention, but can also be used as a cure for many medical problems.

Nutritional interventions are generally combined with exercise. Almost everyone will have heard of the importance of healthy food and exercise.

We all know the excuses, “I am in so much pain that I can’t exercise” or “I have no energy to exercise”.  This is when people get caught in a vicious circle – a lack of exercise, developing further pain or other medical discomforts and gaining weight.

Nutritional medicine tries to break through the (downward) spiral.

The basis is always a healthy diet – It could be that your diet is less healthy than you thought.

Besides healthy food, nutritional medicine also makes use of food supplements when necessary. These can speed up the process of reaching a healthy balance again. Afterwards the use of almost all supplements will be stopped. This is the major difference with traditional western medicine where (for example) for high blood pressure you will have to use antihypertensives, treating the symptoms, not the cause.  A lifelong strict diet is not the goal of a nutritional approach. A healthy person should be able to eat anything without developing medical problems, albeit in moderation.

However, regular (allopathic) medicine is certainly used by Dr Boerebach. These interventions are usually aimed at solving an immediate problem (when in pain an aspirin works much more quickly than adjusting your lifestyle), but in the meantime, the nutritional approach can be started. This is what he means by complementary medicine: combining the latest insights from all medical disciplines.

Health concerns that can be approached via nutritional medicine (amongst others) in no specific order:

• Fatigue (including chronic fatigue syndrome)
• Thyroid (Hypo- as well as hyperthyroidism)
• Auto immune diseases (rheumatism, psoriasis, diabetes etc.)
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Hormonal disbalance (menstrual problems, subfertility)
• IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
• Gastric reflux/bloated feeling
• Eczema
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Fibromyalgia
• Obesity/overweight
• Anxiety/depression
• Risk reduction to all of the above

What to expect during a consultation

The first consultation will last approximately 1 hour. We will take your medical and family history. If you are not registered with our GP practice you will be asked to bring a copy of your own GP file. Your blood pressure, weight and additional laboratory tests may be taken.

Your energy level and vital force is determined. This concerns “hard” biochemical energy: ATP, the fuel of your body that is used in every process and by every organ. Naturally, your movement pattern will be discussed. A feasible plan is then agreed with you, with clear short-term goals.

In a second consultation, 2 to 3 weeks later, the first results are discussed and a follow-up agreement is made.

The third consultation is after 2 months, sometimes no further changes are necessary, sometimes follow-up consultations will be agreed.

In general, a successful trajectory may last a maximum of 9 to 12 months.

Costs: 1st consultation: € 100

2nd, 3rd and further: € 55

Reimbursement depends on your insurance policy.

Appointments: Please call us on 070 306 5100 and select the Polyclinic option.

You may also contact us via email at ihchpoli@ezorg.nl for more information.