By Kate Scriven
We all want to feel good, fully enjoying life. But we often accept feeling “ok” instead of fantastic and chock it up to aging or “just the way it is.” Most of us feel that we aren’t sick and are doing what we can to be healthy – taking a walk at our lunch break, keeping tabs on our blood pressure, and possibly visiting a chiropractor or other health practitioner to ease our aches and pains. But, something still seems to be missing. The chronic pain lingers. The fatigue returns.
For many people, the missing link is nutrition. With hectic lives that focus on convenience and speed, our food choices often take a back seat. And with the transition to more processed diets, fast food, and pre-packaged meals, our overall health and well-being has suffered.
However, learning to properly nourish your body, you can feel your best and potentially heal many of the nagging issues that we have grown to accept as “normal.” Small changes in diet can often result in big changes in your health and well-being.
While there are thousands of books written on nutrition and a never ending supply of restrictive or prescriptive diets you can follow, the bottom line is understanding what your own unique body needs to feel its best will net you results.
Feeling daunted? Never fear. This is not something to tackle alone. Enlisting the help of a trained professional to help bring your nutrition in line with your long-term health goals is easy. Michelle Strand at Eastside Chiropractic is not only a beloved Massage Therapist, with an eight year history in the group, but a Registered Dietician. She has worked tirelessly over the last five years, completing courses to earn a BS in Nutrition and complete the more than 1,000 clinical hours required to attain the certification.
With her advanced training, Strand is able to not only effectively help patients, but can bill insurance, allowing nutritional counselling to become an integrated (and potentially paid for) part of a total health care plan. “Part of my inspiration for wanting to earn the full degree was Dr. Smith. He has some training in nutrition and has always been passionate about educating people on what they eat and supplements they can take,” she explains.
Strand has taken that inspiration and achieved a level of expertise that Eastside Chiropractic can now pass along to the community, enhancing the services they offer.
Strand is able to work with any client that seeks to improve their health through nutrition. Services include weight loss support and coaching, “kitchen makeovers” to revamp your pantry for better nutrition, meal planning, and general nutritional education. But what she is most passionate about is chronic disease prevention.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with people hoping to avoid chronic disease. They come to us because they are on the tip of it – they have high blood pressure or pre-diabetes and don’t want to take the medication. We are able to help them change their diet to address these issues,” Strand explains.
In addition to chronic disease, many patients at Eastside Chiropractic seek to address chronic pain. “What you eat is going to directly affect the amount of chronic pain you feel and the level of inflammation in your body,” she shares. “That’s probably the biggest impact to patients here – they come to us because they are in pain and we have multiple solutions to help them address it, including nutrition.”
Many patients seek to lose weight and turn to a dietician for safe, guided help to lose the weight and keep it off. And, for many, the loss of even a small amount of weight greatly impacts their pain level and risk for injury. “The ability to control weight is also a big predictor for reducing injuries,” explains Strand. “Knees, hips, and backs are all impacted tremendously by even just 20 pounds of extra weight that we carry around.”
Strand is also offering group classes, providing guidance in a supportive setting at reasonable cost. Classes are often in the evenings allowing for those who work during the day to attend. Topics have included weight loss support groups, heart disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes. And upcoming, Strand will offer a class on navigating the holiday season healthfully.
“Ultimately, my goal with all patients is to teach them how to eat in any situation – a holiday party, out at a restaurant or just at home. I look at nutrition from a holistic place – I see clients as a whole person and work with them to help them reach their goals,” says Strand.
“It’s not about restrictions. It’s helping people become their best selves,” summarizes Strand.
Michelle Strand can be reached at Eastside Chiropractic’s Tumwater Office.
Eastside Chiropractic
1526 Bishop Road SW
Tumwater, WA 98512
360-459-9000 or request an appointment here
