What is Nutritional Bioindividuality?

We each have unique nutritional needs.

Lunch Hour Lesson #5

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Bioindividuality is a term that I use in my practice as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.

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It expresses the concept that each person has a set of factors in his or her life that will determine what types of foods are best at that time, for that body.

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It takes genetics into account, but also the emerging understanding of epigenetics, which finds that dietary and lifestyle factors can turn genes on or off. Epigenetics will be discussed more in a future post.

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The trick with nutritional bioindividuality is to identify what aspects of your life require different nutritional strategies.

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Examples

  • Athletes and those with very physically demanding jobs will need to eat more long-burning sources of energy than those with relatively sedentary lifestyles.
  • A woman who is pregnant or nursing an infant will need to consume high levels of vitamins and minerals, particularly fat soluble vitamins.
  • Children have particular nutritional needs to fuel their growing brains and bodies.
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If someone has a digestive disturbance, removing particular foods that irritate, then healing, and later reintroducing foods is a good strategy.

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Those with immune or autoimmune challenges may need to follow a limited diet to avoid aggravating the condition.

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Our bodies are adapted to the diets of our particular ethnic ancestors. Someone whose ancestors are from Japan will likely host particular seaweed-digesting enzymes in their intestines that North-Americans do not have.

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Knowing that nutritional bioindividuality exists is important because it means that there is no “one size fits all” way of eating.

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You must take many aspects of your life into account, and be honest with which foods make you feel well and which make you feel poorly.

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Keeping a food diary or using an app like Chronometer can help. Also consider working with a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) who is trained to make recommendations based on your individual needs. Many, like me, accept distance clients.

Weekend Tip

Keep a food diary for at least one meal this weekend. Write down the time, where you ate the meal, the foods and beverages, and how you feel 1 hour afterwards. Doing this on a routine basis can help you determine your nutritional bioindividuality. 🙂

Lunch Hour Lessons with Allison

Watch this week’s Facebook LIVE – Lunch Hour Lesson #5: What is Nutritional Bioindividuality? Each week I bring you a topic related to nutrition and health that I think is interesting, and give you a lesson to take with you into your daily life. Watch Live on Facebook, Wednesdays, 12:30pm PST!