Nutritional Wellness for Childhood Anxiety and Depression
In addition to Integrative Manual
Therapy, nutritional wellness can be highly beneficial to support reduction of anxiety and depression in children. Nutri- tional wellness is most successful when it is a combined approach of dietary inter- vention and nutritional supplements. One important diet is a gluten elimination diet. Gluten is considered a ‘pro-inflammatory’ food. This means that when gluten is in- gested, it induces further inflammation in the body, specifically in the areas of com- promise. Considering the above example of a child with a descended sacrum, glu- ten may contribute to further inflammation of the central nervous system. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and oat. There are many substitutes today for gluten. Unfortunately, many of the lab tests for gluten sensitivity have been found to be inaccurate. The best way to discover whether you or your child has gluten sen- sitivity is to perform an elimination diet where you eliminate gluten 100% from the diet for 3-4 months and during that time, assess the changes. These changes are not just related to gut function. Remember the possible relationship to the brain—look for all kinds of changes in you and your child. The easiest way to implement this type of diet is to embrace it as a family. There are many other forms of elimi-
nation diets specific to all types of aller- gens, such as soy, dairy, nut, and more. Elimination diets are a wonderful ap-
proach to discovering foods that we may be sensitive to. By eliminating these foods from our diet, we may experience many positive changes. In addition to elimination diets, nu-
tritional supplements may be beneficial. Many of us already use nutritional supple- ments. In today’s era, it is challenging to attain everything we need for a healthy body just from our food. As an example, “official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data shows that calcium content of broccoli averaged 12.9mg per gram of dry weight in 1950, but only 4.4 mg/g dry weight in 2003.” (David, D, et al, 2003) One important supplement is ‘essen-
tial fatty acids.’ Essential fatty acids are the basis of our cell walls of every cell in the body, including organs, vessels, nerves, bones, and muscles. Underlying any in- jury or infection, there is compromise to the wall of many cells. To correct the prob- lem, our body needs to utilize essential fatty acids to repair the cells. These fatty acids are called “essential” because our body does not make them—they must be supplemented through our diet. Unfortu- nately, we would need to consume a large quantity of cold water fish to gain enough essential fatty acids for even just normal functioning of the body. With the recent rise in farm raised fishing, fish are being ‘produced’ with significantly lower levels of essential fatty acids. Using salmon as an example, wild salmon eat plankton that is rich in essential fatty acids. In farm raised fishing, salmon are often fed grain, which not only is lacking in essential fatty acids,
but also is often pro-inflammatory. Supple- menting with cod liver oil is a great way of restoring our body’s ability to repair itself on a cellular level. There are many other important examples of nutritional supple- mentation and elimination diets.
A Combined Approach of In- tegrative Manual Therapy and Nutritional Wellness
When considering a child with anxiety
or depression, often the child is ‘depleted.’ In this common situation, the child’s body needs support on multiple levels. Using Integrative Manual Therapy to restore in- tegrity to the digestive system, the immune system, the central nervous system, and more along with nutritional wellness to replenish the body’s nutrients is a benefi- cial approach to decreasing anxiety and depression in children. Using IMT and nu- tritional wellness as a combined approach is an essential component of maintaining optimal health in today’s world. To learn more about this combined approach, please visit
www.centerimt.com or email
cimtbloomfield@centerimt.com.
Ayelet Connell-Giammatteo is the Direc- tor of Pediatrics for the Center of Inte- grative Manual Therapy and Diagnostics, headquartered in Bloomfield, CT. She is also the Dean of the Connecticut School of Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT). Ayelet has taught courses in IMT nation- ally and internationally for over 15 years. She is in the final stages of her PhD fo- cusing on Autism. See ad on page 32.
www.naturalnutmeg.com
August 2010
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