Nutrition for cancer patients

Nutrition for Autoimmune Disease patients

Consultant of Change & Inflammation Activist 

<< I see myself as your consultant of change: my role is to help you identify those strategies which might make the greatest difference to your health and the most direct, effective way of implementing them so we can achieve improvements fast >>>>

<< I am an Inflammation Activist. Not only does inflammation worsen every single health outcome, it also hides everywhere in and around us. I see my role as that of an inflammation detective - I identify & alert you to the sources of inflammation in your life, and help you manage them >>

<< Cancer is a metabolic illness fed by elevated blood sugar levels and promoted by inflammation. For this reason, an anti-inflammatory ketogenic or paleo type diet should in my opinion form part of any cancer protocol >>

Born in Germany in 1966, I have a varied and colourful background which starts with studies in Psychology at the Sorbonne Paris V and ends with positions in Corporate Finance and Private Equity teams in London. I speak fluent German, English, French and Italian.

I did not come to Naturopathy & Nutrition until my late 30s when my father was diagnosed with a chronic severe illness which did not match the standard diagnostic criteria. As a result he struggled to obtain medical treatment. Having always enjoyed digging deeply into a new subject matter, I began to look into potential aspects that might help my father's health using a variety of research methods, ranging from grade A research via medical search engine PubMed to scrutinising self-help blogs of sufferers who presented with a similar pattern of symptoms.

Having seen the difference which complementary methods made to my father's condition, I went on to formally train in Naturopathic Nutrition at CNM where I was fortunate to be taught and supervised by some excellent practitioners, some of whom were forerunners in their respective fields of expertise. I was also taught the importance of research and how to tell high grade research from low quality or biased research. And I learned to have a healthy scepticism for anything that is being held as an unshakeable truth.

I have always believed in the validity of standard Western medicine, and I still hold that same if not greater faith in allopathic medicine today. But I also learned how much more knowledge is 'out there' which is not (or not yet) part of the recognised medical canon of treatments. It can take anything up to 20 years or more for a protocol that has shown promise to be available from your GP or specialist. If you are unwell, you won't want to wait that long.

So, on this 'about me' page, what I'd really like you to find out is what makes me different from the many other practitioners who are out there.

Like a great many of my colleagues, I believe in looking at the togetherness of signs and symptoms in a person, their life history, their environment, every possible aspect of their life, to gain an understanding of how my patient's present situation came about. I am meticulous and my patients often marvel at the detail to which my consultations will go. I look at everything, every little detail, because experience has taught me that no detail is too small to potentially be significant. 

I am an optimist and I believe that it is never too late. I literally do not give up, not ever. As long as you are willing to fight, I will be right there with you, whatever the situation. That does not mean that I discount prognoses - but years of work with severe chronic illness patients have taught me that prognoses are usually based on a worst case scenario: a prognosis tries to predict what would happen if the patient continued exactly as before the diagnosis, without making any changes. These years have also taught me that it is possible to make a positive change at any stage of illness. I also believe that illness is to some extent a very personal gift - a message that tells you which combination of factors led to the point at which your condition came about. In this respect, illness allows us to stop and take a look at our life; it offers an opportunity for change - and if we change the input, we are changing the outcome. If instead of change we keep doing the same thing, aren't we rather likely to have to expect the same result? I see my job as helping you identify and hear your very own message, and implement the most direct, most effective way of implementing change. I will be your 'consultant of change'.

I am known to be extremely stubborn and I dig in my heals deep until improvements are achieved. I believe in researching in great detail and using the internet to exhaust the full spectrum and amazing breadth of information & knowledge available to us. I use everything from grade A research to the personal experiences of people who have gone through similar experiences before you. A great many times, improvements have come from protocols for which there was not yet any grade A research available - and personally I believe that protocols can be validated by patient experiences even if no commercial sponsor has seen fit to invest 10+ million dollar into a medical trial for it. It is a fact that there has to be some commercial incentive, a likelihood of a return, for an investor to finance a trial. And it is another fact that there are a great many natural protocols which cannot be patented and which for this reason do not offer a chance of a return on such an investment. 

I am diligent and careful in my patient work. I have a great many patients with cancer and autoimmune disease, who usually present with complex patterns of symptoms and conditions, and where we have to work within existing drug protocols and treatment schedules. I use the highest grade available research to clear my recommendations for interaction with a patients' existing drug and treatment protocols. I also always co-operate with a patient's medical team and where necessary supplement schedules are cleared with the patient's existing medical team.