Change and back to basics

Sheeeeeshkebab I squirm at the whole premise of new year’s resolutions.  If you understand a little about the process of behavioural change, you’ll appreciate that there’s no magic dust (or firework pollutants!) you are going to get sprinkled with between pre and post midnight on any one day of the year, not even NYE, that will create a ‘new you’. Therefore to set ourselves or our patients up with such an expectation just leads to another big red rubber stamped ‘FAIL’ and guess what impact that has on your next serious attempt…yes…you guessed it…it diminishes your chances of future success because it provides evidence of our inability to change.

So my message to people during this annual transition is: Don’t Change.

Stay solid and true because the bulk of who you are and what you do is spot on.  Goodness even take some time out to acknowledge this and reflect on the positive changes you have made over a lifetime!

Because this place, of positive self-regard, is where change occurs and is more likely to come from.

So for me, I’m still just quietly putting each foot in front of the other towards the ‘Basics’…yes the alkalisers (boom boom!)  I’m confident that anything we can do to rebalance the pH scales, gently, sustainably, is a step in the right direction for people’s health and lessens the burden of modern day diet and lifestyle.  So I keep up the ongoing dialogue with patients and myself, “More greens, more greens, where are the greens?” and know that over time in the best scenarios, the external dialogue becomes an internal one, a self- prompt, a clear re-framing for the patient about what is ‘good’, ‘healthy’, ‘adequate’.

I was buoyed to see an interview with Joe Pizzorno, a father of naturopathy really, who re-identified this issue of mild metabolic acidosis as being one the key physiological aberrations in modern man. Having co-authored a paper on diet induced acidosis published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2009, he wrote an updated editorial in 2015.  During the interview when he talks about this, he speaks of his pride that such an old school naturopathic idea has once again been validated and his thrill regarding the large body of new supporting mainstream evidence that has been published just in the years between his two reviews.

It’s kind of nice to feel like one of the ‘guys’ who wrote the most foundational modern naturopathic texts and the first naturopathic book I purchased…and I are speaking the same language in this regard, have come to the same place  Now that didn’t suddenly happen between 11.59 pm and 12.01 am on any one given NYE but rather over years of contemplation, ambivalence, false starts, episodic success… just like most behavioural change.  If I can keep moving myself and patients en masse in any one direction, I think it’s about moving back to ‘Basics’ 🙂

Want to hear more about the critical role of acid base balance in health?  In the capstone clinical installment: Advanced Acid Base Assessment, Rachel brings the theory to life with real cases & real results. Whatever you thought you knew about acid base assessment, this highly engaging seminar will rewrite the rule book and advance your knowledge particularly in identifying both causes and consequences of acidosis through basic pathology results. This presentation advances the ‘ABC of Acid Base Assessment’ by teaching you about additional markers that will sharpen your focus about the source and impact of the acidity, including mitochondrial dysfunction and bone demineralisation.