Self Assessment Form
Now it's time to get a little more intimate. (Insert Barry White music here:) What is your body trying to tell us? How can we best respond? What is going on with you and what are we going to do about it? How are you feeling? How are you doing? Are you dealing with crushing stress? Are you fatigued and exhausted? Do you feel sad more often than not? Are you quick to anger? Are you feeling foggy and uninspired? Are you bloated or gassy or constipated? Is your cholesterol high or your blood sugars out of control?
Has a disease process already started in your body, and how can we turn it around? If we can figure out why the body is using dysfunction to survive, we can use food to repair the maladaptation and redirect the body to adapt in a way that results in the body and the health we desire. We can use food to shift from surviving to thriving.
Your body communicates with you all the time. Whether it's through brittle nails or hunger pains, bloating, insomnia, or emotional outbursts, it is communicating. Sometimes the style of communication is functional.
For example, when your body gives you little signals that it's time to have a bowel movement, you can excuse yourself from a crowd and take care of business. Other times it's dysfunctional. For example, incontinence caused by a hormonal dysfunction can be a stressful way the body communicates that something is wrong. Every communication is important to me, whether your body is whispering, talking, or screaming. It matters and guides us to clues for repair.
When you take an interest in yourself, your body, and your symptoms, and how you feel and live, you get valuable information that will help you determine what to do. In fact, every single thing happening to you right now— from your sleep patterns to your energy level, your weight issues to your food preferences, your health philosophies to your bowel movements-all mean something. All of them. And I want us to explore them all. I want to help you to create an intimate dialogue with yourself and what your body is telling you, so we can determine what you need. Sometimes clients come in to my office and feel like it's all TMI (too much information) because, believe me, I ask a lot of questions. No. I say, let's connect the dots and get you a food prescription that can repair the dysfunctions. There is nothing your body is saying that's unimportant. You are too important.
I want to forge a connection between what you know about yourself and what science knows about your health disorder. I want to put the two of you together, and food's medicine is the connector. The right prescription can re-pair, restore, and rebalance your health. Your metabolism is the engine and food is your fuel. How well is your engine running? Look at yourself. Feel how you feel. Listen to what your body is telling you. Don't look for answers or solutions yet. That can derail the internal conversation. Just be curious and listen.
The following list of questions resembles the intake form for my clinic. It is a self-assessment questionnaire that I give to my clients to help them start listening and pondering what is going on. Don't look for answers just yet— those will come later. This is the beginning of a conversation I want you to start having with your body. I don't proceed with my clients until they answer these questions. At the end of the list, you will find some blank spaces. I want you to add at least ten additional things to the list that you think your body would like to communicate to you. Remember, in my clinic, anything is up for discussion. It can be as seemingly minor as a muffin top or as major as heart disease.
Now it's time to get a little more intimate. (Insert Barry White music here:) What is your body trying to tell us? How can we best respond? What is going on with you and what are we going to do about it? How are you feeling? How are you doing? Are you dealing with crushing stress? Are you fatigued and exhausted? Do you feel sad more often than not? Are you quick to anger? Are you feeling foggy and uninspired? Are you bloated or gassy or constipated? Is your cholesterol high or your blood sugars out of control?
Has a disease process already started in your body, and how can we turn it around? If we can figure out why the body is using dysfunction to survive, we can use food to repair the maladaptation and redirect the body to adapt in a way that results in the body and the health we desire. We can use food to shift from surviving to thriving.
Your body communicates with you all the time. Whether it's through brittle nails or hunger pains, bloating, insomnia, or emotional outbursts, it is communicating. Sometimes the style of communication is functional.
For example, when your body gives you little signals that it's time to have a bowel movement, you can excuse yourself from a crowd and take care of business. Other times it's dysfunctional. For example, incontinence caused by a hormonal dysfunction can be a stressful way the body communicates that something is wrong. Every communication is important to me, whether your body is whispering, talking, or screaming. It matters and guides us to clues for repair.
When you take an interest in yourself, your body, and your symptoms, and how you feel and live, you get valuable information that will help you determine what to do. In fact, every single thing happening to you right now— from your sleep patterns to your energy level, your weight issues to your food preferences, your health philosophies to your bowel movements-all mean something. All of them. And I want us to explore them all. I want to help you to create an intimate dialogue with yourself and what your body is telling you, so we can determine what you need. Sometimes clients come in to my office and feel like it's all TMI (too much information) because, believe me, I ask a lot of questions. No. I say, let's connect the dots and get you a food prescription that can repair the dysfunctions. There is nothing your body is saying that's unimportant. You are too important.
I want to forge a connection between what you know about yourself and what science knows about your health disorder. I want to put the two of you together, and food's medicine is the connector. The right prescription can re-pair, restore, and rebalance your health. Your metabolism is the engine and food is your fuel. How well is your engine running? Look at yourself. Feel how you feel. Listen to what your body is telling you. Don't look for answers or solutions yet. That can derail the internal conversation. Just be curious and listen.
The following list of questions resembles the intake form for my clinic. It is a self-assessment questionnaire that I give to my clients to help them start listening and pondering what is going on. Don't look for answers just yet— those will come later. This is the beginning of a conversation I want you to start having with your body. I don't proceed with my clients until they answer these questions. At the end of the list, you will find some blank spaces. I want you to add at least ten additional things to the list that you think your body would like to communicate to you. Remember, in my clinic, anything is up for discussion. It can be as seemingly minor as a muffin top or as major as heart disease.
