What does an orthomolecular therapist do?
You can think of your body as a complex machine that runs on fuel made of nutrients: vitamins, minerals, proteins and healthy fats. Every process in your body needs them to work properly.
A simple example: when you get cramp in your legs, people often say you should take magnesium. Magnesium is the nutrient that helps your muscles relax, so a shortage of it can show up as muscle cramp. In the same way, every process in your body needs specific nutrients to function well.
An orthomolecular therapist knows exactly which nutrients each process needs. Not only for your muscles, but also for your digestion, your immune system, your energy production and even your mood. The word 'orthomolecular' literally means: the right molecules, in the right amount, in the right place.
First Aid for Your Gut is a Dutch practice, and orthomolecular therapy is a well-established discipline across continental Europe. If you are reading this from elsewhere, the closest equivalent is a Functional Medicine practitioner in the United States, or a registered Nutritional Therapist in the United Kingdom. The principle is the same everywhere: find the deficiencies and imbalances behind your symptoms, and address the cause instead of masking it.
When your body develops shortages, through food that does not deliver enough, through prolonged stress, illness or the use of antibiotics, symptoms can appear. Your body may no longer recover properly, digest food well, or produce enough energy. An orthomolecular therapist looks for where those shortages are, not to suppress the symptoms, but to address the cause. That is why, during your guidance, you learn how changes to your daily diet, your lifestyle and the use of supplements help your body function again and your symptoms ease.
How does an orthomolecular therapist work with gut issues?
With gut issues, the orthomolecular approach is especially valuable, because the gut is the starting point of how you absorb nutrients. When your gut does not work well, your body digests food less effectively, so you absorb fewer nutrients. That can lead to shortages, which in turn cause new symptoms. The result is a downward spiral that keeps itself going: over time the symptoms get worse and your energy keeps draining away. You may recognise it, your body acts up more and more while you get less and less done.
In our practice we see people every day who have walked around for years with symptoms like belly pain, bloating, fatigue, skin problems such as eczema, or changing stools. Often they have been told by their GP that nothing was found, or that they will simply have to learn to live with it. Which is incredibly frustrating, because the symptoms are very much real.
It also happens that people have received a diagnosis such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, and are looking for ways to ease those symptoms and recover.
What an orthomolecular therapist does differently is look beyond the symptoms or the diagnosis. Instead of only asking 'what are your symptoms?' we ask: why do you have these symptoms? What changed in your diet, lifestyle, stress or use of antibiotics that stopped your gut from working well?
In practice, that means:
We investigate what is going on
Through a stool test we can look at the make-up of your gut microbiome, whether there is bacterial overgrowth, fungi such as Candida, or parasites, how well your food is digested and how your immune system is doing.
With a food intolerance test we map out whether, and to which foods, your body reacts, which is often one of the triggers of gut issues. Together these tests give us a complete picture of what is happening in your gut, and make clear what is contributing to the symptoms you experience.
Drawing up a treatment plan
Based on your intake interview, your food diary and, where they are used, the results of the tests, the therapist sets the direction of the therapy on the way to recovery. That includes things like: which foods to avoid for a while because they burden your gut, which foods are smart to introduce because they support your health, which supplements can speed up recovery, and how we adjust your lifestyle so your body gets the room to heal.
When it comes to actually applying the dietary changes in your daily life, the therapist works together with our orthomolecular nutrition specialist. The nutrition specialist helps you make the recommended changes workable, tailored to your situation and lifestyle.
Guiding you to recovery
Now the real work begins. This is not about a list of tips and good luck. The therapist stands beside you and guides you step by step. Together you evaluate your progress, and where needed we adjust the plan and steer it. Recovery is a process, and the therapist understands how that process works and what your specific situation needs to get your health back.
Why the gut matters so much
In the book First Aid for Your Gut, Jeroen explains how every process in your body depends on nutrients. Your brain needs omega-3 fatty acids and glucose to make energy. Your cell membranes rely on choline and healthy fats to function well. Your immune system uses enormous amounts of energy and nutrients to protect you.
All those nutrients come in through your gut. When your digestion has become disrupted, food is digested less well and your body can absorb fewer nutrients. Your body then starts to economise. First on the 'luxury functions': your hair grows thinner, your nails tear more easily, your skin gets drier. Then on the more important processes: your energy level drops, you notice you get sick more often and stay sick longer, and even your mood can dip, leaving you with less drive to do things.
An orthomolecular therapist understands the underlying factors and connections. Gut issues rarely stand alone. The fatigue, the skin problems, the recurring colds, the poorer sleep, it all ties back to what is happening in your gut.
