14 Mar 2016 Tilly Paz, University of West London (UWL)
For many people, nutritional therapy is about nutrition. But for me, with a rich background in supporting victims of trauma and sexual assault, it was the therapy that caught my eye. Can therapy, when it comes to nutrition, be more than just treatment and refer to the holistic state of the client – body, behaviour, emotions and even spirit? I’ll let you know in four years when I finish my nutritional therapy studies at UWL…
I wrote my PhD and academic articles about creating change in individuals and institutions, and all the while I have been engaged with the implementation of theory in practice. My close friends call me Dr. Change, knowing how fascinated I am with the forces that create positive change and maintain it.
One might ask how I came to connect the world of sexual assault victims and that of nutritional therapy, of which I am now a part, as a practitioner and a student. The link lies in dealing supportively, creatively and holistically with things that are on our minds all the time. This might not be an immediate comparison for many, but like trauma, food and eating occupies us every day, throughout the day, and so they create the best platform for observing our patterns and fixations, behavioural and emotional, before our awareness can foster new ones.
Working with the tool box from my previous professional world within the field of nutrition has proven to be challenging but very satisfying. For my personal and professional development, the only missing link was the study of nutrition itself, because sometimes a pattern is not just the outcome of emotional or behavioural issues but simply a surplus or a deficiency of a mineral or a vitamin. I felt that after so many years it was time for me to gain access to the whole picture, hoping that nutritional therapy will allow me to help more people in even more creative ways.
Tilly Paz is a first year student on the BSc in Nutritional Therapy at the University of West London and a BANT student member. If you would like to write a post for BANT, please email us at [email protected].
