‘Poor health is not caused by something you don’t have; it’s caused by disturbing something that you already have. Health is not something you need to get, it’s something you have already if you don’t disturb it.’ ~ Dr. Dean Ornish
A Highly personALISED approach to nutritional health and wellbeing
A balanced, varied and diet that is high in fresh plant-based foods is essential for optimum health and wellbeing, but what does this actually mean? We all have unique metabolisms and a unique set of circumstances and backgrounds, so what is balanced and varied differs greatly from person to person.
Dr. Gabriella F. Buttarazzi (Uma Shakti Devi) integrates talks and workshops on integral nutrition into her 500-hour Teacher Training Programme in Integral Yoga Studies® because an integral approach to nutritional health is not only an essential dimension of yogic philosophy and practice, but it is also the precursor for general wellbeing, human flourishing and spiritual development. All spiritual, religious and shamanic traditions adopt practices for nourishing, cleansing and purifying the body, and today we recognise more than ever the importance of a ‘food first’ position on the journey to improved health and wellbeing.
After years of exploring and experimenting with various health programmes, diets and nutritional health and wellbeing training, Gabriella qualified as a Metabolic Balance® coach several years after having success on the programme from 2010. This is because with her yoga students, she found she could not with confidence recommend another system, approach or programme. Despite having studied nutritional health extensively in India and China, she could not even whole-heartedly recommend Ayurveda (which teaches what is known as the sattvic diet, deriving from the balanced and serene quality of sattva, सत्त्व, in Sanskrit) or Traditional Chinese Medicine (which teaches what is known as nutritional therapy or food therapy, 食疗, shíliáo, in Chinese Mandarin). Although she adopts principles and practices from both and respects them deeply, they are not sufficiently trustworthy, individualised and empowering to carry long-lasting benefits.
Metabolic Balance® is an innovative programme established by internal medicine doctor, Dr. Wolf Funfack, in Germany, so far providing over 1-million programmes worldwide. Although less well-known in the UK health and wellbeing sector, Metabolic Balance® is slowly expanding and the number of practitioners and coaches is increasing every day. It is based on sound science and is coherent with Gabriella’s philosophy of a person-centred approach to nutritional health and integral wellbeing. Metabolic Balance® is geared towards motivated individuals who really want transformation.
Metabolic Balance® health practitioners do not offer absolutist advice about nutritional health and wellbeing, they do not promise weight loss as a final destination, and they do not spout pseudo-science. They understand the science behind the nutritional health plan that is generated for each individual, and dedicate the majority of their attention to the important psychological dimension of enhancing nutritional health and wellbeing: through support, being responsive and coaching so as to ensure a transformative experience for each individual.
There are four distinct phases to the programme that offer a sense of achievement and progression. The principles are scientific, simple and based on an individualised functional blood analysis that eradicates the doubt and frustration of not knowing whether this is the appropriate nutritional health path for you.
You can learn more about this programme on the official UK website.
AN INTEGRAL UNDERSTANDING OF NUTRITIONAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
The majority of the work during this 6-month package comes from uncovering and examining beliefs, thoughts, behaviours and attitudes towards your food, your body and your health and wellbeing. In minimising anxiety, stress and internal mental chatter, and in becoming fully reacquainted with your body, the personal change that you experience is long-lasting. To therefore maximise your experience, together with Dr. Gabriella F. Buttarazzi (Uma Shakti Devi), you will agree upon a bespoke coaching plan that not only includes nutritional advice and guidance, but also includes relaxation, integral yoga, meditation and other wellbeing practices, such as sound healing. This is a highly unique approach designed to transform your relationship with your food, your body and your nutritional health and wellbeing. While most nutritionists fully recognise they impact of mind-body work on improving nutritional health and wellbeing, their packages tend towards a model that focuses almost entirely on the ‘how-to’ of nutritional health, rather than integrating the types of awareness-based practices that enormously support this transformation.
The model above is an adaption of an integral theory four-quadrant model of human knowledge and experience developed by philosopher Ken Wilber and applies the four-quadrants to nutritional health and wellbeing. Unlike many nutritionists, Gabriella’s coaching privileges the ‘interior’ over the ‘exterior’, while also recognising the importance of articulating the science behind the programme (the ‘it’) and working with the day-to-day realities that one’s set of circumstances and environments may hinder or enhance their nutritional health and wellbeing (the ‘its’). Hence, not only is Metabolic Balance® in itself already individualised, Gabriella’s coaching goes a step further to focus on the ‘I’ and’ we’ dimensions of nutritional health and wellbeing to offer an extremely comprehensive experience.
‘A yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body.’ ~ B. K. S. Iyengar
The package, pace and pricing
This 6-month bespoke package includes the following:
- 1 x personalised Metabolic Balance® nutritional health plan based on a blood test and functional blood analysis, including free unlimited access to the Metabolic Balance® App;
- 1 x online meditation course, Mindful Heartful Soulful Eating: Meditations for Changing your Relationship with Food, Body & Life, accessible via your Metabolic Balance® private online resource space*;
- 1 x introductory gift pack*;
- 1 x 1-hour initial consultation (face-to-face);
- 1 x 1-hour final consultation (face-to-face);
- 12 x 2-hour wellbeing coaching sessions (initially only face-to-face with the option to later schedule the remaining 4 sessions online) **;
- Unlimited 15-20-minute online consultations during and beyond the completion of the 6-month programme.
* In addition to this hand-crafted online meditation course, the private online resource space also contains links to useful online resources, healthy recipes and wellbeing tips for success with the Metabolic Balance® programme;
** This gift pack is designed to help you get started and includes food grade Epsom salts (for phase 1), 4-5 trusted health food items that you will need (for phases 2-3), a health and wellbeing journal (for the entire 6-month programme) and a folder containing further written guidance, support and useful information;
*** These wellbeing coaching sessions begin as weekly sessions that are face-to-face phase 1, phase 2 and up to halfway through phase 3, and then occur less frequently where there is also the option to schedule them online rather than face-to-face. They are bookended by the initial consultation (in week 1) and the final consultation (in week 24), and include progress monitoring, an open discussion with plenty of time for Q & As and the wellbeing practices of your choice. They take place in Islington, North London. The wellbeing coaching sessions come to an end as you enter phase 4.
The total cost for this 6-month package is £999 to be paid in full prior to or during the initial consultation. Refunds cannot be issued.
Once the initial blood test is completed you have 3-months to start the programme package. Once the programme package is started you have 6-months to complete it.
