Joy Feldman of East Greenwich, a former corporate attorney, is now a practitioner of nutritional balancing, a total healing system that helped her overcome her own illness. From her office at the Wickford Chiropractic and Wellness Center in North Kingstown, Feldman sees hundreds of patients a year – and consults with many other patients from around the globe.
She has developed not only a new approach to healthy living but also a cookbook, Joyful Cooking in the Pursuit of Good Health, now in its second edition, available at local grocery stores such as the Eastside Marketplace. Feldman regularly blogs with recipes that promote simple, joyful cooking.
Her work focuses on correcting the underlying stress response patterns in the human body and developing lifestyle changes, rather than “chasing symptoms.” By correcting the body’s biochemistry, it enables healing to begin, Feldman says.
Her husband, Michael, is also involved in the healing arts – as an orthopedic surgeon in Rhode Island.
Providence Business News asked her to describe her alternative approach and why it has begun to attract growing support from the professional community.
PBN: What is nutritional balancing? How does it work?
FELDMAN: Nutritional balancing is a total healing system that involves an integration of scientific systems concepts both ancient and modern and is a formula for anyone who wants improved health. It focuses on the underlying stress response patterns in the human body, rather than chasing symptoms.
This new paradigm draws from many branches of science incorporating knowledge from the fields of biochemistry, physiology, nutrition, stress theory, pathology, psychology, and ancient ones as well, like acupuncture. It also offers specific applications of hair tissue mineral analysis, diet, supplementary nutrients, detoxification protocols, and lifestyle changes to raise one’s energy level as a means to restore balance.
This paradigm seeks to understand the biochemical imbalances in the body that are causing the health issue. By correcting the biochemistry, healing generally occurs and the body moves into a healthier homeostatic state.
PBN: In your program, you put an emphasis on getting more sleep – going to bed earlier, getting up to 9 hours of sleep, and taking naps? Is that practical for a working person?
FELDMAN: Yes, sleep is a very important aspect of the program. Rest and sleep are critical activities. They are times for regeneration, healing and development of the mind and body.
Rest and sleep are never a waste of time. I do recommend that if people cannot get into bed by 9 or 10 p.m., that they should try to schedule in a short nap during the day. Oftentimes, I suggest that they close the door to their office, or even go and rest in their car for a short time. One of my clients puts his head back against the high back of his chair and takes a short 15-minute nap every afternoon.
PBN: Your blog regularly publishes recipes, in addition to you recent book, “Joyful Cooking in the Pursuit of Good Health.” Can anyone prepare these meals?
FELDMAN: Yes, absolutely! Joyful Cooking is all about simplicity and ease. Many recipes have less then five ingredients and can be prepared in under 30 minutes. I even added in a “simple” symbol in the recipe locator as well as by the appropriate recipes that denotes “what a simple recipe entails.”
You might be wondering what makes a recipe simple? These include easy recipes for you to whip up with little prep time, few ingredients, minimal clean-up and, of course, great taste.
PBN: Your approach to nutritional balancing developed in part from your own experience in overcoming illness? What happened?
FELDMAN: Yes, that is correct, my approach was developed in part from my own experience in overcoming illness. Nineteen years ago, I had my first encounter with nutritional balancing and hair tissue mineral analysis. When I first began the process, I had no idea where it would take me. Sick with an autoimmune disease that left me virtually crippled from the neck down, I had a two-year-old that I could not care for, and I realized then that I did not want to spend my life ill.
Within a few months of following this individualized nutritional balancing program, all my blood work normalized, and my vitality and health gradually became restored. I had tried many types of nutritional programs prior to this, but only nutritional balancing made a difference in my health. Having worked as a practicing attorney, I switched careers to nutrition, so that I could help others find their optimal health.
PBN: Have you found that there is growing support among the medical profession for your work?
FELDMAN: Yes, I have. I am now an instructor/teacher of nutritional balancing science where I educate new practitioners (e.g. physicians, chiropractors, acupuncturists and mid-level providers) on interpretation of hair charts, and I lend guidance on nutritional protocols, assist in teaching lifestyle changes, and explain how to recommend supplements based on interpretation of each individual’s biochemistry.
