Trauma and Stress Q&A
What is Trauma?
According to the National Institutes of Health, a traumatic event is a shocking, frightening, dangerous, or violent encounter that can initiate strong physical and/or emotional reactions persisting long after the event, which can eventually lead to physical or mental diseases. Trauma can be both physical or psychological.
What is Stress?
According to the National Institutes of Health, stress is a physical and/or emotional reaction that people experience as they encounter challenges in life. These reactions can influence health habits in several ways.
What is the verdict?
Trauma is stress, and stress is trauma. Trauma ⇆ Stress.
Trauma can be understood as excessive stress because it involves experiencing or witnessing events that are often perceived as emotionally devastating, thereby triggering a profound stress response in the body.
What if I haven't experienced physical trauma, abuse, or a natural disaster?
Trauma isn’t limited to physical harm or catastrophic events. It can result from prolonged stress, emotional instability, or life disruptions that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope. Even without abuse or disaster, experiences like neglect, instability, or chronic pressure can create lasting physiological and psychological effects.
How is trauma and stress related to the fight-or-flight response?
Experiencing trauma or stress triggers a cascade of hormonal reactions in the body that produce the fight-or-flight response, a survival mechanism activated by perceived danger. In layman's terms, the fight-or-flight response is the body's innate response to the sudden demand for change.
What happens when someone is exposed to prolonged Stress?
Prolonged or intense stress responses can result in biochemical changes that affect "nutrient availability." This often results in nutrient deficits due to the continuous chemical activity within cells attempting to meet the demands of stress-induced physiological changes. As a result, the body requires an increase in minerals, vitamin cofactors, and enzymes (proteins) for proper functioning. These nutrient deficits limit the body's ability to effectively heal. This, thereby creates additional physical stress, perpetuating the stress cycle.
Medical Nutrition Therapy
What is Medical Nutrition Therapy?
Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is an integrated approach that synergistically combines the principles of nutrition and medicine to address a wide spectrum of health needs.
Actual Definition
According to Chapter 486-Part X, FS and Chapter 64B8-42 of the Florida Administrative Code, MNT is defined as the assessment of nutritional status, the design and implementation of personalized nutrition care plans, and the application of MNT for the treatment of both complex and uncomplicated medical conditions and trauma.
Nutrition for Trauma
How can trauma-informed MNT be used in clinical practice?
The integrative nature of MNT involves nutritional treatment and food counseling techniques that focuses on cellular pathways of human biochemistry.
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Body Health:
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Food
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Herbs
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However, it can also utilize other modalities of healing that integrate spiritual and mental health aspects, such as:
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Mental Health:
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Compassion Practice
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Physical Activity and Exercise
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Spiritual Health:
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Fasting
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Meditation
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How can trauma-informed MNT be used to help communities?
MNT takes external factors into account that can create or even stem from trauma or stress. Individuals and communities often face barriers to nourishment, including:
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Food access issues
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Food insecurity and food aid
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Nutrition for emergencies and disasters
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Environmental impacts that affect agriculture and availability of nutrient-dense foods
What else can trauma-informed MNT be used to help with?
Sometimes individual dietary behaviors arise from trauma or stress, such as:
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Food and plant addictions
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Food purchasing choices
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Meal decisions
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Disordered eating patterns
Therefore, MNT is not limited to diet alone, but rather it involves helping individuals understand the underlying influences behind whole body approaches, food availability, food behaviors, and food choices.
How can nutrition support someone in rebuilding their life after crisis?
MNT can help by restoring physical stability, mental clarity, and spiritual alignment. Healing with these three facets helps a person build a foundation for purposeful living, even in the aftermath.
What does trauma-informed nutrition look like in real life?
It looks like better dietary patterns with nutrient-dense foods, continuing nutrition education, maintaining relationships, extending personal growth, and becoming the leader in your life.
Do I have to have past or current trauma experiences to utilize the resources at True P.A.L.E.O. Inc?
No. All of our resources are a basic foundation for any type of person looking to recover from poor, unhealthy lifestyles. These resources can be expanded upon and personalized to fit each persons individual needs.
What is it meant by lifestyle recovery?
Lifestyle recovery means nutritional rehabilitation: the process of restoring and optimizing health through intentional dietary choices (our imbalances, deficiencies, and nutritional habits), spiritual connection (our beliefs and relationships), and mental health (our views and thoughts). These three things helps us find the support needed to become strong and reset physiological function.
Addressing MNT can build a stable foundation for those with lived trauma or extremely stressful lives or even those without these issues. Ultimately, implementing such practices and techniques:
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Encourages informed choices
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Provides increased nutrition knowledge
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Improves health-related quality of life
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Helps in the mastery of self-directed practices
...leading to productive lifestyles.