What clients say about Fleur
For the last seven years my daughter Chloe has been suffering from a great loss of energy and poor immune system. We have visited many doctors and specialists during this time and have undertaken various tests without success. It has been very frustrating and we felt let down, as we had received no answers to the causes of Chloes constant ill health. We had become desperate for help, so in an attempt to try to find some answers ourselves, I carried out some research which led to the discovery of Fleur.
After a brief telephone conversation with her, I knew immediately that she understood Chloes symptoms and could help with finding solutions. After organising some tests for Chloe, Fleur devised a special nutritional programme which Chloe followed for an eight-month period. This has proved to be such an undoubted success that Chloe is now well, happy and full of confidence and leading a normal life with her family and friends. We both cannot thank Fleur enough for the wealth of nutritional advice and guidance she has given to us. Thanks to Fleur, Chloe is now leading a happy and fulfilling life.
Sue
I had chronic digestive problems and could not find a solution to help resolve them. After a consultation with Fleur and subsequent tests, the problems I had experienced with my digestion were found to be because of a yeast overgrowth and lack of good gut bacteria. Using the results, Fleur tailored a dietary and supplement programme for me that has resulted in a continued healthy digestive system. After years of doctors appointments, it was a relief to find someone who had the expertise and knowledge to investigate my symptoms and resolve the issues. Thanks to Fleur I now have a happy and heathy digestive system.
Georgina
Thank you so much for all your help and support in helping me recover from fibromyalgia. I could not have managed without you. I really cant believe how different my life is now, and I am still amazed I was able to do the Mighty Hike Marathon. So thank you so much!
Laura
We have great news. I gave birth to a beautiful little girl on the 18th of November. We want to thank you for your help and contribution to this wonderful miracle. A few months after having the boosting supplements you gave me I got pregnant again. I also went to a private doctor immediately to get progesterone to support the pregnancy as you recommended. We didnt want to say anything till the birth. We are thrilled and very happy to share this news with you as you had a big part in it.
Mrs O M
I had a bone density scan yesterday and much to the radiographers amazement, my osteoporosis has reversed and is now classified as osteopenia. Isnt that great, especially as the allopathic medical profession say it is impossible for this to happen. So, many thanks, Fleur, for helping me to recover from the osteoporosis with your nutritional programme.
Jane
Contents
Each of us is a congregation of inert elements of the physical universebut we are unique, vital clusters of those elements, able to walk and talk and dance and sing and think and love and contemplate our place in the universe.
Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla The Quest
I would like to acknowledge my client Karen who inspired me (and indeed told me very firmly) to write this book to help bring the message of how Functional Nutrition can really help so many people with chronic disease, to improve their health. She also very kindly proof-read some of the manuscript and made very sensible suggestions. I would also like to thank all my clients who throughout the years have helped me to learn and grow my knowledge by helping them to improve their health and who stuck with the sometimes quite demanding regimes they had to follow to get themselves better.
A big thanks too to my support group, Beata, Gaynor, Lyn and Ali we studied together all those years ago at The Institute For Optimum Nutrition and have ever since for nearly 25 years, supported each other and helped out with advice and guidance, whenever it has been needed, not least with some things in this book. Also to Georgina, my publisher who from the very first email I sent to Hammersmith Books with an outline synopsis of the book, took it on board with great enthusiasm and belief and helped to make all the thousands of words I typed into an actual book!
And last but really not at all least, huge thanks to my wonderful husband Chris, who held my hand all the way, read, re-read, and re-read pages of this book, drew up the charts and made useful comments. To cap it all, he cooked fabulous dinners when I was engrossed and working hard on the book in the evenings, so that I in turn would be well nourished and full of energy. Thank you for being so totally amazing.
Foreword
by Stephen Terrass
Modern medicine in all its forms has an inherent responsibility to evolve. Just as natural medicine has had to evolve in a more scientific, evidence-based direction, conventional medicine must evolve in a manner that makes it more respectful of the extraordinary complexity that underlies all disease and health dysfunction. This necessarily means putting more emphasis on the scientifically proven role that diet and nutritional status have on health, as well as the significant impact of the mind and emotions on ones physical state.
Above all, a true evolution of medicine will involve a paradigm shift where it is universally considered to be at least as important to invest clinical time, energy and research funding into addressing the underlying and wider-reaching causes and triggers of illness, and their prevention, as it is to invest in addressing the symptoms and consequences of illness.
The discipline that has arguably contributed the most to preparing medicine for this paradigm shift is known as functional medicine. Functional medicine possesses principles that allow it to have a transformational impact on healthcare. Firstly, functional medicine practitioners are inclined to drill down into the deeper, underlying causes of illness, and therefore the solutions are often more lasting, and fundamental to the persons state of health and wellbeing. Secondly, functional medicine is, by its very nature, a form of truly individualised, tailored healthcare which acknowledges that ones state of health is influenced by many different factors (even environmental ones) that are collectively unique to that person. Thirdly, because functional medicine utilises changes and improvements in diet, lifestyle, nutritional status and often even ones mental outlook, it encourages the patient to take a more active role in his/her healing and health maintenance afterwards. Finally, by helping to teach and empower the patient to focus on disease prevention and to maintain a better standard of health in general, functional medicine can form a synergistic partnership with conventional medicine in which healthcare costs are vastly reduced.
Functional nutrition is a branch of functional medicine that specialises in the role of diet, nutritional status and other contributory factors to ill health, and intervenes with broad-spectrum nutritional therapy to improve health. This is accomplished by addressing not only the overt health problems that the person may be experiencing, but also certain body system dysfunctions or imbalances that may be catalysts of the health problems.
Ive been lucky enough to know and work with hundreds of functional nutrition practitioners in my 36 years in this field, and Fleur Brown is among the most talented and experienced. One of Britains earliest, longest-standing, evidence-based nutritional therapists, Fleur attended the first lecture I gave in London for practitioners nearly 25 years ago, soon after she qualified, and it was immediately evident that she was going to be a special practitioner. She displayed not only a great depth of knowledge, but also an unquenchable drive to acquire more in order to enhance her clinical skills. Over the years, I also saw that she possesses extraordinary empathy, which I believe can play a significant part in creating an environment in clinical practice that is much more conducive to successful healing outcomes.