Everyone has heard the axiom "you are what you eat", and while this is usually meant to draw attention to the nature of the food that each of us consumes, it also speaks to the fact that there is a specific "you" that is consuming it. Nutritional counseling is based on understanding how foods and supplements affect an individual's metabolism. In this regard, not all dietary regimens are necessarily appropriate to each individual, and thus it is important to accurately assess the unique metabolic needs of each individual.

Nutritional issues are becoming increasingly important in our society, not least because we now have almost four generations that have consumed a highly processed diet, with distorted macronutrient ratios and ubiquitous deficiences of several key vitamins, minerals and accessory nutrients. Many of these dietary changes that have been wrought with industrialization directly parallel the increase of diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, that at one point in human history were comparatively rare. At the same, both our diet and our environment has become increasingly toxic, posing even greater risk of disease. In this context, it is important to have a comprehensive and sound basis for dietary therapy.