Nutrition testing
One of the things that seems to always be of interest to Specialized Kinesiology students is how to test foods and supplements. I was writing some content for Knowlative regarding basic nutrition testing protocols and it occurred to me that this might be of value to others outside of that platform, so I’m sharing it here too! Be aware though, the content here does assume a certain familiarity with muscle testing, so if you don’t have that, you may want to click along to something more accessible now!
Muscle testing can tell you if there is stress when a certain food or supplement is introduced to the system, or it can show you if the food will have a strengthening effect. What it does not do is show whether or not a food creates an IgE mediated response, which is what we see with a true allergy. So when people ask if you do “allergy testing”, the answer is no, but we can see which foods are stressful for the system right now, remembering that context means a lot, so this can change with whatever goal we have in circuit at the moment.
What does that mean? If you are working with a goal about weight loss, you may find very different foods show up as stressors than if you are working with a goal regarding immune system health. Or they might be the same. It is important that we remember the role of context when monitoring muscles. This is also one of those times when we need to be very careful about or working, reminding people that we are do not ‘prescribe’ anything, rather we use muscle monitoring to show people how certain substances can affect their energy systems. (Yes, that’s a mouthful, but necessary at times!)
Nutrition testing
Touch for Health model:
- Do a 14 muscle balance
- Have the person hold the food in question either in the mouth, by the parotid gland, on the thymus or over the navel depending on what is appropriate in the situation
- Working with an indicator (common choices are pectoralis major clavicular, latissimus dorsi, quadriceps and supraspinatus) monitor the muscle to ensure is stays locked when the food is introduced
- If indicator unlocks, this is a biocidic food for the individual and should not be consumed at this time
- If it locks, TL C1 to activate ‘sensitivity mode’ and recheck the muscle
- If it remains locked, the food is biogenic or biostatic and can be eaten without a problem. If the muscle unlocks, then there may be something in the food that the body wants, but this is not the ideal form to consume it in, or there is a meridian in the body that is stressed by the food
A good example of testing in an Applied Kinesiology model can be found here in the writings of Dr. Vittoria Repetto: https://drvittoriarepetto.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/the-correct-way-to-do-nutritional-evaluation-by-muscle-testing-in-applied-kinesiology/
The Applied Kinesiology model specifies putting the food in the client’s mouth and having them chew to begin activating digestion.
Nutrition as a Correction:
Various modalities recognize that nutrition can be used to balance specific muscles that are unlocking or can be used to bring balance to a pattern of under and over-facilitated muscles. For instance, foods for balancing are included in the Touch for Health manuals. Chinese constitutional therapy identifies foods that are strengthening or diminishing for elements.
The GEMS Nutrition scan sheets offer some ideas for foods, supplements and herbs that can be used to balance each element, using the Touch for Health Complete Edition, by John and Matthew Thie; The Feng Shui Cookbook, by Elizabeth Mile; The Complete Illustrated Holistic Herbal, by David Hoffman; and Western Herbs for Chinese Meridians, by Evelyn Mulders, as references. If you are interested in the GEMS Nutrition workshop, contact me at happy@alexiscostello.com or subscribe to Knowlative to have access to the scan sheets.
Be amazing!
Alexis