About
Hi and welcome to my page. My name is Anke Koelman and I direct the Optimum Learning & Health Centre in South Australia. I have more than 30 years of experience in helping adults and children optimise their brain function as well as their overall health and wellbeing.
Our third child was born with a severe brain injury. To help him improve, I studied many different ways of how to improve brain function from all over the world. If a method was successful, I studied it in more depth so I could help other children as well. I became a Professional Kinesiologist and a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
A decade later, I saw more and more children and adults who were affected by the additives in their food as well as toxins in the environment. Kinesiology helped to identify the foods that caused a reaction as well as foods that were more beneficial to the person, so substituting those problematic foods for better foods helped to solve the problem in most cases.
Another decade later however, chronic diseases such as obesity, cancer, depression, anxiety, auto-immune diseases, neuro-degenerative diseases and cardio-vascular diseases were increasing dramatically in adults and autism and autism spectrum disorders in children. What was going on?
In order to find an answer to that question I decided that I needed to learn more, so I did a Masters degree in Nutrition Medicine and I studied Naturopathy, Herbalism and Homeopathy. I learnt that most diseases start in the gut. Poor diet, toxins, antibiotics, infections and stress can lead to poor gut health. I also learnt that there are many natural compounds that can help to heal the gut.
So now, three decades later, it has become my aim and passion to reverse these chronic diseases & conditions by identifying & addressing their underlying root cause(s).
My main focus is the gut-brain connection, which is at the heart of most stress related conditions, such as anger issues, depression and anxiety as well as neuro-degenerative conditions. Brain health is very much influenced by gut health and vice versa, so in order to optimise brain health, we need to optimise gut health.
Did you know that over 70% of your neurotransmitters are made in the gut? This means that you can be anxious or depressed, simply because your gut is not making enough serotonin (the feel-good neuro-transmitter), or you can lack motivation because your gut is not making enough dopamine (the motivation and focus neuro-transmitter).
On the other hand, you may compromise your gut health if you are too stressed or sleep deprived and this in turn may affect how you feel, your ability to concentrate, relate to your spouse, stay on task or start a task.
Poor gut health usually results in a "leaky gut", which looks just like a leaky hose in your garden. The holes are big enough to allow many toxins to go through and leak into your bloodstream. They then flow into the liver, putting pressure on your liver's detoxification pathways. This can lead to irritability or anger issues.
When the liver is overloaded, these toxins can spill back into the bloodstream and leak into the brain, where they can have an effect on concentration, behaviour and mood. They can cause brain inflammation as well which in time can lead to neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Toxins can also have an effect on the rest of the body. They can lead to many conditions such as allergies, auto-immune diseases, obesity, cancer, migraines, inflammation, pain, joint problems, IBD, IBS, gastritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
When the body tries to get rid of toxins through the skin, they can cause eczema, hives or skin irritation as well as psoriasis.
In other words: any chronic condition can be caused by poor gut health, if left untreated.
What can we do about it?
To stop the progression of the condition, we first need to heal & seal the gut. Then we need to give the whole body and mind a chance to heal. Next we need to make sure that your body will stay healthy by optimising diet, environment and lifestyle. Lastly, we need to teach new skills and strategies to optimise your coping strategies and resilience.
How can we achieve this?
This can be done through the RAD programme, which is a simple 3 step process:
*R - Remove whatever is causing stress to your body and mind
*A - Add whatever is necessary to allow your body to heal itself
*D - Determine the best Diet and Lifestyle for your genes
In my experience, this simple process has shown to be effective in reversing many chronic conditions. All it requires is a positive frame of mind and a commitment to do whatever it takes to turn your condition or disease process around and improve your health and wellbeing.
Are you ready to start?
My motto is always: "If you want things to change, you must change something". The only question is: what do I need to change?
We are all different, so what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another person. Optimising your health is a personal journey and I am happy to assist you on your journey by finding the answers to that question.
If you would like to know more, I offer a free half hour introductory consultation to discuss your issues and possible treatment options with me. Please call or email me to book in for a free consultation.
Hope to connect with you soon!
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