Health is Getting Personal

Ben Warren didn’t choose to be a clinical nutritionist. He kind of feels like it chose him.

In Ben’s early years as a budding pro-golf coach, a niggling lower back pain was causing him some serious grief. After encounters with multiple top specialists, who helped him the most? “A nutritionist actually!” He beams. And the diagnosis? “It was a dairy intolerance.”

“Originally, I thought this was nuts,” says Ben. “I had been seeing so many top specialists, physios, chiropractors, you name it. Not one of them had said my back problem could be related to the food I was eating.” But it turns out his nutritionist was right. “I did the test and sure enough I was intolerant.”

You may be left wondering why this was relevant to his back problems, but Ben explains, “one of the reasons is that when you eat foods that cause inflammation to your body, specifically your small intestine, it starts causing leaky gut syndrome. Then because of shared nerve innovation you start shutting down the muscles that stabalise the back and the pelvis.”

By cutting out dairy not only did Ben’s back heal, but his allergies reduced, his abdominal wall flattened as he said goodbye to his bloating stomach, plus his lifelong asthma all but disappeared.

This moment was a bit of a life changing one for Ben. He put down the golf clubs and changed course. “I wanted to spend my life learning about the human body. For me it became far more important to me to teach people about their health and how to eat, rather than how to hit a golf ball.”

Ben went on to gain his Masters in Holistic Nutrition and he excitedly tells us “I’m now doing my PHD on the relationship between nutrition, genetics and mental health.” This guy’s passion for his work is very much evident.

As one of New Zealand's leading clinical nutritionists Ben has been working with clients for the past 13 years. Over this time he founded the scientifically driven holistic health company BePure, developed the BePure nutritional support range, has toured the country talking to over 50,000 people and is the Clinical Director of the two BePure Clinics in Havelock North and Auckland.

What’s the key thing Ben has learned through his work? “We’re all different.” He says. “Our genetics, our lifestyles, our environments are all unique. This may seem obvious, but it has huge implications for our health and wellbeing that many don’t recognise.”

Ben explains, “The story for me was that my back problem related to a dairy intolerance. Other people may have had the same bad back symptoms, but the cause could be completely different.” Really, it’s about finding out your story. “Through our BePure Clinics we do this via gold standard testing,” explains Ben.

Based on this he’s in no way an advocate against dairy. “For some people, it can be very beneficial,” he says, “it’s just about finding out whether it’s healing or hurting you as an individual.”

Of course, there are general things we can all do to improve our health and wellbeing. “Eat more leafy greens, cut out processed foods and moving your body more are a good start,” says Ben. But the key to long term health and energy really comes down to finding out your health story and what is best for you as an individual.

Because of this need for personalised health, Ben’s on a mission to put an end to the ‘one size fits all’ approach, including the ever present ‘fad diet’. “I find it interesting that people make decisions about their health based on trends or what their friends are doing.”

Ben’s a big advocate of getting in tune with your own body to recognise what’s making you feel good. “The best foods for you are those that keep you full the longest and leave you energised.” This often comes down to whether you are what Ben calls a ‘carb, mixed or protein type’, all of which is largely dependent on your genetics. “Based on this, a blanket diet recommendation for all 7 billion of us in the world, really doesn’t work.”

But Ben doesn’t see this as negative at all - just as an area we can all work on, after all you don’t know, what you don’t know. Helping people work through this with the likes of testing and self-awareness is where Ben finds his biggest successes. “It’s not about short term quick fixes anymore. To really know your health story is incredibly empowering, that’s how you get your health and energy back and really feel good long term,” Ben smiles.

Ben Warren is currently on a nationwide tour of New Zealand with his 'What's Your Health Story' seminar. Tuesday 2 May Auckland Central, Wednesday 3 May Auckland North Shore.

Viva readers can grab a special $10 off tickets with the discount code VIVA at checkout.