DO you remember the Kiltie cake shop, next door to Bluebird garage in Station Road, Tiptree?

Well, it’s had a bit of a transformation over the past three years and the shop is now home to our lifestyle medicine clinic, called Ancestral Health.

I'm a registered osteopath and it was founded by myself and partner Holly Gilbert, who specialises in birth preparation.

Between us, we've now helped over 1,000 people improve their health and wellbeing - quite ironic, given that the very building was serving people sugar-laden cakes and pastries just 25 years ago!

So what is lifestyle medicine?

It’s a therapy based around supporting people to make more informed health choices in their day-to-day lives.

It’s our belief that the majority of chronic diseases that exist in today’s world are largely caused by our lifestyles.

They can therefore be recovered from or prevented by lifestyle change.

A great example would be Sarah, a lovely lady from Colchester who came to us last year having suffered many years of burping, passing excessive wind, a bloating feeling in her stomach and daily headaches.

She’d seen her GP and taken the medications that were prescribed.

However, they never really solved the problems and, in fact, created more problems due to the side effects.

After listening to her story, I decided the first place to start was a comprehensive blood panel.

This showed an overworked liver, the beginnings of blood sugar imbalance and inflammation.

So after coaching Sarah through dietary changes, alterations in her sleep habits and hands-on osteopathic treatment, her life has completely changed in just six months.

She was kind enough to share her story on video for us and you can watch that on our website, alongside a number of other videos of people who have their life back after working with us.

So why Ancestral Health?

We’re living in a time of incredible innovation and advancement, yet we’re sicker and more overweight than ever before.

And unfortunately, there’s every indication that, based on projected statistics, many people will never get healthy and stay that way.

We believe the solution is ancestral health.

By following the blueprint for healthy living that our hunter-gatherer ancestors laid out for us so long ago, we can stave off the long list of uniquely modern chronic conditions, stay naturally lean and fit and age gracefully.

You might like to join our community Facebook group of like-minded health-seekers.

In a world of uncertainty, it’s our belief that health begins at home and there's much we can each be doing as individuals to ensure we’re less reliant on our medical system.

Added to that, we can be role models for the next generation to look after themselves and reverse this worrying trend of chronic disease.