Life can get loud. Constant demands, long workdays, and a body that stays wired even when you're exhausted. Most people I see arrive already knowing it's stress. What they don't have is a way to work out what to do about it. I'm José Peralta, a naturopathic doctor in Vancouver, originally trained as a family physician in Argentina.
Not sure this is the right fit? Start with a free 15-minute discovery call. No cost, no
commitment, just a conversation.
Direct billing for most extended health plans.
The problem
You've had the bloodwork, and maybe you've had it twice.
Everything came back within range, so there was nothing obvious to treat, and the conversation ended where it started.
You adapted. You started planning your day around your gut. You got used to waking at 3am. You began treating the afternoon crash as part of being your age.
A nervous system that's been running like this for years doesn't show up on a standard panel. It shows up in your sleep, your digestion, your patience and your energy. Being within range and working well aren't always the same thing.
I believe healing happens most effectively when the nervous system feels safe enough to let it.
What we're aiming at
They want the ordinary version of this one back: sleeping through the night, eating a meal without thinking about it afterwards, and arriving at the end of the day with something left for the people they live with.
That's what we work towards. Not every case gets all of it, and if I don't think yours will, you'll hear that from me early rather than after four appointments. What I can offer is the conditions for your body and mind to soften, regulate and heal.
Why this gets missed
I trained and practised as a family physician in Argentina for several years, and I liked the work. What stayed with me was how often someone would come back a third time with the same fatigue, the same gut complaints, the same anxiety, and I didn't have much to offer beyond another prescription for the symptom. I wanted to be able to look further than that.
So I studied again, at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto: clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, acupuncture and lifestyle medicine, and just as importantly the time to use them properly.
I've also worked with sound therapy for more than ten years. People are often surprised a physician does this. It's the most direct way I've found to settle a nervous system that will not settle on its own. Once it settles, the rest of the work tends to land better.
How to start
Most people start with one and end up using both. You don't have to know which is right — that's what the first visit is for.
For when you want to know what's going on underneath.
A long first visit, lab testing where it's warranted, and an individualized plan built from clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, acupuncture and lifestyle change — with sound therapy woven in when it fits, not sold as an extra.
Best for: fatigue, IBS and reflux, sleep, stress and burnout, nervous system dysregulation.
Book a first visit
For when your system needs to come down before anything else can work.
A private, one-on-one hour with Tibetan and crystal singing bowls, chimes, and low frequencies you feel more than hear. You lie down and listen, and the sound does the work. No experience needed, and nothing you have to arrive believing.
Also available: a monthly group session — see sound therapy.
Book a sessionThese aren't competing options. Sound work calms the system down; naturopathic care changes what's winding it up. Many patients get both — sound as part of a naturopathic visit, or booked on its own.
What I treat
Your gut has a nervous system of its own, with more neurons in it than your spinal cord, and it talks to your brain through the vagus nerve. That nerve is the main line of the parasympathetic system — the side that handles rest and digestion — and most of the traffic on it runs upward, from the gut to the brain rather than the other way around.
That's why the same person tends to have the reflux and the broken sleep and the temper. When the sympathetic side stays switched on, digestion slows, sleep gets lighter, and there's less patience in reserve. Those aren't three problems that showed up together. They're one system making the same adjustment in three places.
It's also why treating them one at a time tends not to hold for long.
What none of this tells you is which thread is pulling hardest in your case. That part is specific to you — your history, your bloodwork, the order things went wrong in. Working that out is most of what the first visit is for.
Or ask your questions first, on the free 15-minute call.
How it works
Pick a time that works, then fill in the intake form that comes with your confirmation — it means we can start with the conversation rather than the paperwork. Bring any recent bloodwork if you have it.
Sixty to ninety minutes, most of it you talking. Sleep, digestion, stress, what your family history looks like, and the order in which things started going wrong. Lab testing only if it will change what we do.
After the visit I write it up and send it to you — what to change, in what order, and what we expect to see first. Built around the life you actually have. We review it, adjust it, and I'll say so when something isn't working.
What I'll commit to before you book:
Fit
Probably not, if
Before you book
In BC, a naturopathic physician is a regulated health professional. It's a four-year post-graduate medical program with licensing exams, and we're regulated by the College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC. The short version: I'm trained to investigate the way a doctor does, and to treat with nutrition, botanical medicine, acupuncture and lifestyle change.
I trained and practised as a family physician in Argentina before moving to Canada. Here I'm registered as a naturopathic doctor — not as an MD licensed in British Columbia, and I'm careful about the difference. What the earlier training gives you is someone who knows what conventional medicine does well, and will say so when that's where you should be.
No — and I'd rather you didn't. I can work alongside your GP. If something needs conventional medical care, I'll tell you, and my background as a family physician means I know where that line is.
If you want me to, yes. With your written consent I can send your GP a summary of what I found and what we're doing, in the format they're used to reading. Some people would rather I didn't, and that's fine too — it's your call, not mine.
Direct billing available for most extended health insurance plans. Not sure if yours qualifies? Ask at booking and we'll check for you before your visit.
Naturopathic initial visit $250 · 60–90 min; standard follow-up $120 · 30 min. If you're not ready to commit to that, start with the free 15-minute discovery call instead. Private sound sessions: $210 · first session, 60–90 min, then 60 min · $150.
24 hours notice required. $50 fee for missed or late-cancelled visits. It's the same policy every practitioner at the clinic follows.
No. You lie down and listen, and the effect on your nervous system doesn't depend on what you make of it. For many people the hour becomes something more than that too, and that's a real part of it — I don't try to explain it away.
Sí. Consultas completas en español o en inglés, como te resulte más cómodo.
That's part of why it continues. You've probably spent a couple of years adjusting around it already: moving the meeting, skipping the meal, explaining the tiredness. Another year of the same is possible, and it will feel as reasonable then as it does now.
The other option starts with a fifteen-minute call, which is free. If it turns out I'm not the right person for what you have, you'll know quickly, and it will have cost you nothing.
West Broadway or East Vancouver — whichever works with your week.
