Archive for January, 2010
Why You Need More Vitamin D
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 13th, 2010
If you live north of Atlanta, Georgia, you’re probably Vitamin D deficient.
And vitamin D is definitely important! It’s involved in cancer prevention, your immune system, depression, thyroid hormones, cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels) and the strength of your bones.
You will need to supplement vitamin D. What you have in your multi-vitamin is not enough and there is no amount of time you could spend outside during the gray days of winter to get enough.
Before you start supplementing it is important to get your blood tested. The test to ask your doctor for is:
25-hydroxy-vitamin D
It is important to get tested because without knowing what your current blood levels of vitamin D are, it’s impossible to know what the best dosage for you is.
I have seen patients with blood levels as low as 25 and as high as 100. Normal range is considered from 75-100, with some alternatively-minded medical doctors saying that 140/150 is optimal.
First step: Go get your blood tested, the sooner the better. If you are a patient of mine, once you get your results, come on in and we’ll talk dosage.
No, it’s not enough to simply supplement with vitamin D without getting your blood tested. Without knowing your blood levels, it’s impossible to get the best dosage for yourself. If you take too little, you won’t get all the benefits that you could. And if you take too much, you can make yourself sick.
Call your doctor today and make that appointment!
TC
Oh, Those Wintertime Blues
Posted by admin in Exercise, Lifestyle, Nutrition, balance your body on January 13th, 2010
Just because it’s cold and gray outside, it doesn’t mean you have to feel blue. Or depressed. Or blah.
Many people do feel blah or blue or depressed throughout the winter, however. Fortunately, there are lots of reasons for this — and if you can find the reason(s), you can find the solution.
Read more…
Where, oh where, has my vitamin D gone?
Many people are vitamin D deficient all year round, but when the sun goes away during the winter, this gets worse.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with depression. Many people feel an emotional lift when they bring their vitamin D levels up to normal. I know I did.
Click here for the vitamin D test to ask your doctor or naturopath for.
Winter couch potato syndrome
For some people, any excuse not to exercise is a good excuse.
Whether you go outside for a walk, a run, join a gym, play sports or use a DVD and workout in your TV room exercising is key.
It helps to boost your mood and your self-esteem. Don’t think too much about it — just go for it.
I like to workout as soon as I get up. Before I leave my bedroom, I put my workout clothes on, I go to the kitchen for a quick protein shake and then start exercising. Since there’s no time to think about it, there’s no time to come up with any excuses.
I have other patients who like to go straight to the gym after work. When you make it your routine to go straight from the office to the gym, it’s much easier. If you go home first, the chances that you won’t go back out are pretty high.
Lonliness will not make you happy
When it’s cold and dark or maybe drizzling icy-cold rain, it can be very tempting to just stay in by yourself.
Resist the urge and go outside. Plan a get-together with friends, drop by a friend’s house for a short chat, or visit family. Worse case-scenario, go hang out in a coffee shop or bookstore.
Make sure to plan regular get-togethers with friends in advance.
At the end of that get-together, suggest scheduling the next one so you always have something coming up. I do this with a couple of my friends and it works great — we’ve always got something with each other on the calendar and since it’s the last thing we did at our previous get-together, making plans is almost effortless.
Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun
If you can, go south. Soak up some sun and you’ll feel better for a while for it. It will give you something to look forward to and you’ll feel great while you’re there.
A nice, sunny locale in the middle of three months of gray and brown is just what your naturopath ordered.
Take a bunch of pictures, put them on your screensaver and let yourself remember how great it felt to be there.
Grief, grieving, grieved
Unresolved grief is aggravated by the above factors. Unresolved grief is grief from your past that has not been properly worked through.
Grief can easily get stuffed into our body and stay there, until we process it in a healthy way.
This is a huge topic and one that I will cover in another newsletter. But know that if you never cry or easily cry (movies, commercials, sad stories etc.), you’ve probably got unresolved grief that needs to be dealt with.
TC
Recipe: Simply Delicious Swiss Chard, Cherry Tomatoes and Beef
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 12th, 2010
This recipe sounds simple and it is simple. But it’s delicious too!
The simple flavours in this dish come together to provide a complete meal that is not only yummy, but quick and easy to prepare.
When I say this dish is complete, I really mean it. There is protein, a green leafy vegetable and another colourful vegetable that is also starchy, so there is no need for bread or rice or pasta with this dish. In fact, adding another starch would increase the carbohydrate level of this meal too high.
Believe it or not, some vegetables are starchy and carrots are one of them. I tell my patients that carrots are fine to eat, but they don’t count as a vegetable because they are so starchy. But they are healthy and delicious and are a great substitute for other carbohydrates such as rice, bread or pasta (The Starchy Three). Having carrots instead of The Starchy Three will help you to lose weight.
To season the beef I use the Fine Herbs Salt from Lumiere de Sel. It is the most delicious flavour combination I’ve come across in a long time and is much, much better than other fine herbs seasoning salt I’ve tried. Also, it is 100% natural, does not have any MSG and the salt portion is Himalayan salt, which is one of the best salts to use.
Use regular Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt (without herbs) to season the vegetables.
Ingredients:
Very lean beef — 3- 4 oz per person; not ground
Swiss chard — 2 large handfuls per person; tough parts of steamed chopped off
Carrots - 1/2 cup (most women); 1 cup (most men)
Cherry tomatoes - halved
Garlic - minced and lightly sauteed in a little olive oil or organic garlic powder
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt - 1. Fine Herbs salt from Lumiere de Sel - available at most health food stores and Highland Farms
2. Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
Instructions:
1. Season the beef with Fine Herbs saslt and cook as desired (poach, roast, stir-fry). Let rest for 10 minutes — on a plate, off the heat and covered.
2. Steam the swiss chard and the carrots. Steam the carrots for one minute and then add the halved cherry tomatoes and swiss chard on top. Steam for 2-3 minutes or until swiss chard is bright green and tender. If it turns a dark or khaki green, you know you’ve overdone it.
3. Cut beef into thin strips.
4. Assemble meal on plate as follows:
- place swiss chard on plate with carrots and cherry tomatoes on top.
-drizzle with 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- season with garlic/oil or garlic powder and Celtic or regular Himalayan salt.
- top with beef slices
Enjoy this super-healthy, delicious and easy meal!
TC
Recipe: Mexican Sweet Potato and Chicken
Posted by admin in Nutrition, Recipes, balance your body on January 12th, 2010
Wintertime is a great time of year to use sweet potatoes — they have a wonderful warmth and comfort to them.
If you are trying to lose weight or tend to gain weight easily, it’s important to remember that starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes are just that — starchy. At a meal with 1/2 to 1 sweet potato per person, you don’t need more carbohydrates such as pasta, rice or bread.
If you are used to eating pasta/rice/bread with each meal, this might sound startling. Almost every woman I see in my office who wants to lose weight is eating too many carbohydrates throughout the day. Carbs are not bad for you, but too many will definitely lead to weight gain.
Too few carbs (eg. Atkins diet) may help you lose weight quickly, but it will (a) cause other imbalances in your system and (b) be temporary because low-carb is extremely difficult, as well as unhealthy, to maintain long-term.
Here’s a simple recipe that I conjured up one day with what I had in my fridge and it turned out delicious. As always, there are no measurements. Don’t forget to cook a non-starchy vegetable on the side!
Ingredients:
Sweet potato - 1/2 to 1 per person; chopped into small cubes
Chicken breast - 3-4 oz per person; cooked without oil or with minimal oil (roasted, steamed, poached, stir-fried) and sliced
Fresh cilantro - chopped
Garlic - minced or organic garlic powder
Cherry tomatoes - halved
Extra virgin olive oil - 2 teaspoons per person.
Salt - Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt - to taste
Organic salsa — I especially like Banditos Medium and Neal Brothers Medium. (I buy at Highland Farms.)
Instructions:
1. Steam the sweet potato cubes.
2. Mix steamed cubes with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and salt to taste.
3. Add salsa to taste and mix.
4. Top with sliced chicken breast (cooked any way you like from the above options) and drizzle with 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Enjoy!
TC
Roasted Rapini with Garlic
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 6th, 2010
Rapini is really great steamed as well, but I hated the mess I always seemed to make and the big pots to clean. So I started doing it this way and am now hooked. Because the garlic gets roasted along with the rapini, it comes out with a fairly mild taste. White balsamic vinegar is milder than red balsamic; if you like the red, you will love the white! Note: The first time you make this recipe, watch the rapini closely so that it doesn’t burn. Then the next time you make it, you will know the ideal time for your oven.
NOTE: over the summer, when rapini seemed to be larger, I was roasting for 7-9 minutes at 400F. Now, with the smaller winter rapini that I am finding at the store, I am roasting at 350F for 5 minutes. I am also brushing the cookie sheet with coconut oil and then drizzling olive oil once the rapini is on my plate.
Rapini - washed and thick ends of stems cut off. I usually cut just above the twist tie from the supermarket.
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
White balsamic vinegar (If you like lemon juice, it is a healthier substitution, but balsamic vinegar is my vice!)
Sea salt
Black pepper
Coconut oil
Olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
There are 2 ways to go about the step; either one is fine. The first one is lower fat.
2. (a) Lightly brush baking sheet with coconut and place rapini on sheet OR
(b) Place rapini on baking sheet and drizzle with coconut oil.
I usually keep my rapini somewhat dense on the sheet, but in a single layer. Usually this works out to about 1/3 of a rapini for a regular-sized baking sheet.
3. Mince or crush garlic and place on top of rapini, spread out.
4. Roast for approximately 5-7 minutes until rapini is bright green and the edges of some of the leaves are a bit crispy. The first few times, make sure to watch since every oven seems to cook at a slightly different rate.
5. Remove from oven and using tongs, place on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
So delicious!
TC
Bioidentical Hormone Specialists
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 6th, 2010
My office receives quite a few phone calls looking for someone who prescribes bioidentical hormones.
Naturopathic doctors in Ontario are not legally able to prescribe bioidentical hormones, but here is a list of some medical doctors in the GTA who do.
Agnes Schlanger
2917 Bloor St. West
1383 Wilson Rd North (Sobey’s Plaza)
Oshawa, ON L1K 2Z5
905 440-4444
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That’s all I have for now, but I will be adding more as I find out about them.
TC
Consistency, consistency, consistency
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 6th, 2010
Be Consistent
It’s all about consistency. Whatever you do consistently will make a big difference in your life and your health and whatever you do inconsistently or sporadically will either make a small difference or no difference at all in your life.
Do Healthy Things Consistently and Unhealthy Things Occaisonally
When making healthy changes: to your diet, exercising, or taking a supplement, be consistent. On again, off again usually doesn’t cut it.
And if you do something that is unhealthful (to a certain extent of course, certain things can be harmful the first time out) occasionally, and the rest of the time have healthful habits, you will probably be okay.
Give New Treatments/Therapies a Chance
When trying out a new therapy or treatment, going 3 times is usually a good rule to follow: if after 3 visits you feel no improvement or still don’t like the treatment/therapy/therapist, consider discontinuing.
Don’t Be So Quick To Try and Find the Next Best Thing
One of the worst things you can do when trying to improve your health is to jump around from person to person, treatment to treatment and supplement to supplement. Usually this produces little to no results at all because nothing has been given the chance to work. Remember, good changes happen slowly. And the good old cliché, Easy come, easy go applies here. Things that change quickly for the better often change quickly for the worse as well; improvement is short-lived and not what you are most likely looking for.
TC
Get ‘Em While They’re Sweet: Peaches and Blueberries
Posted by admin in balance your body on January 6th, 2010
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This is a re-post from the summer due to spammers.
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Peaches and blueberries are here and they are delicious!
Right now, peaches taste like honey. Buy local (eg., I always look for Ontario peaches) and make sure they are on the smaller side. I’m not sure how those big ones get so over-sized, but it’s definitely not natural/normal.
Small packages are yummier.
And the smaller ones are usually sweeter!
Local is usually sweeter.
Local fruit is usually picked riper than fruit from farther away and that makes it sweeter and more delicious!
Local is “greener”.
Eating is season is also “greener”: it takes less resources to transport the fruit to you and this is much better for the environment.
Eaten raw they are delicious, but if you need to have them cooked (or if you’re a patient of mine and I’ve instructed you to cook all your fruit) here are some ideas:
Blueberries
In muffins, pancakes (see my Pancake recipe on the recipes page), or warmed and mashed in a sauce that can be used on pancakes or toast.
Peaches: roasted or grilled.
For the grill, slice in half and put flesh side down until tender, juicy and warmed through. For roasting, cut as small or large as you like and roast at 400F with the flesh side down until they are soft and tender. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and/or roasted nuts if desired. Delicious!
Going, going…
They are only this fantastic once a year, so get them while they’re here!
TC
A Better Sweetener
Stevia is your best bet as a sweetener.
Stevia is my first choice
Stevia is a no-calorie sweetener made from a plant in South America. This plant has some bitterness to it and some companies do a better job of removing the bitterness than others.
Some people taste the bitterness more than others as well. I personally don’t taste this bitterness at all and so I love using stevia.
I have some patients who can really taste this bitterness and they absolutely hate it.
There is only one way to know — try it for yourself!
TC
Canned Salmon and Sardines
Eating out of a can isn’t something you should do frequently, but when you do, eat the bones.
I saw an ad yesterday for a new canned salmon product — no skin, no bones.
No skin is fine.
But no bones? You’re better off with bones. It makes that little can of salmon packed wih calcium. This is the same reason why sardines have so much calcium.
And calcium is best absorbed in a meal with fat, so they make a great pair.
While we’re on the subject of canned foods, read this.
How much calcium? Just read the side of whatever can you buy and it will be listed.
TC