Paediatric Health - Supplements, Homeopathic remedies, and Essential Oils

Children's health is something I am extremely passionate about. I have three wonderful and healthy children. I can sympathize with people when they ask me what I feed my children, what time they go to bed, what supplements that I give them, and how I support their immune systems because it can be extremely confusing.

I don't believe that children should be on a huge amount of supplements. Their body's are very sensitive and it is quite easy for them to overdose on vitamins and minerals. Nutrition plays a larger role in our daily lives and I use essential oils and homeopathic remedies to support them if any issues come up. 

The only two supplements that they get on a daily basis are HMF Fit for School (a probiotic with Vitamin D and Vitamin C) and Cod Liver Oil (a fatty acid that is essential for proper brain development). They get this with their breakfast every morning before school.

Some of my favourite homeopathic remedies to keep on hand are Belladonna for fevers and earaches, Ignatia for anxiety, Aconitum for coughs and colds, Arsenicum for the onsite of colds, and Chamomilla for teething pain and sleeping issues. 

I love my essential oils and how they support my family. I use them for everything from naturally cleaning my house, to diffusing in the air. I have a diffuser in each of my children's rooms to help to purify the air and support their body's while they sleep. During the school year, I put the Thieves blend in their diffuser at night with Northern Lights Black Spruce. Both of those oils come in Young Living's starter kit and I use them on a daily basis. I diffuse both Orange and Vetiver when they get home from school and are playing with each other. If they have any stomach issues, I use DiGize. They each have a roller bottle that I have made to support their emotional health. They take these with them to school and are allowed to use them throughout the day. For more information on how to use essential oils safely with children, please send me an email. 

I hope that starts to answer a few questions for everyone. I will be posting (hopefully soon!) on what I feed my children on a daily basis. Have a wonderful day!

Smoothie Recipes

Smoothies can be a great way to get a meal in when you're on the run. It is often my lunch meal since I have a larger breakfast and dinner. 

Here are a few of my favourite recipes:

Inflammation Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1 organic medjool date (pitted)
• 1/2 cup of cashew milk
• 1/2 cup of mango (can be frozen)
• 1 scoop of whey protein
• 1 scoop of Collagen Peptides
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of ginger
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric
• fill the rest to the top with water

Berry Goodness Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup of nut milk
• 1/2 cup of mixed organic berries
• 1 scoop of Greens and Reds powder
• 1 scoop of whey protein
• 1 scoop of Collagen Peptides
• fill the rest to the top with water

Green Smoothie

• 1 avocado
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup of nut milk
• 1/2 cup of fresh spinach
• 1 scoop of Greens and Reds powder
• 1 tsp of powdered kale
• 1/2 tsp of matcha tea powder
• fill the rest to the top with cooled green tea

I hope you enjoy them. Let me know if you try any! 

Local Farmer's!

It's almost summertime but the fruits and veggies are already popping up! It is the perfect time to go out and meet your local farmer's and get your food as fresh as possible!

Here is a list that I took from one of my favourite local cafe's, and then I added a few more of my own. 

1. Blue Wheelbarrow Farm
2. The Blueberry Patch
3. Campbell's Orchard
4. Cloven Farm
5. County Bounty
6. Fiddlehead Farm
7. Hagermans Farms
8. Laundry Farms
9. Northport Farms
10. Vicki's Veggies
11. Stratton's Farms
12. Wicklow Way
13. Small Spade Gardening
14. Under the Sun Farm
15. Knuckle Down Farm

If there are any that I am missing (and I know there are!), please feel free to add them in the comments! 

Happy eating!

Women's Hormones - Part 3 Pregnancy

Every woman strives to have the healthiest pregnancy possible. You want to be the one that has the perfect little basketball shape at nine months and beautiful hair and skin that seems to glow from the inside. You want to breeze through without morning sickness, cankles, or any of the other unexplained issues that go along with it. After labour, you want to be able to zip up your jeans without looking like you're still carrying a baby. 

While this might just seem like it's an impossible goal, it's really not. It all comes down to nutrition. We are all told that the food that we eat matters when we're pregnant, but more from the standpoint of calories more than anything else. Calories do matter, but it's more the quality of the food that you want to pay attention to more than anything else. 

Make sure that you are eating enough fruits and vegetables. You might have some serious food cravings for a bit but its best not to indulge them all the time and instead focus on using them as "treats". A serving of fruits and vegetables equals 1 cup of cooked vegetables or fruit and 2 cups of raw greens. You should aim for 6-10 servings per day which can sound like a lot but it is achievable. 

Protein is also extremely important. It will give you enough energy to get through the day as well as provide the amino acids to help you and your baby grow. 5 ounces of a variety of proteins per day is suggested. 

If you are going to use supplements or essential oils during your pregnancy, please ask your health care provider before beginning. There are quite a few of them that can be dangerous if used when pregnant.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!

Women's Hormones - Part 2 - Menopause

Hot flashes. Mood swings. Weight gain. Anxiety. Those are some a of a few things that you are told to expect when you hit the big "M". Most women look to this stage of life as something to dread or even that it's a "disease" that needs to be fixed, but that's simply not true!

In a healthy woman, menopause can begin anywhere from the age of 45 to 55. It begins with a sporadic period (peri-menopause) until eventually, the periods stop altogether (menopause). 

Symptoms begin to show in peri-menopause and menopause when the estrogen and progesterone production in the body becomes erratic. Since the ovaries are responsible for making 90% of the estrogen prior to menopause, the dip in this hormone can cause many of the menopause symptoms such as weight gain, thinning of the hair, hot flashes, night sweats, dryness, and a higher risk of osteoporosis.  

While Hormone Replacement Therapy might seem like the best solution to this dip in hormones, they can come with their own complications such as a higher risk of certain types of cancers, heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and dementia. 

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle throughout adulthood is one of the best things that you can do to prepare your body for this stage of life. Eating plenty of vegetables, fruits, fats, and proteins can help your body through the change in hormones. While eliminating dietary fat can seem like an obvious thing to do to lower body fat, the opposite is actually true. Dietary fat can keep you full for longer and help with certain food cravings. 

Getting plenty of exercise is also an important part of maintaining a healthy hormonal system. Pick an activity that you enjoy and get moving! Not only will this help you maintain a healthy body weight, but the endorphins you create when you exercise will boost your mood and prevent depression and anxiety. 

For the menopausal symptoms, you can use a variety of herbs, homeopathic remedies and essential oils (please message me to see what brand I use and which specific oils would be helpful for you) to help your body through this time of life. 

Menopause is not something to dread but instead, it is just a different stage of life! 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me! Next week I'll be posting about infertility, pregnancy, and post pregnancy. 

Women's Hormones - Part 1

For the next few weeks, I'm going to be writing about something that is very important for every woman but so misunderstood. Hormones.

I have so many women come to my office and complain about their hormones. It can be anything from irregular or heavy periods with severe cramping, to hot flashes that make you want to strip naked and stick your whole body in a snow bank. 

Hormones can be complex, confusing or even embarrassing, but they don't have to be! By understanding how the cycle works, you can start to correct your imbalances and have a healthy life.

This is what happens during the normal cycle:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fitness-menstrual-health

The "normal" cycle for a women should last 28 days, beginning with a period that lasts between 4-5 days, with a medium flow, no cramping, and should not be terribly uncomfortable. Menarche (your period) can begin anywhere between 10-16 years old, although it is becoming more common for it to start even earlier. You should have a period every 28 days (except for pregnancy and breastfeeding) until you begin menopause, when it will begin to slow and then will discontinue. 

Many different things can disrupt the hormones during your cycle. Birth control or synthetic hormones are one of the biggest factors. Environmental pollutants such as plastics and heavy metals also play a roll. Eating properly, exercising, maintaining a healthy body weight, and minimizing stress are large factors as well. 

The lure of birth control can be very strong. It seems like such an easy solution for being a girl! If you have any hormonal issues, it seems to be the quickest answer. Unfortunately, the side effects can be quite severe whether you are on a progestin-based pill or on the combined birth control pill. The side effects that I see most often are stomach pains, bloating, gas, mood swings, depression, anxiety, intestinal permeability, adrenal fatigue (HPA Axis), nutritional deficiencies, and candida overgrowth. The longer you are on the pill, the more widespread the symptoms can become. 

We live in a world that is not very friendly to our sensitive hormones. The chemicals in plastics (hello, cute water bottles!) mimic the estrogen that our body produces and can slow our own body's productions. These synthetic products can be stored in the fats of the body and used instead of our own estrogen. Diminishing the use of these products will help our hormones in the long run. Parabens can be found in many different cosmetics, including shampoos, conditioners, makeup, body wash and other hair products. They can also mimic the body's hormones and cause  hormonal imbalances. Using tampons or pads that are bleached with chlorine are another huge problem. The chlorine creates a chemical called dioxin which when put next to your skin, can make your period last long and be heavier (good marketing!) or even cause toxic shock syndrome. Switching to a natural, unbleached product or even using a menstrual cup is a better idea. 

Making a few lifestyle changes can make a positive impact on your hormones. If you feel like you have more serious imbalances, a blood test might be the best way to find out what exactly is happening so that you can begin to correct the issues. 

In my next post, I'll be talking about menopause. Please feel free to leave a comment if there's anything specific you'd like me to talk about!

Ditching the Winter Blues

January is here and with it comes an overwhelming sense that winter will never end. Some people struggle more with the shorter days and limited amount of sunlight. While a few grumpy days are inevitable (especially if you live in Canada!), too many more than that and you can start to feel like you have cabin fever.

Here are a few tips and tricks to beat the blues!

1) Take a good vitamin D3 supplement in the winter. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that is stored in the liver and the fatty tissues of the body. Quite a bit of vitamin d can be made by our own body's through a process of using sunlight. In the summers, you can absorb enough sunlight to create 10,000IUs of vitamin d! Some signs of deficiency are depression, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, and some types of cancer. 

2) Eat properly. I know this can seem like an easy one, but January is where I get most of my "food" confessions. Christmas and New Years have passed but the junk food remains in the cupboard. Throw out all of the processed foods and fill your cupboards with plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and good quality meats. 

3) Get some exercise! I know you might feel like you just want to sit on the couch all day, especially after a long day at work, but that might be the worst thing for you. The hardest part is getting up, after that, pick one of your favourite work outs and get moving! The endorphins made from exercising will make you much happier. 

4) Use essential oils. This is one of my absolute favourite ones. If you have ever come to my home office, you know that I always have a diffuser or two running. Different oils have been shown to enhance moods and create calming and peaceful environments. Some of my favourite ones are Lemon, Black Pepper, Orange, Peppermint, Northern Lights Black Spruce, Frankincense, Rose, and Cypress. (This is the brand that I use - www.youngliving.com)

Try a few of these tricks and let me know what you think!