How Your Feelings Fuel Food Addiction

There are all sorts of emotions that can affect our wellness and this includes worry, fear, anger, grief, sadness and guilt.  Feeling that you are not accepted, a personal failure or that you are being overwhelmed by large financial burdens. 

The bottom line is that who we are is always in a delicate balance between chemistry and energy and when any type of energy, even if it is just emotional, becomes blocked and we become addicted to emotional eating.

What is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating refers to people who eat because of the way they feel rather than when they are

hungry. Many people who overeat do so because they become obsessed with overeating a certain type of food. They associated gorging on this food with nurturing oneself. Yet others eat of anger or in defiance of someone who wants them to go on a diet. Some overeating behaviours are almost vengeful; the person is “biting back” at a world that they feel is swallowing them whole. 

Stuffing Your Anger

Many people overeat because they are “stuffing your anger.”  When we are infuriated we want to fill our mouths with something warm, salty and chewy.  This relates to the primal drive in us that evolutionary biologists say goes way back to our caveman days where we associated eating raw fresh kill with comfort. It is a very primal hard-wired urge that can help soothe us when we feel deprived. Many studies have shown that people who go on diets that are too strict do not tend to stick to themIn essence, you are an emotional eater if you find yourself using the eating of food (usually too much food or fatty, sweet and salty foods) to cope with the usual stresses of life. Many people eat every time they experience a rush in adrenalin.  They will give themselves the permission to break their diet because they associate the concept of celebrating with food with achievement.  This means that even extremely happy moments can lead a person to stray from their diet.Despite the fact that there are other ways of producing these feel good chemicals in our brains such as exercising, getting out to see friends and indulging in hobbies we like, many of us still become addicted to food.  Eating fatty, salty and sweet foods are there surest ways to change our brain chemical composition so that we feel  good” However the “high” does not last long and like an addict, we eat some more to get another hit of escapism through being a foodie.

By the way, meditation and exercise can go along way towards satiating the dissatisfaction that seems to come with going on a vegan diet at first.  .So if you can, it is best to try and deal with your emotional eating disorders and issues in other ways and consult with a dietician or naturopaathic doctor who can help you with this issue, which if left unchecked can lead to all kinds of health problems.For more information or to book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at  (416)-656- 8100.  We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.

Naturopathy, Diet and Low Blood Pressure

Low blood pressure is also known as hypotension and the good news is that it can be treated with diet changes, medication, homeopathy and other measures. Taking the naturopathic, holistic route towards prevention and treatment of this condition can be very helpful if you are feeling fatigued every day.

It is key to understand what your blood pressure reading is. Your blood pressure reading consists of two numbers. The first number in a blood pressure reading, this is the amount of pressure your heart generates when pumping blood through your arteries to the rest of your body.  The second number refers to the amount of pressure when your heart is at rest between beats. Usually they're written one above or before the other, such as 120/80. If your blood pressure reading is 90/60 or lower, you have low blood pressure.

Symptoms of Low Blood Pressure

Most people with low blood pressure have absolutely no symptoms.  Some people feel dizzy if they stand up quickly or lie down quickly.  Fainting, inability to concentrate, blurred vision, cold clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing and fatigue could be caused by low blood pressure. Severely low blood pressure can deprive the brain and organs of oxygen and cause severe shock.

Causes of Low Blood Pressure

People who exercise regularly tend to have lower blood pressure than do people who aren't as fit. So, in general, do nonsmokers and people who eat well and maintain a normal weight.

Low blood pressure is common in pregnant individual. As a woman’s circulatory system expands rapidly during pregnancy, blood pressure is likely to drop. During the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, systolic pressure commonly drops by five to 10 points and diastolic pressure by as much as 10 to 15 points.

Many medications can cause low blood pressure, including diuretics (and other drugs that treat high blood pressure. Heart medications such as beta-blockers, drugs for Parkinson's disease, tricyclic antidepressants, Viagra narcotics and alcohol can also cause severely low blood pressure.

Some kinds of heart conditions can cause low blood pressure including heart valve problems and a condition that slows down the heartbeat called bradycardia. These conditions may cause low blood pressure because they prevent your body from being able to circulate enough blood. 

Disorders of the endocrine glands, including an underactive or overactive thyroid can also cause low blood pressure as can Addison’s disease low blood sugar and diabetes. All of these conditions can be treated with hormone replacement therapy and changes ind diet.

Dehydration caused by fever, vomiting, severe diarrhea, overuse of diuretics and strenuous exercise can cause low blood pressure.  This is because dehydration reduces the volume of blood in the body.

A lack of the vitamins B-12 and folate can cause anemia, which in turn can lead to low blood pressure.  Sometimes vegans and vegetarians have this condition as a result of not eating enough meat and a dietician or ND here at Pinewood might recommend vitamin shots or supplements for you.

As people age they may experience low blood pressure after eating. This is caused by a large amount of blood flowing into the digestive tract.

Care and Treatment of Low Blood Pressure

Doctors usually try to address the primary health problem — dehydration, heart failure, diabetes or hypothyroidism, for example — rather than low blood pressure itself. When low blood pressure is caused by medications, treatment usually involves changing the dose of the medication or stopping it entirely.

If it's not clear what's causing low blood pressure or no effective treatment exists, the goal is to raise your blood pressure and reduce signs and symptoms. 

One way to raise your blood pressure is to add more salt to your diet but make sure that you are consuming the right type of salt. This is where consultation with a dietician or naturopath is important.

If your low blood pressure is caused by low blood volume then you need to drink more water.Low blood pressure  can managed with minor changes in diet – such as  adding salt to your food.

To book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at  (416)-656- 8100.  We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.

NOW IS THE TIME TO ADD MORE RAW FOODS

No, raw food does not mean eating sushi. Raw food is plant or animal food that has not been heated above 115 degrees fahrenheit.  Raw foodists believe that when heated above this temperature, the enzymes in the food are destroyed or denatured, and cannot provide the same nutritive value. So, eating food in its natural state allows the body to derive more nutritional benefit from it. Live enzymes and vitamins offer the best nutrition.  Adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet is one way to eat more raw food.  Now that summer is around the corner it is the best time of year to eat more local fresh fruits and vegetables.

Here are a few tips on how to add more raw food to your diet:

•  When you are hungry, snack on raw, unsalted almonds.  They will provide protein, healthy fats and fiber and help balance blood sugar levels.
•  Don't be afraid to eat healthy fats such as those found in avocados or nuts and seeds.  These fats leave you feeling nourished and can actually help you lose weight when consumed in moderation.
•  When craving sweets, try eating a few dates.  This may curb your craving and set you on your way to eating less processed sugars.
•  Snack on fresh fruit throughout the day to keep blood sugar levels balanced.
•  Freeze organic berries in season so you can quickly and easily make a smoothie.
•  As you get more comfortable with making fruit smoothies start adding green vegetables to increase the nutritional value.

To learn more about raw foods join me on Wednesday, May 27 at 6:30 for a Raw Dessert Workshop.  We'll discuss how easy it is to add more raw foods to your diet, especially dessert. Healthy, no sugar, no flour, but decadent! Cost is $50 per person. Bring a friend and save $5. Email karen@nutrilicious.ca to reserve your spot. Space is limited.

Simple Ways to Get More Exercise Into Your Life, Lose Weight and Just Feel Better!

Regular exercise is good for your overall health and it also benefit your immune system. You improve your energy levels and your muscle strength and this in turn causes improvements to take place throughout your entire physicality.

 It does not take a lot of exercise to produce positive changes in your body. For example, it only takes 30 minutes of reasonably brisk walking 3 or 4 times a week to strengthen your heart, lungs and all of the major muscle groups. At the same time, exercise helps to optimize your digestive system, meaning that less harmful toxins and bacteria will lodge in your gut as the process of peristalsis (passing the food and then waste materials through your system) gradually becomes more efficient. 

People who walk suffer from much less constipation and are less reliant on laxative drugs which have a way of making your body dependent, sick and acidic

Ways to Fit a Bit More Exercise Into Your Schedule

Even if you don’t have 30 minutes available four times a week to go for a brisk walk, there are plenty of different ways you can find the time in any average day for enough exercise for your immune system to benefit. For example, you can take the stairs whenever possible instead of using an elevator or even an escalator. 

In order to exercise your whole body at the same time, it is generally agreed that one of the most beneficial forms of exercise is swimming. The advantage over this compared to running or even climbing the stairs, swimming places no additional stress on your joints and muscles, as there is no harsh impact on your knees or the balls of your feet. Joint pain or arthritic pain is no excuse as there is always swimming to help you get the exercise you need without hurting your joints.

Cycling is another good low impact exercise alternative that nevertheless brings significant benefits, so you might for example consider cycling to work every so often rather than taking the bus, train or the car. This is an intensely aerobic activity that also helps facilitate the intake of oxygen, which in turn feeds the skin and calms the immune system. The thing to understand about your immune system is that while your gastrointestinal tract is the ‘core’ of it, every other part of your body is also intrinsically involved in protecting you against infection and disease. 

Exercise is As Crucial As Diet

A healthy lifestyle is not just about what you eat it is about you do and exercising every day is crucial as is taking care of ourselves emotionally and not letting our stress levels get out of hand.  Walking, especially, has been known for centuries to be a great stress reducer. It is also the ideal time to meditate, particularly if you are taking a stroll through nature.

For more information or to book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at (416)-656- 8100. We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.

Do You Have Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of conditions when combined together increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  These conditions can include increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels and excess body fat around the waist and/or abnormal cholesterol levels.

If more than one of these conditions occur in combination, your risk is even greater than usual of having a heart attack, stroke or developing diabetes.

The causes of metabolic syndrome are generally interwined with a less than healthy lifestyle including smoking, drinking, eating a diet high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, fat and lack of exercising.  Metabolic syndrome also becomes more common in women around peri-menopause, menopause and is also more common in people with a sedentary livestyle/ work environment.

Symptoms To Watch For!

The symptoms of metabolic syndrome that every person should watch for:


  *   Obesity, particularly around your waist (apple shape)
  *   Elevated blood pressure
  *   An elevated level of the blood fat called triglycerides and a low level of high-density lipoprotein
  *   Resistance to insulin, a hormone that helps to regulate the amount of sugar in your body

Having one component of metabolic syndrome means you're more likely to have others and the more components you have the more likely you are to suffer from a serious, life-shortening disease in the future.


Blood tests to detect the amount of fatty deposits in your blood and your resistance to insulin can be conducted at our Pinewood clinic on Duncan Mill Road in Toronto, this test will help determine whether or not you may have Metabolic Syndrome.

Treatment
Aggressive lifestyle changes and, in some cases, medication can improve all of the different conditions that characterize this condition.
In general the person will be advised to be more physically active, lose weight and quit smoking. This can help reduce blood pressure, improve cholesterol and reduce blood sugar levels.

Walking half an hour to an hour a day is initially recommended to help you lose five to ten percent of your body weight, reduce insulin levels, lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of diabetes.

Smoking cigarettes increases insulin resistance and worsens the health consequences of metabolic syndrome. A naturopath can help you kick the cigarette habit.

If you have metabolic syndrome or any of the components of metabolic syndrome, you have the opportunity to make aggressive lifestyle changes. Making these changes can delay or derail the development of serious diseases that may result from metabolic syndrome. Our naturopaths and dieticians can recommend weight loss plans for reducing that apple belly as well as help you rethink your diet and lifestyle so you are less prone to developing diabetes or experiencing a cardiovascular related health crisis.

For more information or to book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at  (416)-656- 8100.  We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.

Spring is the Time to Be Active

By Alisa Blumberg, BSc, DC
Doctor of Chiropractic 

As summer approaches we might want to think about the keywords -'Be Active' 'Be Active" brought two things immediately to mind for me whenI stopped to think about what I'm talking to my patients about in this realm. As chiropractors we are nervous system specialists (and not just 'bone-crackers' as much of the media would like to have us believe) you can bet that where my mind goes is to how to keep that all-important control system functioning freely

and robustly.

To Be Active is to Exercise

The first way is the third (rarely talked about) essential category of exercise. We
are all familiar with the necessity for cardio-vascular exercise (getting our heart
rate up and blood pumping to burn calories and stay fit) and muscle strengthening
exercise (to keep up or muscle mass and maintain healthy bone structure) but do
you ever incorporate neurological balancing exercises? What we technically call the cross-crawl pattern is a skill most of us learned well before our first birthday and 8s essential to neurological development and maintenance throughout our lives.

As a baby first learns to be mobile they learn that the only way to keep from tipping over is to symmetrically extend left leg with right arm, and then right leg with left arm (yes, I just decoded successful crawling). If you remember back to high-school science - the left brain controls right sided body movement and the right brain controls left side movement. So by activating both sides equally and in a pattern the baby is stimulating its growing brain to work in a balanced, symmetrical pattern.

A balanced symmetrical brain is a healthy brain. The next time you're

sitting in the mall or watching people walk down the street take a moment and

notice how many of them have lost the symmetry of their walk (left leg swings with left arm and right with right, there is no clear pattern, or the arms aren't swinging at all) - they've lost the symmetry they learned as babies! An unbalanced brain pattern is being reinforced every time they're out for a stroll!

Make it a point to do simple neurological pattern exercises such as cross-crawl walking or stop by the next time you're in the clinic and I can show you a 2-minute exercise you can do at home.

Be Proactive Not Reactive

The second place my mind goes when a 'Be Active' discussion comes up is to our thoughts. We live in a thinking world now. Most of us spend our work days at a desk rather than in a field, and our brains do a lot more work than our bodies. We live in a soup of thought about what we've done, what we have to get done, where we've been and where we're going. We are so busy that we tend to be reactive rather than proactive with our thoughts. Let this little column be a reminder to you to 'Be Active' with your thoughts. Make a plan and set aside time each day to actively set a positive intention.

Dream. Don't just set a goal - put yourself in the moment. Monitor your thoughts - we all have negative ones - let those go as soon as you recognize them and hold onto thankfulness and gratitude. Watch the change that makes in your mood, celebrate that win and move onto the next one.

Have a fantastic, active spring and summer!

Dr. Alisa Blumberg is proud to be bringing her passion for holistic, natural, self-directed healing to the north-Toronto area through her work at Pinewood Natural Health Centre.</>As a Chiropractor and Master level B.E.S.T. Practitioner, Dr. Blumberg's mission is to educate and empower patients of every age, symptomatology and health goal on their unique journey towards optimal health and absolute wellness.You can book an appointment with Dr. Alisa Blumberg by calling (416 ) 656-8100.

Has cancer touched your life?

Unfortunately, I think we can all say we know someone close to us who has or has had cancer. Researchers believe that the foods people eat over their lifetime can increase or decrease their risk for developing some types of cancer. Just a few weeks ago the New York times published an article (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/vegetarian-diet-may-cut-colon-cancer-risk/?_r=0) about colon cancer risk and a vegetarian diet. 'Pescovegetarians' who ate fish one or more times a month and other meats less than once a month, reduced their cancer risk by 42 percent compared with nonvegetarians.

There is scientific evidence linking some foods to cancer risk. Researchers believe that everyone harbours cells that will not become cancerous if they are destroyed or kept in check by the immune system. In most cases, the body's immune system recognizes and destroys these strange cells. However, cancer cells may develop when the immune system becomes overwhelmed or loses its ability to recognize the foreign cells, allowing them to escape destruction and multiply.

Here are some suggestions that could reduce your risk:

Eat a variety of foods. Many foods contain immune boosting substances, some that researchers are still discovering. And, getting nutrients from a varied, balanced diet will prevent you from getting too much of a potentially harmful substance.

Eat more organic fruits and vegetables. Aim for at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits daily. Think color; deep green and yellow, orange. Choose organic to reduce your risk of toxic pesticide exposure.

Choose high-fiber foods. Besides fresh fruits and vegetables, add whole-grain breads and cereals and legumes to your diet.

Eat regular meals, especially breakfast, to limit your chances of overeating throughout the day. Overeating may lead to weight gain and being overweight is a risk factor for cancer.

Re-think your plate. Fill half your plate with vegetables, a quarter with grain products and a quarter with lean protein such as meat, fish or legumes.

Looking to find out more? Book a nutritional consultation today and we'll create a personalized meal plan of cancer-fighting foods.  Email Karen@nutrilicious.ca.

Don't forget to sign up for Farms and Forks, ( www.orgainicfooddelivery.com)  and get organic food delivered right to your front door.  Use the code nutrilicious15 to save 15%.