HEALTH NEWSLETTER

This year we have been blessed with a beautiful and unusually warm Fall. With the weather cooling a little, freshness in the air, pumpkin pies on the store shelves, beautiful auburn / honey colored leaves covering the front yards and the warm smell of burning woods, here is our Fall 2010 health newsletter.

In this newsletter:

• The Magic Number Of Hours For Sleeping


• Prep Your Immune System For The Winter


• Winter Vegetable Curry Recipe

THE MAGIC NUMBER OF HOURS FOR SLEEPING

With the days getting shorter, it is especially important for us to get plenty of rest and of course an ample amount of sunshine to keep up our vitamin D levels. Lately I have noticed quite a few people being Vitamin D deficient when tested for Vitamin D, and the studies have confirmed that large populations in the Western World are indeed Vitamin D deficient so make sure you get some sunshine daily. With the days getting shorter, most people like to stay in bed just a little longer or a lot longer depending on how they are feeling.

So what is the magic number of hours for sleeping?

People who sleep more or fewer than seven hours a day, including naps, increase their risk for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the Western world. Sleeping fewer than five hours a day, including naps, more than doubles the risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke.

Sleeping more than seven hours also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. People sleeping nine hours or longer in a day are one-and-a-half times more likely than seven-hour sleepers to develop cardiovascular disease. The most at-risk group is adults under 60 years of age who slept five hours or less a night.

They increase their risk of developing cardiovascular disease more than threefold compared to people who sleep seven hours.

Women who skimp on sleep, getting five hours or fewer a day, including naps, are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease and decrease their metabolic rate which would then lead to the inability to loose weight at easily.

Women on diets with reduced sleeping time will generally have a harder time loosing weight as opposed to women who are sleeping at least seven hours a night while on a diet. Short sleep duration is associated with angina, while both sleeping too little and sleeping too much are associated with heart attack and stroke.

An occasional long lie-in can be beneficial for those who can't avoid getting too little sleep. Adults whose sleep is severely restricted for five days -- as it is for many people during the work-week -- have slower reaction times and more trouble focusing. But after a night of recovery sleep, alertness improves significantly, and the greatest improvements are seen in those who spend 10 hours in bed after a week with just four hours' sleep a night. An additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioral alertness.

Sleep duration affects endocrine and metabolic functions, and sleep deprivation can lead to impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity and elevated blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of hardening the arteries. It is recommended that most adults get about seven to eight hours of sleep each night.

So simply put, if you want to try and decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease and weight gain, try to focus on improving sleep quality and quantity.

PREP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM FOR THE WINTER

With the cold season approaching fast, make sure you keep your immune function healthy and the stress under control. Natural therapies such as naturopathic meidicine, acupuncture and massage therapy are great to improve your overall health and boost the immune system Acupuncture and Massage therapy are great for boosting the immune function and for relaxation. Simple dietary changes such as reducing the amount of sugar and processed foods, and increasing intake of nutrient foods can have very positive benefits on the immune system and your overall being. There are a great number of vitamins and herbal supplements that can help protect and boost the whole family's immune system such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, and herbal formulas with astragalus, elderberry and echinachea. Talk to your naturopathic doctor if you are looking to improve and protect your immune function naturally. We also have Moducare by Rx Balance on sale this month (5% off) and Vitamin C tablets by Genestra (5% off) for the month on November.

WINTER VEGETABLE CURRY RECIPE

You can pick any winter vegetables for this recipe. I used a combo of vegetables that I like and work well together.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic (grated)
• 1/2 cup of carrots (diced in small cubes - 1/2 inch)
• 1/2 cup of green peas
• 1/4 cup of eggplant (diced and cubed - 1/2 inch)
• 1/2 cup of cauliflower
• 1/2 cup of sweet potato ( diced and cubed - 1/2 inch)
• 1/2 cup of spinach
• 1/2 cup of green pepper (sliced in 1 inch slices)
• 1/2 cup of tomato paste
• 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of black strap molasses
• 1/2 tsp of tumeric powder
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1/2 tsp of red chili pepper
• 1 tbsp of cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil - you can pick any oil you like

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan and add the cumin seeds.
2. Once they are tempered, add the garlic and let it sautee until its light brown in color.
3. Add the tomato paste along with the salt, molasses, garam masala, chili pepper and let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients and water, cook covered on medium heat for about 20 - 25 minutes until all the vegetables are soft.
5. Turn off the heat, let the mixture cool down and then using a masher, mash up the mixture.
6. Enjoy with pita or naan.

For any questions, or concerns, or to schedule an initial naturopathic appointment, please contact us at 416 913 4325 (HEAL) or email us at [email protected]

* DISCLAIMER: The information on this article is the property of Dr. Sushma Shah, Naturopathic Doctor, and is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any diseases or promote any services or products mentioned on the website.