HEALTH NEWSLETTER

With the winter being over and snow finally off the grounds, we can finally get back to our daily healthful routines and what better way to start it off than with our health newsletter!

Let this Spring be the Spring of change for you in terms of fulfilling your health goals in a positive manner. We, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic, would love to be of assistance in helping you achieve these wellness goals.

Be it a relaxing deep tissue massage to melt away the tension from your muscles, ease out any work stress with acupuncture, learning Reiki energy healing over the weekend or getting some naturopathic advice for you or the health of your loved ones, we are always here to help you achieve all your wellness goals.

In this newsletter:

• Improve Your Energy Levels


• Get The Most Out Of Your Workouts


• How To Increase The Nutrient Potential In Your Meals Without Compromising On Taste


• Boosting Your Immune Function


• Warming Cabbage Soup Recipe

IMPROVE YOUR ENERGY LEVELS

With the days having been so short and lacking sunlight so often, it is hard to keep feeling vitalized and full of energy all day long. Hectic schedules and deadlines to keep up with do not make it any easier either, but fear not, because here are the tools that will help you feel more energy throughout the day:

1. Do not skip your breakfast, no matter how late you are running. Some protein with vegetables in your stomach in the morning will help balance your blood sugar as well, give you the energy to keep going. Try an omelet, with some mushrooms and spinach, along with half of cup of oatmeal an hour or two later. Oatmeal is great for part of your fiber intake as well, along with being a low glycemic index food.


2. Keep your body well hydrated. With the weather being cold, it is hard to keep up with the daily water intake requirements. 70 % of our body is made up with water. The continual lack of water in the body leads to feeling sluggish and tired. Hence one very way to keep your energy levels up is to make sure that you keep up with your water intake.


3. Get at least 7.5 hours of sleep each night. A continual lack of sleep – or sleeping less than 7 hours a night does not allow the body to full recharge for the next day, and over time we create a “sleep debt” – where the body feels exhausted and tired, as it has not been recharged with enough sleep.

GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WORKOUTS

Are you finding it challenging to get your -self ready to go the gym and work out? Do you feel unmotivated to go burn out the extra calories you gained over the holidays because you just do not feel like it? Well, the truth of the matter is, majority of the people I talk to are in the same boat- where they find that it was convenient to go for a workout for the first few months, but then the interest and the desire just left, as they did not see the results they were expecting. So here are a few simple tricks that will help you when you are ready and have an activity you enjoy.

1. Optimize your energy levels before starting your workouts. This is key to sticking to anything in life. You need to have the energy for the work out if you plan to go for consistent workouts. One way to increase your energy levels is to improve your diet and make sure that you are getting all the nutrients your body needs such as iron – which is essential to carry oxygen in your red blood cells, and magnesium – a key nutrient for muscle flexibility and agility. Doing a detoxification program before starting a workout regimen will definitely help you in improving your energy levels. Talk to us at the clinic to see how we can help with improving your energy levels.


2. Change up your workout routine to prevent plateaus in the results you expect, switch your routines to bring in other muscle groups as well, as well, make it more exciting for you. The same routine over and over again does become boring after a while, and without new effects.


3. Hire a personal trainer to achieve your personal goals. Personal trainers are trained in various routines and will help you achieve your personal goals in realistic time.


4. Try a mind body approach as opposed to just a body approach such as yoga and tai chi, which also incorporates other aspects of your being such as your mind and your spirit. Breathing techniques taught in various Yoga schools are great to increase the amount of oxygen circulating in the body.


5. Get a workout partner that will help support and motivate you, when you are feeling down and dragging your feet and you can do the same in for them on their cloudy days.

HOW TO INCREASE THE NUTRIENT POTENTIAL IN YOUR MEALS WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON TASTE

Everyone loves tasty food, but most times, tasty does not mean healthy or nutrient rich. What looks good and eye catchy, does not mean that it is good and nutritious for the body and the digestive system. We can change this very easily by using simple ingredients and condiments that are nutrient rich and relatively inexpensive to find.

Here are a few simple nutritious ideas to maximize your next meal’s nutritious status:

1. Use coconut oil instead of regular canola oil. Coconut oil is high in MCT – medium chain triglycerides, which are great source of fuel for the small intestine, especially when there is nutrient mal-absorption.


2. Use crushed pumpkin seeds and walnuts instead of bacon bits on salad. Pumpkin seeds are very high in zinc, which is great for your immune function as well, as for prostate in men. Walnuts are very high in Vitamin E and antioxidants, and are also high in anti-inflammatory nutrients, which are great for breast and prostate cancer prevention.


3. Sprinkle ground flaxseed and chia seed on your breakfast cereal. Both seeds are high in fiber and very high in omega 3 fatty acids are great to reduce fatty acid and cholesterol. They also help with appetite and reducing food cravings as they are very filling.

BOOSTING YOUR IMMUNE FUNCTION

With the weather being so unpredictable, the body goes through various stresses. Usually when the body goes through stresses – which could be mental, emotional, physical, psychological, environmental and dietary, the body’s immune function quite often gets suppressed, leaving you vulnerable to catching every little sniffle that whiffs by you. So what can you do to make sure that your body’s defense system remains remarkable through all the ups and downs of the seasonal changes. Here are a few simple guidelines that will help improve your immune function naturally:

1. Get at least 7 hours of sleep. Most people barely get 6 hours of sleep per night, when the minimal amount of refreshing sleep required for the body is 7 hours! When you sleep, your body refuels / replenishes / recharges itself. A continual lack of sleep and inadequate rest depresses the immune function. Hence a very simple way to improve/ enhance your immune function, is to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night.


2. Have a diet that is plentiful in deeply colored fruits and vegetables that are packed full of immune boosting vitamins such as vitamin C and cancer fighting and radical scavenging antioxidants and bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids also have anti-inflammatory properties in the body and work great as natural anti–histamines to help your body fight off allergies naturally.


3. Get enough exercise! Exercise helps improve your overall health – mentally and physically. Depending on the type of activity you do, exercise also helps improve circulation and heart function. Exercise also helps with getting your white blood cells circulating around the body and in turn helping your immune function. However, if you have been pretty stagnant through the winter, it is important to start slowly and build up your endurance. Start with 15 minutes a day and then increase 5 minutes more of whatever activity your choose every week.


4. Consider nutritional supplements – you might find supplements helpful for boosting your immunity and overall health. Consider taking an age and gender appropriate multivitamin and mineral daily, as well as additional antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E. Talk to our naturopathic doctor to understand better what your body’s specific needs maybe.

WARMING CABBAGE SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of cabbage chopped
• 2 carrots peeled and diced
• 1 large onion diced
• 5 stalks of celery diced into ½ slices
• 1/2 cup of chopped parsley
• 1/2 of ginger grated
• 6 cups of water
• seasoning to taste

Instructions:

Bring the water to boil, and add the remaining ingredients, except the parsley, and cook for about 35 – 40 minutes until the carrots become soft. You can also rice noodles to make the soup more filling and 1 tablespoon of flax oil before serving to add nutritious omega 3 essential fatty acids and the chopped parsley. Enjoy!

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.