The Change of Season Cold

A Common time for people to experience colds and coughs are during a change of season. When the weather changes from fair to crisp;  sniffles and  colds  and cough viruses start to become more and more common place.
Now, as the first evening frosts creep in, our kids immunity get hit with the double whammy sugar onslaught from thanksgiving pies to Halloween treats. Thus,  we’ve got to have prevention strategies in place and/or prepare for another round of stuffy heads and runny noses. While most colds are self limiting, meaning they will go away on their own in 5 to 7 days, it is always nice to be equipped with some gentle comfort measures, something you can do for yourself or your children to help speed the healing process, or ease the symptoms. If your cold or cough doesn't  improve or resolve in the aforementioned 5 to 7 days it’s time to pack up the family and visit your naturopathic doctor, we can offer immune support and specific herbals, acupuncture, supplements and homeopathics to help wager your microbial battle. During the winter months in particular I attempt to have at least one patient spot per day available for last minute acute care needs.

Take some time off if possible
I recently read that rest is the most undervalued treatment available in North America today, and I could not agree more. When you are coming down with a cold or cough give yourself and your children the gift of  plenty of rest and relaxation. Allow time for your body to heal. Eat warm, cooked food and drink plenty of warm liquids. Avoid sugar as it works directly against the immune system. Many people reach for copious s amounts of orange juice during a cold to increase their vitamin C intake. I would advise you to eat oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, and bell peppers, but skip the juice which is quite high in sugar. Most people find that avoiding dairy products when congested  also helps prevent the over production of mucus during a head cold.

Perform home hydrotherapy
To help in fighting  off a cold or flu use warming socks. Get a knee-high pair of cotton socks and a pair of wool socks. Soak the cotton socks in cold water, wring them out and then put them on your feet. Put the dry wool socks on top and then go to bed. The body will respond by warming the feet, thus draining the congestion from the head.

Support your  fever
To reduce a fever drink a couple of glasses of water, apply cold wet compress to the forehead and chest and take a long tepid bath or sponge bath. Rest, drink plenty of fluids, peppermint tea, yarrow and catnip have all been used traditionally to help break fevers. Limit your food intake until the fever breaks naturally. Fevers below 39C (102F) are seen as “friendly” and a reaction of the body’s immune system to fight infection and  to eliminate toxins.
We can aid the elimination of toxins through the skin by inducing perspiration.  Try taking warm baths, using an infra-red sauna or steam room. Increasing perspiration through the skin is one of the safest and most effective ways of eliminating toxins during a cold or flu.

Treat yourself with homeopathy
An advantage to using low dose homeopathic remedies to treat your family is the safety of this form of medicine. No side effects or drug interactions occur with homeopathy, making it a good choice for families with small children, pregnant women or people on multiple medications. There are two guiding principals with homeopathy. The first is the law of similar’s, meaning that the symptom picture of an illness must match as closely as possible to the symptom picture of the chosen remedy. The more information you have about the illness, and the better you know the remedy picture, and the better your choice will be. The second principal is that of using the minimum dose. Which means using as little as a medicine as possible to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanism. Give only one dose (pellet) and wait to see what relief it brings. If things improve do not re-dose unless the cold stops improving before full recovery is made, or a relapse is symptoms are seen.
Consider:
Aconite- for early stages of cold when the person has experienced a chill.
Arsenicum- for thin, watery burning discharge with colds.
Pulsitilla- for thick, yellow profuse discharge which is worse in the morning.
Gelsemium- for colds with body acing and intense desire to stay in bed.
Silica- for a cold which is slow to go, especially in people with low resistance to infection.

Bundle up and enjoy the beauty this season has to offer; crisp fresh air, majestic fall colors, & pumpkin spice soy lattes. Remember it’s the simplicity of eating well and staying active that will be the best protection against this fall’s bugs.

Naturopathic Medicine can help with Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the more common complaints that I see clinically, the underlying cause of anxiety can be from a myriad of sources; biochemical or genetic predisposition, long term or acute life stressors, relationship stress, physical illness, insomnia, poor diet, hormonal imbalances, etc. It becomes the job of the naturopathic doctor to uncover the underlying cause of a person’s anxiety, while simultaneously treating the current symptoms to bring balance to the patient’s life experience. Fortunately anxiety is a complaint that typically responds well to naturopathic therapeutics; on their own, as well as in conjunction with pharmaceutical approaches.

I love to combine our gentle effective medicines and modalities with mindfulness based practices. Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy are all effective ways to teach the practice of letting go and letting be. Many people with anxiety disorders have never learned how to effectively help themselves through periods of intense stress and anxiety, the aforementioned mindfulness techniques are invaluable to learn, or re-learn internal coping strategies.

There are many herbal medicines in several different classes that we consider when a patient presents with anxiety. Some of these herbs work similarly to benzodiazepines, causing mild sedation as they modulate the GABA receptors in the brain; valerian and passionflower are examples of sedative herbs. Others are even more gentle in their sedative effects, but are helpful in calming and settling the mind, we call these  herbs nerviness; lemon balm and chamomile are examples of nervines. Other herbals help to support the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands help to stabilize stress response, blood sugar and reproductive hormones, this class of herbs are called adaptogens; rhodiola and ashwaghanda are examples of adaptogen herbs that help us to recover from long periods of physical or emotional stress.

Acupuncture is another fantastic tool to use for acute or chronic anxiety states, oftentimes people experiencing anxiety need support in their heart and pericardium  channels’ to soothe mental and spiritual agitation, improve sleep and restore calm. It is also helpful to stimulate the kidney energies to assuage fears and restore physical and mental energy. The beauty of acupuncture is the ability to customize each individual’s treatment protocol, and easily make minor adjustments to the protocol with each visit based on symptom feedback, as well as traditional Chinese medicine tongue and pulse readings.

Nutrition and nutriceutical supplementation are the back bone of many naturopathic treatment protocols. “Clean” protein with every meal ensures the presence of amino acid building blocks used by our body to make neurotransmitters like serotonin, gaba, and dopamine.  Protein if often swapped out of breakfast in exchange for a caffeinated beverage, in the long run this nutritional bargain may be more anxiety promoting than our original plan of getting “extra energy” from a coffee or tea. Eating meals at regular times is important for our mental health and feeling of well being by keeping our blood sugar levels more stable throughout the day. There are many nutritional supplements that help people manage their anxiety, b vitamins, theanine, gaba, and inositol have become favorite supportive additions to my treatment protocols over the years.

If you are not certain if the symptoms that  you are experiencing are related to anxiety, bring it up at your next visit with your ND, we will certainly work with you to help you to get a better understanding of your symptom presentation.

Electrolytes- Salty ions for Summer performance

I think that "electrolyte" became a buzzword in sporting circles with the development and subsequent marketing of ------orade, and similar “sports drinks”.  The beverage companies did not invent electrolytes though, they’ve been inside us all along.

Electrolytes simply put, are organic salts, minerals in our body’s that carry an electric charge, also known as ions. They are naturally present in all of our bodily fluids; blood, urine, sweat, tears, etc. Sodium, Calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, bicarbonate, sulfates and magnesium are the electrolytes most abundant in our body.

Electrolytes are used in our body to maintain voltages across cellular membranes, which work as communication via impulses to and from other cells. These impulses could result in a muscle contraction, or a nerve being stimulated, etc.

Electrolytes play a big role in water balance within the body, upset in electrolyte balance can result from under or over hydration, or kidney dysfunction. Our electrolyte balance therefore becomes off kilter when we loose too much fluid through sweating, vomiting, or diarrhea. After these episodes it is important to replenish our lost minerals in an attempt to re-establish electrolyte equilibrium. Loss of Sodium, potassium and calcium are the most troublesome for smooth functioning in our systems. Exercising outdoors during summertime, hot yoga cases and infrared sauna are all activities that increase the need for electrolyte replacement.

Rather than reaching for a sugar or aspartame commercialized sports drink, try one of these homemade replacement recipes modified from those found on fitday.com

The Lip Twister
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of lime juice
1 teaspoon of salt
1 whole squeezed orange (or 1/2 frozen can of orange juice)
Pinch of baking soda
1 liter of water

Coco-ade
2 cups of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of salt
Pinch of baking soda
1 teaspoon of  honey
1 liter of water

Single Serve
2 lemon halves squeezed into a large drinking glass
2 orange halves added
Squirt of honey
Four shakes of salt
Pinch of baking soda
Fill the rest of the glass with water

Andropause- The Male Menopause

In our clinic, the pear tree we've dedicated June to Men's health awareness. Seeing as testosterone level is hormonally what separates the men from the boys, (and the girls, and the women), I thought I'd breech the topic of Andropause, a condition very specifically, male. Andropause is the much less discussed, male version of menopause. The andropause typically occurs during the late 40’s early 50’s, and like menopause can have subtle or overt symptoms throughout the body’s systems. The hormonal shift responsible for andropause is the increase in estrogen relative to testosterone in the body. In a young man there can be fifty times more testosterone than estrogen. As a man heads towards andropause this decreases closer to thirty times as much, while anything lower than twenty times can be problematic. In older men this ratio is often closer 7 (testosterone):1 (estrogen). To further compound this hormonal disequilibrium higher estrogen values will also inhibit the breakdown of dihydroxytestosterone (DHT) the converted form of testosterone known to contribute to prostate enlargement and hair follicle shrinkage.

While like menopause, some of this hormonal shift is purely associated with

aging, there are other factors that can influence men’s estrogen levels. The enzymatic conversion of testosterone to estrogen in the liver is known as aromatization. We ultimately want to avoid life style and nutritional habits that increase aromatase activity, to prolong or avoid the arrival of andropause.

    More testosterone gets converted to estrogen in the liver when certain enzyme systems (p450) get overworked. Heavy alcohol use, especially beer (wine is less problematic), not only overworks these enzymes but also decreases zinc in our systems. Zinc deficiency increases aromztase activity and stops brain (pituitary hormone) signals for testosterone production. Certain medications and herbal supplements can also overwork these liver enzyme systems, check with your health care provider to see if anything you are taking is known to stress the p450 system in the liver.  Fat cells increase aromatase activity, and therefore estrogen levels. Low vitamin C levels are also known to increase aromatase activity. It’s also important to point out that there are many environmental sources of estrogens. The highest estrogen sources in the diet are; beef, chicken, eggs, American dairy products many of these animals are given estrogen directly to “beef up” their yield. Livestock may also be given antibiotics that mimic estrogens actions in the body. Xenoestrogens are environmental estrogen mimickers in our environment, found mostly soft plastics.

      The Symptoms we see with andropause are numerous and might be hard to pick out, and associate with the reduction of testosterone relative to estrogen as they overlap with so many other conditions and concerns. Mentally we see fatigue, especially when men are consistently tired in afternoon or evening. We may also see a decrease in mental sharpness and creativity. Memory challenges can also associated with this shift. With sexual function we see decreased interest and activity, less fullness of erection, with lower volume of ejaculate. In the musculoskeletal systems we see gradual loss of mobility coinciding with increased stiffness (more prone to injury, longer time to heal). We see arthritis (both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis start to develop, and bone loss can also start. Metabolic changes include increased total cholesterol, triglycerides, and decreased HDL (produced by exercise), the onset of type II diabetes, and increased blood pressure.

      As with menopause this can be quite a daunting and depressing list of changes associated with a shift that comes partially with age. We cannot really  control aging, but we can influence many of the other variables. Hormone testing, liver enzyme testing. Zinc and vitamin C status checks are all parts of a naturopathic work up to evaluate andropause. Once the contributing factors are identified we can address them with lifestyle factors (aforementioned beer consumption, exercise, whole foods diets) as well as correction of nutrient deficiencies (the two big ones are Zinc and vitamin C), and support with nutritional supplements and herbal medicines. Naturopathic Acupuncture protocols are also very helpful with andropause cases as acupuncture is always a wonderful tool to help achieve hormone balance. If you, or someone you know seems to be shifting into low gear due to low relative testosterone, come in to see me or your regular ND for a re-charge. 

Khalsa Way® Pregnancy Yoga Workshops

Taught by Blossom Bitting ND

Saturday June 8th- Stretching & Strengthening the pelvic floor

Saturday September 14th- Trusting Your ability to Birth

Saturday December 8th- Releasing Fear

9am-12 noon

Dance Breathe Practice Meditate

When it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, nothing can prepare a woman's body, mind and spirit better than The Khalsa Way® pregnancy yoga.

Learn techniques that will help to bring comfort through all stages of the prenatal period; conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond. The workshop will include a pregnancy yoga practice that you can continue at home throughout your pregnancy, for all levels of practice.

Please call to register, space is limited

857-1300

Fee: $45+HST per workshop

Pear Tree Clinic & Yoga Loft 1067 Champlain St Dieppe

thepeartreeclinic.info

drblossom.blogspot.ca

Dieppe Wellness Expo April 20 & 21, and a link to the dandelion tea blog

Here's a copy of the Dieppe Wellness Expo April 20 & 21  Handout 

Spring into better, more vibrant health with these daily detoxification steps:

1. Drink enough water.

How much is enough? Start with your weight in pounds, divide this in two, and drink about that many ounces throughout the day. Drink room temperature water away from meals. Complete your intake at least 43 hours before bedtime to avoid waking to urinate.

2. Support your major organ of detoxification.

Take nutritional substances and, or herbs to assist the liver’s cleansing functions. Turmeric, rosemary and milk thistle are all excellent choices and are generally safe (check with your ND, MD, or pharmacist first).

3. Sweat through exercise and, or the use of saunas.

When was the last time your moved your body with the intention of working up a sweat? Recall a time that physical movement was joyful and fun for you. Envision a way, within your current life situation to move like this again. How can you make this vision a reality? Thirty  

minutes three times a week is a reasonable, health inducing,  and attainable goal for regular exercise.

4. Use a dry skin brush to stimulate the lymphatic system and the skin.

Start with small circular brush movements at the tips of your toes, tops and bottoms, front and back,  continue to brush in small circular strokes from toes towards the heart, eventually brushing all of your skin surfaces before your daily bath or shower.

5. Practice Breathing exercises to detoxify the lungs. 

6. Ensure 2-3 bowel movements daily. This will likely be aided by the exercise, water, skin brushing, breathing and herbal support, if your bowels are still sluggish you may benefit from dietary improvements and supplementing with a soluble fiber such as flax seed or psyillium. 

here's an very informative blog post about making dandelion tea, in terms of where to harvest would find a friend who dos not chemically treat their land or lawn, and ask them if you can remove their dandelion roots for them.

http://www.craftylittlegnome.com/2011/03/how-to-make-dandelion-root-tea.html

Tree Hugger

 In the Five element theory of Chinese Medicine each element is represented by an element of nature, and there is a corresponding season, emotion, and organ system. We Naturopathic Doctors usually focus attention on the liver when we talk about spring. Anger is the emotion corresponding to liver so we focus on detoxification, optimizing  the liver’s  filtering function, and learning ways to both process and express our anger more constructively.

This spring, however, I’m inspired to encourage you to connect to spring’s natural element, wood. As we shake the heavier winter season away, there are parts of ourselves, like the trees around us that experience new growth each spring. Caring for the wood element brings a few healthy family friendly activities to mind.

The first of these activities is tree Planting. I attended a gardening workshop along Toronto’s waterfront in 2002, as I was spring cleaning my filing cabinet at work the other day I found a handout from a presentation by the Whispering Song teaching lodge (http://www.whisperingsong.com) that I had attended that day over a decade ago. I hope it’s teachings speak to you this spring day, as it did to me when I came across it in my “environment” file. It outlines simple spiritual instructions on how to plant a tree. 

Choosing Your Tree

Pine

The great peacemaker.

Should be planted on the Northern part  of your Property.

Helps you to give gratitude for not so wonderful things.

Promotes wisdom.

Birch

Symbolizes new beginnings.

Planted in the Eastern portions of your available space.

Helps to nurture vulnerability.

Helps to establish a new understanding within ourselves.

Maple

Represents community.

Plant in the Southern area of your plot.

Maple reaches out to you.

Honors us as Canadians all regions, all faiths.

Cedar

Promotes purification.

Planted in the West.

Cedar is for cleansing the thoughts, and providing a place of clarity, and for introspection.

It provides the opportunity to go within our hearts.

How to Plant a Tree

1. Ask the earth’s permission to dig a hole
2. Ask yourself why you are planting it, precede with a clear intention
3. Be the tree- rooted with your intention and your truth, acknowledging your connection to the earth while simultaneously reaching for the sun, bending in the wind while remaining grounded.

The final instruction I have scribbled down at the bottom of the page is to plant a tree when someone comes into the world, and when someone leaves. A powerful tradition I have started within my own little family, when I look out at my tiny little orchard I am reminded of life’s blessings, and life’s hardships.

The second activity comes from a fantastic little book that my mother used with us when we were growing up, and being home schooled. The book is titled Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Bharat Cornell, A parents’ and Teachers’ Nature-awareness Guidebook. The activity is called Meet a Tree. It teaches empathy, olfactory and tactile  awareness. It’s best for kids 4 years and up. You need at least two participants, the forest in the daytime and a blindfold for each pair of participants. Have one of each pair blindfold the other and lead her through the forest to any tree that attracts the leader. Help the blindfolded child explore the tree and to feel it’s uniqueness. Ask them specific questions to encourage their exploration. Eg; rub your cheek on the bark, is this tree still alive?  What do its crushed leaves or needles smell like? Can you put your arms around the tree? Is the tree older than you are? Can you find other plants growing on it? Are there any signs of animals that you can feel? Insects?  Lichens?

When the partner is finished exploring lead them back to where you began, but take an indirect route (this part of the game has it’s fun side with the guides leading their partners over imaginary logs, through brush that might have easily been avoided.) Now remove the blindfold and let the child try to find the tree with their eyes open. As the child searches for their tree, what was a forest becomes a collection of very individual trees. A tree can be an unforgettable experience in a child’s life. It has been for me, almost thirty years later, I feel like I could almost identify my tree from the afternoon we explored with this activity.

A more accessible, individual wood centric activity is to simply take a walk in the woods. Check in with yourself at the beginning of a stroll through a forest. Take a few moments at the end of your jaunt to check in again, do you feel a shift in your physical, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing? Thinking back to the Chinese Medicine concept that anger is the emotion associated with imbalance in the wood element, has any anger or frustration been diffused by the oxygen rich atmosphere of the forest?

Whether you decide to plant a pine, meet a maple,  or  go for a walk in the woods, I hope that you discover a renewed appreciation for the health that can be lent by the shade of a tree this spring.