Help you achieve healthy body weight * Alleviate bloating and indigestion * Manage disease *And so much more!
APPOINTMENTS ARE BY PHONE or SKYPE & EMAIL
Holistic nutrition is based on the understanding that human beings flourish when they eat whole foods. It's really as simple as that. Unfortunately our modern lifestyles can be hectic and often include foods that make us feel lousy. Just as everyone's life story is unique, every body needs different nutrients and foods. There is not one diet that is best for everyone. I encourage you to listen to your body.
When people are recovering from diseases or trying to lose weight, they think that they have to sacrifice flavour and enjoyment or might even feel embarrassed around friends and family when it comes to meal times. I believe that everyone deserves to love the food on their plate. If you don’t love what you are eating, it won’t nourish your body nearly as much as when you do savour every single bite.
As a Registered Holistic Nutritional Consultant I work with you to create whole food menus and lifestyle strategies that sustain you and feed you wonderfully for the rest of your life, and in a way that makes you LOVE WHAT YOU EAT.
Nutritional consultations are for those interested in discovering how they can improve their health through nutrition and other holistic lifestyle recommendations. These sessions are done by phone and email, or in person if you live locally. Some of the issues that can be addressed in a session are:
Nutrition Basics - personalized general dietary recommendations
Assessment Part 1: This is for information gathering, where you fill out a Holistic Health Questionnaire carefully and with as much detail as possible. Your information provides me with an overview of your body systems and lifestyle.
I also request that you complete a 1-week food diary so I get a better idea of your current eating style.
Assessment Part 2: We meet by phone and we will discuss things like what's going on in your life, your food story, your likes and dislikes, etc. This call will help us find new and interesting ways to enrich your eating experience. If you have food sensitivities or a health issue, we look at that too. Together we figure out how to revive your culinary reperatoire with foods that will nourish you from the inside out. We work towards designing a plan that will inspire you to make gradual, nourishing, and sustainable changes in your diet that leave you feeling healthy, confident, vibrant, and supported.
Assessment Part 3: Your personalized nutrition plan is emailed to you, based on the information from the previous session. This session will take place approximately 1-2 weeks after initial consultation. Assessment includes dietary, natural supplement and lifestyle recommendations, key recipes, yoga techniques and exercises when applicable, and additional support documents. Customized menu plans and recipes are available for an additional fee.
Assessment Part 4: Your assessment includes one 30-minute follow up phone call appointment. Appointments take placeat least one month after you've received your Assessment Part 2 documents.
Valentine's Day is almost here - so what better time to nurture a healthy, open and loving heart? From a purely physical standpoint, heart disease is a huge problem in Canada, but the good news is that 80% of cardiovascular disease is caused by risk factors we can control. From a "love" perspective, just tune into popular culture or the news these days and it is clear that our perceptions of love are complex and distorted. This may surprise you, but a heart healthy lifestyle includes making wise food choices, exercising regularly and nurturing emotional and spiritual wellness. That's right - your doctor may not have told you that you've gotta let your love light shine if you want to prevent a heart attack. Let's get to the heart of the matter and look at some of the ways we can cultivate a holistic heart healthy lifestyle.
HEART HEALTHY EATING
A lot of misinformation has been circulating about what constitutes a healthy diet - especially when it comes to heart disease. If you are still afraid of saturated fats and cholesterol and are avoiding foods containing these things you will deprive your body of vital nutrients. The cholesterol that our bodies produce and which we consume from whole, healthy, unprocessed traditional foods, does not cause heart disease. Rather, the popular substitutes that are consumed instead of saturated fats contain many components that have been associated with increased rates of heart disease - such as polyunsaturated oils (soybean, corn & sunflower), trans fatty acids (hydrogenated oil, shortening & margarine), and refined sugar. A form of cholesterol that is dangerous to consume is that which has been oxidized or is rancid - which occurs in powdered eggs and milk which are found in processed foods. Keep an eye out for powdered milk which is more often than not added to yogurt these days. Opt for organic, un-homogenized, and preferably raw milk yogurt with no added thickeners or powdered milk. Or better yet, make your own. Powdered milk is also often added to low-fat milk to give it more body. Choose full fat and un-homogenized milk - also preferably raw.
BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
A healthy immune system is a vitally important for heart health. Pathogenic bacteria and viruses have been associated with the development of coronary heart disease. When a weak immune system is unable to deal with these pathogens, they cause havoc on your heart. A healthy immune system depends on many nutrients, including Vitamin A, C and minerals which play an antioxidant role. Animal fats carry Vitamin A and palmitoleic acid, which has strong anti-microbial properties. Butter and coconut oil also contain similar properties and thus are an important part of a heart healthy diet.
A heart healthy diet requires that you avoid all processed foods labeled "low-fat" and which contain white flour and additives. Consume high-quality animal products including wild seafood and milk, butter, cheese, eggs, meat, fats and organ meat from animals raised on green pasture. Consume many fresh and organically grown vegetables and fruits. Optimize mineral intake by using whole dairy products, mineral rich bone broths, and whole grains/legumes and nuts that have been properly prepared (soaked or sprouted) to reduce phytic acid and other factors that block mineral absorption.
SUPPLEMENTS FOR HEART HEALTH
Instead of taking synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements, consider including in your diet foods rich in protective factors such as cod liver oil (Vitamins A & D), wheat germ oil (Vitamin E), flax oil (omega 3 fatty acids), kelp (iodine), brewer's yeast (B vitamins), desiccated liver (Vitamin B12), rose hip or acerola powder (vitamin C), and coconut oil (antimicrobial fatty acids). Obtaining your nutrients from whole foods instead of vitamin pills increase your likelihood of absorption and assimilation.
PASS THE SALT
High quality, unrefined salt is essential to life, and is a major component of your blood, lymph, and other vital bodily fluids. Salt carries nutrients in and out of your cells. It maintains and regulates blood pressure. YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT. The idea that salt is bad for you and contributes to heart disease has been scientifically proven wrong for many years, yet the myth still persists in our culture. What you should focus on is the quality of your salt - opt for mineral rich, unrefined sea or Himalayan salt instead of the highly processed and additive laden iodized table salt.
SMOKING
Smoking cigarettes increases your likelihood of coronary heart disease. Every time you take a puff you are inhaling dangerous chemicals and free radicals which promote the growth of atherosclerotic plaques which cause heart disease. Chronic carbon monoxide intoxication from smoking limits the heart's ability to use oxygen, which as you can imagine is not a good thing. The hazards of smoking are compounded by the fact that the modern processed diet does not contain the nutrients required protect us from the negative effects of cigarettes.
MOVE IT
Regular physical activity is a key element to a heart healthy lifestyle. Doesn't matter what kind of exercise, just make sure you move your body at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes. When you exercise, the heart beats more rapidly, the arteries widen to provide more oxygen and arterial blood flow improves. Exercise also improves mood and decreases stress which makes for a happier (and you guessed it) more loving person which is great for heart health.
STRESS
No discussion of heart health is complete until stress is mentioned. Stress affects behaviours and factors that increase heart disease risk like high blood pressure, drinking, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating. Many of these are coping mechanisms people use to "manage" their stress, but unfortunately don't fix the problem and actually cause more harm.
Many doctors have noticed that heart attacks often occur just after severe emotional trauma and periods of high stress such as loss of a spouse or close friend, bankruptcy, layoff or dissapointment. Years of malnourishment, unhealthy lifestyle, and improper diet create a system so fragile that in times of crisis we lack the resilience to deal with extreme stress.
FINDING BALANCE - THE HEART CHAKRA
Your heart centre, or heart chakra, is related to all things love. It is the bridge between the lower body (physical self), and the upper body (the inner, intuitive, spiritual self). Our heart allows us to feel compassion, empathy, sensitivity, and gives us the ability to love deeply. Our emotional energy comes from the heart centre, and if we have blocked energy in this area of the body we are unhappy, unbalanced, sad and depressed. When our hearts are open and balanced we can have a deep sense of peace, happiness, and an overall sense of well being. No one wants to feel isolated and sad - we are designed to enjoy our lives and be happy. Achieving and maintaining an open and balanced heart centre should be our number one priority for health and well being.
The Sanskrit word for the fourth chakra is Anahata, which means "unstruck" or "unhurt". The name implies that beneath the pain of our experiences lies a pure and spiritual place where no hurt exists. It is impossible to avoid situations where someone may try to hurt you, but it is possible to choose what to do with that hurt. I often say to my children "Two wrongs don't make a right." That is the essence of anahata. When you inflict pain on others your are living from a place of fear, ignorance or hatred, which contribute to a closed heart centre. Love is a choice, not a consequence or stroke of luck. Choose love in every moment for heart health.
Happy New Year! If you're like most people, you probably spent the weekend reviewing and reflecting on the past year’s events and engaged in some form of strategic planning for the upcoming year. The popular word for this sort of transformative action is "resolution" which is a word which implies "a firm decision to do or not do something." This sort of rigid approach to change allows for no fluidity or flexibility. When we make declarations and commitments like “never” or “forever,” we are more likely to fall short of our goals and expectations. This leaves no room for balance and flexibility. What I am trying to say is resolutions do not work because more often than not, they include making changes to behaviour and objects that exist outside of us. Until we change what’s on the inside, we cannot change what’s on the outside. Eventually, we will go back to making the same choices, whether consciously or unconsciously. When we lovingly embrace and accept ourselves, focus our attention on what we want instead of what we don’t want, and set fluid intentions for the New Year, we are more likely to naturally flow toward choices that are aligned with our goals and achieve our desired results.
My favourite path to creating real and lasting change in my life includes 8 steps:
8 Steps To Create Real and Lasting Change
1. Love and accept yourself.
2. Practice self-awareness
3. Change old, negative beliefs into new, empowering beliefs.
4. Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.
5. Practice gratitude.
6. Set realistic, achievable goals and take actionable steps.
7. Never say never.
8. Meditate and visualize.
If you're one of the many people who want to lose some weight this year, the same principles apply. The typical scenario goes something like this: you hear about this wonderful diet that will guarantee weight-loss,
so you try it, only to gain even more weight back once you’ve lost it. Don't worry, you are not alone. Just because a diet works for one person, does not mean that
it will work for you.
Here are the top
5 reasons that diets are doomed to fail:
1. People
choose to use a diet to achieve a short-term goal. That goal is usually to lose
weight before an upcoming event. Diets are perceived from the onset as a
temporary action used to obtain an immediate result. Once that result is
achieved, the diet is stopped and old
eating habits return.
2. The
yo-yo diet or weight cycling. As
mentioned, many people go on diets, lose weight, and then gain weight, often
more than they lost. And, for some reason, the cycle is repeated. To quote Albert
Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expecting different results.” This repeated failure can
have negative effects on a person’s mental health and could result in an eating
disorder.
3. Many
diets are based on the premise of counting
calories using a formula meant for the general population as opposed to the
individual. Everybody processes calories differently. This formula supports
that caloric expenditure exceeds caloric intake and will therefore promote weight loss. It has become clear that this
premise is no longer true. Every calorie is not created equal. Calories
consumed from spinach or sweet potatoes are much more nutrient-dense than
calories consumed from a processed, low-fat muffin. In addition, if you were to
consume too few calories, your body goes into survival mode, slowing down the
metabolism. You run the risk of your metabolism remaining sluggish once you
start consuming more calories.
4. Before
even starting a diet, people believe that they will be depriving themselves of
foods they love. Entering into a program with this mindset clearly does not
support success. This constant experience of deprivation will bring on food
cravings that will be difficult to ignore. If you're trying to give up the things you love and enjoy, you're just punishing yourself. Why give up entirely the things you enjoy and bring you pleasure if it’s not harmful to yourself or others? Moderation and flexibility is key.
5. This
brings me to the last reason why diets do not work. They do not address food cravings
and how to handle them. Everyone has cravings. Having the tools to help
navigate through those cravings and reach for healthy food alternatives will
help to eliminate them.
Unfortunately for
many individuals, diets only offer a quick fix to a larger problem. Weight loss isn’t just about the food on our plate or the hours we log at the gym. It’s about creating a well-rounded life that is feeding and nourishing us in a number of ways. My job, my PASSION, is helping you create that kind of holistic life, where you are addressing all the various influences that are affecting your health and weight.
If you’re sick of the dieting roller coaster…
If you’re sick of meal plans that don’t work…
If you’re fed up with the cardboard low-cal frozen dinners…
I’ve got a solution for you.
I’m talking long-term, sustainable weight loss.
This is not something you will find in a book or on the back of a Lean Cuisine box. This is a revolutionary way of living and eating that will change your life and rock your world.
What do you mean painless PMS & Menopause?! There's no such thing!
Let me tell you a little story.
I used to get really bad menstrual cramps. I mean really, really bad, like to the point where I couldn't do anything unless I was on pain medication. Needless to say this was very disturbing and disruptive. Then one day, about 10 years ago, I decided to do a little experiment. I had recently read Eckhart Tolle's book "The Power of Now" and it totally changed the way I perceived my reality. I thought I'd apply the concept presented in his book to the way I experienced the pain of my menstrual cycle. I scheduled off the entire day and decided to just be present with the pain. Instead of fearing it, dreading it, and trying to fight it, I thought I'd play with fully experiencing it. So I did - and the cramps disappeared. I know, it's amazing. It still is amazing. I have never had to medicate myself for cramps ever since that day.
This is just one example of how empowering it can be when women listen to their bodies and learn to work with their bodies instead of loathing, fearing and suffering because of them.
If you too suffer from menstrual irregularities, PMS, breast tenderness, uncomfortable pre-menopausal symptoms, or infertility, then The Hormonal Bliss Project is for you, and it's launching on October 21st!
This course explores the four main phases of a woman's life that are related to and defined by the expression of her fertility and sexuality. We explore how what happens during and around these transitions sets the theme for a woman's experience of her self in her new roles throughout her life.
You will discover how a healthy menstrual cycle can help set the stage for a blissful menopause!
We explore the keys to Hormonal Balance through Diet and Nutrition, Exercise, Yoga, Natural Living and Emotional Wellness.
I am very excited to share a healthy and holistic perspective on women's reproductive health. Despite what you may have been told, your reproductive system is designed to function optimally without causing you a lot of pain and distress. Our modern lifestyle is the source of unhealthy dietary habits, disease, and incredible amounts of stress which are reflected in our bodies and emotions. In this course I share effective and natural tools and strategies you need to live a healthy and balanced life, no matter what time of the month or season of your life.
