November 2017 Newsletter
TOPIC: Improve our Immunity for Maximum Health
During this 1 hour lecture, Dr. Jatish Kaler, ND will discuss different aspects of our immune system and how they aid our body’s defense. Dr. Kaler will then outline key health strategies and natural health products you can use to effectively boost your immunity and prevent infection.
Speaker: Dr. Jatish Kaler
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 8th at 6:30pm
Location: Planet Organic Superstore, #100, 4916-130th Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2Z 0G4
WEBINAR for Naturopathic Doctors and Health Care Professionals
Topic: Healthy Body, Healthy Gut: Healing the Gut with Biological Medicine
Date: Tues, Dec 5, 2018
Time: 5 pm MST / 4 pm PST / 7 pm EST
Speaker: Dr. Melina Roberts, ND
Provide the foundation for achieving optimal intestinal health for your patients!
A healthy gut leads to a healthy body. Biological medicine recognizes that an impaired intestinal system and leaky gut has a direct impact on our body’s ability to regulate. This affects the enteric nervous system, leading to hormonal and neurotransmitter dysfunction, the inflammation cascade, a weakened immune system and ultimately a deterioration of health towards chronic disease. A healthy gut and balanced intestinal flora will lead to proper digestion and a strong immune system for optimal health and recovery from chronic disease and illness.
Join Dr. Melina Roberts, ND to learn how to effectively rebuild a healthy intestinal system. This will increase success in cases of GI symptoms, leaky gut, dysbiosis/candidiasis, allergies, chronic infections, inflammation, fatigue, immune & respiratory conditions, sinusitis, skin conditions, metabolic disorders, malignancy, joint disorders, and childhood illness (allergies, asthma, eczema). Dr. Roberts will discusses effective strategies to assess a disturbed gut and milieu (terrain) and highlight the most current treatment options that are focused on achieving balanced regulation and enhanced gut function.
This webinar is will provide practical applications and clinical pearls using techniques for a healthy gut based on guidelines from Dr. Melina Roberts, ND, Dr. Thomas Rau, MD and the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland.
In this webinar, you will learn:
- What do Dr. Melina Roberts, Dr. Thomas Rau and the Paracelsus Clinic have in common?
- Why the Biological Medicine approach to gut healing is so effective
- Connecting an unhealthy gut to chronic disease?
- The childhood illness connection (including allergies, asthma, eczema)
- Beyond the obvious, what are the signs and how to assess a disturbed gut?
- What does it really take to successfully rebuild a healthy intestinal system?
- An effective intestinal rebuilding protocol
- Introduction to the Sanum Intestinal Kit
Featured Article
BY: DR. JATISH KALER
With the shortened fall days and long winter months ahead, it’s time we all consider our Vitamin D levels and how best to supplement with the “sunshine vitamin.”
During the summer as Canadians, our major production of vitamin D starts inside our skin when it is exposed to ultraviolet B radiation from sun. Because of our northern latitudes, during the winter months we produce virtually zero vitamin D through our skin. Instead in the winter, our bodies rely on the vitamin D made and stored throughout the summer or that we consume through diet and supplements.
Natural food sources of Vitamin D include fatty fish, egg yolk, cheese and beef liver. Over the counter vitamin D supplements, and even cod liver oil are suitable ways to supplement with extra vitamin D. There are foods that have been fortified with vitamin D such as orange juice and cereals which is added during processing, however, the bioavailability of these fortified foods has come into question in recent years.
The fact is, that by the end of winter, many of us Canadians are deficient in vitamin D because we did not make and store enough from the sun during our short summer months and we do not supplement enough or not at all. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 40% of all Canadians test below the recommended Vitamin D levels during the winter and during the summer, 25% of the Canadian population still does not meet the recommended cut-off.
Factors such as higher northern latitudes, darker skin pigmentation, sunscreen use, minimal outdoor summertime sun exposure, excess cloud and smog cover and excess body weight can all decrease our body’s level of vitamin D. Medications including anticonvulsants, steroids and statins can have a negative impact on vitamin D status.
Health effects of Vitamin D
Vitamin D has long been recognized as an essential component of healthy bones and teeth and for maintaining our levels of calcium and phosphorous. Severe Vitamin D deficiency in infants and children causes the condition called rickets, characterized by soft and misshaped bones and teeth and muscle weakness.
Emerging research is beginning to uncover more connections between vitamin D and human health. Vitamin D plays a key role in balancing the body’s immune system and may play a role in preventing infections and autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis.
Other avenues of research have shown the link between treating vitamin D deficiency and treating mental disorders such as seasonal affective disorder and depression. Vitamin D has also been used to improve muscle strength and balance and to prevent falls and fractures in the elderly.
It also shows promise in the treatment of certain pain conditions including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and restless leg syndrome. Finally, there are population studies that have shown an association between higher levels of vitamin D and a decreased incidence of heart disease and cancers of the breast, prostate and colon.
Testing and Supplementing with Vitamin D:
While there remains much to be discovered when it comes to the health effects of vitamin D, there is just as much to research when it comes to the right blood levels of vitamin D we need to maintain long term health.
Traditionally, a patient needed to be in severe vitamin D deficiency to be diagnosed by a blood test. But over the years doctors and researchers have re-evaluated the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level to catch more people that are vitamin D deficient.
The same changes have occurred in the supplementing of vitamin D. Historically, doctors would only prescribe very small amounts of vitamin D and only to the most deficient of patients. We have begun to prescribe larger doses in recognition that people need more vitamin D than previously believed.
And there are still many researchers and physicians who believe we haven’t gone far enough and our current standards of vitamin D deficiency diagnosis and treatment are too conservative and that many patients are still not being treated with enough vitamin D to achieve optimal health.
For adult patients within my own practice, I often will recommend a vitamin D supplement during the winter at dosages between 1000-4000 IU (international units) per day. This may depend on numerous factors including their age, body size, skin colour, level of sun exposure, diet and specific health issues and medications.
In terms of targeting the right level of vitamin D in the blood, again depending on the health needs and goals of my patient, I will often attempt to achieve a level somewhere between 60-100 nmol/L of 25-hydroxy vitamin D.
Another important point I like to make with patients is that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it is best absorbed when taken with a meal, especially one that contains fats. I also tell them to look for a supplement in the form of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and not D2 (ergocalciferol) for increased bioavailability.
At the end of the day, there are numerous factors that will influence your vitamin D needs and having an informed discussion with your health care practitioner is the best way to find out how much vitamin D supplementation is right for you and what blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D to target.
Any of our doctors at the Advanced Naturopathic Medical Clinic would be happy to help you in determining your vitamin D needs through testing, analysis and supplementation.
Guest Article
SEVEN Common Emotional Triggers to Adrenal Fatigue
By Susie Stockham
Are you tired of feeling tired? Do you experience high stress regularly and have a hard time relaxing? Does life trigger you on a daily basis to the point of overload?
If you have a hard time managing your stress, feel like a walking zombie and find it difficult to turn off mentally, it could actually mean that there is more going on than you are aware of. Stress can feel like it is never ending, even compounding in both its severity and emotional triggers. Here are some emotional triggers affiliated with the adrenal glands. Depending on the severity of adrenal depletion can depend on the severity of the emotions. If adrenal fatigue is coming up for you, you may be able to relate to some or all of these.
1) Resentment; Obsessing or holding grudges. This emotion can be attached to judgement and can be detrimental to moving forward. This emotion traps you in the past, often limiting the ability to “be” in the present. The ability to let go with ease can be a daily practice with some helpful tools and healing.
2) Anger; Rage can be both destructive and retracting energy. Due to the nature of adrenal fatigue and the effect that cortisol levels have on the body, stress can feed the rage. Learning how to relax and receive can be very beneficial to releasing anger.
3) Overloaded; to the point of not caring for self properly; Stress can come in varying degrees and forms from travelling in different time zones, sleeping in different beds, diet, intense exercise and also healing through trauma or illness. Most people relate stress to over work but it can hide in so many various forms and levels. Eventually we all have a breaking point and self care is soooooo important here.
4) Dominating; Controlling nature and the general inability to let go. Micro managing people or life to gain control but all the while losing a piece of self. Being able to let go and go with the flow is important to fully relax and receive.
5) Irritability and Impatience; Feeling easily or constantly irritated can cause strain on your relationships and be detrimental to the outcomes of different situations in your reality. Feelings like you are going to snap or just can’t take it anymore.
6) Self Defeating Belief Patterns; Feeling deflated or like you are perpetually failing yourself. These can be from self or others, such as how you were raised, certain teachers, friends, societal connections throughout this lifetime or others.
7) Anxiety; is fear keeping you from moving forward in your life. This can show up in any one particular or all areas of your life and can be one of the emotions attached with adrenal fatigue. When levels in the Adrenals are out of balance this fight or flight or adrenaline release can also be out of balance.
Without self care or finding the root cause of any or all of these emotions can literally cost you years of your life. Emotional Clearing can assist with both the identification of your true triggers and how you best release them. Through Energy Work much of these stressors or contributing emotions can be identified, connections made and tools given to allow healing to occur. Through Access Bars, judgements and limiting belief patterns can be released to allow for positive life shifts quickly and easily.
For more information on Adrenal Fatigue or to book an Energy Work Session with Susie Stockman at 403-470-6740.
Susie is a Complementary Medicine Therapist and Certified Intuitive with a nutritional background. She has assisted many clients with guidance on both their spiritual and health journeys, specializing in chronic digestive issues for both children and adults by balancing physical, emotional and mental symptoms through Reiki and Energy Work.
