digestion Archives

7 Steps to Better Quality Sleep

In the last blog, The Importance of Sleep, we learned about what is really going on while you sleep and how these processes ultimately affect your health. There are plenty of great reasons to ensure you are getting a good night’s rest every night. But many of us find it difficult to get good quality sleep every night. Let’s look at some of the factors that influence the quality of your sleep as well as some strategies to help you get the rest you need.

Factors Impacting Your Quality Sleep

For some, good sleep can seem like a complex puzzle. Many factors can influence the quality and duration of your sleep. If you have trouble sleeping through the night, take note of the list below. Be mindful of which of these factors you incorporate into your day then try eliminating for a few weeks to see how it improves your sleep:

Caffeine:

This stimulant usually wakes up the body and can keep you from feeling tired. In fact, caffeine blocks adenosine, a chemical that your body secretes to make you sleepy. While this might be a benefit in the morning or during a long day, ingesting too much caffeine in the late afternoon or early evening can affect your sleep. Opt for herbal teas over coffee later in the day.

Alcohol:

Drinking too much alcohol too late in the evening can disrupt your sleep patterns. More specifically, it can disrupt your REM sleep, leaving your cycles incomplete. On a simpler level, alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it increases the urge to urinate more frequently. So, having too much alcohol can also disrupt your rest because you might have to make more frequent trips to the bathroom.

Diet:

The timing and content of your last meal can affect your readiness for bed. Think of the blood sugar surge that comes from a meal or snack. The boost in energy late in the day can keep you from winding down easily. Also, when your body is working at digesting it can prevent you from entering Stage 2 of the sleep cycle.

Physical activity:

Regular exercise can help you maintain a regular sleep schedule. Just don’t exercise too late in the evening before bed, or your body won’t have time to settle back down before turning in.

Stress level and emotional state:

Consider how stressful your day was or your emotional state throughout the day. If you’re feeling especially worn down, worried, or otherwise stressed, it can be very difficult to quiet your mind for bed. Meditation and yoga can be helpful practices to help bring down cortisol levels and relax in the evening.

Bright lights:

You’re constantly being bombarded by light, with can impact production of your sleep hormones. Make sure your room is dark, and take a break from bright screens from phones, television and tablets before you tuck in.

7 Strategies for Quality Sleep

In addition to eliminating those factors that can mess with your sleep patterns, here are some other tips to consider to help you get the most from your sleep:

1. Caffeine Deadline

Consider cutting back on the amount of caffeine you drink, or impose a “caffeine deadline”—a point at which you won’t ingest any more for the day. Some herbal teas, like lavender or chamomile, are naturally very soothing and relaxing, making them a great choice later in the evening.

2. Alcohol in Moderation

Drink alcohol in moderation or impose an “alcohol deadline” so that your body has time to readjust before bed. Remember that alcohol is an inflammatory substance and hard on your liver which has the job of detoxing it from your system. Your body already has plenty of toxins to eliminate while you sleep, rest and restore. When it comes to alcohol, less is definitely more!

3. Skip the Snack Attack

Avoid eating a meal or snack too late in the evening. Digestion takes your body a good amount of energy and can actually prevent you from entering Stage 2 of the sleep cycle. Throughout the day, stick to low-glycemic foods to avoid too much fluctuation in your blood sugar levels.

4. Get Moving

Exercise regularly, preferably early in the day. A good starting point is 20 minutes per day—and work up from there. There are plenty of great short exercise videos online for free. A great stress-busting exercise for me is a brisk 3km walk in the afternoon with my dog – especially when the sun is shining

5. Plan & Prioritize Sleep

Plan for at least seven hours of sleep. You may need more than seven – I know I do! But this is a good target to work up to if you’re currently and routinely getting less than this benchmark. While you may not be able to reach seven hours immediately, start incrementally heading for bed sooner so the change is gradual and more doable – remember, it takes time to change your body’s internal clock.

6. Make Sleep a Routine

Set a regular bedtime and waking time—and stick to it, even on weekends. This kind of routine is helpful for keeping your body’s internal clock in rhythm – this is key to maintaining the natural sleep cycle.

7. Wind Down your Day

Incorporate relaxation or meditation into your wind-down routine. Stop working and turn off screens at least an hour before bedtime. Dim your lights, play light instrumental music, try reading something for fun. A warm bath and/or light stretching can also help your body release tension before laying down. A warm bath or shower plus a cup of lavender or chamomile tea has me out and sleeping like a baby in no time at all!

Developing new habits can take time. Be patient with yourself and keep working at it. If you need some support while you are creating new sleep habits, consider a fast-acting, sugar-free melatonin supplement that promotes the body’s natural sleep and wake cycles – Pure Rest from Usana.

References: https://askthescientists.com/healthy-sleep/

Better Digestion in 8 Simple Steps

Hormone Health

Better digestion is one of the major keys to balanced hormones improved overall health. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? The better your digestion, the more nutrients you absorb from your food. Every cell in your body needs nutrients to do its job. If your body is not well-nourished it can’t do its jobs very well and everything starts to suffer: your energy, sleep, mood, skin, immune system, and more.

Digestive upset is one of the most common complaints in society today. Just take one look at the shelves of your drug store stocked with products for heartburn, diarrhea, upset stomach, indigestion, and acid reflux. Not to mention all the commercials on TV for such products. Like most symptoms, these are messages from our body that something isn’t quite right. And these particular symptoms point directly to the digestive system needing some love and support.

Do You Need to Take Steps to Better Digestion?

How many of these symptoms have you experienced in the last few weeks or months?

acid reflux
indigestion
bloating
heartburn
upset stomach
diarrhea
gas
low energy
moodiness
cravings

If you can check off even just one or two of these symptoms that you experienced more than one time in the past few weeks, your digestion needs some attention. You can start showing your digestive system a little love with these 8 simple steps:

8 Steps to Better Digestion

1. Chew Your Food

Not chewing your food enough is the number one reason for reflux and digestive upset. Chewing allows for more saliva to be mixed into your food. Saliva contains enzymes for digesting carbohydrates. Also, it has beneficial bacteria and the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and grehlin. Chewing your food sends signals to the body to prepare it for the types of nutrients it is about to receive. So the more you chew, the better. Chewing each mouthful 30-40 times is ideal. There is even one study which found that chewing 40 times (instead of just 15) helped participants lose weight!

2. Take Time to Enjoy Your Food

Too often we are in a big rush and gulp down our food as quickly as we can. That usually means not nearly enough chewing! But it also means that we are eating under pressure and stress. And that actually slows down our digestion a lot. Food is meant to nourish our body and by enjoying our foods, we will benefit more from them while lowering our stress levels as we relax and eat. So take at least 20 minutes to eat, longer if you can. Relax. Breathe. Enjoy.

3. Eat Smaller Meals More Often

This reduces stress on the digestive system and can also be helpful for individuals who are trying to lose weight. It is also helpful for blood sugar. Eating until you are full stresses the digestive system. So plan to eat until you are about 80 percent full. This satisfies appetite, nutrient needs and does not put as much pressure on the digestive system.

4. Food Sequencing

Try eating vegetables first and the carbohydrates and protein last. Fruit should be consumed alone or can be eaten with the vegetables. This allows the vegetables and carbohydrates to move more quickly through the stomach to get to the small intestines where they will be digested. Meat and fish protein need to spend more time in the stomach. By eating these last, they can spend the time they need in the stomach alone which will aid digestion.

5. Salads and Fermented Foods

Eating salads or fermented foods with meals will help digestion. These foods contain enzymes and acids that can be very helpful to digestion.

6. Drink Less With Meals

Too much liquid dilutes stomach acid and fills the stomach cavity with more volume, which can lead to reflux. It is similar to eating too much. If a stomach is too full, it does not matter whether it is from liquid or solid food. You can sip some liquid, such as wine, as it is a fermented beverage with enzymes and was designed to be sipped with meals. Also, water can be sipped in small volume.

7. Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics

Try digestive enzymes and/or probiotic supplements. These can help improve digestion and absorption. Many of my clients use these for 2 to 3 months, then as they improve their digestion through nutrition and lifestyle habits, they find they no longer need these supplements daily.

8. Food Sensitivities

Determine whether you have a food sensitivity. It may not be permanent and does require a lot of gut health work to fix. However, in the short-term, you can temporarily improve digestion by reducing your exposure to any food sensitivities.

The key is to not make assumptions. Do not listen to common beliefs about specific foods. We are all different and there is nothing worse than pulling out a food because it is a fad to do so. This just complicates your life and causes you more stress (which is bad for digestion).

Instead, keep a food journal. Write down what you eat, the time you eat it and how you feel both physically and emotionally throughout the day. This can help pinpoint how and when you should eat and if any particular food may be bothering you. Do it for 2 weeks.

Also paying attention to how you feel on busy work days as compared to relaxing days off can be enlightening. It can show what stress is doing to you.

Consult a nutrition professional for assistance with food sensitivities. You can book a complimentary Clarity Call with me to discuss your concerns.

Hormone Imbalance: 7 keys to Restore Balance and Energy

Hormone Health

Hormone imbalance can cause all sorts of unpleasant symptoms and health issues. If I asked you to name some hormones, what would you say?

Estrogen? Progesterone? Testosterone?

Those are the ones I most commonly hear because, honestly, that is what most of us think of. The truth is we don’t really think about our hormones all that much. That is, until we are feeling miserable with night sweats, moods swings, PMS, or hot flashes. These are the typical symptoms that make us think about hormone imbalance.

But, what if I told you that you have many more hormones than this? And that there are several more symptoms of hormone imbalance that you may never have considered before?

The truth is that we have many hormones that regulate the functions in our bodies and interact with each other. This makes them more complicated than the average person would assume. Healthy hormones are not just reproductive hormones, but also adrenal, thyroid, liver, digestive and intestinal. They all have to function properly for you to be happy, healthy and energetic.

Life without hormone imbalance

When your hormones are healthy and balanced:

you spend your day feeling calm and energized – not stressed and overwhelmed
your periods are regular
you have no trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
you wake up feeling rested
your memory and focus are regular – no more brain fog
your muscles and joints are not sore and you feel limber
your skin is clear and smooth – not dry
you maintain good sex drive
typical menopausal symptoms of hot flashes and weight gain are not an issue

7 Keys to Healthy Balanced Hormones

Stable Blood Sugar

Fresh whole foods help keep blood sugar stable

Having stable blood sugar means keeping it steady without fluctuating from high to low throughout the day. Blood sugar ups and downs put your hormones on a roller coaster. This especially affects insulin (a fat storage hormone) and glucagon (fat burning hormone). Eating smaller snacks and meals of fresh whole foods will go a long way in maintaining smooth, even blood sugar levels.

Balanced Adrenal Glands

When adrenal glands are balanced, it means they are not secreting too much cortisol throughout the day. When you are stressed, excess cortisol makes you burn carbohydrates. This causes your blood sugar to swing up and down. And, in order to produce all that cortisol, your adrenals block the process of progesterone production. That is why you may notice a late or missed period when you are stressed. Good stress management techniques go a long way in supporting your adrenals. Did you know that simply pausing to take 5 to 10 slow, deep belly breaths calms your nervous system and lowers cortisol levels?

Yoga supports healthy adrenals — Restorative practices such as yoga and tai chi are supportive of healthy adrenals

Healthy Ovaries

Healthy ovaries produce normal amounts of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Obesity is one of the biggest factors affecting ovarian health. Being underweight can also prevent your ovaries from functioning properly and can upset the hormonal balance in your body. Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do to support your ovaries.

Effective Liver

Grapefruit contains calcium d'glucarate to support your liver and hormone balance

An effective liver aids in the detoxification of any toxins or excess hormones that you produce or toxins you ingest. The liver also helps convert your T4 thyroid hormones to the active T3 that you need. And it produces sufficient cholesterol to help you make sex hormones. Your liver also makes bile that helps break down fat and excrete toxins. Oh, and it helps maintain stable blood sugar – are you starting to see the many connections and interactions at play? Your liver loves cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, bitter foods like dandelion or collard greens, sulfur-rich foods such as onions and garlic. Apples and grapefruit are also great for your liver because they have significant amounts of calcium d’glucarate.

Happy Thyroid

A happy thyroid will properly regulate your metabolism so you feel great. Keep your thyroid happy with sea vegetables, Himalayan sea salt, and coconut oil.

Efficient Digestive System

Your digestive system works to make you feel comfortable after eating (no gas, indigestion or bloating). It ensures that the nutrients from your food are available to help nourish your body. Support your digestive system by practising the keys to good digestion. One simple habit you can develop now is to avoid drinking ice cold water right before, after or during your meals.

Garden of Good Gut Bacteria

Good gut bacteria in the right amount is needed in your intestines. This helps regulate everything including: the adrenals, the liver, the thyroid and blood sugar. They also help to eliminate toxins, play a protective role against many health conditions, and help regulate all of your hormones. Including probiotic and prebiotic foods in your daily diet will help to maintain healthy gut bacteria. Probiotic foods replenish your gut bacteria – like planting seeds or new plants in your garden. Prebiotic foods nourish your gut bacteria – like water and sunshine helps the flowers in your garden to grow. Fermented foods, fibre-rich foods and water are all good for your gut bacteria. One of my favourite prebiotic foods is sweet potatoes. There are so many delicious and nutritious ways to prepare them!

The Big Picture – A Holistic Approach

There are 5 key systems that directly affect the health of your hormones as well as each other: Adrenals, Liver, Thyroid, Digestive System, and Intestinal System. Because of that, it is improper practice to work on only one of them. You have to work on all of them. You can do this by working on your stress levels, managing your lifestyle, and taking any necessary supplements to compensate for what you are not getting through your food.

Since the main goal of a strategy for healthy hormones is to support all 5 of these key systems you need to take a holistic approach. This is best accomplished by:

Eating specific foods that will support their functions. The Metabolic Balance program is an excellent way to accomplish this.
Improving lifestyle habits, including stress management and exercise.
Determining which supplements you need with your health practitioner. We can talk about your specific needs during your complimentary Clarity Call.

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