With a beautiful summer upon us, I thought I would talk about some things to think about with regards to health care practices over the summer months. The first thing I will talk about is getting healthy sun exposure and why it is beneficial for you to get some sun. It is beneficial to get some sun because being exposed to bright light helps you make serotonin and improves your mood. Endorphins are released when you bask in the sunlight and they make you feel good.  Being exposed to sunlight during the day helps you re-establish circadian rhythms and sleep better when you go to bed at night.

Sunlight provides you with two types of ultraviolet rays- UVA and UVB. When UVB rays hit your skin, the rays penetrate your skin and converts 7-dehydrocholesterol in your skin to previtamin D3, which is then converted into Vitamin D3. This substance travels to the liver where it is further converted into 25 (OH)D, then on to the kidneys where it is converted into the active form of Vitamin D 1,25- (OH)2D (1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D) . 30 minutes of exposure provides you with maximal production of D3. Fair skin individuals may only need 15 minutes in the sun to get maximal exposure. 3 days a week is typically recommended to get your D3 levels up (without sunscreen). Darker skinned individuals may need to be in the sun 2-3x longer to get there levels up because of the melanin in their skin. UVB rays are most prevalent around 10 am- 3 pm. Have your vitamin D sun break mid-day, then apply sunscreen to protect your skin.

UVA rays are present all the time and they lead to sun damage and wrinkling of the skin. UVA rays not only are present in sun exposure but they are also present when the sun comes through a glass window, therefore sitting in a window getting sun can lead to sun damage. Protecting your skin with a broad spectrum sunscreen (UVA and UVB protection) once you have had your D break will offset the sun damage. I would recommend using a SPF 15 which will block 99% of rays. Vitamin D3 levels should be between 80-200 nmol/l to be optimal in Canada.

Because many of the sunscreens on the shelf contain ingredients that are not healthy for your skin and body such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, retinyl palmitate, parabens, phthalates, etc.,  I recommend using a mineral oxide sunscreen like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. These mineral sunscreens block the sun’s rays and are less likely to cause skin irritation. They may be combined with other ingredients like coconut oil, aloe, jojoba, Vitamin E, grapeseed oil, olive oil, shea butter etc. to safely protect your skin from the sun and moisturize your skin at the same time.

Barbecuing is another popular pastime in the summer. The only problem is anytime you cook food at  a high temperature whether you are grilling, frying, broiling or barbecuing you create heterocyclic amines which are linked to cancer. The best thing to do to reduce these harmful compounds is to marinate your meat before you cook it. You could marinate it in red wine for six hours or beer for 4 hours or marinate in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic; you could use spice rubs; you could add berries or cherries to your hamburger meat to make beef patties and reduce harmful compounds.

By taking a little extra time, you can make your summer gatherings a little more healthy and a little less harmful. If you are cooking hot dogs, make sure they are 100% beef or 100% chicken ingredients or 100 % organic tofu. Make sure they do not contain nitrates, artificial flavor, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup. Keep in mind that ingestion of processed meats do lead to increased risk of cancer.

Another thing about the summer to worry about is protecting yourself from mosquitoes. If you are over age 4, I would recommend using lemon eucalyptus oil. This will protect you for about 2 hours from pesky mosquitoes. Mosi-Q is a homeopathic preparation that is safe to use for children over one year. This is also safe to use in pregnancy and is an oral dose that you take 30 minutes before you go outside. Use oscillating fans set on a high speed to prevent mosquitoes from landing on you. Keep in mind that mosquitoes are attracted to sweat and dark colors. Remember to hydrate in the summer with lots of filtered water. Drink until your urine is clear or pale yellow. This is the best time of year in Calgary and we are having a really good summer this year so enjoy it.

References: Dr. Mercola newsletter, Vitamin D monograph, Alt. Med Rev. 2008;13 (2), Rocky Mountain Analytical D-spot Clinical Information for Professionals Version March 2013.

We are bombarded with negative issues surrounding the state of the economy in corporate Calgary. On the other hand, there is some messaging around how the economy is turning around and that companies are hiring again. There is always contrast and focusing on a more positive stream of thoughts is necessary and helpful to maintaining a state of optimism in the space of negativity. I have been listening to the Hay House Summit which is online for free this weekend. At this summit are varied speakers with different educational backgrounds, all consistent with their messages of empowerment and positivity. I attended a summit in person in 2005 in Las Vegas put on by Hay House and loved it.

There are some helpful tips that I gleaned from listening to the summit that I thought I would pass on to others. Focusing on things that you appreciate and make you feel good is one way of maintaining optimism in the space of negativity. It is highly individual so what you can appreciate about your life is different from what your friend appreciates about their life. I appreciate the warmth of the sun after a long winter and seeing the blossoms on the trees. I appreciate how connected I feel to other people in my life and am loving my relationship with my family members. I appreciate how strong and stable I feel in my permanent remission from what was at one time active M.S.. I knew I could get here and it has been 10 years of feeling stable so I am grateful and appreciative of that.

I try to direct my conversations with others into areas in which they can appreciate themselves and see how far they have come in their journey of achieving better health. When I counsel others, I hold a space of unconditional love so they can truly come into all of who they are. You can always do that for others. If you focus on the positive aspects of another and where they are achieving better results and help reinforce that, that is being a good support for them. The answers largely exist inside of us. If we take the time to listen in, we may need some help in implementation or inspired action but trust yourself at the same time. You will get there if you stay focused on what you are wanting to achieve.

Meditation can definitely help your answers or solutions to come forward that you are seeking as can Emotional Freedom Technique. Spending 15 minutes in the morning focused on your breath before you start your day is a simple way of spending some quiet time listening. Consistent morning meditation also allows you to feel more clarity throughout the rest of the day and remember things that you need to do. It helps you feel more at peace and more balanced so anything that shows up that appears to be disruptive has less effect on your day and on your life. Remember that any negative emotion that you feel just means that you have forgotten who you truly are which is a powerful being of light and life force energy. Emotional freedom technique which is a tapping technique that is like acupuncture without the needles is a great technique to change your emotional state into a more positive one while lowering cortisol which is the ‘stress related hormone’ that can be disruptive to sleep and well being. To book an appointment to learn about meditation or emotional freedom technique, seek basic counsel or come in for a naturopathic assessment to improve your health, call Parallel Wellness at 4032321283.

 

I taught a one day workshop on Eating Well to Live in Balance with MS this past weekend in Calgary. I have been in stable remission for eight plus years, living with MS, which I believe I have had since I was 21 years old (I only know this in hindsight). What I have learned in my 25 years with a lot of help and resources from individuals coping with this disease, that it is possible to live in balance with this condition and actually thrive, despite having it. It has been my greatest teacher. If you read some of my earlier blogs when I was in the trenches of healing, it was a real challenge at the time, I had to battle a lot of things and faced some difficult and painful flares; but ultimately, I began to find myself… opening from within and starting to discover my true self

Because I am a naturopathic doctor and pride myself on walking my talk, I was able to live a long time with this condition and not know, that there was something wrong with me. It was only when I was training for my second marathon and carbo loaded with a lot of gluten that the symptoms appeared in a big way (I was 33 years old). Before this time, I had largely avoided wheat because I thought it gave me acne. I had unknowingly protected myself, by avoiding wheat for many years. There is now a known connection between autoimmune disease and gluten sensitivity because it triggers zonulin which opens the tight junctions in the intestines and thus contributes to intestinal permeability (one of the three factors that underlies autoimmune disease).

In this workshop, I discussed the importance of limiting saturated fat consumption to less than 20 grams, even better if it is kept under 15 or 10 grams per day. We can thank the brilliant Dr. Swank for discovering one of the most important factors to help us stay healthy and limit progressive decline. This was one factor that I was not always 100% perfect with in my past. I did not realize that having one single meal over the saturated fat limit could set me back. Now that I know that, I am much more confident in maintaining control over my health. Before I used to have a ‘rich’ meal out on special occasions. The last one that I remember coincided with a flare, unfortunately. I remember feeling particularly happy that weekend. I had gone to Radium hot springs with my boyfriend and another couple. We had a great time. I even sat in the hot pools with little after effect of the submersion. I went for a fatty brunch on the last day and ate sausage and greasy eggs. I think I even consumed a gluten wrap the day before. Three days later, I began to feel poorly and had a bad flare.Now that I realize I can not even eat one meal too rich in saturated fat, I am feeling stable and back to my healthy self.

Another thing I taught this weekend, was besides avoiding gluten and dairy (which again trigger zonulin and contribute to permeability in your gut), was the importance of avoiding sugar. I have craved fats not sugars, so this is one vice that is not hard to avoid now. There was a time when I ate a lot more sugar and that was in university. I am sure that consuming more sugar contributed to my intestinal permeability, as well. Interestingly enough, the microbiome of patients that have MS, has shown a preference for fostering bacteria that digest sugar. This is not a good thing and is another reason to avoid sugar at all costs. It will help your MS if you completely avoid sugar. Bacteria that produce inflammatory compounds and contribute to immune dysregulation have also been shown to be present in the microbiome of MS patients.

Probiotic bacteria are known to induce immunomodulating activity in the gut and help regulate inflammation. Probiotics help increase production of butyrate, an anti-inflammatory substance. T regulatory cells induced in the gut may suppress inflammatory conditions. Lactobacillus paracasei and lactobacillus plantarum induce T regulatory cells.  Probiotic bacteria may help in the treatment of MS. Some strains may be more helpful than others and there is much more research to be done.

Reference: www.imsms.org

 

A