In today’s world with the stressors of everyday life being many, it is prudent to pay some attention to what we are putting into our body on a daily basis in the way of nutrition. When I look at food, I pay attention to how much ‘life force energy’ is in the food. Life force energy is a term that denotes how much energy you have available to you in your body. How much life force energy do you have for your daily activities, the things that are required of you and the things that you want to do? How resilient are you? The more life force energy that exists in your food leads to more life force energy in your cells, tissues, and organs. Nutrition can be a great tool to assist with promoting health for your body, mind and spirit.

Look at the ‘vibrational’ energy of your food and how high the life force energy is in it? Foods that are raw will have more energy in them than foods that are cooked. Food that is consumed fresh has more energy than food that comes out of a box or has been sitting on the shelf for long periods of time. Frozen foods have less life force energy than fresh foods. Foods higher in life force energy include fruits and vegetables whereas foods lower in life force energy would include meat, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol, flour, and sugar. Foods that are more acidic might be another way these foods are classified versus more health promoting alkaline foods.

There are many teachers that have written about ‘energy’ and potentiality in food. One of the best is Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D. a holistic psychiatrist who has written many books including ‘Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet’ and ‘Conscious Eating’. He talks about chakras and how eating different foods can influence chakras in your body. Chakras are subtle energy centers in your body. There are seven major chakras in the body. These chakras feed the organs with energy in the body depending on where they are located.  Please read the books I have listed above if you are interested in this. I will talk briefly about chakras and keep it simpler for now.

Choosing to eat all colors of the rainbow will subtly influence your chakra system and increase your micronutrient levels of nutrition. This will also increase the life force energy in your body. I will focus on fruits and vegetables primarily as most people do not eat enough servings of them.  

Eating red foods will have a subtle effect on your root chakra which is your center of security and stability. Are you feeling grounded or anxious at this time? If you are feeling more anxious or fearful about things you might choose to eat more red foods which support the root chakra. Red foods add more grounding energy to your body. Choose foods like red peppers, beets, tomatoes, strawberries, apples, cranberries, raspberries and cherries to support this chakra.

Do you want more passion in your life? You might choose to eat more orange colored fruits and vegetables which support the second chakra (located just below your belly button). This chakra focuses on relationships, intimate ones as well as relationship to money; creative expression is fueled by this chakra. Eat oranges, mangos, tangerines, orange peppers, apricots, carrots, peaches, papaya, pumpkin, and sweet potato to support this chakra.

Your third chakra is located above your belly button; this is your center of personal power and self esteem.  Choose yellow foods such as yellow peppers, yellow tomatoes, golden beets, sweet corn, squash, and yellow grapefruit to strengthen this center. Whole grains like buckwheat, quinoa, oats, rice, rye, or whole wheat would also be supportive.

The heart chakra is in the middle of your chest; your capacity to love others and receive love is influenced by your heart chakra. How open is your heart? Choosing green foods such as spinach, kale, leaf lettuce, romaine, arugula, avocados, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro and basil would support your heart chakra.

The throat chakra is next; blue is the color that supports it. Do you speak your truth to yourself and others? This is the center of your personal communication and expression. Choose foods such as blueberries, bilberries, blackberries, blue potatoes, and blue corn to support this chakra.

Your third eye chakra is located between your eyes; purple foods influence this chakra. It is your intuitive centre; where you sense things. Do you have insights about your life? Beets, huckleberries, grapes, purple cabbage, plums, and eggplant will support this chakra.

Lastly, the crown chakra is located at the top of your head. This is the center of your spiritual connection; where you connect to divinity. Do you have a connection to a higher power? Choose golden or white foods such as cauliflower, artichokes, onions, daikon radish, fennel and quinoa to support this chakra.

Foods can influence your energy, health and vibration of your body. Looking at food through a different lens may renew your interest in what you are putting into your body to influence your mind, body and spirit. Let food be your medicine…

If you are interested in chakras, please read about them at your local library or pick up books by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. Until next time, be well!

 

 

In the last post, I talked about environmental estrogen and gave some suggestions that you can implement to cut down on your exposure to it. In this post, I will talk about supporting your elimination of excess estrogen once it is in your body.

Estrogen is made by the ovaries, placenta (in pregnancy) and your fat cells (post menopause). Estrogen is metabolized by enzymes in the liver and is eventually changed to a glucuronic acid complex which can leave the liver via the bile and pass into your intestine. Foods to include that support this conversion in your body include red raspberries, high fiber (wheat bran, psyllium),oranges and apples. Diets that support a healthy metabolite of estrogen (C2) include one that is low in fat and high in fiber. A diet that promotes unhealthy estrogen metabolites(C16, C4) would be one that is high in fat, high in sugar, and low in protein. This is why it is so important to focus on diet when looking at any health imbalance.

Once the breakdown products of estrogen pass into your intestine, you need healthy bowel function to eliminate it out of your body. Women who have high levels of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase (made by certain bacteria that colonize your intestine) can cause free estrogen levels to be reabsorbed back into the bloodstream through the intestinal walls. Diets that are higher in saturated fat and meat will increase these bacteria which we don’t want so minimize these substances in your diet. If you are constipated, make sure the constipation is treated because it could indirectly affect your hormone balance.

Other foods which are champions when it comes to balancing female hormones include the brassica family (kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc). Eat these foods at least three times per week. These foods contain indole-3-carbinol which helps promotes the conversion of estrogen to healthy metabolites. Eat them raw or lightly steamed to obtain the best benefit.

Please book in an appointment to talk more about balancing female hormones. There are many herbs and homoepathic medicines that I use in my practice that can support women’s health as well as specific nutrients. Please refer to The Natural Medicine Guide to Breast Cancer by Sat Dharam Kaur, ND for a thorough book on women’s health if you want to learn more.

 

 

I test female salivary hormones in my patients if they are overly challenged by mood disturbances at different times in their menstrual cycle, are trying to conceive and are having difficulty, or are in peri-menopause or menopause and are wanting to determine what their hormone levels are. Monthly profiles can track your hormone levels; by taking eleven samples of your saliva every three days starting with your menstrual cycle, you can see a pattern of estrogen and progesterone levels which then makes it clearer for me to decide what intervention might be necessary for balancing.

I do see a pattern of estrogen dominance in some of the women that I test. Signs of estrogen dominance would include a higher estrogen to progesterone ratio- this means estrogen is high and progesterone is low in comparison. Symptoms of estrogen dominance may include irritability, PMS, fuzzy thinking, fibrocystic breast disease, weight gain, water retention, irregular and/or heavy bleeding, fibroids, endometriosis, menstrual migraines, ovarian cysts, and breast cancer. Why do we have too much estrogen and why do we not have enough progesterone to balance it all out?

We are exposed to estrogen in our environment in the form of phthalates (plastics, perfumes, nail polish), PCB’s (non organic butter, farmed salmon, even though it is was banned in 1972 it persists in our environment), pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, BPA in plastic water bottles, baby bottles and in the lining of cans, make-up, perfume, hair spray, shampoo, creams, lotions and other personal care products. Restaurants, golf courses, supermarkets and schools spray chemicals that mimic estrogen to keep their environments clean and weed/insect free. Birth control pills, fertility drugs and hormone replacement therapy contribute further to our estrogen load. This is too much estrogen coming into our bodies which then affects our estrogen levels, increasing them.

It is unrealistic to eliminate all your exogenous estrogen and so the goal is to reduce exogenous estrogens coming into your body.Here are some ways to begin. Buy organic vegetables when it comes to the following- peaches, apples, pears, strawberries, nectarines, imported grapes, cherries, lettuce, bell peppers (orange, green, red), celery, potatoes, and spinach. Buy organic dairy (at least butter), organic meat/poultry and choose wild versus farmed fish. Buy your fruit and vegetables fresh or frozen versus canned. Buy tomatoes, tomato sauce, and crushed tomatoes in glass jars versus cans.

Look for BPA free cans on the label when you are choosing canned foods. Some companies are staring to use BPA free cans. Don’t heat your foods in plastic or wrap warm foods in plastic. Buy glass storage containers to store or warm up food. Buy your home care products (cleaning supplies), insect killer, weed killer, health and body care products from your local health food store or find them online. (eg shaklee.com) Ask the staff of your health food store what their favorite product is for bath and body care and the like. (I found a great shampoo this way.)

Rome was not built in a day. Choose one thing that you can do tomorrow to start reducing the exogenous estrogens coming into your body! In the next post, I will talk about eliminating excess estrogen from your body…