I listened to Dr. Greger’s webinar on October 11th on ‘How to get your LDL cholesterol as low as possible with diet’.

He recommended following the portfolio diet so I will mention the highlights in this post. You should eat 45 grams of nuts daily. The most helpful nuts include cashews, almonds and walnuts. A handful of nuts daily or 1/3 cup of nuts. Add to salads, cereal or yogurt. Have nut butter on toast. Have no more than 4 Brazil nuts/month to lower inflammation. (Not with pregnancy or breastfeeding.)

Have 50 grams of plant protein daily. Try replacing ground beef with hearty ground soy, lentils or tofu. Consume 3 servings of legumes per day. Try to consume black soybeans daily in the quantity of one tbsp.

Consume 20 grams of viscous fiber daily. Choose breads and cereals high in oats, barley, and or psyllium. Try 1 tbsp of psyllium husk powder with 8 oz H2O daily. Make sure bread is high in fiber- 2-4 gm per slice or 4-6 gram per cup of cereal.

Emphasize specific fruits like apples, oranges, berries, persimmons. Try to eat 2 apples daily. Emphasize vegetables such as okra and eggplant. It is recommended that you take in 3 tbsp ground flaxseed daily.

Take in 2 grams of phytosterols daily. They occur naturally in nuts, soybeans and peas. You can also supplement in fortified foods like spreads, juices or yogurts.

2 tbsp dried barberries/day found in persian spice stores.

There are a number of spices that can help lower cholesterol – 1/4 tsp turmeric daily, 1/4 garlic clove daily, 1/3 tsp ground savory daily.

Reference: Dr. Greger’s webinar on Lowering LDL cholesterol through Diet Oct. 11/2025

For more information on naturopathic medicine and how it may benefit you, come and see me online. I am a registered naturopathic doctor practicing on the Jane platform. Go to www.robinvinge.com then click on contact to be led to my Jane booking site. Be well!

 

I did some continuing education on migraines this week so thought I would pass on some recommendations. It is important to make sure you are well hydrated if you suffer from migraines, Sipping from a water bottle can be helpful. Add an electrolyte solution if it is particularly hot or you are sweating. It is important to prioritize sleep and rest if you are prone to migraines. Sleep in a cool dark room.n Sticking to a good sleep wake cycle can help establish beneficial circadian rhythms which help regulate your sleep.

Diet is incredibly important when you are treating migraines. Doing IgG testing to identify food sensitivities is a start. In terms of a migraine diet, it might be important to cut out high histamine foods like fermented foods (kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc.). High tyrosine foods might be cut out too such as aged cheeses, wine, etc. Nutrients like magnesium glycinate or magnesium threonate are particularly helpful to supplement along with riboflavin (B2). The goal is often to decrease the severity of the migraine then decrease the frequency of the migraine. 

In migraine, you may see a specific pattern or aura beforehand. You may suffer from nausea or vomiting alongside the headache. There is some relation to vasodilation or constriction of the arteries. There can be hormonal migraine patterns with estrogen dominance. Histamine can increase inflammation and estrogen can prevent the breakdown of histamine. Low progesterone can be related to inability to breakdown mast cells. Increased histamine can cause H2 receptors in the GI tract causing anxiety, fatigue and pain related to high mast cells. High salicylate foods, high tyramine foods and high histamine foods many need to be eliminated.

Doing Dutch hormone testing may help one discern if hormones are clouding the picture. As mentioned, estrogen promotes the release of histamine. You can look at the full load of hormones with Dutch testing including the PMS window leading up to the period. You can also look at estrogen metabolism for clues about estrogen breakdown and whether that may play a role in your migraines, If your 16-OH metabolite is high, you may not be clearing estrogen. You may need to methylate it out (provide help to move it through phase 2). You may have low serum estrogen with high metabolites. You may have rapid changes of estrogen levels in perimenopause affecting your migraine pattern. Look at testosterone, is testosterone being aromatized to estrogen?

How can your hormones be balanced and regulated? Working on liver function may play a role here.  I do a lot of liver drainage with patients that have high estrogen levels which can cause irritability along with migraines.

You may need to look at gut health, blood sugar, detoxification pathways, neurotransmitters, homeostasis pathways. Paint a solid picture of your migraine- before you get one, what did you eat, what time of the month is it, are you hydrated, are you sleeping?

Nutrients that may assist include Mg, B2, CoQ10. Diet may need to be followed for three weeks. Pull out nitrates, salicylates, high tyramine foods.

All these factors may help treat your migraines successfully. There are many homeopathic remedies that can offer symptomatic help for migraines such as belladonna, lachesis, natrum muriaticum, and calcarea carbonica. If you need more help with treating your migraines, please book an appointment with me. I am a registered naturopathic doctor in the province of Alberta. I am practicing on the Jane platform doing telemedicine. To book a session with me go to www.robinvinge.con then click on contact to be led to my Jane booking site.

Reference: Assessment and Approach to the Estrogen Dominant Female Allison Smith, ND

Estrogen Dominance: Signs and Symptoms. Rebecca Clemson, ND

My ebook on recovering from anorexia is coming out this month. I wanted to touch on an aspect that I felt was helpful to my recovery. Dr. John Demartini and his collapse work with patients has helped me a lot in my life. His book the Breakthrough Experience should be on everybody’s shelf. I read it when I was in my late twenties. A doctor colleague friend of mine collapsed my life over coffee once and it really shifted my perspective of things. At the time, I was with a boyfriend who ended up being such a mirror reflection of mine. His books really are meant to bring you to more love and acceptance of yourself and shift your perspctives to a more balanced perspective. 

In my ebook which is titled Putting the Puzzle Together: Gathering up my Lost Soul Pieces to Heal my Anorexia Nervosa I talk about the collapse process and how it has been helpful to me in my life. I talk specifically about my grief over not having a family and how i have had to collapse that perspective and see where I feel like I have a family.  I treat my patients like they are part of my family. I worry about my patients like they are part of my family If anything feels like a crisis for them, I feel it like they are part of my family.

I have a number of plants in my apartment, I almost treat them like they are part of my family. I maximize their light, position them for their best growth, repot them and move them to the to a bigger pot when necessary. So in a microway, it is like having my own plant family.    I talk to my plants like they are my own children. I love that they bless my sacred space of an apartment.

Lastly I had the experience of being a mother when I was in Seattle going to school. I worked part time as a nanny when I was doing my naturopathic medical degree. For three years, I was blessed to be the nanny for the Nilsen’s (Trish and Nick) who now live on Whidbey Island. I got to take care of Sophie who was a 6 month old baby when I first got the job, Katie who was 3 and Christian who was 6. I was their nanny for three years so I had plenty of time to change diapers, I took Katie to swimming lessons and kicked the soccer ball in the back yard with Chris. I even took Sophie to the beach when she was older so I did have the opportunity to be a mother. 

I thank God for the experience of being a mother only if for a short time. The mother was so organized so it was easy for me to step into the role and be their part time nanny. I collapse my perceptions and it helps me be grateful for my life. Thank you God for all my blessings.