Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Liver Function Tests Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND The Liver Basics! As an Invite health nutritionist one of the most important parts of my job is to help people understand their blood work. In general I find that when it comes to blood work liver …
From a Naturopath Point of View Part 5 Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND You may have heard the saying that sleep and a good healthy diet are both the base of the pyramid of health. As a Naturopath I agree with this concept 100%! But …
PRIMARY FOOD, LIFESTYLE AND OUR HEALTH~AN INTRODUCTION TO A NEW WELLNESS SERIES
By: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT
Primary foods are an essential part of our health and wellness plan that is often overlooked and even misunderstood. While the topic of self-care in important, it definitely means something different to everyone. However, these twelve topics are lifestyle area that we can all agree can always be improved.
During the course of this series, we’ll discuss twelve topics related to lifestyle and how to incorporate tools to improve our wellness goals. These topics include Joy, General Health, Social Life, Home Environment, Spirituality, Home Cooking, Career, Movement and Exercise, Creativity, Relationships, Finance and Learning. With each topic we’ll do a deep dive to explore the topic, I’ll share what it means to me and tips on how to improve it each day. We’ll also review how to pair necessary supplements and nutrients to help enhance each topic. Some of these supplements will help address stress (L-Theanine), brain heath (Phosphatidylserine), sleep (Melatonin) and even the Immune System (Black Seed).
Studies, from such well respected institutes like Harvard and Berkeley, have shown the positive effect that healthy lifestyle choices can have on our lives. Healthy lifestyle can help improve mood, extend lifespan and even help reduce the risk of illness and disease.
One of my favorite exercises to do is to do The Circle of Life, which I learned for my alma mater The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I like to recommend doing this seasonally, as it can help you to see what areas need a little more focus, as well as to see how much you’ve changed and grown. The way this exercise to done is to go category by category and mark a small circle within the column as to where you’d rate your current grasp. The more you feel a particular category could us more attention, the closer to the middle you would put the mark. The more you feel comfortable and “mastering” a category, the closer to the outer edge would be your mark. Once you’ve evaluated and marked each category, play “connect the dots” to make your personal lifestyle circle. The wavier or smaller your circle, the more attention you may need to give to those topics. The larger and more concise your circle can show how you’ve grown with your healthy lifestyle and where certain topics come more smoothly to apply each day. This is a great guide to help with personal growth, goal setting and can serve as a resource to help you narrow your wellness areas of focus and supplement additions. As you widen your circle you may even notice such changes as better sleep, lower stress and over-all happiness, as I have over the years of doing my own circle of life.
I look forward to exploring these twelve important topics with you over the next month. Happy Healing!!
www.health.harvard.edu/blog/long-lasting-healthy-changes-doable-and-worthwhile-202109142594
www.berkeleywellbeing.com/healthy-lifestyle.html
www.integrativenutrition.com/circle-of-life
VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN~ THE SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES, BENEFITS AND TROUBLE By: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT Vegan and vegetarian diets….or as many people commonly referred to them as, plant-based diets. I am often told “I eat well, I’m vegetarian” or “My diet is so good, …
From a Naturopathic Point of View Part 4
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
The importance of western and holistic medicine working together!
One of the key pathways to helping people become healthy is learning how to balance both western and holistic medicine. These 2 ways of looking at health are not, nor should they ever be considered to be enemies. Sometimes they may look at situations differently but that doesn’t mean they can’t work together. As a naturopath I see the 2 working together like your left and right hand.
I wrote a blog in this series about why it is important to be in control of certain chronic diseases. In some situations this may mean that in addition to supplements medications may be required to help prevent dangerous complications. For example high blood pressure. Any reading over 180/120 requires immediate attention since it is considered to be a “hypertensive crisis”. One way this is managed is with blood pressure medications. (1) Now I know it can be intimidating to start a new medicine. However in some cases it may be important to prevent dangerous complications. Depending on the type of medications that are used certain supplements may be helpful. I’ll be reviewing a few supplements that are generally helpful for blood pressure at the end of this blog. However, it’s always helpful to speak to a nutritionist and make sure the supplements are the ones that would work best with any medications that you may be taking. Just like with blood pressure having abnormal cholesterol can also have complications. Just like with blood pressure sometimes medications can be needed to help bring levels down to safer levels. Remember you can always seek out a second opinion. (2) Just like with blood pressure I’ll be reviewing some supplements that can be helpful for cholesterol.
In addition to medications sometimes surgeries may be needed for best results. A prime example of this would be joint pain. While in my clinical experience joint pain can be greatly helped with supplements once the joint is “bone on bone” there is little that we do to help with supplements. At that point it can be critical to follow up with your doctor or even get a second opinion. (3) A personal experience with this is in regards to a customer who was in severe pain due to a joint that needed to be replaced. Her doctor indicated that if she didn’t replace the joint she would end up in a wheelchair. After talking with me about a post-surgical protocol she bravely underwent the procedure. Just 2 months after the procedure when she followed up with me it was to let me know that between the surgery and the supplements she felt better than she had felt in years. I was very happy for her.
I want to wrap this up by saying sometimes medications are important to save your life. Years ago I received a call from someone who was bitten by a dog. By their descriptions the bite sounded as though it was likely to be infected. I told them to go to the ER. Over a month later they called me back. They had a severe infection and according to their reports “almost died” and they needed strong antibiotics. In other case’s people will call with questions about situations such as a UTI. This is a great way to work with both holistic and western medicine. Treating a UTI with both western and holistic medicine can help reduce the risk of complications. (4)
Overall as a Naturopath I feel that both holistic and western medicine work best together.
High blood pressure:
Cholesterol helpers!
Our product high light will be Flex Hx!
Sources:
