In this article I’d like to educate you about how nutrition can act as a natural treatment and provide relief from the symptoms of Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS).

Want to recover faster from an injury? Nutrition can play a pivotal role in speeding up the recovery process.

In this article we are going to look at why some people get “hangry” after not eating for a while or between meals.

In this article one of our trusted professionals a fellow Nutrition & Functional Medicine Practitioner Katie takes a look at the traditional symptoms associated with endometriosis, how it can develop, risk factors and the conventional approach to treatment. Following on from that she then looks at nutrition and lifestyle considerations, potential use of supplementation and finish with a summary of your key considerations.

So you’ve had a stool test and it looks like you have a Giardia infection. In this article we are going to review what giardia is, how you might have contracted this parasite, commonly associated symptoms, the difference between chronic vs acute infections and then review some nutrition considerations.

We all have gas, some of us more than others, but on average we all pass wind 10-15 times per day. For some excessive gas can be embarrassing, and for others a tool for child-like humour, what should be understood is that intestinal gas can contribute to a significant amount of discomfort, pain and bloating as well.

In todays article I want to discuss a few considerations with regards to going gluten free. I want to discuss my stance on the subject and also present some literature that was presented to me by Dr Tom O’Bryan recently along with some of my own literature that I have pulled up writing this article.

Did you know that your mood can be significantly affected by levels of serotonin in the body? We suggest 7 natural methods for boosting this important neurotransmitter.

Mucosal surfaces cover a large part of our body. The digestive tract, nose, mouth and throat are prime examples where this mucosal layer plays a critical role in supporting our health.

As a nutritionist it can be easy to get carried away with the more complex side of our job, the laboratory testing and supplement prescription. All too often nutritionists and other health practitioners forget or even disregard the basics that add the foundation to the more complex recommendations.

In this article we are going to review the importance of the three main macronutrients: Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates.

So it’s that time of year again, almost everyone I know is going to start his or her January detox. In the process they are going to post untold amounts of pictures of their nasty tasting green juices and plates of food that resemble eating dinner with Rodger Rabbit, or even better they are going to squirt water up there backside claiming to be cleansing their digestive system.

In recent months I have been asked my opinion on the role that nutrition and natural medicine can have on cancer treatment. As nutritionists we often find ourselves in a position of trying to help prevent disease, but on occasions disease can occur. This then begs the question, what roles can nutrition and natural medicine play in the treatment of diseases such as cancer, and can they be used alongside more conventional treatments to enhance the recovery or final outcome?

Confirmed low levels of vitamin D may require supplementation, yet before supplementing with vitamins you should consider the following nutrient relationships:

Minerals are inorganic substances that provide physical structure to the body in the bones and also combine with other chemical regulators such as enzymes to shape biochemical processes. They divide in to two groups – the major and the trace minerals.

Salicylates are chemicals that are naturally found in plants. They act like natural pesticides to help protect the plant against insects and disease. In some individuals, salicylate sensitivity is possible, and the symptoms are pretty obscure such as headaches, IBS, irritability etc, making it hard to diagnose.

Another major role of salicylates is their potential role in improving blood flow. The best known medication for thinning the blood, aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid and was originally extracted from willow bark. Adverse reactions to aspirin may be an indicator of salicylate sensitivity. Knowing that salicylates have the potential to improve blood flow we can then use this to our advantage in certain health conditions and also the recovery and repair of certain injuries.

For such a common method of cooking there has been a surprisingly sparse amount of research completed on the positives or negatives of microwave cooking on our food and our health. Most of the articles / blogs online are either hugely in favour or hugely against the use of microwaves.

There is an increasing awareness with regards to organic foods vs non-organic foods, with many people choosing to buy organic for a variety of reasons, with the most popular reasons given are that of reducing toxin exposure, being better for the environment and increasing nutrient intake. In this article we review some of the considerations that surround the organic vs non-organic debate.

There are a number of conflicting studies regarding organic and non-organic produce and the data extracted from these studies have been criticised in relation to selective data extraction, funding influences and more. One prime example of this was a review study looking at 109 research papers on the organic vs non-organic subject that was later found that only 27 of the 109 papers were valid for comparison.

With powerful multinational corporations involved within our food industry, it is unlikely that we will ever have a clear answer on the debate of organic vs non organic, but what we can do is look at organic food vs non-organic food with a little common sense.

The health of our soil

The health of our soil will determine the health of the crop produced. Some soil and thus plant life are exposed to soil full of microbial life that contains millions of bacteria that help breakdown anything that falls on the land. These bacteria can then process it and make the nutritional content available to the plant.

Something that is well accepted is that the food we eat can influence our health, thus why would it be any different for the plants or animals we consume. If we only exposed our food to the most minimal amount of nutrients possible, why should we expect that food to provide us with the sustenance that we require to support our health.

You are what you eat, eats!

Nutrient Loss through conventional medicine

Articles have shown substantial losses in important minerals like magnesium, zinc, selenium and potassium. Magnesium, zinc and selenium are also very common insufficiencies that I see in clinical practice. Whether these insufficiencies or deficiencies are being caused by a lack of these nutrients in our food or whether the demands of modern day living increases the need for the nutrients are hard to say. It is probably a little from column A, and a little from column B.

Beyond the debate of primary nutrients such as the vitamins and minerals they have time and time again been shown to contain higher levels of secondary metabolites. These are substances like antioxidants and phytonutrients

Essentially phytonutrients act as self defence mechanisms for the plant, helping protect them against bugs, UV rays and other forms of potential damage. In small amounts these substances have been shown to be beneficial to human health and linked to preventing numerous diseases such as various cancers, diseases associated to cognitive decline, diabetes, heart disease and more.

Conventional farming prevents the natural die off of weak crops, allowing weak crops with low phytonutrient levels and poor self-defence capabilities to survive due to the chemical pesticides and fertilisers doing the defence work for the plants.

Organic food has been shown to contain higher level of antioxidant phytonutrients and polyphenols which has been linked with improved anticancer potential with organic foods.

Reducing toxin exposure

For me this is one of the most crucial areas of the organic vs non-organic produce debate.

Naturally our body has the ability to detoxify substances that we are exposed to. Some are able to do this better than others, whether related to certain genotypes, pre-existing imbalances, or insufficiencies and general state of health.

To a degree our body is able to process some low-level exposure to chemicals with little or no side effect. One thing that has not been studied however, is the effect of exposure to numerous low-level compounds and the effect this might have on our physiology. Unfortunately, the sheer number of toxins that we are exposed to now make this type of research impossible to determine cause and effect.

We are now being exposed to thousands of chemicals daily, none of which have been tested in combination to see how our body reacts. The reality is they only need to show safe levels for the single chemical, however, what’s to say you are not being exposed to ten, one-hundred or even a thousand chemicals at clinically safe levels every day you step out your door with no idea on the accumulative effect.

There is mounting evidence now that foetal health and development can be influenced by chemicals we are exposed to causing reductions in IQ for those exposed to the highest levels of organophosphates, with some mounting research now extending the link in children with ADHD and chemical exposure.

One study by Houlihan et al, 2005 demonstrated in 10 different new-borns 287 chemicals were found in the umbilical cords, all of which were linked to cancer, developmental problems and/or nervous system damage.

Unfortunately, we live in a toxic world now, and there is no way you can escape all forms of chemicals, all we can do is try and reduce our exposure where possible and try and protect those most vulnerable.

One study from Holland noted how organic dairy foods where able to reduce eczema risk in the first two years of life compared to non-organic dairy.

Practical tips for cleaner eating

Ultimately eating a healthy single ingredient wholefood-based diet in accordance to your caloric requirements and the correct macro levels (protein, fats and carbs) is the first step. If you are then looking to optimise your nutrition further and budget allows, I believe choosing organic food should become part of your food choices moving forward.

If you eat animal products, I’d recommend this as a good place to start. When choosing organic foods, you may also find the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) dirty dozen and clean fifteen list useful (see below). How relevant this is the UK or EU crops I am yet to find any data on this.

There is not a week that goes by without a contradictory article telling us exactly how many vegetables we must eat to stay healthy. But is there an amount that’s right for everyone? Should we be aiming for a certain amount and what are the benefits of a high intake of vegetables and potential side effects of lots of vegetables?

Unfortunately we have many exposures to mercury these days and some level of management is required to help prevent the poisonous effects of mercury exposure.