Moving Day for this Blog!

Hello everyone!

I want to thank my readers for sticking with me, even with my inconsistent posts!  It has been an extremely challenging and hectic year so far, to say the least, but I would like to post more regularly.

In order to facilitate that, and to continue to grow and move forwards, I have decided to move this blog to my website, www.corenaturopathics.ca.

You can find it here: http://www.corenaturopathics.ca/blog

I look forward to providing you all with many more great posts, with lots of great information!

See you at the new blog!


~ Dr. Jenna McNamee, ND

Why this popular New Year's resolution may be harmful to your health

Are you resolving to lose weight, starting January 1st?  If so, you're not alone.  Of the approximately 40% of people who make new year's resolutions, over 65% of them are vowing to lose weight.  That should be an amazingly healthy goal for most of us, right?

WRONG

I'm going to try to keep this relatively to the point, as I plan on blogging a lot more about this in the coming months, however, here are some of the main reasons why NOT to set a weight loss goal for 2015:

1. One-third of the people who set these weight loss goals have ditched them by the end of January.  What's the point in that?

2. The actual number slightly varies, however, about 95% of people who lose weight by dieting gain it all back plus more, within 5 years time.  That is an abysmal failure rate, reflecting the entire dieting industry and the promotion of body trickery, which rarely works out in the long run.  Our bodies are incredibly smart!  "Failing" a diet also hurts our self-esteems and confidence, as we internalize the failure, thinking that we just couldn't do it.

3. In some people, dieting can actually trigger a restrictive eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, restrictive-reactive cycles, orthorexia, etc.).  These are, for the most part, genetically determined conditions which can be activated when certain environmental factors come into play.

4. Cutting calories, especially excessively, can lead to tons of health problems.  It's true that lower weights have correspondingly lower metabolisms ( and high weights have higher metabolisms), but when calories are drastically cut and you are feeling hunger all the time, many different biochemical reactions are activated which make our bodies think that there is a famine, so they hold onto whatever they can.  Many people also experience problems with fatigue,digestion, skin/hair/nails, pain, thyroid/adrenals, and menstruation.  Diets definitely doesn't solve every health concern, and can actually cause quite a few!

5. Being on a diet is stressful.  Stress can cause issues with weight, as well as with almost every other health condition.  It can also isolate you from social situations that are often built around enjoying food and others' company, and even quite severe anxiety in some.

6. Why do you want to lose weight anyways?  Think long and hard about that.  Some of our answers are very much programmed by the society that we live in, while others are based on false information.  You can truly be healthy at any size.  What is more important are the healthy behaviours that you incorporate into your life.

7. Did you know that we all have an optimal weight set point that our bodies will fight vehemently to defend?  This set point is usually a 10-15 or so lbs. fluctuation that our bodies experience over time.  It can actually be quite hard to get your weight out of this set point (lose weight or gain weight).  There do seem to be things that can throw this off - there still seems to be a lot of debate regarding what these factors are.  One of them that seems to be known for sure is dieting, specifically yo-yo dieting or restrictive-reactive eating cycles.  Don't diet!

So, there you have some reasons not to diet this new year, which will hopefully spare you a lot of misery!

Now that we're not setting a resolution to diet, there are other resolutions that we can focus on which will be a lot more fulfilling!  Note: some of these might not be suitable for those with restrictive eating disorders.

1. Become more physically active.  This is a great goal, and one that can benefit almost anyone.  Physical activity seems to be even more correlated with good health and longevity than what we eat.  Our bodies are designed to be active and thrive from it!  Try to find something fun - that will be different for everyone, but maybe you can explore that a bit this year.  Don't focus on calories or weight loss, but instead challenge yourself, accomplish new things, smile and laugh, look forward to activity! For example, I'm not and don't think I'll ever be one to love the gym and having a structured workout, however, I freakin' love zumba and really want to get into more yoga this year.

2. Incorporate more healthy foods into your day.  For most people, there are tweaks that we can make with what you eat that can vastly improve how you feel.  Including more whole, home-cooked foods and less packaged foods are great improvements for most of us (although admittedly, at some stages, people definitely do better and thrive off of foods which we typically think of as "unhealthy").


 3. Catch up with those friends who kind of fell by the wayside last year.  Having a rich and supportive social life is an important health determinant and something that we often overlook!

4. Return to, or learn a new hobby.  This one is great, and can be so much fun and very empowering and confidence/self-esteem boosting.  I used to play the saxophone when in school, but haven't played consistently in years, so that's something that I'd like to get back to as well.

5. Get your finances in order.  I know a lot of people groan when they see this one, but it's one that can have a dramatic impact on your wellbeing and stress levels.  It definitely is possible to get out of any financial situation that you may find yourself in, and it's not all saving and no fun.  Working with a certified money coach can help you to start working towards whatever goals that you may have.  For Canadians, this organization is great: http://moneycoachescanada.ca/

6.  Love yourself.  This may be vague and broad, but so many of us have that little voice in our heads that tells us we're too fat or too thin, or not smart enough, or not good enough, or we hate this part of our bodies or that part.  If any of these are true for you, this may be the most important resolution of all.  It's also hard to do on your own and you may be most successful by seeking out the help of a counselor or psychologist who offers cognitive behavioural therapy.

Cultivating these new behaviours and habits in your life may very well lead to a change in body composition or weight loss, or they may not.  That's not the point.  The point is gaining a better, more fulfilling and joyful life, and these things have been shown to be helpful in doing just that :)

I think that's just about everything!  I hope that I inspired you to think twice about starting a grueling diet come January 1st, and instead, cultivate some great new habits that bring health and happiness into your life.

Happy new year, everyone, and all the best in 2015!!

Dr. Jenna McNamee, ND

I've Moved!

I am pleased to announce that I have moved my practice to a new location in Whitby.

In my new office, I will continue to provide the same high quality, individualized, evidence-based, and effective care that I always have.  I will continue to offer the full range of naturopathic medical services, treatments, products, and laboratory testing, including but not limited to:

Treatments	Products	Laboratory Testing
Dietary & Lifestyle Counselling	Vitamins & Minerals	Conventional Bloodwork
Clinical Nutrition	Herbal formulas	Food Sensitivity & Celiac Testing
Herbal & Botanical Medicine	Homeopathic formulas	Adrenal Stress Profile
Traditional Chinese Medicine	Nutrient extracts	Saliva Hormone Assessment
Acupuncture	Glandular formulas	Urine Vitamin/Mineral Assessment
Homeopathic Medicine	Live & Freeze-dried Probiotics	Stool Microbial Ecology Profile
Vitamin B12 Injections	Nutritional supplements	Bone Resorption Assessment

NEW – Online Booking!

 Go to my website www.corenaturopathics.ca and click on the green “Book an appointment” button, then follow the prompts.  As always, appointments can also be booked by phone or email.

NEW – Phone & Skype Visits!

I am excited to share with you two new types of naturopathic visits.  In addition to in-office visits, I am now offering visits via phone and Skype, which means that you can now attend to your natural health needs from the comfort of your own home!

Office Location

The Durham Corporate Centre

105 Consumers Drive

Whitby, ON L1N 1C4

Contact Information

(P) 289-278-3617

(F) 289-312-4614

(E) corenaturopathics@gmail.com

 For more information, including new office hours, visits types & lengths, and fees, please visit my website at www.corenaturopathics.ca

Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations - Additional Information

Work in progress.  Thank you for your patience!

~ Dr. Jenna McNamee, ND

Probiotics - The FACTS!

I didn't write this, but wanted to share it as it's really good advice!

• All probiotic products are NOT alike and do not offer the stated health benefits.
• Over 99% of the products on the market have never been clinically studied and make unproven claims!
• Most formulas are a guess work in compilation of the greatest number of different strains in the highest number per capsule to impress the consumer e.g. 12 strains delivering 20 billion cfu (colony forming units). Do not be fooled with the concept of ‘more is better’. The reason most companies put in such large numbers is because they have no clinical data that any of the strains are compatible, survive or produce any effect and are hoping that by incorporating such high amounts at least some will end up surviving. Do not be fooled!
• Some combinations have no history of use and may be antagonistic to each other and, worse still, may alter the gut flora in an undesirable way.

This is one of the reasons that we only use evidence-based, well-researched, and clinically validated probiotic strains and products in the clinic.  We will never recommend any inferior products to any of our clients - that's a promise :)

Thank you to AOR for the info! 

www.aor.ca

CSA Weeks 4-5

So, I kind of failed last week and didn't get a chance to put any pictures up!  This blog will be a combo of weeks 4-5 of our CSA program.  It's going well so far, and although it's been a bit challenging at times to adjust to eating things that we haven't eaten before, we've been adapting, and I think that's great as we're trying new things.

Here's what our box looked like last week:

Strawberries, baby bok choy, lettuce, and garlic scapes.

I'd like to thank Cooper's farm for introducing me to garlic scapes as I'd never heard of them or seen them before! It's actually kind of embarassing, but I didn't even know that garlic had "tops" and that they had to be removed so that they don't take away from the garlic bulbs.  See, learning these things is one of the benefits of a CSA ;)

Even better, though, is that I actually LOVE them!  We're big garlic fans at our house and have even become somewhat desensitized to it (overpowering garlicy to others tastes normal to us!)  So, I find these garlic scapes really tasty and have enjoyed adding them to salads, salsas, main dishes, maybe even the occasional raw one...haha

Now, the unfortunate part is that I have NO pictures of any of these being used.  I guess between eating a lot of them raw and having a certain someone cook them and then eat them without telling me, and the long weekend festivities, I kind of dropped the ball on that this week.  I will try harder!

This week (week 5), we received more strawberries, sugar snap peas (a huge lot of them), Boston lettuce, romaine lettuce, kale, radish, and more garlic scapes :P  And we got some tomatoes and a cucumber extra.

Look at all of this food!!

This container is big, and it's full to the brim with sugar snap peas.  We got a ton this week.

The radish actually just got eaten already, so I guess no pictures of that (darn! lol).  We didn't know what to do with them, so tried roasting them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and they were delicious.  I think they will become a regular with the rest of our roasted veggies!  We're planning on juicing the greens.

I'll see if I can get some pics, of something to share next week.

Thanks for reading!

Jenna

CSA Week #3

This week's box contained a lot more stuff!

Included were strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, lettuce, green onions, kale, and heirloom storage carrots.

Everything looks great, and we're noticing that some of the veggies that we received in previous weeks are also bigger in size now.

Here's what we did with some of the vegetables that we received last week:

Salad (I think this will be included almost every week lol)

Asparagus, green onion, and spinach dish

Roasted potatoes

 Have a great week, everyone!  I'm glad the weather is, in fact, warming up :)

CSA Week #2

We're through our first week of CSA veggie goodies!

Here's what our box looked like this week:

It included lettuce, asparagus, green onions:

Big bowl of spinach (bowl not included):

And storage potatoes:

To give some perspective on how the cold and damp weather has been affecting this year's crops thus far, this is the first time in seven years that potatoes have been included in the first summer boxes!  I have no previous experience with a CSA, so it's all new to me, no expectations lol.  I'm sure we'll be getting lots of great produce once the weather warms up!

Now, as for what we did with last week's produce:

Salad made up of the two types of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers (that was a no-brainer!):

Asparagus, mushrooms, and onions (onions additional) over brown rice (this was really delicious!):

And...since we rarely have rhubarb in the house, we decided to make a dessert (well, actually my bf made that decision, pastry and all!)  Bad naturopath, bad!!

The rhubarb puff pastries were also apparently cat-approved, as these two troublemakers decided to help themselves to one in the night (ooops) and all we found were crumbs on the floor the next morning (and a missing pastry) lol

That's everything for this week!  Hope you are all coping with the damp, yucky weather!  It reminds me of my first time going to music camp (June 2000).  A week away camping in cabins with no heat and playing music in buildings with no heat...it was so damp, rainy, and cold the entire time!  I felt real sorry for the people who had signed up for water skiing and swimming as their elective!  But it did eventually warm up that summer (I think), so I'm still optimistic :)

CSA Week #1

Hey everyone,

For the very first time, I've signed up for a CSA share (from Cooper's CSA Farm)!

CSA stands for Community Supported (or Shared) Agriculture.

What is it?

From Cooper's CSA Farm (www.coopersfarm.ca):

"Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is not a new idea, but one that has gained popularity in Canada within recent years.  Instead of purchasing at a supermarket, CSA members sign up to either pick-up or have delivered weekly baskets of vegetables and fruit, or meat, such as free-range chicken, hormone and antibiotic-free Angus-grade beef, or pasture-fed goat, lamb, or Berkshire pork.  This allows the farmer to ensure the quality and quantity of his produce, while providing the member with only the ripest and most seasonal produce.

Why would you consider joining a CSA?

My own thoughts:

1. Ultra-fresh, locally grown produce – this is by far the number one reason for joining a CSA.  Farms give their members the very best of their produce, often picked the day of delivery, at the ripest possible time.  You get only what is in season in your area.  Who wants to eat something that was picked as unripe as it could be and was gas-ripened while being trucked or flown across the world?  You are minimizing your carbon footprint while also minimizing packaging and storing times, and maximizing the amounts of nutrients and taste of your produce.

2. Saves money – assuming you use the produce that comes in the box, most CSA members will save money over a similar amount of quality produce bought at the store or from a farmers’ market.

3. Convenient – most CSAs have a delivery service and will deliver your weekly (or bi-weekly/monthly) produce boxes right to your door.  This not only saves you time, but also the effort of going to a grocery store or farmers’ market, picking through the produce, having to figure out what is in season, deciding on what to buy, bagging your produce, and paying for it.  All you have to do is take it out of the box, wash, and put away.  How much easier can it get?

4. “Forced” healthy eating – when we pre-purchase something, we tend to use it.  So, even if you feel like having a junk-food feast one week, your healthy fruit and veggie CSA box will be calling your name, and you will be very tempted to use that produce before it goes bad!

5. Rare source for healthy, high quality animal products – let’s face it, most of the animal products (meat, milk, eggs) in the grocery stores are not of very good quality.  The majority come from animals who were not treated very well, who were treated with antibiotics and/or hormones, and who were grain-fed.  CSAs raise fewer animals, treat them with the respect that they deserve and allow them to follow their natural instincts, while refusing to sell those who require antibiotic treatment, and feed their animals on their natural diets.  This makes for healthier and happier animals, which also leads to healthier meats and animal products for you.

6. Learn about new vegetables and fruits – you never know what might show up in your box, and that’s a good thing as variety is key in healthy eating.  Plus, it’s exciting to try new things!  Many CSAs send recipes (or have them accessible on their websites) for the majority of the foods found in that week’s box, so even if you don’t know what the heck is in there, you will have some guidance as to how to prepare it and eat it!

7. Understanding of the seasons and what grows in your area – you’re getting a connection to the land and the seasons that is rare for urban and suburban dwellers, and is often immensely satisfying.

8. Relationship with the farmers – again, a connection to the land and the people who are growing your food that isn’t possible when shopping at grocery stores.  Plus, supporting local businesses is a great thing.

9. Special member benefits – these vary among CSAs, but often farms will offer special deals, members-only fruit/veggie picking, special farm events, or a full membership to their farm included free with your CSA fee.

10. It’s better for your health, the health of the animals, and the health of our planet.

So, because this is my first year trying out a CSA program, I thought it'd be fun to share a short description and pictures of what I receive each week, to give everyone an idea of what a year of CSA crops would look like (of course, every year is different as farming is impacted by many different, often uncontrollable variables).

I'd also like to share some of what we ended up doing with the fruits and veggies, to give you an idea of what can be done with it!  That may be too ambitious, but I'll try :)

Week One

Here's the box that we received:

And here's what's inside of it!

It included:

Red and green leaf lettuce:

Asparagus:

Rhubarb:

Oregano, mushrooms, tomatoes, and a cucumber:

Don't those tomatoes look stunning?  They're so vibrant!

That's it for now!  Look for my blog next week in which I'll be sharing what I receive in week two, along with what we managed to do with this current week's produce.

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Jenna McNamee, ND

More info regarding Cooper's CSA Farm:

Cooper’s Farm CSA                 Ph: 905-830-4521

266 Ashworth Rd.                      http://www.coopersfarm.ca

Zephyr, ON                               steve-lisacooper@coopersfarm.ca        

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