5 Ways Osteopathy Can Help with Low Energy
By Leann Mai, (M. OMSc) Manual Osteopath Practitioner
1. Moves the fascia that surrounds our muscles and bones which helps fluid move between the joints, making motion easier.
2. Resets the tone of the nervous system between the sympathetic response and parasympathetic response, giving you a better quality sleep.
3. Aligns the diaphragms, improving each breath and therefore improving the quality of blood being supplied to the liver amongst all our other tissues.
4. Improves barriers to the limbs, increasing coordination and nervous impulse, making our muscles stronger.
5. Improves body mind connection through all of the above, which means hormone improvement with better energy and mood.
How to Build a Hormone-Balancing Meal
By Melanie Reidl, Naturopathic Doctor
Many of my patients struggle to know how to eat in order to support their hormones and metabolism. The food you eat consistently truly impacts whatever hormone-related health issue you are experiencing, from fertility challenges to perimenopausal concerns, fatigue to weight management.
Here are the steps to building a simple hormone- and blood sugar-balancing meal:
1. Non-Starchy Veggies / Greens – Load up your bowl/plate with a combination of any type of non-starchy vegetables (bonus points for the dark leafies like kale!) Cruciferous vegetables contain powerful hormone detoxifying ingredients, and leafy greens provide my favourite mineral, magnesium, amongst many other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and insoluble fibre!
2. Protein – Add a ‘hand-sized’ serving of high-quality protein (ie leftover chicken, fish, and/or hard boiled eggs) to stabilize blood sugar & insulin and regulate hunger.
3. Complex Carb / Fibre – Add approximately a ‘fist sized’ serving of quinoa, root vegetable, or beans/legumes to pump up the fibre content to keep you satiated, provide a steady stream of energy for the day, and to feed your microbiome.
4. Healthy Fats – Add a homemade olive oil based salad dressing for a dose of good mono-unsaturated fats, and if you wish, add some slices of avocado or raw nuts or seeds as well. Healthy fats help to regulate blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and regulate hunger.
Pro Tip 1: Prepare a larger batch of protein in advance (ie Triple the amount of protein you prepare at Sunday dinner) to ensure that protein is always available when meal time rolls around!
Pro Tip 2: Make sure that you keep your fridge + pantry stocked with healthy essentials (ie a variety of fresh or frozen veggies, eggs, canned chickpeas, extra virgin olive oil)
Now you know the basic steps to creating an easy, hormone-balancing meal that creates a strong foundation for the treatment of most of the women’s hormone health conditions that I see. Bon Appetit!
The “Secret” to Weight Loss is Healthy Hormones & Optimal Body Composition
By Melanie Reidl, Naturopathic Doctor
How do we achieve healthy metabolic hormones (ie insulin, cortisol, leptin) and optimize body composition (increase muscle, decrease fat)?
Here are 3 important points:
1 – Strength Train/Lift Weights 3-4x/Week
Strength training helps build lean muscle mass, which improves metabolic health & improves insulin sensitivity. Guidance + accountability with this piece can be very helpful, and I have some excellent personal trainer recommendations and tips on integrating a strength training program.
2 – Optimize Protein + Fibre intake for your Body
Your age, activity level, and other health factors influence your daily protein requirements. Sufficient amino acid intake signals to the brain that we are full, and helps to prevent overeating. Fibre is also important for its beneficial impact on insulin sensitivity, so we need to mindfully calculate and optimize our daily intake. Guidance + accountability, such as with diet diaries and tracking Apps can really help with this piece.
3 – Assessment/Testing to Determine Your Body’s Unique Biochemistry + Physiology
Through testing + assessment, we can look at individualized factors that influence metabolic health, such as insulin resistance, thyroid health, stress/cortisol, nutrient levels, liver health, inflammation, microbiome health, and more. Your ND could be helpful in this piece in addition to point number 2! 🙂
If you’re ready to feel like your healthiest, most confident, and beautiful self, I’d be honoured to support you.
5 Ways Osteopathy Can Help with Sinus Infections:
By Leann Mai (M. OMSc)
1 Opens blood supply and drainage through the neck
2 Realigns cranial bones to relieve blockages to the drainage and supply of the sinus tissues
3 Reduces fascia bind at the base of the head and cervical spine to allow ease of motion through the head and eyes
4 Improves and coordinates function of diaphragms through shoulders, jaw, sinus’ and through the brain and spinal cord
5 Restores lymphatic flow through head, neck, and brain.
MY NOT-SO-PERFECT JOURNEY TO MOTHERHOOD & FERTILITY AS WHOLE BODY HEALTH
I am blessed to now have two beautiful girls, but I do remember being on the other side. The uncertainty, the doubt; the fear of it not happening. For me, it actually happened when I was hoping to conceive my second child.
Around the time that I was wanting a second baby, my menstrual cycle had disappeared. My body was showing numerous signs of hormonal chaos. I was extremely anxious about my health, about not being able to conceive again.
My anxiety led me to (in hindsight, prematurely) set foot in the world of reproductive endocrinology (a fertility clinic) & had a host of tests done to understand what was going on with my reproductive health.
In the end, nothing was truly wrong with me. However, I did a DUTCH hormone test at the time as well, and my Cortisol levels were 2X the normal morning limit. My CORTISOL was basically suppressing my reproductive hormone signalling, so I wasn’t getting normal hormone release in order to ovulate & menstruate.
Several months later, after a comprehensive approach to Cortisol reduction & hormone balancing, my cycle came back and I conceived quickly (again, I am fortunate that it was relatively easy for me).
I share my story because I know how stressful & emotional it can be to struggle when trying to have a baby.
In the end, I learned a lot about the importance of whole body health, how all systems of the body impact fertility, not just the reproductive system.
Digestive health, mental health, hormone health, immune health – ALL of these are important and require assessment & individualized treatment.
I don’t believe in ‘UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY’. If we dive deeper into whole body health, there absolutely are answers & solutions.
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