,

Low Energy? What blood work an ND may want to see.

,

If I was to ask you to rate your energy on a scale of 1-10 (10 being great) what would you say? If you said lower than 5/10, even after a good nights sleep, it is something that should be addressed.

I like to review blood work first when fatigue is a concern, as a few common nutrient and hormone deficiencies can be the culprit. The reference ranges I refer to may be slightly different than your MD for a few reasons.

  1. I want to optimize your levels to sustain better energy.

  2. I am referring to the newest reference range recommendations that will hopefully be reflected in blood work soon.

  3. I see results when patients levels reach a certain level.

So what blood work do I like to see and what levels should they be at? This may vary slightly depending on someone’s health history.

  • Vitamin B12 - This should be above 200 pmol/L, ideally above 450 pmol/L.

  • Ferritin - You have iron deficiency anemia if your ferritin level is below 30 ug/L. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common in today’s society. A full iron panel is not often needed.

  • TSH - Your thyroid stimulating hormone should be between 0.8-2.5 mIU/L. This can fluctuate during times of stress or hormone changes. Medication is not often needed until the level gets much higher, however supporting adrenals (stress hormones) and the thyroid gland if out of this range can help.

  • Morning Cortisol - Between 7-9am your level should ideally be between 450-550 nmol/L. Cortisol is an essential hormone that plays many important roles, including regulating your body's stress response. If it is low you are most likely suffering from burnout!

There are several reasons why someone may be deficient in any of these and it is important to address the cause as well as supplement for the deficiency.

Take a look at your most recent blood work. What are your levels like? I’m happy to help improve them and ultimately your energy!

,

For the Love of Fibre!

,

Chances are that someone has told you at one point in your life that you need to eat more fibre.

Maybe you tried to do so and you got constipated or you ended up farting a lot! Or maybe you tried decided to give up because it was too hard.

Well whatever the reason, here are a few fibre tips that can help make increasing fibre a little easier on the digestive system!

#1 - Soak your beans!

  • Beans aren’t called the magical fruit for nothing! Beans, which can be a great source of fibre, contain a carb called raffinose. Raffinose can be a bit harder to break down in our digestive systems, which means that our gut bacteria get a lovely meal! When our gut bacteria snack on things they produce gas! Now we do need to show them love, but it can be uncomfortable when you get a bout of wind at Sunday dinner over baked beans!

  • In order to help reduce the raffinose load a dose of baked beans or bean salad provides us, we need to soak the beans first! They can be soaked for a few hours or overnight. This will help hydrate them and reduce the gas producing raffinose snack without impacting the overall nutrition of the beans!

#2 - Fruits contain fibre too!

  • Whole fruits can have more sugar in them than their vegetable counterparts, but wapping in some fruit for dessert or part of snack time can add in some more fibre to your day!

  • Notably high fibre fruits include: pears, citrus (eating the whole inside not just the juice), berries, apples, avocado, kiwis, bananas

#3 - Baked goods and ground meat!

  • Shredded vegetables like zucchini, mushrooms and carrot can be added to baked goods and ground meat dishes without altering the flavour too much!

  • So making meatballs or cooking ground meat for tacos? try shredding in some zucchini or dicing mushrooms to add some extra fibre in!

  • Making muffins? try added zucchini or carrot to give not only extra flavour but also extra moisture!

There are tons of ways to make fibre fun! What do you like to do to add more fibre? I would love to know!

Dr Paige

,

Welcome Dr. Paige!

,

If you have come to the clinic in the past year or so, you may have seen or heard of my lovely associate Dr. Paige Weatherbee-Sakr! She started during my second maternity leave and has continued seeing patients on Wednesdays since. She will be at Symmetry for the foreseeable future, so it is probably time to introduce her properly! She is a great asset to the team. I want to highlight that she is completing a Mental Health Fellowship this year as this is an area of interest to her in practice as of late. I’ll pass it over to Dr. Paige to tell you more about herself.

Hi my name is Paige and I am a Naturopathic Doctor working at Symmetry Wellness Centre with Dr. Karen! Some of you may have met me while I was covering for Dr. Karen’s second maternity leave. For those of you who did not, I figured I would share a little about myself, so you know who I am if I pop up in the blog or in her office!

I started covering for Karen in May of 2023 and have found myself continuing to work in her office on Wednesdays at Symmetry Wellness Centre in Burnside. I am also certified in IV therapy like Karen and so I provide 1:1 visits as well as IV care in the office.

When I am working, I like to work from a place of addition – whether that be food, sleep, habits or water - my goal is to make sure you are getting enough! I do this through a lot of listening, a lot of helping people with introspection and leaning on the tools at our disposal – IVs, Botanicals, Nutrition, Nutraceuticals, Exercise, Counselling and Diagnostics.

I am also interested in research and how we blend that with clinical experience, specifically in the world of mental health and the digestive system. With this interest, I am also currently pursuing a year long program to improve my grasp on the research around mental health support and Naturopathic medicine. I hope to be able to share the fruits of this program in 2025!

When I am not in the office, I can be found in the kitchen (since I love food), in the woods (since I love to geocache and hear the birds), Watching shows or in a book (since I love science fiction and fantasy), or just spending time with loved ones (since I am a wife/sister/daughter/aunt/dog + cat mom).

I hope you find as much joy as I do both professionally and personally! Hope to see you in Dr. Karen’s Office soon!

,

Blueberry Oatmeal Flax Muffins - aka "Mary's Poop Muffins"

,

I may sound like a broken record to my patients lately regarding fibre intake, however this is such an important component in our diet that most people are lacking in. When it comes to digestive issues many patients of mine are actually avoiding fibre rich foods as it is causing GI distress. They may be on the lowFODMAP diet, recommended to them by their MD or through online research, which is a low fibre diet. This should only be used short term for symptom relief while we treat the root cause, as like I said before fibre is very important for overall digestive health.

Low fibre intake can present as constipation, other digestive issues and even food cravings.

Most people are getting on average 15g of fibre a day, while the recommendation is 25-35g a day! This is one draw back to easy convenient meals we gravitate towards with our busy lives. Less plants, less beans, less complex carbs that take longer to cook = less fibre.
There are many ways to increase fibre intake, including more plants, beans and legumes, complex carbs, ground flax, chia or psyllium powder. What can you add to your diet this week? It may be one of these delicious fibre rich muffins that really do help you poop!

Examples of healthy fibre rich foods:

  • 1/2 cup oats = 4g

  • 1 tbsp ground flax seed = 2g; 1 tbsp chia seeds = 6g

  • 1 apple = 4-5g

  • 1/2 cup lentils - 7g

  • 1 medium sweet potato - 3-5g

  • 1 tbsp psyllium powder - 5g

Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup butter (or vegan butter)

  • 1 cup oats

  • 1/2 cup ground flax seed

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

  • 1 egg

  • 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup dairy free milk + 1 tbsp vinegar, left to sit for a few minutes)

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 3/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten free flour eg. Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour)

  • 1 cup blueberries

Mix all ingredients in order they are listed. Fill 12 muffin cups using muffin liner. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.