Insomnia Got Your Down? Tips For A Better Quality Sleep

With the longer days in the summer we tend to go to bed a little later and wake up with the sun a little earlier. That doesn’t mean that the time you do sleep has to be compromised! A good quality sleep is essential to maintaining good health. Take it from Kirk Parsley in this TED Talk. Sleep is when we do a lot of detoxifying, when our stress hormone cortisol decreases, when we repair our tissues and so much more. We are more productive and alert after a good night sleep therefore more effective throughout the day. 

So how do we get more sleep? Here are some simple tips to help you. 

Lifestyle Tips:

1. Stick with a routine - I say it time after time that our body loves routine. We end up with a better quality sleep when our body knows around when to shut down and when to wake up. There are several sleep cycles we go through during a night and with a good routine our body will naturally come out of the sleep cycle when needed, instead of jolting awake in the middle of a deep sleep. 
2. Bedtime routine - Melatonin production increases in the evening to help you fall asleep. Blue light from screens (ie. TVs, iPads, cell phones) block melatonin production therefore impeding the onset of sleep. Try to turn off all electronics a half hour before bed or if really necessary use an app such as f.lux to eliminate the blue light. Do a little reading right before bed, spend time with your partner or take a bath with some calming essential oils such as lavender. 
3. Leave the bedroom for sleep and sex - Are you working in bed up until you go to sleep? Watching tv? Is your bed a playground for pets and children? If you struggle with sleep try to maintain your bedroom as a sort of sanctuary and don’t bring in things you don’t need. Leave your phone outside the room, light a candle before bed, and try to avoid distractions in bed such as pets crawling around. 

Food as Medicine:

1. Avoid coffee in the afternoon - Caffeine has a half life of about 6 hours. Therefore the extra coffee to get you through the afternoon slump may affect your sleep later on. That goes for pop and caffeinated tea as well. 
2. Have a tsp of raw honey before bed - Raw or unpasteurized honey is a great source of tryptophan. The tryptophan then gets converted to serotonin and melatonin in the brain to help calm the mind and trigger sleep. It also helps maintain liver glycogen levels which the brain relies on throughout the night for energy. If you wake up around 1-3am your liver may be struggling to provide glycogen therefore this may be a good trick for you. 

Supplements/Herbs:

1. Magnesium - This is a very common deficiency as it is difficult to get a lot from our diet. Magnesium has been shown to have a calming effect on our nervous system and relaxes our muscles priming us to relax. I recommend 200-400mg of magnesium bis-glycinate to start before bed. 
2. Nervine herbs - Some of my favourite calming herbs are chamomile, passionflower and valerian. Combined in a sleepy-time tea is a great tool to use if you struggle with sleep and something I often do for my patients.
3. Melatonin - As your cortisol decreases throughout the day, melatonin starts to increase peaking during the night. It is more likely helpful for those who have low melatonin levels (something that can be tested for). I recommend starting with 0.5-3mg a half hour before bed. Many people find lower doses more sedating than higher doses and cause less dependence. 

If you are struggling with sleep, start with these simple tips but I am always here to help to discover the root cause of your sleep issues! 

In health & happiness, 

Dr. Karen

Food Friday: Pomegranate Chicken Tacos

Are you looking for a quick yet delicious meal that is still healthy? These pomegranate chicken tacos, aside from the wraps, are prepared in a slow cooker so they can be put together quickly when you get home from work! This recipe is great if you are on an elimination diet, avoiding gluten or just looking for a healthy option. They can be even made paleo if you use plantains to make the wraps or use fresh collard greens. 

I have made these tacos using different variations for a wrap and I have to say using homemade wraps makes the meal! You can find the recipe for brown rice tortillas here. It is so simple! I don’t own a tortilla press but using my hands, a rolling pin or a heavy pot to flatten them works just fine with the flour between two pieces of parchment paper. Leftover chicken can be added to lunches with a kale salad or something along those lines. 

Ingredients:

Chicken:

• 1-1.5 lbs organic or local chicken breast, skinless, boneless
• 1 cup pure pomegranate juice
• 1 small onion, halved and cut into half-moons
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Tacos:

• Brown rice tortillas (recipe here) or collard green leaves 
• thinly sliced napa cabbage or romaine lettuce
• sliced avocado
• thin strips of cucumber
• mayonnaise (vegan if prepared) 
• broccoli sprouts (optional)

Directions:

1. Before work place all the ingredients of the chicken in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 or so hours. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and place it on a plate or cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken then place it back in the slow cooker and mix it into the cooked onions and juices. Let it cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes more. 
2. During this time, make the tortillas using brown rice flour or almond flour and tapioca flour (I find this works better than arrowroot). Add more tapioca flour until you can easier form a ball of dough. Continue with recipe from here. Be sure to eat when tortillas are still warm to avoid them breaking too much. 
3. To assemble the tacos, spread a small amount of mayonnaise on the tortilla. Place a scoop of the shredded chicken into the centre of each tortilla, then add a small handful of greens, a few slices of avocado, a small handful of cucumber and a tbsp broccoli sprouts. Fold in half and enjoy! It gets a little juicy so watch out 😃 

Let me know what you think!

In health & happiness, 

Dr. Karen

Probiotics Everywhere - What To Really Look For!

At the end of last year I did a talk to local Holistic Nutritionists and it was mentioned that one of the top trends of 2017 was going to be probiotics. Not just those good gut bugs in general, but adding them to all different types of foods. So I was curious to see what the commercial industry was going to come up with next. What I am seeing lately is probiotics in orange juice! FYI - probiotics are not naturally found in juice. To see a benefit you also want a lot more than the 1 billion found in that cup of juice they are marketing. 

Better ways than this to get your probiotics :)

I want to shed a little light on probiotics so you have a little more information when those marketing gurus try to direct their product your way. 

Benefits of probiotics:

There are so many strains of probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that reside mostly in the large intestine of your gut. More and more research is coming out showing the importance of probiotics on a wide variety of conditions, including all digestive disorders, immune health, anxiety, skin health and even weight loss. In Naturopathic Medicine research is trying to get even more specific in terms of subtypes of strains to treat even more individually. In my practice I prescribe either specific probiotic strains or higher doses of probiotics - 11 billion, 50 billion or even up to 300 billion for issues such as crohns and colitis. Once we have established a healthy community of those good bugs the focus then turns more to food forms of probiotics. These would be naturally fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, yogurt or even sourdough. Naturally fermented I say...not orange juice.  

What to look for:

While I am not saying a little fresh juice is bad, it is actually quite delicious at times, it just shouldn't be your primary way of getting probiotics. Therefore when companies claim their products contain probiotics, ask yourself if it is a naturally fermented food and how many billion are actually in a serving. Focus on adding a tbsp or two of naturally fermented foods as mentioned above to your meals, or for a higher dose look for a probiotic containing 10 billion or more with more than 2 strains. 

If you are having digestive concerns that don't seem to be improving with over the counter probiotics or fermented foods consider coming in for a visit to discuss a more specific treatment plan for you! I am always happy to help. 

In health & happiness, 

Dr. Karen 

Time for a little Spring Cleaning

Do you feel as if your bucket is starting to overflow? Are symptoms such as fatigue, skin issues, bloating, chronic pain and mental fog starting to creep up on you? It may be time for you to do a little spring cleaning! 

Spring is a great time to dust off the cob webs of not only our home but our bodies as well. In Chinese Medicine, spring is the time of the liver and the liver is the main organ focused on detoxification. When working properly it helps to filter through our blood and eliminate what isn’t needed or toxic to our body. Therefore we not only have to limit what we expose ourselves to but provide the body with proper nutrients to work optimally. We have all heard the saying “we are what we eat” and that rings very true here. We cannot expect our bodies to feel vibrant and healthy if we feed it sugar and other nutrient poor foods all the time. 

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” - Michael Pollen

The Bucket Theory

If you think of your body as a bucket, when we are born we have an empty bucket - a clean slate. We then get exposed to many things that fill up that bucket and unfortunately modern lifestyle and eating habits expose us to so much more than our bodies are able to handle. This may be stress, unhealthy food, environmental toxins and chemicals, prescription medication, smoking, too much coffee or alcohol. If we are not careful over time our bucket overflows and symptoms occur. This could be high blood pressure, headaches, diabetes, bloating, weight gain, chronic fatigue…you name it. Instead of suppressing these symptoms and jamming it all down, we want to optimize proper elimination and detoxification to create an ebb and flow in the bucket, preventing it from overflowing! We do this by eating nourishing whole foods and focusing on liver and digestive health. It isn’t complicated and when provided with the right tools it isn’t hard! 

When provided with the right tools emptying your bucket can easily be done.

That is where I come in. Every spring I offer a Cleanse, using real food and no fancy footwear, to help bring you back (or at least closer) to your clean symptom free self. I offer tools and resources to show you how to optimize your health with nutritious foods. This year it is a 10-Day Cleanse, from April 26th-May 5th, and all accessible online. No need to change out of our your pyjamas to get started on your health journey. 

What’s all included:

• 10 Day Spring Cleanse package with details, meal plan & delicious recipes - emailed to you prior to Spring Cleanse start date
• Video How To's from my kitchen emailed to you throughout the Spring Cleanse to support the program and inspire you in the kitchen
• Access to the Facebook support group
• 2 Online Q&A sessions with Dr. Karen - April 23rd & 30th
• Optional - Detox-Pro supplement to support cleanse (purchased through my online dispensary on Fullscript)

Want to feel your best this spring? Then what are you waiting for! Join me for a little food fun. 😃 Sign up below to reserve your spot. 

In health & happiness,

Dr. Karen