Health and Nutrition

Healthy Snack Ideas for Back-to-School

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Lunch box with sandwich,fruit and stationery on pink backgroundIt’s that time of year again! Preparing your child for another year of learning can be challenging with keeping with all of the different trends and requirements. On top of all of this, you need to find healthy snacks that your children will actually eat and that are nut free. Hopefully this will help you with your preparing for healthy snacks and lunches.

  • Fruits and Vegetables
  • Raisins or Craisins
  • Nuts and seeds (within what is allowed at the school)
  • Craisin Bars (or Pumpkin Craisin Bars) – look for the recipe in my blog
  • Mary’s organic crackers and hummus
  • Lara bars – even experimenting and making your own
  • Dried fruit – maybe making your own trail mixes with your child’s favourite dried fruits and seeds
  • Muffins – try to avoid making muffins that are high in sugar or sweets.
  • Kale or Beet Chips

The following tips might help you to be able to create a lunch that your child will eat even though it is healthy

  • Cut fruits and vegetables into fun shapes
  • Use bright coloured fruits and vegetables
  • Allow your child to help you make the lunch – more likely to eat it
  • Have fun with snacks – eg ants on a log
  • Mix it up – expose your child to a variety of different fruits and vegetables or snack in order to keep them from getting bored.

Have you benefitted from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let me know what you think.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please book an appointment with Elisha Cook at the RSNC (416-498-9763), and let me help you achieve your health goals.

 

 

How to Paleo the Right Way – A Guest Blog By Katelyn Butler Birmingham

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Paleolithic Diet Food ListThe Paleo diet has been on the market awhile now…people have had time to ‘digest it’ so to speak, but its more than just eating bacon and sausages every day. If you’re going to go Paleo, here are some important things to remember:

1)      Eat Whole Foods. This means if it comes in a can, a box, vacuum sealed or says ‘just add water’ it should be avoided.

2)      Fruit and Veggies are your friends: berries, apples, bananas, sweet potato, rutabaga, carrots etc

3)      Drink water! Add citrus, cucumber or berries to make it more exciting.

4)      Nuts and seeds are a great source of protein: Almonds, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds…Go nuts!

5)      Meat, seafood and eggs are encouraged – but be mindful of portion size – no bigger than the palm of your hand.

6)      No Dairy!

7)      No Grains – no breads, pasta, cereals or rice

8)      Think of yourself as a Hunter/Gatherer – If you can’t hunt it or pick it from a tree/bush or from the ground, you probably can’t eat it.

9)      Spice things up – all of the spices under the sun are allowed.

10)   Have fun with food – create new recipe ideas!

Here is a Sample Day to get you started:

Breakfast:

  • One soft boiled egg
  • Two cups of combined steamed asparagus and red peppers
  • One cup of mixed berries
  • Herbal tea

Snack:

  • Handful of mixed pine nuts, walnuts and sunflower seeds
  • Water

Lunch:

  • Salmon salad with Apple slices.
  • Salad: lettuce, spinach, red onions, tomatoes, cucumber. Top with salmon and thinly sliced apple.
  • Dressing: Combine 2 Tbsp olive oil, black pepper and balsamic vinegar
  • Water with raspberries

Snack:

  • Piece of fruit of your choice
  • Water

Dinner:

  • Chicken breast with sautéed mushrooms, onions and bok choy
  • Side of mashed yams with cranberries and black pepper
  • Coconut milk to drink

The Paleo Diet has a lot to offer as far as eating well and feeling great – just remember the above and you’ll be well on your way!

Thank you to Elisha for allowing me to guest blog while she is away 🙂

Katelyn Butler-Birmingham, CCNM Naturopathic Medical Intern

@KTBB_ND

Healthy Shopping

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Beautiful young woman shopping for fruits and vegetables in prodMaking healthy grocery shopping decisions can be hard, especially on a tight budget. There are ways that you can make healthier food choices when you are shopping for your groceries though.

  1. Shop the Perimeter

Shopping the perimeter of the store is just that: shopping the outside sections of the store. The reason why this is suggested is because there tends to be more whole foods on the perimeter of the store and less products with high contents of sugar and preservatives. By keeping a conscious effort to try and avoid the middle sections if possible, you will be able to prepare meals that might be more nutritionally valuable.

  1. No Coupons

There have been studies produced showing the negative impact that couponing can have on your health. This is because what tends to be promoted with coupons are foods that are not the healthiest choice.

  1. Shop Sales

This may seem obvious, but shopping sales allows you to save some extra money, especially if you might be choosing some healthier products that might cost more.

  1. Organic when you can

Ideally, choosing organic sources of products is more beneficial than your standard products, especially when it comes to meat. An area where you should avoid compromising on this, if possible, is with meats. Non-organic meats tend to contain hormones and possible preservatives that are less than ideal.

  1. Frozen is okay

When you cannot afford to get organic, or when it is not available, standard products are completely acceptable to choose. This even includes buying frozen vegetables/fruits. Basically it comes down to any fruit or vegetable is better than none. So if you need to purchase frozen vegetables or fruits to save a couple extra dollars, then do so! Buying canned fruits and vegetables is fine as well, but it is important to make sure you are reading the label, and avoiding those that are packed with syrups or a lot of sugar.

  1. Plan meals in advance

Planning your meals for the week will help keep you focused on what you are really there to get while grocery shopping. By doing this, you avoid purchasing products that you see and want, but do not really need.

  1. Seasonal When Possible

Finally, buying seasonal fruits and vegetables is a good way to save some money (because it tends to be on sale), support local farmers, and purchase foods that might have more nutritional value (because the produce was more recently harvested, spent less time traveling, and so has retained more of its nutritional quality).

Some of these ideas are not necessarily cost effective, but, by adopting some of these habits, and keeping these things in mind while shopping, it may help you to choose healthier, higher quality foods.

Have you benefitted from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let me know what you think.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please book an appointment with Elisha Cook at the RSNC today and let me help you achieve your health goals.

Stress and Weight: The Connection between Stress and Unsuccessful Weight Loss

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Girl - Weight LossSome do not realize that their mind impacts their physical body, but in all reality it does. Take a moment and think about having to make a presentation in front of a crowd. Do you ever get “butterflies in your stomach”, start to sweat, or feel your heart beating fast? It is most likely because you are getting nervous or anxious. This is a prime example that our thoughts can impact our physical body. With this in mind, it is possible for our mental stress to have an impact on our ability to lose weight.

Historically, stress was a way that we survived. Our bodies dealt with stress for shorter periods of time, and most of the time it was more physical than mental. For example, stress was being chased down by a tiger. From this perspective, the stress caused a release of cortisol (stress hormone) which helped you to run faster, think clearer, breathe better, and ultimately survive.

Now, we are not running from tigers, we are dealing with piles of paperwork, financial issues, stress at home and stress at work. We are not physically dealing with our stress, yet our bodies continue to release the same hormones that would help us to run faster, think clearer, and breathe easier. On top of this, we are not getting the health benefits of the exercise of dealing with the stress of today (unless your paperwork begins to chase you around, then maybe). Because our bodies are dealing with stress for much longer, our health is negatively impacted because of the wear and tear these hormones being released for so long can have on our bodies. Prolonged stress slows the body’s capacity to heal, degrades organs, suppresses the immune system, increases blood pressure, increases appetite, and can cause muscle wasting.

So how does stress halt weight loss. From a physical perspective, cortisol, the stress hormone, causes many changes in the body when it is released. From a short term perspective, it causes our heart rate and blood sugars to increase in order to have the energy needed to handle the physical stress. This can cause not only an accumulation of fat in our bodies, but also other negative impact such as those listed above. From a mental – emotional perspective, stress can cause us to feel depressed, not get outside, lack motivation; all of which can contribute to weight gain.

Because of the large role stress can have on weight and overall health, one of the main things that I tend to focus on with any patient who comes in wanting to lose weight, is stress management. Once you eliminate stress and its impact on you, you may have a easier time losing weight, and also may feel better overall.

Have you benefitted from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let me know what you think.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please book an appointment with Elisha Cook at the RSNC today and let me help you achieve your health goals.