Food as Medicine Archives - Plattsville Natural Health Clinic

Successful Goals – Starting 2025 Out Right

January 15, 2025 by elisha

This year could be totally different for you. With New Year’s resolutions, ambitious goals, and dreams for 2025, we can sometimes set ourselves up for failure if we haven’t planned intentionally. Many have heard about making SMART goals, which is a great principle to follow, but there may be more to it. With this blog, we want to give you, our reader, some different considerations when making those goals for 2025.

In January, individuals can start off strong with their goals and intentions. Occasionally, those best intentions diminish shortly into the New Year. One of the reasons that this can happen is that the stressors of life creep in and our expectations for ourselves are unrealistic. With that being said, before we even hit the treadmill or cut the poor health habits, we need to ask ourselves some important questions.

Are your goals fair and realistic?

Too often we make goals for ourselves that far exceed our resources and capabilities. It is important to ask ourselves if our goal is fair, even on our worst day. For example, is exercising every day of the week realistic for you? Is being 100% strict with your eating choices/diet fair? When we can have this viewpoint and consideration, it can help us to reassess the goals we have and make them more realistic.

What is your “worst case scenario” plan?

Have you considered what your “worst case scenario plan” is? What we mean by this is if you had no energy or resources, what steps could you still take to achieve your goal? On your worst day, what tools or resources need to be available to you? This thought can facilitate planning for hard days and can cause even your worst days to be successful.

Are your attempts better than nothing?

Finally, thinking about those days where we have missed the mark, it is important for us to examine our expectations. We are not perfect, nor should we be. Grace is important for any goal. This question helps to give an opportunity for grace, but still movement towards that goal. All or nothing mentality can be crippling, but by examining the small changes and putting value to them, we can move modestly, but successfully, towards our goals.

If you have found this to be helpful, there are many other great pieces of information in Dr. Cook’s book “Stress less and weigh less”. Even if weight loss is not your goal, but reducing stress is, this is a great resource to have. You can find this book on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C87VD1FD or at our clinic. We also invite you to consider putting a health care provider into “your corner” to help you successfully accomplish your health care goals. If you are ready for that support, feel free to contact our clinic. We are always accepting new patients! Regardless, we hope that 2025 is your best year yet.

Have you benefited from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let us know what you think. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, contact our clinic by calling/texting 226-232-7665, and we would be happy to book your naturopathic appointment today!

Sneaky Ways to Increase Vegetable Intake

January 17, 2024 by elisha

By: Dr. Elisha Cook ND

Sneaking vegetables into the diet can be tricky for children and adults alike. For some, the texture of vegetables can be off-putting, and for others, frankly a flavour issue. Whatever your obstacle may be, there may be some surprising ways to increase your vegetable intake without altering the flavour of some of your classic dishes you have grown to love.

In this blog, we have provided not only a list of ways to increase your vegetable intake, but also some recipes to consider trying.

5 Sneaky Ways to Increase Vegetables:

Use them as a filler in ground meat recipes: whether it is zucchini, mushrooms, or onions, there are some great vegetables that you can finely chop or grate, and combine with ground meat for such meals as meat balls, meat loaf, or even hamburgers.
Apple sauce type pouches: Many stores carry convenient apple sauce pouches for grab on the go snacks. However, if you go to the baby section of your grocery store, you will see some pouches that have vegetables already incorporated. It may be a bit more costly, but if you need that convenience, it may be worth the investment. You can even consider making your own fruit and vegetable sauce and filling reusable pouches to fit your own flavour profile and reduce potential salt intake.
Smoothies: Smoothies are a classic and easy way to increase vegetable intake. You can consider using a greens powder to do this, or incorporate spinach into your smoothie. Generally, spinach does not alter the flavour of the smoothie, making it very easy to slip in unnoticed.
Oatmeal: A sneaky way to increase vegetable intake with oatmeal is to grate a carrot into it. This may seem strange, but think about it this way, do you enjoy carrot muffins? Likely, the oatmeal will remind you of that by adding in some pairings of apples, cinnamon, and maple syrup to your carrot and oatmeal combination.
Substituting vegetables for noodles: Whether it is spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles, you can consider using these as opposed to your classic wheat based noodles. Though it will not provide the same flavour, it will pack a nutritional punch!

Recipes to Increase Vegetable Intake:

Zucchini-Beef Burgers

These burgers are very moist and can be spiced up by adding cheese or other flavours that make your burger king of the grill.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ground beef or chicken

½ cup grated zucchini

½ cup finely chopped spinach

1 cup of finely chopped mushrooms

¼ cup finely chopped scallions (approximately 1 large one)

2 tsp of Worschestershire sauce

Optional: ½ tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Shape into hamburger patties whether by hand or using a press, shaping them to your desired size. Throw them on the barbeque and cook until cooked all of the way through. Serve your hamburger patty as per your preference.

Apple-Cucumber Sauce

This recipe is super easy and requires minimal ingredients and supplies.

Ingredients:

6 cups of Apples cored, peeled and diced

2 cups of cucumbers pealed, seeds removed, and diced

¼ cup of water

Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring half way through cooking. When the cooking time is done, mash well and serve as is. If using in reusable pouches, place in a blender and blend until smooth consistency is reached.

This recipe is completely freezer safe. I generally fill 250ml jars and place in the freezer, pulling them as needed. If filling jars, make sure to leave ½ inch of space at the top to allow for expansion.

Have you benefited 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 trying any of our services, working with any of our amazing practitioners, or are simply wanting a different approach to your health care needs, contact the Plattsville Natural Health Clinic by calling 226-232-7665 and book your appointment today!

Steps to Reduce Dementia Risk

October 3, 2023 by elisha

Written by: Dr. Elisha Cook ND

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can be impactful for those who suffer from it, and their care providers. Dementia is classified as a decline in cognitive functions such as memory and complex thinking. As we age, our risk can increase, but there are many activities and lifestyle factors that can help decrease the likelihood of being personally affected by this condition. We hope that this article will bring to light these factors and help you and your loved ones reduce your risk.

Exercise

Exercise can be beneficial for many pathways and systems in our body. Walking daily can help to reduce the risk of dementia by 25%. Specifically, achieving a minimum of 3800 steps per day helps to reduce this risk, with risk reduction increasing with the more steps that were achieved (the maximum benefit was received at 9800 steps).

Diet High in Fruits and Vegetables

According to the research, consuming a diet high in “flavonoids” helps to reduce the risk of dementia. Fruits and vegetables with yellow or orange colour tended to have the greatest impact on reducing risk, but in general, consuming a rainbow of colour when it comes to fruits and vegetables aids in overall health. With fruits specifically, aiming to consume “lower sugar” fruits such as apples, pears, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries may aid more than just your mental health as well.

Challenge your Mind

Regularly engaging in activities that challenge the mind can reduce dementia risk by as much as 11%. By engaging in literacy tasks, higher learning, logical reasoning tasks, critical thinking tasks, and social engagement, it increases neurons and improves brain activity. Activities that stimulate the brain in such a way include:

puzzles
reading
writing
playing cards
computer tasks
taking courses
scrabble
word searches
crosswords
playing an instrument

Incorporating more of the above tasks may not eliminate the onset of one of these conditions, but risk reduction is always a step in the right direction.

Have you benefited 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.

References:

hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/lifestyle-changes-can-help-prevent-dementia/

health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/taking-more-steps-a-day-might-reduce-dementia-risk

theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/14/challenging-brain-older-age-may-reduce-dementia-risk-study#:~:text=The%20results%20reveal%20that%20for,over%20a%2010-years%20period

Foods to Boost Male Health

November 8, 2022 by elisha

Written By: Dr. Elisha Cook ND

November is generally known for promoting, encouraging, and discussing men’s health. With this in mind, what better way to celebrate with some foods that benefit male health! These foods are not only great for a balanced, healthy diet, but specifically help with prostate health, fertility, and balancing male hormones.

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fiber, and are high in magnesium and zinc. Specifically, in the research, pumpkin seeds have been linked to reducing the size of the prostate in BPH and reducing the consequences of it (improving erectile function and improving urine outflow) (1).

In the world of fertility, there is limited human research on the effect of pumpkin seeds on sperm characteristics, but in the animal world, it has shown to increase and improve sperm concentration, motility, and viability. With these promising improvements seen in the animal world, and the little to no side effects associated with eating pumpkin seeds, males looking to improve sperm parameters might consider adding pumpkin seeds to their diet (2).

Cooked Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain many great nutrients and are high in an antioxidant lycopene. As tomatoes are cooked, the lycopene content increases. Research shows that males that consumed a diet higher in tomatoes, also had a reduced risk of developing prostate cancer (3).

In regards to lycopene, it may reduce the growth of the prostate leading to reduced likelihood of BPH and cancer (4).

In addition, regular tomato juice consumption has been linked to improved sperm motility in those struggling with infertility (5).

Pomegranate

Pomegranate juice specifically is a great addition to a balanced diet, but when it comes to male health, it can also benefit fertility. Regular pomegranate juice consumption was shown to improve total motile sperm count (6).

Overall, the best way to improve one’s health is through a well balanced diet, but for males, adding these foods more often might produce greater gains in regards to factors concerning male health.

Have you benefited 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.

Resources: