Common Signs Of Stress (And What To Do About Them)

Imagine you're a cop in an action movies.

You're right outside the apartment of the most dangerous drug lord in town and his goons, waiting for back up.

Any moment someone will come out and see you.

Those guys, they hate cops. They'll shoot you dead on sight – if you're lucky.

Unless you get them first.

Your muscles tense up, readying you to run like a fiend at the slightest noise.

Your blood pulses in your veins, your heart is a drum in your ears.

You're panting like an animal hungry for the chase.

Your body dampens down everything else, attunes the entirety of its resources to a single purpose: getting you out of this alive.

Now, imagine feeling like this all the time.

The fight-or-flight response works great for the situation above.

Not so well for your midterms.

In my practice as a naturopathic doctor for stress management, I have helped many patients reduce stress and improve mental and physical wellbeing.

Today I'll share with you some of what I've learned on stress and how to mitigate its harmful effects.

What is stress, and why it can be bad for us?

The biological purpose of stress is to help an organism survive by forcing it to adapt quickly to any physical or environmental pressure.

Acute stress involves an urgent, quick danger that activates the fight-or-flight response of our sympathetic nervous system.

This system redirects our energy to the bodily systems most useful for fighting or escaping.

But what happens when that response gets overextended?

Chronic stress involves continuous activation of the fight-or-flight response.

That means that physical changes meant to last a short time become overextended.

Things like an unhappy marriage, poverty, childhood trauma, major life events, or a high-stress job can cause chronic stress.

But even smaller, daily stressors can lead to chronic stress.

What does the fight-or-flight stress response consist of?

Hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released, causing the following:

• Elevated blood pressure and pulse rate
• Weakening of immune system
• Muscle tension
• Deceleration of the digestive system
• Heightened alertness which prevents sleep.
• Quickened breath

These changes will raise your risk of stroke or heart attack.

Other hormones released, like norepinephrine, can affect the brain by acting like neurotransmitters.

This can cause mood swings, poor concentration, anxiety and depression.

These are some of the most common symptoms people with chronic stress complain about:

1. Insomnia
2. Headaches
3. Fatigue.

What are the best ways to reduce stress and its negative effects?

Prioritizing

If your stress is the result of work overload, it's important to become more selective about your tasks.

Rate your tasks by importance and by benefits.

Which tasks take long, yet produce little utility?

Try to forfeit some of those tasks.

Not everything is important.

Which time-consuming tasks can be delegated to a person or an affordable service that will do them for you?

For example, the app Fiver allows you to hire people for miscellaneous tasks for just a few dollars.

Which tasks take long because of inadequate technology?

Do you spend a lot of time waiting for your old computer to process every task?

Consider replacing it.

Consider buying software that will automate some of your tasks; your time is a resource, and this change may pay off in the long term.

Cognitive restructuring

cognitive restructuring is a psychotherapeutic technique that involves learning to identify and refute maladaptive or irrational negative thoughts, and replace them with more realistic ones.

It can help you fight overly-pessimistic expectations that lead to stress.

Take a look at a task or event that’s causing you anxiety, and think about the following questions:

• What are the possibilities you fear?
• What is the likelihood of each actually occurring?
• Have those fear been substantiated in similar past situations?
• How horrible would it be if the thing you fear actually came true?
• Put your fear in perspective. How does it compare to other, more terrible possibilities, such as losing a loved one?
• How well did you cope or recover after a past occasion where this fear was realized

At the end of the exercise, prepare a coping statement that will include what you've learned.

Keep it with you as a note, and reread it whenever you become anxious about that task or event.

Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a great method to relax the tension in your body.

It can help with tension-related head and back pain.

This is how PMR works:

• Lie on your back on a surface such as a bed or a carpet, and stretch out until you're comfortable.
• Take a breath, and tense one muscle group for 4-10 seconds (you can start anywhere). The tensing should be strong, but not painful.
• Release the air, then relax the muscle group you were tensing all at once.
• Wait 10-20 seconds before continuing to another muscle group. In the meanwhile, pay attention to the difference in how the first muscle group feels.
• After you're done working on all the muscle groups, count backwards from 5-1 to return your attention to the present.

Exercise

Exercise can help reduce stress and the insomnia associated with it.

It produces endorphins which act as natural pain killers, and lifts mood.

It also serves as distraction from worries, especially if you exercise mindfully. In addition, it helps battle the effects of stress on sleep.

You can exercise with a friend to reap the benefits of socializing on mood as well.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

Do you suspect the symptoms you're experiencing might be stress-related?

Contact me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, to book your FREE optimal health consultation here at the Mindful Healing Clinic in Mississauga.

I can help you figure out if you're suffering from chronic stress.

Being hard-working doesn't have to come at the expense of your health.

With naturopathy, I can teach you different interventions and create an individualized plan that'll help protect you from the harmful effects stress.

Contact me today at the Mindful Healing Clinic for your FREE optimal health consultation.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To see more ideas on health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: naturopathic doctor

Top 5 Health Benefits Of Turmeric

Whether you want to fight inflammation in your body, or just make your food yellow, turmeric – the spice used in curry – is your friend.

Curcumin, the main active ingredient in turmeric, significantly reduces inflammation and oxidation.

Chronic inflammation is a major culprit in Western disease. It contributes to diabetes, cancer, arthritis, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, depression, obesity, and inflammatory bowel diseases.

As a naturopathic doctor in Mississauga, I’ve worked with many different patients over the years and often include turmeric as part of my naturopathic and nutritional coaching programs.

Anti-inflammatory drugs taken on long term basis have severe side effects on gastrointestinal and cardiovascular health.

But curcumin has been shown in some cases to be as effective as pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory drugs, while being free of side effects.

As a powerful antioxidant, curcumin can also reduce damage from free radicals, and protect against various negative effects associated with aging.

What’s the catch?

This amazing curcumin compound?

It’s only 3% of the content of turmeric.

To get an effective dosage out of natural turmeric powder you’d have to take up curry eating as a full-time job.

That’s why studies typically use extracts with high concentration curcumin.

The trouble is that most of this curcumin will bid you farewell on your next trip to the restroom.

Curcumin has poor bioavailability and doesn’t absorb well into the bloodstream.

There has been some disillusionment among scientists as impressive lab results and animal studies did not always translate well into human trials.

Still, is there any way to harness the mighty powers of curcumin?

Piperine, found in black pepper, improves curcumin absorption by 2000%. Combining curcumin with lipids will also increase its absorption.

Unfortunately, a lot of the current human studies on curcumin made no effort to improve its bioavailability.

Hopefully with the addition of piperine or lipids to curcumin, future studies might yield better results.

Nonetheless, many human trials with curcumin have already been successful.

Read on to find out how curcumin can help your health.

What Is Turmeric Good For?

Human romance with the turmeric plant began in India, nearly 4000 years ago, where it was used for culinary and religious purposes.

We have records of its medicinal use starting from 250 bc, when it was recommended by "Ayurveda" – the Indian system of holistic medicine – for use in ointments against poisoned food.

Interestingly, up to 50% of approved drugs in the past 30 years has come directly or indirectly from natural products.

In recent years modern medicine became greatly interested in

Turmeric, with over 3000 publications on the topic written in the last 25 years.

1. Heart Disease

Studies have shown that curcumin can significantly reduce risk of heart disease – the number onecause of death worldwide.

One study looked at 121 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery.

The group that took curcumin before and after the surgery had a 65% decrease in risk for a heart attack in the hospital, compared to the placebo group.

How does curcumin help?

Curcumin improves endothelial function, which is vital to preventing heart disease. Endothelium – the lining of the blood vessels – is important for processes like blood clotting and blood pressure regulation. Studies have found curcumin to be as effective as exercise and as the pharmaceutical drug Atorvastatin in improving endothelial function.

2. Cancer

Curcumin shows great promise in fighting cancer.

In lab and animal studies, curcumin reduced the development and spread of cancer, killing cancerous cells and lowering growthof new blood cells in tumours.

There is encouraging evidence form human studies as well.

One study examined the effectiveness of curcumin in 44 men with colon lesions at risk of turning cancerous. Within a month, curcumin eliminated 40% of the lesions.

3. Alzheimer’s Disease

Curcumin might be effective against Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by buildup of protein tangles called Amyloid plaques.

Lab studies on animals have shown that curcumin is effective in disposing of these plaques, and might improve and even prevent Alzheimer's disease.

But what about human trials?

Results have been mixed. In two trials, curcumin was ineffective in improving the condition of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

However, one of the trials suggested that curcumin is capable of dismantling beta-amyloid deposits in the brain and releasing them for circulation and disposal.

Furthermore, a study of 1,010 elderly people of asian descent without dementia found that those with turmeric-rich diets performed significantly better in a cognitive function test compared to the rest.

While curcumin has potential to be helpful for Alzheimer's disease, it remains to be seen whether an effective treatment using curcumin can be developed.

4. Arthritis

Arthritis is a leading cause of work-related disability, experienced by 23% of adults in the United States and 16% of Canadians. It’s characterized by chronic inflammation.

As mentioned, one of the primary benefits of curcumin is its anti-inflammatory properties, which lends credence to the idea that turmeric can help with relief for arthritis.

Various studies suggest this.

In one study, curcumin proved more effective for rheumatoid arthritis than the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac sodium, and had no side effects.

In another, taking Meriva – a blend of curcumin and soy lecithin – led to significant improvement in inflammation, symptoms and mobility and among osteoarthritis patients.

A third A third study found that adding curcumin allowed osteoarthritis patients to decrease their dose of the drug celecoxib to safer doses.

5. Depression

Curcumin shows promise in treating depression.

In one study, 60 depressive patients were given curcumin, Prozac or a combination of the two.

Curcumin and Prozac were similarly effective, and when combined, led to even greater improvement, suggesting that dietary changes can be just as powerful as pharmaceutical drugs in treating depression.

Meanwhile, in animal studies, curcumin has been shown to boost the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, which have been closely linked with the brain’s ability to produce happiness.

This could reverses some of the depression-associated changes in the hippocampus, a brain area important for memory and learning.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

Have you been diagnosed with any of these conditions, or suspect you might be at risk?

Contact me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, to book your FREE optimal health consultation here at the Mindful Healing Clinic in Mississauga.

I’ll help you understand better how naturopathy can assist you, and answer any questions you may have.

From there, we’ll develop an individualized treatment plan, to help you achieve your optimal level of health, on your terms.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE optimal health consultation today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To discover additional information on health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: naturopathic clinic

Top 5 Misconceptions About Acupuncture

Acupuncture today is one of the most well-known forms of complementary healthcare.

Even those who haven’t experienced a treatment themselves have at least heard about it.

But awareness is only the first step.

As a streetsville naturopathic doctor who practices acupuncture, I’ve seen my share of misconceptions about acupuncture treatment.

These misconceptions are understandable to someone who’s never experienced acupuncture before or who has been fed only misinformation about it.

With this article, I hope to dispel some of the myths surrounding acupuncture.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how acupuncture may be able to help you with your health concerns, contact us at the Mindful Healing Clinic.

1. Acupuncture isn’t real medicine

Acupuncture began as a form of folk medicine in China, and as a result some believe it’s based more around superstition than actual science, or that it is no more effective than a placebo.

However, there’s a large body of work that does support many of the claims made about acupuncture and its practice.

A search on the US National Library of Medicine, a database of scientific studies published in peer-reviewed journals, delivers more than 1200 results for the search term “benefits of acupuncture”.

The research points to acupuncture’s benefits, or potential benefits, in treating children with asthma, helping people recover from gynaecological surgery or certain types of strokes, to help ease the pain of patients in palliative care, treating fibromyalgia, diabetic gastroparesis, and more.

While the jury is still out on some of the benefits of acupuncture, it’s clear based on the scientific literature that there’s more to it than just superstition.

2. Acupuncture is painful

You can be forgiven for thinking that acupuncture is painful.

After all, we’re stabbing you with a bunch of needles all over your body, right?

Wrong.

First of all, acupuncture needles are very small and fine – just a little bit thicker than a strand of hair, actually.

And they aren’t inserted all the way into your body either, just enough to hold them in place.

Some people report mild discomfort, like a dull ache, around the point of insertion, which generally either fades on its own or eases as your acupuncturist manipulates and adjusts the needles.

In rare cases, acupuncture has some side effects, including fatigue, soreness, and lightheadedness.

These side effects are rare, and almost always clear up in a day or two.

But in general, acupuncture is not considered a painful form of treatment.

3. Acupuncture is just a band-aid treatment

Because of acupuncture’s reputation as a treatment to help relieve pain, it’s a common belief that acupuncture simply deals with the symptoms of an illness, rather than treating the root cause.

The truth is that acupuncture is designed to help facilitate the body’s own ability to heal itself.

The acupuncture needles stimulate the body to release endorphins.

While endorphins do act like a natural painkiller, they have also been proven to bolster your immune system, improve your digestive function, and help fight several illnesses.

When the body’s ability to heal itself is promoted, it may make certain conditions easier to manage overall.

So acupuncture is designed to help you deal with your health concerns permanently.

4. Once you receive acupuncture, you’ll always need to get it

Like any type of healthcare treatment, the number of acupuncture treatments you need depend dramatically on your own health history, your unique health concerns, the severity of your condition, and much more.

While some patients report relief after the first session, others require more treatments in order to get the results they were hoping for.

However, if you don’t see the results you were hoping for with your first treatment, don’t give up.

Your acupuncture practitioner will help you make an informed decision about the effectiveness of your treatment plan.

5. Acupuncture can’t be used in combination with other treatments

Acupuncture is considered to be a safe, low-risk treatment.

In general, there is no conflict between acupuncture and other forms of health care treatment, and can be used in conjunction with many other treatments, including chiropractic, massage therapy, naturopathy, and alongside most pharmaceutical drugs.

If you are undergoing other health care treatments, though, speak to your acupuncture practitioner.

They will be able to help you make an informed decision as to whether acupuncture is right for you.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

Are you interested in discovering more about acupuncture?

Curious as to whether it’s right for you? If so, contact me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, at the Mindful Healing Clinic in Streetsville, Mississauga.

You can book a FREE 15 minute optimal health consultation, during which I’ll sit down with you, listen to your concerns, answer any questions you may have, and from there we can put together a treatment plan to address your health concerns.

Call the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE 15 minute optimal health consultation today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To read more info about health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: downtown Mississauga naturopathic clinic

Top 5 Reasons Not To Exercise (And Why You Should Ignore Them)

There’s always an excuse not to do something.

Anything, really.

From going to the grocery store to writing that article you want to write to going to see your family doctor, naturopathic practitioner or otherwise.

Our minds are really good at excuses, especially if it’s something you don’t really want to do.

Exercise is one of them.

Exercise is part of any successful weight loss program, as well as any healthy lifestyle.

And yet, people have hundreds of excuses for why not to exercise.

And like most excuses, they just don’t make sense when you really examine them.

But while proper diet and nutrition are important, they only go so far.

Without exercise, you’ll be spinning your wheels in frustration, unable to live up to your full health potential.

Here are some of the most common excuses your brain may come up with for why you don’t need to exercise, and how to ignore them.

1. “I’m Too Fat”

If you’re overweight, it may seem too difficult to exercise.

You may feel like you’re too far gone.

And if you’ve been overweight for a long time, you may be stuck in your overweight lifestyle and mentality.

Humans are creatures of habit, and it’s tough to break out of our habits.

But if you’re hoping for a successful weight management strategy, you’ll need to start exercising.

The good news, though, is that even if you get winded after only a few stairs, you can still start exercising.

Start gradually, even if it’s just going for a walk around the block.

You’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.

Nobody goes from being overweight to running a marathon overnight.

But if Rosalie Bradford could go from weighing a whopping 1,053 pounds to just under 300, you’re not too far gone.

2. “I’m Too Busy”

Everyone is busy. 21st century lives are busier than ever.

But if something is important enough to you, you’ll make time for it.

After all, you make time to catch up with your favourite TV shows, don’t you?

The truth is, you have the time.

If you want to exercise, you’ll make the time.

If you want to feel better, you’ll make the time.

If you’re committed to a weight loss program and want to make a change in your life, you’ll make the time.

And if you don’t, you’ll make this excuse.

3. “Exercise Is Boring”

If you think exercise is boring, you may need to broaden your idea of what you consider to be exercise.

Going to the gym and grinding your body isn’t for everyone, of course. Neither are team sports.

And if your memories of exercise are all related to gym class, that might be your first association.

But there are other ways to exercise as well.

Dancing is exercise. Swimming is exercise.

Going for a bike ride is exercise.

Playing the drums is exercise.

Even going for a walk with a friend is exercise.

The trick is to find some sort of exercise you enjoy doing.

You can push yourself to do what you don’t like to do once in a while, but in the long run, your willpower will give out, you won’t want to do them anymore, and you’ll end up hating exercise.

That’s not healthy.

Find something you enjoy, and find a way to fit it into your daily routine.

4. “It Hurts To Exercise”

Now, this isn’t always an excuse.

This is a legitimate problem which many people face.

However, there’s a difference between pain and soreness.

If you run a kilometer on the treadmill after not having done so for a while, for example, your legs may be sore.

That’s to be expected.

This soreness usually gets worse in the next day or two after exercise, but then it will start to feel better.

However, if you’ve injured yourself, the pain will be different.

Each person is different, but if you’re experiencing joint or muscle pain, talk to a doctor, physiotherapist, chiropractor, or other specialist to find out how you can exercise without hurting yourself.

In fact, many different types of pain, including lower back pain, can be offset by certain types of exercise.

5. “I’m Too Old”

Very few people are so old that they can’t exercise in some fashion.

But again, this comes back to a different understanding of what exercise is in the first place.

Most fitness centres have some sort of exercise program geared toward seniors.

These are usually gentler exercises which take into consideration older bones and ligaments, but they’re still doable.

If your body feels frail and you have trouble exercising, there are many small, low-impact exercises you can do which will help you keep moving without hurting yourself.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

Now that we have all our excuses out of the way, let’s find some easy ways to exercise.

If you’re interested in building a weight loss program that works with your lifestyle, come see us at the Mindful Healing Clinic.

You’ll get a FREE 15-minute wellness consultation where you’ll get to sit down with me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, get all your questions answered, and find out how naturopathic medicine can help you with how to lose weight and keep it off.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE 15-minute wellness consultation today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To find more information on health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: Mississauga naturopathic clinic

These 5 Nutrients Can Help You Reduce Stress

The future is a funny thing, you know?

On one hand, we have all sorts of devices to make life easier and more relaxing.

We’ve got clocks that automatically update themselves for daylight savings, coffee pots that automatically brew your favourite cup o’ joe at the right time, and even robots that feed our cats, clean their litter boxes, vacuum our floors, clean our gutters, and much more.

And let’s not forget the little device you hold in your hand, which you may or may not be compulsively checking every five minutes.

So you’d think with all these improvements, life would be less stressful.

But it doesn’t take a naturopath to recognize that that’s not always the case.

In fact, the truth is, people are more stressed than ever.

According to a 2016 study from Statistics Canada, about one in four Canadians describe their lives as “extremely stressful”.

That means more than nine million Canadians are dealing with high-stress lives.

What Can I Do About It?

There are a number of stress-reducing techniques out there, many from a nutritional perspective.

Believe it or not, the food you eat can have a massive impact on your stress levels.

If you’re feeling stressed out, one easy way to alleviate that is by drinking a glass of water.

The importance of water to our health can’t be overstated. And if you’re feeling stressed, tired, or depressed, a tall glass of water can be surprisingly effective at making you feel better.

But other than water, there are a few different nutrients which can help you combat stress.

Here are five of them, and where you can get them.

1. B- Vitamins

When your mind is constantly in a state of anxiety, it can cause you to have difficulty sleeping.

And when you can’t sleep, your stress level can go up, which leads to more difficulty sleeping.

B vitamins, especially B1, B3, and B9, can help reduce stress.

These also help regulate your nervous system and digestive system, without which you’d be in hot water indeed.

You can find vitamin B1 (also known as thiamin) in pork, ham, dark leafy greens, almonds, and broccoli.

Meanwhile, vitamin B3 (also known as niacin) shows up most commonly in chicken, turkey, and most types of fish.

And B9 (also known as folate) shows up in spinach, turnip greens, and broccoli.

2. Magnesium

Magnesium helps your body build serotonin, the stuff it uses to send messages from one section of the brain to another.

High stress and low serotonin levels have been linked in scientific research, as demonstrated by this 1998 study in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, though the exact relationship isn’t yet fully understood.

There has also been some evidence linking serotonin deficiency with depression, though some surprising studies have shown that the link is more complicated than a causal relationship.

But either way, serotonin is an essential part of health, and of stress management.

You can find magnesium in green leafy veggies, nuts (especially almonds), and beans.

3. Polyphenols

Ever sit down after a long, stressful day and scarf down an entire bar of chocolate?

Why is that? Because it’s delicious of course, but there’s more to it than that.

Dark chocolate is loaded with polyphenols, an antioxidant which helps neutralize free radicals in your body.

Free radicals are substances which can cause all sorts of issues within the body.

When we’re stressed, our bodies are more susceptible to damage, which means having a steady supply of antioxidants is even more important during stressful times.

Chocolate is also a great source of magnesium as well, so it’s no wonder we gravitate toward chocolate when we’re stressed.

Now before you start going around thinking a naturopathic doctor said you can stuff your face full of chocolate every day because it’s good for you, take a step back.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should go hog wild on chocolate.

Everything in moderation of course.

And it’s DARK chocolate that has the benefits, so loading up on all that leftover Halloween candy isn’t going to help.

You can also find polyphenols in green tea, most types of berries, artichokes, flax seeds, chestnuts, apples, and pomegranate juice.

4. Potassium

Potassium is an element with a few different functions.

It helps keep the fluids in your body balanced, your nerves functioning, and your muscles firing.

This is one of the reasons why potassium is so popular among athletes.

And of course, one of the most important muscles in your body is your heart.

During stressful times, your heart works harder than it needs to.

Potassium can help keep it moderated, which is definitely a good thing.

The easiest, most common place to get potassium for most people is from bananas and sweet potatoes, but you can also get it from the leafy green part of beets, clams, prunes, and carrot juice.

5. Vitamin C

When you’re stressed out, your adrenal glands end up producing a large amount of cortisol.

This stuff pushes your body to break down your muscle tissues in order to get energy and can weaken your immune system as well.

But a dose of vitamin C can help your body lower your cortisol levels to a normal level, which will protect your hard-earned muscles and keep you safe against disease too.

If you’re eating a diet rich in whole foods, it’s pretty difficult to be deficient in vitamin C.

Chili peppers, red and green peppers, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kiwi, strawberries, papaya, pineapple, mango, and citrus fruits are all loaded with vitamin C.

Eat Your Stress Away

Eating these foods can help you reduce your stress levels, which can help you cope with a high workload or a large number of responsibilities better than others.

And since stress is also linked to a wide range of other health issues, eating a healthy diet rich in stress-busting foods can help you live a longer, healthier life.

But sometimes, there’s more to stress than a nutritional imbalance.

If you’re finding your current strategies for coping with stress aren’t helping, there is hope.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic today and book a FREE 15-minute introductory session with me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To learn more ideas about health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: naturopathy

How To Control Your Appetite And Reduce Junk Food Cravings

Have you noticed that the more you try to control what you eat, the hungrier you feel?

This is a common occurrence especially with people who are changing their diets.

As a Mississauga naturopathic doctor with a special interest in natural weight loss, I see a number of patients with a desire to lose weight.

What stands in their way?

A number of things, but a big one is cravings.

How can you control cravings for food?

Read on to find out.

Why Is Junk Food So Appealing?

Back in 2004, Dr. Michael T. Murray wrote an article for Total Health called “Key Triggers of an Increased Appetite and a Natural Solution”, and the information is just as relevant today as it was back then.

“The urge to eat reflects a very complex system,” he writes, “that has evolved to help humans deal with food shortage.”

In our natural human habitat, we didn’t have anywhere near as much access to food as we do today.

Our ancestors couldn’t just stroll down to the grocery store and pick up a mammoth steak.

They had to hunt and forage for it, and would sometimes have to spend a few days or more without eating.

The truth is that most of us, especially those who live in the developed world, have no idea what food shortage is like, and hopefully never will.

But your body doesn’t know that.

It behaves in much the same way as your ancestors’ bodies did tens of thousands of years ago.

Your body is interested in gaining weight, because the excess fat you develop is consumed by your body on the days where you don’t have anything to eat.

This is great for the natural world, but since most of us almost never go a day without eating, we end up continuing to store fat.

We build it up, layer upon layer, until we burn it off through exercise.

Or not, and we all know the results of that.

So you’re stuck with a situation where your mind is programmed to want to eat the food in front of you, pile on the fat, and only burn it when needed.

It’s no wonder so many of us struggle with weight loss.

But there is hope. There are measures you can take which will help you suppress your appetite, training your stomach to only send hunger signals to your brain when you are actually hungry.

Eat food to suppress your appetite?

It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s an integral part of any natural weight loss plan.

Here are five ways you can curb your appetite, naturally.

1. Have A Glass Of Water

When you’re hungry, your body sends a “hungry” signal to your brain.

And when you’re thirsty, your body sends a “thirsty” signal to your brain.

The problem is telling the difference.

A 2010 study published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour found that, among other things, the body’s mechanism for informing your brain when it needs food is eerily similar to its mechanism for telling you it needs water.

So the next time you’re feeling hungry at a time that doesn’t seem to make much sense, have a glass of water. You may actually be thirsty, not hungry at all.

2. Drink Some Herbal Tea

Certain herbal teas can also work as appetite suppressants.

Yerba mate and red raspberry leaf teas are especially effective for this.

They have stimulant qualities which help you feel fuller sooner after eating.

They have all sorts of other benefits as well.

Red raspberry leaf tea, for example, helps with pregnancy, can help ward off postpartum depression, and helps with male reproductive health.

Yerba mate, on the other hand, can help promote cardiovascular health by keeping fat from sticking to your arterial walls, helps with digestion, and has nearly twice as many antioxidants as green tea.

Speaking of green tea, it’s a great choice as well.

Not only can it curb your appetite, it can also help reduce the formation of fat cells by means of the flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate(ECGC).

As a result, green tea is an excellent weight loss aid.

Keep in mind, though, that green tea does have caffeine in it.

Less than coffee does, to be sure, but caffeine does come with its own set of risks.

It can cause high blood pressure, heart palpitations, behavioral changes and even cardiac arrest, especially in people who are sensitive to caffeine, or who have high blood pressure, arteriolosclerosis, or glucose intolerance.

If you have any of the above conditions, or if you have experienced a strong negative reaction to caffeine or other stimulants in the past, speak with your naturopathic doctor or primary health care provider before adding green tea or green tea extract to your weight loss plan.

3. Eat More Fiber

Fiber is not only a natural appetite suppressant, it also helps your entire digestive system function better.

Some of the best sources of fiber include apples, nuts & seeds, and vegetables with peels & skins, like potatoes or carrots.

Two of our new favourite teas, yerba matte and red raspberry leaf, can also provide some fiber in your diet.

4. Get Up And Move

Exercise. It’s the best way to control your appetite, boost your metabolism, and really, the best weight loss plan.

It’s not just about burning fat either.

Exercise affects your hypothalamus, the part of your brain in charge of your appetite, among other things.

One of its jobs is to keep you posted on your stomach’s state.

If you’re hungry, it lets you know.

And if you’re full, it lets you know that too.

Your hypothalamus is affected by the levels of certain chemicals in your blood, including glucose, serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and others.

A study by Zand, Spreen, and LaValle, showed that “physical activity reduces the levels of the hunger-stimulating chemicals that cause the appestat to start the stomach growling for food, and increases the levels of the chemicals that signal to the appestat that the body is humming along at peak efficiency and doesn’t require food”.

In other words, you can trick your body into thinking it isn’t hungry by exercising.

In fact, you can stave off hunger for up to six hours with exercise.

5. Supplement Your Diet

Here is a list of natural supplements which have been shown to help reduce appetite:

Evening Primrose Oil – 500 mg of evening primrose oil in the morning may help suppress your appetite for the entire day!

Gamma-Linolenic Acid – This is the active component in flaxseed oil, blackcurrant seed, and the evening primrose oil mentioned above. It helps suppress your appetite by helping control the metabolism of fats.

Cumin – in addition to helping suppress your appetite, cumin also helps aid digestion, improves immunity, helps with insomnia, and more!

Gymnemasylvestre – This herb can reduce or even eliminate the taste of sugar for up to 90 minutes.

Doctors have been using it in India for centuries to treat diabetes, and Western doctors are starting to warm up to it too.

If you have a sweet tooth, try taking some Gymnemasylvestre.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

If you’re struggling to lose weight, contact us here at the Mindful Healing Clinic in Mississauga.

You’ll get a chance to sit down with me, Dr. Maria Cavallazzi in your FREE 15-minute health and wellness session.

During that time, you’ll get a chance to ask questions, and your concerns addressed, and find out how naturopathic medicine can help you with how to lose weight and keep it off.

Looking for an all-natural weight loss solution based on science and guided by a qualified healthcare professional?

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE 15-minute session today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To read more information on health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: Mindful Healing Naturopathic

What Is Acupuncture Used For?

If you only know one thing about acupuncture, it’s probably the fact that it uses needles.

And if you have a thing with needles, the idea of acupuncture might scare the living daylights out of you.

But there’s a lot more to acupuncture than just poking you with needles.

In fact, even those who are frightened of needles often find the experience to be relaxing and peaceful.

As a Mississauga naturopathic doctor, I incorporate acupuncture into my practice as a useful tool for dealing with ailments.

I wrote this article to help you better understand what acupuncture is about and how you may benefit from it.

History of Acupuncture

Acupuncture may be one of the oldest methods of healing on the planet.

The earliest example of what might be acupuncture dates back to about 6000 BCE, where sharpened rocks and pieces of bone were used in place of modern acupuncture needles.

These items could have been used for simple surgical procedures (like lancing a boil or stitching a wound, for example), so it’s hard to say whether or not they were actual acupuncture needles.

The first confirmed example of what we may today recognize as acupuncture is written in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, an ancient Chinese document dating back to about 100 BCE.

In it, we find a conversation between the Yellow Emperor, a mythological figure in Chinese history, and Chi-Po, a minister.

Having been practiced in China for millennia, acupuncture was practiced in North America by Chinese immigrants in the 1800s.

However, it wasn’t until Richard Nixon opened up relations between the United States and China that acupuncture began to gain ground in North America.

How Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture is based on the concept of how energy flows through the human body, which the Chinese call qi (pronounced “chee”).

The body’s qi moves along twelve main channels, called meridians, which are connected with the body’s major functions, though they don’t follow the patterns of blood vessels or nerves.

The body has 350 different acupuncture points. By placing needles at these acupuncture points, we can promote the flow of qi throughout the body.

Benefits of Acupuncture

While science has had difficulty either proving or disproving the concept of qi, acupuncture has been shown to be effective for several different conditions.

Below is a list of some of the conditions for which evidence shows acupuncture can help:
• Fibromyalgia
• Urinary tract infections (UTI)
• Dysentery
• Tourette syndrome
• Blood pressure imbalance (high or low)
• Menstrual pain
• Peptic ulcers
• Sprains
• Whooping cough
• Morning sickness
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• Tennis elbow
• Back pain
• Stress & anxiety

What To Expect

During an acupuncture treatment, you’ll lie down on a padded table in a treatment room.

Depending on which part of your body needs to be treated, you’ll have to remove some of your clothes.

We will provide you with a robe if necessary.

Next comes the needle insertion.

Acupuncture needles are thin and very tiny, so it usually causes only minimal discomfort.

If you do feel pain, though, let us know.

Once the needles are inserted, we may have to adjust them slightly.

Then we leave them in place for 25 to 45 minutes.

During that time, you’ll lie still and relax.

Afterward, we’ll remove the needles.

Some people report feeling extremely relaxed after an acupuncture treatment, while others claim to feel lighter, as though they’re walking on the Moon.

Others report no effect at all.

What you get out of your acupuncture treatment may vary drastically from someone else’s experience.

Acupuncture At The Mindful Healing Clinic

If you’re interested in exploring the possibility of acupuncture treatment, the Mindful Healing Clinic can help.

Contact us to book your FREE health and wellness session with Dr. Maria. You’ll get all your questions about acupuncture and naturopathy answered.

From there, Dr. Maria will listen to your health concerns and help you understand whether acupuncture is right for you.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE health and wellness session today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To read additional tips about health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: Mindful Healing Naturopathic

How To Get Your Body Ready For Sleep With Yoga

In our last article, we talked about some of the most common problems associated with insomnia from the perspective of a naturopathic doctor.

One of the tips was to begin a bedtime ritual to help your body unwind and prepare for sleep.

So today, I wanted to share with you a video to help you do just that.

It’s a yoga video by Yoga with Adrienne, who has a number of yoga videos on YouTube for all sorts of things.

If you like the video in this article, check out the rest of her channel.

But first, let’s talk a bit about yoga.

Benefits of Yoga

Much like naturopathic medicine, yoga’s techniques help promote the body’s innate ability to heal itself.

Like all physical activity, it can help with muscle strength, cardiovascular health, weight loss, and overall flexibility.

But one of the greatest benefits of yoga is its ability to help you manage the day-to-day stress of life.

By incorporating meditation and breathing exercises, it can help take your body out of its mode of heightened stress and awareness (the “fight or flight” response), and return to a state of peaceful relaxation.

Dangers of Yoga

Overall, yoga is considered safe.

However, it’s important to be aware of your own limitations.

If you have recently suffered an injury, or if you have a chronic injury to a certain area of your body, be careful not to push that area too hard.

Likewise, if you haven’t been terribly active lately, you may be at an increased risk of pulling a muscle or otherwise straining yourself.

Yoga isn’t supposed to hurt! If it is, you’re doing something wrong.

While the practice in the video you see below is extremely mellow, any physical activity comes with its own risks.

So be smart and be careful.

Without further ado, the video:

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

If you’re interested in living a healthier, happier, more optimal life, we can help.

Here at the Mindful Healing Clinic, we offer a FREE health and wellness session to first-time visitors.

During that session, you’ll get a chance to ask Dr. Maria questions about naturopathic medicine.

From there, Dr. Maria will listen to your concerns, and help you understand what you can do to begin improving your health.

To claim your FREE health and wellness session, contact the Mindful Healing Clinic today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To find more tips about health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: Mindful Healing Naturopathic

How To Combat Insomnia, Naturally

When it comes to maintaining your health, the habits you form around sleep can be just as important as your diet or your exercise, but it’s often the most overlooked of these three.

As a Streetsville naturopathic doctor, I face questions about this in my practice often.

It’s also a big problem.

According to research from the Canadian Sleep Society, about 20% of patients seeing primary care professionals complain about significant sleep issues.

But while some sleep issues are associated with deeper problems, the truth is that with a small change in our habits, many of us can enjoy a more restful sleep.

Here are some simple changes you can make in your life.

1. Sleep In Complete Darkness

A little night light in the corner may be comforting, but it’s preventing you from getting a good night’s sleep.

One of the functions of melatonin in your body is to regulate your circadian rhythms, and research has shown that exposure to light suppresses your body’s production of melatonin, which can interrupt your sleeping patterns.

Preliminary research from Harvard is exploring the link between low melatonin and cancer, and there is also experimental evidence linking it with obesity, diabetes, depression, and cardiovascular problems.

By investing in a set of black-out blinds for your windows and eliminating all sources of light, you may improve your sleep and reduce your risk of these disorders.

2. Keep A Consistent Sleep Schedule

Sometimes we think we can make up for a wild night by going to bed early the next night, but it’s not that simple.

Your body’s internal clock relies heavily on consistency to properly heal itself, so when you stay up late you’re disrupting that consistency, which can cause insomnia.

I know it’s hard sometimes if you have an event to go to, but going to bed and getting up around the same time can make a big difference in your quality of sleep.

Keeping a consistent sleep schedule allows your brain to more easily regulate when to release the hormones needed for sleep, and when not to.

3. Prepare For Sleep

Do you lie in bed browsing Facebook on your iPad or smart phone just before bed? If so, you’re doing your sleep a massive disservice.

Your brain needs to ease into things. Expecting it to go from active to sleep instantly is unreasonable.

Your body needs time to produce the hormones needed to send signals to the part of your brain in charge of regulating sleep, and it can’t do that when your brain is active.

If you find yourself lying in bed for what feels like hours before you can fall asleep, here’s a simple solution: turn off all your electronic devices about an hour before bed, and do something restful during that time.

Dim the lights, take a bath, read a book, do some yoga or meditation, or whatever else you like to do that’s relaxing.

Get rid of any distractions – both mental and physical – and you’ll have a much better sleep.

4. Avoid Bedtime Snacks

A bedtime snack is nice sometimes, but believe it or not, it can hinder the success of your sleep.

Eating a snack before bed, especially grains or refined sugars, will raise your blood sugar and send your hormone-producing organs into overdrive, which can not only make it more difficult to fall asleep, it will cause you to wake up at odd times.

Ideally, avoid eating before bed altogether. If you do need to, though, make it a snack high in protein.

This won’t increase your blood sugar, and the L-tryptophan in some proteins may help your body produce melatonin.

5. Check Your Vitamin Levels

Vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked with insomnia. It’s connected with your body’s production of melatonin, which we’ve already mentioned is an important hormone to help you sleep.

Higher levels of vitamin B12 in your system have been associated with increased production of melatonin.

According to a 2008 study in the journal Sleep Med, research is still being done on the link between vitamin deficiencies and insomnia, but they have found B12 linked to several factors involved in insomnia, including regulation of your circadian rhythm.

Calcium and magnesium deficiencies have also been linked with insomnia. Calcium levels are heightened during the REM phase of sleep, and an inability to achieve REM sleep has been associated with a deficiency in calcium.

Since REM is the deepest phase of sleep, you can see why this is a problem.

And as for magnesium, deficiency is associated with frequent interruptions in sleep, while a diet high in magnesium has been shown to eliminate these.

Contact The Mindful Healing Clinic

If you’re having difficulty sleeping, there are a large number of possible causes.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE health and wellness session.

During that session, you’ll get a chance to ask any questions you may have about naturopathic medicine, and Dr. Maria will help you understand your treatment options.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE health and wellness session today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To read more ways on health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: local naturopath

Leaky Gut Syndrome: What It Is And How To Avoid It

Last time, we talked about the health of your gut from a naturopathic doctor in Mississauga’s perspective, and how important it is in maintaining overall health.

Today, I wanted to talk to you about a specific gut issue – leaky gut syndrome.

What is leaky gut syndrome? What does it do? And more importantly, how do you avoid it?

Keep reading to find out.

“More bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived.

That’s what’s going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria?

It all depends on your outlook.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Your digestive system is an incredibly large organ.

If you unravelled it and laid it all out, you could cover 250 square metres with it.

The vast majority of this would be your intestines – a long tube through which digested food is passed, nutrients are withdrawn, and waste is disposed of.

Your digestive system is also full of friendly bacteria which help maintain all sorts of bodily functions, including your immune system and your brain.

The contents of your digestive system are supposed to stay inside your digestive system – this is where they’re most beneficial to your body.

But when you have a leaky gut, the barrier of your intestines becomes permeated, allowing things to slip through the cracks and into your body, where they are definitely not beneficial.

Conditions Associated With Leaky Gut Syndrome

As things like toxins, antigens, healthy bacteria (at least healthy when it’s in your gut), and other microscopic organisms and particles pass through the gaps in your intestines, they can trigger an autoimmune inflammatory reaction within your body.

This can trigger a range of different health issues, including:

• Celiac disease
• Allergies and sensitivities to food
• Type 1 diabetes
• Autism
• IBS
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Asthma
• Parkinson’s

These are serious issues, of course. So how can you avoid leaky gut syndrome?

To do that, it helps to know what causes it. Here are three of the primary causes of leaky gut syndrome.

1. Stress

When you experience high levels of stress, a number of different things happen in your body.

You’ll experience an increase in cortisol and adrenalin, which slows down your rate of digestion, speeds your heart rate, and restricts blood flow to your brain and your gut in favour of your muscles.

The end result is a burst of energy that was designed to help our prehistoric ancestors escape from a sabre tooth tiger or some other scary thing.

We commonly refer to this as the “fight or flight” response.

Once our prehistoric ancestors escaped from the threat, their hormone levels and blood flow returned to normal and they moved on with their day.

But these days, your fight or flight response is more likely to be triggered during a situation where you need to neither fight nor flee.

As a result, your body stays in fight or flight mode longer, which means the blood flow to your gut is restricted longer, which can lead to intestinal permeability.

In other words, leaky gut.

That blood flow is essential for the friendly bacteria in your gut to thrive.

But one of the important roles of these bacteria is to signal your brain with the response it needs to cope with your elevated level of stress.

So the more stress your body experiences, the less capable it becomes to actually cope with that stress.

Yikes.

2. Diet

As with just about everything health-related, dietary factors play a huge role in causing leaky gut syndrome.

But there are a few key offenders that we find in a lot of leaky gut cases.

First, alcohol.

A 2008 study published in Alcohol shows that during the process of digesting and metabolizing alcohol, the chemical acetaldehyde is created, which can lead to leaky gut.

Sugar, similarly, can cause inflammation in your gut which leads to a hostile environment for the friendly bacteria there, and can lead to a leaky gut.

Some of the other common culprits include:

• Dairy
• Gluten, particularly those who suffer from celiac
• Emulsifiers, solvents, and other artificial additives
• Glucose-heavy foods

Beginning an elimination diet can help you pinpoint what it is that may be causing leaky gut.

3. Pharmaceutical Medications

There is a specific type of pharmaceutical known as NSAIDs – Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs.

You may not have heard that name before, but you certainly know these drugs by their more common names – ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and naproxen will be three familiar examples.

These drugs are common in just about everyone’s medicine cabinet, and for good reason.

They’re relatively low risk and can help us deal with pain.

Occasional use is nothing to be concerned about.

However, long-term use has been shown to cause inflammation in the intestinal tract, as well as increase permeability, according to a 1998 study in the scholarly journal Gut.

It’s best to avoid taking these unless necessary.

Solutions For Leaky Gut Syndrome

If you believe you may be dealing with leaky gut syndrome, there’s a lot we can do to help.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE health and wellness session with Dr. Maria today.

You’ll get a chance to ask any questions you may have, Dr. Maria will address your concerns, and from there you’ll walk away with a better understanding of what you can do to address your health issues.

Contact the Mindful Healing Clinic to book your FREE health and wellness session today.

Until next time,

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi, N.D

Mindful Healing Integrative Naturopathy
251 Queen St S Unit 4,
Mississauga, ON L5M 1L7
- https://goo.gl/maps/KYspifT7J232

Dr. Maria Cavallazzi is a medical doctor from Colombia where she practiced as a family physician for 8 years until she moved to Canada 16 years ago.

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To get additional information about health, wellness, and alternative medicine, please visit us here: Mindful Healing Naturopathic