Overheard in the Healthfood Store

Two friends, Linda and Jenna, who work at Rainbow Foods in beautiful downtown Juneau, Alaska, agreed to pick out a few quirky popular requests from customers and pass them along to me. [Read more →]

Q: I’m not sure I am absorbing my nutrition.  I try to eat well; no alcohol, sodas or fried food.  Despite that I continue to gain weight, become hypoglycemic easily, have low energy and sometimes break out in hives.  My bowel function is all over the place.  Please tell me what I’m doing wrong — I have spent thousands of dollars on doctors already!

A: Sounds like you may have “Irritable Bowel Syndrome” or IBS. [Read more →]

Would you benefit from cleansing?

Yes, if you:
Smoke
Are regularly exposed to environmental toxins
Drink less than a litre of water daily
Drink soda pop, coffee or alcohol
Eat processed foods such as white flour baked goods and candy
Crave junk food
Are tired, constipated, bloated and lack focus
Have sticky or malodorous bowel movements
Have pasty skin or dark circles under your eyes
Have blood sugar problems
Have unstable emotions
Have unsatisfactory libido or sleep
Are over or under-weight
Use prescription or recreational drugs regularly

If you peruse natural health news, you certainly have read the word “detox” lately.  You may have heard about how “body burden” of unnatural chemicals is higher than ever before. Industrial run-off into our rivers, pharmaceutical pollution flushed down toilets, burning fossil fuels belching into the air, fake food, plastic everywhere — all of this and more comprises an enormous burden for our internal self-cleansing systems.

The amazing human body has several mechanisms by which to rid itself of non-nutrients which come in daily through our nose and mouth. [Read more →]

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), particularly the seeds, has been used medicinally for over 2000 years.  Ancient writings recommend milk thistle not only for liver and gall bladder disorders, but for poisoning of all kinds including from toxic mushrooms and snakebites.  [Read more →]

1. I know you’ve heard this before, but it is SO important that it bears repeating: CHEW, CHEW, CHEW. This means both slowly and thoroughly. To be totally graphic about it, you want anything you swallow to be a soupy consistency. Especially meat. For starters, digestion starts in the mouth. There are thousands of tiny neuro-receptors in the mouth that send messages to the brain about what is about to come down the pike. [Read more →]

Diverticula are pouch-like projections from the inner wall of the large intestine. They are caused by slow-moving stools which increase pressure within the colon, requiring more vigorous muscular contraction (peristalsis) to expel fecal matter. Approximately 40% of people over age 40 have them, 60% over age 60 and 90% over age 90. They are more common in men than in women. Often, they aren’t a problem at all. But they are also the cause of one of the most common bowel disorders, called Diverticulosis. This disease occurs when fecal matter becomes lodged in the diverticula, making them subject to inflammation, ulceration, bleeding, or more seriously, fistulas. A fistula is an abnormal tunnel, in this case through the intestine wall, which can release fecal matter into the abdominal cavity. This causes peritonitis, which, like appendicitis, requires urgent medical attention. The most common symptoms of diverticular disease are pain in the left lower part of the abdomen, blood in the stools, and irregular bowel habits mimicking irritable bowel syndrome, which presents as mostly constipation alternating with bouts of diarrhea. Pain can also be present on the lower right portion of the abdomen, or associated with other pelvic organs. For example, if inflamed diverticula are adhering to the bladder, urination may be painful. Many people only find out they have diverticula with abdominal imaging, such as barium enema and x-ray, colonoscopy, or bowel surgery. Generally, asymptomatic diverticula do not cause problems. However, the likelihood of diverticula becoming irritated then inflamed increases with age. This is mostly because diverticulosis is entirely a disorder of faulty food choices, and the major offender is refined starches. Smoking and high stress are other known factors in creating inflamed diverticula.

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Despite its prevalence, constipation is often not understood, nor mentioned to doctors and thus may go untreated for years. While perhaps not the most scintillating topic for polite conversation with new friends, I personally, as a naturopathic physician and mom, am fascinated with digestive health and, well, poop.

Constipation means all or any of the following: difficulty passing stool, incomplete passage of stool, or infrequent bowel movements. Ideally people would poop shortly after each meal, just like cats. The two main reasons few Americans have 3 easy-to-pass, formed, darkish brown, half-floating/half-sinking poops daily (the ideal) is because of chronic dehydration and a low-fiber, high refined-food diet. “Sinkers” mean the fecal matter has been in there too long and has become compacted, dense and heavy. The optimal “transit time” is 18 to 24 hours. Beets or corn are useful foods for evaluating how long it takes to go the several dozen feet from your mouth to your anus.

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You may have heard the aphorism “You Are What You Eat.” That’s true, to a certain extent, but perhaps it would be even more accurate to quip “You Are What You Assimilate.” In other words, you need to extract the nutrition from your chow, and successfully eliminate the rest, for the food to have been truly useful. Some basic tips on maximizing your chances of healthy assimilation and proper elimination are:

[Read more →]