Weight Loss that Actually Works`

Weight management begins by focusing on your health. Effective strategies involve optimizing lifestyle factors, whole food eating, and establishing a regular exercise routine.

Weight loss is a hot topic these days, with new diet strategies appearing on bookshelves and the Internet on a daily basis. Did you know there are alternatives to fad diets? A naturopathic clinic toronto to effective weight management is the solution to achieving the body you want in a safe and sustainable way.

The first principle of naturopath weight loss is to not focus on weight loss. The key is to focus on improving your health. It’s not about calories, or portion sizes or the way you look. It’s about feeling your best and having your best health possible (and as an amazing consequence, looking your best as well).

The benefits of living at your healthy weight are astronomical. Weight management is at the heart of chronic disease prevention. Specifically, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, joint stress and body composition (relative make-up of fat vs. lean muscle) are all positively influenced by a healthy weight. Furthermore, your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoarthritis are greatly reduced.

So what differentiates naturopath weight loss from other strategies?

Treating the Whole Person:
A naturopath takes your overall health into consideration when coming up with an effective weight management strategy. This means they’ll consider your health history and rule out any secondary causes of potential weight gain. More than that, they’ll work with your lifestyle to come up with dietary and exercise regimes that can be practically and sustainably carried forward.

Expect an in-depth history of factors like sleep, stress, work-life, relationships and more. Weight management is influenced by so many unexpected factors, and it’s important to consider each one. For example, chronic stress increases cortisol (aka the stress hormone), which impacts metabolism and fat deposition.

Dietary Recommendations:
A naturopath weight loss regime begins with establishing healthy eating principles. Rather than focusing on specific foods and nutrients, it’s best to come up with general guidelines that are easy to follow in a variety of environments (home, work, social gatherings, etc.). These guidelines are whole-food eating.

Whole Food Eating:
•    Cook from fresh ingredients
•    Nothing processed or packaged
•    Avoid refined sugars (aka glucose, corn syrup, sugar cane, rice syrup)
•    Nothing deep fried

 An example:
Whole-Food   
A stew made with carrots, celery, barley, and vegetable broth.

Not Whole-Food
Kraft Dinner made with “sodium phosphate, sodium alginate and natural flavor”

The Ingredient Test: Look at the ingredients of what you’re eating and ask yourself “Is everything on this list a food I could eat on it’s own”. If you can say yes to every ingredient (not including spices), your food passes the test.

Exercise:
The final component to naturopath weight loss is establishing a regular exercise regime. You don’t have to become a marathon runner, but you should be getting 30-60 min of exercise 4-5 times a week. Exercise increases overall metabolism by shifting the body into an energy burning state. Additionally, weight training increases muscle mass, which not only increases fat burning, but benefits insulin sensitivity as well.


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Relieving your Pain from Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a debilitating and devastating disease characterized by chronic pain. Natural fibromyalgia treatments can provide some relief to those living through it daily.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic disorder characterized by the insidious onset of chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain. Chronic fatigue is a commonly associated condition, which generally presents with debilitating and unrelenting exhaustion. Both conditions commonly present with other chronic ailments like headaches, depression, memory loss, brain fog and sleep disturbances. It’s estimated that around 2% of the population is affected with fibromyalgia.

In the world of medicine, FM is a relatively new disease and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding etiology. Some theories link fibro with anatomical changes in the brain, and more specifically, changes in volume of gray matter. Other proposed causes include mitochondrial dysfunction and an increased level of oxidative stress causing injury to peripheral nerves. Still, the question remains…What causes variable volumes of gray matter? Why do some people have increased levels of oxidative stress? The problem is, scientists don’t have a definitive answer yet. The root of fibromyalgia could be genetic, environmental or a part of the aging process.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia:
•    Widespread muscle and skeletal pain, which diffuse tender points
•    Chronic fatigue
•    Headaches
•    Sleep disturbances
•    Memory loss
•    Cognitive delays
•    Reduced ability to complete activities of daily living

Possible causes of Fibromyalgia:
•    Altered brain anatomy resulting in abnormal volumes of gray matter
•    Mitochondrial dysfunction
•    Increased oxidative stress
•    Chronic infection
•    Abnormal immune functioning
•    Increased systemic inflammation

Fibromyalgia treatments are difficult to implement for a number of reasons, but mostly because the etiology is not yet fully understood. Analgesic drugs and antidepressants are commonly prescribed, but really only yield short-term relief. Therefore, it’s important to pursue natural fibromyalgia treatments. A combination of pharmaceutical and natural remedies is the best approach to effectively managing chronic pain long-term.

Fibromyalgia has devastating effects on the lives of those dealing with it. The pain and fatigue can be so huge, that even basic daily activities are unmanageable. The most important of all the proposed fibromyalgia treatments is to offer an understanding ear. Some doctors don’t believe fibro is a real condition. But this message has to stop. The pain is real, and the impact on quality of life is severe. Listen to the stories of these affected individuals to gain an understanding of what they live through on a daily basis.

Fibromyalgia treatments that have been suggested include:

•    Optimizing lifestyle risk factors by managing diet and exercise
•    Aerobic exercise
•    Thai Chi
•    Meditation
•    Acupuncture/Electroacupuncture
•    Magnesium
•    L-Carnitine
•    CoQ10
•    SAMe

Fibro has been associated with other lifestyle risk factors like smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Therefore, optimizing diet and exercise to minimize these risks is an important step. Exercise has also gained recognition as a helpful tool to alleviate muscle stiffness and pain. Mild intensity aerobic exercise (like walking) on a daily basis may help with pain management. Acupuncture, and other manual therapies may be helpful in reducing pain and providing temporary relief of symptoms. Finally, supplementation is an important part of fibromyalgia treatments. Magnesium helps to relax tight muscles, while L-Carnitine, CoQ10 and SAMe work to correct mitochondrial dysfunction and reduce oxidative stress.
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Acupuncture Analgesia: How a Needle Alleviates Pain

Acupuncture is the gentle insertion of thin needles into specifically targeted areas of the body. Its origin extends 2500 years as an integral tenant of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Today, however, its theory and practice have evolved beyond classical application towards effective pain management.

Under the TCM umbrella, needle locations are selected based on meridians, each corresponding to a specific organ system. Every point has a theoretical indication and effect. Current theories and supportive research step away from organ pairings and energetic meridians, especially when it comes to the art of pain management. Under this scope, acupuncture points are selected and targeted according to anatomical locations, affected nerve roots and trigger point palpation. In other words, acupuncture is used to target the physical root and origin of pain. For example, in the treatment of Sciatica, acupuncture would target the low back as a means of stimulating the L4-S3 nerve roots from which the Sciatic nerve is formed.

Techniques of needle insertion have evolved as well. Effective approaches include rapid needling and electro acupuncture (Chou et al, 2014). With rapid needling, the practitioner continually manipulates the needle by moving it in and out of the targeted area at a relatively quick pace (Chou et al, 2014). Electro acupuncture involves the addition of a light electrical impulse at the needle insertion. This technique elicits a pain inhibition response by stimulating vibration sensory nerve fibers (Zing et al, 2014).  

So how does it work? To answer this question, we must first briefly discuss pain and what causes the feeling of pain. When a painful stimulus is encountered, it activates nociceptors (aka pain receptors), which send information along the spinal cord to the brain, where the feeling of pain is identified and perceived (Zeng et al, 2014). Additionally, pain is caused by chemicals of the immune system that initiate the process of inflammation and more specifically, swelling. Believe it or not, pain is meant to be a protective mechanism. When chronically experienced, however, it can be a danger and extremely impactful on quality of life.

The theory of acupuncture is an extremely complex and multi faceted topic. At a basic level, acupuncture works via two main systems; chemical reactions involving naturally produced opiates and sensory nerve pathways signaling pain inhibition.

Natural, endogenous opiates are chemicals produced in the body that have a potent analgesic effect (reduce pain perception). They include hormones and neurotransmitters like endorphins, serotonin and epinephrine (Baeumler et al, 2014). Acupuncture insertion stimulates the release of these chemicals in the central nervous system, which results in a decreased perception of pain. Similarly, endogenous opiates have anti-inflammatory effects, thereby reducing both chronic and acute swelling (Zing et al, 2014). This chemical-mediated process has a relatively longer onset and longer lasting effects. Electro acupuncture, on the other hand, elicits immediate pain relief by acting on sensory nerve pathways (Zing et al, 2014). Vibration information stimulates nociceptors, which initiate an inhibitory pathway from the brain to the affected area. Essentially, pain from sensitized nociceptors (in pain) differs from the stimulus of normal nociceptors (no pain) by acupuncture. This difference in brain processing is what triggers an inhibitory nerve pathway (Zing et al, 2014).

Acupuncture is an effective tool to manage chronic and acute pain. Specifically, it is indicated for any of the following conditions:

•Myofascial Pain Syndrome (chronic muscle pain from trigger points)
•Chronic neck and back pain
•Fibromyalgia
•Osteoarthritis
•Joint Pain
•Tension headaches
•Sciatica
•Plantar Fasciitis
•Post-operative pain
•Diabetes related peripheral-neuropathy

Other pain treatments include pharmaceutical opioid management (e.g. Percocet, Naproxen, Ibuprofen, etc.), inject able uploads (e.g. morphine) and corrective surgery. As a minimally invasive technique, acupuncture should be considered as first-line treatment prior to implementing higher risk procedures. Furthermore, if extensive therapy is indicated (e.g. surgery), acupuncture should be used to compliment recovery. Additional benefits include decreased cost, avoidance of opiate-induced side effects and avoidance of analgesic tolerance (when the same dose of a medication is no longer effective) (Zing et al, 2014).

Practitioners qualified to practice Acupuncture Toronto include Naturopathic Doctors, TCM certified practitioners and some Chiropractors and Physiotherapists. However, Naturopathic Doctors uniquely receive 4 years of intense training in the practice itself. Furthermore, they have the anatomy and clinical background to couple traditional acupuncture with more advanced and current theories.

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