With the winter months just around the corner, and cold and flu season setting in early, we could all do with as much nutritional insurance as possible. If I told you that there was one thing you could eat that would boost your immune system, warm your belly AND support bone, joint and muscle health, […]
Coconut oil can be used for almost anything these days and there are recipes to prove it. Some of its top uses are as an ingredient in cleaning products, beauty products, health foods, for cooking and as part of a stable diet.
Coconut oil is the most nutrient dense part of the coconut. Coconut oil is a fatty oil extracted from the flesh of the coconut. This particular oil contains saturated fats which are medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), also known as medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. It is these types of fatty acids that have been linked to a whole host of health benefits. So why is the public scared of coconut oil?
Hyperthyroidism occurs when thyroid hormones are being over produced by the thyroid gland. Thyroid hormones regulate metabolism in every cell of the body and therefore hyperthyroidism will affect all bodily functions.
The thyroid itself is a butterfly shaped gland that is located below the larynx- in the throat. It is the only endocrine organ that stores it’s hormones in large quantities. The thyroid hormones include TSH (thyrotrophin) which is produced by the anterior pituitary, T3 (triidothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine). Hyperthyroidism usually presents with low TSH and high T3/T4.
The silly season is over and as most of us overindulge over the holidays, it’s time to priorities your liver health. The extra alcohol, rich foods, fatty foods and sugar leaves less room for our healthy meals and our poor livers are left with a lot of work to do
Luckily the liver is a very resilient organ. The liver is the only organ in the body that is capable of regenerating itself. It plays a major role in digestion and detoxification. It produces bile to help us break down fats and alcohol. It stores some of our vitamins and minerals, such as iron, vitamin A, B12 and copper. The liver is responsible for cholesterol regulation. Most importantly, everything that is absorbed in the small intestine (including food, drinks, vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, food additives, chemicals etc.) is then transferred via the blood to the liver for further processing. Nutrients are made into products that can be more easily used by the body. Toxins are generally broken down into less toxic substances and flushed out of the body. This is known as ‘detoxification’. It is this detoxification process that reduces the toxic effects of a poor diet.
The silly season has ended and the New Year has begun. There was plenty of festivities as the weather heated up. Our calendars were filled with social engagements and our quiet days were filled with Christmas shopping and cheeky lunch time gatherings.
Why not… it was Christmas! But have you ever wondered how our body felt about this? Have you seen the new Disney movie called ‘Inside Out’? Well Disney has cleverly created a movie about the emotions we feel and made them into adorable characters as if they lived in our head. Let me add to this theme, the character ‘stress’. Now even though stress is not a definitive emotion, it is definitely something that plays a role not only on our emotions but on our wellbeing. So let’s picture the adult version of ‘Inside Out’, add the character stress and we have an emotional nightmare. Anger is easily triggered, sadness doesn’t get a break, fear is everywhere and well disgust is hanging around like a bad smell. But where is joy? (now if you haven’t seen the movie this might not make any sense to you so let’s get to the facts).
Acne vulgaris is a disease that affects the skin’s oil glands. The small holes in your skin (pores) connect to oil glands under the skin. These glands make an oily substance called sebum. The pores connect to the glands by a canal called a follicle. Inside the follicles, oil carries dead skin cells to the surface of the skin. A thin hair also grows through the follicle and out to the skin. When the follicle of a skin gland clogs up, a pimple grows.
Sometimes it can seem like you are doing everything right but still not losing weight. There is nothing more frustrating and I do see a lot of patients who are not necessarily eating poorly and are doing adequate exercise but just not seeing good weight loss results. This usually will mean that there are some imbalances within the body that are inhibiting fat loss. Read more
Being a healthy child is adult’s work, so when the little people in our lives are unwell we want them to feel better pretty quickly. The toddler years can be pretty difficult on the immune system: an average of 6-8 colds every year is considered normal, with infections lasting between 3-5 days. As they get older their immune system matures, reducing the frequency of colds and flu’s per year. Read more
Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 Australian women and more then often is it misdiagnosed or even undiagnosed. This chronic inflammatory condition can be completely debilitating to a women’s life, mentally, emotionally and physically. An Australian government report stated that endometriosis annually cost $7.7 billion, with 2/3 of these costs attributed to loss in productivity, as it is not unusual for women with significant pain to take one or two days off a month. Read more