Detox – what you need to know before having a go

detox-imageGoing on a detox is all the rage at the moment and with so many pill, potions and programs available it can be hard to tell the good from the bad. There is juice fasting, vegetable broth detox’s, gluten free, vegetarian, dairy free and wholefood based plans. There are now even various detoxification companies who will deliver your meals for your detox program (and some are pretty good!). You can buy detox kits and as always there are literally thousands of detox supplements available.  So how do you find the right solution for you? Read more

Children’s immunity for winter – Better Health Naturopath Hayley Stockbridge discusses

Children’s immunity is always something that comes up in the winter. Childhood can be difficult on the immune system. As children socialise with other children and often start childcare or school, it may seem like they are constantly sick. It is considered ‘normal’ for a child for suffer from 6-8 colds every year. However, each infection should last no longer than 3-5 days. If your child is suffering from infections that last longer than this, or seems to never fully recover between infections then it’s a good sign that their immune system could do with some support.

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Soup recipes for winter – Naturopath Hayley Stockbridge shares her favourites

Hayley Stockbridge Better Health Naturopath

Hayley Stockbridge
Naturopath

Better Health

Winter is here! I feel like it turned from beach weather to winter very quickly this year, and as the temperature changes our food preferences will also change. Salads and light dinners don’t cut it anymore. Most will feel hungrier as our body looks for dense foods to warm us up.

Winter also makes it easier to cook in bulk. Casseroles, stews, soups all freeze well and can make for an easy week night meal if you are prepared and have made plenty leftover to freeze. Eating healthy can be time consuming and so I encourage you to make life easier by cooking in batches. All it takes is a little inspiration! This week’s newsletter is full of warming dinner ideas to get you and your family through winter.

A few of my favourite soup recipes are at the end. Read more

Probiotics for children – Better Health Naturopath Hayley Stockbridge discusses

baby bioticProbiotics for children – why you should consider!

The digestive tract of an adult contains somewhere between 2.5-5kgs of bacteria. In fact, the number of bacteria in our gut are far higher than the number of cells found in our body! We have about 100 trillion bacteria living in our gut and this is thought to be made up of over 500 different bacterial species. We have around 20% detrimental or ‘bad’ bacteria and 80% healthy and beneficial strains. The balance of these bacteria is super important for our health as they:

1) Aid digestion helping us to absorb nutrients which in turn affects EVERYTHING!

2) Displace bad bugs and microbes such as parasites that make their way into the digestive tract. Read more

Food intolerance testing

Food intolerances are prevalent in today’s society. Everyone knows someone with a gluten, wheat or dairy intolerance. As some of you may already know, I frequently test for food intolerances in my patients. This is because time and time again, food intolerances play such a huge role in people’s health and symptoms- I have never had a patient whose symptoms do not improve once they take away the troublesome foods. Read more

Adrenal fatigue – Is this why you feel so tired all the time?

fatigueAdrenal fatigue is a condition that many people don’t know about, however,  I find myself discussing it with patients almost every day.

Adrenal fatigue is the consequence of chronic mental, biochemical and/or physical stress.

‘Stress’ refers to a bunch of biochemical, hormonal, neurological and physical changes that take place in the body when the going gets tough. When we are under increased pressure our adrenal glands (which sit on top of our kidneys) produce cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones are responsible for our fight or flight response and ensure that if we are caught in a life or death situation our systems are primed for the effort required. This is all well and good if we are in a life threatening situation but more often than not, we are experiencing non-life threatening stressors daily that have exactly the same effect. Waking up late and rushing to work, getting stuck in traffic, having too much work, running around with kids after school then rushing home to do dinners, washing etc. Read more

Detox your pantry – How to stock a whole food pantry

whole foodsHaving a pantry full of healthy, whole food ingredients is essential for maintaining a healthy diet. It is simply impossible to cook healthy without the ingredients on hand. A whole food pantry needs to be organized well to ensure nothing goes to waste. Yes, setting up your wholefood pantry can be time consuming and costly at first, but it will lead you to be much more creative and experimental with your food. Read more

Surviving the silly season: Sydney Naturopath Hayley Stockbridge discusses

officechristmaspartyChristmas is an indulgent time when we often drink too much alcohol, eat too much food, have too many late nights and do too little of the good stuff such as exercise.  I know that my Christmas day generally consists of huge meals with different parts of the family (last year included 2 lunches!). However there’s no reason why Christmas day needs to be an unhealthy one. Read more

Leaky Gut – do you have one?

leaky gutLeaky gut is the very unflattering name  given to a digestive disorder that can cause a lot of health issues for its sufferers. I prefer to refer to it as ‘digestive hyper-permeability’ and explain that it is inflammation of the digestive tract. Having a ‘leaky gut’ occurs when the lining of our digestive tract, primarily the small and large intestines, become inflamed and damaged. This causes the ‘pores’ through which our food and nutrients are absorbed through to become larger in size, therefore undigested food molecules, toxins, antigens and other molecules that would not normally be able to be absorbed end up circulating in our blood stream. Read more

Top 10 inflammatory foods to avoid

 The feeling of pain is your body’s way of telling you that there is inflammation present. Inflammation is associated with the classic symptoms of pain, redness, heat and swelling. It frequently accompanies injury and tissue trauma, such as sprains, strains, cuts and stings. However, what you may not realise is that inflammation can be a contributing factor to many health conditions and is a key component in the joint pain of arthritis, back pain and muscular aches, digestive disorders such inflammatory bowel disease, period pain, and many types of headaches. It is implicated in diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s and most chronic health issues. This means that not only does reducing inflammation help you to feel better, but it improves your overall health and reduces risk of disease. This is where inflammatory foods need to be eliminated. Read more