Would you like to know how to start your digestive health journey with me? Low energy, bloating, indigestion and stomach discomfort are getting you down.  The thought of aging and being unhealthy because of the way you feel now scares you.

You say you have tried everything  -- the tests, the elimination of foods and the loads of monthly supplements but you are not feeling any better.  

You still feel tired and you still have digestive issues.

I have been where you are.  

I am over 55 years of age and have spent the last 15 years learning how my body works so I can feel the way I want to feel.  That is why becoming a holistic nutrition professional was such a passion for me.

It was not easy to improve my digestive health and learn what was causing my low energy levels besides improper sleep and poor lifestyle habits.

Digestive discomfort comes in many forms:

• indigestion, 
• stomach pain,
• acid reflux,
• inconsistent bowel movements and
• constant low energy levels are very discouraging for you.

In addition, your sleep is not good.   You are waking up before it is time and getting to sleep is a challenge sometimes if not most times.

Your body is changing as you age and you are feeling defeated and overwhelmed by so much information.

 You don’t know where to turn.  You feel you have tried it all.

What to expect on a Breakthrough Call

This is a free call to chat with me about your main health concern.  We will go over what you have tried before and what has not worked.  I will offer you options for going forward and whether you and I will make a good fit to work together.   If not, I will suggest another practitioner who is better suited for your health condition and goals.

Let's chat to see if we are a good fit to work together.  

Book your Breakthrough Call Here

I am here to help you to make the connections.

In order to improve my energy and feeling of well being years ago, I needed to improve my digestive health first. I did not really know how to go about this.

I did not understand how my body systems were interconnected or how the food I was eating made such a huge impact on my life.

When you come to see me to start your digestive health journey, we will meet for your one-hour initial consult.  You have the choice of a video or phone consult if in-person consults are not convenient.  We will go over your system imbalances through a Nutritional System Profile (NSP) and Lifestyle Intake questionnaire.  

You will be given a food journal to use during your health plan to help you make the connections between your mood and energy with the food you eat, the water you drink and the amount of exercise and sleep you are getting.

During our initial 60 minutes together, we will be able to find out what has worked for you and what has not.  You will be given a couple of recommendations to give you some quick wins.

On your follow-up session a week later, I will give you your initial client health plan based on the completed assessments in your initial consultation.

You will also be invited to enroll in the Freedom From Fatigue Solution Program that I designed as the foundational pillar framework for improving your digestion to free up your energy.

On-Going Care

Ongoing care follow-up sessions can be scheduled at your convenience.  We will go over what is working and how you need support with the program or past protocol recommendations.

You can find out more about the Freedom From Fatigue Solution program here.

Three things you will need to address:

1. Nutritional deficiencies, 
2. Adapting stress-reducing lifestyle habits, 
3. Implementing gut health protocols to optimize digestion and absorption of nutrients from your food,

Click here to find out how to work with me.

Finding My Way

It was difficult to cook because I was so tired all the time.  Also, I did not realize that stress was connected to the chemical burdens on my body from the food I was eating.

Processed foods which I thought were ok for me to consume on a regular basis was stressing my body no matter how convenient they were. The key words here are "consume on a regular basis."  

I spent loads of money on supplements, detox formulas, and naturopathic doctors until I found the right person to work with me and get me back on track.

With the right practitioner, I was able to start moving forward. My digestion improved and my energy started to return.

Do you find you are on the same journey?

Let's chat to see if we are a good fit to work together.  

Book your Breakthrough Call Here

Food cravings are not your fault and not a character flaw.  So don't feel bad for craving a food.

Cravings for sweet, fatty or salty food is something we can all share. 

It was Christmas and I found the perfect excuse to finish off a whole large dark chocolate bar.  Then I found myself the other day finishing off a whole bag of chili lime chips while binge watching "The Crown."

“How did that happen?!”, I laughed!  Am I that stressed?  Or just bored!

Sometimes these cravings are emotional eating and not associated with stress or fatigue.  Sometimes they are a combination of stress and emotion leading to food cravings like I experienced this past week.  

We’ve all been there. Standing in front of the fridge, shoving the baby carrots aside, and reaching for the cheesecake instead. You’ve heard if you’re really hungry you’ll eat those carrots—or an apple—but the pull that cheesecake has on you . . .? It’s hard to resist that craving. So hard. If food cravings are affecting your life, you’re not alone.

(Get extra help with your food cravings, by clicking on the image below to download your free 7-day Ditch the Junk Challenge)

Presently as I write this, we are in the middle of a worldwide virus spread so we are staying home and maybe you find yourself craving food out of just plain boredom.

Before we dive into everything you need to know about food cravings, the big questions are: Can we overcome food cravings? And if so, how? 

Maybe what you’re really asking yourself is: Should I feel guilty about eating that cheesecake because I wanted it so badly? (Hint: No!) 

When you know where food cravings come from, you can answer these questions and be more gentle with yourself.

Let’s dive into how we can conquer your irresistible food cravings.

Food cravings vs. hunger

When we really (really!) want to eat one specific food, that’s a craving. Food cravings are “frequent, intense, and irresistible desires to consume a particular type of food.”[1]

Cravings start as soon as we think about that food. Sometimes we can’t stop thinking about it. The longing for that food can consume our thoughts and compel us to find and eat it, even if that means stopping what we’re doing and heading straight to the fridge, cupboard, or store right now.

I know for me, a strong food craving can be for chocolate, anything with chocolate.  This can result from a stressful situation or maybe my body needs something in the chocolate.  What is a food you crave?  You can share it in the comments below.

Hunger is different from cravings. With hunger, we want food, but it’s often a less intense feeling and just about any food will do.

Hunger satisfies our basic need for sustenance. When we’re truly hungry, just about any food will satisfy us . . . at least temporarily (until the next hunger pang comes along).

Cravings, on the other hand, are when you could really go for that cheesecake or potato chips (depending if you crave salty or sweet foods) and nothing else will do.[1,2]  You can relate right!?

What food cravings can do to you

Food cravings are powerful. Research suggests that some people experience them more strongly than others. For example, people who naturally tend to have a stronger cravings also tend to:

• Overeat
• Have a higher body-mass index
• Try to lose weight unsuccessfully
• Experience digestive discomfort
• Suffer from low energy and stress

This reaction is strongly genetic.[3] Genes can affect food cravings, appetite, satiety (how full or satisfied you feel after eating), metabolism, body-fat distribution, and how we cope with stress.[4]

Studies show that people with a higher body-mass index tend to experience stronger cravings for foods that are more energy dense (food that are high in calories and low in nutrients).[1] 

So having low energy and excess and unwanted weight gain can go together because of the foods people crave.  

What triggers your food cravings in the first place is your natural physiology.  Do you feel better about it now?

The physiology of a food craving (it all starts with a cue)

According to one commonly used research tool, the Food Craving Inventory (FCI), there are five types of foods that we typically crave:

• Sweet
• High-fat
• Starchy
• Fast food
• Fruits and vegetables.[2]

Cravings for these foods can feel intense and powerful. That’s because, on a biological level, they’re associated with physical, emotional [psychological/mental], and even neurocognitive (brain) responses. 

Here’s what I mean.

Have you ever noticed that seeing a food advertisement or smelling something cooking can make you want that particular food right then and there? These sights and smells are called “food cues” and they are what kickstarts cravings.

Take for instance the going into the bakery shop of your local mall or grocery store and smelling the fresh cinnamon rolls.  That aroma gets me every time and immediately I start to crave a piece.  Mmmm I can smell a fresh one right now if I picture it.  Not as powerful as being right there though when my mouth starts to water.  

Food cues are everywhere and they kickstart your cravings

How many times every day or so do you experience food cravings? Once? Twice? More often than that?

Why do you seem to experience intense food cravings so often? 

Because food cues are everywhere!

Whether you’re looking at a screen, listening to a show, reading a magazine or newspaper, passing a billboard, or even getting some fresh air and exercise around our neighbourhood, we are surrounded by food cues.

We’re inundated with ads, logos, banners, and other sights, smells, and memories. Convenience store windows have posters of craveable snacks.

As we go by restaurants, bakeries, and cafes, they let off aromas of their mouth-watering freshly baked and cooked goods.

You can be out to pick up a head of broccoli, a new pack of pens, or an herbal tea and what’s there waiting for you at the counter? Chocolate, gummies, potato chips, and craveable snacks of all kinds,

FUN FACT: Research shows that people who live in environments with an abundance of food make about 200 food-related decisions every day! That’s a lot of thinking about food and deciding what, where, when, and how to eat.[7]

As you can see, our food environment gives us a never-ending supply of food cues that trigger our natural cravings. 

Next step: Seeking and finding those craveable foods

Once you’ve registered a food cue that has kickstarted a craving, why is it so hard to resist? 

Because our environment is practically designed to allow us to effortlessly give in to our cravings. When we have the overwhelming desire to devour a chocolate bar, it’s usually not that difficult to find one.

Many of us are surrounded by a huge selection of inexpensive and convenient foods and drinks available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. How easy is it to grab a craveable snack within minutes?

And if this food is in the house, you know you will eat it eventually.  Can you think of a food right now?

And that’s not all! Don’t forget that many processed foods have been specifically designed to satisfy our cravings and be “hyper-palatable.”[8] They’ve been tested and manufactured to have the optimal flavour, colour, texture, mouthfeel, etc. The idea is to really get the brain’s (neurological) reward system going. 

It’s really no wonder that convenient access to a variety of craved foods isn’t helping us manage our cravings.

(Get extra help with your food cravings, by clicking on the image below to download your free 7-day Ditch the Junk Challenge.)

Why do we have food cravings?

Conclusion

Most of us know that getting vitamin D is important for bone health and absorption of calcium. But, vitamin D is also important for a:

• healthy immune system,
• digestive system,
• heart and mental health,
• blood sugar regulation,
• fertility, and
• resistance to cancer.

FUN FACT: Inflammation is mostly caused by the response of our immune system.

To ensure you get adequate amounts of vitamin D, you can implement any combination of the three vitamin D sources mentioned below on a weekly basis.

1. exposure to the sun,
2. consuming vitamin D containing food (not so much available), and
3. through supplements

Vitamin D is also known as the “sunshine vitamin” because our skin makes it when exposed to the sun. Vitamin D acts like a hormone! That means it’s produced in one part of the body (e.g. the skin), and travels through to act on another part (e.g. the bones).

Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, when you have more than enough, it gets stored in the liver, and isn’t flushed out in the urine like water soluble vitamins such as B and C.

It’s also the most common nutrient deficiency!

How can I get enough vitamin D from the sun?

Our skin contains “pre” vitamin D. When exposed to UV rays from the sun, this “previtamin” is converted into vitamin D (calciferol).  That's why it's referred to as the "sunshine vitamin."

How much vitamin D your skin makes depends on many things. Location, season, clouds, clothing, all affect the amount of vitamin D your skin can produce from the sun.

One standard recommendation is to get about 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. to the face, arms, legs, or back. This should be done without sunscreen, at least twice a week.

How can I get enough vitamin D from food?

Because these are animal sources, they are in the D3 form. Some are even already converted into 25(OH)D which is thought to be 5 times more potent than the regular D3 form.

Naturally occurring plant sources of vitamin D2 are some mushrooms that have been exposed to the sun. That’s about it

Some foods are "fortified" (which means vitamin D has been added).

It will say on the label how much vitamin D has been added per serving.

Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, you can increase absorption of it from your food if you eat it with some fat (ie. healthy fat such as olive oil).

Between sun exposure and food, it still may be difficult to get even the minimum of 400 IU of vitamin D each day; this is why vitamin D supplements are needed.

LINK:  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-nutrition-surveillance/health-nutrition-surveys/canadian-community-health-survey-cchs/canadian-adults-meet-their-nutrient-requirements-through-food-intake-alone-health-canada-2012.html#a331

How can I get enough vitamin D from supplements?

Having enough 25(OH)D in the blood is associated with higher bone density. Studies show that supplementing with vitamin D may reduce the risk of falls and bone fractures

FUN FACT: Fish liver oil contains vitamin D, but not fish oil - it’s the liver that stores vitamin D.

At higher doses, however, vitamin D2 is less potent than vitamin D3.

But before you take vitamin D containing supplements, make sure you check that it won't interact with other supplements or medications you may be taking. Always read your labels, and ask a healthcare professional for advice.

Do not take more than the suggested dosage on the label of any vitamin D supplement, except under medical care.

The maximum amount recommended (for the general population) is 4,000 IU/day. Too much vitamin D can raise your blood levels of calcium (to an unsafe level), and this can affect your heart and kidneys.

The best thing, if you're concerned, is to ask your healthcare professional to do a blood test and make a recommendation about how much vitamin in supplement form is right for you.

Your healthcare practitioner may recommend higher amounts of vitamin D supplementation for a short time while under their care.

Conclusion

Vitamin D is an essential fat-soluble vitamin which; many people have a hard time maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D.  

There are three ways to get enough vitamin D: sun exposure, through certain foods, and in supplements.

I've given you some ideas how you can get the minimum 400-600 IU or vitamin D daily.

If you're concerned, it's best to request a blood test that tests your vitamin D levels to be sure what's right for you. Always take supplements as directed.

References

http://thewellnessbusinesshub.com/yes-nutrient-deficiencies-heres-proof-can/

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/reference/table/ref_vitam_tbl-eng.php

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-vitamin-d

https://authoritynutrition.com/vitamin-d-101/

http://neurotrition.ca/blog/brain-food-essentials-sardines