Mahalia Freed, ND
Beets have always appealed to my aesthetic sense, with their rich colour, and the beautiful rings that show when you slice them the right way. One of the few vegetables available locally, year round, beets are affordable, nourishing, and easy to prepare. Furthermore, they are a traditional blood building and liver cleansing food. March heralds spring, the season for liver support and cleansing. What better time to get reacquainted with beets?
The pigment that gives purple beets their gorgeous colour, betacyanin, is an antioxidant known to have powerful cancer-fighting properties. In the research, it is particularly effective against colon cancer. Beets are known as a “liver food” due to their betaine content. Betaine, or trimethylglycine, specifically supports phase II liver detoxification. It is also anti-inflammatory. Beyond their fibre content, beets contain folic acid (136 mcg per cup, boiled). While folic acid’s importance for preventing neural tube defects in utero is well known, the nutrient is essential for healthy cell division in general, making a diet rich in folic acid important for cancer and dysplasia-prevention. As well, beets have been researched for their ability to help normalize elevated blood pressure, increase HDL (good cholesterol), and decrease triglycerides. Who could have guessed? For cardiovascular health, liver health, detoxification, and fertility, go, beets!
NB: If your urine or stool is red after consuming beets, don’t be alarmed! It is simply the beet pigments. You may actually use this to assess your bowel transit time and kidney function: how long until you see red?
For more information about beets, from history to nutrition to health benefits, see the write up at World’s Healthiest Foods: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49
Continue reading →
Download PDF
The Chlorinated Villains and Their Impact
By now, you are likely aware of the negative health effects of chlorine-containing chemicals like pesticides, dioxins, and PCBs. We know that these chemicals, which the body is not adapted to process, accumulate in fatty tissue. This causes trouble in the form of breast and other cancers, infertility, endometriosis, hypothyroidism, neurological ailments such as ADD, brain fog and depression, chronic infection, allergies, autoimmune diseases, environmental illness, heart disease, and fatigue (Kaur 2003, Crinnion 2007, Rogers 2002). Alarmingly, the main way women purge these chemicals is through breast-feeding. A baby breast fed for 6 months receives more than 5 times the daily limit of PCBs set for a 150 lb adult (Kaur 2003)! Fortunately, there is another way to expel these toxins from our body fat: infrared saunas.
Continue reading →
Supporting Detoxification and Immune Function Through Lymphatic Health
The lymphatic system is central to our health, yet it is often overlooked in western medicine, both by practitioners and by health-conscious individuals. Working in concert with the blood circulatory system, lymphatic function in fact supports every other system in the body by providing nutrients, draining wastes, and coordinating immune system activity. White blood cells – the so-called “soldiers” of our immune system – are produced and transported throughout the body via the lymphatic system. As well, lymphatic channels perform a crucial function in draining away waste material from virtually every cell and organ in the body. Unlike our blood circulatory system, the lymphatic system has no pump. Lymph moves when we move. When we are sluggish, so is our lymph, and this is recognized as having a significant impact on our health. Sluggish lymphatic drainage can lead to nausea, fatigue, swelling and joint pain. Symptoms associated with lymph blockage include breast tenderness, fibrocystic breasts, worsened allergies & food sensitivities, sinusitis, more frequent colds and ‘flus, fatigue, and skin breakouts. Many practitioners associate cancer with lymph blockages. In general, if lymph function is compromised, detoxification and the immune system are compromised.
Attain & maintain optimal lymphatic health by incorporating some of the strategies below:
Continue reading →
Download PDF
Sunshine! Blossoms! Longer days! What do our bodies need, as we move gratefully into Spring & Summer and increased outward activity? Part of any naturopathic treatment plan is optimizing nutrition. Just as in a garden you prepare and enrich the soil before you plant, so food choices nourish your body, so that you may flourish and achieve your health goals. Whether your current concern is increasing energy or enhancing fertility, ensuring that your foundational nutrients are as strong as possible is a priority. And, it is something you can do for yourself and for those with whom you share meals.
Continue reading →