Testing to Optimize Health: Four Tests That Can Lay the Foundation – Part 1 of 4

Testing to Optimize Health: Four Tests That Can Lay the Foundation – Part 1 of 4

Whether people are just starting down the path to optimizing their health or have been following the path for some time, everyone has the same questions: “What supplements and foods should I be consuming? Which ones should I stay away from? What does my body need? and What nutrients do I need to further improve my health?” With all the information out there, it can be impossible for a layperson to navigate this confusing territory. This is where functional testing comes in: to help us determine each person’s exact needs in regards to which foods and supplements they should take and avoid in order to optimize their health. (more…)

Antioxidants Role in Health – Part 7:  Blue & Purple Phytonutrients

Antioxidants Role in Health – Part 7: Blue & Purple Phytonutrients

Part 6 in this series on antioxidants showed that the Green phytonutrients convey a host of benefits beyond being fantastic antioxidants, including protecting you against many types of cancer and improving eye health. It turns out that the blue and purple phytonutrients can also significantly reduce your risk of cancer while helping provide a broad array of benefits for memory, heart disease and diabetes. (more…)

What a Healthy Plate Should Look Like

What a Healthy Plate Should Look Like

Rarely does a day go by when I am not asked what a ‘healthy’ diet is? Some people ask in the hopes of finding the magic combination of foods to achieve a health goal; others ask so they can justify how they want and/or like to eat and/or proselytize how one diet or way of eating is better or worse than others. But most people are just confused about what a health meal really looks like, and it’s no wonder with all the (mis)information out there. (more…)

Why Am I Not Getting Better?

Why Am I Not Getting Better?

On occasion, a client will come in after a few weeks or months and say something like “I’ve been doing this for ‘x’ amount of time and I’m not seeing any results”; this inevitably leads to a discussion as to what they are doing exactly to try and determine if we are missing something. A majority of the time, when we begin asking specific questions about what they are doing, we find that they are not following their recommended plan of action. (more…)

Eating Your Way Out Of Pain

Eating Your Way Out Of Pain

The sensation of pain comes from many places. Obviously, there is a nervous system component; after all, it is our nerves that transmit the signals that alert us to pain and it is our brain that responds to those signals. In addition, there are structural components – if your leg is broken, it must be reset in order for the healing process to proceed quickly; if you have a subluxation in your back or neck, you’ve got to see a chiropractor or osteopath to help you get that corrected so the nervous system can respond appropriately.

However, the degree of our pain, and the length we suffer with that pain is to a large extent the result of chemical messengers that are created in response to an injury. This is called inflammation. However, how this inflammatory process plays out is largely dependent on what we eat. (more…)