Author avisha Categories Food & Nutrition, Lifestyle, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

Catch Those Zzzz’s. It’s Good For Your Health!

Have you said “bye bye” to sleeping through the night?

Are you feeling exhausted or “running on stress hormones” all day?

Do not fear, I have some great tips (and an amazing recipe) for you!

The science of sleep is fascinating, complicated and growing

Sleep is this daily thing that we all do and yet we’re just beginning to understand all of the ways it helps us and all of the factors that can affect it.

Lack of sleep affects just about everything in your body and mind. People who get less sleep tend to be at higher risk for many health issues like diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer; not to mention effects like slower metabolism, weight gain, hormone imbalance and inflammation. And don’t forget the impact lack of sleep can have on moods, memory and decision-making skills.

Do you know that lack of sleep may even negate the health benefits of your exercise program?

OMG – What aspect of health does sleep not affect???

Knowing this, it’s easy to see the three main purposes of sleep:

  • To restore our body and mind. Our bodies repair, grow and even “detoxify” our brains while we sleep.
  • To improve our brain’s ability to learn and remember things, technically known as “synaptic plasticity”.
  • To conserve some energy so we’re not just actively “out and about” 24-hours a day, every day.

Do you know how much sleep adults need? It’s less than your growing kids need but you may be surprised that it’s recommended that all adults get 7 – 9 hours a night. For real!

Try not to skimp!

Tips for better sleep

  • The biggest tip is definitely to try to get yourself into a consistent sleep schedule. Make it a priority and you’re more likely to achieve it. This means turning off your lights 8 hours before your alarm goes off. Seven. Days. A. Week. I know weekends can easily throw this off but by making sleep a priority for a few weeks your body and mind will adjust and thank you for it.

 

  • Balance your blood sugar throughout the day. You know, eat less refined and processed foods and more whole foods (full of blood-sugar-balancing fiber). Choose the whole orange instead of the juice (or orange-flavoured snack). Make sure you’re getting some protein every time you eat.

 

  • During the day get some sunshine and exercise. These things tell your body it’s daytime; time for being productive, active and alert. By doing this during the day it will help you wind down more easily in the evening.

 

  • Cut off your caffeine and added sugar intake after 12pm. Whole foods like fruits and veggies are fine, it’s the “added” sugar we’re minimizing. Yes, this includes your beloved chai latte. Both caffeine and added sugar can keep your mind a bit more active than you want it to be come evening.

 

  • Have a relaxing bedtime routine that starts 1 hour before your “lights out” time (that is 8 – 10 hours before your alarm is set to go off). This would include dimming your artificial lights, nixing screen time and perhaps reading an (actual, not “e”) book or having a bath.

 

So how many of these tips can you start implementing today?

 

Recipe (Caffeine-free latte for your afternoon “coffee break”): Caffeine-Free Chai Latte

Serves 1-2

1 bag of rooibos chai tea (rooibos is naturally caffeine-free)

2 cups of boiling water

1 tablespoon tahini

1 tablespoon almond butter (creamy is preferred)

2 dates (optional)

 

Cover the teabag and dates (if using) with 2 cups of boiling water and steep for a few minutes.

Discard the tea bag & place tea, soaked dates, tahini & almond butter into a blender.

Blend until creamy.

Serve and Enjoy!

 

Tip: You can try this with other nut or seed butters to see which flavour combination you like the best. Cashew butter anyone?

 

References:

http://www.thepaleomom.com/gotobed/

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/hacking-sleep

Author avisha Categories Cancer Coaching, Lifestyle Posted on 0 Comments

Small, sustainable weight loss may reduce risk for breast cancer

Small, sustainable weight loss may reduce risk for breast cancer

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay News  |  Dec. 8, 2017

It’s never too late for women to lose weight to lower their breast cancer risk, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that a 5 percent or greater weight loss after menopause could lower the odds of breast cancer by about 12 percent. For a 170-pound woman, a 5 percent weight loss would be 8.5 pounds.

“A modest weight loss that seems to be sustainable could have important health consequences,” said lead study author Dr. Rowan Chlebowski. He’s a research professor in the department of medical oncology and therapeutics research at the City of Hope in Duarte, Calif.

“These are encouraging findings. You don’t have to get to a normal weight to see a benefit, and you don’t need to lose a colossal amount of weight. A 5 percent weight loss is achievable on your own,” Chlebowski added.

Obesity is a known risk factor for breast cancer. But Chlebowski said it hasn’t been clear if losing weight could prevent breast cancer. And if weight loss could make a difference in breast cancer risk, it wasn’t known if there was an optimal time to lose weight.

This study included data on more than 61,000 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative, a large, long-running study of older women by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The women were all ages 50 to 79 when they entered the study between 1993 and 1998. None had a history of breast cancer and all had a normal mammogram when the study began.

Women’s weights were measured at the start of the study and again three years later, Chlebowski said. Their health was then followed for an average of more than 11 years.

During that time, more than 3,000 women developed invasive breast cancer.

From the original group, more than 8,100 women lost 5 percent or more of their body weight. The researchers compared these women to more than 41,100 women whose weight remained stable.

The women whose weight remained stable had an average body mass index (BMI) of 26.7. BMI is a rough estimate of body fat based on height and weight measurements.

A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal, while 25 to 29.9 is overweight and over 30 is considered obese. A 5-foot-6-inch woman who weighs 170 pounds has a BMI of 27.4, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Women who intentionally lost weight in the study started out with a BMI of 29.9.

“Women who had a 5 percent or greater weight loss were heavier and less active,” Chlebowski noted.

The researchers found that when women lost even more weight — 15 percent or more of their body weight — the risk of breast cancer went down 37 percent.

There are a number of factors linked to weight loss, such as less inflammation, that could explain the lower risk of cancer, Chlebowski said. But the study did not prove that weight caused breast cancer risk to drop.

In addition to finding that losing weight was linked to reduced breast cancer risk, the researchers also looked to see what affect gaining weight had. More than 12,000 women gained weight during the study, and overall, that gain didn’t seem to boost the risk of breast cancer.

However, when the researchers looked at specific types of breast cancer, they saw a 54 percent increased risk of a type of cancer called triple negative breast cancer in women who gained weight after menopause.

Chlebowski said it’s not clear why weight gain would boost the risk of this specific cancer.

Dr. Virginia Maurer, chief of breast surgery and director of the breast health program at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., said this is an important study that shows it’s never too late to lose weight.

“Losing weight and increasing exercise are two things you have control over,” said Maurer, who wasn’t involved with the study. “You’ll lower your risk of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, joint diseases and other cancers related to weight.”

She recommends three to four hours of aerobic exercise a week, along with some strength training.

 

Author avisha Categories Blog, Cancer Coaching, Food & Nutrition, Lifestyle Posted on 0 Comments

Living a Cancer Prevention Lifestyle

It is a staggering statistic that estimates 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be confronted with a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.  What may be even harder to comprehend is that only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects. The remaining 90–95% have their genesis in environmental and lifestyle factors.  Consider this:

“The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25-30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30-35% are linked to diet, about 15-20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18626751

The long and short of this is that there are lifestyle choices that we can make to tilt the odds more favourably in our direction.

Quit Smoking  

quit smokingGo back to the quote above, “The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25-30% are due to tobacco”

Eat Whole Foods

Whole, unprocessed foods give our bodies the nutrients that are needed to repair our tissues and fight off disease.  Our bodies cannot synthesize all of the nutrients that are needed to function optimally.  Proper nutrition fills in those missing pieces.wholefoods

 

 

 

 

Keep Moving

movingMove every day!  Walk, run, yoga. Whatever your fancy just keep moving. Movement and exercise helps you to maintain a good weight, helps bust stress, helps to manage insulin levels and helps you to get a good night’s sleep.

Manage Your Stress Level

laugh

Ongoing stress leads to inflammation.  Ongoing inflammation can lead to disease.  (You can take a look at my blog post to get a better understanding of inflammation.)  Surround yourself with positive people.  Forgive quickly. Laugh more.

Drink Less Hydrate More

Keep alcohol consumption to a minimum and water consumption to a maximum. Alcohol can be dehydrating and a stressor to your liver and kidneys.  Drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day helps to maintain your fluid balance and detoxify your body.drinkwater

Small changes daily can lead to big payoffs in the long run.  Start today to build your cancer prevention lifestyle.

Author avisha Categories Blog, Cancer Coaching Posted on 0 Comments

Tips for Detoxifying Your Body After Chemotherapy and Radiation Treatments

Once you are strong enough, detoxifying your body after cancer treatment is an essential part of your healing journey.   Chemotherapy and radiation can overload your system with excess toxins as can the residue of dead cancer cells.  Here I have listed what I feel are the key first steps in the detoxification process.

Eliminate junk food and eat a whole foods diet

Not only is this the essential element of any detoxification process, it is the first place to begin when rebuilding your immune system, the key to remaining cancer free.  I strongly suggest eating an all-organic diet.  To begin the process of converting to an organic diet, refer to the “Clean 15, Dirty Dozen” which lists the foods most and least affected by pesticide contamination.

Maintain Hydration

Consuming water greatly aids in the detoxification process after treatment.  Ensure that your water is filtered to eliminate possible toxins that your water may contain.  Herbal teas are also wonderful to help the cleansing process. Examples include Dandelion Root tea that aids in liver detoxification and Green Tea.  Green Tea contains the catechin Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) as well as other polyphenols which help rid your body of free radicals.

Juicing

Consuming fresh-pressed juices floods your body with easily digestible nutrients that help flush away toxins and heal damaged tissue.  When it comes to diet, juicing may be the most beneficial food for detoxifying.  It is important to gradually introduce juicing in to your diet.  As mentioned, juicing floods the system with nutrients that can be very detoxifying.  Gradually introducing juices allows your detoxification process to run smoothly by not overwhelming your system.

I would like to note that although the benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables are great, juicing does eliminate the bulk of fiber content from these foods

Maintain adequate fiber in your diet.

  • Fiber slows down digestion with the result that glucose enters our system gradually reducing spikes in blood sugar.
  • Fiber absorbs toxins and aids in their elimination.
  • Fiber is essential for a healthy gut flora.  A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and legumes is essential for adequate fiber intake.

Exercise

Exercise stimulates your body increasing blood flow rate and aiding lymphatic circulation.  This in turn aids in detoxification. Exercising also helps to keep weight within an ideal range.  Excess fat may harbour unwanted toxins.  Rebounding, walking, yoga and Tia Chi are examples of good exercises to take part in after treatments as you build back your strength.

Detoxifying Baths

A detox bath is one of the easiest and most enjoyable therapies to encourage the body to eliminate toxins.   A simple recipe is one part Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate) with 2 parts Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) added to warm running water.

Sleep

During sleep the body repairs, rejuvenates and detoxifies.  Aiming for 7-8 hours of good sleep each night will greatly aid the detoxification process.

Detoxifying your Environment

Skin care products and household cleaning products are laden with toxins.  Consider replacing these with natural products. Remember that toxins enter our system in many ways including through breathing and by penetrating our skin. I also highly recommend replacing your plastic storage containers in favour of glassware.

Try incorporating as many of these detoxifying tips in to your healing protocol as they will help to relieve many symptoms of toxic load including fatigue, digestive issues and headaches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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