Women's Health
01JunTraining Our Youth: Building a Future Foundation
One step in helping teenagers make smart food choices. Instead of buying “junk food”, fill your house with vegetables, fruits, whole grains and water. Parents also need to remember what it was like to be a teenager. Teens want to hang out with their friends and do what their friends do. For teenagers, going to fast food restaurants with their friends is usually for the social aspect. Instead of worrying about what they are going to eat when they go out, why not look at the menu with your teen and find healthier options when eating out.
01JunWhat is Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (or PCOS)?
The Healthy eating pattern and regular physical activity can help in controlling weight and insulin resistance. As noted earlier, Insulin resistance is common in patients diagnosed with PCOS; which can lead to higher insulin levels in the blood for compensation. Insulin increase the testosterone levels (the male hormone). A low glycemic Index (GI) can help for controlling insulin resistance.
01MayTop 3 Ways to Optimize Fertility for Patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that predominantly affects women during their childbearing years. Current statistics show that PCOS effects up to 10% of women in North America and is often undiagnosed.PCOS is diagnosed based on a combination of presenting symptoms, a hormone panel performed via a blood test and a transvaginal ultrasound to look at your ovaries. It is a condition that often isn’t diagnosed until a woman presents at her doctor struggling with fertility.Natural Remedies for Estrogen Dominance
Categories: Women's HealthThe basic issue of estrogen dominance is that estrogen levels are too high relative to other hormones, specifically progesterone. Usually it occurs when estrogen levels go too high, though it can also happen when progesterone levels fall too low. It can occur at any time during life – during reproductive years, perimenopause, or even menopause. Many of the symptoms of estrogen dominance coincide with symptoms of other health issues. Common symptoms include:
- Irregular Cycles: cycles are longer or shorter than normal, come sporadically, or you don’t have a period at all.
- Menstrual Issues: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, fibroids, severe menstrual cramps and PMS symptoms like swollen breasts, water
13FebTop 5 Things to Look for in Your Healthcare Practitioner
Finding the right healthcare practitioner can be challenging. It is hard enough to find a medical doctor these days who is even accepting new patients! Aside from someone local, whose hours work with your schedule, and who you don’t have to wait two years to see, one of the most important things in your journey towards better health is to have a practitioner who you can trust and who supports you. Whether they are a medical doctor, specialist, naturopathic doctor, or another member of your healthcare team, I believe the following are the most important things to look for when finding yourself a healthcare practitioner.
1. Is open to collaboration
Most of the population these days doesn’t have just one healthcare provider. It’s so great to have multiple
13FebWomen and Sport Nutrition The Female Athlete Triad
Categories: Women's Healthsports and exercise are healthy activities for girls and women of all ages. Occasionally, a female athlete who focuses on being thin or lightweight may eat too little or exercise too much. Doing this can cause long-term damage to health or even death. It can also hurt athletic performance or make it necessary to limit or stop exercise. Three interrelated illnesses may develop when a girl or young woman goes to extremes in dieting or exercise. Together, these conditions are known as the “female athlete triad"
Supporting Your Fertility with Naturopathic Medicine
Every time we tell people we are naturopathic doctors, the typical response is “Wow, that’s so cool! So what exactly do you do?” There are so many ways to answer this question, but the simplest way is to say we are trained in medical sciences, with a minimum of 7 years of post-secondary education, and we choose a variety of natural therapies such as diet, herbs, supplements, acupuncture and lifestyle counselling to help our patients. But what does that mean for you, the prospective fertility patient? How can we help you achieve your ultimate goal of having a baby and growing your family?
The fertility journey is exceptionally difficult, and is an ever-growing problem. According to recent government statistics, 1 in 6 couples in Canada is struggling
07FebNaturopathic Approaches to Women’s Health
Categories: Women's HealthNaturopathic doctors (NDs) treat men, women, and children of all ages, however it is perhaps not surprising that women tend to be heavily represented among the patients of most NDs.
Women tend to resonate with gentler, more natural approaches. Many women also experience frustration with the lack of solutions offered by the pharmaceutical-heavy approach often encountered through the conventional medical system. The tenets of naturopathic medicine, including “treat the root cause,” offer women an avenue through which to address their health concerns in a more holistic manner.
The term “women’s health” encompasses a broad range of conditions, including menstrual problems such as painful periods (dysmenorrhea),
Estrogen Dominance - Too much of a good thing?
Categories: Women's HealthWstrogen dominance is a clinical phenomenon that may affect women (or man) at any point in their life. Although estrogen is generally considered the main female sex hormone, there is such a thing as too much in women.
Likewise, men do in fact require small amounts of estrogen but they too can suffer from estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is more often an issue in women, so the focus of this article will be estrogen dominance in women. The term "estrogen dominance" refers to when estrogen is in higher quantities than needed, and it's usually higher in relation to the other sex hormones. A woman's menstrual cycle is heavily dependent on four hormones: luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen and
06JunEstrogen Dominance: Not Just a Womans Predicament!
Would it surprise you to know that the hormone estrogen which has a major impact on the female reproductive cycle, is also coursing through the male bloodstream too? While estrogen in the man’s body has an important role to play in cognitive function, blood clotting and emotional regulation, a lot of men have estrogen levels exceedingly high in relation to testosterone, a not so talked about imbalance known as estrogen dominance. Gynecomastia (male breasts), beer belly, impaired sex drive and even the development of certain cancers such as breast and prostate are characteristic outcomes of estrogen dominance and lingering high estrogen levels in men.
