If you're like me, just the word "STRESS" brings on the urgent need to take a slow, deep breath in. Few are foreign to the concept of stress and its impact on our health, but how many of us actually know what the stress response really is... or why we even have one? Furthermore, it may surprise you that we have more control over our state of "stress" than originally thought. Let's see if we can change our perception of the dreaded topic, and learn some great, actionable ways to manage it. Let's talk about "stress" Stress, by definition, is felt as strain or pressure, and perceived as something threatening. Depending on where you are in your life, the thought of good grades, finances, children, promotions, deadlines, health, etc may bring on that feeling. Now think of vacation, relaxation, your happy place, a good night's sleep, seeing your child smile, etc... Believe it or not, your body is releasing some of the same hormones in both of these situations. The important thing to recognize from this is our perception of what our "stressors" are, and how we're responding to them. So what is STRESS? The stress response stems from an adaptive strategy our body developed for temporary periods of danger to ensure our survival. Simply put... see Sabertooth Tiger -> recognize danger -> activate stress response -> run away quickly (or fight if you're nuts) Basically, what's happening is our sensory organs (ears and eyes) recognize the threat, which sends a signal to our brain (the hypothalamus, specifically), which interprets the response and decides what to do about it. In situations of danger, as seen above, a cascade of hormones is released, with the intention to activate our adrenals. The adrenals pump out the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine, and cortisol, all with the intention to prepare our body to run faster or fight harder for our survival. We'll call this situation "acute stress". So why am I boring you with this... The important thing to recognize is this response is designed to prepare us physically for situations of life or death - situations that occur far less often these days (I haven't seen a Sabertooth tiger lately, anyways) However, the stress response is still active, but for different reasons. Today's Stress Today we experience a much different kind of stress - more like the one I mentioned initially (work, school, home, etc). Instead of this stress being "acute" or temporary, it tends to be of lower intensity and of longer duration. Nowadays, you can't simply run from the problem, if you get what I'm saying. We'll call this "chronic stress". So what does this mean for our health? An acute stress response is great - it's what our bodies use to perform at our best in sports or endurance activities, it focuses our mind for big presentations, and it allows us to hammer the gas pedal quickly when the other car comes out of nowhere. But chronic stress is a problem. Much like the engine in a car, our adrenal glands have a threshold of performance. And if you keep pressing down that gas pedal, you're eventually going to run out of gas. The same happens with your adrenals. Chronic stress leads to a constant output of these hormones, which in turn uses up a lot of the body's vitamins, minerals, and cofactors to make them until we eventually run dry. Furthermore, constant exposure to these hormones can have some negative effects long-term. Believe it or not, stress is linked to 99% of all chronic conditions. The most common effects of prolonged stress include: High blood pressure & blood sugar Skin conditions, Pain, Frequent colds and flus, allergies Inability to lose weight or weight gain, Hormonal imbalances & infertility, Anxiety & depression, Difficulty sleeping, Premature Aging/ Accelerated Aging How do I know if I'm stressed? Besides listening to the clinical presentation of stress (see below), there is a way to actually determine what is happening with your adrenal glands. It's called 4-point cortisol testing - basically, 4 salivary measurements throughout the day quantifying the level of cortisol you're releasing. When plotted onto a graph and compared to normal cortisol levels, we get a qualitative measure of adrenal function. Generally speaking, there are 3 stages the adrenal glands undergo when dealing with chronic stress. The Alarm phase: This is when you're starting to press down on that gas pedal and speeding more than you should - your demands for cortisol are high and your adrenals are responding. This state is reversible. The Resistant phase: You're speeding constantly and the engine is reeving - your adrenals are overworking and cortisol is chronically elevated all day. Your adrenals are no longer adapting. The Exhaustion phase: You've run out of gas, the engine has crashed. Your adrenals are no longer mounting a physiological response to the brain's demands. You're "burnt out". Symptomatically, you might be experiencing: Alarm and Resistance Stage: Irritability Feeling "tired but wired" Difficulty sleeping Anxiety High blood pressure Thyroid dysfunction Weight gain Exhaustion Phase: Fatigue -> feeling “burnt out" Waking unrested, "could sleep forever" Infections & allergies Exhaustion after exercise Depression Low sex drive Blood pressure drops SO, What can I do about Stress? 1. Measure your cortisol via 4 saliva samples. Getting an objective measure of how your adrenals are performing throughout the day takes the guesswork out of diagnosing your phase of dysfunction and allows for the most management of your state of stress. 2. Exercise Moderate-intensity exercise improves your mood (by releasing feel-good hormones), helps the body manage blood sugar levels, and actually has shown to be a form of meditation if movements are repetitive (jogging, biking, swimming, etc). But be careful, too much exercise can worsen the demand on your adrenals - so listen to your body. If you feel burnt out after exercise, you're working too hard. 3. Sleep hygiene Your adrenals ideally need 8 hours of restful sleep to "recharge". Cortisol naturally drops at sundown, when your melatonin (sleep hormone) takes over the circadian rhythm, so its important to wind down when it gets dark outside. 1 hour before bed, dim the lights, turn off the screens, and clear the mind. Light actually stimulates cortisol release, and screens of electronics like laptops, televisions, iPads, etc actually have been shown to disrupt sleep patterns. Even a stressful crime novel can boost your cortisol. The bed is for sleep and intercity period. Practicing good sleep hygiene can improve sleep quality by up to 40%! 4. Nutrients & Herbs We also need to think about adrenal hormone production and what nutrients are involved, specifically vitamin C, CoQ10, B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, and selenium. They are all important cofactors in helping the adrenal glands function and get depleted quickly when they are working in overdrive. Typically in later stages of adrenal dysfunction, these nutrients will need to be supplemented at higher doses than what's accessible from food. Adaptogenic herbs are also great ways to support the adrenals. Some herbs like rhodiola and magnolia help bring down cortisol levels, while others like panax ginseng, eleutherococcus and ashwaganda help improve the body's energy levels and resistance to stress. Nutrients and herbs must be used correctly, as some should only be used in certain phases of adrenal dysfunction. It can be risky to self-prescribe, so talk to your Naturopath about which supplements are best for you. There are some great formulas out there compounding these ingredients together in one capsule. 5. Diet What you eat has a profound effect on your stress levels. More specifically - sugars and caffeine. Sugar causes our blood sugar levels to spike, which induces an insulin spike, which loads our cells with glucose and causes us to release cortisol to return those blood sugar levels back to normal. Moral of the story - avoid insulin spikes. Replace white bread and pasta with complex carbs like carrots, potatoes, beans, and grains like quinoa or brown rice. Skip on dessert. Usually, those who are stressed feel burnt out and require coffee to get them through the day. Caffeine causes cortisol spiking, which has a negative impact if your cortisol is already too high. Replace the coffee with something like green tea, which contains theanine that helps the brain respond to stress naturally. 6. Meditation People shy away from the concept, but it's remarkable what meditation can do for our stress response, especially mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques - mindful meditation + body scans + yoga postures. Researchers at Harvard Medical School confirmed that meditation actually induces what we call a RELAXATION RESPONSE, which counter-effects the fight-or-flight response. Studies confirmed that moving into a meditative state changed oxygen consumption, decreased blood pressure, and even decreased levels of stress hormones. Grounding. Studies show that making direct contact (without the non-conductive soles of our shoes) with the earth's magnetic pull can actually regulate cortisol levels, and other hormones such as melatonin, estrogen, and serotonin. During the summer months, walk outside barefoot in the grass for ~5 mins/day. If you can't get outside and want to benefit right away, you can buy grounding mats to place under your bed at night or desk during the day that have been shown to have the exact same effect. How cool is that? 7. Acupressure My favourite acupressure point for relaxation is called LI 4 - it's located between your thumb and index finger, in the meaty tissue of your palm. When you press down on it, you should feel an uncomfortable achy sensation. It's great for acute feelings of stress, headaches, or any tension felt in the head or neck area. Hold it for 1 minute, on both sides. This point is not to be used during pregnancy. 8. Perception Probably my favourite approach to managing stress is in our perception of what stress means. If you haven't seen this TedTalk ... go watch it. Now. Dr. MacGonigal points out shocking statistics on stress levels and life expectancy. People who experience large amounts of stress had a 43% increased risk of death, but… this was only true for those people who BELIEVED stress was harmful to their health. Those who did not believe stress was bad actually had no increase in the risk of death. Furthermore ... and this is my favourite part... rethinking our stress response as HELPFUL actually changes the body's response to mimic the same response shown in moments of joy and courage. Today's stress isn't changing us down and trying to eat us for dinner (although some are probably thinking "have you met my boss?"). Today's stress is what we perceive to be true and fear of what that might mean. Change fear of the future into the presence of the moment. Thank the body for preparing you. Practice mindfulness.

For generations now, we have all been told that we must get our daily fix of cow's milk in order to get our required dose of calcium and build ourselves some strong bones. The 15$ billion-dollar Canadian Dairy Industry's marketing campaigns work hard to teach the public that if you're not drinking enough milk, you're not looking out for your own health. And while there's no excusing the truth that calcium is a key mineral in the makeup of your bones and that milk is a rich source of it, it gets a little more complicated than that. What most of us don't know is that milk itself may not be the best food source for our bodies to utilize all that calcium. In fact, it may be working against you... first things first... Let us start by pointing out an obvious fact - we are the only species known to drink milk past infancy, and more importantly, it's not even our own milk. The fat-filled, hormone-rich, mineral-dense cocktail a mother cow produces is intended to take her roughly 65 lb infant calf to a whopping 700 lbs in just under a year. That ratio in comparison to human development seems a little off to me... That infant then grows to a healthy size, develops dentition, and takes on solid food, leaving the milk behind. Yet we as North Americans never seem to really outgrow milk, and I say North Americans because there are numerous cultures around the world that have never tasted a drop of bovine syrup and have lived healthy ever after. Furthermore, there's a concern with the drug called rBST (recombinant bovine growth hormone) used to increase the milk yield from cattle. And much like the name suggests, growth hormone leads to the proliferation of cells in the body. Unfortunately, cancer cells from ovarian, breast, and prostate cancer are very receptive to this hormone, causing them to grow and spread at an alarming rate. Now the plus side is, no dairy cows within Canada are approved for the use of this hormone. However, that's not to say that Canada does not import dairy products from the US. In 2011, more than 102 million kilograms of dairy products were imported into Canada from the US, all of which were not rBST free. So if you've just got to have some of that creamy white nectar, look for this emblem on the packaging to ensure it's 100% Canadian. the sour facts... To summarize what's out there, plenty of older research supports the fact that calcium prevents bone loss, and milk is rich in calcium. Studies looking at fracture incidence in North American women conclude that a lower intake of milk in adolescence has an increased risk of fracture later on in life (1). However, according to the authors of the Save Our Bones program, the vast amount of research is often misinterpreted, with the underlying truth being that very little evidence actually shows a positive relationship between calcium and bone health, with an almost non-existent relationship between milk and bone health. A famous Harvard study in the late 90s followed a large group of women for 12 years, and concluded that drinking milk once or more daily actually increased fracture risk compared to those women who only drank milk once per week (2). An excerpt from the study: "These data do not support the hypothesis that higher consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium by adult women protects against hip or forearm fractures.” Furthermore, when you dig into the demographics, data shows that the countries that consume the most amount of milk actually have the highest incidences of osteoporosis and loss of bone mass. How is that so, when milk saves our bones? On the same subject line, similar results are seen regarding calcium when you compare African tribes who consume less than 350 mg of calcium a day and almost zero incidences of broken bones with the Eskimo tribes who survive on fish bones loaded with calcium and have one of the highest incidences of osteoporosis in the world (3). That being said, I think it's also very important to recognize other factors involved here, as the lower incidence populations also have higher amounts of vitamin D exposure and greater amounts of daily exercise - hint hint. what the dairy industry doesn't tell us... There's some evidence out there to suggest that milk may increase the risks of certain types of cancer for both men and women. The sugar in milk, called galactose, which is digested to the well-known allergenic sugar, lactose, may have some effects on ovarian cancer risk. While not all studies suggest this, one Harvard study pooled results of multiple trials to conclude that with a high intake of lactose (unspecific to which type of dairy it came from) there was a modestly higher risk of ovarian cancer. It's not to be ignored that this may actually correlate more so to the hormonal compositions of today's milk, as ovarian cancer is hormone sensitive. With regards to males, a prospective study suggests men who consume high amounts of calcium (nearly 2000 mg/day or 3 cups of milk) may have anywhere between 39% to almost double the increased risk of developing fatal prostate cancer than those who consume low amounts (4,5). the take-home message... #1 substitute Scrap the belief that milk is needed to breed strong bones. Theres some fantastic alternatives out there that do the trick, and aren't squeezed from a cow's udder. Almond and Coconut milk are very tasty, they make for a delicious latte, and they can replace milk in any recipe (my favourite brand is Silk, as it contains no carageenan - a stabilizing agent linked to endocrine problems). Coconut yogurt is a delicious alternative. Stick to goat-based cheeses to avoid lactose. #2 balance What's important to know is that milk actually contains some ingredients, protein is the most prominent, that can have acidifying effects on our bodies. The problem lies in the fact that our body maintains an ideal pH to function properly, and the only way to neutralize acid is to add an alkaline substance or base. And where are the most basic minerals stored in our bodies? You guessed it - our bones. Now I haven't come across any HARD evidence to say this happens in humans, but mouse trials support this hypothesis. Offset things that acidify your body with the most basic, mineral-rich food group known to man, VEGETABLES! Mom did know best. Ditch the coffee (I know, I was devastated too), alcohol, sugar, cheeses and animal proteins for some mineral-dense, alkalinizing items like Spinach, Sprouts, Cucumber, Apples, Zucchini, and so on. #3 don't leave anyone out Vitamin D, vitamin K (found in dark leafy greens), magnesium, and phosphorus are ALL just as essential to bone health as the ever-popular calcium. Leaving one out throws off the whole matrix. Again, vegetables are the best sources of all these nutrients, as well as some healthy, safe, sun exposure. Evidence shows that a little daylight (up to 15 mins/day) actually increases vitamin D serum levels more effectively than supplementing with it. In the winter months, however, 2000-4000 mg/day of liquid (in a fat solution) vitamin D may be an easier option. And let's not forget the role of exercise - particularly the weight-bearing kind. There's no question that increased stresses on the bones from weight-bearing activity leads to a better, stronger, and thicker depositing of minerals into that beautiful white matrix. Park your car at the end of the parking lot and carry your groceries. Walk around the house with the baby, or puppy, or your husband if you have to, in your arms. Engage in some fun interval training, using your own body weight as the resistance. Get out and move. And most of all, don't stress if you haven't been drinking your milk... you may have done yourself a favour.

the art behind the science If you're unfamiliar with Naturopathic medicine, or even simply how it's pronounced, don't feel disheartened... you’re not alone. It’s a question I get asked day in and day out, and a tough question to answer at that. You see, Naturopathy doesn't fit as easily into a categorical box as some might hope, primarily because the term itself serves as an umbrella for what is practiced beneath it. If you're looking to understand the criteria of a Naturopathic medical education, the modalities used, or how it compares to an allopathic curriculum, the AANM does a lovely job of breaking it down for you. Rest assured, your ND is well-educated in both the holistic and allopathic sides of medicine. However, the part I hope to emphasize is not the structure of the curriculum or the hours of clinical experience, but more so the beauty of the way in which it is practiced - the art of Naturopathy. The best analogy I like to give is to imagine a toolbox. While the hammer might be the chiropractor, adjusting our structural misalignments, or the electrical tape being the family doctor, mending our symptoms, or even the measuring tape being the nutritionist, quantifying the amounts from what we are made, it is best to look at Naturopathy as the toolbox itself. You see, it isn’t so much a defined medicine, focusing on single complaints, with sole modalities, or on one realm of health... but rather an overarching style of medicine, treating overlapping conditions, with multiple modalities, on the physical, mental, and emotional realms of health. And while every therapy applied (be it botanical medicine, nutritional supplementation, or even an acupuncture protocol) is researched for efficacy and cross-referenced with pharmaceutical modalities until the cows come home, the art is in the application and the combination of these therapies, and how - much like a painting - no two treatment plans are ever the same. Now, being both a patient and practitioner of Naturopathy myself, I've experienced this - shall we call it, style - from both angles. I can still recall the moments (not once, but twice) that I fell in love with natural medicine - first as a patient when I recognized that I was not merely a cookie who fit into a mould of what the medical system had planned for me, and secondly as a practitioner, when I realized the paintbrush was now in my hand. After conventional medicine had identified my symptoms, completed all its diagnostic tests, and ultimately run its course, my Naturopath went the step further to educate me on treatment options and lifestyle changes I could make to address the cause of why it all happened in the first place. And therein lies the beauty of the two realms of medicine working hand in hand - but that there is a whole topic all its own. I later fell in love all over again, when I began my clinical internship. Over the three years of long class hours, overwhelming amounts of dry theory, and endless late nights of cramming combined with un-naturopathic choices, I can now admit I had lost a feel for the art. My right-sided brain had shrivelled into the organic, sugar-free, sun-dried raisins I found myself consuming to fuel the days that had blurred into weeks. It wasn't until after the first few weeks of my clinical internship that my new non-textbook, multidimensional patients and acquired medical detective skills reminded me that not only did I love the art of this medicine, but that I was "in love" with it. So now that we've covered the common question of what, we must address what comes next - why? Can’t anyone buy nutraceuticals, or simply ask the guy behind the health food store counter what they need? Of course, they can. But much to Dr. Oz's failure, not every natural health product or home remedy is for everyone. The simple statement "drink more water" could kill a patient with congestive heart failure. And more importantly, not all health products meet therapeutic standards. A recent and widely recognized editorial published in Annuals of Internal Medicine blatantly concluded that vitamins and minerals were a waste of money. However, Dr. Alan Gaby, MD an expert in nutritional medicine, wrote a thoroughly researched response highlighting the importance of choosing the right products, with effective dosages and free of additives. So again, we come back to the art of individualized treatment, the importance of educated choices, and the use of treatments to best address the underlying cause above ameliorating symptoms. Naturopathy in a nutshell. But then again, that's just my take on things.