Chromosomal abnormalities are one of the major causes of miscarriage during the first trimester. What isn't really talked about is how much our diet and lifestyle can impact the health of our eggs and sperm. One of the major areas of focus are antioxidants.
Antioxidants protect eggs and sperm from the impact of oxidative stress. We want to make sure that we're incorporating at least 4-6 cups of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables every single day to optimize our intake of these nutrients. I love berries as a great source of antioxidants (and a great source of fibre as well - if you haven't seen my last post about the importance of fibre for eliminating excess estrogen, I encourage you to check it out).
Are you eating 4-6 cups of fruits and vegetables each day? What is your favourite way to prepare your vegetables so that you enjoy eating them?
Let me know in the comments.
Hope you enjoyed this quick tip!
Until next time,
Kristin
You guys - I have to start this post by saying I am SO sorry I have been so sporadic over here on the blog (please follow me on Instagram here - I am super active over there right now!)
Life with a full nutrition practice, working on a bunch of amazing projects for you guys and being a twin mom and wife has got me full out 24/7 (not to mention the podcast that I am trying to get up and running - YIKES!)
This was a project that I NEEDED to get out to you guys because you have been asking questions and I had to get this in your hands!
Why have I created this resource? Because I KNOW the impact that environmental chemicals can have on our health (particularly our hormones) and women NEED to get this information. If we can make these simple swaps in our home right now, we can have an incredible impact on the health of ourselves and our families.
My first session with all of my fertility clients includes talking about hormone disruption due to exposure to environmental chemicals from our cleaning products, our pots and pans (check out this post if you don't know what I am referring to... or better yet, watch the documentary on Netflix "The Devil We Know"....) and our personal care products.
I first started exploring this area of environmental chemicals back in 2015 when I hear Dr. Victoria Maizes speak at a health conference in Arizona. I was absolutely BLOWN away by the research she shared and immediately bought her book "Be Fruitful". I started incorporating her principles in my counseling sessions with my clients and was amazed at the changes I saw (mostly around period regulation and the ability to conceive) - this was SO POWERFUL.
Anyway - I realized over the years as I looked at more and more research that I HAD to share this with more women than just my clients. Women deserved to have access to this information. Now, one thing that I really don't like is fear mongering. I think that spreading fear without giving actionable steps that are fairly easy to follow is really not helpful at all. So this is where the guide comes in! This guide has EASY TO FIND products and the EXACT ones I recommend picking up. Not every product from a specific line is rated so great - so I have used the EWG database and picked out the top rated products that you can find at your local grocery store, health food store or on well.ca (free shipping over $35 makes it really reasonable).
Are there products on this list that you'd like me to update? I want to continue making this resources as comprehensive as possible and your one stop for totally overhauling your home. Let me know in the comments if there are product categories that you'd like to see that haven't made the list!
To access the guide: Click here đ
And if you're not following me on Instagram yet - head over here and join the party! I am hanging out there SO much these days and I love sharing my daily routine with you all!
Until next time sisters,
Be well,
Kristin
To Scale Or Not To Scale
When I first opened my private practice I knew one thing had to change â there would no longer be a scale in my office.
There are two schools of thought on this issue and for a long time I thought that weighing yourself on a regular basis was a good way to keep you "honest" and "on track" because, let's be real, sometimes we put more food into our mouths in the run of a day than we think we do.
We hear it all of the time âthe scale doesnât lieâ⊠but I began to think â it does lie. It lies because A) SO many things impact the number on the scale that are not related to the food we consume or the exercise we engaged in and B) it does not measure all of the amazing things we did for ourselves and for our health.
For some people (and I commend you â I do not fit into this camp) stepping on the scale and seeing a number looking back at you elicits no emotional response. It is simply a number â a data point â that is forgotten about the moment you leave the room. For others, this number is sitting in your mind for the rest of the day. Every time you put something into your mouth, every time you make a conscious food choice, you think of that number.
I would have clients come into my office and they would talk about how proud they are of themselves that they were consistent with a goal they had for the week. Then they would step on the scale and it might be the same, or MAYBE it even went UP! What the heck!?! *&#%@&$
âI worked SO hard this week. I worked out and EVERYTHINGâ
The next 5 minutes is a conversation consisting of reminding my client about the things they were so proud of themselves for just moments before and listing all of the things that can make that number on the scale go up that are NOT related to food at all:
And this is just a few â there is so much more that changes that number and those little things, and the resulting inflation of the number on the scale can have such a HUGE impact on our mood throughout the day.
After thinking about this more and more, I began asking my clients how they would feel if they reached all of the goals they verbalized (one of them typically being âfeeling awesome in my clothesâ) but the number on the scale didnât change. I got some interesting responses. Usually a pause, some contemplation and most of the time they would tell me that it wouldnât really matter.
So if we could reach our goals separate from the number on the scale⊠why will we continue to monitor the number?
The reason we monitor that number is because it gives us a concrete way of saying âgoodâ or âbadâ (I try not to use this verbiage) and that we are either moving closer or further away from our goals.
But we KNOW that this is not the case. We know that you can change your body composition drastically without a huge change in the number on the scale.
Scale Manipulation
People would admittedly do things on the day they would come to see me that did not reflect a healthy way of living â skipping meals, restricting water, etc. This was all in hopes of seeing the number on the scale go down.
After experiencing this time and time again, I decided that it was finally timeâŠ. I had to ditch the scale for GOOD!
Monitoring Progress
So you might be wondering⊠if there is no scale how do you know if what youâre suggesting is actually working?
My number one focus with clients is how they feel â their mood, energy levels, digestion, sleep, etc. These are the areas we look at first. And letâs be honest⊠when our weight changes, we feel it! We can feel it in our clothes regardless of what the number on the scale says!
So why do we need that little tool to measure our progress if we can feel it in SO many different ways⊠the answer is, we donât! I give you full permission to BREAK UP WITH YOUR SCALE! Break up with it forever â it serves you no purpose. It cannot define you, it cannot give you an accurate reflection of your eating habits, it cannot tell you whether or not youâre getting closer to your goal, it cannot BE your goal.
Take some time and decide whether or not your scale is contributing positively to your life. Even if your goal is to lose âthat last 10 poundsâ⊠you donât need the scale to tell you when youâve gotten there.
What do you think? Does your scale positively contribute to your life? Please leave your comments or questions below.
Yours in Health,
Kristin
I often talk with my clients about the impact that restrictive diets have on our metabolic rate but today I want to dive a little bit deeper. What we donât often think of is the impact that restrictive dieting has on us psychologically. Iâve heard from clients time and time again that when they âdietâ all they think about is food â that it becomes more difficult to eat healthy when they actually FOCUS on it. But why is this the case? Shouldn't it be EASIER because we are actually putting effort and thought into our food choices? Not necessarily.
Letâs use the low ethical standards of past scientific studies to our benefit today and look closely at the starvation study of 1944. Two researchers, Ancel Keys and Josef Brozek from the University of Minnesota, led this 6-month study.
Now before you feel like youâre back in school reading research studies⊠I promise I will summarize this and that my story does have a point.
In order to be included in this study, subjects had to be physically and mentally healthy males that got along well with others in difficult situations. After surveying over 200 volunteers, 36 men were selected for the study.
During the initial 3 months of the study, participants ate their normal diets and their personality and eating patterns were monitored. The following 6 months required that the men cut their food intake in half, resulting in a weight loss of about 25% of their total body weight. This may sound drastic⊠but this is something that we do to ourselves everyday when we decide to finally âcommitâ to a âdietâ. We voluntarily restrict our food intake to get the weight loss results that we want. And this behavior has significant implications on our mental health.
In this study, the men went from consuming 3200 calories per day to consuming 1570⊠which, if any of you have ever followed a restrictive diet before, you know that this is quite standard, right? 1200 calories per day for women and 1500 calories per day for men? âStandardâ.
Throughout the dieting phase, researchers measured both the psychological and physiological changes that occurred in the men.
During this phase some of the normal things that you would expect to happen to dieters occurred: their strength, stamina, body temperature, sex drive and heart rate decreased. The men also became âobsessedâ with food, meaning they would dream, read, smell but not eat and talk about food. These men were unable to concentrate on their daily tasks because that brainpower was spent dreaming about and thinking about food.
Following the diet phase, men were given the opportunity to consume food with no restriction for 3 months. The ability to eat with no restriction caused some of the men to binge, even though all of them had been warned against it. Keep in mind, these are men who before dieting were mentally and physically healthy and now, because of dieting, are engaging in binge-style eating behaviors.
Many other things also happened in this study â if youâre interested in reading about it in more detail, click here.
There are a number of things that we can learn from this study
There are already so many strikes against restrictive dieting, from metabolic slow down to unwanted psychological changes but it continues to be a path that is attractive to many people because of the drive for quick results. As I will continue to say everyday, the best way of eating for you is the way of eating that is maintainable forever. This means a way of eating that leaves you feeling satisfied, nourished and energized. You may be reading this right now thinking âthis doesnât existâ but I promise you, it does â you just havenât found it yet.
I hope that if you were on the fence between going back on a restrictive diet and looking more at making a lifestyle change that this helps sway you in the direction of the latter. As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
I get this question All. Of. The. Time... I get it, water is not the most flavourful thing in the world and if you're bored with just drinking water, I have good news for you - there are options!
Just a note: I am not affiliated with any of these companies. These are products that I enjoy and recommend because I think they taste great :).
My absolute FAVOURITE homemade iced tea has got to be "Passion" tea by Tazo. This boxed tea makes an iced tea that tastes almost like juice and is an extremely refreshing summer drink. I recommend placing two tea bags in a large pitcher, filling the pitcher with water and leaving it in the fridge to steep overnight. Some people recommend brewing the tea with hot water and then allowing it to cool in the fridge... I am a lazy cook and if I can cut out a step, I will đ .
Okay so this one is sort of water, but it tastes so much more exciting! We bought a Soda Stream a year ago and since then we have been making endless batches of sparkling water. We usually have cut up lemons on hand for a fun twist on plain sparkling water. Dasani, Perrier and Nestle make a flavoured sparkling water that you can get from most grocery stores, which give you some options for a tasty drink that does not require you to purchase an extra kitchen gadget (because let's be real, we all have too many). Note: Many sparkling waters contain sucralose, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that we want to limit. Always look at the ingredient list to double check. Tip: Drink this sparkling water in a wine glass with a few pieces of fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc) - it will feel like a treat!
Kombucha is fermented tea that you can either make at home or purchase at your local grocery store (yay!). My favourite store bought kombucha has got to be the grape flavour by Synergy. Interested in learning how this drink can benefit your overall health? Click here.
Following along with the gut health theme, I MUST recommend the fermented coconut water drink called Kevita. You can purchase Kevita at most health food stores and many commercial grocery stores as well (the Superstore in the Calgary area carries it). I absolutely LOVE the mango coconut flavour and my clients tell me that the lime flavour is a great substitute for a mojito đ .
Steaz is a stevia-sweetened green tea drink that has wonderful flavour and is quite easy to find (most major grocery stores are now carrying it). Tip: Don't drink them in the evening... I once had two in an evening and was awake all night. You're welcome.
Zevia is the "step-down drink" for many of my pop and diet pop drinking clients and believe it or not, this stuff has gotten GREAT reviews! I personally enjoy the "Ginger Root Beer" flavour but there are lots of options to choose from (cola, orange, cream soda, etc). The wonderful thing about these sodas is that they contain no sugar and are sweetened with stevia and they have NO caramel colour (the caramel colour in many sodas is extremely unhealthy). Yes, this means the root beer is actually clear! A little strange when you pour it into a glass but it tastes fabulous!
I don't recommend this vitamin water as being a great source of nutrition. Instead I recommend it as a tasty alternative to soda and other flavoured beverages because it is sweetened with stevia and erythritol rather than sucralose, aspartame or other nasty artificial sweetener. Wondering why I don't recommend these other artificial sweeteners? Click here.
Are all of these drinks super healthy? No. But do they make a great substitutes for water when the alternative is soda, slushi or juice? Absolutely!
Remember that healthy eating is NOT black and white. Something is not "healthy" or "unhealthy" and what we need to do is be content with choices that are better than choices we've made in the past. For example, if you transition from drinking Sunny D to drinking 100% real orange juice, that's AMAZING! If you switch from drinking soda to drinking juice, AWESOME! It's all about the journey and it's all about balance and enjoyment.
Have you tried any of these drinks? What do you think? Is there something else available that is a healthy alternative as well? Share in the comments below!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
For the longest time I had been using non-stick pans for cooking, especially during my low fat eating days when it allowed me to put no oil in the pan and still cook a perfect egg white omelette (insert eye roll here).
These pans were covered with the famous TeflonÂź coating. Teflon is the brand name for the man-made chemical polytetrafluoroethylene, which has been used commercially for over 50 years. Teflon is part of the perfluorynated chemical (PFC) family. Chemicals from this family have been associated with smaller birth weight babies, abnormal thyroid hormone levels, weakened immunity, elevated cholesterol and liver inflammation.
The issue arises when we heat these pans to temperatures above 500 degrees Fahrenheit because at this temperature smaller chemical fragments are released. Believe it or not, these chemical fragments that are released into the air can actually cause people to develop flu-like symptoms (called the âTeflon fluâ by scientists) and can even kill pet birds (who have a more sensitive respiratory system).
But donât worry â long term effects of regular exposure to these toxic fumes have not been studied⊠which in many peopleâs opinion makes it âsafeâ for use.
I wonât get off on a tangent but this is one of the issues I have with health research. If something shows not the best results in the short term (Teflon pans, artificial sweeteners, etc.) then do we really need to wait for long term research to be conducted before we make the simple switch to something that doesnât cause these short term issues?
I recommend that people use cast iron, ceramic and stainless steel pots and pans and glass ovenproof dishes. There isnât sufficient research on other types of Teflon-free cookware so I just prefer to stick to the basics (excuse the pun).
The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment, put together a list of what you should do if youâre still cooking with Teflon pans.
Remember that it seems like everything these days causes cancer. I often get the question from readers, âdo you use a microwave?â and my answer is yes. This is a controversial topic for many people and I commend people who donât use a microwave but to be totally honest, using a microwave allows me to eat much healthier meals because I am able to quickly reheat leftovers.
I like to think of nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices as being on a spectrum â not the best, good, better. For some of us, cooking healthy vegetables in a Teflon pan may be a good option compared to eating food cooked in your deep fryer at home or microwave dinners and that is PERFECT. I wanted to write this post not to scare you but to bring awareness to the issue.
A: Before I dive into answering this question, I want to start by saying that eating ANY vegetables is AWESOME and if thinking about which vegetables to eat cooked and which ones to eat raw overwhelms you, do NOT worry!
Letâs start first with one of the basic characteristics of vitamins â some are water-soluble and some are fat-soluble and some vitamins are also more heat sensitive than others.
Water-Soluble Vitamins
The water-soluble vitamins are vitamin C and the B vitamins. If youâre going to be cooking vegetables containing B vitamins or vitamin C (outlined below), avoid boiling them, as a good majority of the nutrients will end up in the cooking water. Instead, stick to steaming, sautĂ©ing or roasting these vegetables.
TIP: If you do end up boiling the vegetables, save the water to use for soups or for cooking at a later time so that the nutrients are not lost.
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
The fat-soluble vitamins include, vitamins A, D, E and K. These vegetables are fantastic when cooked.
When Cooking is Better
One of the most infamous vegetables (actually fruits) that are more nutritious when cooked is tomato. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which is an antioxidant that becomes MORE bioavailable (easily absorbed and used by the body) when cooked rather than raw. Research shows that lycopene increases by 25% when tomatoes are cooked for 30 minutes. Lycopene has been studied for its belief of being helpful with preventing cancer and other chronic diseases.
Vegetables containing beta-carotene (the precursor to vitamin A), like carrots and sweet potato are actually MORE nutritious when cooked. Cooking, in this case, helps to break down the rigid plant cell wall, which makes more nutrients available for absorption.
Heat Sensitivity
Now letâs chat about heat sensitivity. There are a few vitamins that are quite sensitive to heat and therefore, vegetables containing these vitamins are best consumed raw.
Heat breaks down vitamin C, folate, vitamin B1 and B5.
Examples of vegetables containing vitamin C:
Examples of vegetables containing folate:
Examples of vegetables containing vitamin B1:
Examples of vegetables containing vitamin B5:
Summary
Eating any vegetables is good and whether or not you consume these foods raw or cooked is not a HUGE concern. If we can simply incorporate more vegetables into our diets that is going to be where we see the biggest benefit!
What Is A Good Balance Of Raw, Cooked And Fermented Vegetables?
In my opinion, incorporating 1-2 servings of fermented foods per day (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, fermented vegetables, kefir) is great for maintaining the population of good bacteria in your gut. However, if youâre more likely to have trouble with the good bacteria in your gut (read here to see if this might be you), then increasing the amount of fermented foods you consume may be helpful.
In terms of breaking up vegetables into raw, fermented and cooked categories and finding a balance between the 3, I recommend variety. I usually tell clients that they should be shooting for at least 4 cups of vegetables per day, which most people gasp at but think: if you have a side salad that is usually 2-3 cups alone. I recommend consuming some vegetables raw everyday, some cooked and some fermented. This will give you a great balance of nutrients and really give you the best bang for your buck nutrition-wise.
I hope this helps answer your question. The real truth is not to be too overly worried about it. If youâre eating at least 4 cups of vegetables per day (raw, cooked or both) and some fermented foods â relax, youâre golden đ
Do you have a question that you'd like answered on the blog?
Yours in Health,
Kristin
For ages, health and nutrition professionals claimed âbreakfast is the most important meal of the dayâ and that âwe must eat on a consistent interval throughout the day to keep our metabolism revvedâ⊠but is this actually the case? My answer: Not necessarily.
Intermittent fasting is something that has become popular in the media in the past couple of years and for good reason.
Intermittent fasting is a WAY of eating that focuses on how much time is spent each day or each week eating versus fasting.
Intermittent fasting does not require you to follow any rules around WHAT you eat and instead it focuses majorly on WHEN you eat.
Intermittent fasting can be done a number of different ways, including:
Your meals during your "eating window" can be spaced however you please - it can be 2 large meals with no snacks, 1 large meal with 3 snacks, etc.
People who follow an intermittent fasting eating style claim that this is a very traditional method of food consumption. Historically humans did not have access to food all year long. Throughout the year humans would go through periods of time where there was little to no food and other times of the year (after a kill or a summer of abundant fruit and vegetable growth) where there was a significant amount of food available.
Further research on the benefits of intermittent fasting is still needed, however current research is quite promising. The latest research on intermittent fasting suggests that this style of eating can potentially increase levels of human growth hormone and decrease insulin levels, both of which favor weight loss.
Levels of human growth hormone decrease as we get older (levels are highest in childhood as levels of this hormone are responsible for growth in children). However, some research suggests that if we can increase our levels of human growth hormone as adults we could potentially increase our muscle mass and decrease our body fat. Tip: human growth hormone is produced when we sleep, so make sure your sleep hygiene is on point!
Research also suggests that intermittent fasting can potentially slow the progression of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and aging.
Many people who choose to follow an intermittent fasting style of eating claim that it is easy to follow than a traditional lower calorie diet for weight loss. People following this diet often find that restricting your intake 1-2 days each week and then eating without restriction the remaining days of the week is easier mentally than following a slightly restrictive plan (aimed at weight loss) everyday.
Short answer, no. Eating 5-7 meals a day does not increase your metabolism any more than eating 3 larger meals a day. I typically recommend snacking between meals to clients who otherwise may be tempted to indulge between meals. Say for example, you have a staff meeting at 10:30 am everyday and your co-worker always brings donuts or muffins. This is a situation where it can be extremely helpful to have your own snack available. This way you have a healthier (and typically more filling) snack on hand so that you donât feel like youâre missing out and you are much less likely to indulge in a treat âjust because itâs thereâ.
It comes down to personal preference and what works best for YOUR body. Some people feel great eating two meals a day, and as long as those two meals include all of the nutrition your body needs and you donât lack energy throughout the day, that is A-OK with me!
Before you go out and give intermittent fasting a try, I must touch on a couple of things. There are a few groups of people who I would not recommend long periods of fasting.
I wouldnât recommend intermittent fasting beyond a 12-hour hours for women who are trying to get pregnant, women who are pregnant or women who are struggling with hormonal imbalances and irregular periods.
I would also not suggest intermittent fasting for people living with low thyroid function, particularly Hashimotoâs thyroiditis and people with adrenal fatigue.
And finally, although I am a big supporter of a non-traditional diet for diabetes, please do not try intermittent fasting if you have diabetes and need assistance adjusting your oral medication or insulin dosage.
What I recommend to my clients is to focus on a 12-hour fasting window and for most people, this is quite simple to maintain long-term! For example, if you finish your dinner at 6:30 pm then your first meal the following day should not be before 6:30 am. You can manipulate the hours however youâd like to fit your own schedule but just focus on the 12-hour window of fasting. If a 12-hour window sounds simple, maybe work up to a 14- or 16-hour fasting window.
If you try intermittent fasting and it impacts you negatively, stop. Like I always say, eating must be individualized and one method does not work for EVERYONE.
Do you naturally intermittent fast? Let me know in the comments below!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
If you saw my post on the Grounded Health Facebook page earlier this week (follow me here), you know that changes in our basal metabolic rate (how many calories our body burns at rest) can make a significant difference in whether or not we gain or lose weight over time. So, if we can increase our basal metabolic rate (BMR), and as a result burn more calories throughout the day, we are more likely to maintain a healthy weight. This is great, but how can we do it? The major way we can increase our BMR is to increase the amount of lean muscle we have BUT we can also engage in activities to increase our brown fat to increase our BMR as well (I know, increase fat to burn calories, sounds backwards, right?).
Today I wanted to talk all about this type of fat - where we can find it and how we can possibly increase the amount we have.
Most of us think of fat as the storage tissue made up of any excess food we consume; however this isnât necessarily the whole truth. White fat is the type of fat that is used to store the extra calories that our bodies donât use over time. Brown fat is metabolically active, meaning it actually BURNS calories throughout the day. As little as 2 ounces of brown fat is capable of burning up to several hundred calories per day, which is the equivalent of about 30-minutes of jogging.
So what does this mean? If we can have more brown fat we donât have to exercise? Not exactly â but it does mean that you are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.
The major role of brown fat is to generate heat, which is why it is found in higher amounts in newborn babies and in hibernating mammals. As we age, the amount of brown fat we have decreases. It is estimated that most adults have only 50-60 grams of brown fat, which is located mostly around the neck, collarbones and along the spine. In addition to increasing our BMR, higher rates of brown fat are also associated with improved insulin sensitivity, making this area promising for future research in blood sugar management.
Exercise
Aside from burning calories, exercise also helps us convert white fat to brown fat. One study in the Journal of Disease Models and Mechanisms reported that working out triggers the release of the enzyme irisin in mice, which helps turn white fat into brown fat.
Human studies on exercise and brown fat also appear to be promising, suggesting that exercise increased the conversion of white fat into brown fat in men training on an exercise bike over a 12-week training period.
Chill Out
Literally chilling out can help to increase the activity of brown fat in humans. A published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation had 12 men with lower-than-average amounts of brown fat sit in a 63°F room for 2 hours per day over a 6-week period. The men burned an additional 108 calories in the cold compared to normal indoor temperatures. After the 6-week period, the men burned an extra 289 calories in the cold, causing the researchers to hypothesize that the lower temperatures increased the conversion of white fat to brown.
In another study, subjects took part in their normal daily activities but they slept in a private room where the air temperature was controlled. During the first month of the study, the temperatures in the rooms were set at 24Âș C, which was considered to be the temperature at which the body did not have to work to either gain or lose heat. For the second month, the temperature was decreased to 19Âș C, for the third month it was increased back to 24Âș C and for the final month it was increased again to 27Âș C.
Throughout the entire study, researchers measured the subjectsâ brown fat using a cold-stimulated PET/CT scan. This method of measurement allowed them to detect changes in muscle and fat.
Results of the study showed that the cooler temperature (19Âș C) increased brown fat activity in the subjects by approximately 30-40% and the warmer temperature (27Âș C) decreased brown fat activity in the subjects below baseline.
If you want to start incorporating some form of âchilling outâ in your life, you can lower your thermostat to the mid-60s or below, as this may be enough to stimulate some brown fat activity.
You could also try exercising in a cooler temperature (62-64°F). During this time make sure your skin is exposed to allow sweat to evaporate to help keep you cool. Refrain from turning up the heat when youâre exercising to increase the amount you sweat. Increasing the temperature when exercising will actually decrease brown fat activity.
Want to kill two birds with one stone? Enjoy an ice bath (I use the word âenjoyâ very loosely here) after a tough workout to help with muscle recovery and with brown fat activation!
Eat More Apples
Apple peels contain a compound called ursolic acid, which was responsible for boosting brown fat in mice. Other foods that contain ursolic acid include cranberries, blueberries, plums, and prunes, as well as the herbs oregano, thyme, lavender, holy basil, peppermint leaves. As weâve discussed in previous posts, the results of animal studies cannot be transferred directly to humans but they do warrant further research.
Develop A Healthy Sleep Routine
Getting enough high-quality sleep can help to increase the amount of brown fat we have, as proper melatonin production has an influence on the production of brown fat. Do you have a good sleep routine? Learn more about improving your sleep hygiene here.
Refrain From Eating Too Little
According to a study published in the journal Cell, not only does eating too few calories have many undesirable health benefits but it also prevents white fat from turning brown.
The exact impact these activities have on the amount of brown fat we have is impossible to know at this time, however any increase in brown fat activity will increase your caloric burn at rest.
Are you already engaging in some of the behaviors above? Which ones could you easily incorporate in your life? Leave your answers in the comments below.
Do you have questions that youâd like answered? Click here to ask the RD!
Yours in Health,
Kristin
I received a great question to my Facebook page last week asking the reason behind my vitamin selection. This is a great question because so many of us (my past-self included) would take supplements and not really understand why. I would take a supplement because I heard it was healthy and thatâs all I really needed to know (so I thought). There is SO much nutrition and health misinformation out there now and I encourage everyone to think critically about the information they hear before implementing it in their lives.
SO â today I want to go through some of the top supplements that I take and that I recommend to clients most often.
If youâve read any of my post you know I am a huge advocate of the âfood firstâ approach, meaning â if you can get a vitamin or mineral from food, then by all means get it from food. I used to preach that we could get all of our nutrients from our food, but as I dug into more and more research and worked with more and more clients, I realized that it would be irresponsible for me to suggest this. Getting our nutrients from food is always going to be number one, but strategic supplementation is important and very necessary, in most cases.
Before we start I must mention: please do not start a new supplement regimen without discussing it with your personal health practitioner. Some supplements can have an adverse reaction with other medications or could be toxic at high levels.
So letâs start with the basics.
The first supplement that I recommend to almost everyone is a good quality vitamin D supplement. If you remember from this post here, vitamin D plays a critical role in our body as it is important for bone health, immunity and cognitive function.
How much vitamin D a person needs is going to vary depending on ethnicity, where you live and your lifestyle (a typical recommendation is 1000-5000 IU per day). Right now in Alberta our provincial health care no longer allows us to get our vitamin D levels checked, which is extremely unfortunate given the role of vitamin D in our overall health.
You do have to worry about vitamin D supplementation at high levels due to the fact that it is a fat-soluble vitamin (meaning we canât just pee it out if we have too much). Typically we must supplement with over 10,000 IU per day for a period of several months before we need to worry about toxicity. Vitamin D is beneficial for bone health because it enhances the absorption of calcium. Too much vitamin D can cause high levels of calcium in our blood (called hypercalcemia).
The symptoms of hypercalcemia include (1):
I love when vitamin D is in combination with vitamin K2 (which we can find in the diet from grass fed dairy products). Vitamin K2 helps with the proper absorption and utilization of calcium in the body. We want calcium to be deposited into our bones, and vitamin K2 helps with that (sometimes we can end up with calcium deposits in our blood vessels and kidneys, something we want to avoid).
I canât stress the importance of good quality enough when I talk about omega-3 supplements. Many people pop a fish oil everyday but why is it important? If you remember back to my post on cooking fats you know that omega-3 fats are potent anti-inflammatories. Inflammation is the building block of many chronic diseases and most of us walk around with low-grade inflammation all of the time. To keep inflammation under control we want to make sure we have a good balance of omega-3 fats in relation to omega-6 fats. Omega-6 fats are PRO-inflammatory and omega-3 fats are ANTI-inflammatory. A great relationship between omega-3 and omega-6 is somewhere between 1:1 and 4:1.
Two of the major ways we can help get our omega-3:omega-6 ratios balanced is by reducing consumption of omega-6-rich oils like corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil and increasing our intake of omega-3-rich foods like fatty fish (salmon, herring, sardines, trout, etc). If you look, these inflammatory oils are used A LOT in store bought salad dressings and condiments - so be mindful of this and always look at the ingredient list.
As Iâve noted in previous posts â I donât recommend plant-based foods containing omega-3 fats as a good way to decrease inflammation. Plant sources of omega-3 fats contain a type of omega-3 fat called alpha-linoleic acid (ALA). In order to be used properly in the body ALA must be converted to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (the animal sources of omega-3 fats). This would not be an issue if the conversion of ALA to DHA/EPA wasnât so poor. In a healthy person the conversion from ALA to DHA and EPA is under 5%. If you are following a vegan diet, I recommend NutraVege â an algae-based omega-3 supplement.
One of my FAVOURITE ways to get in omega 3 fats with some vitamin D and active vitamin D is through cod liver oil. If you're wondering which brands I use and recommend, you can check out my dispensary here to get professional grade supplements at a discount and see exactly what I use every single day!
There are two types of magnesium supplements that I recommend for two different reasons. Magnesium glycinate I recommend to clients who are struggling with getting good quality sleep, whether itâs difficulty falling asleep or difficulty staying asleep, this supplement can often do the trick (better than melatonin, in my opinion). I suggest 400 mg of magnesium glycinate in the evening to start and typically the 400 mg dosage is enough to do the trick. If you want to read more about the benefits of magnesium, check out my post here.
The second type of magnesium supplement I recommend to clients is magnesium citrate. This supplement I recommend as a better alternative to laxatives from the pharmacy. Again, 400 mg in the evening is usually enough to do the trick but be sure to check with your personal health practitioner before beginning any supplement regimen.
A vitamin B complex can be helpful for many people, especially those who are just coming off of birth control, since the pill has a negative effect on vitamin B status in the body. Supplementing with a vitamin B complex may also be useful if you consume alcohol on a regular basis, since alcohol consumption depletes B vitamin levels (particularly thiamin).
I also recommend a vitamin B/C supplement for those who struggle with stress management. If you remember from this post, vitamin C and B vitamins have been associated with lower levels of cortisol (our stress hormone) and our perceived levels of stress.
Probiotics are so incredibly important to our overall health and wellbeing. Not only is our gut our first line of defense against infection and invasion of pathogens but it's also responsible for the majority of our serotonin (feel good chemical) production. There is a strong relationship between gut health and levels of depression, making probiotics key not only for digestion but also for our mental health. Read more about this relationship here.
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid (building block of protein) in our bodies. Glutamine is made in the body but we also get it from protein sources like beef, pork, milk, yogurt, ricotta/cottage cheese, poultry, raw spinach, parsley and cabbage. Periods of prolonged stress can lower our glutamine levels and make supplementation extremely valuable. I often suggest clients with serious digestive issues to try supplementation with l-glutamine powder twice per day. Also, if you remember from my post on sugar cravings, l-glutamine can also be helpful in reducing cravings when they strike.
Tip: if youâre using a powdered l-glutamine supplement, only use it with cold or room temperature foods or liquids, as heat will destroy the glutamine and it will no longer be effective.
So often there are so many fillers in the supplements we find on the shelf that they may even do more harm than good. We should be looking for third party testing on all of our supplements to make sure that what they say is in the bottle is acutally in the bottle! For access to high quality supplements, click here and don't forget to consult your personal care practitioner for guidance on what is right for you.
Have some time and want to watch an interesting Fifth Estate episode on the supplement industry? Click here.
Do you have a question you'd like answered? Submit your question here.
Until next time,
Yours in Health,
Kristin