I regularly hear women with acne say “everything gets worse around my cycle. I dread that time of the month’. Breakouts, deeper cystic acne, oily skin, redness and congestion can all be part of this picture. If you feel this way, you aren’t alone, close to ¾ of women experience worse acne breakouts in the lead up to the period. However it is highly likely that out of balance hormones aren’t actually the issue. Certainly they might be part of the problem but focusing on hormones alone rarely leads to lasting improvements in acne. And as experienced by many women who want clear skin there comes a time when being on the oral contraceptive pill or more serious acne medications such as roaccutane no longer helps. So if the cause isn’t hormones then what is? Continue reading “A Path to Better, Clearer Skin”
The Gut Brain Connection
Digestive health is so important for health!
Do you feel butterflies in the pit of their stomach when you are stressed or anxious?
This reaction shows there is a complex interaction between your gut and brain, with the gut being referred to as our “second brain”. The gut is full of nerves and neurotransmitter receptors from the enteric nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system which performs unconscious function, like your heart beating) that is wired directly to the brain. The gut cells produce most of our serotonin, the “happy” neurotransmitter, so not only do we need to look at ingesting enough of the nutrients required for serotonin production, we need to ensure our gut health is in balance to be able to utilise it! Continue reading “The Gut Brain Connection”
How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood
The gut and brain talk and sometimes it’s not pretty
For years Naturopaths have talked of the gut-brain connection. How the health of the gut health will influence mood and mood will influence the gut. With the increase in research into the interplay between humans and bugs – the human microbiome – comes some really exciting findings that back this traditional concept. Though more research is required to get all health care professionals on board, it may not surprise you that many people have made this connection for themselves. They work to set their gut and mind up to talk nicely to each other for happiness and best of health.
The balance of the bugs
It is said that our body has 10 times the number of bugs than human cells and 150 times as many genes – wow that’s a lot of bugs. Now before you start scratching and head for the shower, know that when the bugs play nicely together they support our health in a wide range of ways. It is only when the bugs are out of balance that things go array, including negatively impacting your mood.
Research has shown the link between the overgrowth of specific bugs and an increased prevalence of anxiety, an increased sensitivity to pain, memory dysfunction, autism, IBS – irritable bowel syndrome – and IBD – more serious inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. This list melds both conditions of the mind and of the gut and supports the gut-brain link. Continue reading “How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood”
Digestion and the Mind Body Connection
Mindful eating focuses on the increasingly important roles of mind and spirit and their contribution to our eating habits and choices. In regards to our digestion, it is becoming more essential to consider not just WHAT we are eating but HOW we are eating, and it’s impact on our digestive function. By looking at diet and digestion from this new perspective, we can begin to establish a brand new relationship with our mealtimes and the food we eat.
Digestion is the process of breaking down, absorbing and assimilating food and the nutrients it contains. What happens when your digestive function isn’t working as optimally as we need it to? You can experience a multitude of symptoms that can include cramping, bloating, abdominal fullness, reflux, indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea; or a combination of these. So how much of this has to do with what you are eating and how much has to do with how you are eating it? Digestion can be affected by many different factors including poor diet choices, medications and food intolerances to name a few; but two of the biggest and often overlooked contributors to digestive dysfunction are stress and speed. Continue reading “Digestion and the Mind Body Connection”
IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies
As a Naturopath, I’m not scared to talk about poo, bloated bellies, or farting. Sounds gross and like something you don’t want to talk about, but the fact is, 1 in 5 Australians will have IBS throughout their lives and need help fixing it.
Good digestion is the key to good health – a fact we’ve always innately known and this has become part of our vocabulary with old sayings such as “you are what you eat.”
If your belly isn’t happy – your body is sending you a signal that you may not be digesting and absorbing your nutrients properly. Healthy clean eating and super foods have become mainstream,, which is brilliant for health. But if you’re not digesting your food well, then you could be eating the worlds cleanest, healthiest diet, but you won’t optimize the nutrients from it, which are needed to keep your energized and prevent disease. So if you think things may not be working so well in the belly department, it’s time to listen to your body and learn about what your tummy is telling you!
IBS Symptoms
- Abdominal bloating and discomfort
- Changeable bowel habits – alternating between constipation or diarrhoea.
- Stool habits change – watery, loose, nuggety, thin ribbons.
- Wind
- Feeling of discomfort after eating & food sensitivities
- Feeling of urgency – needing to go to the toilet often or feeling not fully evacuated when you empty your bowels.
Continue reading “IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies”
Are Gut Bugs Driving Your Food Choices?
Every time I turn around there is more research being published which shows the impact, therefore importance, of the microbes (let’s call them bugs from now on) in your body. It’s not surprising when it is thought that the genes of bugs outnumber our own genes by 10 to 1 – i.e. there’s a lot more of them than us in our body. Much of the research has been on the impact of bugs on our immune system but now there is a wave looking at the role of bugs in food choices and weight management.
A paper published in the journal Bioessays in 2014 entitled “Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms”* suggests that our gut bugs can drive our food choices as a way to help them stay strong with the goal to conquest and take over the gut. It’s suggested that they may do it in two ways: Continue reading “Are Gut Bugs Driving Your Food Choices?”
“What’s Stress Got To Do With It?” Wellness Workshop
What we talked about at the Stress Wellness Workshop
STRESS – a common word that is so misunderstood and frequently under rated. Our September Wellness Workshop was called ‘What’s stress got to do with it’. This was so very tongue-in-cheek because I know that the stress hormone, cortisol, is frequently the underlying issue with the range of conditions I have the good fortune to work with. So why do so many people ignore their stress response? When are we going to start taking stress seriously? And how do you know if stress is an issue for you?
Continue reading ““What’s Stress Got To Do With It?” Wellness Workshop”
IBS pain relief discovery
This study demonstrates yet more evidence of the elegant complexity that underlies our mind-gut-immune system links.
If you suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and pain, then you and your healthcare providers may need to “think outside the box” of usual oral medications to treat your pain.
Our practitioners at VIBE can help with those other useful pain-relieving modalities like acupuncture, massage, osteopathy (i.e. clinical pilates and other exercise-related therapies).
