Where's the Money?

"There's no money in healthy people, and there's no money in dead people.  The money is in the middle: people who are alive, sort of, but with one or more chronic conditions that put them in need of [insert the names of various pharmaceutical drugs here]."

The quote above is from Bill Maher and is found in this funny video clip. Check out Bill Maher's awesome stab at big pharma (warning: this video features foul language) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXXTCc-IVg

Some Handy-Dandy Online Health Resources

• Vaccine Scheduler  ...a program designed to help parents, adults, and healthcare providers on top of their vaccines/immunizations. (I actually attended a lecture by one of the lead researchers behind this tool last week!) This scheduler helps people keep track of what immunizations they've had, helps people to determine when their next dosage of a certain vaccine should be, determines a schedule of all childhood vaccines and helps parents keep track of what pathogen strain and at what age their child should be vaccinated against, helps catch children up (calculates a new vaccine schedule) if they missed or were late for an injection, and much more.

• Just Beautiful ...their mission is to "give the Canadian beauty industry a long overdue makeover". Why does make-up make us sick? Why can't it just make us beautiful? Sign the pledge featured on this website (I have!) to force cosmetic companies in Canada to fully disclose their ingredients. Another cool feature on this website is the pocket shopping guide (download it here) which features the top ten ingredients you should avoid when purchasing make-up and personal hygiene products. 

• Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep (aka the Cosmetics Database) ...a really cool database of all cosmetics, make-up, and personal hygiene products. Search the products you are using and see how they rank (every product is given a score from 1-10 with 1 being horrible and toxic, and 10 being very clean and safe).

• Toxic Nation ...awesome guides (all PDFs that you can download) to help you detoxify your life! Handouts with solutions and tips for avoiding toxic art supplies, cleaning products, plastics, children's school supplies, insect repellents, and more. 

NDO Spring AGM Recap

Today I attended the Naturopathic Doctors Ontario's (NDO) Spring Annual General Meeting (AGM). I think I was one of maybe four students in attendance... the other hundred plus people were practicing NDs. Lots of my professors were in attendance as well as some "famous" NDs. The beginning of the meeting featured a presentation about where NDs in Ontario are regulation wise. From what I could tell (it's a complicated and lengthy process), naturopathic doctors in Ontario are on the cusp of obtaining prescribing rights. The transition council has continuing education courses already geared up and ready to go to begin training NDs on the new products, supplements, and drugs, that they'll be able to use once the prescribing rights are obtained. However, notez bien that by having prescribing rights does not mean that Ontario NDs can start dishing out drugs. It really means that they'll be able to officially "prescribe" a chamomile tincture rather than "recommend" it, as we currently do. Nevertheless, believe that we'll have access to some synthentic pharmaceuticals too, but those details won't be confirmed until August 2013.

Later on in the meeting, the floor was open for NDs to ask questions and speak their mind. Some comments were quite loaded, while others were clear and simple. It was very cool to watch as a non-ND but future-ND. I wonder how passionate I'll feel about these topics when I'm in their position...

After a bit, lunch was served. Gluten-free and dairy-free, including the dessert, which was nice. Over lunch, the official AGM portion of the meeting took lace; I couldn't vote as I am only a student, but I stuck around to hear what was discussed nonetheless.

The lunches were even branded with the new NDO logo.

The NDO has had a lot of changes in the past year, so there was a lot to talk about, including a new CEO and a new name! The new name, NDO (it was formally the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors (OAND)) was officially adopted at this meeting, as well as the organization's new branding and website, found here.

Lastly, there was a presentation on optimizing social media... but I left early and didn't attend this. Even though I am a blogger, I pretty much hate social media and how we students keep being told that "social media is key in building a practice" without any evidence given that this is true. Boo!

My Professors and Children's Health

Two of my professors have been in the news lately, talking about children's health. They're so cool.

First: Read about the Pediatrics Open House that took place at CCNM back in January (I participated in this event). I love the quote (found in this article) by my Pediatrics professor, Dr. Leslie Solomonian:

"We put way too much emphasis on heroic medicine and we neglect basic principles in health". 

Second: Read about my future clinic supervisor and Clinical Nutrition professor, Dr. Jonathon Prousky, talking about childhood mental illness and the Mindful project on Daytime Toronto.

Mercury in Fish, Explained

Why we should avoid eating tuna (and other big fish):

This awesome graphic is by Bretwood Higman, of Ground Truth Trekking, found on this site.
It explains mercury concentration in fish so well, don't you think? 

...because they concentrate toxins like mercury in their tissues!

Women's Health Week: Concluding Thoughts

Women’s Health Week 2013 took place from March 11^th to 15^th at CCNM (my school). During that period, women’s health took the focus, through a variety of events. The loose theme this year was to address the more controversial aspects of women’s health, such as natural birth, body image, alternative menstruation management, abandoning fad-diets, and the glamourization of our health concerns.

On Monday, the Canadian documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc, was shown. This film critiqued pink ribbons movement, discussed pink washing, and featured women with breast cancer who don’t appreciate their disease being turned into something that is ‘pretty, pink, and perky’.

On Wednesday, at the Moms’ Panel, six CCNM students shared their birth experiences and gave advice to the future moms and health care practionners (who will be caring for new moms) in the audience. DivaCups were also handed out. Thank you to DivaCup for donating! 

Finally, on Thursday, Meghan Telpner, Nutritionista, gave us ten simple steps to share with patients to improve overall health. Immediately after her talk, members of the CCNM family shared their body monologues at the first ever BMcompanion event. It was full of both tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud moments. If you missed it, you can hear more body monologues at the downtown Toronto, April 11^th show. Learn more about this show here. 

A big shout-out to the volunteers that helped with WHW and to all who attended the events. Thanks!

This board featuring women's health research was displayed in the school lobby all week long. 

Silly Shamrock Shake

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

McDonald's has been serving its famous "Shamrock Shake" all month-long. If you take a peek at the ingredients, which are presented in this article, you'll see that it has 30+ ingredients and most are complete junk. So silly. Instead of indulging in this toxic treat, I've chosenhi to drink my healthier and cleaner shamrock shake, which happens to be made with only 5 ingredients!

(My Super-Healthy Version of the) Shamrock Shake

1 ripe banana, chopped and frozen

1 cup almond mylk

1/2 cup packed mint leaves

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons raw honey

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Serve immediately or the mint will oxidize and turn the smoothie brown. Serves 2. Alternatively you can use spinach instead of mint.

May the Luck of the Irish Be With You Today!

...and we're back!

...back to school, that is. 

After 2+ weeks of reading week and midterms, today was the first day back to school. It was busy being back to the grind, but I missed the hustle of bustle of daily school (however, some aspects were extremely stressful, so I hated those parts of today... more on that in another post). Also, now that it is March, things are busy again so I can't guarantee daily posts. I'll pop in as much as I can, but if I don't post, it's because life and school are really hectic!

___________________________________ 

Check out this awesome Canadian health news! I've talked about dandelion root in the past as a good liver detoxifier and replacement for coffee, but who knew that it fights cancer? I'm actually having a cup of dandelion tea right now as I type! Here's my favorite brand, but you can also buy this one, or this one. Or, as explained in the news article, you can make your own by grinding dandelion roots!

Image taken from the Traditional Medicinals website. 

Dr. Google: Pros and Cons

Ah yes, Dr. Google. We all know him, use him, and abuse him. 

When should we rely on the Internet to "diagnosis"? How much is too much? Is Dr. Google a curse or a blessing? 

Here are some pros and cons that come to mind: 

Pros: 

- Allows us to take our own health into our own hands.
- Pictures of a symptom/disease are fairly reliable in terms of diagnosis.
- Readily available and if you have a computer and Internet, free. There are so many people in the world who can not afford to see a doctor. But if they have access to the Internet, then there is hope that it will have the answer to their health concern.
- Cultivates community. There are inspiring health stores give us hope and motivate us to tackle concern X, Y, and Z. There are also forums where strangers discuss their treatment experiences, share similar symptom stories, offer advice, or ask questions, all pertaining to a particular health complaint.
- Great for milder, benign conditions that would go away on their own anyway, such as treating bug bites, soothing sore muscles, and healing minor burns.
- Learn about condition prevention (which is often not discussed in allopathic doctor visits).
- Learn about different ways to treat a condition from different countries and cultures from around the world; learn about treatments that don't exist in your own country.
- Learn about alternative treatment options (also a con, see below).
- Get a variety of opinions, beyond the one-and-only opinion of your family doctor.

Cons: 

- Specific details and nuances are going to be lost if you crowd-source health info.
- The most popular diagnoses will be the only diagnoses featured online. The more posts or Google hits about tuberculosis (TB) causing a cough, the more people will come across TB when the search for the cause of a cough, and thus the more people will think that they have TB!
- Patients come to doctor already "self-diagnosed". Doctor I have this condition and thus I need this treatment. Makes patients more demanding and convinced they know what they have without the doctor's input.
- Scary. As the joke above says, a mere cold can seem deadly!
- People may value the knowledge and extensive training of healthcare workers less.
- Lots of medical websites are wrong info.
- May create hyporcondriacs.
- May delay medical treatment.
- Learn about alternative treatment options (a con because lots of "alternative" treatments have zero evidence to support their use).
- Hard to tell which health websites are good/reliable/trustworthy and which are plain bad.
- Relies heavily on anecdotal evidence.

What do you think? How often do you rely upon Dr. Google? Is he/she helpful?

Paleo

The Paleo Diet (also known as the paleolithic diet, paleodiet, primal diet, caveman diet, stone-age diet, hunter-gatherer diet, grain-free, etc), is a diet gaining quite a bit of popularity these days. I too am learning about this relatively (it was first introduced in the seventies, but only recently has become mainstream) new diet, so I am sharing today what I have learned thus far.

Cute caveman image found here

What can you eat?  The diet consists of only eating foods that we ate when we were cavemen/hunter-gatherers. That includes fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, fish, nuts and seeds, raw honey

What can't you eat? Anything that is not a food (i.e. junk food, candy, packaged foods), grains (including gluten free grains, oats, and pseudo grains like buckwheat and quinoa), dairy, legumes, sugar, oils

Can you bake on this diet? Yes. There are lots of Paleo cookbooks and blogs devoted to baking breads, muffins, and cakes, only they use coconut flour and almond flour (which are both grain-free), and eggs to create a "dough". I've tried making paleo bread, brownies, and cake, all with success (I like to be challenged in the kitchen and paleo baking provides me with some challenge!). So yes, baking (and thus eating sweets) is definitely still possible.

As with all diets, there are some extremes and exceptions...

Exceptions: Generally, this diet is high protein, low carbohydrate, and it eliminates grains. As with any diet, there are many variations and exceptions. The only "rule" that seems to remain consist between all of the variations is no grains as grains are a "new food" to humans that was invented recently during the agricultural revolution. Other than that, there are people who are paleo but still eat chocolate, sugar, cheese, and sausages (i.e. foods that caveman certainly didn't eat, but at least they contain any grains). On the other hand, there are others really stick to eating primal foods, which means mostly fruit and vegetables that can be gathered and animals that can be hunted.

Extremes: Some people who follow the paleo diet go as far as living like a caveman, meaning they don't wear shoes (they will wear Vibrams instead), won't eat bacon (pork is paleo, but our ancestors didn't eat bacon on a regular basis, it a new way of preparing pork), perform regular fasts (animals weren't able to be hunted everyday, hence the fasts in between kills), and exercise like a caveman (sprint, lift heavy objects, climb trees, etc. ...because there were no elliptical machines when we were cavemen!).

Some diet Pros and Cons...

Pros: Less junk/fake-foods, lower in carbohydrates (especially simple, refined sugars, it could be a good diet for diabetics?), a very clean diet (no package foods with artificial stuff allowed), naturally gluten-free, can include lots of vegetables and fruit, high protein (especially good if you are an athlete), apparently by following the paleo diet you'll have a better omega 3 to omega 6 ratio (don't have the source for this, but heard it in class last week), lots of online support communities

Cons: No research (longitudinal studies especially) supporting the paleo community claims that by following this diet you will reduce your chances of acquiring Western diseases, eating lots of meat can be hard to digest, can be expensive (almond flour and coconut flour are very expensive compared to grain flours like whole wheat or buckwheat), considered a "fad diet", ranked poorly among dietitians (says the Wikipedia article on Paleo, ha ha), not environmentally sustainable, can get boring eating meat and veggies only, like a modified Atkins Diet (which has been shown to harm people's health), many people abusing the diet to just eat bacon and steak all day long :P

Have a LOVEly day!

Fruit and vegetable love: how suiting for a naturopathic, health focused blog!

Ah Valentine's Day, the commercialialized day of love. A rip-off in many aspects (overpriced flowers and 3-course meals, false expectations, a whole lot of pink junk on store shelves...you know what I mean). Nonetheless I am a big fan of this holiday. What can I say: red is my favorite color, I love holidays at school (everyone us full of spirit), and I love chocolate...three things that V-Day offers.

Regardless of whether or not you are celebrating today, I hope you have a lovely day! 

Poop Therapy

Have you heard of Fecal Bacteriotherapy? 

This new therapy, which I am now dubbing "poop therapy" in my educated and professional opinion (*wink*), is a method of treating bacterial overgrowth in the intestines and colon with poop/stool. It sounds crazy, but according to a new article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (one of the most respected medical research journals), by irrigating the bowel infected with C. difficile (a horrible, horrible bowel bacteria that can sometimes proliferate in the gut) with stool, the infection can be cured. Poop therapy proved to be more effective in clearing the infection than taking rounds of anti-biotics. 

Read More: Here is the paper abstract.  Also, the Wikipedia article on poop therapy can be found here. 

Myotomes & Dermatomes

In preparation for my Physical Medicine practical exam next week, I've been practicing locating myotomes and dermatomes, and testing deep tendon reflexes (using Tony as a guinea pig; you will be happy to know that all of his myotomes, dermatomes, and reflexes are intact and functional).

Myotomes are muscles that are innervated by one nerve root of the spinal cord. We test myotomes to look for any signs of weakness in a group of muscles. If a particular group of muscles is weak, then it is likely that the spinal nerve responsible for innervating these muscles may be damaged. Spinal nerves may be damaged by trauma, spinal cord lesions/tumors, or by disc herniation. For example, if you have trouble flexing your elbow, but you can extend your wrist with no problems, then it is not a cranial nerve 6 problem, but a more local problem involving the elbow flexors. If it had been a spinal/cranial nerve problem, then when the cranial nerve 6 myotome was tested (by resisting elbow flexion and wrist extension (with the actions being resisted at the same time)), then both actions would have been weak. Still confusing? Yeah, it's hard to explain myotomes in a blog post... am I am realizing this now when I've almost completed writing this post. Doh!  Anyway, you can watch how mytomes are tested by watching this video posted here. It's a bit lengthy, but it's great for someone who needs to know how to test myotomes like me ;)

Dermatomes are areas of skin that are innervated by one nerve root of the spinal cord. While myotomes are test the motor functioning of a nerve, dermatomes test the sensory functioning. For instance, if you can't feel any sensation on your thumb but you can feel sensation on your index finger, than your cranial nerve 6 dermatome is still intact and healthy. Both areas would be affected if it were a spinal/cranial nerve problem. The lack of feeling in the thumb is likely due to a local cutaneous nerve injury and not due to a spinal cord/disc/nerve root problem. You can view the dermatomes in this pretty, visual video posted here. I love learning about dermatomes because all of the teaching material for them are so colorful!

Lastly, while searching for the videos linked above to help me better understand myotomes and dermatomes, I came across this creative dance video. Through the medium of dance, the girls in the video demonstrate the testing of both myotomes and dermatomes. You can view their dance here. Now, if only I could dance my way through my upcoming Physical Medicine exam...

Beware of Food Marketing

Thanks for sending this to me, Momma M! How appropriate given yesterday's food rant :P

Also on the topic of food, a new nutritional label has been proposed. Read about it here.

Kids Food Makes Me Sick... Literally.

I don't have children, but you might think that I do, given how passionate I am about feeding children well.  It all started in first year, during my first week at CCNM, when Dr. Jason Lee discussed the problems with "kids food" with our class.

The thought of "kids food" makes me sick. What is this crazy concept and where did it come from? How is it that children today eat PopTarts and Captain Crunch for breakfast, Pizza Pockets and Lunchables midday, guzzle kiddie 'juice' boxes and pop to quench their thirst, and get rewarded with Gushers, ice cream, and other kid-sized treats on a daily basis?  When and why did we decide it is OK to feed kids crap? Synthetic, sugar-laden, artificial garbage now passes as kids food.

Wait, back up a second, why do we even have kids food?  Why not just food? Children don't have compromised digestive tracks; they certainly can digest "adult foods" like asparagus and wild rice. Where did this great divide (adult vs kids) come from? Healthy food like veggies, beans, and grains go to the adults, while all the junk goes off to the kiddos.  Just take a look at a restaurant menu!  The adults have a huge variety of entree contenders while the kids' menu (why it exists at all is beyond me...) features such delicacies as chicken tenders, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and fries. Where is the fiber? The vegetables? The flavor? No wonder so many adults don't like vegetables. When are they suppose to develop a palate for vegetables; sometime between their SweetTarts and McNuggets?

I see the kid-adult food divide even within my own family. Every year at our annual family pot-luck, we always make sure that there are enough "kid dishes" at the table. And no, we're not talking about meals for toddlers (which are indeed a bit different than adult food, not in terms of content but in preparation). I remember one year we even had a separate cake for the kids, because the adult cake wasn't good enough with all its sugar and butter... it needed to have sprinkles in order to be kid-approved!

What disturbs me most of all is that society's eating philosophy should be the complete opposite.  Children, who are rapidly growing beings, need all the nutrients they can get in order to thrive and grow; therefore they should have the best quality food available! Their metabolisms are on fire and need tons vitamins and minerals to act as co-factors for the metabolic reactions that are taking place at lightening speed. Their brains need good nutrition for all the learning they are doing in school each day. Give kids wild salmon and kale, and leave us oldies with the crap! ha ha

In my Clinical Nutrition class, we've been talking a lot about the connection between poor childhood nutrition and mental disorders like ADD, ADHD, autism, bipolar, anxiety, and depression, to name a few. Other pathologies seen in children that are related to nutrition: obesity, type 2 diabetes, asthma, eczema, seasonal allergies, chronic ear infections, and many more. It is unsettling how many children are on medications for said conditions when maybe all they needed was to have their junk food replaced by a good wholesome meal. Did you know that there are cases of autistic children talking for the first time in their lives, after 4-6 years of not speaking, once gluten removed from their diet?! That to me is so, so crazy!

Furthermore, I read this last year on one of my favorite blogs. They were talking about feeding their daughter and their comments really stuck with me:

"Elsa is turning 20 months soon. She has still never had any red meat or poultry and she has never eaten any sugar, candy, cookies or ice cream. Around here that counts as something pretty spectacular, and not only in a good way. Many people seem to think that we are exaggerating about health. ”One ice-cream every now and then won’t hurt her”. You wouldn't believe how many times we heard that sentence. And sure, they are right, she eats an ice cream and life goes on. But why? Elsa has never asked for ice cream, she doesn't even know how it tastes. During a child’s first two years we as adults choose what food our children should eat. And they learn from this. It’s a responsibility. If someone wants to give Elsa an ice cream, it’s not because she wants it, it’s because they want to give it to her. Remember that."

That's right: wee little children don't ask to be fed junk!  It's just us adults thinking that giving a baby a treat is a good thing and those who "deprive" their children of treats are the bad parents. We need to change this thinking. It is backwards!

Despite all of my ranting, I have hope.  I have hope that things will change and go back to the good 'ol days of porridge for breakfast, soup or stew for lunch, and a hearty, balanced dinner for supper. Treats only on special occasions. I have several great classmates, friends (M!), and professors who are leading the way, inspiring others with their healthy, veggie loving children. Miss Kendra and Dr. Donna are also teaching kids about healthy eating. Books like Outside the Box are starting conversations. Naturopathic doctors are teaching patients about good nutrition and how it starts at birth. Times are a changin', my friends!

Nonetheless, despite all of the complaining I did in this post, I must say that a fed child is a lucky child. I recognize that for far too many children die daily due to starvation and malnutrition. This breaks my heart more than any kiddie food ever can. Food must not be taken for granted, regardless of its nutritional content.

OAND = NDO

Last weekend, I attended a conference for all Naturopathic Doctors practicing in Ontario. This annual conference used to be organized by the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors (OAND), but just last week, at the conference's Friday night kick-off, the OAND was renamed and rebranded. The organization's new name (Naturopathic Doctors of Ontario (NDO)) and new branding (see below) was unveiled for the first time. Learn more about the NDO here. In short, the NDO is an organization that seeks to advance the ND profession within Ontario, that promotes the value of naturopathic medicine to Ontario citizens, and inspires strong community and partnerships among NDs and other health care industries and professionals.

 ...so long, OAND. 

Hello NDO!

Pregnancy Tests and Testicular Cancer

An amazing example of the power of online communities...

Last week, I girl posted a funny comic to the online community Reddit about her male friend who used his girlfriend's unopened pregnancy test to jokingly see if he was "pregnant". The funny part of the comic was that the pregnancy test was positive! You may be thinking: Ha, ha. Guys can't be pregnant, what a faulty test... 

Wrong attitude! There is validity behind a male testing positive on a pregnancy test. 

Pregnancy tests (the ones you urinate on and wait for the blue line to appear or not), test the level of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the urine. In pregnant females, the level of this hormone drastically increases after ovulation; hCG levels increase so much that some spill into the urine, hence why pregnancy tests are able to pick it up (within 6 and 12 days after ovulation).

However, hCG has more roles in the body than simply being used as a pregnancy marker. In fact, hCG  is a great cancer marker for some cancers (cancers of sex organs, such as those affecting the ovaries, uterus, and testicles). Therefore, if a male takes a pregnancy test and it tests positive, it may indicate that he has testicular cancer. 

...so, back to our story: after the "funny" comic was posted to Reddit, tons of comments were posted advising the original comic poster that the man who took the pregnancy test should go see a doctor to be screened for testicular cancer. The girl who posted the comic replied saying that she had no idea that this was serious; she simply thought it was funny! Nevertheless, she immediately contacted her male friend and he went to the doctor.  Low and behold: he had a small tumor present on his testicle! She posted his results to Reddit and thanked the community for their diagnostics skills. The male and the original comic poster were both from Hamilton, Ontario, by the way.

Quite the story, right? Read the whole story (which made the national news) here.

N > M

Love this picture, but don't remember where I got it...

My Nutrition professor said "...you're all going to be NDs, that's one letter better than MDs!"  Ha ha.  

In all seriousness, we NDs get along quite well with MDs.  It's just not true that we are anti-MDs!  In the perfect medical world, we'd work hand in hand, offering a "whole health" package for patients, with the NDs handling some health concerns, while the MDs tackle others.  We are miles and miles away from this dreamy-sounding medical situation, but it's happening, slowly but surely.

On the topic of NDs differing from MDs, check out this article (written by an ND), published in the Huffington Post.  I think it is a great summary of what it takes to become and ND and what we can offer our patients.  I'd love it you could read it. You can find it here! 

If you are feeling really keen, you can also read this similar article (also explaining what we do, in a nutshell) found here. 

Plants that Clean

Breath in some fresh air in the comfort of your own home. 

In the student newspaper this month (The Vine), there was an article written by a fellow classmate (AH) about using plants to clean home air.  She discussed plants that when kept in the house, clean the air of chemicals and carcinogens, such as formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and xylene. The three plants she mentioned were English Ivy, Spider Plants, and Devil's Ivy. So, next time you are plant shopping, pick up one of these varieties for cleaner home air!

Healthy Hallowe'en Web Links.

Mmm, carrots! Image source here.

Opps! I missed my post yesterday, so you expect two posts today...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to look forward to Hallowe'en!

Here is an article, titled "How to have a Healthy Hallowe'en", that was written by a Naturopathic Doctor.  It is a great article, in my opinion, that outlines all the steps in order to have a enjoyable---yet not-too-sugary---holiday with your children. If you have children, be sure to check it out.

Also, speaking of Halloween, here is a recipe for Homemade Hallowe'en Candy!  Only two ingredients and too cute. Now that it is October, I guess it is time to start thinking about (healthier) Hallowe'en treats.