Moderation is Key

Today I wanted to just give a brief personal update about me! I embarked on a 21 day sugar cleanse, something that I tend to do 2-3 times a year with mainly positive results.

This past Friday, I had a minor medical emergency where I was seen in the hospital. Nothing ended up terribly wrong, but the doctor’s I spoke with and I agree, that I was anemic, dehydrated, and just overall weak. This is a good reminder to myself and other’s that we must do everything in moderation!

A sugar cleanse can be a really healthy thing to do for your body! It allows you to detox from excess sugar and can help you kick start your metabolism among other things. At the same time, putting your body through a new diet or detox should be done when you are in a mental state and environment that is supportive and as stress free as possible (just starting a new term of medical school, while working, and moving into a new apartment is probably not the best time to cleanse). I thought I was invincible and I could cleanse regardless! Boy was I wrong!

It has been 3 days since I stopped my cleanse early and while I have not gone back to eating Sour Patch Kids and cookies. My body is definitely thankful that I am eating a couple servings of fruit and some healthy carbs again. I also have regained some strength and I still do not have any bloating or digestive symptoms that I had pre-cleanse. That’s when it dawned on me! Maybe in the future, a 21 day sugar cleanse is too long for me. For my body, a 1-2 week sugar cleanse might be enough.

As Naturopathic physicians and healers and people, it is important to remember that we all are different and our bodies respond to treatments in different ways. What works for one person, might not work for you! Some one might feel great while on a Vegan diet, but someone else may be malnourished! Some people love lifting weights and running, but for others they might do better with swimming or water aerobics!

Being healthy and achieving personal optimal health is not about being extreme, it is about finding the best healthy path for your body and following it! I hope to be able to provide some options and ideas for people through my blog, but also I want to stress that what is healthy and good for some is not necessarily healthy and good for all! LISTEN to your body! Allow IT to guide to towards optimum health!

Motivational Monday Challenge!

Go outside today and reconnect with nature

Today take 5-10 minutes to listen to your body with a mindful meditation or grounding exercise. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground, hands comfortably in your lap, and close your eyes. While your eyes are closed, start by focusing on your breath to get in tune with you. Once you are focused on your breath, move to your heart beat. After there, do a spot check head to toe. Check in with yourself and see if you have any aches and pains anywhere. If so, focus on healing those areas while taking some deep breaths. After going through a head to toe check, come back to the present and open your eyes!

If you do this and feel more relaxed or in tune with your body, share with a friend and encourage them to check in with themselves today!

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

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Tea Time – Calendula Tea

Try adding tea to your daily routine. Below is the tea of the month to try. Insert the tea in place of your morning cup of coffee or have it instead of a snack between lunch and dinner.

“Better to be deprived of food for three days than of tea for one.” – Ancient Chinese Proverb

A Pot of Gold Tea

(Calendula, Marigold)

How to?

FRESH

Take 1 teaspoon of Marigold flower petals and add to boiling water for 7-10 minutes (shorter for light tea, longer for strong tea). Strain out petals and enjoy.

DRIED

Take 1 teaspoon of dried Marigold flower petals and add to your cup of boiling hot water for 3-5 minutes. Strain out petals and enjoy OR use an infuser and drink away.

Benefits?

• Heart health (prevention)
• Reduces digestive distress & improves inflammatory bowel conditions
• Decreases swollen lymph glands and encourages lymphatic circulation
• General detoxification – great before flu season
• Decreases menopause and menstruation symptoms, can help to regulate menstruation
• Antibacterial and fungal properties to help fight of pelvic and bowel infections

WORD MASH

All of these are qualities of A Pot of Gold tea…

Antiseptic, Astringent, Antiviral, Antispasmodic, Estrogenic, Anti-Inflammatory, Bitter Tonic, Diaphoretic, Detoxifier, Diuretic

Sugar Cleanse – Day #17
By now I have adjusted to life with no sugar and the weird arm rash went away! I am excited to continue my sugarless journey! But I will probably have some on my birthday in a week. 🙂 Everything in moderation…

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

Daily Food Diary w/Emma

Many of you have asked me to post a daily food diary of what I am eating. At first I was reluctant to do so, because I do not have a perfect diet. Some days I have pizza and candy and french fries and more (ok maybe not in one day, but I am human and I eat real food)!!! But then I thought about it more and realized that my diet is one thing all of the time… REAL! I have good days and bad, but overall I constantly strive to eat well and be mindful of my diet. Below is my daily diet for a few days this past week, WHILE ON SUGAR CLEANSE!

This is the list of foods that are “approved” on the sugar cleanse I am doing. Currently I am on day 10 out of 21!

Example Weekday!

breakfast:

Freshly picked kale and tomatoes from my garden in a veggie/cheese omelet, bacon, and coffee with coconut milk (no sugar added)! #nomnom

Lunch:

Large leafy green salad from Whole Foods Market (kale, spinach, romaine) w/tomatoes, chickpeas, celery, carrots, beets, and roasted butternut squash. Also, side of Kale Tahini salad!

Snack:

Green apple w/almond butter (Justin’s brand has no added sugar)!

Dinner:

Roasted cauliflower with thyme, garlic, and parmesan cheese!

Also, had some carrots with salsa (good substitute for chips, but messier).

Water intake: about 80 oz today!

Yesterday’s Meals…

Brunch:

I decided to go out for brunch today, so I did not eat my typical breakfast/lunch. We ended up going to Elmer’s (not the healthiest option, but breakfast places are easier for those who are cleansing to find food to eat).

Egg, cheese, green onion, bell pepper omelet with bacon!

Snack:

Green apple and almond butter

Dinner:

Roasted Cauliflower Dish from above (I filled mason jars full of my roasted cauliflower to have easy to go meals for school) and sautéed collard greens, garlic, and tomatoes.

Collard greens are tasty, good for you, and not hard to cook! Saute them in some olive oil with garlic, salt, and pepper!

Today So Far…

Breakfast:

3 egg omelet, cheddar cheese, whole diced green pepper, salsa/salt/pepper to taste. Also, coffee w/coconut milk and a dash of cinnamon (makes me think I am having a cinnamon dolce latte).

coming up for lunch:

I am making brown rice (1/2 cup) with salsa & mexican spiced chicken. I will wrap this up in collard green leaves to make, sugar cleanse soft ‘tacos’. Most likely I’ll also have some carrots with salsa until I am full or celery with almond butter.

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

Yoga Pose of the Month – September

More and more people are jumping on the yoga bandwagon and why not! Yoga has been shown to reduce stress, decrease blood pressure, increases concentration, and improve academic performance. You do not have to be a yogi to participate in yoga, matter of fact you do not even need to be that flexible or coordinated. These yoga poses vary in intensity and focus with the goal to bring out the inner yoga master in all of us.

After a few months of poses, we will start to combine the poses together into routines focused on different themes including energizing, relaxation, core strength, balance, and more!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a yoga master by any means, but I do enjoy doing yoga poses and yoga workouts as a part of my workout routine. If I can yoga, you can yoga.

Mountain Pose

Anywhere from 15 seconds to 1 minute

Why?

Improves posture and grounds you for the workout ahead. Also is used as a starting position for most standing poses we will do!

For an index and pictures of all the yoga poses I discuss, check out My Virtual Yoga! It has the pose, a picture, and more!

Visualization:

If your into that sort of thing… I find it helps me to feel more grounded and relaxed.

• Imagine the top of your head reaching towards the sky and the base of your feet rooted into the earth

If you need help visualizing… Imagine you are somewhere beautiful and peaceful in nature, like by the Columbia River out in the gorge.

How?

• Stand with your feet together, distribute your weight evenly
• Straighten your legs (don’t lock your knees)
• Draw your abs in towards your back and elongate your torso and neck
• Arms beside you, relax your shoulders, reach your fingertips to the ground
• Practice deep belly breathing, in through your nose and out through your mouth

Bored? Try these variations…

• Close eyes, move feet hip distance apart, sway back & forth balancing back into the center (this will engage your core muscles and improve your balance)
• Pilates V Pose: stand w/ your heels together and toes turned out like a ballerina

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

Sugar Cleanse Day #8! No more symptoms or cravings. My energy level is up and my stomach is less bloated. #sugarcleansewin

Many of you have requested that I post my daily diet during my sugar cleanse. On Friday, I will put up the last few days, some pictures, and a few recipes along with my typical Foodie Friday post.

Today I started my day off with scrambled eggs and white cheddar cheese and some sautéed veggies (garlic, kale, onion, and bell peppers). Of course this was consumed with a nice cup of coffee and some water! #nomnom

Coffee coffee coffee! Mason jars work for everything…

Medical Moment – Naturopathic Medicine Principles

Since I am a Naturopathic medical student, I feel like I should give you guys a brief low down on Naturopathic medicine, Naturopathic doctors, and what we are really about.

I want to start with the 6 principles of Naturopathic Medicine, but to avoid boring you, I am just going to focus on 1 at a time.

The 6 Naturopathic principles are at the heart of everything we do as physicians, help shape our patient-centered care, and show how Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) view medicine.

The 6 Principles of Naturopathic Medicine!

1. The Healing Power of Nature (Vis Medicatrix Naturae)

Healing Power of Nature

The human body is intelligent and organized. It will try to heal itself if at all possible and is constantly working, without your knowledge, to establish, maintain, and restore health.

• NDs role is to facilitate and support this natural process by identifying and removing obstacles to health as well as supporting the creation of a healthy internal/external environment.
• We do this in a variety of ways using multiple modalities (types of treatment) including: nutrition, lifestyle changes (physical activity and environment), herbs, botanicals, vitamins/minerals, hydrotherapy, physical therapy, homeopathy, physical medicine, and more. We also use drugs and surgery (if needed).

Naturopathic doctors in our natural habitat…

2. Identify & Treat the Underlying Cause of Disease (Tolle Causam)

3. Above All, Do No Harm (Primum Non Nocere)

4. Doctor as Teacher (Docere)

5. Treat the Whole Person (Tolle Totum)

6. Prevention (Preventare)

What you do not see is what it took to get there… #treeclimbingstruggles

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

Back To School – The Stress Free Guide

The beginning of September unfortunately marks the end of summer and the start of another school year. To help combat the end of summer time blues, use the start of school as your chance to organize your life and yourself. I don’t just mean cleaning out your car or organizing your desk; I am talking about organizing your body, mind, and spirit. Below I have laid out a plan to a stress free (or at least more stress free) start to the new school year.

Organize your body…

Now that phrase sounds awkward, but here is what I mean. Let’s make your body the healthiest and happiest it can be so that you can maximize your energy and focus it on accomplishing other things. We can accomplish this by doing 3 things:

1. Start a workout/exercise/fitness routine

You do not need to become a gym rat, but add some physical activity to your life (or become more consistent about it if you already do workout). Last Wednesday I posed a 15-minute workout that can be done just about anywhere, if you currently are not doing any physical activity that is a good place to start. This Wednesday I will post a core challenge; try to add that to your workout routine just 3 times a week.

How much physical activity per week? (for adults)

2 hours & 30 minutes ~ moderate aerobic activity per week (i.e. brisk walking, cycling, etc.)

OR

1 hour & 15 minutes ~ vigorous aerobic activity per week (i.e. running, basketball, swimming laps, etc.)

AND

2 x per week ~ muscle strengthening activities (i.e. weight lifting, yoga, etc.)

Don’t feel bad if you do not meet these exercise goals, most Americans do not! Click here to see some stats, they are not pretty, so let’s change that!

2. Improve your diet

The change of seasons from summer to fall can be a great time to overhaul your diet especially in preparation for all of the holiday goodness to come in the next couple of months. If you are interested in doing a bigger diet change consider a “Sugar Cleanse” or trying a “Paleo” or “Gluten Free” lifestyle.

Basic Sugar Cleanse Foods List

Um hello, I am not crazy and I like my bread…

If you are not feeling extreme, but still want to improve, start with increasing your intake of fruits and especially vegetables. The goal should be 5 servings of fruits and/or veggies per day!

Last Friday I posted What’s Fresh for the month of September. Here is my challenge to all of you!

During the month of September, try to eat all of the foods on the What’s Fresh list at least 1 time this month. By doing this, you will get 56 servings of fruits & veggies. 

Post your fruit and veggie filled meal pictures to your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the #thisispreventivehealth

Stay tuned, this Foodie Friday will have fresh Mason Jar salad ideas to make your meal planning easier while getting your daily 5! #thisispreventivehealth #eattheleaf

3. Try Ecotherapy (aka get your butt outside)

Even though the weather will not stay sunny and hot forever, especially in the NW, fall is a beautiful time to get outside and explore nature. Increase your time outside to daily or as much as possible! A new study by the University of Essex displayed reduction in stress and depression in participants who spent more time outdoors. Also, more research has been done that gives evidence that nature not only decreases stress and improves wellness, but can also combat heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and more!

Columbia gorge hiking! #ecotherapy

Organize your mind…

It is extremely hard to be at your physical best when your mind is not in the right place. It is also difficult to plan a workout routine or nature time without knowing what your own schedule is. Some of the largest hurdles to beginning a new wellness/fitness routine are ‘lack of time’, but most people do not have a lack of time, they just do not know where they are spending it.

Map your time this September using my “Weekly Hour Tracker”!
Click here for PDF form.

Organize your spirit…

Now that you have organized your mind and made a concrete plan to organize your body, the last piece to that puzzle is organizing your spirit or emotional well-being by creating a routine that helps you to relax and wind-down at the end of the day.

Sleeping the correct amount of hours a night is vital to your health, but it can be difficult getting that necessary sleep when you have a hard time winding down at the end of the day. The National Sleep Foundation recommends the following amount of sleep per night based on age group.

Check how much sleep you need based on your age group! Remember that sleep times change based on the person.

I suggest starting a nightly routine, like 10-15 minutes, where your sole focus is relaxing, reflecting, and preparing to rest. This routine should be personalized to you and what you need to wind down after a long day. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Start by doing some light yoga, meditation, or deep breathing exercises.
  • This will slow down your heart rate and focus your mind on something other than the tasks you need accomplish tomorrow
• Follow this up by getting into bed and reading a book or journaling.
  • This does not mean reading a memo from work, constructing a speech, or studying for school. I am talking about reading a book for fun (remember when you used to do that) or something to help you reflect on your day.

HELPFUL TIP! Stay away from the electronics at least 30 min prior to sleep time (even electronic readers)!

Let’s Wrap It Up!

Regardless of whether September marks a change in your life or schedule, all of us can use a little more organization in our lives. If you take control and organize your body, mind, and spirit it will make the transition from summer to fall easier overall and it will improve your health and quality of life! Who knew!

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.

What’s Fresh – September

“Buy and cook what is in season”, that’s what we are always told right? Besides just being trendy, the mantra is actually true! If you purchase and consume in season produce you will not only get the most fresh and tasty food and help the environment, but you will also save some serious $$$. Here is a guide to what is fresh in the fruit and vegetable world this month for local NW produce!

Be mindful that this list pertains mainly to NW residents. If you are from or living in a different location, click on the links below to create a list that pertains more to you!

• Sustainable Food Guide
• USDA Seasonal Produce Guide

Fruits!

What’s fresh in fruit for the month of September

 

Veggies!

What’s fresh in veggies for the month of September

Other!

What’s fresh in herbs/etc for the month of September! This highly varies

Later on this month, stay tuned for a recipe that uses What’s Fresh produce for its ingredients. If you want ideas for how to incorporate certain foods here into your diet let me know by leaving a comment!

My name is Emma Petshow and I am a 3^rd year naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. For more about myself, check out my bio. This blog is intended for information about preventive health and lifestyle improvement. The information contained on this blog is not to be used as medical advice. Please consult with your primary health provider before starting a new exercise regimen. For specific medical advice you should consult your physician.