Author: Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

How Can Seeing A Nutritionist Help You??

Posted on by Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

We all get stressed from time to time and life can be very busy, but your health does not have to suffer as a result. As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, I help you bring YOU back into focus, not by using a magic wand (I wish!) but by guiding you through positive nutritional and lifestyle changes. That result in you being at your very best self. 

Nutrition and lifestyle changes have an incredible impact on your overall health and wellbeing, when you make small modification over time, not all at once. I have seen so many positive results from choosing holistic nutrition. I’ve guided clients to heal from digestive problems, woman be free of menstrual pains, men stop having to take over the counter medications for heartburn, anxiety and depression both helped without the need for medications. I’ve seen clients become energized and vibrant just by changing their diet to improve their sleep habits and the list goes on.

So, how can I help you?

1.Individualized weekly food and supplement plans based on YOU and your needs, lifestyle, and desires.  

2.Stuck in a life slump? Inspiration, motivation, guidance needed? It’s like having a food trainer instead of a personal trainer. A personal food coach to give you a gentle life changing butt kicking.

3.Get to the root cause of your main concerns such as, sleep problems, low energy, skin issues, hormonal problems, cognitive function, and proper digestion. All without resorting to meds – food is your best medicine for many health concerns.

4.Get Happy! One of the benefits of getting healthy is your mood improves! Learn how nutrition can greatly help with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

5.Learn how to eat to get rid of body imbalances, rather than learn to just manage the unbalanced symptoms.

6.Digestion, digestion, digestion! Get your gut on track! Learn that bloating, indigestion, gas, constipation, are not meant to be a common symptom of eating. 

7.Fertility and growing a baby – learn what nutrients are beneficial for getting pregnant, growing a baby and what nutrients they need when they pop out!

8.A holistic nutritionist makes it simple and teaches you a holistic model of health by providing not only dietary guidance, but lifestyle suggestions as well. 

9.No nonsense, get healthy over time, weight loss will be a side effect, as well as glowing skin, higher sex drive, better sleep, healthy bowel movements – yes! Who doesn’t love a healthy bowel movement? 

10.Feel at ease about supplements, learn how we cannot get everything our body needs through food alone, and when it is a good idea to supplement your diet with supplements. 

11. Learn new awesome recipes how you can cook healthy food that’s as high on taste as it is in nutrients and not spend all day in the kitchen! Also learn how to fill that kitchen with all the necessities you need to be a healthy happy you! 

12.Learn what nutrients you may be deficient in due to medications you are taking. Use food and supplements to replace what’s lost. For example, one of the most common depleted nutrients is CoQ10 from statin drugs. The very nutrient needed for heart health is being depleted by a “heart healthy” drug.

13.Do you know how to shop smart?  A Holistic nutritionist will not only talk to you about what is healthy food for you but, take you to the store and show you how to efficiently shop for them. 

These things are just some of the top things seeing a holistic nutritionist will help you with, set up a free 30 min session with me and we can discuss if I can help with anything else you may need.

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Why You Should be Drinking Bone Broth!

Posted on by Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

Chicken soup isn’t just good for the soul: There is a reason that your mother made it for you when you’re feeling under the weather. Bone broth or stock was a way our ancestors made use of every part of an animal. Stuff like, bones and marrow, skin and feet, tendons and ligaments that you can’t eat directly. These items are boiled and then simmered over a period of days. This simmering causes the bones and ligaments to release healing compounds like collagen, proline, glycine, and glutamine that have the power to transform your health.

Bone broth should be called “nature’s multivitamin because it’s packed with:

  • Over 19easy-to-absorb, essential and non-essential amino acids (the building blocks of proteins, and therefore the building blocks of your body!)
  • Collagen/gelatin, which helps form connective tissue
  • nutrients that support digestive functions, immunity and brain health

Did you get that? Bone broth benefits literally every part of your body, from your gut to your brain, from your muscles to your ligaments.

What consuming bone broth on a regular basis does to your body:

  • Treats leaky gut syndrome
  • Overcome food intolerances and allergies
  • Improve joint health
  • Reduce cellulite
  • Boost immune system
  • Heal’s digestive tract upsets/weight loss
  • Promotes healthy skin, hair, nails
  • Reduces inflammation 
  • Helps treat asthma, arthritis, allergies
  • Aids in the body’s detoxification process

Here is a Recipe for Wonderful Homemade Chicken Broth 

4 lbs chicken bones free-range (neck/backbones from the butcher, leftover carcasses from roasted chickens)

2 free range chicken feet (optional, but highly recommended) 

1 large onion, roughly chopped (including the skin)

2 large carrots, roughly chopped (including the skin)

4 celery stalks, roughly chopped

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp salt (not iodized)

12 peppercorns

½ dried thyme OR any other fresh/ dried herbs you desire (optional)

water to fill to the top

  • Add bones to a large stockpot and cover with water. Add vinegar. This will help the bones release all their healthy minerals and flavor into the stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and then add the rest of the ingredients. Let simmer on low for 24-30 hours
  • Feel free to add extra veggies. Do not add: brassicas (kale, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, etc), greens (lettuce, spinach, etc), or fragrant veggies (green peppers, onion skin, beets, etc.) as these will ruin the stock.
  • When the stock is quite fragrant after 24h pour entire pot through a colander into another pot to catch your delicious golden stock. I recommend doing this over the sink.
  • Freeze in vacuum sealer bags or buckets to use later, or use immediately to make soup.
  • If storage space is an issue, further reduce strained stock by half (or more) and add water later when reconstituting.  
  • Enjoy as a tea, in a soup, or as a gravy! YUM!

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Live Cell Microscopy

Posted on by Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

Detecting Your Body’s Imbalances

Live blood analysis differs from traditional medical blood testing in which preserved blood is sent to a laboratory for an “autopsy” and analyzed for chemical composition and cell counts.  Live blood work involves magnifying a single living drop of blood, taken from a fingertip prick to 1,000 times or more under a microscope. The cells of the blood live for at least 20 minutes and with the aid of a video camera, are observed on a monitor, revealing certain subtleties missed by laboratory blood tests. 

Although live cell microscopy was invented over 140 years ago, only with the recent advent of a video camera and monitor, did it become possible for the client to become involved by observing the immediate test results on the screen. This expanded technology is mainly responsible for the growing popularity of a live blood test. 

Nutritional Indicators

Live blood analysis can reveal distortion of red blood cells which reflect nutrition status, especially low levels of iron, protein, vitamin B12, folic acid and fatty acids. Incomplete or delayed digestion of fats and proteins can also be observed. In addition, liver stress and undesirable bacterial and fungal by-products may be revealed.

The live blood thus acts as an educational “feedback mechanism”, motivating people to improve their diet, perhaps with the addition of nutritional supplements. Positive changes in the structure of the blood cells can be viewed over time, usually a period of months, as improved nutrition impacts the blood.  

In laboratory tests, preserved blood must be stained in order to see certain cellular structures. When live blood is viewed with a darkfield condensor, the process gives a highly contrasted image so that live material can be easily viewed. 

This darkfield microscopy may be of value in the early assessment of environmental sensitivity, imbalanced terrain, compromised immunity and other conditions, months or years before traditional medical diagnosis.

The microscopist can look at live blood through various lenses, including darkfield and brightfield, both of which provide a different illumination to help evaluate the same blood specimen. 

Test Offered Across Canada 

According to the microscope research of Gunther Enderlein, tiny life forms called protits undergo a life cycle and can reveal much information concerning the state of one’s health and immunity.

Although the diseases themselves cannot be actually seen under a microscope, live blood analysis allows altered “blood ecology” patterns to be observed. These patterns allow disease imbalances to occur over time and the idea is to modify and improve suboptimal patterns before serious trouble such as disease arises. 

Microscopic analysis of live blood is very popular in Europe, especially Germany. In Canada, live blood and darkfield microscopy are gaining in popularity and are now available in almost every city. Live blood work is not covered by provincial health insurance, but when performed by Certified Nutritional Practitioner most benefits will cover it. The cost of the analysis ranges from $60. to $200. Since a national referral list of practitioners is not yet available, Better Health Clinic offers this service at the Clinic in Onangeville.

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5 Easy Steps to Keep Your Thyroid Healthy

Posted on by Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

January is Thyroid awareness month. How often does this question pass through your mind? “I wonder what I could do to keep my thyroid healthy” this article is going to give you 5 easy steps to do to support your awesome little thyroid gland.

What does my thyroid do for me?

The thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate the body’s metabolic rate as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development, mood, and bone maintenance. Its correct functioning depends on having a few good health practices.

5 Natural Ways to keep you’re thyroid healthy:

The No. 1 natural remedy you need to start to support the thyroid is ashwagandha, which has been proven to heal thyroid and adrenal issues. Ashwagandha is known as an adaptogenic herb. Adaptogen herbs mean they help you adapt and deal with stress, and ashwagandha has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine. It has also been shown to greatly benefit hyper and hypothyroid symptoms.

The No. 2 thing you should consider adding into overall improve your thyroid function is selenium. The benefits of selenium are critical — actually, selenium has very powerful antioxidant-like functions. In fact, studies have shown that selenium helps balance out T4 in your body hormones, so again, taking a therapeutic dose of selenium every day has also been shown to benefit thyroid function. Here are some foods high in selenium:

  • Brazil nuts
  • Yellowfin tuna
  • Cooked halibut
  • Grass fed beef
  • Beef liver
  • Turkey
  • Chicken
  • Pastured eggs
  • Spinach

The No. 3 next thing you want are certain types of B vitamins if you want to improve thyroid function. There are two specifically I want to mention: thiamine and vitamin B12. Thiamine and vitamin B12 are two B vitamins you need that can actually improve thyroid function. If somebody is on a vegan or vegetarian diet, they’re absolutely going to be deficient in vitamin B12 and also are likely to be deficient in thiamine as well. Vitamin B12 benefits thyroid health by balancing hormones naturally and treating chronic fatigue syndrome. Some of the top B12 foods include:

  • Beef liver
  • Sardines
  • Grass-fed beef
  • Raw cheese
  • Lamb
  • Wild salmin
  • Pastrued eggs

The No. 4 most important thing to help your thyriod are Probiotics. Probiotics are critical for digestive function. In fact, thyroid conditions have also been linked to a health problem called leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut is where a protein like gluten can leak through the gut, get in the bloodstream and cause inflammation throughout the body, but also it can cause inflammation of the thyroid gland. Thus, healing leaky gut syndrome is important and probiotics are the No. 1 supplement for that. Some foods that naturally contain probiotics are:

  • Kefir
  • fermented vegetables
  • Organic yogurt
  • Raw cheeses

Finally, the No. 5 best thing to do to support the thyroid gland is lower stress! Stress will take down even the healthiest person. The thyroid gland is one of the important glands in the body that helps you deal with stress. very important to keep stress levels down to ensure your thyroid stays happy. look at stress management practices like meditation and deep breathing.

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Intro To Detox

Posted on by Hannah Moore, CNP, RNCP

Our bodies are exposed daily to a variety of chemicals and substances that can be harmful to our health. The air that we breathe, the food that we eat, the drinks we consume, the products we use on our skin, and the items we clean with. We require daily methods of detoxification to enhance our body’s natural ability to detoxify and renew. 

What is a toxin?     

Any substance that the body cannot use in a purposeful way, that requires energy to be removed, or that can cause harm in sufficiently large doses, qualifies as a toxin. Our bodies are incredibly resilient – but if we push too hard, it can break! Toxins can come from inside the body as a by-product of metabolism or from the external environment.  

There are 3 ways toxins can enter – 1) Ingested orally 2) Inhaling toxins 3) Taking toxins through the skin

Synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers are meant to help grow our food, but they can accumulate in our organs and our tissues. 

More than 80,000 chemicals are released into the environment every year, many in the form of gas. We cannot always avoid where we are breathing in air, but we can support our body to strengthen and handle it. 

Why is it important to detox?

 Our bodies build new cells and detoxify toxins on their own; however, our body’s ability to eliminate toxins is not limitless. Our bodies can become overburdened with toxins, and therefore, our body’s natural detox mechanisms could use a little help.

 The amount of toxicity in the body is dependent upon your genetic makeup, nutritional status, lifestyle, history of antibiotic or drug use, and emotional wellbeing.

Fat soluble toxins are stored in your fat cells, releasing toxins into your bloodstream. Abdominal fat secrets chemicals that can cause inflammation throughout your body. Affects your heart, and increases your risk of cancer, arthritis and stroke.

Common symptoms of toxic burden:

  • Fatigue, headaches, muscle and joint pain
  • Mood changes: anxiety, aggression & depression
  • Cognitive: reduced memory & brain fog
  • Immune: chronic infection/severe allergic reactions
  • Digestion: constipation, nausea, bloating, weight gain
  • Hormones: infertility, PMS, blood sugar imbalance
  • Skin: allergies, eczema, psoriasis, and acne

There are 4 main areas of the body where detoxification takes place:

Liver, Kidney, GI Tract, and Skin.

Liver– Our metabolic gateway. Our largest glandular organ. It metabolizes carbohydrates, protein and fat, vitamins and minerals. Regulates cholesterol and blood sugar imbalance. Creates bile to aid in digestion, breaks down red and white blood cells, regulates hormones.

Kidney–   Process about 200 litres of blood and eliminate waste and excess water as urine. They are responsible for keeping the composition of the blood stable. Every day the kidneys filter between 120 and 150 quarts of blood to eliminate waste through the urine. They also balance sodium and potassium levels in the body. Urine is excreted from the kidneys and stored in the bladder before elimination.GI Tract – Home to 100 trillion friendly bacteria. Aid in digestion and absorption of nutrients, prevent infections, and balance autoimmunity. 

GI Tract– The best sign of functionality in the GI tract is regular and proper elimination. Digestion problems likely mean you are not absorbing nutrients properly or detoxing efficiently. This is also home to 100 trillion friendly bacteria. Friendly bacteria aids in nutrient absorption, prevent infections and balance auto immunity. 

Skin– Serves as an important barrier that keeps many toxins from entering your body. Window to the digestive tract. Toxins become overloaded and are looking for a way out of the body. Skin conditions usually clear up with proper elimination. Sweat glands are housed in our skin (great for detoxification)

Recommendations for optimal detoxification:

  • Eat organic produce  
  • Avoid farmed fish and consume wild only
  • Eat grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meat and poultry
  • Avoid sugar
  • Refrain from heating food in plastic containers
  • Use natural personal care products and cleaners
  • Stay hydrated with clean, filtered water  
  • Drink morning lemon and turmeric water
  • Physical exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes per day
  • Ionic foot bath – purifies the body through electrolysis of negative ions in the water
  • Infrared sauna – heats the body’s core temperature to deeply detox on a cellular level
  • Epsom salt bath – encourages the body to efficiently flush out toxins

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