Learn how the  triple threat of stress, sleep, and junkfood is driving the illness industry pharmaceutical sick-care system. 

Fight back against the machine by getting a handle on those things! 

Sleep and stress issues have become an epidemic in our world. 

Watch this video learn what you can do to improve your sleep. 

Maria , 29, went through a very painful breakup 2 years ago and began having insomnia (trouble sleeping). Along with processing the grief through the loss of her relationship, she began to experience stomach pain and abdominal bloating. She had read that an imbalance in her gut could be contributing to her sleep issues, but she intuitively knew that for her it was the other way around. The sudden unexpected breakdown and the end of her relationship was the contributory factor to her gut health issues. And she is correct! Sleep and gut health inform and influence each other.

I have written before about gut health and the neurotransmitters produced as a result of that affects sleep, but did you know that a lack of sleep also affects gut health? Lack of sleep can influence cortisol secretion (the fight or flight hormone) and also influence insulin metabolism. Chronic stress, as I have written before, contributes to weight gain and the obesity epidemic is in part due to the...

Are you losing Sleep? We live a very stressful time in the world these days. Lots of people are coming in for sleep and gut issues related to stress. At the time of this writing, there is a lot of scary upheaval shaking many of us to our core . There is a lot of fear, anger, and anxiety floating around and it is hard to avoid. It has been a challenge for me personally to figure out how to balance my usual nature of tranquility and optimism with the disturbing stories I am exposed to lately. It is also a challenge to stay engaged while also taking healing space for myself. As a Healer, I know that before I can be of service to anyone else, I need to root into my spiritual and self care tools to keep myself clear and balanced. Meditation, yoga, getting out in nature and physical exercise has been a key part of my sanity. And allowing myself to have social time with my friends has also been crucial to my sense of wellbeing.

It is more difficult to heal when one is in survival...

Maryanne was diagnosed with 3 different autoimmune diseases.   When she came to my office she had been suffering for many years and was taking several prescription medications for her various symptoms.Her fingers ached as she typed her very first email to me.   Even a computer search was difficult because she had also had a bout with Iritis (inflammation of the Iris) along with fatigue because her thyroid was chronically sluggish from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

So where did I focus? So much going on! So much to do! So much to heal!

From Multiple Sclerosis to Lupus to Rheumatoid Arthritis, to Hashimoto’s, I have seen so many cases of various autoimmune disorders in my practice. What they all have in common is that they all improve when gut health improves.

So how does one improve gut health? By reducing inflammation, balancing the gut flora and healing leaky gut. Also by eating a therapeutic diet that reduces inflammation and antibodies in the body. This...

Kaitlyn first came to see me suffering with extreme fatigue, insomnia, and a feeling of “unwellness” many years ago. She had a young child and worked part time but felt very fatigued all of the time. She was health conscious and followed a vegetarian diet with her husband and fed her whole family that way.

The first thing we did together was to run some bloodwork and to check into how her digestive system was working with Functional Medicine Testing. Through the allergy testing we found that she was allergic to most vegetarian protein foods such as dairy, beans, gluten (seitan – in meat substitutes) and soy. And her thyroid levels were way too low. She decided to add in clean animal proteins (grass fed beef, organic free range poultry and wild clean fish) and she went on prescription thyroid medication and with some fluctuations began to feel better.

After a period of stress and adjusting her thyroid medications a few times, we decided to test for Thyroid...

Ellen, a 44 year old IT specialist with 2 kids had been putting in long hours at her job. She wanted to prove to her boss that she could do a good job so she took on extra projects and as many of you know, salaried positions often really require that you work over 60 hours per week anyway. So her exercise by necessity had to be reduced due to work and family commitments, and her stress levels and the means she used to deal with her stress levels had exponentially increased.   Then she found that within 6 months she had gained 30 lbs! And her digestion was also really suffering! While a 30 lb weight gain is hard enough on your health, Ellen’s self esteem took a very big hit because she felt less physically attractive, felt exhausted and completely overwhelmed by the thought of losing all of the weight that she had gained.

She also found that with increased stress, even though she was utterly exhausted trying to balance her life, she had trouble sleeping too! She...

Many years ago, fresh out of med school I was so fatigued that I needed a 2 hour afternoon nap almost every day because I would have a brown out around 3-5 PM. I would go home from work, crash out, and wake up in time to throw something together for dinner.   Even though I was relatively young I needed to nap just to function and take care of my work and living needs. Even when I would wake up every morning and go for a 3-5 mile run, or go to a yoga class, I would still come home from work and crash.   Something was definitely very off. Thankfully at that time in my life, I was still single and childless. In fact, until I met my husband who at the time already had a 3 year old child, I could not even fathom having the energy to bear or raise a child of my own. Watching my friends have their kids, I just knew I wouldn’t be up to the task because of my chronic fatigue issues.

I DID figure out and heal my fatigue issues eventually, and at the age of 41 my...

I am thinking a lot about the adrenal glands these days since their function seems to tie into so many other endocrine systems such as our insulin regulation as well as thyroid hormones, the immune system and our reproductive hormones.  I used to think of the adrenal glands as just our energy  “batteries”, and when we became exhausted from too much stress, we would get tired.  But they are so much more than that.  The adrenals are most commonly known as our “fight or flight” glands, i.e. they produce adrenaline so in ancient times, we could outrun a predator.  In modern times, however, our stresses are usually (though not always)  more chronic  (deadlines, work stress, relationship stress, financial stress, and just being too darned busy and plugged in all of the time).  So I often see health problems in my patients that can be traced to a stressful period in life (grad school, heavy work stress, a divorce, a death of a...

Cortisol is a major hormone among many that is released by the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands secrete our “fight or flight” hormones that we as a species evolved with so that we could outrun that sabre toothed tiger. When cortisol is released, we are on high alert. Blood rushes to the muscles, muscle tone is increased, and more glucose is released into the bloodstream. The only problem is, currently in the modern world most of our stresses have more to do with work deadlines, paying bills on time, commuting through traffic, relationship issues and picking our kids up from school on time.

We have a chronic low level of stress constantly barraging our body. Over time this chronic release of cortisol into our bloodstream can lower our immune system, increase our fatigue, disrupt sleep patterns, disrupt sugar metabolism, and increase anxiety, irritability, and depression, not to mention an increase in weight gain! Regulating cortisol levels is something we as naturopaths...