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Gain Mobility And Performance With This Tool

By Dr. Gavin O’Handley

Voodoo floss, also known as compression band floss, is a flexible elastic band that is used as a form of self-myofascial release therapy. It is made of latex-free material and can be easily wrapped around a specific body part such as a joint or muscle group. Voodoo floss has gained popularity among athletes, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, and fitness enthusiasts due to its numerous benefits. In this post, we will discuss some of the benefits of Voodoo Floss.

  1. Increased Mobility: If you have ever used a foam roller or percussion gun, chances are you have heard of Myofascial Release. Voodoo floss can help to increase mobility by breaking down adhesions and scar tissue that may be limiting movement in a joint or muscle group. Flossing is a form of release because you’re physically compressing the fascia via pressure. As you move the muscles around the compressed area, the adhesions and restrictions get broken down and dissipate. You’re getting rid of all the ‘gook’ between the muscle and fascia, the way you would get rid of plaque between two teeth. Resulting in the ability to move more and with less pain.
  2. Improved Circulation: Compression band floss can also help to improve circulation in the affected area. By applying pressure to the tissues, blood flow is temporarily reduced followed by flooding it with a significant rush of nutrient and oxygen rich blood which can aid in the healing process and reduce inflammation.
  3. Improved Recovery: Using voodoo floss as a form of self-myofascial release therapy can also help to improve recovery time. By breaking down adhesions and scar tissue and improving circulation, the body can more effectively repair and rebuild damaged tissues.
  4. Saves you time: In a minute-over-minute comparison, flossing offers more benefit than foam rolling. Flossing and foam rolling both work to release tension in the fascia that surrounds our muscle tissues but flossing makes the process much more efficient by releasing a whole set of tissues, as opposed to one localized muscle at a time. Simply put, flossing is a faster way to relieve knots and trigger points, improve recovery, and get back an extra few minute a day.

In conclusion, voodoo floss can be a valuable tool for anyone looking to improve their mobility, reduce pain, and aid in recovery. It is easy to use, cost-effective, and has numerous benefits for athletes, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, and fitness enthusiasts alike. However, it is important to note that voodoo floss should be used under the guidance of a healthcare professional or trained practitioner to avoid any potential risks or injuries. See it in action here.

References:

  1. Gorny V, Stöggl T. Tissue flossing as a recovery tool for the lower extremity after strength endurance intervals. Sportverletzung Sportschaden: Organ der Gesellschaft fur Orthopadisch-Traumatologische Sportmedizin. 2018 Feb.
  2. Weber P. Flossing: An alternative treatment approach to Osgood-Schlatter’s disease: Case report of an adolescent soccer player. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2018 Oct 1;22(4):860-1.
  3. Prill R, Schulz R, Michel S. Tissue flossing: a new short-duration compression therapy for reducing exercise-induced delayed-onset muscle soreness. A randomized, controlled and double-blind pilot cross-over trial. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. 2018 Oct.
  4. Driller M, Mackay K, Mills B, Tavares F. Tissue flossing on ankle range of motion, jump and sprint performance: A follow-up study. Physical Therapy in Sport. 2017 Nov 1;28:29-33.
  5. Driller MW, Overmayer RG. The effects of tissue flossing on ankle range of motion and jump performance. Physical Therapy in Sport. 2017 May 1;25:20-4.
  6. Yasuda, T., Brechue, W. F., Fujita, T., Shirakawa, J., Sato,Y., and Abe, T. (2009). Muscle activation during low-intensity muscle contractions with restricted blood flow. J. Sports Sci. 27, 479–489.
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This Kind Of Morning Nutrition Can Help You Thrive

By Tim Irvine and Tamara Kung ND

My morning meal has evolved dramatically over the years. For the first 25 years of my life, I was religious about frozen from concentrate orange or apple juice, toast with a bunch of jam, and some sort of cereal. The latter was usually a ‘healthier’ options like Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, or Cheerios. Healthier when compared to Captain Crunch and Count Chocula. That is until I added a tablespoon or more of brown sugar, because there just wasn’t enough added sugar in my choices as they were. Ugh.

Contrast that with what I do now which is usually some sort of protein like eggs, yogurt with blue berries and natural granola, and often some amazing whole grain bread with natural peanut butter. I’m a coffee guy in training now (more about that in a different article) but it’s not part of my morning routine. Instead, I have one of these two options as my morning drink:

  1. 750ml of water with 3/4’s of a teaspoon of Biosteel sport performance powder, ¾’s of a teaspoon of Schinoussa sea vegetable super food, a teaspoon of creatine, and 4-6 drops of vitamin d3/k2.
  2. 300ml of unsweetened, non flavoured almond milk, 300ml of water, one full scoop (about 3 tbs) of Younited All In One Protein superfood mix, and a teaspoon of creatine.

I’ve evolved to these drinks based on my reading of what will give me the most bang for my health buck. Since I don’t have extensive education in nutrition, I thought I would get some feedback from someone who has much more knowledge of this area than I do. That’s where Dr. Tamara Kung, ND, comes in with an assessment of my concoctions. Let’s see what she thinks.

It’s great to see the evolution of your breakfast which reflects your constant desire to continue learning to become empowered to take control of your health. This is how we can find the best possible ways to enhance our physical and cognitive function. 

At first glance, these are great morning cocktails especially since I know you are quite active in your mornings, often enjoying a run outdoors as well.

We’ll start off with Cocktail 1.

I really enjoy the combination of Biosteel and Sea Vegetable for your lifestyle. I see it being beneficial for you for these reasons:

·       Electrolytes from Biosteel include essential minerals like sodium, potassium, and magnesium, which is helpful for those as active as you are. Replenishing sodium and potassium are 100% necessary for generating the electrical spark that gets your muscles to initiate movement, and also the sparks of communication within the neural circuits of your brain. For this reason, electrolytes can be helpful as a physical and cognitive performance enhancer. Since I’m aware that you are following mostly unprocessed, Real Foods, the extra sodium is safe to include. 

·       There’s a small addition of beetroot in Biosteel’s formula as well, which is a fun nitric oxide boost. This molecule helps dilate our blood vessels, increasing oxygen efficiency and studies have shown beetroot juice to improve endurance and physical performance.

·       You get convenient coverage of vitamins and minerals from Biosteel, and while I typically prefer using real food for achieving your daily doses, this is a very easy way to ensure your bases are covered. Because I know you eat mostly Real, unprocessed foods, I think this is a great supplement to your Real Food diet. For example, the extra folate helps with muscle synthesis, and is why Popeye the sailor man was famous for popping cans of spinach into his daily routine.

·       Sea vegetables from Schinoussa include ingredients like algae! This is a whole category of foods that  I think more people definitely need more of. It’s not common in Western diets. But remember that part of healthy nutrition is not just eating whole, Real Foods, but also diversity. Different foods offer varying amounts of nutrients. Spirulina and chlorella are Real Food sources of nutrients like iron, vitamin A & C which can help improve skin health, is a source of plant protein, and omega 3s with 500 mg per serving. Algae are a nutrient dense, antioxidant powerhouse and their efficient anti-inflammatory capacity contributes to protecting us from chronic disease as well!

Health Eating = Real Foods + Diversity

·       Vitamin D3/K2 is important for us Canadians to include. The combination with vitamin K2 is important to support cardiovascular health and protect us from calcifying are blood vessels. I often suggest having these levels measured and dose according to the results from your blood work which you can receive from your GP or friendly neighbourhood naturopath 🙂 

On to Cocktail 2:

·       Creatine is one of the most well studied amino acids and the supplement of this has been shown to improve physical performance in terms of strength and endurance. It can also increase lean muscle mass, which all again are helpful for athletes like yourself. 

·       I’m excited about Younited’s product. It has prebiotics (a fancy word for fiber in the form of inulin and mushrooms), an array of both land and sea vegetables, a plethora of antioxidant, and anti-cancer spices, fruits and vegetables (like moringa & broccoli and mushrooms). The power of the entire food beats out supplements that just extract singular vitamins and minerals. The interactions of thousands of compounds in a Real Food are unmatched in their synergy when eaten in whole form – we have just scratched the surface in this realm but research so far shows whole foods beat out isolate nutrients more often than not!

Suggestions:

1.        The only addition I’d make to your cocktail rotation is the supplement of hydrolyzed collagen. 

o   Collagen is the  most abundant protein in our body and is an integral structural protein in muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, blood vessels, gut tissue, and dentin in our teeth. Studies show that it improves healing and recovery after athletic injury, alleviates joint pain, and can protect the integrity of joints -as collagen can be directly deposited in these areas! 

o   Collagen also improves skin health, improving skin elasticity and it’s protective function.

2.        Diversity

o   The fact you have two different super drinks to choose from is great. I would recommend alternating them with every other day, or maybe one week on and the next week will be the other. This way you get a chance to absorb a variety of nutrients from all the different sources which helps to keep your vitamin and mineral levels topped up, and not heavy on only certain types. 

It is no easy feat to unhook yourself from old habits and what appears to be a heavy slant on processed sugary foods, so I want to give you a HUGE high five for that! The fact that we are discussing nutrition and ways to enhance every part of Level 2 Tim at this high level is not only fun, but I hope these incorporations leave you feeling better overall.

Thanks Tamara!

It looks like I’m on the right track and with a couple of additional adjustments I’ll be able to improve the good thing I have going. Hopefully you can take something away from this that will work for you. Cheers!

References:

Andrade, L.M., et al. (2018). Chlorella and spirulina microalgae as sources of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and food supplements; an overview. MOJ Food Processing & Technology, 6(2). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lidiane-Andrade/publication/322888591_Chlorella_and_Spirulina_Microalgae_as_Sources_of_Functional_Foods_Nutraceuticals_and_Food_Supplements_an_Overview/links/5a745245458515512078e1ec/Chlorella-and-Spirulina-Microalgae-as-Sources-of-Functional-Foods-Nutraceuticals-and-Food-Supplements-an-Overview.pdf

Domínguez R, Cuenca E, Maté-Muñoz JL, García-Fernández P, Serra-Paya N, Estevan MC, Herreros PV, Garnacho-Castaño MV.  (2017). Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on cardiorespiratory endurance in athletes: A systematic review. Nutrients, 9(1):43. doi: 10.3390/nu9010043. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295087/ 

Gurney T, Spendiff O. Algae Supplementation for Exercise Performance: Current Perspectives and Future Directions for Spirulina and Chlorella. Front Nutr. 2022 Mar 7;9:865741. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.865741. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8937016/

Patrick, R. Hydrolyzed collagen Found My Fitness. Retrieved from https://www.foundmyfitness.com/topics/collagen

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Lessons To Avoid Back And Shoulder Pain

By Tim Irvine

I have a problem. It’s not exactly world shattering, but it will allow you to learn from my mistakes.

While I’ve progressed my thinking in many areas, I seem to be stuck with a mindset from my 20’s as it relates to my physical capabilities. Back when I could sprint, jump, throw, catch, hit, etc., all at full speed, at any moment.

Time has moved on and, apparently, so have my capabilities. There have been a series of injures, none particularly catastrophic, but all avoidable.

Like the parallel bars in a park in Quebec last winter. Shoulder tear.

Or my no warmup hockey game the winter before. Searing back pain.

And most recently, an early morning, post-run deadlifting session. A different kind of back pain.

It seems ridiculous given my education, experience and profession, but taking my own advice has never been my strong suit.

Here is what you can learn from my ridiculous mistakes.

  1. Sitting can really mess you up.

I’ve gone from a day filled with workouts, sports, and more than 15,000 steps, to sitting 6-8 hours daily. Weekends are a break from it, but the overwhelming repetition of my butt on a chair wins in a landslide. What does this look like in real terms?

  • Slightly rounded forward shoulders put the shoulder joint in a poor functional position. When you are doing some parallel bar work after a decade away from it, this new shoulder position is a disaster. Ouch!
  • Short hamstrings, short hip flexors, weak abs. When you start moving fast, and I use ‘fast’ loosely these days, with major structures like these tugging on your pelvis and spine with reduced abdominal support, bad things happen. Painful things happen.

Solution: Don’t sit so much (Nobel prize, here I come). If you do need to sit, change position or move every 30 minutes. No joke. EVERY 30 minutes.

  1. Warmups are actually good for you.

Before a track meet, my daughter needs to be there over 90 minutes ahead of her event so she can warm up properly. She’s 16. If a 16 year old trained athlete needs an hour +, why do I think it makes any sense to show up, forgoe the warmup, and just giver’ in my hockey game? Spoiler alert, there is no reasonable answer for this other than something including the word stupid. The pressures of time usually means we cut the warmup short, or remove it completely. Take it from me, this is a bad idea.

  • No warmup means muscles are not prepared for demands placed on them, dramatically increasing the risk of a strain – aka a tear.
  • No warmup means the neuromuscular system is not ‘primed’ to protect joints and their supporting structures resulting in an increased risk of ligament or tendon injury.
  • If you really want to increase your injury risk, workout first thing in the morning without a warmup.

Solution: Always, always, always warm up. The more intense your activity, the longer and more specific the warmup needs to be.

  1. Know where you are at and do what fits.

If there is one lesson that is most important for me, and many others, it’s this one. If I just put my M.Sc. to work for myself, I would program and train myself much differently, and the first two lessons above would be mute. I’d sit way less and warmup really well. Everything would be much less risky as it relates to injuries.

Solution: Forget about what was and focus on what is. Where are you at today and what is appropriate to be doing? It doesn’t mean the pursuit of performance is dead, the process just needs to be thoughtful and match one’s current abilities.

Bonus considerations.

Tissue pliability changes with age, but more so with use. Keeping your muscles pliable, flexible, supple goes a long way to keeping your movements ‘young’. If you are 30 and have been sitting for your job the last five years, your tissues have lost pliability. Realize this and remember this is how Tom Brady played until he was 45.

When you do sustain an injury, appropriate activity really helps with recovery. Gone are the days when rest was the go to way to recover from any kind if tissue injury, including surgeries. My most recent back injury is a perfect example. I hurt it in the morning but had a full day ahead of me and I had to plow through. Appropriately. I took my own advice for once and moved carefully all day with a resulting 30-40% decrease in my pain before heading to bed. Had I laid on the couch all day, I would not have had the same improvement.

The above is written with tongue in cheek, however, the messages are no less important. There are many things I do right, but a lack of time usually leads me to make decisions I know are not ideal, but I think I’ll be able to get away with it. Sometimes I do, but when I don’t, the result is a real pain.

Take my advice and be smart with your decisions

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How To Deal With A Lack Of Sunlight

By Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

The amount of time we are exposed to light has a profound influence over our physical and mental health. Light is a fundamental external cue and all living organisms have been exposed to it for eternity. It’s no wonder that every part of our biology is linked directly or indirectly with the light of the day and night. 

In flowers for example, light signals them to open their petals to soak up sun for photosynthesis and the occasional pollination from a bee. At night, they protectively close their petals. In experiments when they are put in a greenhouse and are exposed to erratic light schedules (while still receiving the same amount of total light exposure as with natural light exposure), they wither away and die. In humans, phototherapy, or light as medicine, is being used to enhance health and well-being.

Why is that? What is light exactly, and how does it impact our health? And what do I do when the sun is behind the clouds for so many days?

In the most basic sense, light is a wave. We all know light is a spectrum (think Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album) made up of various colours. Each colour, and those we cannot see like infrared and UV, have various lengths of waves. Infrared and red lights are long and drawn out. They can pass through our skin, penetrate into our organs, and even enter on a cellular level impacting our DNA or mitochondria!

Blue light, or UV light, are very short wavelengths and influence our health at the level of our skin and eyes. This has an indirect influence on our health. 

It is this full spectrum of light that has an ability to impact our health at every level. As we learn more about light’s affect on our health, we realize it’s like a sharp, precise scalpel. It’s no wonder the power of light continues to be such a highly investigated topic! Current research shows the following influences from light:

Lighting up your day: UVB / Blue light benefits (think daylight/ sunlight!)

  • Activates our immune system.
    • This helps explain why during the spring and summer months we get fewer colds and flus. It’s not that we’re exposed to less germs (germs are everywhere, always), it’s just that our immune system is better at deploying immune cells and combating bacteria and viruses.
  • Triggers regeneration in our skin, hair, and nails.
    • Ever wonder if it’s just a coincidence that hair thins during the winter months, or that hair and nails grow more quickly in the summer? This is linked to the mechanism that UVB light triggers, stimulating an increased turn over of stem cells that help produce more new and healthy cells. So, our skin, hair and nails often look more youthful and healthier during the sunnier seasons!
  • Improves mood!
    • One of the big struggles for us during the long winter months is that we can start to feel more down. Studies show that daylight exposure early in the day can effectively improve mood and help reduce symptoms of depression. 

But with winter weather, we have less overall sunlight to enjoy, and we tend to really restrict our time outdoors due to the temperature and conditions.

Fear not. There is something you can do. Here are three tips to incorporate some daylight therapy into your daily routine:

  1. Open your blinds right when you wake up!
  2. Enjoy your breakfast/ coffee beside a window, or even better, outside in the sunlight.
  3. Go outdoors soon after waking. Enjoy a walk to get your coffee/ or with your coffee, walk to work, or exercise outdoors for 30-60 minutes.

When the above options don’t work, there are alternate solutions such as indoor sunlight lamps. Studies show that 10,000 lux for 30 minutes first thing in the morning can improve mood. Examples of lamps are here and here.

Timing is key. Blue light delivers its benefits to us when used in the daytime coinciding with our body’s evolution with the sun cycle. On the flip side, blue light at night can impair us.

UVB/ Blue light at night impairments: 

  • Inversely affects mood, so being exposed to this kind of lighting, via artificial lights at night, can increase depression and mood disruption.
  • Increased heart rate, meaning that our stress state stays overly active and impairs our ability to relax.
  • It reduces our heart rate variability (lower HRV means we have lower resilience to stress and poorer cardiovascular fitness; we want to aim for a higher HRV!).
  • Impairs our metabolism.
  • Makes us wake up with insulin resistance meaning we start the day with impaired, less than ideal blood sugar levels, making weight loss goals more difficult to achieve.
  • Dissipates melatonin.

Melatonin is our hormone of darkness. Darkness is its cue to be released into our system. It is what orchestrates the components needed to initiate and sustain quality sleep. But when we are exposed to blue light, our melatonin levels can drop to near zero which is not ideal. 

Our bodies have adapted to the times of the year when there is less sunlight. We naturally have more melatonin during these months. Yes, our bodies have evolved to benefit from seasonal changes of light as well which is pretty cool! Our bodies are way smarter than we often give them credit for. With more melatonin we feel sleepy more often and spend more time in bed, which is not necessarily a bad thing! Sleep is the ultimate underlying foundation for good health and all health goals such as those described with light exposure, immune function, healthier organs, and proper function of all physical and mental elements improve with better quality and quantity of sleep. Melatonin is also a potent antioxidant and anti-cancer molecule, so those longer cozy, dimmer evenings can be a powerful way to protect our health as well.

Your big takeaway to using light therapy in your evenings is to avoid blue light at night. Specifically, studies show that ideally refraining from blue light between 10pm-4am is ideal. If you must have your laptop on to do work or use a screen consider these tools to minimize the damage:

  • Instal f.lux
  • Use your night shift mode on your phone
  • Put on blue light blocking glasses (never wear blue light blocking glasses during the day, as this prevents you from reaping the benefits of daytime light exposure described above)

By understanding and appreciating how light and darkness impact our health we can utilize this powerful cue from our environment to support us. Our biology is wired to work in sync with these light and dark cycles that are all around us. If you are feeling out of sync, that’s OK! Our modern environment is not conducive to this natural rhythm. Pick just one action to practice and integrate into either your morning or evening routine. Choose the path of least resistance, and one that seems enjoyable to you, and then build from there!

References:

Panda, S. (2018). The circadian code: lose weight, supercharge your energy, and transform your health from morning to midnight. Rodale Books.

 Winter, C. W. (2017). The sleep solution: why your sleep is broken and how to fix it. Penguin Random House LLC.

Huberman, A. (2022). Using light (sunlight, blue light & red light) to optimize health. Retreived from https://hubermanlab.com/using-light-sunlight-blue-light-and-red-light-to-opt

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Set Meaningful Goals For True And Lasting Change

By: Grace Lindsey, BA, Certified Life Coach

January: A time of year where everybody tries to become a new version of themselves, repeating the same strategies that haven’t worked. ‘But really…it will work this time’. Sound familiar?

Why do we find it so hard to implement new habits, behaviours or lifestyle choices?

First thing we need to stop doing is “shoulding” ourselves. How many times have you said I should eat less junk food? I should workout more. I should try and be more social. Etc. Why “should” you do those things? Because society says so? Because your parents say so? Because you think you might be more loveable if you do? Instead of shoulding ourselves, I propose we get clarity on a compelling future or vision where we are working towards something that is meaningful and attainable.

‘Should’ pushes us nowhere, meaning combined with action pulls us forward.

When it comes to setting goals and implementing change, we must first look at our motivation. Knowing why a goal is important to us along with what benefits the achievement will bring is what will keep us going when we want to quit. It is within those moments that we keep going where our growth becomes limitless.

Once we are clear on the deeper meaning behind our goals, exploring the feeling attached to  desired outcomes is important. For example, if your goal is to lose 10lbs, ask yourself: What will I feel like when I have lost this weight? Is it confident? Is it free? Will you feel more energized to play with your kids on the weekend? When it comes to wanting something, we are usually seeking the feeling of achieving the goal vs the goal itself.

Lastly, we must have a daily practice in place where we are reminding ourselves of all the things mentioned above. For example:

  • five minutes of writing them down at the beginning of our day
  • meditating on them
  • reading them before we go to sleep every night
  • saying them out loud on the way to work
  • mentally rehearsing living our lives as this new version of us – what choices do you make? What habits do you have? How do you live?

This part is crucial for profound and lasting results. Unfortunately, living in hope that we will achieve the goals we set on January 1st, is just not enough to see it through. It is vital we remind ourselves as regularly as possible where we are heading, why it is important to us, what the feeling we are trying to achieve is and who we are becoming.

Another key ingredient is finding joy in the process. No journey is ever linear and if we are living in “I’ll be happy when I achieve this or change that” we will never truly be happy because our success, fulfilment and worthiness will be determined by our outcome. Plus, by the time we have achieved it, our goal post will probably have moved, and we will want something else anyways.

Here are 6 powerful questions to set meaningful goals and make lasting change:

  1. What do I want to achieve/what is my goal?
  1. What makes achieving this goal important to me?
  1. What benefits will achieving this goal bring to me?
  1. How will achieving this goal make me feel?
  1. How could I cultivate that feeling right now/every day?
  1. What daily practice can I put in place to remind myself of all these things?

It is now, we can take the first action step towards our compelling future.

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Reduce Stress And Enjoy The Holidays Like Never Before

By: Grace Lindsey, BA, Certified Life Coach

As magical as the holiday season can be, it can also be stress inducing, triggering and overwhelming. We often have high expectations of what it “should” be like and put pressure on ourselves to make it so. From buying everyone meaningful gifts, to the family member with the same questions every year, to feeling lonely in a room full of people, the holiday season is uniquely complex for many.

How can we ‘de-stress’ our approach this year and bring more joy?

First, let’s start with letting go of whatever image and expectation you have of the holidays. Suffering and internal conflict occur when reality differs from our original blueprint. Try letting go of any and all expectations, radically accept an element of chaos, and see how you show up to this year’s holiday event. Acceptance is a surprisingly powerful tool when it comes to stress and our emotions.

Secondly, adopt an approach of gratitude and appreciation. Did you know that being in a state of gratitude on a regular basis starts to re-wire our brains by producing the feel-good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin? It literally brings calm to our entire nervous system. We may not be able to control what is going on around us, but we can control how we choose to respond. Cultivating a state of gratitude is almost guaranteed to shift your focus and bring you peace in what could be a potentially stressful situation. 

“Yeah, but all of these things are easier said than done.” I hear you say. You are correct. Here are a couple of tips to get you started.

  1. One simple way to change and challenge a feeling or emotion is to interrupt it by asking yourself a question. When you feel stressed or overwhelmed, ask yourself this: “Is this something that is within my control?” And if it’s not, I propose you let it go by redirecting your focus onto one small thing you can control. Make a cup of tea, go for a walk, pet the dog, pour a glass of wine, control something else that brings you closer to a calmer and more peaceful state.
  2. Another great question to ask yourself as a negative emotion emerges is, “What could I be grateful for in this moment?” Your answer can be as simple as the coffee you are sipping, to the smile on children’s faces while playing with their new toys. 

In summary, here are my 5 steps to go from overwhelm to joy this holiday season, or any time for that matter…

  1. Get rid of your blueprint – it isn’t serving you anymore.
  2. Radically accept an element of chaos.
  3. Let go of all expectations you have of yourself and the occasion, and have a gratitude mindset.
  4. Take a deep breath, focus on something you can control.
  5. Ask yourself, “what can I be grateful for in this moment?”

And don’t forget to go easy on yourself this year. You deserve it.

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Score Yourself On These Four Pillars Of Clean Living: Part 2

By Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

In part 1 of our Four Pillars Of Clean Living, we covered Real Food (Pillar 1) and Antioxidants (Pillar 2). These benefits are critical for both physical and psychological well-being, as well as overall performance regardless of what you are doing.

We asked you to score yourself on the first two pillars, now it’s time to determine your overall score with the remaining two pillars.

Pillar #3: Find your level of movement 

Parallel to your circulatory system is another system called your lymphatic system. It’s a series of tubes just like blood vessels interspersed with lymph nodes. This is your superhighway for immune cells to travel between sites of infection, and also where most of your immune cells become activated to help protect you. The lymphatic system is also our big sewage system in a sense. It’s where our tissues deposit their waste and end products to be flushed out of our body and eliminated once and for all. 

Unlike our hearts however, the lymphatic system does not have an organ to pump the fluid around. Instead, it uses our movement, the contraction of our muscles, and the bending of joints to move things along. When we stay stagnant, guess what? Our body can’t launch an immune response as quickly, and we get a build up of waste which starts to impair the function of our body and mind.

Movement doesn’t have to be intense to produce the benefits, but if you love hard and intense exercise, that is also great to incorporate especially when guided by experts such as an accredited trainer, physio or chiropractor to keep you safe as you build up. Simple exercises include walking, swimming, yoga, pilates, and tai chi. 

For others movement can be as simple as flexing, stretching any joint area because this also helps squish and pump fluid around. Examples include:

  • Rolling your neck side to side or down and around – lots of lymph nodes in your  neck
  • Circling and then flexing your arms – lymph nodes in your armpits and elbows
  • Body weight squats – lymph nodes in your groin and knees
  • Deep belly breathing – lots of lymph nodes in your abdomen 

Pick a level of movement that is most enjoyable for you to incorporate on a regular basis.

Score yourself out of 10 (1 low, 10 high) on how well you move. ______________

Pillar #4: Create a sleep sanctuary 

While we sleep, your body is not latent. The amount of healing and cleaning up your body and mind undergo while sleeping is tremendous and is the ONLY time for full repair and taking out the garbage. Specifically, deep sleep is when our brains get a deep clean. 

Our brains have a system that becomes active while we sleep called the glymphatic system, a continuation of the lymphatic system. When we sleep, cavernous bins of the glymphatic system open up by 60% and are where the brain tissues can dump all the waste that accumulated throughout the day. 

If we shortchange sleep, we see an accumulation of waste products and toxic proteins in our brains which are associated with cognitive decline, memory impairment and an increased incidence of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers’s. 

One powerful way to protect your sleep is to create a sleep sanctuary in your bedroom. This means the moment you walk into your room, it feels cozy, welcoming and is device free. This is how we can use your environment to trigger better quality of sleep and quicker onset with less interruptions.

A sleep sanctuary is one of the easiest ways to help your sleep, but there are many others. Pick one to practice at a time and as you get stronger with one, and it becomes second nature, layer on the next. Make it enjoyable – do it with others, do it to music, or make a game or checklist so you can satisfyingly check it off daily. 

Score yourself out of 10 (1 low, 10 high) on how well you move. ______________

Now let’s find out how you did overall. Add all of your scores to get a total.

Total Clean Living Score: ____________________

If your total is 30 or above, you are doing well. 20-30 you are average. Below 20 you have an opportunity to make a big difference in the quality of your health. It’s the compounding of these life enhancing routines that truly has the power to alter the trajectory of your health now and for your future!

Reference:

How not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams  by Matthew Walker

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/are-toxins-flushed-out-of-the-brain-during-sleep

Zhang N, Jiao S, Jing P. Red Cabbage Rather Than Green Cabbage Increases Stress Resistance and Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jun 8;10(6):930. doi: 10.3390/antiox10060930. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8228718/

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Can Your Fitness Handle These Baselines?

By Tim Irvine

There are many ways to be ‘fit’, but general fitness is important for ‘moving as young as possible’ for as long as possible. And it’s not just about moving well when you are over 40. Think about a toddler in a full, deep squat and then that same child as a 10-year-old. They have already lost their ability to squat optimally, and that negative adaptation continues over time.

Dr. Peter Attia is a world-renowned expert on longevity. His research has further proven how important movement and exercise are to many health factors.

When he works with clients, he has several baseline physical tests that he uses to establish objective metrics for a person’s current state is. These measures are all based in science and translate to how healthy someone is. To learn a bit more about how these translate to health, you can watch this video.


So how do you stack up?

Below are some of the assessments that he uses. These should not be looked at as things to go out and try today unless you already have a lot of experience with them. As described, they are meant for a 40-year-old other than the VO2 max. Performing any exercise to a max effort has injury risk, and the last thing I’m trying to suggest here is to go out and push yourself past your tissue limits. It’s all about establishing your baseline. I suggest stopping any of these when you get to the point of ‘wow, this is really hard’. Dead hang and Farmer carry especially.

  • Dead Hang – two minutes
  • 90 degrees at the knee static squat – 2 minutes
  • VO2 max is in the 75th percentile
    • Use this link to determine a submaximal measure of this and then input it into this percentile ranking tool. Farmer carry your body weight for two minutes (75% body weight for women)
  • Farmer carry for two minutes
    • Men – 100% of body weight
    • Women – 75% of body weight

You can incorporate a few others into the mix: vertical jump and deadlifting your body weight ten times. I think it’s safe to say you want to be in the 75th percentile or higher for vertical. Age-related norms for vertical can be seen here, but they are reported in centimetres.

Enjoy the challenge these tests provide but do so safely.

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Holy Shiitake: Can Mushrooms Actually Be Medicinal?

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

Mushrooms are currently one of the most sought-after functional foods. We see them in every form, from teas, tinctures, chunks, and capsules, in some protein and greens powders. 

Over 270 different mushroom species have been identified to show anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial (think penicillin), and immune support. These benefits are attributed to some of their vitamin and mineral content, but most of their benefit is derived from their fibre content! 

One such fibre found in high quantities in mushrooms is 𝛽-glucan (beta-glucan) which is known for lowering blood pressure and blood sugar and for its anti-tumoral and antioxidant properties. 

On top of all that, as we’ve discussed in our previous articles on the benefits of a healthy microbiome, the fibres in mushrooms help take care of our gut bacteria too! And to learn about all the good health our microbiome generates for us, read our article here. 

No wonder the interest in studying these functional foods has taken off. Studies done in humans are growing, but most have been done on mice. However, the human studies we have so far show some promising outcomes. Here are a few to date:

Shiitake Mushrooms:

  • Daily intake of about 5-10 shiitake mushrooms over four weeks 
  • Increased number of white blood cells (gamma delta = first-line defence, NK = kill cancer cells)
  • Lowered markers of chronic inflammation (C-Reactive Protein)
  • Can indicate improved immune function and anti-cancer potential

Reishi Mushrooms

  • Reishi supplementation and chemo & radiation showed a positive response in improving the quality of life but not on survival rates.
  • Improved tumour response rates when used with chemo & radiation therapy
  • No decrease in tumour size when used alone
  • Can indicate reishi as a safe and effective adjunct to conventional cancer therapy

White Button Mushrooms 

  • Done for recurrent prostate cancer at about 1 cup of mushrooms daily
  • Decreased PSA (an indicator of prostate cancer progression) levels and kept in remission 1 in 18 participants 
  • Of 36 participants, four saw a drop of over 50% in their PSA levels
  • Two had a complete reduction in PSA levels,  measuring at 0 (undetectable levels) even after 40 months
  • Can indicate a one in nine chance you can reduce PSA levels by at least 50%
  • Can indicate a one in 18 chance that someone can achieve sustained remission without any side effects or toxicity

Due to all the antioxidant healing properties that start in the gut when we eat mushrooms, or a diet rich in fibre, studies are also finding a correlation between mushrooms and colon cancer prevention. 

So, our takeaway, mushrooms can be a medicinal food – not to mention they are delicious. Whether you enjoy mushrooms in soups, chilis, sautéed or puréed, go ahead and incorporate them into your regular rotation. 

It’s best to cook your mushrooms for two reasons. One to break down their tough cell walls and access the valuable nutrients inside. Two, some raw mushrooms can be toxic, but the heat will destroy these toxins, making them safe to eat. 

For those strapped for time in the kitchen or who don’t like the taste of mushrooms, creative products like powders & capsules come in handy, so you don’t miss out on all their healing, health-promoting benefits!

References:

Dai X, Stanilka JM, Rowe CA, et al. Consuming Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) Mushrooms Daily Improves Human Immunity: A Randomized Dietary Intervention in Healthy Young Adults. J Am Coll Nutr. 2015;34(6):478-87.

Jin X, Ruiz Beguerie J, Sze DM, Chan GC. Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushroom) for cancer treatment. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;(6):CD007731.

Popović V, Živković J, Davidović S, Stevanović M, Stojković D. Mycotherapy of cancer: An update on cytotoxic and antitumor activities of mushrooms, bioactive principles and molecular mechanisms of their action. Curr Top Med Chem. 2013;13(21):2791-806.

Roupas P, Keogh J, Noakes M, Margetts C, Taylor P. Mushrooms and agaritine: a mini-review. J Funct Foods 2010;2:91-8.

Tanaka A, Nishimura M, Sato Y, Sato H, Nishihira J. Enhancement of the Th1-phenotype immune system by the intake of oyster mushroom (Tamogitake) extract in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. J Tradit Complement Med. 2015;6(4):424-30.

Twardowski P, Kanaya N, Frankel P, et al. A phase I trial of mushroom powder in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: Roles of cytokines and myeloid-derived suppressor cells for Agaricus bisporus-induced prostate-specific antigen responses. Cancer. 2015;121(17):2942-50.

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Is your sleep increasing or decreasing information

By Tim Irvine

Everyone loves a good night’s sleep. The feeling we get is almost euphoric when it happens, so why wouldn’t we love it? Besides the conscious happiness we have with good sleep, so many subconscious, biochemical benefits help our health over the short and long term.

We have also come to understand the evidence linking inflammation to poor health is conclusive. Knowing what causes inflammation is critical if we want to avoid various forms of the disease, poor mental health, and an inability for injuries to heal well. That’s where the quality of our sleep comes in.

Is there a link between sleep and inflammation? You bet there is.

A recent Harvard Health article examines the effect of poor sleep on inflammation. Sleep deprivation, particularly that of deep sleep, leads to increases in inflammation for several reasons:

  • An increase in inflammatory molecules within the body
  • Cells in blood vessel walls that activate inflammation are triggered because blood pressure does not decline as it would with proper sleep
  • A build-up of protein in the brain creates inflammation

Twenty-five percent of Canadians suffer from sleep issues that prevent them from getting the quality sleep they need. Then there is the portion that doesn’t know they have issues. This means a good percentage of our population is not getting adequate sleep and are therefore prone to health-damaging inflammation.

If you have trouble getting to or staying asleep, you have a more concerning form of sleep deprivation. If you fall asleep easily and sleep through the night, that’s good. If you do so but sleep less than 7 hours, you may not get enough quality cycles in, which can lead to inflammation build-up.

Getting an understanding of your unique sleep patterns is important. After all, knowledge is power. If you are certain you have a sleep issue, consult a medical professional specializing in sleep. If you are uncertain and curious, do the same, or you can turn to sleep measurement devices like an Oura Ring to gain some valuable data. I am a perfect example of how objective data can be of benefit. I consistently had seven hours from lights out to my alarm going off but using one of these devices; I found out I was not getting the cycles of deep sleep I needed. I added a full hour to my sleep pattern and have felt much better.

Add this knowledge and habit to your anti-inflammatory toolbox, and you will experience immediate and long-term benefits. You will be happy you did.