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Tag Archives: GUT HEALTH

Categories GENERAL HEALTH

2020’s Magic Beverage…. Nutritionist Endorsed!

So you’re wondering about all of those little bottles that stare back at you in the supermarket claiming to cure all ailments from dodgy stomachs, to stubborn cellulite, to acne-prone skin?

Fear not. We are here to hold your hand through the noise and tell you the absolute MUST drink beverage for 2020. We love it SO MUCH that we even have this beverage available in the clinic for you when you book your appointment.

This beverage will:

  • help you to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight
  • help you stay regular ‘down there’
  • help to prevent you from overeating
  • help with inflammation of the joints and ligaments by providing lubrication
  • flush out body waste (a trendy way of saying this is ‘detoxing’ your body)
  • help make your skin GLOW
  • help to boost your energy
  • help you to get a good night’s sleep

Geez. You must be thinking right now, I bet if it does all of those things… it must be a bit exy right?
Well actually….. its completely FREE! It comes straight from the tap, and we are NOT getting enough of it! You can see Lexi the Lab demonstrating just how delicious and irresistible WATER truly is!

Ahhhh. Sorry about that. Just another truth buster team, its what we do best here at The Balanced Nutritionist.
Seriously BEFORE you turn to ANY expensive super beverages you need to absolutely ensure that you are drinking at least 2L of pure water each and every single day. MORE if you are male and broad because quite simply you have even more cells than an average person to hydrate.

For more truth busters, check out some of the blogs on our website. And if you’re lost in the hype of 2020 fads then we’re just a click of a button away.

Ph: (07) 3063 2710 for queries / appointments.

 

Categories Gut Health, Gut Health

All I Want For Christmas Is… A Good Poop!

We just could not resist a Christmas countdown post…. But, seriously… constipation is no laughing matter. And we know for many, a good reliable poop is the stuff of dreams. 

Constipation is the inability to pass stools regularly or empty your bowels completely. Some people who suffer from constipation may pass stools less than three times per week, they may be hard or dry stools, there may be straining, a feeling of incomplete evacuation or complete inability to pass at all.

Pooing at least once per day up to 3 times per day is normal.

You’ll be relieved to know that most cases of constipation can be successfully resolved by eating a diet high in fibre, drinking more fluids and exercising daily.

Here are our top tips for keeping things moving… and achieving a good reliable poop. ⠀

  • Eat a whole food diet with a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit and whole grains. Many people hear this advice, but simply do not know how to put it into practice – this is where we come in. Book your appointment here
  • Increase your fibre intake – add chia or flax seeds, leafy green vegetables, and fruits like pears, kiwi, prunes and apple. (Tip – do this slowly… and pay attention to the next point below).
  • Keep hydrated – drink at least 2 litres of water per day. Minimum. When did we all forget about water? 
  • Exercise daily. Go for a walk. A light jog if you can. These things can help stimulate ‘movement’ down there…. Ask any runner, and one of the benefits they may cite is ‘it also keeps me regular.’ 
  • Go to the toilet as soon as you feel the urge – don’t wait! Psychologically, you will keep telling your brain this over and over and over again until… it will do all of the holding for you! 
  • Use a footstool or ‘squatty potty’ to elevate your feet when on the toilet. Other cultures don’t sit to poop. And to be honest, squatting is an easier position to eliminate from. Squatty potties are much more common these days.
  • Give yourself an abdominal massage. 

Tried all of these things? Embarrassed about it? Still not getting a good reliable poop? LOTS of people have problems down there, Nicole has even shared her story about this very topic. Read it HERE.

Maybe you aren’t sure where to start? Give us a shout at The Balanced Nutritionist so we can gradually help you ease the discomfort through your nutrition and appropriate gut supplementation if necessary. 

Categories GENERAL HEALTH

Welcome Nicole

Hello, I’m Nicole. I’m a Clinical Nutritionist, certified Metabolic Balance® Coach, and lover of avocado, coffee, chocolate and the beach and I started here at the Balanced Nutritionist in early July 2019.

My food philosophy is simple: eating nutritious, whole, real foods will provide your body with the nutrients it needs to be healthy and vibrant.

I also believe that healthy eating is not about deprivation. It’s important to give ourselves permission to indulge in the foods we love, without guilt, because good nutrition and good health is also about having a healthy relationship with food.

My Story

I’ve had tummy troubles for as long as I can remember. My gut has always been unpredictable and a bit ‘sluggish’. As a child, I remember going days without, you know, going and taking a book to the toilet (because I’d be sitting there for a while!). As I got older my symptoms got worse – bloating almost every day, abdominal pain (which sometimes felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach), and difficulty going to the toilet alternating with diarrhoea.

My digestive issues were compounded by overseas travel and several bouts of ‘Bali Belly’ (in Bali, as well as Africa, Turkey, Bosnia and Fiji), taking the OCP (oral contraceptive pill) for 10 years (which I now know can impact on your gut microbiome and increase your risk of gastrointestinal conditions, such as IBS and IBD), poor dietary choices and a stressful job.

In my mid-twenties, desperate to get to the bottom (excuse the pun) of my digestive issues, I visited numerous doctors and specialists, only to be told that I “probably” had IBS.

No one tested me for food intolerances, talked to me about how stress can affect our digestion, considered that the pill may be contributing to my digestive woes or recommended that I make dietary changes. That was until I went to see a Natural Health Practitioner for a different health concern. She suggested that I make some dietary changes and I felt better, almost immediately!

While that wasn’t the end of my journey (it took years of self-discovery to restore my digestive balance), it was the start of my journey to becoming a Nutritionist.

Fast forward to today, and my tummy is much happier – I seldom experience stomach aches or bloating (unless I choose to eat something that I know won’t agree with me) and I go to the toilet easily, every day. My overall health has also greatly improved – my weight has stabilised without me even trying (or worrying about how many calories I’m consuming), I now have more energy, consistently throughout the day and, most importantly, I feel really good both physically and emotionally. This lead me to want to help other people to feel better too!

Helping clients to optimise their health, sort out their digestive issues, improve their skin and release unwanted weight is a real passion of mine. And, thanks to my own health journey, I have a genuine appreciation of the struggles that many of you are living with day in, day out.

Before life as a Nutritionist, I worked in a demanding corporate job, so I know that it can be difficult to prioritise your health and eat ‘right’ when you lead a busy lifestyle, juggling work and family commitments. My goal is to provide you with individualised nutrition strategies that fit you, your lifestyle and your health goals.

A few more things about me

I live with my husband, Greg and fur-child, Billy the Westie.

I was born in Sydney, but my family moved to Brisbane when I was 2. I have two younger sisters and four beautiful nieces, a handsome nephew, and another niece or nephew on the way.

I am not ashamed to admit that I am slightly obsessed with my dog (Billy). He’s treated like a human in our house, my personal Instagram account is mostly photos of him and I usually greet him before my husband when I get home. I’ve always loved animals and once wanted to become a vet when I grew up.

I am a multi-tasker. I am usually doing multiple things at once and always have numerous tabs open on every device. 

I look forward to going to the farmer’s markets on a Sunday morning to pick up fresh produce for the week ahead.

I love pouring through home magazines and buying homewares.

My go-to outfit is jeans and a blue and white striped top (I have at least 10 in my wardrobe).

I am a self-confessed neat-freak and actual enjoy organising things, especially my pantry. 

I start every day with a cup of tea.

Categories Uncategorized

What’s Coeliac Disease?

As we close off this week, we say goodbye to the end of Coeliac Awareness Week in Australia so I thought it was fitting to right a post about this misunderstood condition.

According to the Coeliac Australia website, 1 in 70 Australians have coeliac disease… but 4 out of 5 of them are walking around undiagnosed. So far in clinic just this year to date, I’ve have 7 of my clients tested privately for coeliac disease (a cost of about $60) and 6 of these have come back with positive antibodies. You could say I have a good hit rate when spotting this condition and its signs!

Coeliac Disease is an extremely serious condition and early diagnosis is ideal as it can have serious consequences if left untreated.  It is very different from gluten intolerance because it is autoimmune in nature, meaning that its a condition where the body essentially turns on itself. In the case of coeliac disease, the body begins attacking its own villi, which are tiny projections lining the small intestine allowing us to absorb nutrients from our food. When these start being destroyed, absorption is severely compromised. For this reason, early signs include a lack of energy (because fuel can’t be extracted efficiently from food), unexplained low iron levels, low B12 levels, depression and a visible lack of vitality. In some cases, bumps or rashes on the body may be present because having coeliac disease is a bit like being allergic to gluten. Gastrointestinal symptoms may range from generalized bloating, to ‘constant pins and needles’ in the gut, to full blown cramps and pain in the belly particularly after ingesting gluten. IBS like bowel motions may also be present. When its left untreated for a long time, the gut can simply become overactive to lots of different foods  because its so inflamed.

Coeliac disease can also be silent (symptomless), making it even more tricky to spot!

Long term, if left undiagnosed, we know that bone health will be affected (due to impaired nutrient absorption) and this condition has also been linked with infertility.

Coeliac disease does have a genetic component so anyone who relates to this symptom list who also has a relative with an autoimmune condition should discuss the possibility of coeliac disease with their health professional or book an appointment here.

Gluten free eating has become incredibly trendy in recent years and in part, I do believe this has contributed to less people being properly tested for coeliac disease. Firstly, some people simply remove gluten from their diet without being properly tested. I believe in the importance of diagnosis by your GP / a specialist because it generally equates for a much stricter approach to ‘gluten free’ plus you need to warn relatives as they may also need to be tested.

Secondly, i believe some people aren’t being tested because some health professionals  may be a little frustrated with everything being blamed on dairy or gluten! This is sometimes the feedback i get from clients anyway, when they have requested testing. I do think its important we ‘screen’ with lots of symptoms and test genuinely likely cases. I find it fairly easy with a few leading questions to determine if there may be a real problem with gluten or if its simply being avoided for other reasons.

Finally, we all need take ownership over our health by booking in with a health professional to thoroughly discuss any changes in symptoms as opposed to simply relying on Googling  information.

There are cases where testing for coeliac disease does come back negative but a person’s health may improve when they remain off gluten and this is typically coined as ‘non-coeliac gluten sensitivity.’

There are also cases when the dietary culprit for health problems, particularly gastrointestinal have nothing to do with gluten at all so again, its critical to seek professional health.

Gluten is not always the devil, but when it is, it can be the stuff of nightmares.

Think you may have a problem with gluten, be a coeliac or just have a really reactive gut and no idea why? Drop me a line and we can organise a time to sort it out.

 

Categories GENERAL HEALTH

Gut health: It’s not a new thing

Over the past few years, there has been increasing attention given to the importance of gut health for everything from mental health to weight management and everything in between. Whilst it’s great that this important topic is being given so much attention, some aspects of this attention cause frustrations for us nutritionists and other practitioners in the health sphere.

Firstly, I’d like to give you a brief history. People working in the nutrition and natural health sphere have been emphasising the importance of gut health for longer than I have been on this Earth. Actually, Hippocrates is the famous Greek physician who first raised the flag by stating, “all disease begins in the gut” over 2000 years ago. So, this is NOT a new concept, it’s simply made its way into mainstream media and, therefore, mainstream acceptance.

Since then, up until the last say 10 years, those who have emphasised gut health have, at times, been ridiculed, laughed at and disrespected. Hmmm, I wonder what other ‘quirky concepts’ we might come to accept in the next decade?! I acknowledge those practitioners who stood by this belief and say thanks, they were the real pioneers, and I can understand if they are slightly miffed by the total ‘about-face’ on this issue.

Secondly, if we’re going to accept gut health as ‘fact’ at last, there are some other principles we need to understand. The fundamentals of nutritional and natural medicine teach us that there’s no one magic pill. There is no quick fix. Health is a continual journey, involving physical, mental and even spiritual health, the latter of which will mean something different to everyone. And yet, I feel there is a misguided belief developing that you can ‘cure’ some serious ailments by simply popping a few probiotics or adding kombucha to your diet. Whilst this may help on some level, it’s not really that simple.

Your digestive system is a pretty delicate ecosystem. The ‘microbiome’ of our body is literally all around us – inside the bowel, on the skin, in the nasal cavities, under and over your nail bed. There’s literally billions of organisms making up that ecosystem and each one of them individually has over 100 times as many genes as a single human being. So, wanting to alter the entire expression of the gut to move towards health and away from disease is going to take more than a few days, weeks or even months.

Consider the Amazon rainforest… Think of the rates of deforestation occurring there. Then consider that a foreign weed has taken hold and has spread amongst the remaining environment. Imagine what kind of effort it would take to not only eradicate the weeds, but to replant and regrow the rainforest to its former glory. This is EXACTLY what our guts are like.

High stress, medications, antibiotics, processed foods, chemical exposure, lack of sleep, obesity, not enough fibre, food poisoning, foreign bugs, air travel and the list goes on… these are all little assaults to our overall gut health that may alter the balance of ‘forest’ to ‘weed’ and destroy the overall population.

But, while we can take steps to reduce our exposure to some of the above, they are all necessary evils at times, aren’t they? So hence, gut health and health in general will always be a work in progress.

If you want to start nurturing your digestive system and combating some of the daily assaults it may face, start with the basics before you brew your own kombucha or blow $50 on a probiotic that may or may not be therapeutically dosed (read more here).

Here are some ways to start nurturing your gut:

  • Eat your vegetables. That’s 4-5 cups a day. This means that for two meals each day you need to fill at least half of your plate when colourful stuff. Vegetables = fibre = fertiliser for your gut!
  • Drink water. Pure, filtered water. Not the sugary crap.
  • Sleep. If you can’t sleep, then get help.
  • Manage your stress. Get offline. Stop overthinking. Can’t? Find a strategy that works for you to enable this to happen.
  • Manage your weight.
  • Do all of the above so you stay healthy and won’t have to take medications or antibiotics.

Nurturing your gut health is a lifelong commitment. Just like being healthy. Those bugs co-inhabit your body alongside you and if you look after them, they will look after you!

Categories GENERAL HEALTH

PROBIOTICS – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Thanks to the emerging interest in all things ‘gut health’ related I am seeing many clients coming into the clinic who are already taking a probiotic.

9 times out of 10, after taking a case history, I arrive at the inevitable point that the probiotic they are taking isn’t going to work out for them and it’s probably doing very little to help their specific condition. So, to help your hip pocket, here are some basic things to consider if you simply want to purchase a probiotic for ‘general gut health’ so you spend your $ on something useful.

  1. Is there anything wrong with your gut? Are you uncomfortable after eating, feeling bloated or over full, experiencing pain or reflux or have constipation or diarrhea? If yes to any of these then consider a consult because 1 probiotic isn’t going to fix it. You need to look at food, lifestyle and potentially other supplements instead of an immediate probiotic.
  2. Probiotics are ‘strain specific.’ The strains should be listed on the bottle. This will generally mean that each ingredient has 3 parts. E.g. Bifidobacterium lactis Bi-07. If it doesn’t list all 3 names then you don’t really know what you are taking. So you can’t really be sure what the probiotic is for. Because each of these strains may benefit different systems. E.g. some strains may assist with immune health, others help in diarrhea management, others assist with constipation, some have research to support their use in allergies. You see what I mean? Do you go car shopping and buy a car? Or do you go and but a Ford Mustang 2017? (nice car by the way).
  3. If you know the strain and you are hungry for knowledge, you can look it up yourself. Type the strain into google. What comes up? I mean, scientifically validated research etc. Is there science to back up its use?
  4. Fridge stable… are you sure? Did you read the label? Does it say ‘fridge stable’ to 25 degrees? Remember we live in QLD… some of these fridge stables are likely fine off the shelf in Tasmania but not in Brisvegas. No point taking ‘dead’ bacteria.
  5. CFU: colony forming units. These bacteria are little. Teeeny tiny. And they are measured in ‘colony forming units.’ Get something a bit gutsy. Some of the brands available have 1 to 2 million CFU per capsule and that’s not going to really do too much. Therapeutically, very generally speaking, a good probiotic will offer 10 times this amount minimum. (N.B. with the exception of sacchroymysis boulardi strain, measured differently, more a yeast than a bacteria).
  6. Is there someone in the shop you can talk to? A nutritionist or a naturopath on the floor? A lot of pharmacists and health food shops will have someone professional on the floor. And hopefully I am hoping your eyes to the fact that ‘taking a probiotic’ doesn’t fully answer the question ‘what are you taking.’
  7. Have you thought about feeding your own friendlies? Maybe that’s a good place to start? You can encourage the health of your own gut bacteria by eating fibre rich foods and resistant starches… probiotics are transient.
  8. Are you buying online? Is the product TGA regulated? Reread my post on supplements, I personally don’t stock anything anymore that is not TGA listed. Or promote anything for that matter.
  9. More is not necessarily better. I..e if there are heaps of bacteria in it, doesn’t mean necessarily its better than just 2 or 3 strains. Refer to point 2 and 5. Also if it is just for ‘general health’ consider that strains in the ‘bifido’ and ‘lacto’ families are the main ones in our gut.

I hope that helped. And not confused you. I simply see many people spending hundreds of dollars on well marketed natural supplements including probiotics and then deciding it doesn’t work. It does. It’s just that there’s a bit more too it then just picking something off the shelf like dress shopping and trying it on for size. Furthermore, supplements are supplements… they don’t work unless you do. I.e. they supplement a good, basic, whole foods diet. And make up for the extra demands we are putting on our bodies in this day and age.