Naturally Good Health Clinic
1904-B 20 Ave NW T2M 1H5 Calgary, AB, Canada

Check out our most recent newsletter! Having Trouble losing weight? This month we dive into Carb-cycling and why you might need this to break through your weight loss plateau.

MERRY CHRISTMAS we hope you’re starting to settle into the holidays, be sure to take time to relax and recharge. Enjoy the quiet this year and be thankful for all the healthy things you’ve accomplished. Wishing you all love and light this season and we can’t wait to see you all again next year! Reminder: The office will be closed from December 24th to January 5th.

I love this mug! As a Naturopathic Doctor I often feel like I spend my days trying to solve the puzzles of people’s health issues sometimes it does make me feel like a bit of a health ninja #naturopathicdoctor #healthnut #puzzlesolver #healthiswealth

Sleep Induction Techniques How can you control your cortisol levels naturally? Start with some basic sleep hygienehave a bedtime routine and a set bedtime. Our bodies love routine, so be consistent, many of you may have a sleep timer on your smart watch and this can be a helpful reminder to get yourself heading off to bed.... Have a notepad or journal by your bed to write down important thoughts that may keep you up. Make sure your bedroom is darkno bright light, alarm clock lights, street light or devices should be in the room. Do some deep breathingthis will help calm the parasympathetic nervous system and get you ready to enter sleep mode. If you live by a busy road or you know that you wake easily from noise, try a sound machine or gentle fan to help keep you asleep. Incorporate some movement early on in your daymild to moderate exercise will help to lower stress, intense exercise can actually increase cortisol levels. Get bright sunlight exposure in the morning-- if this is not possible look for a light therapy box. Morning light helps to regulate melatonin, our sleep hormone. Lastly, before bed be sure to avoid; caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and heavy meals. #insominasucks #cortisol #stress #naturalsleepsupport #naturopathicdoctor #stresshormones #sleepbetter

The new covid restrictions in Alberta mean that as of the end of day Saturday, all massage therapy and osteopathy services will be suspended for 4 weeks. Naturopathic medicine appointments will continue as usual with both in-person and online options available. If you have benefits to use up, now is the time to use them. We pride ourselves on being very diligent in following all precautions and hope that you continue to feel safe when you visit our office. All our practitione...rs are small business owners and if we can all support each other at this time, rest assured that your actions will speak louder than you know. Thank you all for your continued dedication to improving your health, supporting prevention and being proactive! We truly value and appreciate each one of you #naturopathicdoctors #localyyc #osteopathcalgary #massagetherapycalgary #selfcareishealthcare See more

Can your cortisol be high during the night? The answer is yes. Do you have some of the high cortisol signs and you’re waking in the night between 2-4 am and can’t get back to sleep for a 1-2 hours? This is a sign that your cortisol is spiking at the wrong time in it's circadian cycle. Cortisol can spike in the middle of the night instead of in the morning, typically a spike in cortisol helps us to get out of bed and get moving, but if this happens too early, it interrupts ou...r sleep pattern, leaving us to wait for 1-2 hours for our levels to drop again and then we can eventually fall back asleep (probably only to have to wake up again 1 hour later). Luckily, we find that knowing how to properly support cortisol throughout the day will help to adjust the sleep cycle back to a more regular pattern. There are lots of great natural ways to support your cortisol levels and help you rebalance your precious sleep. Stay tuned for my favourite sleep supports! Do you have high cortisol? Feelings of anxiety or low mood Mind racing Night sweats Heart palpitations Hard time falling asleep or staying asleep Diabetes, or blood sugar issues Chronic inflammation in your body Constantly feel tired in the morning #insominasucks #cortisol #stress #naturalsleepsupport #naturopathicdoctor #stresshormones #sleepbetter

Insulin Resistance and Hormone Balance // Women with PCOS and men with estrogen dominance tend to have higher levels of insulin resistance. So we find when estrogen is in balance, insulin resistance is better and vice versa. Cortisol, our stress hormone, also increase our level of insulin resistance, and when we stress more our body no longer uses carbohydrates in the same way. You still require carbs, but you need to be mindful of when you are eating them and how much you're... consuming. How do you know if your weight loss resistance is due to insulin resistance? It is best to test! Fasted insulin levels and fasted blood glucose levels will help give us the answer to your wieght loss resistance. We then use a calculation called HOMA-IR and this will give us a very good idea about your level of insulin resistance. Treating insulin resistance is something that naturopathic medicine is really good at. There are many natural phytochemicals that can help sensitize the cells to insulin, such as berberine, and minerals like chromium and vanadium that are essential co-factors to proper blood sugar regulation. Also, knowing how to time meals, and how to compose your meals so that you are not aggravating insulin resistance will help to speed your metabolism back up to where it’s supposed to be. We really feel it is best for you to know your numbers, so if you’re ready to tackle insulin resistance we want to help you get moving in the right direction! We’ve created an insulin testing package for you to be able to get your testing done, and then come in to see us to discuss your results and your next steps. Ready to get going? DM me and I'll be happy to help! #insulinresistance #weightlossresistance #knowyournumbers #naturopathicdoctor #testdontguess

Toxins and Fatty Liver // Insulin resistance can develop along with fatty liver changes. This is not necessarily due to drinking too much alcohol, it can also be from excess carb consumption, or even more commonly these days, it can be from environmental chemicalsnow we're not talking toxic smoke fog, we're actually talking about chemicals like PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) or PFOS (perfluorooctanoic acid)these are the chemicals that form a non-stick coating o...n your pots and pans, or act as weather protectors on your boots, or anti-wrinkle in your shirts. These are ubiquitous chemicals that are not easy to remove from our bodies or our world and we have seen a huge correlation between these and hormone disruption. You can also add chemicals like BPA (bisphenol A) and BPS (bisphenol S) to this list, BPA was removed from a lot of plastic containers and water bottles, only to be replaced by BPS, something possibly more toxic than BPA. We have seen a rise in type two diabetes that is similar to the rise in BPA over the same period of time. Right now, while everyone is cooking at home more than ever before, please make sure that your pots and pans are not coated in Teflon, this includes frying pans, baking sheets, and muffin tins. Use stainless steel, ceramic or cast iron pans, line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This even includes when you use healthier pans and just because you line your non-stick pans doesn’t mean they’re safe, they still off gas every time you use them. What type of frying pans do you use? Let's help each other out and share good sources of cookware. Protect the earth and protect your hormones! #fattyliver #insulinresistance #PFAS #naturopathicdoctor #cleanupyourworld

Meal Timing // Poor meal timing and eating constantly throughout the day can create insulin resistance. Most people cannot tolerate a sustained intake of food day in and day out. Eating 5-6 times a day or grazing will actually create insulin resistance. Why is that? Insulin is released in response to eating, but just like a washing machine, our digestive tract and our ability to breakdown food, has a cycle. We need to eat, process, and empty completely before we repeat. This... cycle is about 4-6 hours so when we eat before the cycle is over, we essentially restarted the process before we actually emptiedit’s like throwing dirty clothes in half way through the cycle, now the whole load is not going to come out clean. We also need a good fasting period overnight to really help our bodies reset, this is generally 12 hours, but it can be as long 16 hours-- AKA Intermittent Fasting. Have you tried Intermittent Fasting? How did you feel? Let me know, I'd love to hear your experiences! #IF #Intermittentfasting #naturopathicdoctor #insulinresistance #PCOS #hormonebalance #yycnd

Weight Loss Resistance // is something that can happen to all of us and it can have a few different root causes, but Insulin Resistance is a biggie in the fight against the bulge. What does insulin resistance even mean?Well we all know a bit about insulin, it’s the hormone secreted by the pancreas that allows glucose (ie, sugar, carbs) to enter the cells and act as energy. Think of it as the gatekeeper or key to the cell. Now, when everything is functioning normally, this l...ittle key fits into it’s space on the cell surface and glucose moves in to fuel it. But, when things go awry, we can end up with way too much insulin and it floods the space on the cell surface, blocking glucose from getting into the cell. This means that when you eat, the glucose in your body is now floating around with no place to go. So what happens to this glucose? It goes back to the liver and the liver takes this excess sugar and converts it into the storage fuelaka fat. So how do we develop insulin resistance? There are a few things that can cause this and some of these reasons may be surprising to you. The first way is fairly obvious, overeating of sugars/carbs. Flood the system with too much fuel and the body gets overwhelmed. But, what if this scenario is not so obvious, say you just mildly overeat, or you just overeat carbs at one meal a day, will this still cause insulin resistance? You bet. Stay tuned and I will continue to talk about this tricky metabolic disorder! #insulinresistance #weightlossresistance #naturopathicmedicine #naturopathicdoctor #weightloss #eatwellbewell

H.pylori I did some extra learning yesterday and this was one of the great talks about one of the microbes that really can derail your health. Did you know chronically low levels of iron is often due to a overgrowth of H. Pylori? If you’ve been struggling with chronic anemia, this is definitely something you need to be tested for. @designsforhealth.canada #dfhmastermind #chronicanemia #naturopathicdoctor #hpylori

This is what happens to pumpkins that are left out after Halloween at our house I love that half his body is inside the pumpkin! #crazysquirrels #feedingthewildlife #yycliving