Healthy Weight Loss

 

Have you ever lost weight on a diet only to gain it all right back? This is an all too common scenario and the problem often lies in your metabolism.

Extreme dieting puts your body into starvation mode, so your body starts to break down muscle tissue for energy. This is exactly the wrong kind of weight to be losing, since muscle burns calories. If you lose muscle you lose the ability to burn calories.


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When the diet is over and you want to go back to eating normally, you start to gain weight, but this time in the form of fat.

Maintain a healthy body composition

Your body is composed of two types of tissues: body fat and lean body mass. The lean body mass is made up of your organs, bone, water and muscle. We can measure these tissues through a test called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to gain a more accurate picture of your body composition. When losing weight the question is: are you losing fat, water or muscle? We want to target the fat tissue.

Achieve healthy weight loss

Our goal is to help you reach results that last through healthy body composition. This way as you lose weight you can keep your metabolism going strong.

Another benefit of returning to a healthy body composition? You are also reducing the risk for disease. Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, arthritis and osteoporosis can all be significantly reduced by proper body composition.

You will receive nutritional advice that is specific to your needs and your progress will be followed using the BIA body composition test. This is not a crash diet; rather it is a healthy way of life that you can keep up for years to come.

If you would like to get started on the right track, call us to book your appointment today.

Could your hormones be affecting your health?

 

 

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Our hormones are like messengers that control almost all our body functions. From sleep and hunger to mood, fertility and digestion, hormones are responsible for keeping all of these in check. The problem is that when our hormones are out of balance our bodies pay the price.


Some of the most common hormone imbalances include thyroid conditions, PMS, menopause or simply feeling burnt out.

 

How does a hormonal imbalance happen?

Our hormone levels are actually very sensitive to many factors including medications (such as the birth control pill), stress, diet, lifestyle and chemical exposure. Over time these factors can actually throw off your body’s hormone control.

How to test for hormones?

Blood tests are not the best way to diagnose hormonal imbalances. This is because we feel the effects of our hormones long before fluctuations can be detected in the blood.

Saliva testing is a much more sensitive test to detect hormonal changes. This test is available when you see Dr Dao.

Symptoms of a hormonal imbalance include:

Acne
Anxiety
Depression
Fatigue
Hair loss
Headaches
Insomnia
Irritability
Mood swings
Poor memory
Weight gain

Hormone replacement is not the only answer.

In fact, we want to avoid hormone replacement as much as possible. Natural medicines such as herbal and nutritional remedies should be considered first since they are the safest way to rebalance hormones. These treatments individualized for each patient’s needs.

“In my practice I see the effects of hormones everyday. Many patients come to me knowing something is not right with their body, but until now had no way of knowing what was wrong. Often they are frustrated that they are gaining weight, tired, not sleeping well and just not feeling like themselves. I see how this impacts a person in their everyday life and I am committed to helping each patient feel their best" -Dr Barbara Dao

Want to learn more about hormones?

Dr Dao will be speaking about Naturopathic Solutions to Hormone Health

Date: Tuesday May 4th 2010 at 7:00 pm

Location: Eaton Family Health Care, 38 Queen St W, Cambridge

This is a free talk, but seating is limited. Please call (519) 220-0003 to reserve your spot

How safe is wireless technology?

 

We now live in a wireless world. Like never before we are exposed to electromagnetic frequencies in our everyday lives. These signals are used for all kinds of devices including: cellular phones, cordless phones, laptop computers and any devices that use a wifi connection (that includes gaming consoles, surround sound speakers…). And the list keeps growing every year.

What we know

We know that we are sensitive to electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs). High levels of radiation, even in short exposures, are known to cause cancer. So, what is the result of a low level of radiation that we are now being faced with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? The result is an experiment in which we are now the guinea pigs.

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Actually, there is mounting evidence that all these frequencies are having a negative impact on our health.

Cancer, infertility, birth defects, insomnia, memory loss and mental decline have been linked to increasing levels of EMFs.

The scary facts:

  1. The brain is a particularly electrically sensitive tissue. Our brains do not reach full maturation until age 20. That means that children are especially sensitive to the effects of EMFs.
  2. EMFs have the ability to damage DNA. DNA damage is the mechanism that causes cancer to develop. DNA damage can also have negative effects on fertility in both women and men.
  3. Some people are particularly sensitive to EMFs, developing an illness similar to “sick building syndrome” including symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, headaches, nausea, burning skin sensation and poor mental function.

What we can do:

  1. Limit your cell phone use. Keep your conversations short or use a corded landline whenever possible.
  2. No cell phones for kids under 12.
  3. Use text messaging instead of calls whenever possible.
  4. Keep cell phones away from your body. When talking on the phone use a headset or speaker phone mode. Never carry your phone on your body.
  5. Turn off all wifi devices at night – including your wireless router, which transmits a signal through the house.
  6. Keep electronics out of the bedroom. This includes: cell phones, laptops, gaming consoles (like xbox or playstation). These devices continue to transmit frequencies even when they are not in use, so at the very least power them off. That way you can at least sleep without unnecessary radiation (that’s at least 8 hours radiation free).