Cool New Lab Tests: Functional Nutritional In-House Lab Tests

We've been excited about a series of new lab tests that we have been putting together at our clinic and are now offering to new or existing patients. The cool thing about them is that they can be done in-house, with results within a few minutes, and are cost-effective.

The information from the seven tests is useful to help guide you to understanding how well your body is functioning and if you have a healthy mineral status (calcium and zinc).

My favourite tests are the Urinary Indicans Test which reveals the health of your digestive tract (the degree of 'dysbiosis' or toxic bowel) and the Koenisburg's Adrenal Test, which helps to assess the state of your adrenal glands, which can be depleted if you are under chronic stress.

We can also help you determine your blood type and recommend a basis for your diet, that best suits your genetic makeup according to your blood type (ie. based on the theories in The Blood Type Diet by Dr.Peter D'Adamo).

Here is a complete list of the new functional nutritional tests we now offer at Zentai Wellness Centre:

Urinalysis: For the urinalysis test, you will provide a urine sample. A ten-patch test strip will be dipped into a urine sample. Within a couple of minutes, you will have results determining the following:

•Specific Gravity (concentrating & diluting power of kidneys)
•pH (acidity/alkalinity)
•Leukocytes (infection)
•Nitrite (significant bacteria)
•Protein
•Glucose
•Ketone Bodies
•Urobilinogen
•Bilirubin
•Blood and Hemoglobin

Zinc Sufficiency Test: Zinc is crucial for many possesses in the body, however many of us are deficient. By swishing a zinc solution for 20 seconds, you will find out your zinc levels.

Koenisburg's Test (Adrenals): With a simple urine sample, the results of this test will be able to provide information on the state of health of your adrenals.

Urinary Indican Test (Dysbiosis): Interested in the state of your bowels? This test, looking for indicans (resulting from incompletely digested protein, proliferation of harmful bacteria, and a permeable bowel wall) in your urine, can give you a glimpse of your level of toxicity (dysbiosis) or clear state of bowel health.

Sulkowitch Test: Serum calcium levels can be determined through a urine sample. Calcium is associated with many conditions such as osteoporiosis, osteopenia, arthritis, and hyptertension. Find out your calcium levels with the Sulkowitch Test.

Blood Type: Are you a universal donor or receiver? Find out your blood type with this quick blood test, using only a few drops of blood from your finger. We also offer Blood Type Diet consultations which helps you cater your meals to your specific blood type.

pH Test: Our pH saliva test, will determine the acidity/alkalinity of your body.

More info about these tests on our website.

Sprout Botanicals - Now available at The Big Carrot!!



Sprout Botanicals is a natural baby skincare line that Makoto and I founded over a year ago.  I started to compound natural and gentle skincare products in our clinic compounding room for my pediatric patients that were struggling with sensitive skin. 

My first product that I made was Sprout Botanicals Soothing Balm....a natural, petroleum free alternative to Vaseline.  You can slather it on an irritated diaper rash, itchy eczema, dry lips and nose or mix a dollop of it into your favorite moisturizer for added hydration.

Sprout Botanical products are completely natural and free of harsh chemicals and preservatives.  They are safe to use on delicate baby skin but are also great for adults with sensitive skin including eczema, rosacea and psoriasis.

The newest store to carry Sprout Botanicals is The Big Carrot Natural Food Market.  For a more complete list of where to find Sprout Botanicals or more information about our entire product line, please visit www.sproutbotanicals.com.

Flexible Quinoa Salad - safe to bring to dinner parties!

This is one of our favourite naturopathic-friendly go-to recipes that can easily be altered to suit your tastes or pantry supplies. The bonus of this very healthy (and dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, vegan) recipe is that it is safe enough to bring to dinner parties (ie. not too weird-looking and enough flavour to appeal to everyone's tastebuds, even for those who aren't health-conscious). We have tested variations of this recipe out at a few potluck parties, and it always gets rave reviews.

Flexible Quinoa Salad

Ingredients
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups water
pinch of salt

½ cup dried apricots or cranberries, finely diced
½ cup red bell pepper
½ cup yellow bell pepper
¾ cup toasted pine nuts, cashews pecans or walnuts
¼ cup chopped cilantro or basil

Vinaigrette
grated lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon
splash of balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil

Directions
1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water then pour into a fine meshed strainer and rinse again under running water (if not rinsed well, quinoa tends to be bitter).
2. Bring water to boil and add salt, then stir in the quinoa.
3. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 15min. Taste the grain. There should be just a little resistance and the opaque spiraled ring of germ should show. If necessary continue cooking until done.
4. Pour into strainer and set it to drain over a bowl.
5. Toast all the nuts either in a dry pan or the mini oven works great too! Just put them on some foil in the mini oven, watch them carefully and stir often because they may burn.
6. Combine the apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro in a large bowl.
7. Mix together the ingredients for the vinaigrette and add to the bowl of yummy apricots, peppers, nuts and cilantro.
8. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the bowl. Give it a good mix and ENJOY!

Warming Foods for the Cooler Weather: A Chinese Medicine Perspective

Seems like in the last couple of weeks, everyone has been getting sick from coast to coast (we noticed it in Toronto and then when we went to Vancouver for Aileen's sister's wedding, people were hacking out their lungs). Part of the problem is that the weather has been cooling down, and as happens every year, we neglect to protect ourselves with adequate clothing.

Yesterday I saw people wearing parkas, others wearing shorts, and some wearing parkas with shorts(??). What this means is that those people that are holding on to the last remnants of summer by continuing to wear their summer wardrobe (not that I can blame em...I'm having a really hard time giving up my flipflops) are going to be chilled, and thereby at a higher risk of infection, such as the common cold.

For decades, conventional thinking has dismissed the correlation between cold weather and risk of infection because of Pasteur's germ theory of medicine. The germ theory explains that infection is based on exposure of a host to a pathogenic organism. The component that this theory neglects is the immune state of the host, which can be compromised by exposure to negative stressors, such as cold weather. Mothers and grandmothers have been telling us ad nauseum for eons to "dress warmly" and their theory has been vindicated by a review article in 2007 in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, which clarifies that there is a relation between repiratory tract infection incidence and exposure to cold: Exposure to Cold and Respiratory Tract Infections.

Further to this study, in 2005 at the Common Cold Center at Cardiff University, Claire Johnson and Professor Ron Eccles conducted a study that involved immersing participants' feet in cold water for twenty minutes. The participants' incidence of catching a common cold within the next few days was 29%, which was much higher than the control group, which was only 9%.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has acknowledged this phenomenon for thousands of years, and termed pathologies created by exposure to cold as "Wind-Cold Invasion". Much of TCM theory is based on Yin versus Yang qualities, which includes respectively, Cold and Heat characteristics.

Based upon changes of seasons, TCM also recommends changing cooking methods and types of foods based on their inherent cooling or warming qualities, to balance out the energies we are exposed to from the environment.

Cooking methods that impart "heat" into foods include roasting, baking and steaming. A raw food diet may be beneficial to some people who have a more yang or hot constitution, but may be detrimental in the cooler months from October to March.

Below, I have summarized common warming and cooling foods from each particular food group. During the fall, winter, and early spring, stick to neutral and warming food types, and in the summer, switch to cooling foods.

• Warming Vegetables: sweet potato, parsnips, cilantro, green onions, cabbage, beets, turnips, pumpkin, shiitake mushrooms
• Cooling Vegetables: broccoli, eggplant, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, radish, celery


• Warming Fruits: blackberry, cherry, date, peach, lychee
• Cooling Fruits: apple, banana, watermelon, strawberry, grapefruit, avocado


• Warming Grains: oats, quinoa, rice, spelt, rye
• Cooling Grains: barley, wheat, wild rice, millet


• Nuts and seeds are generally all neutral, with some warming nuts including coconut, pinenut, chestnut and walnut.
  
• Most meats are warm or neutral. Cool meats are frog and rabbit. I know this may be extremely challenging, but please make sure to limit your intake of frog and rabbit meat in the winter.


• Most beans are neutral, with the exception of the cooling beans mung, soy, and lima beans.


• Herbs are generally warming foods. If they are added to a recipe, they will provide more heat to the final food. There are some cooling herbs to avoid in the winter time: marjoram, mint and tamarind

TCM also considers a protective energy called your Wei Qi (akin to your immune system), that can be easily depleted by exposure of your neck to cold winds. So, like your mom always told you, DONT FORGET TO WEAR YOUR SCARF.

Wonderful Weddings in September!!!!

We just came back from Vancouver to help my sister and our new brother-in-law celebrate their AMAZING wedding on September 12, 2010!!!  CONGRATULATIONS Elisa and Denis!!!  September is a big wedding month for our family.  My wonderful parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary on the 10th of September.......

And Makoto and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on the 9th of September!



Denis and Elisa were absolutely glowing on their wedding day and I credit this to their incredible ability to stay grounded throughout the entire wedding planning process.  They made sure to take care of themselves, exercise, sleep well and eat well up until the day before the wedding and while half of the wedding party had caught a bug or were completely exhausted from a week long of pre-wedding celebrations, Elisa and Denis were the picture of perfect health!  We all had an incredible time and they really went all out including a beautiful fireworks show (with heart shaped fireworks!!!) and....Makoto's favorite....a photobooth!!!  Congratulations Elisa and Denis...we love you!!!

Air Purifying House Plants

These are the two little plants in our bedroom that we count on to purify our bedroom air. 

 

The extent to which they can clean our air is unknown but what we do know is that new infrastructure and construction sites are rising up all over the city, road maintenance is a regular occurrence, and smog produced by our daily usage of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and coal, are major contributors to Toronto’s poor air quality and pollution.

North Americans spend 90% of their time indoors. We would except that this would decrease our exposure to air bound toxins. However, air quality indoors is often times just as, if not more, toxic! There are at least 300 known toxic substances found indoors ranging from insulation, sealants, paints, to household cleaners, detergents, and even carpet. Three most common air pollutants found indoors are formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. Poor indoor air quality often results to a condition called Sick Building Syndrome which includes symptoms such as allergies, asthma, eye, nose and throat irritations, headaches, fatigue, sinus and respiratory congestion.

In the 1970s, NASA conducted many studies in search for solutions to maintain air quality inside confined spaces (e.g. space pods). Results showed that plants, through the process of photosynthesis, can break down contaminants and greatly reduce indoor air pollutants!

It is recommended to have one mid-sized houseplant per 100 square feet in your home or office.

Here is a list of the top plants that will help to naturally detoxify indoor air for cleaner breathing:

Aloe

Apothos

Bamboo Palm
Chinese Evergreen

English Ivy

Gerbera Daisy

Janet Craig

Marginata

Mass cane/Corn Plant

Mother-in-Law’s Tongue

Pot Mum

Peace Lily

Warneckii

In addition to air purification and detoxification, plants can add many additional benefits:

-  Studies have found that plants can help to reduce stress (lowers blood pressure and heart rate).

-  Plants can help with productivity and creativity as they allow us to relax and focus

-  Plants can keep the air in our homes from getting too dry by increasing humidity

-  Plants aid in reducing noise - add a few by your windows to reduce noise from outside

Add a few plants to your home and give them some TLC. They offer you so much in return!

Give a plant a home today!

If you need further assistance or want to purchase air-purifying houseplants, contact Paul (he is super knowledgeable and very, very nice!) at Bloom The Flower Company (1009 Yonge Street, at Crescent Road), 416.324.9900.

It's Officially Fall: Does the Cold Weather Cause The Cold/Flu? Tips on How to Adapt to the Cooler Weather

I know it's not Sept. 21st yet but for me, there are 3 things that make it Fall:


1.  For the first time since Spring, the weather is cool enough that I wanted to come home and take a warm lavender bubble bath, make a cup of tea (it's the first Saturday in months that we didn't come home and open up a bottle of white wine!) and then pull out extra blankets for Makoto, Rambo and me.


2.  While at our friend's (gorgeous) penthouse abode, I had a bird's eye view of the luscious green trees turning red in Allan Gardens.....tear.


3.  I picked up the September issues of Vogue and Bazaar....this confirms that it's officially Fall.


In Chinese medicine, many philosophies on health are directly related to the changes in seasons.  As leaves fall off trees, flowers stop blooming and several plants become dormant, they are conserving their energy in their seeds and roots to prepare and survive the winter.  We should also take cues from nature and use this time to conserve our energy as the Fall and Winter are designated the "yin" seasons where our bodies priorities shift towards recharging and nurturing our "qi" (inner energy).


Now...this doesn't mean stock up on cheetos and become a couch potato until March.  But it does mean that the Fall and Winter are a fantastic time for renewing, exploring, starting fresh and taking care of yourself.  I make a lot of referenes to Chinese Medicine in this blog post so you'll either think this is interesting or that I'm talking about a lot of mystical voodoo weirdness, but whichever camp you are on (or maybe somewhere in between) I hope you can take something from these tips which can help you stay healthy and happy during the Fall and Winter: