Category: Articles

November 14th was World Diabetes Day, celebrated in over 160 countries around the world. It’s most certainly a global problem, but diabetes has plenty of local presence, too: over 900 000 people have been diagnosed in Ontario alone.

Diabetes affects our ability to get sugar from the blood into the cells where it’s needed to run our bodies. In Type I diabetes, there simply is no insulin to do the sugar transfer job. The pancreas is supposed to produce it, but it doesn’t.  In Type II diabetes, the pancreas produces insulin, but the cells just don’t respond to it – they’ve become “insulin resistant”.

Here’s the thing, though: Type II diabetes accounts for 90% of all diabetes cases, and it’s largely preventable.

You’ve heard that diabetes is genetic, but that’s not the entire story.  Your family may have given you susceptibility, but that’s it. The real trouble starts when you put that susceptibility in a high calorie, high fructose corn syrup, overweight environment.

But here’s the good news: if you’re heading down the genetic pathway to diabetes, you can change direction.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, clearly outlined the power of lifestyle change.  In this study, 523 people with pre-diabetes (their blood sugar was off, but not at diabetic levels yet), were given the following goals:

•    Reduce body weight by 5%
•    Reduce total dietary fat to <30%
•    Reduce dietary saturated fat to <10%
•    Increase dietary fiber to 30g/day
•    Walk 30 minutes/day

If the person did not achieve any of these goals, their chance of developing diabetes was approximately 30%.  Of the people who achieved 4-5 of these goals, however, not a single person went on to develop diabetes.  Not one.

The study points to one empowering result: we really do have the power to change our genetic destiny!

-Tara

Hi all,

This is an article we wrote for the Fall 2008 issue of Body Magazine – I thought you might find it interesting!

-Tara

Feeling Better Through Detoxification

Inside this complex organism we call “you”, a remarkable set of organs and processes works vigilantly to deal with unwanted and unneeded substances that find their way from the outside of your body to the inside.

The system works quite well. At least, it used to work well. Your natural detoxification organs – things like your bowels, kidneys, liver and skin – weren’t designed to deal with the excesses of modern life. Some unnecessary food, nutrients, and bacteria? Sure. Food additives, environmental toxins and modern stresses? That’s another matter altogether.

This toxic load builds over time, and can lead to an array of chronic problems like skin conditions, digestive and bowel complaints, allergies, fatigue, and headaches, to name just a few. In order to level the playing ground for your struggling system, additional forms of detoxification can be used to help your body “take out the trash” more regularly and effectively.

There are many ways to detoxify:

• Diet regimes reduce the intake of toxicity from your food, and increase fiber and water intake to help flush your system.
• Colon hydrotherapy gently cleanses the colon to improve bowel function and detoxify the liver.
• Supplements can stimulate the detoxification systems of the body, and provide them with the vitamins and minerals they need to operate effectively.
• Saunas induce sweating to help remove toxins via the skin, liver and kidneys.
• IV Chelation uses substances intravenously (vitamin C, for example) to bind to toxins and flush them from the body.

Each detoxification strategy has its unique characteristics, and may be used in combination or alone depending on the ailment and your health history. To learn more about how detoxification can help you, contact us anytime at 444-5331.