Stress is now a common fixture in our hectic, busy lives. Small amounts of stress that are easily resolved can be beneficial in motivating and helping us achieve our goals. Although chronic or long-term stress affects each of us differently, it ultimately affects the whole body in a negative way and may contribute to many health complaints.

Is your health being affected by stress?

Do you often feel anxious, worried, depressed, irritable, exhausted, overloaded or forgetful? Do you suffer from stiff or sore muscles or joints, tension headaches, high blood pressure, frequent colds or the flu? Or do you have irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, an increase or loss of appetite, or worsening of an existing illness or condition? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, your body may be overburdened by stress.

Fight or Flight: Your Response to Stress

Thousands of years ago, we may have been faced with the threat of a sabre tooth tiger and our immediate response to this was one of two reactions: to attack or run away. This is now known as the fight or flight response. Once this stress response is triggered, chemical messengers called adrenaline, cortisol and noradrenaline are produced by the adrenal glands and brain. These messengers increase blood flow to the essential organs such as the heart, lungs, brain and muscles to help us fight or run away. Digestive function slows down as this is less important in survival mode. Cortisol also increases the amount of sugar released into the blood to provide energy for our muscles to attack or run. In the past, stress was shortlived and once the stress was over, these chemical messengers shortly returned to normal.

Where’s the Off  Switch?

Over time our bodies have not changed this biological response to stress. Although the sabre tooth tigers are long gone, the physical threat to our lives and limbs has been replaced with the modern day stress of long work hours, financial worries, traffic jams and family issues. So what happens if his stress response does not turn off because of our non-stop busy lifestyles?

Ongoing stress that does not resolve may result in chronic stress, which can be the underlying cause of many health conditions. Chronic stress can impact body systems such as the cardiovascular system by contributing to high blood pressure.

It can also take its toll on your nervous system leading to exhaustion, headaches and insomnia. Your digestive and immune systems can also be weakened by stress, making you more susceptible to irritable bowel syndrome, frequent colds and the flu.

Herbs and Nutrients for De-stressing

Go from ‘dis-stressed’ to ‘de-stressed’ with the help of herbs and nutrients:

• Rhodiola and withania are herbs which enhance the body’s response to stress. Rhodiola has been shown to reduce both physical and mental fatigue during times of stress.

• The herbs, passionflower, zizyphus and magnolia have been traditionally used for reducing stress, anxiety and nervous tension.

• St John’s wort is well-known for supporting healthy mood and protecting against the effects of stress.

• Magnesium, glutamine and B vitamins are used in abundance during times of stress, when the body’s requirement for these key nutrients is increased. Magnesium assists in muscle relaxation and calms the nervous system.

5 Top Stress Busti ng Tips:

Lessen your stress load by practising the following stress busting strategies:

1. Rest and Relaxation: Relaxation techniques such as tai chi, yoga, and meditation can help you to control stress and improve physical and mental wellbeing.

2. Think Positive: A good attitude and positive outlook is fundamental for de-stressing. Thinking positively will help you get through a stressful period with greater enthusiasm and drive.

3. Exercise: Exercise is a brilliant form of stress relief, as it conditions the body and mind, and encourages the release of endorphins, which help you feel good.

4. Indulge Yourself: Enjoy a well-deserved massage or some other blissful treatment – perhaps soak in a bath with relaxing aromatherapy oils such as lavender, ylang ylang, chamomile or geranium.

5. Eat Healthy Foods: For a healthy mind and body, eat a diet abundant in fresh, brightly coloured fruits and vegetables.

Consume protein with meals and snacks, and enjoy foods high in essential fatty acids such as oily fish, nuts and seeds.

Minimise your intake of caffeine, energy drinks, sugar, alcohol and processed foods as these will contribute to fatigue in the long-term.

Stress Less for Good Health and Wellness

Although the stress of modern life is inescapable, it is important to remember that we can easily manage our response to stress with the help of dietary and lifestyle changes and some key natural medicines. Supporting a healthy stress response will allow you to feel more energised, resilient and ready to tackle life, so you can maintain the state of health and wellness that you deserve.

Ask us today about our Stress Less program, tailored to your individual needs.

Q. My partner and I have been trying to conceive for the past 2 years.  We are considering IVF treatment but want to try a natural approach first.  Can natural medicine help?

A. Great news!  Natural medicine has an 80 percent success rate for live births to previously infertile couples.  This compares to only a 20 percent success rate for IVF treatment.

These fantastic results are achieved when couples follow a four month program called Preconception Care.

Pioneered by the Foresight Foundation in the United Kingdom, this program involves eating a nutritious diet, following a healthy lifestyle and avoiding exposure to environmental pollutants.

Research published in The Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine has shown that couples following this program improve their fertility, significantly reduce their chance of suffering a miscarriage, premature or stillbirth, or of giving birth to a baby with a congenital defect.

It is now clear that every aspect of our reproduction is adversely affected in some way by our twenty first century lifestyle and living conditions.

Sadly that means that infertility is on the rise, and couples really need to work a lot harder to conceive a healthy baby.  In Australia, one couple in six is now infertile.

The good news is that I have been able to help many previously infertile couples conceive through this simple program.

Find out more on our video:   http://womenshealthnaturally.com.au/infertility-treatments/

Q.  Every month I suffer from severe period pain.  It gets so bad I can’t go to work.  I have to take high strength pain relief tablets for a couple of days just to get through it.  Is there anything I can do naturally to help?

A.   Yes, there is, but first I would advise you to be checked for endometriosis or fibroids, as these conditions can be the cause of severe period pain.

Once they have been ruled out, there are a number of diet and lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your pain.

• Eat less  saturated fats (e.g. meat, full fat dairy products)
• Eat more fish, nuts and seeds (especially walnuts and linseeds). These contain omega 3 fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory and will help relieve pain.
• Eat more green leafy vegetables such as rocket, spinach, cabbage as these enhance liver clearance of excess oestrogen.
•  Eat more magnesium rich foods such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.  Magnesium works by relaxing the uterine muscle and so relieves painful cramps.
• Exercise regularly – increased circulation to the pelvic region has been found to reduce period pain.
• Use a hot water bottle or have a hot bath when pain is severe.
• Have a massage just before or during your period.

If these strategies don’t help, there are a number of herbal medicines and supplements that are very effective in eliminating period pain.http://bit.ly/18x1KFB

Is low thyroid letting you down?

Under-functioning low thyroid or hypothyroid is very common in Australia, affecting up 15 per cent of women of child bearing age.

One of the main symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland is fatigue, so if you have been feeling overly tired lately, it may be a good idea to have a blood test to check your thyroid function.

Other symptoms include:

• weight gain
• constipation
• feeling cold
• dry skin
• depression

The thyroid gland is really the master conductor of the body, so when it’s underactive, everything becomes sluggish. It governs metabolism, in other words, how fast your bodily processes are occurring. So when it’s not up to speed, you may feel as if you’re running on flat batteries!

Fortunately there are lots of things that can help.

Exercise:  Although you are feeling tired, exercise is critical to your wellbeing. Exercise regularly – daily for 45 minutes.  It will improve your energy and also stimulate thyroid hormone secretion.  Try yoga or walking – the main thing is to just get moving!

Stress management: Try to reduce stress levels as part of your daily routine as the hormone involved in the stress response – cortisol – can contribute to hypothyroid issues.  Make sure you get 8 hours restful sleep every night.

Foods to increase:

• Iodine rich foods:  seafood, seaweeds such as nori in sushi
• Zinc rich foods: seafood especially oysters, lamb and beef
• Copper rich foods: Sesame seeds (tahini), cashews, barley, sunflower seeds
• Selenium rich foods: Brazil nuts – 2, 3 a day, sardines and most fish
• Vitamin A rich foods: All orange and yellow coloured fruits and veg, spinach
• Vitamin D rich foods:  salmon, sardines – and don’t forget 15 mins of sun every day!

Foods to avoid:

Goitregens – these are foods that can slow down thyroid function.  They include RAW cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, radishes, strawberries, soy, pine nuts, walnuts.

There are also very effective natural medicines available to support your thyroid.

For more information download our Low Thyroid Fact Sheet.

Did you know that one in six Australian couples are unable to conceive naturally? Sometimes this is due to male infertility.

And that one in every 25 men has a low sperm count?

No wonder so many couples are turning to IVF to help them conceive.

The good news is that IVF is not the only answer.  Studies show that many natural herbs and vitamins are highly effective in improving sperm health.

Anti-oxidants such as selenium, zinc, vitamin C, lycopene, CoQ 10 and vitamin E play a vital role.  As do the herbs Astragalus, Ginseng and Tribulus.

Sperm are very vulnerable to environmental toxins and so it’s important men clean up their diet and lifestyle to enhance their sperm health:

• eat a healthy diet high in protein, fruit and vegetables
• cut back on smoking and alcohol consumption
• avoid heat stress
• keep mobile phones well away from the groin area
• be checked for STIs
• lose some weight if necessary

There is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the use of antioxidants and nutritional supplementation for men with low fertility.

I treat many men for poor sperm health in my clinic.  With four months treatment, I can make huge improvements in sperm count, shape and motility making fertilization more likely.  And it’s all completely natural.

See our Improving Sperm Health Program for more information.http://bit.ly/1atY1rA

It is becoming clear that some tips to avoid breast cancer risk factors involve modifying some behaviours that we can control with our daily choices.

The latest research on this topic points to the power of diet for beating this common disease.

The research found that carotenoids – naturally-occurring nutrients found in brightly coloured vegetables and fruit – are believed to have cancer-preventive properties.

These are the nutrients that give vegetables and fruit their bright orange, green, red, and yellow pigments.

The researchers found that among premenopausal women those who ate a diet rich in these foods had an almost 20 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. And among women who smoked, the protective effect of carotenoids against breast cancer was even stronger.

The following tips will get you on your way to improved health and lower breast cancer risk:

• The women with the lowest breast cancer risk ate two or more servings of carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetables per day. Aim for this number at a minimum, and more is better.
• You can find plenty of beta-carotene in the following foods: carrots, sweet potato, spinach, kale, pumpkin, cabbage, cantaloupe, broccoli, peppers, apricots, peas, beans, green leafy vegetables, plums, raspberries and corn.
• Don’t rely on dietary supplements for your carotene fix. Studies show that only food provides benefit and that for some people, such as smokers, carotene supplements can do more harm than good.

Oestrogen is processed and removed from our bodies via two routes – a healthy route, or an unhealthy route.  Oestrogen that is metabolised via the unhealthy route is converted into a form that can drive the development and growth of breast cancer.  Fortunately we are able to assess how you are metabolising your oestrogen by a simple urine test.   In my opinion, this is something all women should have checked.  If the test shows you are metabolising oestrogen the wrong way, we are able to step in with treatment that will redirect your oestrogen down the healthier route, and so reduce your risk of developing breast cancer. http://bit.ly/1h7nj0t

If you are suffering from a condition that is caused by an excess of oestrogen in your body – heavy painful periods, fibroids, endometriosis – it is very important you reduce your exposure to xenoestrogens or  ‘foreign oestrogens’.

In today’s world, there are many man-made compounds in our water, food and environment that mimic oestrogen in our bodies.

A number of chemicals in current industrial use such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) and bisphenols (found in pesticides, petrochemicals and plastic) may bind to and activate oestrogen receptor sites in the body. In other words they act like oestrogen in our body.

However unlike natural hormones these xenoestrogens may exert effects many times more potent than our own body’s oestrogens.

In order to reduce your exposure to these substances it is important to:

•  Avoid using soft plastics such as cling wrap, plastic containers used to store food, plastic water bottles.  Instead use a stainless steel drinking bottle, store food in ceramic dishes, and never microwave food using cling wrap.

• Avoid chlorine and bleaches – use a water filter, clean around the home using natural products that don’t contain bleach.  Wash well after swimming in a chlorinated pool.

• Buy organic food – xenoestrogens are found most concentrated in the fat of meat, farmed fish and nonorganic dairy products.  Eat primarily organic meat, dairy and produce, washing fruits and veg thoroughly before eating.

• Avoid pesticides and herbicides, these contain potent xenoestrogens

• Use only organic, cotton sanitary wear – avoid synthetic pads and tampons

There are many foods known as phytoestrogens, or plant oestrogens, that can modulate oestrogen levels and it is recommended that these are included in the diet regularly.

These foods include:

• Cruciferous vegetables:  broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
• Linseeds:  Freshly grind 2 tablespoons and eat with cereal
• Garlic
• Green Tea
• Alfalfa
• Soy products: soybeans, tofu, soy milk

It is also important to ensure good excretion of oestrogen from the body via the liver and bowel.   A thorough detoxification should be undertaken every 12 months to keep the liver in good condition.

A complete bowel movement should take place each day.  If this is not occurring, increase water to two litres per day, and eat more fibre rich foods – brown rice and whole grain bread, sweet potatoes, prunes, pears, and fruit and vegetables.

Vitamins and minerals that can help:

• Zinc, Selenium, vitamins A, C and E

Herbs that can help increase oestrogen excretion:

• Vitex agnus castus (chaste berry)
• St Mary’s Thistle
• Bupleurum http://bit.ly/196pxbx