WELLNESS PROTOCOLS & REVIEWS
Choose one of the following to learn more
· How Well do you Handle Stress?
· Beat Stress Before it Beats You
· Is Anxiety Getting the Better of You?
· Autoimmune Conditions - Bringing Back the Balance
· Excess Weight? Shake it Off!
· Detox: The Ultimate Transformation
· It's D-lightful, It's D-licious, It's D-lovely
· Which Multivitamin is Right for You?
· Take Out Insurance Against Colds and Flu this Winter
· Cold and Flu getting the Better of You?
· Managing Cold and Flu Symptoms
· Protect Yourself and Your Family from Colds and Flu this Winter
· Is there Something 'Fishy' About Your Fish Oil?
· Probiotics - Replenishing the Fragile Ecosystem That Makes You, You!
Got the Moody Blues?
Mental health disorders are more common than many people realise. It is natural to feel like you are the only one that may be feeling low or experiencing depression, but you are not alone! There are many reasons why you might be feeling blue. Stress, poor health, loss and trauma, and changes in life circumstances can all be triggers for depression. Thankfully, there are some natural medicines and positive lifestyle habits that can help improve your mood and set you on the path to greater mental wellbeing.
How Well do you Handle Stress?
Living in this day and age, stress is a normal part of modern life. You will be exposed to some sort of stress every day, whether it’s waking up to an alarm, driving the car, paying bills, working, meeting deadlines – all of these can take their toll. Sometimes stress can be so overwhelming, it feels like it is taking over your life. Thankfully, the body has an amazing, protective stress response system to help you cope.
Sleep - It's Not a Luxury
Staring at the ceiling at 2:30 am, unable to sleep, is usually low on people’s list of favourite pastimes. Affecting anyone at any age, insomnia (difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep) and/or waking unrefreshed can be some people’s reality. Research shows that adults who get fewer than seven hours of sleep (whether for just one night or over the course of days, weeks, or months) experience daytime consequences such as irritability, fatigue, and poor memory.
Beat Stress Before it Beats You
Modern living and stress seem to go hand in hand and it may be no surprise to you that the effects of stress can have a significant impact on mental wellbeing. Nevertheless, you may not know that the effects of stress can impact other body systems potentially hindering the achievement of health goals such as losing weight or improving digestive function, so it is important to understand what the stress response is and how it could affect you.
Feeling occasionally anxious is a normal response to modern life. However, for some people their anxiety is like a little monster living inside, who stirs up uncomfortable feelings when faced with simple everyday situations. If you or someone you know avoids social gatherings, work meetings or confrontations, due to anxiety, then don’t ignore these feelings. It’s time to get some help to tackle the anxiety monster.
Is Anxiety Getting the Better of You?
Managing Daily Stress
Stress is a natural, evolutionary body response. You will instinctively react to stress in life with a fight, flight or freeze type reaction. It may be an acute stressful event such as an exam or public speaking, or it may be the ongoing challenge of raising kids, the daily commute, or financial pressures. Your body will still have a response, even if you do not feel like you’re stressed.
Autoimmune Conditions - Bringing Back the Balance
Perhaps you or someone you know has been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition. But what does this really mean? ‘Auto’ is the Latin word for ‘self’ and ‘autoimmune’ essentially means that your body mounts an immune response against itself. This is characterised by inflammation and destruction of body tissues by the body’s own immune system – commonly experienced as pain, swelling and a wide variety of symptoms depending upon what areas of the body are affected.
Keeping Healthy in the Holidays
Each year the seasonal festivities pose a challenge to sustaining your health. You may give in to cravings for refined carbohydrates, sugary treats and alcohol – waking up in the New Year with a metabolic ‘hangover’ of weight gain and fatigue caused by erratic blood glucose (sugar) levels. However, the holiday period doesn’t mean your health has to come undone providing you put in place some simple strategies, including balancing your blood glucose and insulin levels.
Winter Wellness Warrior
Disease causing viruses or bacteria can enter your body simply by breathing or eating! Fortunately, only a few of these, particularly viral, ‘pathogens’ result in a cold or flu because you are equipped with an immune system specifically designed to fight off unwanted invaders. That said, are you one of the many people, for whom a string of colds and flu is a way of life in winter? Perhaps getting rid of the seemingly endless sniffles, sneezing and sore throats seems like an unachievable ideal.
Are You Inflamed?
Everyone has experienced the remarkable phenomenon of acute inflammation - a sprained ankle, splinter, or cut – and as a result have witnessed the affected area turn red, puffy and hot as your immune system rushes to your aid to assess the injury and fight any pathogen that might have entered your body. A normal, healthy inflammatory response should flare up and die down again a short time later, as the healing process resolves the inflammation and the injury heals. Pain and inflammation should not be chronic, it should go away - but what if it doesn’t?
Healthy Gut - Healthy Life
Your gut is where you absorb all the nutrients to power your body, making a healthy digestive system central to your overall health. But did you know that there are close to 2 kg worth of bacteria in your gut? That’s literally billions of tiny micro-organisms living and growing in your gut right now – collectively called gut ‘microbiota’. These beneficial bacteria encourage healthy digestion and support an efficient immune system, keeping any undesirable bacteria at minimal levels.
Excess Weight? Shake It Off!
As winter winds down, your thoughts may be turning to how you can get fit and improve your body composition for the warmer months ahead. This year, rather than turn to yet another ‘quick fix’ diet that promises you’ll fit into your bikini within the month but feels impossible to do; look to your healthcare Practitioner for a simple and convenient program that will provide sustainable long-term results as well as keeping you feeling physically and mentally well. The Shake It Practitioner Weight Management Program is based on a ketogenic diet that is able to do just that.
Detox: The Ultimate Transformation
Detoxification is a process that your body undertakes every day to help eliminate toxins and restore a healthy balance. Your body is constantly exposed to toxins from the external world, as well as those created within. The human body is amazing in the way that it has evolved since prehistoric times to adjust to the ever- changing world.
Better Living Through Detox
Supporting natural detoxification processes can help improve digestive function and may facilitate healthy weight loss, however the benefits do not stop there as healthy detoxification pathways may also lead to a reduction in other seemingly unrelated symptoms, such as sore joints or painful periods. Even if you’re fit and well, for many people a regular detox leaves them feeling more energised whilst reducing the toxin load.
Vitamin D, Vitamin Sunshine
When we think of Australia and New Zealand, we think of surf, sun and sand, beautiful climates and the great outdoors. With vitamin D readily available from the sun, why are so many people deficient in this important vitamin? An estimated 73% of adults suffer from inadequate vitamin D levels, with almost 60% of women living in southern areas being completely deficient during the winter/spring months.
It's D-lightful, It's D-licious, It's D-lovely
Vitamin D is a vital nutrient required by your body for a wide range of jobs, such as helping to boost your immunity so you are less likely to end up in bed feeling sick; playing a role in mood modulation – helping you feel good; and supporting your physical structure – making your bones and muscles strong.
Which Multivitamin is Right for You?
In today’s modern world even those of you who eat a healthy diet may not be meeting your nutritional needs due to declining soil quality combined with modern food processing and cooking methods. This means that many Australians may be nutrient deficient, which inevitably leads to less than optimal health.
Are You at Risk of Osteoporosis?
It wasn’t that long ago that age-related bone degeneration and subsequent loss of height, due to osteoporosis was accepted as a normal part of ageing. Elderly folk with stooped backs and brittle bones suffered from falls, which left them incapacitated due to broken bones. This story isn’t only historical though as even in Australia today it is estimated that 15% of women and 3% of men over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis.1 Fortunately there is a great deal you can do to protect your bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis affecting you.
Are Chronic Infections Compromising your Health?
Think back to a time to when you were at your healthiest. Do you still feel the same way? Can you pinpoint a moment in time when your health started to go downhill? Many people have not felt 100% since having a virus or other infection. If you have never fully recovered, your condition may progress from being a short-term acute infection into a longer-term chronic health complaint. Chronic infections can leave you feeling tired with muscular aches and pains and lowered immunity, making you more susceptible to catching every bug that goes around.
Take out Insurance Against Colds and Flu this Winter
For many people the shortening days and cooler weather heralds not only the start of winter but also a string of absences from work and a backlog of tasks as you or your loved ones succumb to winter illness. What if you could take out a wellness ‘insurance policy’ against colds and flu, and gain back that precious time for winter sports and family fun instead of being stuck at home, rugged up and sniffling, with a box of tissues for company? This year, arm yourself with the tools you need to boost your immune function and help insure against illness.
Cold and Flu Getting the Better of You?
Both the common cold and the flu (or influenza to give it its full name) are caused by viral infections, and while having a cold is typically much milder than the flu, they are both generally accompanied by those all too familiar symptoms of a runny nose, sore throat, congestion and cough. What distinguishes the flu from the common cold, however, is the severity of the fever, fatigue, muscle aches and soreness. That said, both can make you feel rather sick and sorry for yourself.
Managing Cold and Flu Symptoms
Despite your best efforts at preventing infection through diet, exercise and supplementation, at some stage this winter you may succumb to a cold or flu. This can occur particularly if stress or life events get in the way of maintaining the healthy habits that help keep your immune system strong. The good news is that should you find yourself ‘under the weather’, there are measures you can take to get you back on your feet.
Protect Yourself and Your Family from Colds and Flu This Winter
Every winter when you get sick, you tell yourself to be more prepared next year. As soon as someone sneezes at work, school, or home, you find yourself with yet another cold or flu. It does not have to be that way this chilly winter season. Arm yourself and your family with the tools to build strong immune defences to reduce your risk of getting sick. If you do get sick, a strong immune system will also reduce the severity of your cold and flu symptoms, and help to speed your recovery.
Fabulous Fish Oil
Omega-3 essential fatty acids are essential for human health. Every single cell in your body needs these good fats to work optimally. Fish oil is a plentiful source of omega-3 fats, particularly EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) which have many therapeutic benefits in your body. You can also obtain omega-3 from a variety of dietary sources; however the majority of people may not be able to effectively convert these fats into EPA and DHA.
Is There Something 'Fishy' About Your Fish Oil?
The increasing awareness around the wide-ranging benefits of fish oil mean chances are either you or someone close to you is taking a fish oil product. Their therapeutic effects are widely accepted by both the lay and medical communities alike and they are readily available to purchase in health food stores, pharmacies and even supermarkets. Nevertheless, are you getting precisely what you bargained for in terms of both efficacy and purity when you purchase that mega-tub of fish oil from your local supermarket?
Bacteria are critical for human survival, living both within and on your body. It may sound unappealing, but having the right types of bacteria in the right balance can help your body function optimally. For every one human cell in your body, there are ten bacterial cells; this means you are about 1% human and 99% bacteria!
Probiotics - Replenishing the Fragile Ecosystem That Makes You, You!
New Year, New You!
Did you know that according to recent studies, more than half of Australian women and two thirds of Australian men are either overweight or obese? Clearly this is not an uncommon health condition, and many of us will face weight challenges at some point in our lives. Weight gain is not just a symptom, but actually a health condition in its own right. If you had an illness, wouldn’t you do something about it to make yourself better? So why not start the year off with a fresh start.