Health & Wellbeing Podcast #3

If you have been following me for a while you probably know that I love to talk about digestive health and the importance of gut health for overall wellbeing. I was very excited to have the opportunity to talk about all things digestion (and of course poo) with my fellow naturopath, the beautiful Hayley Stockbridge.

Hayley practices at Manly on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and in Stanmore in Sydney’s Inner West. Her major focus is always educating her patients to live healthier and happier lives. She treats women, men and children of all ages and a wide variety of health issues such as weight loss, digestive problems, anxiety/stress, fertility, hormone imbalances, food intolerances and headaches.

You can also connect with Hayley on Facebook and Instagram.

We answered a few digestion questions in this podcast which was lots of fun, I would love for people to keep submitting questions for future podcasts. You can submit them in the comments section below, on my facebook page or via the contact form.

Want to subscribe to get podcasts automatically? You can do that here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/health-wellbeing-podcast/id1006574743

Podcast Breakdown

3:57 What is a normal bowel movement?

6:50 Question 1: I’ve had GORD ever since I can remember, I’m on Nexium and I take metamucil. I still get the occasional bit of reflux but mostly it’s controlled with the medication. I don’t want to stay on it because I don’t want to rely of a medication. I also get diarrhoea every week or so that’s watery, explosive and smelly and really urgent and uncomfortable, and I’m frequently bloated. Is any of this connected and what do you suggest I do about it?

9:05 Diet for reflux, food intolerances.

9:40 The importance of easing of PPI medications slowly.

11:00 Reflux often due to a structural/mechanical issue, but this doesn’t mean you’re doomed.

12:50 Testing and avenues to look at for assessing causes of reflux, most common food triggers of reflux.

14:15 Question 2: I feel bloated and grumpy whenever I eat bread, but my GP said I’m not celiac so I can eat as much wheat as I want. I don’t get it though, why am I getting these feelings if I’m ok with bread?

15:00 Non celiac gluten intolerance including fructose mal-absorption

18:34 The general overconsumption of wheat and gluten containing foods and the issues with processing of wheat

22:40 It’s advisable to rule out celiac disease, as knowing this will determine how much gluten you can tolerate.

24:00 Sourdough may be an option for people sensitive to wheat as the fermentation breaks down some of the gluten and gliadin

25:45 Gluten free products are not always better for you

26:45 Experiment to find out what foods work best for you

27:55 Question 3: Help for constipation please! I have been taking movicol for about 5 yrs now. I go to the toilet once a day, but if i don’t take movicol I go once a week. I don’t like relying on it, but I don’t know what else I can do. Hayley and I discuss some common approaches to supporting constipation and diet for good bowel movements.

30:29 Papaya vs Pawpaw

33:00 Probiotics

34:40 Apple cider vinegar benefits

36:00 Dandelion coffee/tea

37:00 Manual work for constipation

37:25 The importance of exercise for healthy bowel movements

38:57 Toilet time – make time each morning to train your bowels to go at that time, and don’t suppress the urge to go when you need to.

39:50 Our yoga efforts.

41:00 Question 4: My 4 year old daughter frequently complains of stomach pains, I’m always at the doctors with her trying to find out what it is but they can’t find anything. It can be really upsetting for her, and sometimes she’s doubled up and crying with the pain. We eat well, but she always has a runny nose and this stomach pain is very concerning. She started preschool last year and seems to get sick all the time, I’m worried about how she’ll go at school with this stomach pain. She used to go to the toilet every 3-4 days, and even though this is considered normal the doctors gave her parachoc to try and help in case this is causing the pain, now she does go to the toilet easily (although it’s very lose) . Is there anything else I can do for her?

46:00 Infant massage for stomach pain

47:15 Our favourite digestion herbs

The post Digestion Podcast appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

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Health & Wellbeing Podcast #2

This is my second podcast and this time it’s all me. Today I’m talking about reasons for fatigue. Energy problems can be caused by a huge range of issues, so I wanted to discuss some of the most common ones. While it’s not a 100% conclusive list, I hope that this gives people a good place to start when they’re trying to work out why they’re so tired.

Want to subscribe to get podcasts automatically? You can do that here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/health-wellbeing-podcast/id1006574743

Podcast breakdown:

2:30 Mitochondria – The powerhouse of your cells, where energy is made. The health and quantity of our mitochrondria determine our ability to make energy, and they can they are susceptible to oxidative damage, and can be depleted by certain nutritional deficiencies.

5:22 Inflammation, particularly chronic inflammation can affect energy and cause other imbalance.

7:40 Andropause, also known as male menopause

8:16 Some tips on reducing chronic inflammation

9:14 Stress is a major cause of fatigue, usually presenting in the form of adrenal exhaustion of HPA Axis dysfunction.

11:28 Thyroid problems are another major cause of fatigue, especially hypothyroidism.

13:36 Nutritional deficiencies that can cause fatigue, Iron, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc

16:12 Certain medications can affect energy levels

16:46 Inadequate exercise can cause fatigue, but this isn’t always straightforward

18:27 The wrong diet – not enough food, too much food, or the wrong type of food for you.

20:39 Sleep. Most of us aren’t getting enough, or it can be an issue with the quality of sleep. I discuss some tips on sleep hygiene.

23:00 Sleep apnoea

23:40 Shift work

26:30 Obesity and fatigue

28:57 The importance of gut health; gut problems can cause fatigue as well.

30:00 Toxicity affects the mitochrondria- what is toxicity, where does it come from, how can you identify if you’re toxic?

31:13 What do you do if you’ve been tired for a long time and you don’t know why? Start by working out a timeline. If you can’t do this because the fatigue has been going on for such a long time then testing may be helpful. There are several different types of testing available, but you may not need to do all of them.

33:00 Some tips for reducing inflammation and improving energy through diet

34:30 Depression is a common cause of fatigue.

35:29 My favourite herbs for energy

The post Reasons for Fatigue appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

Papaya salad is one of my favourite Thai dishes. While you can find it in a lot of Thai restaurants, I only discovered it in a cooking school I went to while I was holidaying in Thailand back in 2008 with my awesome fellow naturopath Melinda King.

Green (unripe) papaya has a whole host of benefits. It is rich in vitamin c and enzymes that help our digestive system to break down food and absorb nutrients more effectively, as well as reduce inflammation. It also contains B vitamins, antioxidants, and plenty of fibre.

We had just graduated from uni, and so decided to refresh our adrenals with a holiday filled with eating authentic Thai food, exploring beautiful towns and busy cities, snorkelling through rainbow coloured fishes, relaxing on isolated beaches and caring for retired elephants (that’s a story I’ll tell you more about later).

While staying in Chiang Mai, we attended a Thai cooking course, which is where I discovered the papaya salad. Before we started cooking we were first taken to the local market to collect the produce we’d be cooking with. The stalls were just amazing, filled with a variety of colourful and fresh produce.

Along with making coconut milk and green curry paste from scratch (the former being easy to do, the latter being a real workout when you’re only using a mortar and pestle) we made a heap of dishes that for a while, ruined Thai restaurants for me, as the food was amazingly so fresh and clean, and had such a different flavour spectrum to the Australian version of Thai food.

Thankfully, Papaya salad is so straight forward that I haven’t come across a bad one, and perhaps it’s the nostalgia that keeps me coming back to this dish, but I think the knowledge that green papaya is rich in enzymes that help with digestion has something to do with it as well.

If you don’t have a mortar and pestle you can use the end of a rolling pin to smash the flavours up in a bowl, or even a food processor for the dressing. The tricky bit would be preparing the papaya. If you’re got a zigzag peeler or a julienne attachment on a mandolin then it’s going to be easy, but otherwise there’s plenty of ways you can do it. Even if it doesn’t turn out to look like the traditional long strips (mine never does) don’t worry because it will taste the same however you do it.

Options for preparing the papaya:

1- The traditional way: the papaya is shredded by holding the peeled fruit in one hand, and tapping it with a long knife to make long cuts, while rotating it around. Probably the riskiest method if you’re not steady handed. This technique can also be modified by cutting then peeling layers off. Some people prefer to cut the papaya in half then scoop out the seeds first, but I prefer to keep it whole.

2- Peel then slice: Alternatively you can slice thin strips off with a mandolin or peeler (or even better use a julienne attachment to get the strips automatically), then stack these strips up and slice thinly using a knife. Again, I keep the papaya whole in this method.

3-  Zigzag peeler: This is probably the most practical method, but not everyone has a zigzag peeler in their house (I don’t). If you do, go ahead and use it because you’ll get long strips straight away with the minimum effort.

4- Chop then grate: This method requires you to cut the peeled papaya into sections, then grate using a grater attachment on a food processor or a handheld grater. You get smaller sections this way but it’s probably the easiest method if you don’t have a zigzag peeler and don’t want to risk chopping your hands off using the traditional method.

Green Papaya Salad

Ingredients

• 1 green papaya, peeled
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated (optional)
• 6 small chillies (or 2 long chillies if you don’t want too much heat)
• 2 tbsp palm sugar, or to taste
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp Thai shrimp paste or 4 tbsp dried shrimp
• 8 snake beans cut into 3 cm lengths
• Mint leaves, to serve (optional)
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved or 2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 3-4 tbsp fish sauce (to taste)
• 2 tbsp roasted crushed peanuts, to serve

Method

In a mortar and pestle, pound the chilli along with the salt, sugar and garlic until broken up and mixed well. Add the lime juice and dried shrimp or shrimp paste and pound further.
Add in the snake beans and tomatoes and bruise lightly, then add in the papaya and carrot and continue mixing and pounding lightly for another minute until the flavours are mixed through. Serve, garnished with crushed peanuts and mint leaves.

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