Category: Naturopathy

The Beauty of Bitters

10/10/2024

Do you eat your bitters? Bitter foods offer a multitude of health benefits, such as improving digestion, enhancing liver detoxification, and clearing up your skin when hormonal issues lie at the root of issues like acne. But did you know bitters can also improve your mood, clearing feelings of depressed malaise and calming the fires of impatience and anger?

In Chinese medicine and in Ayurveda, the hallmark of a balanced meal is the inclusion of all of the flavours. By including all of the flavours in a meal, you’re probably going to feel very satisfied. And satisfaction is a crucial element of enjoyable, intuitive eating.

One of these flavours is bitter, a very important taste that many of us are missing on our plates.

Throughout Spring and Summer in my Southeast Queensland neighbourhood, edible weeds pop up everywhere including in my own my backyard.

Under the kids’ trampoline out of the lawnmower’s reach, I find dandelion greens, sow thistle, sheep sorrel, and wild carrot, among other largely unknown yet freely available sources of nutrition (always correctly identify plants before eating them, come to one of my Herb Walks to help you with this!). At the farmer’s market I uncover a similar array: mustard greens, endive, chicory, kale, parsley, rocket.

11 Essential tips for Autumn health

27/4/2023

Constipation, colds and flu start to rear their heads in autumn as we transition into the colder months. Here are 11 tips to help you move through the season with strength and grace.

Updated April 2023. Originally published in Living Now magazine, 2016.

At this time of year, as the sap of the trees and flowers returns to their root systems, we too are preparing to turn inward. In virtually every ancient medicine system, this season of harvest was seen as the time of the year to pull inward and gather together on all levels; a time to plan for the approaching darkness and stillness of winter.

In TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), autumn is associated with wind and dryness. It’s also the season associated with the lungs and large intestine, which are responsible for releasing carbon dioxide and food wastes, respectively. It follows that the energy of both these organs is ‘letting go’. Elimination problems like chronic constipation can be exacerbated at this time of year. Emotionally, it’s the time of year to look at things we are hanging onto that are no longer serving us, and to let them go for good.

Ep 6. HAES® Naturopathy with Chandrika Gibson

27/2/2020

A Health at Every Size (HAES®)-informed, weight neutral practice is old school naturopathy in its best sense. In this interview with Chandrika Gibson, ND we take a deep dive into HAES naturopathy and yoga therapy.

In this episode:

The co-opting of wellness to sell stuff and the accessibility issues this creates
Differences between health, wellness and wellbeing
The problematic belief that living a “clean” lifestyle guarantees you won’t get sick
Healthism
“Wellness is about the direction you’re facing” - you can live with chronic illness and still have high level wellness
The trouble with naturopaths (!)
How qualified naturopaths can set themselves apart from under-qualified people with questionable training (hint: client-centred practice!)
Homeopathy, reiki, and “meeting the client where they are at”
Navigating a client’s desire to follow extreme diets for cancer
Why a HAES-informed, weight neutral practice is "old school naturopathy in its best sense"
Yoga therapy and the koshas
Finding truly body inclusive and accessible yoga
Chandrika’s research in head and neck cancer and her lived experience with skin cancer

Links:
Support the show at the Non-Diet Yogi Patreon

Chandrika's personal Facebook page, Surya Health and Wisdom Yoga Institute

Chandrika's articles on Medium:
The Trouble With Naturopaths
Body Positive Yoga

The Paleo Diet: Pros + Cons

18/11/2019

The Paleolithic diet. Road to wholefood-based wellness and weight loss? Or meat-centred craze based on shaky science? Perhaps there’s a middle way.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the paleo approach to eating, and often it’s a strong one. From anthropologists to acclaimed authors, nutritionists to naturopaths, Crossfit trainers to colonic hydrotherapists, and pretty much any health-conscious individual in between – the paleo movement now seems less like a fad and more like a dietary era in itself.

What is it?

The paleo diet is a modern way of eating based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans.

Also known as the "caveman diet", "Stone Age diet", and "hunter-gatherer diet", it is a diet centred on fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts.

It has many different interpretations but generally excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils – basically any foods perceived to be agricultural products. Stricter variations of the diet exclude some or all fruits.

Generally it is a high fat, moderate protein and low to moderate carbohydrate wholefood-based way of eating with the intention of granting long term health, resilience, and well-being.

Like most “diets” or ways of eating, there are many different interpretations, and there is both good and bad to come out of it. Unlike many fads, there is scientific evidence supporting some of the Paleo diet claims. But how solid is the evidence, and what are the long term pros and cons of the Paleo diet? To answer these questions from a balanced perspective, we need to dive a little deeper.

Herbs for Handling Stress

15/10/2019

Forget asbestos, Roundup on our vegetables, and mercury fillings: by the year 2020 the most threatening health hazard known to humans is predicted to be stress. Already a major cause of disease, chronic stress sets off a cascade of long-term chemical changes that can spell disease and inflammation for your body, and disintegration of the spirit.

So what’s a human living in the 21st century to do? Aside from lifestyle interventions – such as healthy diet, regular movement, strong social support networks, mind-body practices, and adequate rest – there are certain herbs that can help us to manage the high levels of stress we inevitably face in this day and age.

Rather than indiscriminately throwing a bunch of herbal powders and potions down the hatch and hoping for the best, it is important to know about the three stages of stress adaptation your body experiences as different herbs are most effective at different stages.

Essential oil ingestion: Just DON'T Do It

6/10/2019

Got gut health issues? Down some OnGuard Softgels to sort out what-must-be candida.
Everyday detoxification? A few drops of lemon essential oil in your water everyday will have your liver squeaky clean in no time... all without having to eat an actual lemon!
Want to feel the spiritual benefits of frankincense oil extra swiftly? Chuck a few drops of that stuff down the hatch and feel your consciousness expand...

No, no, and dear God, NO.

In short, essential oil ingestion can incredibly be dangerous unless prescribed by a qualified herbalist, naturopath or aromatherapist. Not a distributor for an MLM essential oil giant who has no health qualifications or expertise besides what their team leader has passed on to them.

periods, fertility & eating disorders

21/5/2019

"I have my period. So I mustn't have an eating disorder."

For years I thought that if a woman was menstruating regularly, she was displaying one of the ultimate signs of health.

I thought that if a woman had a regular period she must be well nourished. That the moment her caloric intake dipped below her requirements, her body would stop ovulating and periods would disappear.

That Mother Nature never lets our bodies grow babies - a highly energy intensive endeavour that demands massive amounts of resources - in a perceived famine.

For years, I was wrong.

In my time as an eating disorder dietitian, student naturopath, and having lived through an (undiagnosed but still very harmful) eating disorder, I have learnt a thing or two about periods and under eating. Here I'll attempt to bust some common myths around periods, fertility and disordered eating.

FIRST DO NO HARM.

12/3/2019

A call to naturopaths to embrace a weight neutral approach to practice.

Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.

This is the first tenet of the naturopathic oath we all take on graduation day from college, and the most critical.

As naturopaths we strive not to add to the burden of problems of our patients. To refrain from further damaging their physical, mental or emotional wellbeing. To not intervene in such a way that will in any way harm.

Doing nothing is better than doing something that will cause harm.

In many ways, we are very good at abiding by this foundational tenet.

And yet... there is something insidious going on within the naturopathic profession that has not been called out. And despite our best intentions, it is doing serious harm to our patients, our profession, and ourselves.

That thing is a weight focussed approach to health. Whether directly or indirectly, promoting weight loss does irrefutable harm.

Even if it's weight loss "for health". Or weight loss "for fertility". Or weight loss just for the sake of weight loss, because "who doesn't want to be a bit leaner?"

To illustrate my point I'll set the scene. The other week I received two emails: one from a very well known nutraceuticals company promoting its weight loss seminar to naturopaths and other natural health professionals. The other was the exact same email, forwarded on to me from a major natural medicine education institution to its students.

This is not okay.

As I'll illustrate shortly, a focus on weight loss does unequivocal harm. This is in direct opposition to the first and most crucial naturopathic tenet.

It's 2019, and I propose that it's time that practitioners in the field of naturopathic medicine universally adopted a non-diet, weight neutral, Health at Every Size approach. For the sake of our clients, our best practice, and for the future longevity and validity of our profession, we must steer the ship away from the weight-centric doctrine it is starting to (and arguably, has) become and back towards true preventative and holistic medicine.

The kind of medicine that naturopathy sprang from. The kind of medicine that does no harm. The kind of medicine that treats the whole person, not a number on the scales.

Purity vs. hybridisation

19/12/2018

When it comes to the work I do, I've never been 100% sure about what to call it, or if it even has (needs?) a name. Try as I might (and I have, numerous times), the stuff I "do" can't be put into a single box.

And it's not for lack of direction; I know what I am good at and what I love to do. It's just that there are so many directions I feel I am being pulled in.

Perhaps a nicer, less divisive way to say that, is that I have many colourful threads that form my web of being! :)

I often feel this pressing need to categorise "it", to pack it down nice and neatly into a label, to be able to explain to people what I do in a concise sentence without feeling like I've left large chunks of who I am stranded by the side of the road, all for the sake of simplicity.

And so here I am, eating disorders dietitian by day; (newly) Zenthai shiatsu practitioner by candlelight.

In one studio a yoga teacher emphasising the importance of play; in the next a nutritionist distilling hours of reading textbooks and research papers into digestible information that my clients can understand.

Studying naturopathy and Chinese Medicine on one hand; investigating the clinical applications of CBT and DBT for eating disorder clients on the other.

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a jill of all trades. Master of none. A case of shiny object syndrome. A fraud. Not really good at any one of those things.

Hello, voice of my inner critic, I hear you loud and clear.

Spring energetics - moving from darkness into light

12/10/2018

Wild edibles have been popping up everywhere in our hood - check out these bitter dandelion greens. Perfect with some sour lemon juice, olive oil and salt for a simple spring salad.

Spring is here, and although I LOVE it, the transition has been rough...

Winter just isn't my thing (as nice as all those warm cups of chai tea are!) Spring is my favourite season of the year - and not just because it's my birthday season. As the weather started warming up, our little family enjoyed daily expeditions to a local mulberry tree. It seemed our hands and faces were perpetually stained purple, and life was sweet.

Then we had a car crash.

And it was as if our whole world was turned upside down.

Someone rear ended us on the highway. Miraculously no one was hurt, but it shook us all up. Since then, my family and I have encountered battle after battle. Physical, emotional, mental, you name it.

It started with that car crash involving all of us (such a scary experience with babies in the back). Between us we've been through a bout of hospitalisation for appendicitis, some heavy repressed memories resurfacing, a shitload of emotional processing (with anger, shame and vulnerability at the forefront), the extreme physical fatigue that accompanies such emotional processing, a teething baby (aren't they just always teething?!) and learning about the "tantrum explosion" stage of a certain ginger haired three-nager.

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