Functional Medicine | Women's Health
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I’ve been really digging into nutrition lately, and looking at an integrative approach to customized nutrition plans. As I’m sure you know, there is no one-size-fits-all food plan and we need to look at many variables such as health issues (autoimmune / cardiovascular / blood sugar), blood type, food sensitivity, …
Continue Reading about Lectins in Food – A Key to Inflammation →
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND As an ND with a main clinical focus on hormone balance, most people find it very interesting that we don’t dive right into supplements and support for hormones first. In fact, we get MUCH better and lasting results when we take a look at your overall health, and start upstream - stress levels, gut function, toxin …
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND There’s been lots of feedback from last week’s blog post about the Ketogenic diet, and for many of you it was followed by questions about intermittent fasting which is certainly another popular dietary trend. Let’s start with a few definitions, because in many cases we’re actually using the wrong terminology: …
Continue Reading about Intermittent fasting, time-restricted feeding and Women’s Hormones →
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND and Dr. Emily FitzGerald, ND It seems that everywhere you look online right now, people are promoting a ketogenic diet: for weight loss, energy, mental clarity and more. Yes, it’s true that most people will lose weight rapidly by cutting carbs, but are the rest of the claims legitimate? And what are the risks? The …
Continue Reading about Four reasons to think twice about a ketogenic diet →
Our food cravings can indicate imbalances in the body, and especially of our neurotransmitters. For simplicity, I’m just focusing on two here: serotonin and dopamine. The production of both of these neurotransmitters is negatively affected by stress, and you can have a susceptibility to imbalances with them through your …
There has been lots of talk about gluten intolerance and a growing number of people who appear to be sensitive to foods containing wheat. I want to assure you that it is real, and not just another health trend. Wheat products, in North America especially, have changed dramatically in the past 100 years, where the wheat as we consume it is …
Continue Reading about 10 Surprising Signs That May Point to Gluten Intolerance →
Here’s the quote that started me thinking and writing about this topic: "More physical activity, better diet, including fruit and vegetables, etc., we all know this, not smoking, not too much alcohol, that we will extend our healthy life expectancy already if we do that by around about 10 - 15 years. That’s massive. None of other drugs, for …
Continue Reading about Anti-Aging: tips for longevity and aging well →
It has been estimated that 366 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with diabetes, and that one person dies of diabetes every seven seconds! These numbers are absolutely staggering, especially for a condition that is preventable and even reversible with proper diet and exercise. The bad news is that these numbers are still climbing with …
Continue Reading about Why testing for insulin resistance should be part of every physical exam →
Many of my patients struggle with food cravings, overeating, binges and weight issues. Most of us actually blame this on poor willpower. It is important to know however, that there are many foods we eat that are truly addictive to the body, which make overeating difficult to avoid, especially if your brain is more sensitive to this. Several …
