My Client’s Success with Celery Juice!!!

Celery Juice is the latest health hack and for good reason. People everywhere are drinking their daily 16 oz of celery juice and seeing tremendous benefits especially with digestion.

One of my clients started on the celery juice some time back and has had great results with acid reflux! She messaged me yesterday and it made me very happy!  I will share her message below and her NP is her Nurse Practitioner by the way…

Client: “Omg !!! I totally forgot to tell you about my NP visit !! I know you’ll be excited by it too. I don’t have to take my acid reflux medication daily any more. I told her how I was about to go a few days at a time now. She said ok. Now don’t take it until you have a heart burn attack. Then only take it til the heart burn is gone. Then stop until you have another attack again.”

I am very happy for my client. She was a little apprehensive about trying the celery juice at first, but now she is addicted! 🙂 We often keep each other posted about which grocery stores in town have the best celery in stock, with the best price, etc.

If you would like to learn more about juicing celery and its many benefits, you can access my earlier blog post with everything you need to know here: Celery Juice 101Celery Juice 101

I thank Anthony Williams, Medical Medium, every day for introducing the world to this natural medicine that is helping people every day all over the world. There are countless stories and pictures on Instagram, Facebook, and all over the web.

Happy Juicing!

Maggie Holbik.com is  a Board Certified Nutritionist and Certified Life Coach who loves to think outside of the box and is open to the many gifts that nature offers us to support our wellness of body, mind and spirit.

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4 Signs of Poor Digestive Health

If you’re feeling lethargic and have bouts of brain fog, you might be experiencing gastrointestinal problems and are suffering from an unhealthy gut. Every day more and more research points to a healthy gut as an important key to optimal health.

Below are 4 potential signs of an unhealthy gut.

1. Constipation

Although everyone has a ‘regular’ routine to their bowel movements, ideally we should have a bowel movement for every meal we intake so on a great day 3 would be ideal. For many people 1 time a day seems to be the norm. However, many other people struggle to have a bowel movement even when several days have past.

Constipation can cause a build up of waste material and toxins in our system. Straining, hard or painful to pass stools, round pebble like stools, or not feeling ”empty” after a bowel movement are all signs of constipation.

2. Diarrhea

Diarrhea or bouts of diarrhea and constipation can mean different things but some things to consider are:

Diarrhea can be caused by a single factor or by a combination of factors, including:
Food allergies or intolerances
A damaged mucosal lining (thin, delicate tissue lining the intestine)
Impaired digestion and absorption, resulting in very rapid food transit times through the gastrointestinal tract
Infection by pathogenic microorganisms – diarrhea is one of the ways your body expels pathogens or poisons as quickly as possible
A colon that is incapable of absorbing water and fluid from stool
Lack of hydration in the body. Water is used to make stools and move waste
Prescription drug use
Lack of “good”, beneficial bacteria in the gut
Tense, spasming intestines

3. Feeling Sluggish

With a compromised digestive system, not only are toxins accumulating in the body and in turn the blood stream, but the energy system and mitochondria are also compromised as a result. If our Mitochondria production is compromised, we are compromised. The mitochondria produce the ATP energy that feeds our cells. People might find they are tired, weak and often feel like they have no vitality or life force.

4. Mental health issues

Recent research indicates that stress, anxiety and depression might be related to gut bacteria. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/link-found-between-gut-bacteria-and-depression/

Also our intestines produce a large portion of the happy hormone serotonin however, lifestyle factors like excess alcohol consumption, change in diet or travel can cause changes to this delicate balance, in turn impacting hormone and neurotransmitter production.

Gut health is a very intense topic and can be expanded on in great detail. Some ways to improve gut health are to lower stress, eat life giving foods full of enzymes and micro-nutrients such as fruits and vegetables and to take a quality probiotic as well as digestive enzymes. Getting fiber from foods sources help also to move along the waste in the colon. Fruits and vegetables not only provide vitamins, minerals and phyto-chemicals and phyto-nutrients, but they provide a great source of fiber as well.

Maggie Holbik.com is a Certified Nutritionist and a Natural Nutrition Clinical Practitioner who has had an interest in gut health for the past 30 years. Maggie offers complimentary discovery chats to discuss your gut health and the potential improvement of it, by request. Maggie also offers Hair Mineral Analysis testing which helps to identify imbalances in the body.
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Isotonix Digestive Health Formula

Liver “LIVE-er”

As a Nutritionist who continues to study every single day of my life, the more I go down the rabbit hole of what is plaguing people in the way of illness and disease, the more information I come to over and over again that lands at the liver!

The word ‘liver’ when broken down is about living and the liver is indeed responsible for so many functions that allow us to ‘live’.  It is difficult to give a precise number, as the organ is still being explored, but it is thought that the liver carries out 500 distinct roles!!!

There are so many ailments that can be affected by or affect our livers. Fatty liver is becoming more and more common out there in the world as well as a host of other symptoms associated with a compromised liver.

The term ‘sluggish liver’ is used to describe a situation in which your liver and gall bladder are not functioning as well as they could be. Some indications that your liver function may be sub-optimal and may benefit from therapies designed to support the detoxification and excretion of toxins may include:

• Intolerance of alcohol and/or fatty foods
• Indigestion, constipation  and other digestive problems
• Headaches
• Itchy Skin
• Acne and other skin conditions, such as eczema
• Irritability
• High cholesterol and blood lipid levels
• High Blood Pressure
• abdominal bloating
• pain or discomfort over the liver – (right upper abdominal area under the rib cage)
• excessive abdominal fat; pot belly; or a roll around the upper abdomen
• trouble digesting fatty foods
• had your gallbladder removed
• acid reflux/heartburn
• dark spots on the skin commonly referred to liver spots
• overheating of the body & excessive perspiration
• acne/rosacea or itchy, blotchy skin
• unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction

Other signs and symptoms may indicate the presence of more serious conditions requiring professional treatment (such as hepatitis or gall stones). These include:

• Jaundice (yellow discolouration of the skin and eyes)
• Nausea , vomiting and/or diarrhoea
• Loss of appetite
• Indigestion, bloating and wind
• Fatigue
• Abdominal Tenderness or pain, which may be generalised or localised under the right ribs
• Swelling and hardness of the liver (hepatomegaly)
• Dark urine
• Unusually light or dark stools
• Swollen feet, legs and/or abdomen
• Confusion, sleep disturbance, and occasionally mental disturbance
• Generalised itching over the whole body
• Increased sensitivity to medicines and their effects

If you are suffering from any of the symptoms listed above, it is essential that you see your health care professional to determine the cause of the problem. Professional treatment and prescription medication may be necessary for the treatment of severe liver and gall bladder disease such as gallstones, hepatitis, fatty liver or cirrhosis, and permanent changes to your dietary and lifestyle habits may also be required.

Some of the often overlooked everyday liver stressors in general, are chemicals and toxins. Exposure to things like heavy metals, hair dyes, perfumes, artificially scented candles and cleaning products, etc. all create a substance or air borne substances that eventually are filtered through the liver which is the major clearing house for the body.  Some people find that as they age, they are less able to handle scents and exposure to certain chemicals due to a further comprised liver and ability for it to filter as it becomes overloaded. Unfortunately in this day and age our livers are challenged to keep up with the demand of their role as a clearing house and the liver’s role in the digestion and processing of proteins, fat and sugar.

One of the best things you can do is to limit your exposure to  liver stessors and add in healthy additions for liver support. In future blogs posts, I will cover simple strategies to support the liver with diet, supplementation and lifestyle modifications.

Maggie Holbik.com is a Natural Nutrition Clinical Practioner and Holistic Nutritionist who enjoys learning, developing healthy recipes and has a passion for sharing information on wellness of body, mind and spirit.

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Spotlight on Digestion

A healthy digestive system and the maintenance of it is one of the most important things we can do to both maintain and improve our health.  If we think about it, in common sense terms, the better our digestive system is, the better we will be able to assimilate the food we put into it and ultimately the nutrients from the food.

As a Nutritionist, the biggest area of inquiry from clients I get, usually pertains to their digestive system. Few people consider their digestive system until there is an apparent problem such as gas, bloating, indigestion, heartburn, irregularity or diarrhea. However these common occurrences can be indicative of a much larger problem and the sooner one nips them in the bud the better!

Modern lifestyles can severely compromise our digestive systems.  Many people lack enough dietary fiber that is found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that contribute to vital nutrients that are needed by the body. This type of dietary fiber also acts as a brush or broom to help sweep away digestive wastes for proper colon maintenance. Eating more fruits and vegetables is one of the number one best ways to improve digestive health. These types of foods provide nutrients, fiber and water, which is extremely important for digestive health and the processing of food and its breakdown.

Over time a diet lacking proper nutrients and fiber can cause undigested food to slow down in its transit through the colon. Toxins and bacteria from this can lead to diarrhea or constipation.  A point to note, is that one can have runny bowel movements and still be constipated. Constipation is not always as it appears.

Another point to consider for those on medication is that many prescription drugs can also interfere with the uptake of nutrients adding to nutrient deficiency.  When we have a nutrient deficiency not only is colon and digestive health comprised, but the entire body and all of its systems.

Poor digestive health can have a number of consequences, one of which is colon cancer. According to the Canadian Cancer Society “Colorectal cancer is the 2nd most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers). It is the 2nd leading cause of death from cancer in men and the 3rd leading cause of death from cancer in women in Canada.”

Read more: http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/colorectal/statistics/?region=on#ixzz5Buo4oyNu

I highly recommend taking a look at your digestive health as a starting point for improving health all around.

MaggieHolbik.com is a Certified Nutritionist and Life Coach who resides in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Maggie helps individuals with wellness of body, mind, and spirit as a means to whole health.

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You are What You Digest

What do weight problems, skin conditions, allergies, fatigue, insomnia, arthritis, headaches, depression, yeast infections, bloating, anxiety and a host of other conditions have in common? They may all be caused or worsened by poor digestion.  The key to optimal health starts first and foremost with the bodies ability to break down food and to utilize the nutrients from the food matter. Digestive Health should be on the top priority list for all health conscious individuals.