Roughly 70% of your iron can be found in the blood (via hemoglobin in red blood cells). It makes sense, then, that women of child bearing years are at risk for iron deficiency due to the fact that they (we) bleed every month. If you’re someone that experiences a ‘heavy flow’ situation, you are at even greater risk. But what, precisely, are the dangers of iron deficiency? Why does it matter? How do you know if you might be low? And what can you do to ensure you have high enough levels? AN OVERVIEW OF IRON IN THE FEMALE BODY Iron is a key player in the transportation of oxygen…
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Fat Is The New Black
As many of you have likely noticed, the concept of low-fat and no-fat diets have become increasingly antiquated in recent years. Fat, to put it matter-of-factly, is here to stay. So why is fat suddenly en vogue? Much of our newfound appreciation stems from an improved understanding of its redeeming properties, notably: Foods that contain fat, contain fat-soluble vitamins – vitamins that we cannot produce on our own (with the exception of Vitamin D) and therefore must obtained through our food and/or supplementation. Fat soluble vitamins obtained through food are more readily absorbed. By the way, fat makes up over 50% of our brain! It helps maintain brain cell integrity,…
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OVERTRAINING: I Let It Happen, You Don’t Have To
Wake up. Workout. Repeat. That was my jam for a number of years. It still is…to an extent. Working out feels good; it invigorates me, it strengthens me, and most days – it supplies much needed alone-time. But my workouts look quite different than they once did. My workouts used to consist of back-to-back cardio group classes because one just wasn’t enough. Double days, 3+ hour bike rides, and hitting the pavement one mile after the next were commonplace. Notice any themes here??? Endurance much?! I was logging A LOT of hours of cardio. Yes, I occasionally threw in some strength training and yoga but the consistent element was cardio. …
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Protect Your Heart
While many women know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in our sex, we still can be guilty of reserving our most dogged concern for other areas. Over the past 20 years, breast cancer awareness – and the push toward regular mammograms and early detection – has done wonders to support female longevity. Yet at the same time, heart disease has struggled to gain similar traction in the women’s public health conversation. Why? Is it simply a question of prioritizing the present over the future; in other words, breast cancer detection requires my attention now, while worry over heart disease can come later? As someone in her…
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Fight Cavities & Boost Heart Health
According to Ann Bolger, M.D., the William Watt Kerr Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco “the mouth can be a good warning signpost, people with periodontitis (inflammation of the tissue around the teeth, often causing shrinkage of the gums and loosening of the teeth) often have risk factors that not only put their mouth at risk, but their heart and blood vessels, too. But whether one causes the other has not actually been shown.” Regardless of whether there is a direct correlation/causation between periodontitis and heart disease, we do know that oral hygiene is extremely important when it comes to overall health. Bad bugs (aka.…
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Stress…It’s a B!$@#
Stress sucks. But, it’s inevitable. We all experience it, some times more than others. It’s how you handle stress that effects your health in the long run. Fingernail-chewing, sleep deprivation, and more coffee – these are less than ideal forms of compensating. More traditionally, proper stress relief has involved coping mechanisms, unwinding, and downloading. Whether it is sipping on a glass of wine, taking a bubble bath, watching a favorite tv show, going for a run or getting a massage, it is important to identify what works for you once stress rears its ugly head. But what about mitigating stress’s impact before it starts? In other words, how do we…
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Anna’s Top 10 Therapeutic Foods
One of the top questions people ask me is, ‘What do YOU have for breakfast, lunch and dinner?’ It’s an easy enough question but I always hesitate a bit in answering. For starters, the way I eat is not perfect by any means, and for some reason people tend to think as a nutritionist your diet must be absent of all things indulgent. Secondly, people can get stuck on ONE particular dietary option and replicate over, and over, and over, and….well, you get the idea 😉 Nevertheless, I thought I’d shed some light on a few of the foods and ingredients that I try to have on a daily basis…
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Germ Busting & Immune Boosting Foods
For most kids, a new school year means new clothes, new teachers, and new crushes. For parents, it signals another year of combatting runny noses, fevers, and sore throats. So what’s in your arsenal for keeping absences down and boosting immunity? By now, we all know Vitamin C, EmergenC, and fresh squeezed orange juice represent a strong line of defense. But are these familiar remedies really going to keep you and your family at your best this season? Below are my top ten recommendations for staying healthy and fighting through illness. Zinc is my number one immune boosting nutrient when it comes to the cold and flu season. Zinc can…
