Is your gut making you sick?

No matter how unrelated a disease may appear to be there is a great deal of evidence to show that many conditions and diseases are indeed linked to the digestive system. For example, toxic substances produced by unhealthy gut flora can often produce general symptoms that appear to have no relation to digestive health, such as: general lack of wellbeing, fatigue, drowsiness, headaches, muscle and joint aches, sleeping problems, urinary tract infections and the list goes on.

The Gastrointestinal system (GIT) with a 5-6 metre tube that begins with the mouth and ends at…

We are living in a world of serious epidemics. More and more common are the occurrences of Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and other neurological conditions. There is a growing trend in western society of chronic conditions, such as asthma, sinusitis, hayfever, eczema, dermatitis/hives, obesity, recurring infections, chronic fatigue syndrome and others.

Underlying many of these disorders and chronic conditions manifesting especially in our children are food allergies or food intolerances. It is not just to our common food groups such as cow’s milk and wheat that our children are now showing…

People with hay fever and skin allergies are more likely to develop irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that IBS is twice as likely to affect those with hay fever, and four times as likely to appear in people with allergic skin conditions.

I’m not surprised. Allergies can cause all sorts of digestive, gut and bowel problems, which, aside from causing great discomfort and distress, can also lead to significant nutrient deficiencies.

On the other hand, gut problems can lead to allergies. For instance,…

We hear a lot about detoxing these days, but have you ever wondered why it is so important to do this on a regular basis, even for those who feel pretty healthy? Even though you may not be aware of it, we face an onslaught of toxins every day. In the past few decades, we’ve seen more toxins enter our environment than ever before. They are stored deeply in our cells, tissues and muscles unless we start to get rid of them. These toxins contribute to illness and disease and starts from the earliest stage of life- studies show that…

Are you are one of those people who has at some point decided to make a change to your life that you knew was good for you and then abandoned it once it got too hard or it didn’t work? Don’t worry, we all do it and whether we are aware of it or not most of us have experienced a healing crisis at some point in our lives. So just what is a healing crisis and how do we get through it? Well, understanding what to expect is the first hurdle to helping us implement and maintain changes to…

Diagnosed with SLE at the age of 13, I understand the daily battles that lupus sufferers can go through. Extreme fatigue, joint pains and sore throats, were among the myriad of symptoms interfering with my schooling and previously active life. In my struggle to regain good health, I discovered natural therapies and have never looked back. Now, more than 15 years on since my diagnosis, I am a qualified naturopath and nutritionist, have been medication-free for over ten years, managing my condition with a combination of natural therapies.

Using natural therapies to treat lupus can be highly successful for…

The human body undergoes extreme stress when undertaking regular and extreme exercise regimes. The stress response on the body involves deterioration in our immune defenses and overall recovery time between training sessions. Each type of sport or activity has varying degrees of strain placed on the body with varying recovery rates. However, there are ways in which the body can be stimulated to improve overall performance and decrease the occurrence of infection utilising an herb called Siberian Ginseng.

Many studies have been performed on athletes to decifer the way Siberian Ginseng enhances peak performance and enables the body to…

There is more to weight loss than just diet and exercise. Factors like allergies, hormones, stress, and polycystic ovaries can reduce the efficiency of your metabolism and prevent or slow down weight loss.

Are food allergies making you gain weight?
Bloating, fatigue, itchy skin and sinus problems are just some of the unpleasant symptoms of food allergies. But did you know allergies might also be slowing down your metabolism, causing weight gain and even preventing fat loss?
Food allergies occur when a food triggers an immune reaction in your body. Your body then goes into protection…

Do you hit snooze a dozen times in the morning or find yourself falling asleep after lunch?? The following 11 secrets from Sydney Scientific Naturopath, Catherine Pritchard could make all the difference to increasing your energy and vitality.

1. It’s all about your blood sugar! One of the top secrets to abundant energy is having stable blood sugar throughout the day. Many people don’t realize that low energy, moodiness and fatigue especially after lunch can all be related to poor blood sugar control. Your blood sugar is affected largely by the foods you eat, particularly sugar and processed carbohydrates…

Ever wondered why some people can eat plenty of sugar and never get fat while others just have to look at it to put on weight, some people seem to need more sleep or have more stamina than others; why some children always seem to have a runny nose while others are rarely sick, and why there is no one diet that is right for everyone?
According to Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, we are all born with our own individual constitution or body type. Like the rest of nature, we as humans are made up of a balance…

What is insulin resistance syndrome?
Insulin is a kind of hormone. It helps your body store sugar in your tissues. Your body uses stored sugar for energy. In some people, the tissues stop responding to insulin. We say that these people are resistant to insulin. If you have insulin resistance, your body will pour more and more insulin into your blood, but it will not help you store sugar. Insulin resistance often goes along with other health problems, like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart attack. When one person has many of these problems together, we call…

Do you have feelings of anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, fatigue?
Suffer from weight gain, bloating, irregular periods, headaches, fluid retention?
Put up with cravings, constipation, skin problems, low libido or mood swings?

IT COULD SIMPLY BE YOUR HORMONES ARE OUT OF WACK!
How many of you have experienced the symptoms above and felt like a hypochondriac,silently wondering am I falling apart or going mad? I am here to tell you, you’re not falling apart and you’re definitely NOT mad! What all of these symptoms have in common is that they are signs of hormonal imbalance. You are not alone. Many…

Every individual child has his nature which will be similar throughout his life. A child may be formed, but he can be formed or can form himself only according to his nature, which is almost homoeostatic. This homoeostatic state can be called the constitution. The constitution is "what is" and the temperament is "what becomes". The temperament of a child may change over time, and be affected by many external factors, such as the physical and emotional environment in which the child is raised, the illnesses to which they are exposed, vaccinations, drugs used, and so on.
Next to…

Many people in Australia are finding that as they are becoming older, their weight is increasing. As a naturopath who specializes in weight loss, I see people on a regular basis, who would like to lose weight. Sometimes people feel that they began to gain weight with a change in lifestyle, job, or with the onset of an illness. For many it seems just a hard fact of life that their body is changing and they are unhappy about it. However most people seem unable to bring about any significant lasting change to their weight gain.

I like to explain…