I see health as an inter-relationship of all the aspects of the self, a continuum. Intervening anywhere within the continuum can ultimately facilitate health. This holds true no matter what your health challenge. For over 30 years, I have been on a quest to seek tools to assist my clients with their health recovery and healing, ultimately finding optimal health for themselves and their families. This past year I embarked on a year- long Clinical Homeopathic Training (Center for Education and Development of Homeopathy). I enjoyed learning about this 200 year old health care practice. For those of you unfamiliar with homeopathy, it is the use of very diluted substances, from plants, minerals, periodic table, and other substances naturally occurring in our everyday environment. The Clinician seeks to find similitude between the medicine and the person. I see great value for both acute and chronic conditions. Especially, immune, ENT, allergies, nervous system support, women’s health, and digestive disorders. Homeopathic medicines are very diluted and can benefit the highly sensitive person. There are no contra-indications or interactions with medications.I am excited to offer this additional modality in my practice. I believe it can be of great benefit for many conditions.
Quarantine Health
We are all facing a difficult time right now. All of our lives are different than they were a few months ago. I continue to seek ways to enhance your health and well-being. Given the many unknowns of this pandemic what does seem clear is we all need to make health improvement a priority. Clearly optimal health and complementary therapies are no longer the alternative.
While in quarantine I have been very busy offering telehealth sessions, My first Zoom class, “Healing your Gut with Naturopathy” and finishing my clinical training in Homeopathy. I am also trying to finish my next client booklet, “The Menopause Manual”. The clinical homeopathic training is a year long program I began this past fall. Thus far we have completed the modules of Allergies, ENT, Dermatology, Pulmonology, and Women’s Health, This has been an exciting study program which I am already integrating into my work with current clients and seeing definite results. Homeopathy specifically uses diluted plants, minerals, and other compounds to help your body return to base-line. These have no side-effects or interactions with medications. It differs from Naturopathy in that Naturopathy considers nutrition, vitamins and herbs.
If you have not yet started any immune support that you definitely consider a cleanse to strengthen your immune health and the basic additional nutrients of Vitamin D, Zinc, and extra anti-oxidants. And Eat lots of garlic and oregano to nourish digestive health and immunity. Digestive health must be strong now. The COVID-19 and other viruses will be a part of our health landscape for years to come. We must optimize our health and be resilient.
Be sure to see my discussion here about recipes for quarantine, as well as first aide tool kits. And it’s spring, allergy season!
Be sure to reach out if I can help you achieving your health goals.
Do You Need a Detox?
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Truths and Myths of Naturopathy
Truths- How Naturopathy can help you
1. Naturopathy can help nourish your health, rebalance and strengthen systems within the body.
2. Understanding actions and energy of a nutrient, herb or homeopathic medicine can help you provide your body what it needs.
3. Sometimes as you get healthier you might need less medicines. Medications should never be stopped without discussion between you and your physician.
4. Naturopathic Detoxification programs were developed by early “Nature Doctors” as a means to cleanse and rejuvenate your system.
5. There are many studies confirming the benefits of vitamins. The body will eliminate the water-soluble vitamins it does not need. Fat soluble vitamins are stored within the body. Rarely are vitamins toxic unless of course taken in extremely high doses.
6. Most doctors have not taken a nutrition course as part of their medical training.
7. The body is constantly changing. The true idea of naturopathic support is to help the body heal. Most nutrients, herbs and homeopathic medicines need not be taken forever.
Myths-What is Not True
1. Naturopathy can cure any disease.
2. The is one magical remedy, be it herb, vitamin that can cure your disease, cleanse your liver, boost immunity, balance hormones.
3. You can substitute a natural remedy for your medication.
4. Detoxification Naturopathic Programs are for addictions or cancer.
5. Vitamins are a waste of money as everything you take is excreted in urine.
6. Your doctor should be able to suggest vitamins and dietary recommendations to prevent and heal illness.
7. Once you establish a nutrient routine then you are set for life you should keep eating this way or taking the same vitamins forever.
Balancing your Hormones
As Featured in Main Line Today October 2019
Balance Your Hormones
Women’s bodies begin changing approximately 15 years before menopause, says Lynn Feinman, a Paoli-based doctor of naturopathy. “How we rebalance our hormones, starting at age 35, determines how we age, our longevity and overall health quotient,” she says.
Feinman advises increasing your intake of hormone-balancing foods—plants over animals. “Flesh foods and reproductive organs—even eggs—have hormones of those animals,” she says.
Feinman doesn’t insist on vegetarianism. Rather, she wants women to choose their meats wisely. Organic, farm-raised and antibiotic-free meats are best.
And food doesn’t supply all of the nutrients we need, especially as we age. Supplements are a must—just don’t overdo vitamins and minerals, Feinman says.
Experienced consultants can create supplement plans that include antioxidants, minerals, calcium, magnesium and B vitamins. They can also help you to engage in periods of nutritional cleansing to optimize liver function. Most of Feinman’s cleansing programs are a month long. But eating clean for even one day a week does a lot of good. “I believe that if your liver is clean, it can better metabolize the fluctuations of hormones,” she says.
When it comes to underlying systemic issues like insomnia and gastrointestinal disorders, hormonal changes can exacerbate them. That’s one reason people feel like they’re falling apart when they hit their mid-40s. “Hormones are messengers, so whatever is there becomes a louder conversation,” says Feinman.
Finding remedies for your ailments will help you brace yourself for change, Feinman contends. Preventative measures include micronutrient testing, food allergy analysis and supplement plans.
Hormone health is attainable and sustainable. “There’s a switch that gets flipped, and that can create damage, but a lot of it is reversible through making good choices,” says Feinman. “We can rebuild. If you’re clear with intentions and you want to get better, you can heal yourself.”
Menopause: Charting a New Road Map
Women’s needs mid-life, as well as during other life stages, or hormonal changes, represent a significant opportunity to rebalance and influence future health and longevity. It may also be a difficult and challenging time for a number of reasons. Mid-life brings about changes in relationships, family, career and often health. Also, of significance is the aging body and changing self-image. There are additional changes in sleep, mood, bones, cognition and memory and weight. As the hormones change, common hormone imbalances arise such as thyroid and adrenal health. These imbalances may amplify various previous digestive, emotional and immune conditions. Thus women can be left with a complicated picture of health. It seems common for women to end up with auto-immune disease, chronic fatigue, pain and inflammation, irritable bowel disease, weight issues, emotional imbalances etc.
Menopause is not a medical condition, but rather a natural female condition. Similar to pregnancy, our bodies know what to do. It is a natural process. However, because of all the imbalances which arise many women end up at their medical practitioner’s office. Medicine can certainly treat a fibroid or provide medical interventions for more serious issues resulting from ill-health and should never be over-looked. Clearly, medicine will not naturally strengthen women’s health
Clearly, women’s needs are completely different at mid-life. Therefor I believe women need a new map, and to chart a new path. I believe by employing a naturopathic and holistic paradigm, and identifying what is unique to each woman we can bring hormones into balance: improve digestion, immunity, cognitive, emotional health, rebalance weight, sleep issues and other issues which seem to correlate with peri-menopause (the time around menopause which is usually 35-55).By employing a new and optimal path I believe women can age with optimal health and well-being. My Health Transformation Naturopathic Program employs a customized plan for you.
Fall 2019 Naturopathic Health Seminars
Healing your Gut
Healthy digestion is a fundamental foundation for good health. When the process of digestion is compromised, it often affects not just your gut, but also your immune, hormonal and nervous systems. Even if you eat a healthy diet, you may have impaired nutrient absorption and energy production that can lead to the development of inflammation and allergies. Utilize the Naturopathic 4 R model gut cleanse program to resolve your digestion issues. Takeaway top naturopathic principles for digestive health. “The Foundational Cooking for Optimal Health Cookbook” by Dr. Lynn Feinman available for purchase.
Building Natural Immunity
NEW Identify the fundamental principles that weaken our immunity. Learn effective tools and techniques of naturopathy: food, nutrition and therapeutic approaches that strengthen immunity. Explore the naturopathic interventions to protect and enhance immunity. Takeaway the top 10 Step Naturopathic Immune Building protocol.
The Six Principles of Naturopathic Health
Is this a part of your Health Plan?
1.The healing power of nature — vis medicatrix naturae
The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain, and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent; nature heals through the response of the life force. The Naturopath’s role is to facilitate and augment this process, to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a healthy internal and external environment.
2. Identify and treat the cause — tolle causam
Illness does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the body’s attempt to heal, but are not the cause of disease; therefore, naturopathy addresses itself primarily to the underlying causes of disease, rather than to the symptoms. Causes may occur on many levels, including physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual. The Naturopath must evaluate fundamental underlying causes on all levels, directing treatment at root causes as well as seeking relief of symptoms.
3. First do no harm — primum no nocere
The process of healing includes the generation of symptoms, which are, in fact, expressions of the life force attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic actions should be complementary to and synergistic with this healing process. The practitioner actions can support or antagonize the actions of vis medicatrix naturae; therefore, methods designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized.
4. Treat the whole person — in perturbato animo sicut in corpore sanitas esse non potest
Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, and social factors. The Naturopath must treat the whole person by taking all of these factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is essential to recovery from and prevention of disease, and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.
5.The physician as teacher — docere
Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate prescription, the physician must work to create a healthy, sensitive interpersonal relationship with the patient. A cooperative doctor–patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value. The naturopath’s major role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility for his or her own health. The practitioner is a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating the patient to assume responsibility. It is the patient, not the doctor, who ultimately creates or accomplishes healing. The practitioner must strive to inspire hope as well as understanding. The physician must also make a commitment to her/his personal and spiritual development.
6. Prevention — principiis obsta: sero medicina curatur
The ultimate goal of naturopathy is prevention. This is accomplished through education and promotion of lifestyle habits that foster good health. The Naturopath assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease. Because it is difficult to be healthy in an unhealthy world, it is the responsibility of both practitioner and patient to create a healthier environment in which to live.
Healthy Digestion is the Foundation of Good Health
Principles for Healthy Digestion
- Chew your food thoroughly; digestion begins in the mouth where enzymes are released through chewing and saliva.
- Try a food rotation/elimination diet where you eliminate a highly allergic or difficult and congesting food like dairy, wheat, eggs, nuts, soy, corn, etc. You must allow 72 hours of each food to be eliminated then re-introduced. Another option is eating a clean diet for 30 days avoiding these foods then re-introducing. IBS consider FODMAPS diet. Also consider food allergy and sensitivity testing.
- Eat an alkaline diet. Foods high in acid such as sugar, dairy, breads and other refined foods and meats are difficult to digest-eat a mostly plant based but not raw diet.
- Eat foods easy to digest such as cooked fruits, vegetables, soups, rice and other whole (non-glutenous) grains, fish and poultry.
- Use natural antimicrobials in cooking to reduce bad gut bacteria and pathogens; oregano, ginger, garlic, sage, thyme, rosemary, and use fermented foods such as unsweetened kefir, miso or occasional plain yogurt, sauerkraut, and probiotics (good bacteria such as fermented miso, yogurt, sauerkraut) and pre-biotics (dandelion greens, asparagus, leek, garlic, onion, chicory, yams) to replenish good gut bacteria.
- Eat and cook with foods to stimulate and warm digestion such as bitter foods; turmeric, ginger, dandelion greens, arugula, aloe, herbal bitters. Herbal bitters stimulate the digestive process and have been used for hundreds of years. Also consider HCI and Digestive Enzymes. If your system is “overactive” use the right nutrients to slow things down.
- Understand your own energy- is your system too “hot” or “cold”? If you have a lot of digestive heat, eating raw foods can be helpful. If your system is “cold” eat warm and cooked foods.
- Repair and soothe mucosal lining of the stomach with slippery elm, licorice root, aloe leaf juice, calendula (aloe is naturally a slight laxative).
- Eat to nourish the brain gut connection, herbs which are calming for brain gut connection include chamomile, hops, valerian, lemon balm, milky oat.
- Engage in a mind body practice or daily relaxation
- Take a day such as a Sunday to rest digestion eating broths, fresh juices, soups and steamed vegetables
Principles for Weight Loss Success
- Eat 3 meals a day, or 4 small meals following the balanced food guide in cookbook (no more than 20% protein a day, 60% plants and complex carbohydrates and 20% or more good sources of fat). Do not miss meals. Eat 10-12 servings of vegetables and fruit a day. Try to eat dinner before 7 pm and give your body at least 12 hours to rest digestion.
- Eat a low-glycemic Mediterranean type diet. Eliminate all processed carbohydrates and sugars, and reduce alcohol. Review my meal plan! Find a diet you can live with.
- Consider a nutrient based cleanse diet with liver/gallbladder support, antioxidants vitamins and minerals to help the body convert toxins and make them water-soluble and eliminate them.
- Optimize gut health, eat an alkaline plant-based diet, use digestive support such as enzymes, and probiotics to help digestion and elimination.
- Eat when you are hungry and stop before you are completely full. Eat a little less than you need. Many of my clients tell me they have no idea what this means. Mindful eating is a guiding principle to optimal metabolism. Never eat angry or stressed.
- Address stress and sleep. Studies show if you are stressed and not sleeping you will not be able to lose weight. Stress and sleep support are different for individuals based on overall composition, age, sex, stressors and hormones.
- Address hormonal imbalances. Many hormonal imbalances underlie difficulty-losing weight. Complete my hormonal health assessment to identify and correct imbalances. (Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, dhea and cortisol are all examples of hormones which can be out of balance). Cortisol and thyroid are the biggest blockades to successful weight loss. These can naturopathically be restored.
- Address inflammation-underlying inflammation can interfere with weight loss. Inflammation can exist anywhere in the body.
- Stay active. Find an optimal exercise plan, which works for your lifestyle. It need not be excessive to achieve your weight loss goals. And you want to be taking several thousand steps a day. A fit bit or app can help you track your steps.
- Weight loss apps. Studies show these apps don’t help us achieve long-term success with change of lifestyle. We do know it takes at least 40 days to change a habit. Making optimal changes for 40 days can help you with long-term success.