Come to learn how health is supported by miraculous fermented foods. Together we will create our own Kraut or Kimchi experiment for you to take home!

Traditionally fermented foods have been a part of cultural cuisine all over the world. Today ferments are returning to modern kitchens for their value in health, and they are delicious!

Date: May 28th 6-8pm

Cost: $47

Location: The Depanneur 1033 College St

By removing store bought condiments from your diet you get rid of a whole whack of chemical preservatives, and by fermenting your own condiments you gain the value of enzymes, probiotics, vitamins and anti-oxidants.

This workshop will cover the how and why of the simple fermentation behind delicious condiments. After you make your own ferments we will all sit down to enjoy a dinner and social hour. We will eat our condiments alongside a slow cooked tagine, and you can ask your Intuitive Nutritionist (me!) all the questions you have about food and health.

And as a special keep sake you get to take home the ferment you made!

When: Thursday June 28th, 6-9pm

Where: The Depanneur 1033 College St

Cost: $67

This brand-new Food Camp at Evergreen Brick Works is a five-day program that offers urban children a variety of hands-on opportunities that will increase their physical fitness and help them understand the importance of making healthy food choices. Campers will learn about where food comes from and how it will give them the physical energy to move around their city.

Campers will be engaged in growing, harvesting, cooking, preserving, sharing and savouring fresh, healthy local food. They will spend time in the gardens planting seeds, tending to the plants and the soil-making worms in the vermi-compost bin. They will go on adventures through the local landscape to discover how animals feed themselves from their landscape as well as learning how to identify poisonous and healing plants. By the end of the week, campers will have experimented in the kitchen, learned new recipes and discovered cooking skills to bring back home. Plus we will be going on a field trip to a local farm!

Registration fees include: 2 lunches, afternoon snacks and the farm field trip.

Dates
July 9–13, July 16–20 or July 23–27

Time: 9am–3:30pm
Extended Care Available: 8:30–9am and 3:30–5:30pm

Register here.

It’s always an interesting time in my world after a body work session. As I’m sure you have felt before, I end up in a daze of some other world. Today I found myself in the No-frills in search of corn tortillas.

The previous Saturday I made hand-pressed tortillas from stone ground masa with the children of Growing Tastebuds. They were delicious, so I wanted to have them tonight for dinner again. Of course I do not have a tortilla press, nor can I access fresh masa. The No Frills was on my way home from my amazing body work appointment with Carina Lof, so I thought I would look for corn tortillas. I entered the store, and basically wandered around aimlessly.

As I strolled through the dairy section (don’t ask me how i thought i would find tortillas there!), I came across something I would never have even looked for in a No Frills…. Organic Cheese! Not only organic cheese, but organic cheese for $4.49/200g! That’s a great price for a hunk of cheese.

No Frills is kind of a store that I go to for a 4L jug of vinegar to clean my bathroom. I used to think it was the demise of our health, and only offered crappy packaged food. They certainly do offer crappy processed food. (In my dazed state I ended up reading the ingredients of a bag of Miss Vickies chips hoping that maybe they would pass my inspection…I was sadly disappointed.) They also have an enormous produce section, with lots of greens and they have organic cheese! I sometimes forget that we all have the power of choice. We can choose to buy processed food at the No Frills, or we can choose to buy Natural Whole Foods.

Now, I know some of you are asking if any of it is organic. The truth is they have a tiny organic section without any organic produce. But let’s have a meeting with reality. I’m a human subject to fluctuations in time and money just like everyone else. Sometimes I make bad decisions like thinking I can tether internet from my phone, and end up with a $263 bill. Or it’s winter and it’s Toronto and cold, so the heating bill is $468. Sometimes we have to shop at No Frills, and it doesn’t need to be the end of the world! Here are some simple tips for stringent times.

• Wash conventional produce with vinegar to remove pesticides.
• Seaweeds are cheap and last forever. They make up for the mineral deficiency in conventional produce.
• Nettles are growing wild right now. Learn where they are and pick them for a FREE multi-vitamin boost.
• No matter what, ALWAYS, ALWAYS eat organic meat and dairy. Pesticides build up in the fatty tissues of animals. We are animals too…and at the top of the food chain, so we build the most toxicity of all. You can choose to moderate those toxins.

And if you are wondering if I found my corn tortillas, I did! And they are even stone-ground! I will be enjoying them tonight with home-made re-fried black beans, salsa, guacamole and organic old cheddar.

Do you wish you could enjoy a spring day without being worried about the pollen load? Do you want to be outside without the annoyance of itchy eyes, rapid-fire sneezes or head-clogging congestion? Can you imagine yourself outside on a beautiful spring day enjoying the scents of spring? Can you daydream of a place where the delight of flowers, grass, lilacs and dogwood trees all fill your nostrils without a sneeze, a kleenex or the need of an anti-histamine?

Perhaps right now the reality of your situation is that you can barely breath through your nose, and can’t really smell at all in the spring. You avoid the outdoors on high pollen days because they are painful, congesting and down right irritating. You are prevented from fully enjoying the glorious days of spring and summer. You’ve probably tried Claratin, Reactine and Benadryl. Maybe you have even gone through the horrible experience of allergy scratch tests and had a series of shots. The end result is that you are still reacting to spring time!

I know how this feels. I know how frustrating it is to try different remedies without success because I have been there too.

I didn’t always have breathing allergies. They first hit me when I was about seventeen living next to a pine forest. A few years later I worked as a field biologist where each step I took erupted a pollen cloud around me. (In other words, a  nightmare!) My sinuses used to be so full it felt like they were about to burst out of my head. I was a slave to the cycle of different anti-histamines, eye-drops and pain medications.

My breathing allergies came and went year after year. Some seasons they were gone, only for the same symptoms to return the next year. The pollen load and my personal toxicity levels had everything to do with my reactions. And over time, as my body continued to react to foreign molecules, it eventually got confused and started reacting to myself. It was the auto-immune symptoms that kicked me into high gear to figure out what was going on.

Over years of study, numerous teachers and a Diploma in Holistic Nutrition I learned how to reduce my toxicity, strengthen my immune system and normalize my body’s reactions through therapeutic foods.  Today I fully enjoy spring and summer days and love handstand competitions that leave me rolling around in fresh cut grass!

This is why I created Breathe Freely for Seasonal Allergy Sufferers.

This 40day step-by-step healthcare package is meant to help you shift from pollen aggravated to pollen loving!

This program covers:

• An understanding of how allergies develop.
• Therapeutic Food to eat specific for allergy sufferers.
• Self-care techniques to detox your body and boost your immune system.
• An understanding of Inflammation and it’s effect on allergies.
• How to reduce Toxicity both externally and internally.
• Body, Mind and Spirit integration around allergies.

Your Outcomes:

• Breath Freely!
• Decrease congestion.
• Sneeze less.
• Banish dependency on anti-histamines.
• Eat to serve the health of your body.

For 6 weeks you will get an email delivered to your inbox. If you are like me you will be in your PJs sipping your favorite tea while reading over the days recommendations. My recommendations look to empower and inspire through education. The exercises are simple and effective. The recipes are easy to make and delicious. This program will give you a sense of direction on a path uniquely designed for you, the allergy sufferer.

You might be worried that you won’t be able to integrate change to your diet and lifestyle. I used to live on KD and Ramen noodles. I used to work and work, and work some more with food at the bottom of my priority list. If I can change, so can you. I focus my recommendations to be the most simple, the most powerful and most importantly have reality in mind. We still need to enjoy life and the food we eat! This program is not in anyway about complete restriction to a diet that tastes like cardboard. This is doable for anyone. I’ve seen dramatic change in even my busiest, most on-the-go, rigid clients. If you have read this far, you have the time to integrate my daily allergy tips.

This program is for you if you:

• Have pollen allergies.
• Experience seasonal sneezing, congestion and itchy eyes.
• Regularly take anti-histamines.
• Are ready to prioritize yourself and learn to love spring again!

This program is not for you if you:

• Don’t have any breathing allergies.
• Play outside with wild abandon.
• Aren’t ready to put your health as a priority.

The price of the Breathe Freely healthcare program is $197.

There is a coupon on my facebook page! If you sign up by March 30th you get a 25% discount ($149)!

And if you aren’t happy in the first week with the information you are getting you can opt out and get your money back.

Ready?

 

Are you having trouble falling or staying asleep? Do you wake up tired? Are you feeling overwhelmed by your life and responsibilities? When stress accumulates, your body’s mechanisms for protection and recovery are drained and many problems can develop.

In this workshop, nutritionist Kate Leinweber will help you understand how to balance your blood sugar and hormone levels and deal with adrenal fatigue through the food choices you make. You will leave with practical tools to help you manage stress and relieve anxiety and insomnia.

Participants will learn how to:

• Support the body’s ability to deal with stress
• Sleep better
• Have more energy
• Balance moods
• Heighten vitality to take advantage of life’s opportunities.

Cost: $75 + HST
Advance registration required by May 8th.
Register soon! SPACE IS LIMITED. This is a small group, interactive session with approximately 10 to 20 participants.

Register Here.

Improper chewing can lead to many problems in the body, such as:

• Gas/ Bloating
• Indigestion/ Heartburn
• Poor absorption
• Underactive Stomach/ Low HCl
• Overeating

The Rhythm and Pulse of Digestion

The pace at which we chew sets the rhythm for the rest of our digestion. If we just shovel food into our mouths and get it down the hatch as quickly as we can, this trend will continue right through our whole digestive tract. If our food is passing quickly through our digestive tract, there is less time for our system to absorb the nutrients present in our food. The rhythm, in the case of our digestive system, is called peristalsis. Peristalsis is initiated once the food from your mouth starts to move towards your stomach from the esophagus to the anus. This rhythmic movement mixes food with hydrochloric acid (HCl) and digestive enzymes ensuring maximum surface area of food is exposed to enzymes so that food is broken down.  When food moves slowly through the intestines it has a good transit time for nutrients to be absorbed. Ever notice that you have a pulse in your belly? Well that is blood flow to absorb nutrients from your food.

The Journey

Starting at the mouth, without chewing, it would be nearly, if not, impossible to swallow. It is the initial method of breaking down our food. Carbohydrates are digested primarily in the mouth. Salivary amylase is produced in the mouth and is the primary enzyme of carbohydrate break down. The more we can mechanically break down our food in our mouth, the easier it is for our stomach to break down the food. Lets remember our poor stomach has no teeth.

The stomach is a firey acidic environment where food is churned and broken down. It has very little to do with carbohydrate digestion (so it was a good thing you chewed and produced lots of saliva!). Undigested carbohydrates are the source of fuel for bad bacteria in our gut that create the uncomfortable side-effects of gas production. The more efficiently food is chewed and mixed with saliva the less likely you are to experience gas and bloating. Chewing stimulates the production of HCl, and without that protein digestion could not occur. Our immune system depends on the acidity of HCl to kill many of the pathogens we ingest before they can make us sick.

Then food moves through the small intestine where fat digestion occurs and most nutrients are absorbed. If food was chewed properly there is a low chance of gas production or support for Candida overgrowth since the carbohydrates are already broken down. Enzymes upon enzymes are produced by the liver, pancreas and cells of the intestines to break food into smaller and smaller pieces until they can be transported to the blood stream.

The large intestine is where bacteria will degrade any left over food; usually fiber. Their byproducts are B vitamins, Vitamin K, and other immune supporting molecules. Remember that if you didn’t chew your food properly a byproduct can be Gas! Water is absorbed from food and any garbage that needs to be eliminated is done so with the Beat and the Pulse of our digestion: Peristalsis.

The Art

Proper chewing helps to prevent overeating. If we take our food in faster than our stomach can talk to our brain, the stomach will not be able to communicate it is full until after it is too full! Taking the time to slow down and enjoy a meal will provide a greater sense of satiety. Also, having food in our mouths longer helps us to realize the quality of food going down the hatch. Often, foods we think we enjoy don’t seem as desirable once they are chewed thoroughly, particularly in the case of processed foods and foods with synthetic flavors and/or colors.

It is important to remember food is one of life’s greatest gifts. We can enjoy food every day! Try to enjoy chewing 30 – 50 times per bite. Sometimes it helps to put the fork/spoon/chopsicks down between bites. Try to really taste your food. Enjoy it and let it nourish you.

from my blog on elephant journal.

Kate Leinweber, B.Sc R.H.N

The Difference Between East & West.

I’m from Vancouver.

The center of all things healthy, beautiful and Organic. I was used to all things natural, certified organic and perfect for my consumption. I spent an outrageous amount of money on food and jumped on many health bandwagons; vegetarianism, veganism, raw foodism. In my fridge you would always find kale, bee pollen, spirulina, chlorella, hemp seeds, freshly ground flax seeds, aloe vera, bentonite clay and of course the vitamix with leftover green smoothie.

In Vancouver, land of Whole Foods, Choices and other big name stores, where the connection between consumer and store owner is broken, the only way to know that a food is “healthy” is to have a middle man, pay a lot of money, and get a “Certified Organic” label. Oh how Humans love labels. And Oh how Vancouver doesn’t like to really talk about things. It’s easier to look pretty and find a label to prove something is perfect. It’s a passive approach.

(Of course there is an underground group of very active urban gorilla farmers in the East End of Vancouver that are doing an amazing job of bringing naturally grown traditional foods to farmers markets. My lawyer by day, biodynamic farmer by night great friend Johanna makes sure I’m kept informed of this. But I lived on the west side for 13  years so my perceptions are skewed.)

Then I moved to Toronto.

The land of Healthy Skepticism. On my first few shopping trips I was appalled at how difficult it was to find Certified Organic produce, dairy, and meats. Do these people not even care about their health? And how is there only one Whole Foods for this whole city? I was forced out of my Vancouverite bubble, and started talking to shop owners. I learned that here in Ontario, shop owners have a relationship with the farmers that supply their food. I could find out what was used to grow vegetables, what animals were fed, how they were treated etc. Torontonians find out where their food comes from through simple communication instead of the complex process of the certified organic system.

Now I will finally get into simple recommendations to answer the question:

Do I Need to Buy Organic?

Buying Certified Organic foods ensures that pesticides were not used, that sustainable farming practices were employed, and that animals were fed organic feed and treated humanely.

Certified organic food comes with a large price tag since the farmers have to pay for the certification process. By shopping locally at farmers markets and smaller businesses you can ask where your food came from and how it was grown/raised. This way you can find foods that have been produced according to sustainable organics practices even if they are not “certified”.

Pesticides are fat soluble which means they build up in meats and dairy products. So buy your meat and dairy Organic. Conventional produce can be peeled or washed in some soapy water or apple cider vinegar to remove the majority of pesticides.

Can’t find pesticide free fruits and veggies? Fill up your sink and add some soap or vinegar. Let them soak for 20 minutes and rinse thoroughly. This will dramatically reduce the pesticide content.

From my post on Elephant Journal.

The Quick and Dirty on How to Eat

It has been a winding road to discover what it is my body needs to be healthy. And it just keeps on changing. This is a path for all of us to discover on our own, but here are a few tips I can give to help point you in the right direction.

Variety: Cooked, Raw, Live, Colour

Living, raw and cooked foods are all an important part of our diet. The basics of nutrition are to see a variety of colours of natural foods on your plates throughout the day.

I recommend having some raw foods like a salad, on a daily basis.

Raw foods provide a vitamins and minerals that are heat-sensitive or are destroyed with cooking. Their cleansing nature helps the body maintain balance by shedding toxic materials like heavy metals. They are very cooling which makes them great foods to eat in the warmer months of summer. Cooked foods provide nutrients in a different way. Cooking destroys inhibitors that bind minerals and prevent digestion in foods like dark leafy greens, beans, legumes and grains.

Living Foods are fermented foods like yogurt, homemade sauerkraut or cheese. These foods have enzymes in them so they aid digestion, and they provide healthy Probiotics. Probiotics are the healthy bacteria we need in our gut to support healthy bowel movements, prevent IBS, and keep our immune system healthy. Use them as condiments by adding a little bit to each meal.

From my post at Elephant Journal

I hate headaches and have done everything I can to understand how to prevent them!

I fear that pain in the neck; the earliest sign of a big headache.

I don’t know what it is, but when I start to feel a headache come on I immediately run for the big pain-killers. I have this deep anxiety over it becoming a full fledged headache and have an intense need to stop it in its tracks.  What is up with that? When I sprained my ankles at the start of every basketball season I never took pain killers. When I fell on my front steps last winter and my tailbone ached for months I just handled it. But when it is a tension in my neck that reverberates pain up to my head threatening to blur my vision, and generally make me a basket-case I cannot open my pill box fast enough!

I have always had headaches on and off. From allergies as a child, and when I went to University they became chronic stress-related pains in the neck. I started taking ibuprofen almost daily if not multiple times a day. Not the best way to deal with pain in my body. After a few years of that I found an essential oil blend of lavender and mint that became my best friend.  And watch out if I didn’t have it. I have some friends that can vouch for the monster that came out if I was not prepared with my “headache roll-on”.

We all have our own way of dealing with or disguising pain in our bodies.

There are whole books written about how pain is a message from the body that something is wrong; be that emotional, physical or spiritual. I don’t want to put pharmaceuticals in my body, but sometimes I just don’t want to deal with the pain. My Naturopath tells me to invite my headaches to get bigger. Ya, thanks. I’ve done that, and it was not an enjoyable experience. I know he is right, and that there is something I’m avoiding by taking the pain-killers. But, with my avoidance of pharmaceuticals, I decided instead to take the circuitous route and discover how many ways I can prevent my headaches from happening in the first place!

Of course stress is a huge factor.

I practice yoga, meditate and breath deeply during stressful times, and all of those things certainly help. (A headstand is a great way to fend off the early signs of a headache for me.) When a headache is your weak point you need more than a few hours a week in a yoga class for true prevention. I have gone from daily headaches to less than one a month through integrating the recommendations below alongside a yoga and meditation practice. Still I am challenged when a headache comes. I start with essential oils of peppermint and lavender rubbed all over my neck and temples. If that doesn’t work then I try White Willow Bark. This is the herb that acetaminophen or Tylenol comes from. And if all else fails I call in the big guns and take an advil liquid gel. They are the easiest on your system and must be taken with food.

Here are 6 concrete preventative measures that work.

1.  Blood Sugar Imbalances – Eat Regularly.

Hypoglycemia is a condition where the body is unable to properly regulate blood sugar balance.  Symptoms of hypoglycemia are triggered when blood sugar is too low and include: hunger, dizziness, fatigue, headache, irritability, and fainting.

The primary way to alleviate headaches caused by hypoglycemia is simply to eat.  Eating habits to support balanced blood sugar levels include small meals every 2 hours.  All meals or snacks containing sugar or carbohydrates should be consumed alongside a protein source.

Diabetes, or a high blood glucose level can also cause headaches. Someone with diabetes should properly monitor their blood sugar levels and follow any prescriptions from their doctor.  In addition avoiding refined carbohydrates, focusing on whole grains and combining carbohydrates with protein and/or fat at each meal can help keep blood sugar levels more even.

If experiencing a headache after consuming a very sugary meal.  Try drinking a large glass of water with a pinch of Himalayan salt.  Miso soup, pickles and anything salty can also help.

2.  Food Allergies/Sensitivities – Understanding Food Addiction.

Food allergies and sensitivities can be expressed in a variety of symptoms including headaches.  Keep a detailed food diary and record when you experience a headache.   An elimination diet removing suspected foods from the diet for 6 weeks and then reintroducing them can also provide insight into headache triggers. Common allergens are: wheat (gluten), dairy, eggs, corn, peanuts and pork. Often the food you eat the most is the food you are allergic to.

3.  Dehydration – Drink warm water with lemon.

The amount of hydration needed varies from person to person and depends on the water and fat content of their foods.  Generally speaking about 6-8 glasses of water a day is a good amount to aim for.  Water that is room temperature is easier on our stomach and the lemon helps us to digest it. Noticing the color of urine is another indicator of dehydration.  If urine is dark and yellow it is a sign to drink some water! Remember that caffeine is dehydrating so if you are drinking coffee or black tea you must increase your water intake!

4.  Imbalanced Hormones – Eat the Good Fats.

Hormonal issues take longer to identify and correct.  If headaches occur on a regular time schedule then hormones may be the culprit.  Balanced Fat intake is crucial to hormonal balance as well as minerals deficienciess can influence tension headaches associated to hormonal imbalance. Healthy fats include fish oils, nuts and seeds, avocados, coconuts, bone broths, dairy, eggs, and meats from grass-fed animals.

5.  Improper Fat Metabolism – Love Your Liver.

Liver headaches are strong and painful; usually called migraines.  These can arise anywhere from 2-4hours after the unbalanced food is consumed.  Notice eating fatty foods on an empty stomach such as anything fried for breakfast, eggs, cheese, and sometimes meats. If this scenario applies to you try drinking lemon tea and always have lemon in water before meals. Lemon helps the liver and gallbladder digest fats properly. Sleep is also a great remedy for these headaches.

6.  Preservatives and Additives - Fake Food. No Thanks!

Mono-sodium glutamate (MSG), Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrate, and Food coloring Yellow #6 have all been seen to trigger headaches. Tryamine is a vaso-active amino acid found in foods and can be in higher amounts in aged, preserved, or are not fresh.  Foods high in tryamine are:  red wine, aged cheeses, processed meats, peanuts, broad beans, peas and lentils.

Read your labels and keep a food journal to see if there is a connection between certain food additives and headaches.