Nutrition

Are you looking for a break in the health industry?

Celebrity nutritionist, naturopath, author  and TV presenter, Emma Sutherland, is looking for health-conscious interns to be part of the team. Interested? Read on!

The Role
Interns are required to research the latest health news and information to create fantastic weekly blog posts. They will learn how to generate high-quality, user-friendly information from current research that will then be published on Emma’s well-known and respected websites.
This training is perfect for an intern who wishes to get a feel for the operations of a small business while gaining experience in online marketing, content production and research, all within the realm of holistic health.

The Intern
We are looking for someone with a professional yet fun attitude who has some experience with research, blogging and article creation. You must have great communication skills with an excellent grasp of grammar and spelling. The role is suited to someone who exudes vibrant energy, loves good food and has a keen interest in health and nutrition. Applicants need to be English-speaking and tech savvy.

Our Offer
In exchange for 10 hours of internship per fortnight, Emma is offering 5 observational hours in her Balmain clinic in Sydney, Australia, OR a fortnightly 1-hour one-on-one mentoring session via Skype.
If you are interested in this role, send your resume and cover letter to Joanna at info@thehealthyva.com and include:

Why you would like an internship with Emma

2x examples of your own work of a blog post or article on a health topic.

 

“I was fortunate enough to be able to complete clinic hours with Emma Sutherland. After studying to be a Naturopath over the past 6 years, I felt that I had the knowledge but lacked the confidence on how to execute what was stored in my brain! Emma has helped me to take […]

By |January 17th, 2016|Naturopathy, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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The Secret to Mindful Eating

Key Message: Mindful eating is eating with intention and attention

Action Point: Start being more aware of your emotions, surroundings and patterns when you eat.
For centuries, mindfulness has been used by Hindus, Buddhists, and other enlightened groups to help lower stress, increase wellbeing, and improve decision making. It’s no surprise, therefore, that those looking to make smart dietary choices bring a similar mindful attitude to their food.

Eating can be an enjoyable experience, but too often it’s done out of boredom, depression, or excitement. This often leads to weight gain, lethargy, and poor overall health.

A mindful approach to eating is one of the surest ways to control what you put in your mouth, especially if you make the eating mistakes mentioned above. Read on to discover what mindful eating is and how it can help you.

What Exactly is Mindful Eating?

In a world where junk food now rules, it’s all too easy to eat for the wrong reasons. Quick food and food laden with salt and sugar may be convenient and may taste good, but it certainly isn’t good for you.

A mindful eater is one who is aware of these everyday-eating predicaments, and tries to do their best to avoid them. Instead of focusing on the benefits of fast food, they instead choose to focus on the positives of good food.

Mindful eating is all about eating with the intention of caring for yourself. While you make every attempt to make food taste as good as possible, you do this while remembering you’re eating for fuel, not solely for pleasure. If you have certain emotions that govern your eating habits – emotions like stress or sadness, for example – the goal is to express these needs in healthy ways, rather […]

By |December 27th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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Coffee Alternatives to Help Get You Going in the Morning

Key Message: There are alternatives to coffee for a healthy start in the morning

Action Point: Try to substitute your morning coffee for water and lemon, beetroot juice, chia seeds or bananas and nut milk
Not a morning person? Can’t start the day without a latte?

While coffee may seem to be your elixir, there are actually plenty of healthy coffee alternatives to get you going in the mornings.

Cold Water and Lemon

If you thought coffee was the simplest morning revitalizer, think again. According to nutritionists, many people respond to cold water and lemon just as well.

Simply pour some ice cold water into a glass and add in half a lemon or lime. You’ll find this extremely simple drink takes you from 0-60 in no time!

Acai Berries and Chia Seeds

When most people wake up in the morning, they’re in a foggy state and pick a cereal without really thinking about it. This usually leads to them picking something sugary, a decision that turns out to be a bad one. Sugar gives you a quick energy boost, but doesn’t last long at all. Afterwards, your body crashes and you’re left feeling more tired than you were before. That’s why eating a breakfast full of complex carbohydrates such as acai berries and chia seeds is a great way to start the day. These food items are gentler on your sugar levels and they’re also full of magnesium and vitamin B.

Rather than drugging your body with caffeine, why not give it some actual fuel it can use to get going?

Bananas and Nut Milk

Some people aren’t big on breakfast. Either they don’t have time for it or they just don’t feel like eating much early on in the morning. That’s not a […]

By |December 20th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Hormones, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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How Good Bacteria Can Lower Your Stress Levels

Key Message: The type of bacteria in your gut can determine your emotional state

Action Point: Try to introduce some good bacteria sources into your daily diet such as Kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and probiotic drinks
Lots of things in life can make a person stress. Lack of money. Pressures at work. Lack of healthy gut bacteria.

Wait, what? Lack of healthy gut bacteria?

Yes! According to growing research, the type of bacteria a person has in their gut determines more than just their health. It also determines their emotional state.

What is Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Within the gut there are multiple colonies of bacteria, living, breathing, and reproducing. Some of the bacteria colonies are good for you. They promote health and they promote wellbeing. Some of these colonies, on the other hand, are bad for you. They tax the gut and hamper the body’s ability to ward off infection.

Gut microbiota is incredibly sensitive. Small changes one way or another can have a profound impact on the body. Some of the good strains of bacteria you might have heard of previously include lactobacillus, bifidobacterium, streptococcus, and bacillus.

How Does Gut Bacteria Affect Stress Levels?

For years, the gut has been referred to as the second nervous system.

An intimate connection exists between the gut and the brain, often alluded to as the gut-brain axis. Evidence shows that both can alter the functioning of the other. That’s why, if you ever experience bouts of extreme anxiety, you’ll find your stomach growls and you lose your appetite. It also works in reverse. If you eat too much junk food, you’ll usually find your mood changes significantly and you have brain fog and problems concentrating.

Because bacteria plays such a large role in absorbing nutrients from food, defending against […]

By |December 13th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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How caffeine affects your body clock

Key Message: Caffeine at night delays the circadian clock

Action Point: Removing coffee from your diet or just having one cup in the morning may help achieve earlier bedtimes and wake time
We all know that drinking caffeinated drinks before bed can disrupt sleep. But for the first time research suggests that your evening double espresso delays the internal circadian clock that tells us when to get ready for sleep and when to prepare to wake up.
A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England shows that the internal clocks in human cells can be impacted by caffeine intake. According to Professor Kenneth Wright “this is the first study to show that caffeine, the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world, has an influence on the human circadian clock.”1
In the study, they compared what happened to people’s body clocks when they were exposed to caffeine three hours before bedtime to what happened when people were exposed to bright light at nighttime – which is already known to delay the body clock.
Researchers measured saliva levels of melatonin, which is a key hormone involved in regulating the body clock. It showed that drinking caffeine at night delays the body clock by 40 minutes. But it was found that the effect of caffeine is about half of what we see with light. The study showed that bright light alone and bright light combined with caffeine induced circadian phase delays in the test subjects of about 85 minutes and 105 minutes respectively.
The research suggests that not only will caffeine keep you awake longer at night but it could also push you into you into a whole new […]

By |December 6th, 2015|Adrenal Health, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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The Science Behind Snacking

Key Message: There is no evidence that snacking boots metabolism

Action Point: Snack quality is more important than frequency and should take into account the individual’s lifestyle
You may not know it, but “snacking” is a uniquely American tradition – and a recent one at that. In most cultures, people do not snack between main meals. Only in America do the majority of people snack. What’s more, a 2011 report from the US Department of Agriculture found that Americans now snack twice as often as they did in the late 1970s.
The reasons for this are varied. Some people say they eat between meals because they believe this is healthy or will help them control their weight; others report eating because of cravings for sweet or salty foods; while some snack out of simple boredom or to deal with unsettling emotions – so-called “emotional eating.”
There is no doubt the latter two reasons for snacking are unhealthy. But the idea that eating small meals regularly may be healthy – in particular, that it may keep the metabolism “revved up” throughout the day – has become widespread. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown no evidence that eating more often boosts metabolism, and in most cases, the added calories from snacking simply lead to a higher calorie intake over the day and thus an increased chance of becoming overweight.

Studies have shown that the jump in metabolic rate or thermic effect of food is not dependent on meal frequency however there has been some research to show that there is a slight benefit to appetite control when six meals are consumed compared to three and eating less than three meals per day is unfavourable for appetite control.

Both the Evidence Analysis Library of the Academy […]

By |November 29th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Mojo, Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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My Top 5 Hangover Prevention Tips

With summer fast approaching and the festive season kicking off, most of us will be socializing more than usual. I have already been to two Christmas events in the last week! Increasing social events are often accompanied with a higher than usual alcohol consumption.
I am a huge fan of supporting your liver at this time of year and many of my clients take their trusty liver tonic before hitting the vino. Now I have found a preventative product that is designed specifically to reduce hangovers. Revivol is certified by the TGA and features ingredients that support healthy liver function and reduces fatigue and tiredness.
You take two capsules with your first drink and it acts to replenish the vitamins that are lost during alcohol consumption. Obviously binge drinking is not what I am talking about, a few drinks with friends is what I mean. For more info head to www.revivol.com.au, in the meantime make sure you share my hangover prevention tips with your drinking buddy!

Ensure you hydrate and then rehydrate. The best way to do this is to have plenty of filtered water in the 12 hours preceding your event. Aim for 33ml/kilo of body weight, so for a 60kg woman that is 1.98L and for a 70kg man it’s 2.3L. Post event, rehydrate with some home made electrolytes such as icy poles made with 50% coconut water and 50% fresh juice and a tiny pinch of Himalayan sea salt, which you can make up before hand.
Many of the nasty symptoms of a hangover are related to inflammation and the accumulation of toxins. Aim to eat a diet rich in antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatory foods. These include turmeric, ginger, blueberries, green leafy vegetables, beetroot, kiwi […]

By |November 22nd, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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Stomach Bacteria Shapes Cardiac Health

Key Message: A healthy gut is essential for a healthy heart

Action Point: Take good care of your gut by eating fermented and probiotic-rich foods and limit intake of added sugars
If you’ve been paying attention over the last few years, you’ve no doubt heard that the balance of bacteria in our gut can influence our digestive health, weight, and even emotional and mental health. Now new research is showing that a healthy gut is essential for another very important reason – it may increase your chances of having a healthy heart.

The new study, from the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, found that the composition of a person’s gut bacteria can explain four percent of the variations seen in people’s HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels, five percent of the differences in people’s body weight, and up to six percent of the variation in people’s triglyceride (blood fat) levels.

But during the study, researchers found no link between gut bacteria and people’s LDL cholesterol or total cholesterol levels, which was surprising given that epidemiological studies have found that lipid levels usually have a high degree of correlation.

However lipid metabolism is very complicated and therefore it will take more research to establish the effect of gut bacteria on specific types of lipids, as well as to understand how diet can alter microbial composition.

According to Jingyuan Fu, an associate professor of genetics at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands and lead author of the new study, said that scientists can probably also call gut bacteria “the heart in the gut”.

While the research is still in its infancy, understanding the link between the gut microbiome and heart health factors could help scientists develop new treatments to prevent heart disease. The […]

By |November 15th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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    Is There an Easy Fix to Your Child’s Challenging Behaviour?

Is There an Easy Fix to Your Child’s Challenging Behaviour?

Key Message: Pyrrole disorder is quite common however some doctors don’t know it exists

Action Point: Look for common symptoms and seek treatment before it affects your child’s learning and behaviour
Pyrrole disorder is a genetic blood disorder that results in a dramatic deficiency of zinc and vitamin B6. It is caused by the overproduction of hydroxyhempyrolin (HPL). The HPL binds zinc and B6 preventing their use by the body and causing excretion in the urine and hair.
Up to 10 percent of children have pyrrole, yet some doctors don’t know it exists.  Apparently this number is even higher among those with behavioural disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression.  That means in a typical class of 25 to 30 kids, two or three have it and won’t be learning or behaving well.
Common symptoms include:

an inability to cope with stressors
emotional mood swings
extreme sensitivity to light and sound.

Pyrrole disorder can also cause learning difficulties and auditory processing disorders – the inability to single out the sound you should be listening to. All of these are reasons why this condition is often only diagnosed after a child has a difficult time adjusting to a preschool or kindergarten classroom.
Fortunately, there are signs of pyrrole disorder you can spot before your child has problems in the classroom.

Physical symptoms include:

white spots on the fingernails
pale skin that burns easily
overcrowded teeth
cold hands and feet – even in summer
motion sickness
insomnia
joint pain
fatigue
irritable bowel syndrome

Emotional symptoms include anxiety, a low tolerance for stress, mood swings, depression, and hyperactivity.

The symptoms of pyrrole can be exacerbated by stress and a poor diet. However once it has been identified, it can be easily treated with zinc and B6 supplements

Most children see rapid improvement once they start treatment, although they […]

By |November 8th, 2015|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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The Link between Biofilms and Chronic Infections

 

Key Message: Biofilms are common and can cause chronic infections

Action Point: There are holistic steps you can take to treat and eliminate the issue of chronic biofilm as antibiotics are ineffective
If you have ever had any recurrent infections such as chronic ear infections, chronic sinusitis, tonsillitis, lung infections or chronic fatigue that just won’t go away even with multiple courses of antibiotics, then biofilm may be the cause. But biofilms are not only limited to chronic infections. They can also cause more severe diseases such as autoimmune diseases, Lyme disease and kidney stones.

The issue of biofilm is regularly overlooked when treating chronic illness, yet it affects millions of people in the developed world each year. Recently it has been gaining more attention among scientists, microbiologists and medical professionals.

But what exactly are biofilms? They are complex communities of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, yeast and algae that live together and adapt to various environment conditions. It was once thought that they existed as individual cells, however it is now known that they start off with a few microbes forming a thin layer of slime and eventually form complex colonies, which develop into communities of millions of microbes. They can be found all over the environment and are often found on surfaces that are wet and exposed to moisture. For example the slime on top of ponds and even the plaque on your teeth is biofilm.

It seems that people with lower immune systems are more susceptible to biofilm infections as they tend to form with greater ease in such individuals. In the 19th century, a French scientist, Antonine Bechamp suggested, “it is the internal terrain/ environment of the individual which determines our susceptibility to disease”. This […]

By |October 25th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Immune Health, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

Adrenal fatigue is one of the most under diagnosed illnesses in western society. Download a copy of my free ebook to learn about the symptoms and how to heal your Adrenals naturally.

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