Nutrition – Dr Dani Gordon | Holistic Dr | Medical Cannabis Dr

02/12/2014

Common Digestive Problems and How to End Them

In this video, I’ll tell you why digestive problems don’t just affect your belly but your overall health including your mental and emotional health and what to do to get back on track feeling happy and healthy. In every major traditional medicine system, such as taoism, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, digestion is the most important body process to regulate and keep healthy to avoid major health problems of the physical body as well as the brain and emotional problems.

[video_player type=”youtube” youtube_auto_play=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g/dj1lSjluWXpGN05ZSQ==[/video_player]

Gut Inflammation Symptoms

The reason for this is that when your gut lining is damaged and inflamed from stress, foods and environmental influences, the immune system of the gut becomes dysfunctional, and adverse reactions to many substances can develop, as well as pain, bloating and fatigue.

Mood and Energy Levels

The other major thing that is affected by an injured gut is the production of substances that affect mood and energy levels, such as serotonin, which is your happy peptide in the brain, but actually 95% of it is made in your gut!

So as you can see, if your gut lining is damaged and inflamed, it can be the cause for many symptoms including low mood, fatigue and belly symptoms and repairing your gut lining is the most important step towards reclaiming your health and happiness

Make Small Changes

So the first step to start healing your digestion is making small changes to your daily diet. There are often some top dietary culprits that keep inflammation going in the gut and in the entire body. So you should cut out caffeine, bread, sugar and milk for a period of time.

The second change to your routine has to do with changing your habits about HOW you eat, when you eat and working on the state of your brain and nervous system at meal time.

Now, If you want a step by step system to help you heal your digestion for good, then click the link below this video NOW to head over to askdrdani.com where you can TRY my Digestion Relief program for free .

You can overcome the health issues that are holding you back from the freedom of feeling amazing every day.

01/05/2013

The Food of the Gods: Noni Juice Benefits & How To Make Noni Juice

I’m bringing back this Video that was shot at our home in Bali last year talking about noni juice benefits and how to make noni juice because I’ve recently had lots of questions about Noni and yesterday one of my good friends, who is currently in Bali on a photo assignment became ill with ‘Bali Belly’ and called for advice. She didn’t want to take antibiotics unless really necessary, so I told her how to use Noni fruit for her tummy bug and apparently it worked like a charm by her report back today!

Noni Juice- Food Of The Gods

Noni juice is now widely avaialable in the west too in health food stores and it’s called the Food of the Gods for good reason-it’s an antibacterial AND antiaging powerhouse that if you can get your hands on it to drink every day, will make your skin glow and make you feel amazing.

I miss having my fresh noni tree in my Balinese garden (sigh!). It is also used in Ayurvedic Medicine, the Indian Science of Life & traditional medicine system still used today in India, that treats illness and prevents disease and supports Vitality by balancing your Dosha, or mindbody Type.

To find out your Dosha, take the Dosha Diagnosis to find yours today so you can see what are the best foods, environments, exercise and herbs for your type to keep you healthy and balanced!

Yours In health,

To Get The Latest Yoga, Natural Health & Integrative Medicine Research:

Follow Dr Dani On Facebook

Follow Dr Dani On Twitter

& Feel Free to Share If you Enjoyed This Post! :)

16/04/2013

The Motivation Secret: Emotional Habits Of Successful Weight Loss

It’s impossible to rationally convince someone to get ‘motivated’-Emotion is the only true ‘intrinsic’ motivator for humans! What do I mean by that? Well, most of us can relate to having a friend who we really want to help lose weight, or find the right kind of partner, but despite our best intentions to help them ‘get motivated’ they just can’t seem to stick with it, and we can get frustrated. The secret is to create emotional habits of successful weight loss.

Emotional Habits Of Successful Weight Loss

Let me give you an example of a conversation I heard recently, about someone talking about how their friend can’t seem to ‘stay motivated’ to get healthier despite bad health news: “I don’t understand why he/she can’t stay motivated, it just doesn’t make sense–in fact, it makes perfect sense for them to BE motivated to lose that extra weight because they just found out that they have diabetes!”

Here’s the thing–motivation isn’t about logic or what we ‘should be doing’ or what ‘makes sense.’ Motivation is about finding the EMOTIONAL need behind what drives us to do one thing and not another.

For example, until someone is able to dig deep into the emotional need and desire behind wanting to lose weight, it’s very hard to actually lose 10 pounds by sheer ‘force of will’ alone.

Self help and business development guru Eban Pagan often talks about this at his seminars, and it’s a very common reason why most diets, or self-help programs for things like weight loss fail people, because they’re based in ‘should do’s and ‘logical steps’ instead of keeping on reintroducing the emotional need behind the desire.

And even the concept of ‘motivation’ is pretty abstract. It really and truly is about getting someone (or yourself!) do to something every day so it becomes automatic–so you just do the things you need to do every day without thinking about it, without taking the time to consciously decide for or against it, (which often leads to you ‘convincing’ yourself not to do something that is good for you!)

A great life coach, doctor, teacher, or any kind of wellness consultant does this part really well. The leaders in the field of Health and Wellness Coaching and consulting are masters at this—they have a knack for discovering your emotional need and connecting you to it again and again so that motivation comes easily and naturally and doesn’t fade after a week or need continuous outside ‘pushing’ from well meaning friends or even ‘experts.’

How To Create An Emotional Habit

So if this is starting to sound familiar and you are thinking you may need to start digging deep into your emotional motivators to get the health results you want, take 10 minutes today, get a notebook and pen or paper and ask yourself what is the deeper emotional reason behind your health or weight loss goal–is it finding your dream partner, is it to feel confident in you own ‘skin’ even on the beach? Is it to be able to run in a charity race for cancer because you have lost a loved one to this disease? Dig down, then dig a little deeper into that reason, and then deeper still. Whatever it is, write it down, and then stick it somewhere prominent, like on your fridge, your bathroom mirror, you get the idea! Constantly thinking about the emotional reason behind your new needed habit is what reinforces it, and being constantly reminded of it is the key to creating this new thinking habit.

And, as always, I LET ME KNOW what happens!!
Yours In health,

To Get The Latest Yoga, Natural Health & Integrative Medicine Research:

Follow Dr Dani On Facebook

Follow Dr Dani On Twitter

& And Please Share If you Enjoyed This Post! :)

11/04/2013

India’s Secret Superfoods: The Medicinal Plant Amla

India’s Best Kept Superfood Secret

Since being in India, I’ve been on the search for the best kept secret local ‘superfood’ that is little known inn the West. Here in Rajasthan, I’ve found it: the medicinal plant Amla! I’ve been drinking the juice and eating the fruit right off the tree in front of my Yoga teacher’s house each morning and I’m feeling pretty amazing!

Why Amla is So Amazing..

Amla, or Indian Gooseberry is one of the most if not THE most powerful medicinal plant in Ayurvedic Medicine, the oldest system of medicine and the most common form of medicine in India even today. It has been proven in multiple reserach studies to lower cholesterol in people with high cholesterol who would otherwise have to take prescription lipid-lowering drugs, which have many side effects. Even more remarkably, it can lower something called ‘hemoglobin A1C, one of the toxic forms of sugar that accumulates in the blood in diabetes, and is also being investigated as an alternative to conventional pharmaceuticals for the treatment of non insulin dependant type 2 diabetes! It also has remarkable unique and potent phytochemicals that protect your brain from deterioation with aging, and protect other vital organs such as the liver and kidneys. It is also used as an anti-inflammatory for a variety of inflammatory conditions in India.
So, in this Video, I’m visiting Sonu, my local juice bar owner in the town where I’ve been staying and I’m going to show you what it looks like, how to spot it, all it’s benefits and how to enjoy it!

Studies on Amla

1. Phytotherapy Research”; Chemical and antioxidant evaluation of Indian gooseberry; E.A. Poltanov et al.; 2009
2. “Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology”; Influence of amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) on hypercholesterolemia and lipid peroxidation in cholesterol-fed rats; H.J. Kim et al.; 2005
3. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements: “European Journal of Clinical Nutrition”; Effect of the Indian gooseberry (amla) on serum cholesterol levels in men aged 35-55 years; A. Jacob et al.; 1988
4. “Journal of Medicinal Food”; Amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) extracts reduce oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats; T.P. Rao; 2005
5. “Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition”; Indian Herbs and Herbal Drugs Used for the Treatment of Diabetes; Manisha Modak et al.; 2007
6. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2011 May;20(3):225-39. doi: 10.1097/CEJ.0b013e32834473f4.

Yours In health,

To Get The Latest Yoga, Natural Health & Integrative Medicine Research:

Follow Dr Dani On Facebook

Follow Dr Dani On Twitter

& And Please Share If you Enjoyed This Post! :)

07/04/2013

Gluten Free Sweets From India You Have to Try (esp. if you’re Celiac or Gluten Intolerant)

Gluten Free Sweets From India!

Indian sweets are a great alternative for a sweet treat for those of you who can’t eat wheat, whether it’s because you are celiac or gluten intolerant, like with IBS. That’s because most of them are made with lentil flour, not wheat! And although these gluten free sweets are high calorie, they are very satisfying–they’re what I call a ‘full sweet’ meaning they send the signal to your brain that you are satisfied after just a few bites (because they are made with fresh ghee, a less allergenic form of butter for those who usually have an intolerance to dairy–not including those with true allergy). Unlike what I call ’empty sweet’ desserts/junk food like candy bars, which sends the opposite signal–ie. I want MORE– leads to binging! Many recipes for Indian sweets also use honey as the main sweetener, and virutally none of them contain my enemy #1: High Fructose Corn Syrup, which gives them another tick in the box of acceptable occasional indulgences:)

So you’ll just need a bite or 2 to get your sweet tooth ‘fix’ without compromising your waistline–just beware only to eat a little–these little guys are super calorie dense!

I’m going to take you guys to a local sweets shop here in India to show you what’s available and what they look like, but if you are watching this back in the west, you can find these desserts in most cities, I have my favorite Indian sweet shop in Vancouver Canada, with lots of great goodies to try!

Yours In health,

To Get The Latest Yoga, Natural Health & Integrative Medicine Research:

Follow Dr Dani On Facebook

Follow Dr Dani On Twitter

& And Please Share If you Enjoyed This Post! :)

04/04/2013

The Best Foods To Eat To Prevent wrinkles

If you think spending a fortune on fancy face creams is your best defense against, think again! The health and youthfulness of your skin is more that just skin deep–it starts from the INSIDE out! So, I’m going to share the best foods to eat to prevent wrinkles!!

Eating To Prevent Wrinkles

A very common question I get from new clients is regarding my age, which is usually guessed at almost a decade younger than my actual age and it’s NOT due to superhuman genes, luxe face creams or any ‘work’ done–It’s because I do practice what I preach about eating and do yoga almost every day, including specific postures that are traditionally known as being ‘anti-aging.’ (if you want to know more, leave a comment below and I’ll share my secrets on the asana front too in a new post;) So in this video, I’m sharing my top ‘anti-wrinkle’ foods to keep you looking great from the inside out!

Yours In health,

To Get The Latest Yoga, Natural Health & Integrative Medicine Research:

Follow Dr Dani On Facebook

Follow Dr Dani On Twitter

& And Please Share If you Enjoyed This Post! :)

31/03/2013

How What You Eat Makes Your Taste Buds Change

If you’ve ever wondered why people who eat really ‘clean’ healthy diets often gush about Kale or raw ginger tasting so amazing, while you’re still not convinced? It’s because what you eat affects you taste buds and how your brain responds to certain foods!

That’s why it’s way harder at the beginning to cut out sugar and cookies and desserts and eat lots of raw greens until you adapt to actually enjoying them. But it will happen I can promise you!

My Fiance is living proof–he’s gone from having Coca Cola cravings to having wheat grass cravings (seriously!) since we met and I got him on my healthy food train. Now him and his taste buds are hooked but at first he couldn’t figure out why I kept saying things like wheat grass tasted so good, or how I could polish off a bunch of raw kale as a snack at the farmers market before we even got it home!

So, if you’re having trouble kicking your junk food habit, watch this video now and tell me your story about trying to retrain your taste buds!

20/03/2013

Top 8 Juicing Recipes for Maximizing Detoxification Revealed

Juicing Vs. Juice Fasting

Juicing and Juice fasting has become a major health ‘craze’ in the past few years, and I often work with clients who want to do a cleanse or green juice fast, and want to know if it’s safe for them, how to do it to get the most benefits and minimize side effects, etc. Even for those people where an full juice fast is contraindicated, meaning not safe for them because of a specific health issue, adding in fresh vegetable and fruit into your regular diet is a great way to get many of the same benefits of juicing vegetables, huge antioxidant value (for example, who can eat 3 pounds of spinach and 30 raw carrots in one sitting!!?) and is a great way to start the day, on it’s own or as part of a light breakfast. Fresh veggie and fruit juice also makes a great in between meal snack, and including greens is detoxifying and helps your liver work at its best!
So onec you are equipped with your juicer at home, you can try out some juice combos to see what your taste buds like best!

How much Juice should I ‘Eat’ Per Day?

The short answer is as much as you want! You can’t really eat too much juice, especially if you are doing a juice fast. For a juice fast, where you are eating ONLY the juice and no other foods, you want to aim for at least 7-11 cups (8 oz. each) of juice per day, PLUS 3 full cups (8 oz. each) of good quality water per day. If you are just adding green juice into your regular diet, I have up to 3 a day some days when I need extra energy, but otherwise usually just one large serving, about 12 oz in the midafternoon:)

Below are a few veggie & fruit combos I really like for juicing. You will notice I have mixed some fruits in with the veggies to make them more palatable. You want to eat mostly veggies in your juice, but feel free to mix in smaller percentages of fruits too!

Juicing Recipes:

Note: for maximum detox benefits, use only veggies in your juices, no fruit!

Spinach Leaves
Beetroot and beetroot tops (optional–these can be bitter so use more beetroot than tops to start off with!)
1-2 pitted apricots

Carrot
beetroot
ginger

orange
carrot
ginger

Carrot
Taro
Spinach

Celery
lettuce
strawberry

Beetroot
watermelon
mint
carrot

Basil (or other herb you like the taste of!)
Carrot
broccoli

freshly chopped herbs of your choice
cucumber
watermelon

17/03/2013

About Time! 1st National Grocery Store Chain To Take a Stand on Hidden GMO on it’s Shelves

If you are like me, and want to know FOR SURE that what you are eating and buying at the grocery store is free of GMO ingredients, than this news will be a glimmer of hope for being able to soon shop at a nationwide store for those times when you can’t always make it to a local farmers market, and still know you are eating GMO free foods. This is great news for busy people who can’t always make it out to local farm or market, or who just don’t have that option available in the winter months period!

Whole Foods, the US and Canada’s biggest chain of upmarket supermarkets specializing in organic foods and natural health products just announced the company will require all genetically engineered foods (GMO foods) sold in their stores to be labeled by 2018! They are the first National supermarket chain to take the plunge and take a stand against unlabeled GMO foods and ingredients on the shelves. This is for both their US and Canadian stores, and they are even including meat that was FED GMO feed–so taking it one step back in the food chain–great news for any meat eaters out there;
Now I know what some of you guys out there are thinking–big deal–that’s 5 whole years away, or that it doesn’t erase the company’s past ‘sins’ but I still think it’s progress that a ‘Big Food’ company is taking notice of what us consumers want and making it possible for us all to know EXACTLY what we are putting into our bodies! And, while it’s true that a big company like Whole Foods has more than enough money to make this happen and it should just really be a ‘no brainer’ the fact is that they are still the only big food chain so far to do it–I’m crossing my fingers that others will follow suit!

And just a note for anyone who thinks I’m plugging Whole Foods, or that I am somehow connected to them–I’m not don’t worry I haven’t sold out on you guys:). In fact, I still would rather shop at my local farmers market for most of my groceries (and I do!) than go to Whole Foods, but sometimes, it’s not always possible, and I do live part time downtown in a big city, leading a busy modern life and on the occasion where I can’t go ‘grassroots’, I can be found getting a shot of wheat grass or picking up a lunch on the go at my local Whole Foods-it’ way better than most of the other choices out there!

13/03/2013

Wheat Belly–Is it All Hype (and wheat belly diet foods to avoid)

Is Wheat the Devil that It’s Made out to Be in Wheat Belly?

I’ve been getting lots of questions lately from clients, friends, twitter friends about wheat, and what I think about Wheat Belly and the wheat belly diet foods. Wheat belly, as I’m sure most of you know by now is the bestselling book written by cardiologist William Davis, M.D. that makes some pretty big and bold claims about the evils of wheat for our health.

So, I’m going to weigh in with my expertise on the issue and explain a few things so you can decide what YOU want to do about eating wheat.

I do agree with Dr. Davis on 4 main points:

Refined carbohydrates are making us gain weight, causing a rise in diabetes, and wreaking havoc on our immune and hormone systems
If you cut wheat out from your diet and DO NOT replace it with other refined carbs (ie. more rice, ‘gluten free’ bread from refined tapioca and rice flour, and ‘gluten fre’e desserts) you WILL lose weight, and feel better
There are some people who should NOT eat wheat, because they have an intolerance to this grain, either to gluten or to another protein in the wheat grain.
The wheat we eat most often in the West is often GMO and/or dwarf wheat, NOT the more nutritious variety our ancestors ate.

Ok, so where do I disagree with his arguments? Well, although I agree that SOME people seem to have an intolerance to wheat and/or gluten (and I know they exist because my Fiance happens to be one of them!) I do not think that this problem exists in the proportions he says it does. To find out if you are one of the unfortunate people with a hidden intolerance to wheat or gluten, you can do a food elimination diet test for wheat, for a full 2 weeks, and see if you feel differently–I talk about how to do this in another video, about Food Elimination Diets and IBS if you want to learn how it’s done;) If you start to have wicked food cravings for wheat day 2 or 3 into cutting it out, that may be a good clue that it’s a problem for you, because according to leading experts in Nutritional Medicine (although there are no existing studies to actually prove this–who would pay for them?:) Foods that we crave are often the very ones we should be AVOIDING!

I also STRONGLY suspect that part of the reason you lose weight when you cut out wheat is that you end up eating way less carbs, espcially from grains, which is essentially the basis of ANY ‘low carb diet’ which, although I do not recommend this long term, DOES result in weight loss. Your body starts to switch over fro burning carbs to burning fat and protein, which causes weight loss.

So, it’s really ALL refined carbs (and especially MY #1 Enemy: High Fructose Corn Syrup) NOT just wheat that’s causing a lot of the problem with obesity and diabetes in our modern world but I don’t see any harm in cutting out wheat from your diet, even if just for a few weeks to see how you feel, just don’t eat 3 meals of gluten free desserts instead and expect to feel amazing at the end of it!

Bottom line

Eat a balanced, pesticide free diet rich in veg, moderate amounts of whole grains (ie. in their original form) and less bread, and you will see big changes in how you feel and in how your ‘skinny jeans’ fit!:)