05 Nov We Spoke to a Clinical Nutritionist on Women’s Health

LP staffers interviewed Filsan Aynab (NNCP, C.IR.,R.BIE) on how you can achieve your health goals

Women are more conscious of their health and achieving their health goals through various mechanisms. Whether through diets, supplements or approved treatments, our health is really our wealth. With growing movements around gut health, nutrition and hormonal health, women are taking more care of their bodies through a holistic lens and finding comfort in non-traditional medicine to help them look and feel their best.

What is hormonal health and how can you recognise that you may be experiencing hormonal imbalance ?

Gone are the days where hormones are only associated to women experiencing menopause. Your hormones can affect so many parts of your daily life that you may not recognise. From sleep, to weight gain, your mood, acne and stress levels, your hormonal imbalance can have a negative affect on your day-to-day life including affects on your sexual and reproductive health. November is Diabetes Awareness Month and is the perfect time to have a conversation with your practitioner about hormones such as insulin and how it can affect your body.

By now most people have either heard or been told to pay attention to their gut health but what does this mean ?

According to the article The Brain-Gut Connection published by John Hopkins Medicine, your gut is an important indicator of your overall health. Your gut health does not only apply to your digestion and the breakdown of food, poor gut health can contribute to physiological issues such as depression and anxiety. If you are feeling groggy, tired, have some food intolerance, skin irritation and trouble managing your weight, you may be suffering from gut issues.

Hormonal health and gut health can be seen as two separate health movements but, they are not mutually exclusive. While there isn’t a one size fits all approach when it comes to your health, focusing on either of these movements can have a positive effect on the other and should be viewed in that manner. 

We sat down with Clinical Nutritionist, Filsan Aynab – NNCP, C.Ir. R.BIE to discuss health and wellness. As a champion of Bioenergetics, Filsan identified and supported our hormones, gut issues and lack of iron and energy levels. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90% of all illnesses are directly related to stress. An astonishing 1 in 3 North Americans are affected by food and environmental sensitivities that stress their bodies leading to an array of imbalances. Bioenergetic Intolerance Elimination (BIE) is a safe and non-invasive way of reintroducing vibrational frequencies of various stressors into the body, the body is then able to identify the stressors and deal with each one accordingly. The body’s cells are then capable of adapting to a more homeostatic or balanced state. The result is improved adaptation, stress response, nutrient absorption and overall feelings of wellness. 

To help you jump start your health journey we asked Filsan the following 7 questions: 

Q: What can we do best to optimize my Gut health?

A: Eat a diverse range of foods! Our gut is made up of trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi known as the gut microbiome. This is our inner ecosystem. Diverse foods create a thriving ecosystem in which each role is being played out for the greater good – our health! For centuries, people have known that all disease starts in the gut. Our gut health is connected to EVERYTHING from our mental and hormonal health to our immune response and rate of metabolism. So, naturally the next question becomes – what does it take to have a robust ecosystem with lots of microbial diversity? You need to intentionally feed this bacteria. We’ve all heard of probiotics as they’ve gained a lot of notoriety in the last few years. As a Clinical Nutritionist, I teach people to take one step back and address what those probiotics themselves eat. Our bacteria (a.k.a probiotics) feed on prebiotics. Prebiotic foods include onions, leeks, dandelion greens, garlic, konjac root, kimchi, kefir etc. In the modern food environment, some find it difficult to eat multiple sources of fiber due to volume of food, socio-economic reasons, or time restraint in preparing meals. If you struggle with getting prebiotics into your gut on a daily basis, I find that clean sources of supplementation work very well. 

Q: What products can we use to balance my hormones ?

A: I prefer products that are plant-based, scientifically designed and/or are formulated with the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My top two products for balancing hormones are Unicity’s Feel Great System for prebiotic gut health and the herbal hormone tinctures from Organic Olivia’s Apothecary for optimization.

Q:What can we do to boost my mood?

A: Your mood is regulated by a hormone and neurotransmitter called Serotonin. It’s popularly known as your ‘feel good chemical’. It regulates your sense of happiness, optimism, alertness and overall mood. Healthy levels of serotonin is what will boost your mood. This can be done in many ways such as working out, getting enough sunshine (natural vitamin D) and engaging in healthy habits and relationships. The #1 way to boost mood is to optimize your gut. This is because of where serotonin is in the body. Although thought to be produced in the brain, only 10% of Serotonin actually comes from your brain. The other 90% of serotonin is produced in your gut. Think of it like running on 10% phone battery and wanting to have a full day. That’s not ideal. You want access to that other 90% of your feel good messenger. Feeding or supplementing your gut with diverse sources of prebiotics a.k.a fiber from fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables will boost serotonin levels. 

Q: How can we support our hormones in the different life cycles of womanhood?

A: ​​Maintaining a state of well-being and vitality throughout all your life cycles will always be key. These cycles include puberty (adolescence), sexual maturation (reproductive age), climacteric period, and post-climacteric (elderly) years. The mood swings that teens experience in adolescence are caused by fluctuations in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone – the sex hormones. These same teen hormones will also affect the way they think about dating and sex. Adequate sleep and daily movement is important. Adolescent girls may become iron deficient due to inadequate dietary iron, increased growth requirements, and the onset of menstruation. In our reproductive years, adequate protein and maintaining our amino acids – also known as the building blocks of the body are vital in supporting sexuality and fertility. Usually after age 51, women become pre-menopausal or menopausal and move into the climacteric years. Estrogen levels drop and you no longer ovulate. Be sure to incorporate omega-3 fatty acids, fibre, and calcium into your diet. 

Q: Are painful and heavy periods normal?

A: Absolutely not! Despite being raised to normalize painful periods, cramping or heavy cycles women are not meant to experience extreme discomfort during our cycles. If your hormone levels aren’t balanced, your body can make the lining too thick, which leads to heavy bleeding when you shed the thicker lining. Excess or imbalanced hormones can be supported by adding fiber into your diet, seed cycling and/or incorporating herb allies like Vitex, Cramp. Bark, Raspberry Leaf, and Wild Yam. If heavy bleeding is a common occurrence see your Primary Care Professional or a Hormone specialist to help you with regulation and support. 

Q: What vitamins can we take to support a healthy diet, exercise and weight loss?

A: Complex B vitamins, magnesium chromium and vitamin D. I recommend getting them in liposomal forms to increase absorption. Weight Loss is directly related to blood sugar balance. It starts in the kitchen, not at the gym. We have a master hormone called Insulin that regulates all of our other hormones and controls blood sugars. Maintaining insulin sensitivity is key for better exercise and healthy body composition. A scientifically designed and proven formula that incorporates soluble and insoluble fibers, vitamins, minerals and plant nutrients that I personally use along with all my clinical clients is the Feel Great System. 

Q:What does a healthy diet look like?

A: One that resonates and feels good to you. Incorporate color and diversity. Food is meant to be enjoyed, shared and to bring people together. The same way that ‘it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it’. The same goes for food. It’s not what you eat, it’s how you eat. Look at and build your plate by always eating fibers first, protein and fats second, and starches and sugars last.  

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates

For more information on how you can achieve your optimal health goals, follow Filsan Aynab on Tiktok @liveayora

Health and Wellness Instagram accounts to follow:

@beyondwellnesscollective @flourishheights @allarahealth @isabelsmithnutrition @hormoneuniversity