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You may have wondered at some point what naturopaths think are paramount to good health. So I asked the question for you. This week I interviewed an experienced naturopath Elena Ballatore from Mother Natura to get her view on the top 3 critical elements of natural health. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. What made you go into the field of naturopathy? When my son was born, his health was poor and I felt instinctively that western medicine was not our answer. I decided to pursue my long-time passion for holistic medicine by becoming a naturopath. Until that time, I had worked first as a lawyer and then, feeling I did not belong to the legal world, as a journalist in media and public relations. What qualifications do you hold? I hold a double diploma in naturopathy, one from “Scuola Italiana di Medicina Olistica” in Milan and one, Advanced Diploma in Naturopathy, from “Australasian College of Natural Therapies” in Sydney. I feel very fortunate to have had this double education because it allows me to offer a synthesis of practice that blends therapies and techniques gained both from my European and Australian experiences. How does naturopathy differ here compared to Italy? Naturopathy here is more symptomatic; the remedies are stronger, more immediate and often blend a number of herbs, vitamins and minerals. The European approach to naturopathy tends to match the biotype of the patient with one main herb or homeopathic product. It works at a deeper level but it can take longer. Because patients need to see an improvement to be motivated to go on I draw from both arsenal of remedies when formulating my prescriptions. I combine more relieving remedies that work short term with longer acting remedies that go to repair the cause of the problem. What are the most common health concerns your clients come to you for? There is a wide variety of reasons why people come to me. Children often come for respiratory problems, allergies, eczema, disturbed sleep, behavioural issues, etc. while adults often need help with stamina, gastric upset, menstrual problems, overweight, etc. What are your top 3 health tips? 1. Expose yourself to the Sun, you’ll get your free vitamin D and much more! As stated by the research journal “Dermo-Endocrinology” the health benefits derived from sun exposure are numerous. The first one and most well known is certainly the production of vitamin D but the list is long. It also: enhances mood and energy through the release of endorphins, treats skin diseases such as psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, and scleroderma, synchronises biorhythms through sunlight entering the eye, protects against melanoma and decreases mortality from it, relieves fibromyalgia symptoms, protects against multiple sclerosis symptoms, treats neonatal jaundice, reduces the chance of cavities and sickness in children. Healthy exposure parameters Many studies have been conducted in regard to exposure particularly for optimising vitamin D, which is produced by the skin in response to UV radiation. UVB rays are the ones that make you tanned and cause your skin to produce vitamin D while UVA are the ones associated with skin damage and skin cancer. Vitamin D influences an estimated 10 percent of all the genes in the body acting on immunity, bone and teeth health to name a few. The closer to midday you expose your skin, the more UVB there are and the more vitamin D is produced. A good rule of thumb is if your shadow is longer than you are tall, you’re not making much vitamin D. In winter, you’ll notice that your shadow is longer than you for most of the day, while in summer your shadow is much shorter for a good part of the middle of the day. Ample opportunities exist to form vitamin D (and store it in the liver and fat) from exposure to sunlight during the spring, summer, and fall months even in the far north latitudes. The amount of melanin you have in your skin affects the amount of vitamin D you can produce. Melanin is a substance that affects how light or dark your skin color is. The more melanin you have, the darker your skin color, the more you shall expose yourself. For instance for a very fair skin 5/10 minutes in the middle of the day are enough while for a dark/black skin it goes up to six times longer. Sunscreen blocks a lot of vitamin D production. The more skin you expose, the more vitamin D you can produce. Glass blocks all UVB, so you can’t make vitamin D if you’re in sunlight behind glass. Sun exposure is the most natural and effective mean to obtain Vitamin D. If you want to use a supplement go for D3 which is a natural type as opposed to D2 which is synthetic. In a snapshot… You only need to expose your skin for around half the time it takes for it to turn pink and begin to burn. Approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis. Research to date shows that moderate but frequent sun exposure is healthy but overexposure and intense exposure can increase your risk of skin cancer. 2. Eat green leafy veggies every day. Although you may have heard this many times what I find with my patients is a bit of confusion on the properties of different vegetables. In fact not all veggies are made equal! I find absolutely fundamental to include in the daily diet some green leafy such as kale, spinach, silver beet, bok choy etc. The USDA recommends eating one-half cup of green leafy vegetables each day to prevent nutrient deficiencies and serious illnesses. One of the main reasons is the high amount of chlorophyll, thus magnesium, that gives the green colour. The darker it is, the more magnesium it contains. Magnesium at a glance: is required by more than 300 enzymes including those for energy, metabolism, muscle contraction and protein synthesis alkalises the body is needed for DNA and RNA synthesis contributes to calcium metabolism therefore bone structure is important for nerve transmission, heart and smooth muscle contraction, insulin release and activity decreases blood pressure Another good reason to always include your green leafy is the amount of fibre they have which has no calories but cleanses the gut and favours colonisation of the bowel by good bacteria. If you add to all this the richness in vitamins and minerals specific to each group of them you have a “must-eat” food without any doubt! 3. Choose organic when eating whole meal This is something that very few people seem to think of in Australia. There is a general knowledge that whole meal is better than refined but no awareness of the importance of it being organic. The reason why I insist on this is that the bran, in non organic grains, carries also the pesticides that have been sprayed on it, not only those that get to it through the roots. To the point that one of the leading masters in macrobiotic diet in Europe, Martin Halsey, advises to prefer white grains rather than whole meal if not organic, that’s how bad he thinks it is! For more natural health tips visit our blog at: http://www.alkalife.com.au/blog
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