The concept of Neurological Reserve is probably new to you, but to Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Pamela Hutchinson, who works with patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and MS, she is acutely aware of how important neurological reserve is for ALL women.  Our brains are a sensitive but amazing organ that literally runs our lives.  Do we ever stop and think about how things are going up there?  Do we ever consider how many programs or noises are running in the background? Or whether we are giving our brains enough time to reboot every day to face the demands we place on it? Whether you have struggled with a neurological disorder or not, your brain has a reserve that will affect the way you can show up in your life, recover from illness and trauma and may protect you from future neurological decline. Dr. Pamela and I discuss the ways you can start to take care of your brain today so that it's there for you in the future.  For over 21 years, Dr. Pamela Hutchison has been a passionate advocate for mental and neurological wellness through her work as a naturopathic physician in Victoria BC, Canada.  Her decades-long clinical focus on supporting folks with these conditions has provided Dr. Pam (as she is known affectionately by staff and patients) with a unique perspective on overall health and wellness, especially as it pertains to Brain Health. In addition to her private practice, she is the founder and CEO of Acacia Health, a large collaborative team of healthcare professionals providing patient-centred, evidence-informed care.  A firm believer in practicing what she preaches, Dr. Pam is an avid runner and cyclist, a keen consumer of fresh vegetables, and a continual learner.  She values time connecting with animals and nature and has fostered a rewarding relationship with a family of wild crows who live near her home. You can follow Dr. Pam on Instagram @dr_pamela_hutchison_nd   

When was the last time you had a biiiiiiiig loooooooong family meal? Do you even remember?  Was it mashed in between days of PB and banana on the way to hockey and a fast french toast dinner because nobody had the energy to make anything good (not that french toast isn’t amazing).  When I wanted to have a conversation about the Mediterranean diet and Slow Food, I knew I had the perfect person to join us as a guest. Dr. Antonella Aguilera-Ruiz ND is a chef, Naturopathic Doctor, lover of olive oil and teaches her patients the slow-food way. Although you can’t see us talking with our hands about communities, kitchens and olives, I promise this episode will leave you feeling re-inspired to create a Mediterranean-focused kitchen. Even if you don’t think you have time.  Antonella is hosting a course for our Confident Clinician network that is a perfect pairing of the Mediterranean diet principles and the behaviour change that people need to be successful. It’s intended for NDs, nutritionists, dieticians and any professionals that recommend nutrition changes to their patients. She has years of experience in getting up to her elbows in flour, olive oil and research and will help you feel more confident prescribing this diet practice that is the best-studied nutritional intervention on earth.  Her one-day course registration is open now.  You can learn more and join here. For the listeners! Enjoy this heart-filled conversation about food. It has helped me reconnect with my love of cooking and being in my kitchen - even when I don’t feel like I have the time.   

It’s common for people to think about supplements for joint pain. Maybe you’ve even tried one. The greatest challenge in treating joint pain with supplements is how consistent patients need to be, even if their joints are feeling a bit better.  Nutrition is an amazing opportunity to support joint health and today’s podcast discusses the what and how around food for joint pain. You have to eat every day, so how can we best support your nutrition plan to be supporting your joints every day too.  The vast majority of joint pain in people over 40 is arthritis (sorry to say!) and nutrition can change the way your joints feel. In this episode we cover The diets that have ZERO evidence for joint pain such as keto, carnivore and low nightshades.  The nutrition plan that can reduce joint pain in people with arthritis.  With the amount of noise online about food and inflammation, let’s set the record straight!  Enjoy the episode. 

Even if you’re living alone on a tropical island you’ve likely heard the online trend of syncing your menstrual cycle with your exercise.  Is it real? Or just another way to keep women small? I’ve taken my time bringing this conversation to the stage because I had a single woman in mind to bring on the show to discuss it. Dr. Alyssa Olenick has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and specifically studies the impact of female hormones on training, adaptation and recovery.  We share a vibrant (read: passionately pissed) conversation about the cycle syncing trend and whether you should be changing your exercise each week of your cycle.  Alyssa is one of my favourite female scientists and I was thrilled we could share this conversation together.  What we covered in this episode:  What is “cycle syncing” and what happens through your cycle with respect to exercise.  What the research actually says about hormones and training.  Our thoughts on the commodification of women’s menstrual cycles and how this particular trend might be causing women to move less.    Enjoy the episode, and give Dr. Alyssa Olenick a follow @doclyssfitness   Dr. Alyssa Olenick holds a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology and is a certified sports nutritionist and Crossfit Level 1 Trainer. Alyssa completed her doctoral training in exercise and post-prandial metabolism. Specifically in the areas of metabolic flexibility, sex differences and menstrual cycle physiology. Alyssa runs her online business ‘Doc Lyss Fitness’ and is a strength athlete, ultra-marathon runner, and all-around fitness lover who is passionate about educating people on science-based fitness to get them into the gyms and on the roads/trails — or often, doing both at the same time! You can learn more about Dr. Alyssa Olenick and her programs at www.doclyssfitness.com  

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn. This episode has been a long time coming. I’ve talked around this topic before in episodes sharing why testing is hard for women, and what we need out of good diagnostic and screening tests, but I’ve never tackled this topic head-on.  So, here we go.  I don’t want you to be frustrated when you listen to this if you’ve ever felt unheard by your doctor and chose to do a test that offered the hope of answers.  I don’t want you to be frustrated if you’re a practitioner and you’ve been using this test with your patients.  I don’t want you to be frustrated at all.  We do our best with the knowledge that we have. We also make patients feel like they have to figure things out on their own because nobody is listening. Wellness also markets to our insecurities, and women are often worried about their hormones.  For tests to be considered “good” they have to be better than what they already do, teach us something we don’t already know and guide our treatment of women better than what we would have done anyways. This test doesn’t do any of those things.  Have a listen and stay open-minded. I’m happy to change my mind about this test if someone would run a real study on it. Science changes. I’ll change too. But I’m also not willing to lean on a test that doesn’t stand up to the test of evidence-based practice.  Enjoy the episode!  

We don’t want you to worry. But if you’re going to worry about something, let’s at least let it be the number one health risk women face in their lifetime.  It’s not breast cancer. It’s heart disease.  In this episode, I’m joined by my good friend and brilliant colleague Dr. Alex Verge, a Naturopathic Doctor who is changing the conversation about heart health for women. In this episode, Alex and I cover Why it’s common to miss the conversation about heart health with women in a medical setting.  How Estrogen impacts heart health and why risk changes after 50 What women can do in their 30s and 40s to prevent heart disease  Why testing and screening needs to be more often than you’re probably doing it.  I love all aspects of women’s health, but hold a special place in my heart for preventive cardiovascular care. If you have a heart. This episode is for you. It’s never too early to talk about cardiovascular health in women. We’re definitely not immune, and the culture of ignoring this conversation is putting women at risk.  Alex shared her research and wisdom at our recent Menopause Advanced Training for integrative health practitioners and is running a Lipidology course for The Confident Clinician this December. If you’re an integrative health practitioner working with midlife women, these courses will support your understanding and treatment of women in midlife with cardiovascular risk.  Naturopathic doctor Alexandra Verge has been in private practice for over 20 years and has a particular interest in cardiovascular health owing in part to a significant family history of heart disease and a personal tendency to whitecoat hypertension. You can follow her on Instagram and Facebook here @alexvergend as well as at her clinic www.kuraclinic.ca. Be sure to check out Dr. Alex's free resource on Blood pressure and the Mediterranian Diet here    

They are calling it a hormone revolution.  With almost half of Canadian women between the ages of 40 and 60, there are just a few of us (myself included) who are embarking on a hormonal transition that few know anything about.  In today’s episode, I clear up what is related to your hormones after 40 (and what isn’t) and what is happening to your body during each transition stage (yes there is more than one stage!).  In this episode we cover:  The “stages” of perimenopause What is happening hormonally in your body, and why you feel the way you feel.  What testing makes sense, and what you shouldn’t waste your money on.  Why feeling better in this stage of life is vital to your future health and the health of our communities.  Today’s podcast episode is sponsored by Smart Solutions. I’ve worked with Smart Solutions as an educator for two years and am encouraged by their continued dedication to providing evidence-based products and solutions to women to support their health needs.   Perimenopause and menopause can leave women feeling confused, overwhelmed, and stressed about their hormones. That’s why it’s important to have practical solutions to stop symptoms from getting in the way of their day. Smart Solutions offers products that contain ingredients, like chaste tree and sage to help ease the symptoms in perimenopause and hot flashes in menopause. Other ingredients, like ashwagandha and Rhodiola, are offered by Smart Solutions to help ease stress so women can focus on the important things in life.   Use my promo code JORDAN10 at checkout for your next order at smartsolutions.com to receive 10% off your order. Thank you Smart Solutions for putting the information and products into the hands of women so they can get back to taking care of what’s important in their lives. This week’s podcast is in partnership with Jamieson and Smart Solutions

Today’s conversation is about paying for health care, and how you are choosing to approach this conversation may be helping or hindering your own personal progress - whether you agree with paying for health or not.  We talk about the impact of “entry fees” and the communities that are harmed by non-universal health care, but beyond that, we cover the impact of mindset on who is responsible for your health (whether money is part of the conversation or not).  If you don’t value your health on any level, it’s very difficult to make the progress you truly desire. It’s a value conflict to not feel responsible for the cost of your health under any circumstance, but also desire the best care. It’s a conflict to want a lot out of your experience and never throw any skin in the game yourself.  If you’ve felt yourself uttering the phrase “I shouldn't have to pay for that” when talking about your personal health journey, I want us to unpack that and the negative impact it might be having on your path to success.  Many times in my career I’ve had to negotiate with patients about whether or not the solutions, diagnostic tests or preventive care was “worth it” to patients. When I’m negotiating the worth of a patient's health to them, how on earth does the patient come out winning? Whether we believe paying for parts of our healthcare is our responsibility or the responsibility of the community at large, this episode will certainly make you think of the unintended consequences of not placing value on your health. 

Do you ever struggle to find the word you were thinking of?  What about walking into a room and forgetting why you were there? What about writing a sentence and then……wait…….what was I saying?  Brain fog is a common symptom that women feel in midlife, and although we think at this moment that midlife-related changes that impact our day-to-day cognitive function do get better with time, there are likely whispers of larger cognitive changes that start to happen in midlife.  We can easily ignore brain and cognitive health for decades. Really, most people ignore it until it’s a problem. But we know in the research that we can prevent negative cognitive changes in women if we address specific areas of their health in their 40s and 50s.  This episode covers a few important things The impact of nutrition on cognitive health and a couple of simple steps you can take to support your brain.  What happens to the brain in menopause and why it’s not doom and gloom.  Why taking action for your brain health in your 40s is an important part of preventive medicine.  I also talk about my own relationship with my brain and how I haven’t always got along with “her” up there and what my goals are for my own personal brain health and how I plan on taking charge of my brain health.  This past weekend I delivered a 3-hour lecture on cognitive health in menopause for practitioners as part of our Menopause Advanced Training at the Confident Clinician. If you are a practitioner and want to purchase this on-demand course, be sure to join our waitlist to get notified when the course is available for purchase. 

In this week's episode I'm joined by my colleague Dr. Alison Danby, a Naturopathic Doctor in Ontario with a clinical and research focus on Autoimmunity.  We cover a few pervasive myths in the wellness space on autoimmune disease and what to look for in a "good" autoimmune health plan.  We answer questions like:  What does remission actually look like? Can you cure your disease? Does it matter if we find the root cause of your autoimmune disease or not? Can you avoid medication if you have autoimmune disease? Are the wellness trends you see online real? We address the grief, shame and blame that people feel when they have an autoimmune condition diagnosis and how to feel more confident about moving forward with an autoimmune condition in an empowered way.  Dr. Danby is the lead educator for The Confident Clinician's Autoimmune courses, and her next course on Evidence-Based Approaches to Rheumatic disease is open for enrollment right now. Early Bird Pricing ends October 7th. Naturopathic Doctors and Integrative Practitioners can register here.