Dr Ainslee was lucky enough to be interviewed by Kim at snugbags on Chirorpactic and babies. Check out the interview in the link below! 
For more information contact Live on 0274246770 or livechiro@gmail.com

​www.snugbags.com/blog/chiropractic-for-babies

The drive behind writing the blog is YOU. Because I often hear people say they LOVED the Dr Libby talk, but felt overwhelmed with information. While you get motivated and implement all of her points after you hear her speak, Saturday night rolls around, and the new habits die hard. Which leaves you feeling guilty and thinking about how you will get “back on the wagon” on Monday. By Monday you have forgotten the key points and keep rumbling around in your old habits. And so the cycle continues.

Below I have outlined some of the key topics Dr Libby spoke about in her current tour “what am I supposed to eat”. I am not a nutritionist; I am a holistic chiropractor who is focused on getting humans well and keeping them well. My aim is to empower YOU to have the confidence that food is neither good nor bad, but nutritious and not nutritious. This blog will not prescribe or diagnose anything.

Remember health is a multifaceted domain that unfortunately gets lost and forgotten about until sickness comes along. My mission is to empower and educate as many humans as possible. Allowing humans to have the knowledge and tools to be proactive, rather than reactive with health.

If you are reading this and you still have an opportunity to hear her speak book it now, she communicates incredibly: here is the link https://www.drlibby.com/event/food-frustrations/
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Here are some key points I loved from Dr Libby’s talk:

• Think of your body as an “earth suit”, the better you look after this suit the more enabled you are to enjoy good health and get the most out of life.
• NZ is the 3rd most obese population in the world (I did not love hearing this point, but it is worth reminding everyone of).
• Food is not healthy, humans are healthy. Food is nutritious or it is not nutritious.
• What you do every day impacts your health more than what you do now and again. You know this already!
• Don’t beat yourself up for choosing to eat chocolate and having a glass of wine when you are celebrating a friend’s birthday.

SUGAR.
It is not the devil. It is needed for functions in our brain, red blood cells and parts of the kidneys. But you most likely are getting enough natural sugars from whole foods you are already eating. What you probably are not aware of is that most processed foods contain A LOT of sugar and other nasties.
Sugar cane is refined 14 times before it gets onto your plate. Think about that. How natural is something that has been refined 14 times?
How does our body break something down that genetically it does not recognise? Remember in the game of life sugar is new to us. Processed foods need sugar and all sorts of other agents in them, but why?

To improve shelf life, and how do they improve shelf life?

By decreasing bacterial growth that would break food down naturally if you left it in the fridge too long.

SO do you think processed food helps us with our natural bacterial balance? Our tummy has 2-3kg of natural bacteria to help us break down food. You put two and two together, let’s be logical about it. Eating excessive amounts of processed food may be damaging our gut health.

GENETICS
Your genetics make up who you are and if you happen to be of Irish decent your ancestors used to eat A LOT of potatoes. Until the potato famine. At which point they switched to growing and eating grains in much larger quantities than ever before.
Studies are suggesting that people with this heritage have higher incidences of gut related disorders like celiac disease.
Other parts of the world have quirky genetic traits like this too. If particular foods don’t make you feel good after eating them, LISTEN to your body.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY + IMPROVE YOUR NUTRIENT INTAKE
What food makes you feel good? What food makes you feel bloated or get other symptoms like reflux? When we consume too much sugar we shut off our ability to be able to listen to our body because our brains addictive desire for sugar takes over our natural instincts. Food for thought.

3 meals + 2 snacks a day mean 35 opportunites to nourish your body. If you eat 7 whole food meals a week and you improve 1 meal a week for 2 months you literally DOUBLE the nutrients you are feeding yourself. That sounds easy and achievable. Great logical thinking Dr Libby.

FADS + BLOGGERS:
Diet fads come and go, bottom line is you need to do what works for your body, so learn to get in tune and see what works for you!
Bloggers – Usually bloggers are people writing information to share with people based on their own experiences. It is nice to read and support blogs (thanks for reading guys). Just be mindful that some bloggers have larger opinions than they do medical education or clinical experience. Just because the coolest blogger rates the latest fad does not mean this is the right for you. How do you know what’s right for you? Listen to your body, and if you can’t hear it. Learn to listen and get some professional help from a registered nutritionist who specialises in real food.

FAT + PROTEIN
These things are naturally occurring in nature because we need them in our lives, enjoy them in their natural form.

WAGON
Guys, there is no wagon, there is just life. The idea of getting on the wagon allows you to “fall off the wagon” which may not be healthy for your mindset. Ponder that.

EAT LOCAL + SPRAY FREE ORGANIC
Eating local supports your local growers. We want them to keep growing nutritious food for us in nutrient dense soil! Locally grown food usually has less plastic wrapping (save the environment), less chemicals on it to improve its shelf life (and therefore less chemicals to harm your gut) and less miles spent on fuel (carbon footprint decreased = winning). 
If you can’t eat organic then fill up the sink and soak veges in 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar to break down sprays. FYI: This only breaks down some toxins.

WRAPPING IT UP
I hope this has helped break it down for you. Food is simple if you keep it natural and simple. We need to remember to be logical about food. Let’s not be so rigid we cannot go out for dinner with friends. But let’s not be naïve and think that our earth suits are getting the nutrient’s they need to sustain us from eating processed foods daily.
Bottom line is you need vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, carbs and natural sugars to survive. Our bodies are clever. You can nourish or ignore these needs. Over time you will notice the effect it has on your earth suit. The choice is yours (said like captain planet).   

This information was designed by Dr Libby for those people who were getting confused about what to eat on a day to day basis. Hopefully it gives you some confidence to choose right for you. But if you still have requirements or a question regarding specific information or symptoms then a Registered Degree Qualified Nutritionist is a great place go. Here are some of my favourite recommendations for AWESOME degree qualified Holistic REAL whole food Nutritionists:

Chantal Cuthers Nutrionist:
Brilliant at what she does and specialises in woman’s hormones. What a hero for wanting to help us complicated ladies!)
​http://www.thefitfoodie.co.nz/

Kirsten Beynon Nutrtionist:
Amazing at what she does and specialises in supporting medical conditions and medications. Kirsten’s background in medical research means she is well versed in the nitty gritty parts of complicated medical conditions.
https://kirstenbeynon.co.nz/
 
I LOVE recipe books, and below is a photo of my current favourites. I would say every 2 weeks I make at least 1 recipe out of every one of these books, the rest of the time I free-ball and improvise. I must be honest, while I love to cook, it needs to be simple and easy and not have a MILLION ingredients. If you feel the same, then the petite kitchen and Chantal Cuthers cook books are a great place to start, you can grow your collection and inspiration from there.  It goes without saying that Dr Libby cook books could go in this photo too, but I currently don’t have any in the house as they are all leant out (and I can’t quite remember who to…)

Now, human, get your diary out and schedule a reminder to re-read this in 4 weeks. Someone has to hold you accountable, and that someone is YOU.

Hop to it.
 
With love,
Dr A xo

I often talk about sleep in practice. You may be sick of me asking you about it. This blog explains WHY I ask about your sleep and WHY it is important!

The body is reliant on sleep to repair the "learning" and/or damage  from the day's activities. The video posted below is a pretty "kick ass" summary of why I always ask about sleep. Watch it.  
Sleep allows us to be the superhero's we are throughout the day.
I know it is not always possible to get enough sleep when you have a new born or young children, but this post is to remind you how important sleep it. If you can grab the odd hour here and there, Take it. Your mind and body will thank you for it and the washing can wait! Especially if you are a mumma healing from giving birth!

Here are a few quick tips to help you out, test out what works best for you!

HAVE A SLEEP ROUTINE 
This involves a pattern of behaviors that prepare the mind and body to do to sleep. This routine DOES NOT involve technology time. It can involve all or some of the points below though. 

DITCH TECHNOLOGY
You already know this, and you have heard it time and time again. WHY?! Technology such as cell phones emit something called "blue light". This interferes with the natural hormonal cycles in our brain. These hormones are important in allowing us to go to sleep and they reverse to wake us up when the sun comes up.
Ever wondered why when you go camping you are tired and ready for bed by 8pm and wake up when the sun gets up?

CUT THE CAFFEINE
NO! Not the dinosaur daddy. I know this is what your all thinking about me saying cut the caffeine "NO! Not the coffee Ainslee". There are benefits in caffeine (I can hear you breathing a sigh of relief) but let's be real about this. Don't have caffeine after mid day, or at the latest 2pm. Most likely you be feeling like you need it to get through the last of the afternoon, so you sneak one in about 3:30pm and it sees you through until 5pm. Then bedtime rolls around and while you are tired, you are also WIRED from the remaining caffeine hanging out in your system. You get the picture. 

LAVENDER ESSENTIAL OIL
It smells nice. The end. No, that's not the only reason, it actually has benefits for calming our physical body and our mind. and helping us drift off to sleep.  

DECLUTTER YOUR MIND
Write a list of the stuff you didn't finish today or need to do tomorrow so your brain can switch off. 
Meditate or do headspace, I RATE HEADSPACE, it is worth your time (hit the button below to find out more). Headspaceis 10 minutes of guided meditation daily and it is the BEES KNEES. Did I mention they also have special meditation packages for things like managing chronic pain (that is another blog for another day!) 

DECLUTTER YOUR EMOTIONS
A wise person in my life once told me "never go to bed angry". Have you tried it? It is not that conducive for getting a good night's sleep. Make sure you air out (ear out?) any emotions you need to before the bed time routine starts. 

DECLUTER YOUR BODY
There are a few choices for this one:
-Pre bed yoga session (doesn't need to be long).
-Epsom salts warm bath before bed (I make some pretty kick ass bath soaks myself, if you are after some then email me for more information, link below).
Warm epsom bath soaks with a few other goodies in there allow the body to detox and also provide time to be still! Humans need to be reminded to be still sometimes.
This is a brilliant time to mention the benefits of magnesium for our sleep, if you are high stress or not getting enough magnesium through your diet then absorbing magnesium (Epsom salts) through the skin or adding extra magnesium into your diet can be a great idea. 

DEEP DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING
Deep diaphragmatic breathing is one of the only conscious links we have to calm the subconscious brain out of fight and flight and into rest and digest and/or sleep mode. 
Don't know how to breathe with your diaphragm? Ask me or your wellness practitioner at your next appointment. You don't have a wellness practitioner? I am sorry to hear that, I would like to encourage people to be proactive rather than reactive with our health. But ultimately the choice is yours.

GET ADJUSTED
I have to point out I may be biased on this point, and cannot comment further on whether Chiropractic will or will not help with sleep (rules are rules).  

GET ENOUGH SLEEP BUT STRUGGLE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING?
You could try out one of those nifty alarm clocks that reproduces the sun rising which means the hormones in your brain start to kick in (or out) and you wake up "naturally" at the time you set your alarm to and BOUNCE out of bed. 
Disclaimer: you may not bounce out of bed, but after using it over a period of time may find it slightly easier to get up. 

SHAKTI MAT
These are acupressure mats. They have a whole heap of tiny points on them that access acupressure points on the part of your body you apply it to. It is along the same lines as the "bed of nails" type situation from years ago (are they still doing that in some parts of the world?)
I personally find mine relaxing and enjoy time spent on it, please remember this is my opinion, everyone is different. I usually combine time spent on the mat with deep diaphragmatic breathing and/or meditation. 

I could actually list a few more points, but I figure the blog will be so long you won't read all of it anyway. So I will save those points for another rainy day. 

I hope you enjoyed that and can put into practice some tips to help you get the best quality sleep you can. Let me know how you get on!

Until next time, 
Best health, 
Dr A xo