Wellness Workshops with Jo Phillips, AA Nursg.; R.N.C.P., Registered
Nutritional Consultant and Glyse Clarkston R.H. Registered Herbalist, farmer
All workshops are 2 hours in length, but can also be given in shorter 1 hour, or longer, more comprehensive formats. Handouts are included.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY (Jo) – Did you know that a deficiency of vitamin C can cause bruising, bleeding gums, slow healing of wounds and fractures, poor resistance to infections, cataracts, depression and loss of skin and blood vessel elasticity? That insufficient intake of the mineral magnesium can result in leg cramps, irritability, heart palpitations, constipation, depression and insomnia? Or that there are two forms of vitamin K, one of which is required for calcium to be absorbed properly? To obtain all the nutrients we need to grow, think, cope, love and move, we require a lifetime of fresh, natural, untampered-with foods grown in soils without petrochemical-based fertilizers and pesticides. When they are undersupplied we experience symptoms of deficiency. If we learn to listen to our body we can correct our dietary imbalances before they turn into more serious illnesses. This workshop will focus on all of the nutrients required by the body, what they are used for, what foods contain them, what can deplete them and the symptoms that can arise when they are lacking.
PMS, MENOPAUSE AND YOU – WOMEN’S HORMONES UNRAVELLED (Glyse and Jo) – Hormonal imbalance can contribute to middle of the night awakenings, depression, migraines, mood swings, food cravings, brain fog, lowered libido, gall bladder disease, hypothyroid, autoimmune disorders and weight gain as well as the more obvious menstrual cramps, fibroids, endometriosis and female cancers. This workshop offers a compact overview of how our modern lifestyle has affected hormone balance and what we can do to re-balance using herbs, supplements and simple diet and lifestyle changes.
ASSEMBLING A NATURAL FIRST AID KIT (Glyse and Jo) – From wound care to bug repellant to managing sprains and strains, learn safe, effective, non-toxic ways to treat common non-emergency first aid conditions using vitamins, minerals, herbs, essential oils and homeopathics.
RELEASE STRESS NATURALLY (Jo) – Stress is a part of life but continual stress can overwhelm a person and make him or her sick, tired, anxious, hard to live with and unable to sleep or truly be present in life. Signs of adrenal gland exhaustion (caused by too much and/or continual stress) can include: fatigue (need coffee to get going every day), frequent infections, worsening allergies, irritability, foggy thinking, depression, craving for sugar and salt, muscle and joint pain and/or injury, light headedness upon standing and increased PMS or menopause symptoms. This workshop will offer suggestions on keeping stress levels more manageable. Learn how rearranging diet can greatly improve your (and those you live with’s) ability to handle stress and which common nutrients are required, but often lacking, when someone has been under extreme or long term stress and needs to rebuild overworked adrenal glands. Discover safe, natural, non-addictive remedies to help you relax.
BOOSTING YOUR ENERGY (Jo only or Glyse and Jo) – Do you feel like a battery that can’t hold a charge? This workshop will focus on foods and nutrients that can help you increase your energy and sense of well-being as well and which foods rob us of our vitality. With Glyse’s added input you will learn about herbs that help to increase energy and vitality.
BUILDING BETTER IMMUNITY (Glyse and Jo) – Does it seem like you or those you care for just can’t shake that flu or cold? Bothered by constant or recurring infections? Concerned about superbugs? Learn how diet and nutrition affect your immune system’s ability to function properly and what to take and what to avoid the minute cold or flu symptoms appear in order to nip it in the bud. Discover very effective, safe, natural anti-virals, anti-bacterials and anti-fungals that should be in every medicine chest and learn about an often-deficient mineral that stops viruses from replicating.
TREATING JOINT PAIN NATURALLY (Jo) – Whether from injury or arthritis, joint pain can be emotionally and physically exhausting. Are you getting enough of the oft undersupplied nutrients required for re-building cartilage, tendons and ligaments? Did you know that there are many natural anti-inflammatories that have been shown to work as well as NSAIDS without the alarming side effects? Learn how diet can affect joint health and about the many effective and safe natural supplements that help to alleviate pain and rebuild damaged cartilage, tendons and ligaments.
SHARP AS A TACK – BOOST YOUR BRAIN POWER (Jo) – From childhood to old age, cognitive function problems can take many forms. Diet has a major impact on how the brain works. Whether you want to know more about memory loss or learning difficulties, this workshop will cover a bit about how the brain’s neurochemistry works, what nutrients are required for it to do so and how all of this is affected by diet. Included is a discussion of the many safe and well-researched natural supplements that can be used to increase your brain power and slow, or, in some cases, even reverse brain damage, including dementia.
GOOD FOOD FOR CHILDREN (Glyse and Jo or just Glyse) – (Can be coupled with “Sneaky Cooking” and “Feeding Teens”) – This workshop is focused on providing the right nourishment for young children. We will discuss the nutrients they require, the foods that do them harm and make them difficult to live with, and how to introduce a healthy diet and discourage junk food.
FEEDING TEENS (Glyse and Jo or just Glyse) – For teens and/or parents of teens. This workshop focuses on choosing and preparing foods that are rich in nutrition, and making “fast foods” that are healthful and not loaded with harmful ingredients and additives that disrupt a teenager’s natural ability to look, feel, perform and think brilliantly.
SNEAKY COOKING (Glyse and Jo or just Jo) – Wondering how you can add nutrition and avoid harmful additives and ingredients in your family’s favourite foods without anyone noticing? If so, this workshop is for you. Includes recipes and tips on healthy grocery shopping and stocking the natural pantry.
FITNESS NUTRITION (Jo) – Learn about the relationship between body fat, exercise, muscle building, stress and nutrition. Being unaware of these important factors can make all your efforts at weight loss, sports activities and/or workouts like trying to swim against the current.
NUTRIENTS FOR RECOVERY (Jo) – Recovering from addiction is a multi-faceted journey in which nutrition plays an important pivotal role. After having augmented my basic instruction on addiction nutrition with several day-long workshops on the neurochemistry and biology of addiction, as well as the nutritional factors most often implicated in both addiction and recovery, and giving monthly nutrition talks for 10 years at the Alcohol And Drug Services, Victoria Clinic, I have put together a comprehensive 2 hour workshop that highlights the most important and universal nutrition factors needed for recovery.
NATURAL BEAUTY: WHAT’S IN YOUR PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS? (Glyse and Jo) – A total body makeover from the inside out. Natural vitality is the best beauty aid going. Learn about the many nutrients that are required for healthy and youthful looking skin, lustrous hair and a healthy and vital body. Included is a handout listing many of the ingredients commonly found in personal care and beauty products that are extremely detrimental to our health. We will cover some of the latest natural ingredients that are notably effective without being toxic and discuss the safety of sunscreen ingredients. Can be co-presented with Hillary Childs, owner and formulator of Huckleberry Hill Soap and Body Care www.huckleberryhill.ca.
OSTEOPOROSIS (Jo)- Calcium alone will neither build nor maintain bones. This workshop focuses on diet and includes a discussion and handouts on the many nutrients required for healthy bone building including where to obtain these nutrients and how the body best absorbs them into the bones, including vitamin K2, necessary for preventing calcium from being laid down in the arteries, joints, kidneys and tendons instead of in the bones and teeth where we want it. We will also explore how to prevent leaching of minerals from bones, the relationship between osteoporosis, bone density and fractures and the reliability and usefulness of bone density testing.
MOOD AND FOOD (Jo) – Whether we are angry, anxious, depressed, stimulated, calm or jubilant, our mood is determined by a complex array of things: heredity, early life environment, traumas large and small, time of year, month and day, to name a few. This workshop will explore the many facets, helpful and harmful, of how diet is related to mood, with a brief foray into the world of easily-avoided brain (and mental function)-disturbing toxins found in commonly used products. It is not a sour day that creates our mood; rather it is our mood that determines how we see and respond to our day.
DETOXING AND CLEANSING WITH CARE (Glyse and Jo) – Springtime and autumn are natural seasons to take some time to cleanse our bodies. This workshop will discuss reasons for doing a cleanse, symptoms of toxicity in the body, suggestions for a variety of ways to cleanse safely including a basic 5-10 day cleansing diet, how to incorporate herbs and juices for detoxifying specific areas or organs of the body and some general rules for cleansing safely.
STEPS TO CLEAN LIVING (Glyse and Jo) – Feeling tired, moody and having aching joints and troublesome digestion is not our natural state. It does not take the body long to benefit from a shift to a cleaner lifestyle, one that features natural and hardly manufactured food, personal care products and a chemical-free home environment. This workshop is designed to help you make that shift in a sensible and minimally disruptive way. Food, exercise, our surroundings, mindfulness meditation and goal setting can all be covered in a longer workshop. Food and our surroundings will be covered in a shorter workshop.
HERB WALKS (Glyse) – Ideally held in the Spring. Learn what medicinal plants grow in the local neighborhood, how to sustainably harvest them, how they are used and ways to prepare them for both immediate and future use.