By Dr. Brianna Sinatra ND

And you’ve been working like a dog…the last thing you want to do after you get home is to spend more hours working in your kitchen to prepare a nutritious meal. Lucky for you, you can have that nutritious meal without the extra hours of work – enter the Crockpot – an invention designed to spend long hours cooking your meal to perfection, so you don’t have to.

Check out the website Crockpot 360 for some tasty suggestions. They also have dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Try packing your Crockpot recipes full of nutrient rich BEANS.  Why, beans?

BEANS are:

1. Packed with PROTEIN - Providing around 15 grams of protein per cooked cup, beans are the best source of plant protein in the grocery store. By adding beans to a grain, like brown rice, or nuts and seeds, you get an additional protein boost by creating a “complete” protein (containing all 9 essential amino acids, the building blocks of proteins).

2. High in FIBRE - In that same cup of cooked beans, you also receive up to 10-15 grams of fibre. With the current recommended daily intake being 25-30 grams, by adding one cup of beans to your diet per day you are almost half way there!

By Dr. Suzanne Sacrey, DC, Chiropractor

Pregnancy and Pediatric ICPA Certification, Webster Technique Certified

Drawing on both my professional and recent personal experience, I want to write about the benefits of chiropractic during pregnancy. Of course, in my opinion everyone can benefit from chiropractic care, but it can be especially valuable when we look at the vast changes taking place in a women’s body during pregnancy.

As a mother’s weight increases, her center of gravity shifts outward changing her posture and adding stress to both the low back and the upper back, often resulting in pain. In addition, the ligament laxity necessary for birthing adds to instability in all of her joints, including her spine and pelvis.  With large ligaments anchoring the uterus to the pelvic bones, when there is instability or torsion in the pelvis it directly affects the uterus, compromises fetal positioning and the developing baby.

As the baby grows, the role of the ligaments becomes increasingly important. If her pelvis is in biomechanical balance during pregnancy, the uterus will be supported symmetrically. This allows the baby optimal room for movement in utero and provides the opportunity to develop free of constraint.

From a young age Michelle’s interest in health and wellness was ignited by her natural passion for sports and being active. When it came time for her to decide on a career and direction massage therapy was a natural fit. She completed her training in December 2007.

After graduating she continued her education by learning a technique called Systemic Deep Tissue Therapy ®(SDTT). This technique offers a fullGbody approach by first assessing the body’s compensatory patterns, and then working towards resolving these areas rather than just working with symptomatic pain relief. She continues to learn by meeting for monthly mentorship workshops in SDTT.

Today she continues her passion for being active and pushing the body to its limit by being an avid trail runner, snowboarder and weight lifter. She believes in maintaining an overall sense of health and wellness in herself in order to effectively facilitate healing in others through her massage therapy treatments.