Andrea Cannas-Integrative Nutrition

Something that really resonated with me recently are the 3 key core principles of Evidence-Based Medicine: Scientific Evidence, Clinical Accumen , and Intuitive Insight.

These are 3 core values that I bring into my practice as a clinician.

Let me ask you a question.

You have a lady sitting in front of you who is convinced there is something wrong with her child, and as a health professional, you say, 'you can't prove that because there is no evidence'. A mother has the ability to have an intuitive insight to be able to protect her child. But traditionally, we have been ignoring people's intuitions and their unique needs and circumstances.

Through the narrow one-size fits all approach, we have learned to treat our body systems in isolation, which has led to segregated thinking on how we view our health. We overlook the interconnectedness of physical, mental, and social factors that influence health.

It is important to look beyond surface-level symptoms and delve into the deeper, often multifaceted causes of illness in order to provide more effective and sustainable solutions for those experiencing health challenges. It's our responsibility to consider people's intuitions, balance them with what is known, and work WITH them to support their needs and preferences in a collaborative and non-prescriptive approach.

What do you think?

The journey varies for each woman with painful periods (in medical terms, dysmenorrhea). Pain can come in intense cramping or radiating back pain. Whether it's a primary issue or secondary to another health condition, pain management may include:

▫️Changing what you eat
▪️Cutting down on foods that are pro-inflammatory
▫️Making tweaks to your lifestyle
▪️Introducing anti-inflammatory or antioxidant agents, natural painkillers, or nutrients that support ovarian function

Maybe it's time to focus on your gut health, coping mechanisms, or blood sugar. There are various factors at play, and there's no one-size-fits-all solution. It's about finding what works best for you.

Give my tips a go! I'd be keen to hear how you get on 😊

Questions?

**Disclaimer : All recommendations are scientifically proven. However, individual health varies, so online advice isn't a substitute for personalised medical guidance. Consult with a qualified practitioner for tailored advice on your concerns or conditions.

🥱 💤 Falling asleep on your desk soon after lunch?
Looking for that caffeine or sugar fix to keep you going?

If you deal with fatigue, irritability, and mood fluctuations, impaired glycemic control could be a contributing factor.

Disruption in the regulation of blood sugar levels can give rise to a spectrum of metabolic issues. This dysregulation significantly impacts various processes, influencing insulin sensitivity, glucose uptake by cells, and overall energy metabolism.

Patients with blood sugar highs and lows may have mood symptoms that are either driven by inappropriate pairing, portions and timing of foods, digestive issues, food intolerances as well as a high stress load.

**Disclaimer: Individual health varies, so online advice isn't a substitute for personalised medical guidance. Consult with a qualified practitioner for tailored advice on your concerns and conditions.

▫️Whether it's changing your diet and habits, introducing exercise, assessing nutrient or biochemical imbalances, identifying inflammatory triggers, and restoring gut health. When facing antidepressant side effects, it's vital to consider tailored solutions.

▪️Antidepressant prescription rates in Cyprus are increasing. There has been a modest increase in depression prevalence in young Cypriot adults aged under 45 years, particularly in young women.

▫️Nutritional therapy is not a quick fix, but it is a sustainable solution that allows you to understand how your body behaves and what it needs to function optimally. The effects of improved nutrition, particularly with nootropics and vitamin blends, as well as lifestyle changes, can support compliance to treatment and have empowering effects on people's confidence and self-esteem during treatment.


🫴🏼Check out my new blog for a fruitful read- link in comments!

Navigating the dynamic period of 18-30, characterised by independence and autonomy as an emerging adult, is a life stage full of transitions and changes. During this time of ongoing brain maturation, we develop skills in reasoning, decision-making and emotional regulation. Throughout this stage, integrating nutrition and lifestyle medicine becomes essential for both physical and mental wellbeing.

Whether you're building connections or deepening relationships, optimising mental fitness through mindful lifestyle choices, and nourishing your body with whole diverse nutrition may set the foundation for a healthy life 💙

Here are some tips, keeping in mind its not an exhaustive list!

Does this resonate with you? Feel free to comment below!

Navigating birth control choices? 🌺

Check out my new blog online: link in the bio.

Depression risk is highest in the initial two years of starting birth control pills, especially among teens even after discontinuation.
doi:10.1017/S2045796023000525

Oral contraceptives may lead to deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals crucial for mental health. The longer you are on the medication the higher the extent of nutrient deficiencies. Proactive testing, like a complete blood count and nutrient lab testing can help you keep on track.

A complementary supplement regimen should focus on B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin E and C, magnesium, zinc and selenium to correct for deficiencies and support any side effects.

Disclaimer** Stopping the pill without a suitable alternative increases the risk of unintended pregnancy.Individual health varies, so online advice isn't a substitute for personalised medical guidance. Consult with a qualified practitioner for tailored advice in your concerns.

Are oral contraceptives making you depressed? - Andrea Cannas The risk of depression later in life is 17% higher among teenagers and young women aged over 20 years who use oral contraceptives. How can this be prevented?

Optimising your thyroid medication. How?

☕️ Caffeine can reduce levothyroxine (T4) absorption by about 30%, so spacing them out prevents interference.
▪️ Wait for 1 hour after taking levothyroxine before that coffee fix.

🥛 Calcium forms an insoluble complex with levothyroxine, preventing absorption.
▫️Avoid calcium-rich foods (dairy and dairy products) and supplements around your medication; separate by 4 hours.

🚭 Smoking, both active and passive, negatively affects thyroid hormones.
▪️ Minimise or quit smoking for better thyroid health.

What are your morning rituals? Are these tips old news or brand new discoveries? Comment below!


Remember, these recommendations provide a general guide, and individual responses may vary. Always consult with a healthcare professional for personalised advice tailored to your specific health needs and conditions.

The journey varies for each individual with an underactive thyroid. It could include:

▫️Changing what you eat
▪️Cutting down on foods that are pro-inflammatory
▫️Making tweaks to your lifestyle

Maybe it's time to focus on your gut health, microbiome, or blood sugar. There are various factors at play, and there's no one-size-fits-all solution. It's about finding what works best for you.

**Disclaimer : Individual health varies, so online advice isn't a substitute for personalised medical guidance. Consult with a qualified practitioner for tailored advice on your concerns or conditions.

✋️ 🧊 Feeling unusually cold during the winter period?

If you deal with persistent depression, anxiety, or other mood-related issues, undiagnosed hypothyroidism could be a contributing factor.

Insufficient thyroid hormone levels can lead to various brain-related symptoms, as these hormones play a crucial role in the proper functioning of key brain areas such as neuron health, neuroglia (brain immune cells), and the blood-brain barrier.

Patients with thyroid hormone deficiency may have mood symptoms that are either driven by blood sugar highs and lows, inflammation, autoimmunity, food intolerances, digestive issues and intestinal permeability.

**Disclaimer: Individual health varies, so online advice isn't a substitute for personalised medical guidance. Consult with a qualified practitioner for tailored advice on your concerns or conditions.

Whether it's a competition, a wedding, or a holiday, most people adopt eating behaviours and lifestyle decisions for a short-term focused goal rather than embracing new habits as part of a long-term sustainable change.

This can perpetuate a vicious cycle followed by ongoing restrictive food plans, extreme diets and exercise schedules that might not be suitable, frequently self-medicating as a 'quick-fix' solution or trying sponsored "healthy" supplements and non-scientific treatments.

While short-term goals focus on immediate health benefits, long-term sustainable change considers your overall wellbeing and healthspan (the length of time you are healthy - not just alive).

How many times do you evaluate your experience to a food, an action or behaviour? For instance, have you ever asked yourself:

- How well you are digesting your meal?
- Why you feel wired and tired at night?
- What's triggering your painful menstrual cramps?
- Whether fasting is suitable for you?

There are many factors that finetune our health and lifespan. But it is the integrated functioning of our body systems that determines our health and healing. For example how our gut communicates with our brain as well as connections between gut-skin, gut-immunity, stress-hormones. You can support all these different body systems using natural personalised solutions.

When you understand how your body systems interconnect and what you can do for yourself, you will feel more empowered and be more likely to succeed in sustainable health changes.

Time for constructive New Year's Resolutions 🌟

Hi! I'm Andrea :)

I am a Registered Nutritionist specialised in Nutritional Medicine (RNutr) and qualified as a Practitioner in Nutritional Therapy (RNTP).

I help adults regain control of their mental health, especially those suffering with depression and anxiety. I craft customised protocols (not off-the-shelf programs) that encourage you to live by simple food rules tailored to your health and lifestyle.

After working for a private mental health service in London, I became passionate about providing integrative care and working collaboratively with different health professionals in the best interest of the patient.Today’s medical profession only has limited tools and knowledge of medical nutrition therapy.

Nutritional therapy transformed the way I practice clinically. It taught me to view the body as an interconnected system and apply a holistic approach using a systems biology perspective (otherwise, the functional medicine model). The benefits of an integrated approach can extend beyond weight control.

I'd love to hear from you!

https://www.philenews.com/koinonia/ygeia/article/1720703/aneparkeia-iodioy-se-eggymonoyses-gnaikes-stin-kypro
Επ΄ ευκαιρία της Παγκόσμιας Ημέρας του Θυρεοειδούς στις 25 Μαΐου. Όπως έχει αποδειχθεί απο τη σχετική μελέτη μου του Πανεπιστημίου Σαρρει σε συνεργασία με την Ιατρική Σχολή του Πανεπιστημίου Λευκωσίας, οι Κύπριες έγκυες γυναίκες είναι ελλειπείς σε επίπεδα ιωδίου και διατρέχουν κίνδυνο ήπιας έως μέτριας ανεπάρκειας ιωδίου. Το ιώδιο είναι ένα απαραίτητο θρεπτικό ιχνοστοιχείο για την παραγωγή των θυροειδικών ορμονών και την υγιή εγκεφαλική λειτουργία του βρέφους. H ημερήσια συστηνώμενη δόση ιωδίου αυξάνεται κατα 50% στην εγκυμοσύνη.

Πιστεύω ακράδαντα ότι η δημοσίευση άρθρων σχετικά με τους διατροφικούς και περιβαλλοντικούς παράγοντες που συσχετίζονται με την νόσο του θυρεοειδή θα έχει πολύ θετικά αποτελέσματα για την υγεία των εγκύων μητέρων μας και των νεογνών τους.

Το άρθρο έχει δημοσιευτεί στο British Journal of Nutrition:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/iodine-status-of-pregnant-women-from-the-republic-of-cyprus/68863CE958C6D50BD777F89DEDA83318

Ανεπάρκεια ιωδίου σε εγκυμονούσες γυναίκες στην Κύπρο

💭In an era where milk has been swapped with ultraprocessed caffeine-rich energy drinks, as childrens' breakfast beverage of choice, the mental health epidemic at schools brings no surprise.
🧠 Repeated exposure to dopamine-releasing behaviours to address your negative state (stress, depression, anxiety) can lead to addiction and bad habits. Common examples include brain stimulants as well as video games, social media, ni****ne, drugs, excess refined sugar, gambling and alcoholism.
🙋‍♀️By removing your negative state you can address your behaviour. Here I was invited to two schools to discuss:
🫐how to support a healthy brain with nutrition for better learning and concentration
⚠️ the impact of energy drink consumption on neurological health and energy levels

Andrea Cannas-Integrative Nutrition updated their information in their About section.

Full link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/iodine-status-of-pregnant-women-from-the-republic-of-cyprus/68863CE958C6D50BD777F89DEDA83318

Very happy to share with you my first paper published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Iodine is important for the thyroid health of the mother, brain development of the newborn and fertility. We found that pregnant women in Cyprus are at risk of iodine deficiency and not meeting the higher iodine requirements for pregnancy. Healthcare providers should re-formulate recommendations to women planning pregnancy to include the importance of iodine. Iodine fortification is supported by the Turkish Cypriot community - is this something we should consider too?

Greek text soon available.

A fantastic experience with iodine experts Dr Sarah Bath, Dr. Margaret Rayman University of Surrey and Dr Ourania Kolokotroni on behalf of the University of Nicosia Medical School. Thank you to Drs. Kallikas and clinic staff from the AAK Ultrasound and fetal medicine centre.

🤯"HANGRY" = Science or fiction?

💡 Hangry is a term used to describe a negative change in emotional state caused by a lack of food. But both nutrient quantity and quality can influence emotional outbursts.

🥑 Our brain is made of 60% fat and is directly influenced by the type of fat we include in our diets. Our brains also require at least 30 micronutrients to ensure the production of neurotransmitters involved in regulating our mood such as serotonin and dopamine.

⚠️So what happens with individuals who follow restrictive diets? Or the rapidly evolved takeaway and fast food options for those with limited food budget or time barriers? Or those with disordered eating patterns due to an underlying condition? Could these factors promote a form of brain hunger? And what are the implications on our mental health?

🧠The SMILES trial showed reduced severity in major depressive episodes in medically-treated and diagnosed patients who improved their diet quality, using the Meditteranean diet as a guide, with a higher emphasis on healthy fat consumption (3 tablespoons olive oil/ day, 2 portions of fish/week, 1 serv. of raw, unsalted nuts/d) etc.

🤗Studies evaluating multi-nutrient treatments for ADHD in youths show that improvements in vitamin and nutrient intake may support aggressive symptoms and unstable mood.

👩🏽‍🌾Eating healthy foods and, at times, adding in micronutrient supplements, can help you improve your mental health.

Junk Food and the Brain: How Modern Diets Lacking in Micronutrients May Contribute to Angry Rhetoric - Neuroscience News Researchers say there may be a link between eating an unhealthy diet and anger control.

💡Did you know that 90% of serotonin (our happy hormone) is made by the bacteria living in our gut?

🧠What you eat directly affects how you think and feel.

🔸We are finding ourselves living in a state of universal anxiety and distress as we constantly reintegrate into pre- and postpandemic lifestyle. Adults or children already facing problems with depression and anxiety may be less able to adapt to current stressful situations and manage their emotions.

🔹Indeed, the latest research shows that the youngest groups of our society are at highest risk of experiencing mental symptoms. One reason for this is the present uncertainty and instability around their future career prospects. There is also an upward trend of admissions in acute mental health services, per year, since 2007. Only a minor 4% of the population is actually diagnosed with chronic depression and receiving medical treatment in Cyprus – so how are those with mild or moderate symptoms helping themselves?

🧠Having mental symptoms and illness may be caused by nutrient deficiencies, hormone deficiencies, neurotransmitter imbalances, food intolerances and accumulation of toxic elements. Common side effects from prescription medication may include a greater desire for sweet foods, sleep disturbances and lack of energy. As you age you are more prone to nutrient and antioxidant deficiencies that protect your brain from oxidative stress and common symptoms such as memory decline.

👩🏽‍🌾Nutritional medicine can be effective in reducing patients’ symptoms and to some extent, preventing mental illness. A combination of foods, supplements and lifestyle changes in integration with other therapies and treatments may provide you with the best results.

Ευφυής γεννιέσαι ή γίνεσαι;

Η ευφυΐα δεν είναι μόνο γραμμένη στο DNA. Η συνταγή της ευφυΐας περιλαμβάνεται και απο διατροφικούς και περιβαλλοντικούς παράγοντες. Σύμφωνα με έρευνες, οι διατροφικές ελλείψεις σε ιώδιο, σίδηρο, βιταμίνη D, βιταμίνες Β (Β12, Β6, Β3, Β9), μαγνήσιο, ψευδάργυρο και στα ωμέγα-3 λίπη επηρεάζουν την διανοητική ανάπτυξη, λειτουργία και απόδοση του εγκεφάλου ενός παιδιού.

Παιδιά ή έφηβοι με νευροανάπτυκτες παθήσεις ή συμπτώματα, συχνά παρουσιάζουν κλινικά σημάδια όπως κόπωση, άγχος, έλλειψη προσοχής και συγκέντρωσης, δυσκολίες στον συντονισμό-εκτέλεση και νευρολογικές διαταραχές. Έχει διαπιστωθεί ότι τα χαρακτηριστικά αυτά ενδεχομένως να προωθούνται από διατροφικές ανεπάρκειες και βιολογικούς μηχανισμούς που αφορούν τον σχηματισμό και τη δομή του νευρικού συστήματος, το εντερικό μικροβίωμα και άλλους προφλεγμονώδες μηχανισμούς.

Με την κατάλληλη ολιστική υποστήριξη και τις σωστές διατροφικές παρεμβάσεις, μπορούμε να συμβάλουμε στη μείωση της συχνότητας και σοβαρότητας των συμπτωμάτων και στη μετέπειτα μαθησιακή, ακαδημαϊκή και επαγγελματική επιτυχία του παιδιού.

Μπορείτε να βρείτε ένα σχετικό μου άρθρο στα αγγλικά στο Rise Up Children’s Therapy Center:
https://riseupcy.com/nutritional-therapy-for-childrens-learning-and-development/

--Ahead of , here is a blog I wrote on how nutrition can support the learning and development of children for Rise Up Children’s Therapy Center🫐🧠🥦📚📝

Nutritional Therapy For Children’s Learning and Development - Rise Up Children's Therapy Center Rise Up Children's Therapy Center is based in Nicosia, Cyprus and offers occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychological support, physical therapy, kids yoga.

How can we not learn to see food as medicine, when it can help our body to recover and repair, prevent and support health issues? Nutrition is often used as a therapeutic tool to target the roots of the tree - these can be clinical imbalances which present before signs and symptoms or system diagnoses occur. With the right lifestyle management, we can integrate nutrition with chronic illness and create unique therapies that correct system imbalances and support your goals towards optimal health.