Osteopathy and Colic

Last Friday I went to a moms group in Clarkson to chat about some common pediatric concerns and this time brought along Catherine Cabral-Marotta. She is my guest blogger today and she's chatting about one of the concerns she covered on Friday - colic. Here's her take on colic!


Dr. Paul Roumeliotis describes colic as a condition characterized by bouts of continual and intense, often high-pitched, crying in an otherwise healthy infant. These bouts are noted to last anywhere from 2-4 hours per day for several days at a time. These newborns often draw the legs up into the abdomen and can be seen clenching their fists as if in pain. Many infants will grow out of their colic within the first four months of life, however a number of children do not, and these are the babies who are often seen by the osteopathic practitioner. Factors that contribute to colic that can be addressed by the osteopathic manual practitioner include:
- labour complications that cause compression of the base of the infants skull (cranium)
- irritation of the vagus nerve as a result of the child beginning to lift their head up when on their tummy
- muscular tension or nerve irritation that may affect the contents of the thorax or gut, especially the diaphragm
Osteopathic treatment is a gentle, safe and effective technique for babies and children that utilizes very specific light-pressure techniques to assist that natural desire of the body to remedy mechanical imbalances and return the body to a state of health. For more information, please contact Catherine Cabral-Marotta at the Zawada Health clinic.

1. www.canadianparents.com/article/colic-and-babies
2. http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/integrativecare-therapies-os1

Resistance Training Helps Anxiety

Exercise as medicine. Love it. Everyone needs to be reminded of how important exercise is. Of course most people recognize the importance of exercise and weight management, and decreasing risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, and most even realize how exercise can alleviate symptoms of depression and fatigue. But what kind of exercise is ideal? Aerobic, anaerobic, weight training, or a combination of everything?

Well a new study was presented at the recent American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting that shows resistance or weight training may be ideal. In a study of women suffering with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, remission of anxiety was 60% in the group that did resistance training in comparison to 40% in the aerobic exercise group. How fantastic!

Now I'm curious to see if there are any gender differences and exactly why..... The women perceived the resistance training as more intense than the aerobic exercise so maybe it's the intensity. Regardless this is more proof that everyone needs to get up and move EVERY day. The most common excuse I hear is no time. Everyone can do something for 10 minutes and even if that 10 minutes is some quick skipping or a quick power walk outside or even a little ab workout or just some pushups and situps. Anything works. Just do it!

Celery Salad?

Everyone thinks of celery as a veggie to dip into things. It gets little respect even though it can be a diuretic powerhouse and wonderful at lowering blood pressure..... This salad will definitely change your mind about plain old celery!

Last night was a big weeknight for our household! We stayed up past 10 pm! We had a little dinner party to celebrate Chris' graduation from the University of Toronto's EMBA program. We had a great day and then had family over to celebrate. Of course they say you should never try new recipes when entertaining but I rarely follow that rule as I think it's a great opportunity.... especially in this case because it was family. I tried a new tuna tapenade recipe as an appetizer that was delicious (but clearly not detox-friendly with Italian mascarpone as an ingredient!) and a new celery salad. Both were from Ina Garten's cookbook, Back to Basics.

Celery and Parmesan Salad

Yields: 4-6 servings

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp grated lemon zest

¼ cup plus 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)

2 tbsp minced shallots

1 tsp celery seed

½ tsp celery salt

½ tsp anchovy paste

Kosher salt and freshly group black pepper

5 cups thinly sliced celery hearts, tender leaves included, sliced on an angle (about 12 stalks)

4-ounce chunk aged Parmesan cheese

2/3 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

Whole flat-leaf parsley leaves


1. At least 1 hour before you plan to serve the salad, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest, ¼ cup of lemon juice, the shallots, celery seed, celery salt, anchovy paste, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper.

2. Mix 1 tbsp of the lemon juice and a pinch of salt to celery before adding enough dressing to moisten well.

3. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the celery to crisp and the flavors to develop.

4. When ready to serve, arrange the celery on a platter, shave the Parmesan onto the celery with a vegetable peeler, the sprinkle with walnuts, parsley leaves, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.