a lt e r n a t i v e + l o c a l + i n d e p e n d e n t //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
thejasperlocal.com
monday, june 15, 2015 // issue 51
FERN YIP TAKES IT ALL IN ON THE WAY DOWN FROM THE SUMMIT OF ROCHE MIETTE. SCRAMBLING SEASON HAS ARRIVED.// NICOLE GABOURY
Wildfire blazes on Jasper park boundary A WILDFIRE ON THE NORTH BORDER OF JASPER NATIONAL PARK WAS STILL BURNING OUT OF CONTROL ON JUNE 12, HAVING QUADRUPLED IN SIZE IN TWO DAYS.
When The Jasper Local went to press, the fire was burning a 3,500 hectare swath of forest, 164 hectares of which were in Jasper National Park. The fire was discovered on June 8 by a provincial fire lookout. The rugged terrain and remoteness of the location meant that the fire was primarily being fought from the air, Alberta wildfire information officer Janelle Lane said. “Firefighters are focusing their efforts on the north and south
edges of this wildfire. Firefighters are putting fire on the landscape from a helicopter to steer it towards natural barriers like mountains, ridges and rivers,” she said. On June 10, Jasper’s initial attack fire crew were flown into the area, which is near the Smoky River, approximately 50 km south of Grande Cache. Parks Canada’s fire information officer Kim Weir said no infrastructure was threatened. Willmore Wilderness Park, originally created as the Athabasca Forest Reserve in 1910, is a designated provincial wilderness area and is home to southern mountain caribou, grizzly bears and diverse plant species. On Friday, Jasper National Park was still in extreme fire danger. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
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page A2 // the jasper local // issue 51 // monday, june 15, 2015
editorial //
Local Vocal I HATE BEING A FENCE SITTER. Not only does it put a hole in your jeans, fencesitting puts you in the worst position—one which is dislikable by all. It’s certainly not a good quality in a columnist. Believe me: I don’t want to write a wishy-washy editorial as much as you don’t want to read one. However, when it comes to recreational activities in our national parks and curtailing those activities so to mitigate disturbances to wildlife, I constantly find myself with one leg dangling in the “environmentalist” camp and the other over on the “recreationalist” side of the yard. It’s troubling, but if there’s any solace, I know I’m not alone. That’s not to say everyone I know can’t decide if they’d rather give up their favourite places to connect with nature out of respect for…well… nature. For some of my friends and associates, it’s a no brainer: give animals their space you greedy sod, they’ll say. Other pals and colleagues take the opposite stance: the only thing wildlife closures protect is the righteousness of a bunch of tree huggers, I’ve heard. I envy both sides because neither position is willing to back down. They know they’re right and the other folks are wrong. Me, I slide to the left and right of the debate like a poached egg on a wet plate. My arguments are soft and runny; subsequently I get forked from both sides. When it comes to Marmot Basin’s long range plans, I’m stuck in the middle once again. Surely I can see the logic in closing Whistler’s Creek for wildlife conservation but when I think of that 1,000m fall-line on Trés Hombres I know I’d probably push a caribou calf off a cliff if it meant getting first tracks there. As a journalist, having an open mind is usually considered an asset. But as an editorialist on this topic, I can only be honest: I blow with the wind. I can be swayed by the addiction of adrenaline as easily as the call for conservation. Both hold tremendous value to me. I have a deep and abiding respect for the passionate protectors of our park while feeling an awestruck reverence for the pioneers who tramped the first trails, stocked the first fish and cut the first ski runs. One thing I’m not going to say is how respecting a diversity of opinions is the most valuable thing a community can foster. Dang, just did. Now I’ve got a hole in my jeans. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
C-51 passed. R.I.P. Canada C-51 passed. R.I.P. Canada. Say goodbye to freedom, environment, human rights, privacy, free speech, the right to protest, unions, workers’ rights, clean water, air and land. The majority of Canadians were not only against this bill, but hundreds of thousands spoke out. Your government didn’t listen, didn’t care. Your Senate, while being audited for their corruption, voted for this bill, even after thousands and thousands of Canadians wrote them personally and urged them to stop this madness. They don’t care about us. They never did. You remember the days when young Canadians would backpack the world proudly wearing the maple leaf on their
backpacks? We are no longer that country, and believe it or not, the rest of the world is beginning to hate us. We are the leading contributor in greenhouse gas emissions, we are bombing countries illegally, we sell arms to the Saudis and we are right on par with Brazil as the world’s leader in deforestation. The tar sands have become a black scar on mother Earth, visible from space. We are giving away our water to Nestle, killing and poisoning our wildlife, poisoning our rivers and lakes. Foreign companies now have free reign to take all our raw resources with no restraint and no environmental regulation. and to silence any dissent, we now we have a police state bill shoved down our throats that will be far
The Jasper Local //
Jasper’s independent alternative newspaper 780.852.9474 • thejasperlocal.com • po box 2046, jasper ab, t0e 1e0
Published on the 1st and 15th of each month Editor / Publisher
Bob Covey..........................................................................................bob@thejasperlocal.com
Art Director
Nicole Gaboury........................................................................nicole@thejasperlocal.com
reporter
brittany carl.........................................................................brittany@thejasperlocal.com
Advertising + sales
rachel bailey.............................................................................rachel@thejasperlocal.com
cartoonist
deke......................................................................................................deke@thejasperlocal.com facebook.com/thejasperlocal
@thejasperlocal
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Local development//
monday, june 15, 2015 // issue 51 // the jasper local// page A3
Long Range Plans shortsighted? Marmot Basin’s conservation gains disingenuous: JEA Environmental groups are taking issue with some of the finer points of Marmot Basin’s recently approved long range plans. The Jasper Environmental Association says that the lack of an integrated mass transit system should preclude Marmot Basin from going ahead with plans to expand the ski hill’s parking lots. Furthermore, the JEA says a reduction in Marmot’s leasehold is linguistic sleight-of-hand which doesn’t represent a significant conservation gain at all. “Parks Canada has said no to development there since 1981, all they have to do is continue saying no,” said the JEA’s Jill Seaton. At the heart of the LRP is a 118 hectare “voluntary reduction” in Marmot Basin’s leasehold. The lands are located on the northern border of Marmot Basin’s lease, in the Whistler’s Creek valley. That this reduction is being called a “significant conservation gain” by Parks Canada is insincere; according to Seaton, Parks Canada will always have the final say. “This is land that’s always been protected—there’s no environmental gain at all by surrendering it,” Seaton said. On June 5, Yellowhead MP,
Conservative Jim Eglinski, announced the approval of Marmot Basin’s Long Range Plans. The document is the culmination of more than 10 years of working with Parks Canada and other ski hills in national parks to draft ski hill management policy, then honing Marmot Basin’s site-specific guidelines. The new LRPs identify increased snow making capacity, glading, improvements to the lower (Caribou) chalet and expansions to the parking lots as projects to be completed in the near future. “As the cornerstone of winter tourism in Jasper, the four projects contained in our first Long Range Plan will provide significant benefits to the town of Jasper as well as tourism operators,” Marmot Basin president Dave Gibson said in a statement. Seaton pointed to a 2008 Strategic Environmental Assessment which indicated that, as spelled out in the ski hill’s site guidelines, “an integrated mass transportation strategy is required before parking lot expansion can occur.” Speaking to The Jasper Local, JNP Superintendent Greg Fenton noted that Marmot Basin has ”done a little bit of that with their bus services from town.” However,
Letters continued
worse than the American Patriot Act. Don’t submit. Don’t be silent. Do not let your government terrorize you. Never be afraid to speak your mind! Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers shed a lot of blood for our freedom, the very freedom the government is trying to take away. This is no
Seaton wasn’t convinced. “The strategy seems to be to put [an integrated mass transit system] off until the next Long Range Plan,” Seaton said. After the company makes headway on its current LRP, in the coming years, Marmot Basin will put forward a new LRP. In the 2008 site guidelines, Marmot identified a number of other aspirations for the ski hill, including an extension of the Knob Chairlift to the summit of Marmot Mountain and two lifts in the Outer Limits/Trés Hombres area adjacent to Whistlers’ Creek. Marmot Basin’s advancement of those proposals can only be done via a new LRP; moreover, Parks Canada’s consideration of both projects will be influenced by the now-completed studies of goat and caribou populations. In the meantime, Marmot Basin will concentrate on its current suite of green-lighted projects. Fenton called the approval of the Long Range Plans a significant achievement. “They outline improvements for ski hill operations and visitor experience but also lay out tangible measures for contributing to the maintenance of ecological integrity,” he said. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
exaggeration. We are to blame for this. We became too complacent, we grew apathetic and ignorant. Now we have to fix this mess together, all of us. This election will be the most important election in Canada’s history. Let’s take back our country. Troy Gallant, Jasper, AB
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page B1 // the jasper local // issue 51 // monday, June 15, 2015
Local science //
Volunteers collecting feces, counting species This summer, back country hikers in Jasper National Park have the opportunity to participate in a steaming-fresh new citizen science project.
The scat kits include clear vials, in
Parks Canada and the Foothills
your phone uploads the information
Research Institute (fRI) are partnering
to our database,” Kinney said.
on a unique initiative which will see
Last year, for the first time, Parks
volunteers collect bear scat as part of
Canada engaged in an extensive
an ongoing grizzly bear population
grizzly bear DNA study. Using the
study.
traditional hair-snag method, more
“This is an opportunity for members
than 20 Parks Canada and fRI staff set
of the public to contribute directly
up more than 100 lure sites in Jasper
to science in terms of grizzly bear
National Park and Bear Management
population monitoring,” said Sean
Area 3, a wide swath of grizzly habitat
Kinney, spokesperson for fRI.
which encompasses lands south of
Last year, fRI rolled out their Grizzly
Highway 16, north of Highway 11 and
Scat App pilot project. The initiative
east of Highway 21.
asked users of the Rocky Mountains’
“That effort is time-intensive and
eastern slopes to collect bear poo as
expensive,” Kinney said. “Given
they came across it on trails, then log
the geographic scope and size
their data by way of a smartphone app.
of Alberta’s landscape, [having
This summer, Parks Canada is getting
volunteers help collect data] is
on board, using the framework that fRI
probably the way forward in order to
created to run a similar pilot project in
survey some of these areas.”
Jasper National Park.
Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com
“We’re looking for a few dedicated hikers who are willing to carry a scat sampling kit and help us learn more about the bears of Jasper,” Parks Canada’s volunteer website states.
which citizen scientists will drop their bear plop. Using their smartphones, they can then scan a code on the vials to provide information about when and where the sample was taken. “When you get back in cell service
To get the dirt on the Grizzly scat app, email jasper.volunteers@pc.gc.ca or visit grizzlyscatapp.ca To share your poo puns, email bob@thejasperlocal.com
Jasper Grizzly bear dna will be collected this summer to aid in population estimates. // parks canada / grant peregoodoff
Parks Canada is sniffing out Volunteer scat seekers// kevin gedling
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Local paddling//
monday, june 1, 2015 // issue 50 // the jasper local// page B2
Students get feet wet with experiential ed “Did you guys see the deer?” “Yeah!” “Cool, eh?”
Different strokes // The Palisades Centre’s Paul Langevin and Sanne Van Der Ros keep the fun flowing on Lake Edith for a group of grade 5 and 6 students from Northern Alberta,// B Covey
Light rain couldn’t put a damper on spirits at Lake Edith as a fleet of canoes filled with Grade 5 and 6 students from Northern Alberta learned the finer points of paddling June 4. The Palisades Stewardship Education Centre hosted students from Valhalla Centre for three days of hiking, water sports, GPS orienting and team building. School principal Steve Mumert, who learned about the partnership between Grande Yellowhead Public School Division and Parks Canada when he and his wife were camping in Jasper last summer, said on day one the Palisades Centre’s experiential education programming was already winning over his students. “You see a side of the kids you never see in the classroom,” he said. “Some kids thrive in the classroom, but not everybody.” The Palisades Centre’s multi-day, nature-immersion programs aim to help students create memories that last a lifetime. Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com
They's the b'ys that build the boat Wild Current Outfitters are getting back to basics. Michael Lodge is excited. For one thing, he’s just launched a new business. For another, he’s following his passion. “We’re building our own cedar strip canoe,” said Lodge, an experienced raft guide and new addition to Wild Current Outfitters.
ing the canoe being built,” he laughed. Wild Current Outfitters was started by Sean Buckle and Brett Haug when the two Jasperites received a permit to raft the Snake Indian River. At the time, their permit limited them to a few trips a year.; the trips were three to six days long, depending on the clients. Last year, Buckle and Haug applied to expand their license so they could increase the amount of trips they could offer in a season to 12 and to add a permit to access all the lakes in Jasper with a canoe. Lodge bought into the company to assist with the canoe aspect after the application was approved. “We want to create more of a water culture,” Lodge said. “[Lac] Beauvert rents boats and Pyramid rents canoes. But we’re trying to do longer guided trips – show people how to get out canoe camping.” Canoe believe it? // Brett Haug (left) shows off Wild Current While a fire permit is not curOutfitters’ under-construction cedar strip canoe to discerning paddler Art JAckson. // Bob Covey rently included in their license, the canoe guides use a camping Since 2012, each paddling season, Wild Current stove to boil water for tea or coffee on the partial day Outfitters has offered a limited number of multi-day tours. raft trips down the Snake Indian River. Recently, the To create a high-end experience with the Snake Indian company was approved to bring guests onto Jasper’s raft trips, Wild Current has incorporated a horsebackstillwaters. However, they won’t be rafting, they’ll be riding element at the beginning of the trip. Guests can getting back to basics: they will be guiding clients choose to ride or walk with a “pack train” of horses that around Jasper’s also bring the gear lakes with their from the trailhead to hand-constructed, the river. The horses custom canoe. drop the gear off and Still under they head home the construction and day the tour group slated to be finished by the end of June, Lodge can’t starts down the river. hold back his excitement for the new boat. He even By next year, the company hopes to run an increased brings his clients by the shop after the canoe tour in amount of both raft and canoe trips down the Snake his other boats so they can check it out. Indian River, as well as access other lakes by canoe. “They seem to really like coming to the shop and see- “There is (opportunity for) growth with the Snake
“We want to create more of a water culture in Jasper.”
Indian,” Lodge said. “We want to get more people using the river.” It is unlikely that the outfitters will be able to accommodate a larger volume of tours by this summer. Instead, they are focused on improving infrastructure along the Snake Indian, such as adding designated camping/ outfitting setups with picnic tables to improve their clients’ backcountry experience. They are also looking to improve the products and services that they offer with their partial-day tours around Pyramid Lake so they can grow those services to include a new canoe on a new lake each year. Medicine Lake and Lake Edith will be the first few lakes to be introduced to their docket. “When you are in the parking lot, you’re only getting one view. When you are in the middle of Pyramid Lake, you can see Edith Cavell, you can see the Colin Range; you can see everything.” brittany carl //brittany@thejasperlocal.com
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page b3+B4 // the jasper local // issue 51 // Monday, june 15, 2015
LOCAL FEATURE // IT’S SHOWTIME
780.883.0773
swilson.jasper@gmail.com
SIX MEN ARE HIKING PURPOSEFULLY ALONG A DUSTY TRAIL IN THE EAST END OF JASPER NATIONAL PARK. Beads of sweat drip off their heads and onto the rocky slope. Coiled ropes dangle from the sides of their stuffed packs. But for their heavy breathing, the group is silent. After 20 minutes of marching, as they gain a high ridge, the men stop and listen. Above them, silhouetted by the sun, a rock climber is shouting. “Over here,” his voice can be heard, before a west wind whips it off the mountain and toward the slipstream of semi trucks and motorhomes below. The group advances towards the distressed climber, picking their footholds carefully on the steepening slope. “Where’s your friend?” The leader of the group asks. “Over there. I couldn’t see him, he fell,” says the climber. As the men hurry to empty their bags, don their harnesses and helmets and secure their ropes to anchors in the rust-coloured rock, eventually rigging a rescue system and lowering a stretcher down the mountain, one member of the group stands alone. Instead of a rack of carabiners and prusik cords, the only implement he holds is a notepad. Next to him, the distressed rock climber has suddenly become calm. Both are watching the rescue unfold with a keen eye, but it has become apparent that there is no injured climber. This is a simulation. “Green rope ready? Orange ready? Edge man ready? Attendant ready?”
Although it’s just a drill, the men There may not be a life on the lin reer at stake. These five men are with the Canadian Forces and ar mountain skills course. Along wi crevasse extrication and general member must demonstrate his c angle rescue. To do so, they are t in this case, has seen a lead clim
“You can really te to be leaders...It watch them r
climbing crag. The group leader can’t get to him and as such, the stretcher to be lowered down the entrance into an unknown featur sion is high, and not just on the r
With precious minutes slipping cides to re-route his original rope ing for a different anchor placem Lamonthe’s eyebrows arch. Lamo whose judgment will go a long w of these students’ careers, sees w
Sar-tech students have trained under Jasper mountain guides for generations, starting with Jasper pioneer Hans week of an intense, 11-month course. They spent a total of three weeks learning skills in the mountains wit
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feature //
PHOTOS + STORY BY: BOB COVEY
PUTTING IT ALL
ON THE LINE CANADIAN FORCES BRING THEIR BEST TO PASS FINAL SAR TECH TESTS IN THE MOUNTAINS
n involved are extremely focused. ne, but there is potentially a caSearch and Rescue Technicians re in the last week of an 11-month ith rock climbing, glacier travel, l mountaineering training, each capabilities in running a high thrown into a simulation which, mber take a serious fall on a local
ell they’re meant t’s impressive to run a show.”
is told that the victim’s partner operation calls for a rescue e steep face of a cliff. It’s a blind re with hazardous rockfall. Tenropes.
away, suddenly, the leader dee system. Mid-rescue, he’s optment. As he does so, Sgt. Chris onthe, a Comox-based instructor way in determining the trajectory why the leader is changing the
plan on the fly; this system will work better. He nods knowingly. “That’s a smart call, good on him,” Lamonthe says. Lamonthe has been a member of SAR Tech since 2004, before which he was in the armed forces. With tours in Croatia and Afghanistan under his belt, and many more rescue missions with the SAR Techs, he’s now at a stage in his career where he can pass on what he’s learned. “I miss flying and going out with the guys and doing all the cool stuff, but I love teaching, seeing the students learn,” he says. A big part of the learning during the mountain component of SAR Tech’s training comes from local guides. Years ago, pioneer Jasper mountain guide Hans Schwarz trained the SAR Techs in mountaineering. These days, Edmonton-based ACMG Cyril Shokoples, along with Jasper guides Peter Amann and Matt Reynolds, put the SAR Techs through their paces in the mountains. Reynolds, who was playing the part of the distressed rock climber before sitting down and taking his own evaluation notes, said it’s an honour working with the SAR Techs, who are hand picked for their leadership qualities. “You can really tell they’re meant to be leaders,” Reynolds said. “The amount of control and direction they give and the overall sense of command is something they’re very comfortable with. It’s impressive to watch them run a show.” As he watches the remainder of the rescue unfold, he and Sgt. Lamonthe share a glance. The look says it all: these guys just nailed it. Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com
s Schwarz three decades ago. In June, The Canadian Forces members were at the Hidden Valley crag for their final th Mountain guide Cyril Shokoples, from edmonton, and Jasper mountain guides Peter Amann and Matt Reynolds. //
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page B5 // the jasper local // issue 50 // monday, June 1, 2015
local wildlife //
Parks Canada echoes call
FOR MORE BAT RESEARCH Bat buffs will soon have a bat’s-eye view into one of Jasper National Park’s rarely-seen residents. PARKS CANADA IS PREPARING TO LAUNCH ITS NEWEST PIECE OF INTERPRETIVE TECHNOLOGY TO THE PUBLIC: A BAT-CAM. The camera will showcase a roost where currently more than 40 long-legged myotis, one of eight different bat species in Jasper, make their home. “Since the beginning of May the numbers have been building,” said bat expert and Parks Canada biologist, Greg Horne. The long-legged myotis is a species of the vesper bat. Even though Jasper scientists have identified a wide diversity of species of bats in the park, because of their nocturnal nature, it is very hard to make accurate population estimates. “Given their elusive nature, there’s no way you can say what the numbers are with passive monitoring,” Horne said. To help fill that gap, last year, for the first time, Horne and his colleagues performed mobile monitoring. Using acoustic detectors attached to a vehicle, biologists could get a sense of bats’ relative abundance in certain areas of the park. Still, for any sort of trend
to be identified, there needs to be much more data collected. “Over time you can see if populations are stable, declining or increasing and make an extrapolation,” Horne said. Until last year, very little studies on bats had been done in Jasper National Park. The fact that the webwinged mammals are now getting their day in the sun, so to speak, is because in other regions, bats are declining at an alarming rate. White nose syndrome, a fungus which is killing bats all across eastern Canada, has spurred interest within Parks Canada, provincial governments and other land manager agencies to allocate resources to research. White nose syndrome was first noticed in 2006 when bats were spotted flying around in the middle of winter. Normally they would be deep in hibernation; scientists determined something was causing the bats to wake up and become agitated. It was discovered that a fungus—which has since been tracked as having come from Europe—was growing on bats’ noses, to the point where the bats would wake up from hibernation to clean themselves. “The extra time and effort they need to deal with
this fungus is not in their energy budget,” Horne explained. “They end up depleting all of their fat reserves.” So far, the disease has not been reported west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Speculation is that the prairies could act as a barrier. But the same species of bats which have been affected in the east (more than 5 million bats died as a result of the disease since it was discovered) are present in Jasper. “We’re bracing ourselves [for the disease to show up in Jasper],” Horne said. In the meantime, Parks Canada wants to learn as much as they can about bats, which is why Horne will spend some of his own energy this summer getting a sense of bats’ relative abundance in Jasper National Park, and why the agency wants to give bats a bit of a wider profile with interpretive initiatives such as the bat-cam. “It’s for monitoring and research but it’s also for public awareness,” Horne said. Stay tuned to The Jasper Local to find out when the bat cam goes live. Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com
Skywalkers // Troy Gallant and Ryan Titchener on the summit of 3,491 m (11,453 ft) Mount Athabasca. // Troy Gallant
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Local recreation //
monday, june 15, 2015 // issue 51 // the jasper local// page B6
Banish Bad Skin from the Inside-Out Just when you thought that the itchy eczema of your childhood and acne breakouts of puberty were ancient history, the frustrating reappearance of acne seems to synchronize with the effects of sun damage during your 30s, 40s, and 50s. Long before I pursued natural medicine, I didn’t fully appreciate the connection between good physical health and healthy skin. I ate what I wanted, slept when I could, and burned the candle at both ends. I always wondered why some of my roommates in my undergrad years could do the same and seem to always have luminous skin. After years of learning more about the human body and the uniqueness of each individual I’ve come to understand that each of us are born with our own predispositions, or vulnerabilities if you will, which can be either negatively or positively affected by nutritional and lifestyle behaviours. My vulnerability just happened to be my skin, and so I started on a journey to find out how I can create healthy skin by nourishing myself from the inside-out.
GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR DIET. Emphasize vegetables, fruits, and fats such as kale, arugula, spinach, dandelion, watercress, cilantro, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, okra, sweet potatoes, raspberries, pomegranate, blueberries, papaya, raw pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, avocado, hemp seed and flax seed oils. The average adult’s goal should be to consume 2 large handfuls of greens plus 2 cups of vegetables, 2 servings of fruit, 1 tbsp or 1 handfuls of nuts and seeds, and 4 servings of healthy fats (equivalent to 4 tsp of oil) every day. The number one nutritional approach to anti-aging? Avoid sugar. Seems simple, right? You can help fight sugar cravings by stabilizing your blood sugar throughout the day by: drinking 2 Litres or more of water per day; adding electrolytes if exercising; adding fiber in the form of flax, chia seeds and/or psyllium; and consuming protein and fats at each meal.
Service Directory
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP! Getting adequate rest is just as important as getting exercise—not only in facilitating tissue repair, but also for moderating the effects of stress on the body. Cortisol, an important stress hormone, has a connection to the health of our skin, including signs of aging, acne, and potentially eczema and psoriasis. Keeping up a regular sleep routine and avoiding napping longer than 30 minutes during the day are important starting points, but if it’s something you continue to struggle with it’s best to seek the advice of your healthcare provider.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, TREAT THE GUT. The connection between the health of our digestive system and our skin has been recognized by Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners for centuries. If there are any digestive issues going on, removing suspicious foods or adhering to a hypoallergenic diet until the suspicious food can be identified can reveal tremendous benefit for a range of skin concerns.
ENSURE OPTIMAL INTAKE OF ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS INVOLVED IN SKIN REPAIR: including Vitamins A & C, selenium and zinc. Zinc in particular has been shown to be effective in eczema patients, seemingly because of an association between zinc levels and metabolism of omega-6 essential fatty acids, which helps to moisturize skin and moderate inflammation – this is essential because of the role of inflammation in many dermatological conditions. Also, in acne patients zinc status seems to correlate with severity of acne. Another compound, methyl-sulfonyl-methane or MSM for short, is a naturally occurring source of sulfur found in fruits and vegetables, touted for its antihistamine, anti-inflammatory, and collagen building properties. Take a closer look at your sex hormones. Excess androgens, imbalances in estrogens and progesterone, as well as more specific conditions such as PCOS, marked by acne, obesity, and increased hair growth, have all been implicated in acne. Many women will find that their breakouts seem to occur like clockwork with their menstrual cycle, especially in the days just before their period. A treatment approach to address the hormones may be in order, but is best managed by a health professional.
Emphasize veggies in your diet for getting the best from your skin // n. gaboury
Consider using probiotics in the meantime to regulate the bowels and calm irritation in the gut. For further assistance in battling your skin concerns, consult with a natural healthcare practitioner for a more tailored approach. As always with any recommendation, avoid known or suspected allergens. After practicing in Jasper for two years, Jaclyn Graham ND has begun a new life chapter, having relocated to Burlington, Ontario. Readers and former patients are invited to get in touch with her via email, jaspernaturopath@gmail.com.