Dr. Chelsea Cole, ND

Dr. Chelsea Cole, ND Dr. Chelsea Cole is a naturopathic physician in Victoria, BC with a family practice and a focus on women's primary care.

Ways to feel more ease throughout your menstrual cycle. 🌸- Track your cycle to get connected to your hormone fluctuation...
08/14/2023

Ways to feel more ease throughout your menstrual cycle.
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- Track your cycle to get connected to your hormone fluctuations, and how your feelings & needs shift throughout the month. Knowing that your mood usually changes premenstrually can allow you to feel prepared rather than blindsided.

- Eat complete meals (most of the time), regularly. This means focusing on protein, carbs, fat, veggies/fruit and not skipping meals.

- Give yourself some compassion. Many symptoms we experience are normal, and not a sign of a deeper problem or a sign that you are doing something wrong. This means that not everything needs to be scrutinized and treated.

- Get support for bothersome symptoms. You don’t have to suffer through your period, there are options.
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What would you add to this list?

Low energy is one of the most common concerns I hear in appointments. 🥱People often say that they would love to exercise...
08/09/2023

Low energy is one of the most common concerns I hear in appointments.
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People often say that they would love to exercise, make time for activities they enjoy, and not struggle through the second half of their work/school day, but just feel too tired to make changes. If this is you, it is time to get support.
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There are many things that can contribute to low energy (ex. Stress, eating habits, sleep quality, work schedule etc), and I spend time discussing all of those pieces, but I also start with lab work.

Here are the labs I commonly run: blood count, ferritin, vitamin B12, thyroid stimulating hormone, vitamin D.

If you are concerned about your energy levels, don’t put off lab work or appointments.

Have you heard that you have to follow a “hormone balancing diet” to support your hormone health?❔❔❔This is actually a v...
08/03/2023

Have you heard that you have to follow a “hormone balancing diet” to support your hormone health?
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This is actually a very common misconception that I hear in my practice, and the end result is often stress about food, and unnecessary food restriction. Stress & food restriction can contribute to period concerns like: irregular or absent periods (hypothalamic amenorrhea), worse PMS, or worse period pain. When we actually look at the research, nutrition habits like: eating breakfast; eating enough protein, carbs, fats; eating fruit & vegetables can all help ease period concerns. None of these recommendations point to a particular diet that is better than others. What they do point out is that eating enough food, and focusing on balanced meals (ie. protein, carbs, fats, plants) is what is important.
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Nutrition recommendations should take into consideration your needs & concerns, relationship with food, and capacity to make changes, among many other things. If you are concerned about your period, nutrition, or relationship with food, you deserve more support than a list of foods to avoid & include to “balance your hormones.”
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What misconceptions have you heard about hormones & nutrition?

I recently wrote an article for the blog called, “Your period problems are not caused by the foods that you eat.” 🥐It’s...
07/25/2023

I recently wrote an article for the blog called, “Your period problems are not caused by the foods that you eat.”
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It’s about the problem with “hormone balancing diets,” why you might notice a higher appetite before your period, and how to cultivate more self compassion and food freedom with the changing nature of bodies, appetite, and the menstrual cycle.
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While nutrition can support a better period experience, it is not your fault for having PMS, PMDD or any other period concern.
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You can find the article through the link in my bio. I hope you enjoy reading it, and please DM me questions or thoughts!

If you need some inspiration about what to cook for the week, and I curate a “Sunday Morning Cookbook” in Instagram st...
07/25/2023

If you need some inspiration about what to cook for the week, and I curate a “Sunday Morning Cookbook” in Instagram stories.
🥐 🍓 🍦
People often share that one of the barriers to not eating more regularly, or not incorporating more variety in their meals, is that they do not know what to cook. I love finding great recipes and then sharing them in the Sunday Morning Cookbook series, and truly hope that it helps people learn how to make a new meal & feel inspired about what they want to eat each week.
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Go follow , and let me know in the comments which chefs, cooks, or recipe creators you love!

What’s on your summer reading list?📚 Reading in the sun is a favourite way to spend long summer days. Here is my summer ...
07/25/2023

What’s on your summer reading list?
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Reading in the sun is a favourite way to spend long summer days. Here is my summer reading list so far:

- The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
- All About Love by bell hooks
- The Wellness Trap by Christy Harrison
- Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Do you know how to track your cycle effectively?🗓️In the July letter, I break down what you should be tracking, why it i...
06/29/2023

Do you know how to track your cycle effectively?
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In the July letter, I break down what you should be tracking, why it is important, and what your next steps might be if you notice some patterns or concerns. Most people are tracking their period only, but not necessarily the physical and mental symptoms that could indicate PMS, PMDD, endometriosis etc.
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If you are curious about how to track your menstrual cycle, and what to do with the information you collect, get on my email list. The letter will go out next week. I hope it is helpful to you!

Curious about what it is like to work with me to support your hormones? 🧐While everyone is different, I’m often using th...
02/23/2023

Curious about what it is like to work with me to support your hormones? 🧐While everyone is different, I’m often using the following guideposts to address period problems.

UNDERSTAND YOUR HORMONES 🗓️
Getting clear on your menstrual cycle, and connecting it with your symptoms is an important part of understanding your hormones. This often looks like cycle tracking so that we can notice patterns, and possibly blood work.

FOOD & HORMONES 🥐
Nutrition can be a great way to support your hormone health. We can discuss helpful foods, but the most important part is understanding your relationship with food, and overall eating patterns.

We are constantly surrounded by diet-culture messaging that makes us feel like we have to take certain foods out of our diet because they are “bad” for hormones. This creates stress & food restrictions, and doesn’t take into account the needs of your actual life. Let’s break up with diet culture, and find more ease in your relationship with food.    

FEELINGS & HORMONES 🥺
There is a connection between mental health & hormones. Also, stress can make periods more difficult, so I want to spend time discussing stress management and what your day-to-day life looks like. Do you sleep well? Do you eat regularly? Do you incorporate movement? Do you make time for joy & pleasure? Do you rest?

Did you know that over-exercising, dieting, and high stress puts people at risk of irregular or absent periods? 🤔When th...
02/15/2023

Did you know that over-exercising, dieting, and high stress puts people at risk of irregular or absent periods?
🤔
When the body isn’t getting what it needs to function properly, it will stop ovulating & menstruating to ensure that energy is going towards the functions that are needed to survive (ex. breathing, heart beating etc). This is called hypothalamic amenorrhea.

Our culture is hyper-focused on weight loss, “clean eating,” and unnecessary food restrictions. This means that many people are exercising in a way they don’t enjoy, and restricting foods. Even if restricting calories wasn’t an explicit goal, restricted diets, or skipping meals, or exercising because you think you should even though it doesn’t feel good, or not eating enough to compensate for exercise, can contribute to period issues, like hypothalamic amenorrhea. It is important to recognize that it can affect anyone at any body size who is not eating enough food in general, or who is not eating enough to fuel their activity level.
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If you are skipping periods, you need blood work, and you need to speak with someone who will ask you about your lifestyle, including your relationship with food & movement.

Over the past few years, I have really started to notice the way diet culture shows up in my life, and the lives of the ...
01/27/2023

Over the past few years, I have really started to notice the way diet culture shows up in my life, and the lives of the people I work with.

I often work with people who want to balance their hormones, have digestive concerns, and struggle with their relationship to food. Usually, when people experience symptoms like bloating, the inclination is to start taking foods out of their diet. In addition, there is a barrage of information about the foods and diets that “balance hormones,” which often leads to further food restriction and confusion about what to eat. In someone who already has a difficult relationship with food, and even in those who don’t, diets can become very limited & stressful. This is hard to navigate, especially because we are surrounded by constant diet culture messaging.  

My role in these cases is to figure out if there is something going on with hormones (ex. PMS, thyroid dysfunction etc), or digestion (ex. IBS, celiac etc), and to offer evidence based treatments that don’t include unnecessary food restrictions. It is also important to talk about diet culture, and how to start recognizing it for what it is so that you can feel more ease with food.

Feel free to ask any questions below!

Read this book!📚 Both as a practitioner in the wellness world, and as a person that is surrounded by diet culture messag...
01/23/2023

Read this book!
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Both as a practitioner in the wellness world, and as a person that is surrounded by diet culture messaging too, reading “Anti-Diet” was so eye-opening and really helped deepen my knowledge of anti-diet culture & intuitive eating.

Reading this book gave me lots of opportunities to reflect on the diet culture messages that sometimes inform my thoughts and actions, even though I know they are false. It feels really freeing to try not allowing those messages an easy pass in my everyday life.

Have you heard of these concepts before? Feel free to ask any questions below, and I would be happy to discuss.

I just finished my last clinic shift before the New Year! See you when I am back in office on Jan 2nd. ✨I hope that you ...
12/22/2022

I just finished my last clinic shift before the New Year! See you when I am back in office on Jan 2nd.
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I hope that you all have a restful holiday season, and a good year ahead.
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What are you doing to enjoy this season?

Last week I posted a list of 5 questions to take to your healthcare provider if you are concerned about your period, and...
11/14/2022

Last week I posted a list of 5 questions to take to your healthcare provider if you are concerned about your period, and I wanted to elaborate on why these questions are important.

🔍Could my cyclic mood swings be premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)?

Many people experience mood shifts in the days leading up to their period, and for most these shifts are manageable and not affecting work, school, relationships, or overall wellness. When you start to feel like a different person before your period, have trouble managing your mental health, and notice that the symptoms are putting strain on relationships, work, etc, it might be PMDD. PMDD is considered a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and mood symptoms are the most prominent.

Mood changes that are interfering with your life should not be shrugged off, and deserve to be discussed with your provider. The first line treatment approaches include: cognitive behavioral therapy, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI-class of antidepressant medication), and the birth control pill. In addition, there are some lifestyle, botanical, and nutraceutical interventions that may help.

Feel free to DM me general questions, or ask below.

So many people enter my office with period problems that have been occurring monthly for years without ever seeking medi...
11/10/2022

So many people enter my office with period problems that have been occurring monthly for years without ever seeking medical care, or feeling dismissed when they did seek care. We are taught that period pain is normal, and that mood changes are something to be made fun of. Many people end up accepting their symptoms as just part of being a menstruating human, and are surprised to learn that some investigation might be warranted, and that there might be options beyond the birth control pill.

Here are some questions you could take to your healthcare provider if you are concerned about your period:

-Could my cyclic mood swings be premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)?
-Could my period pain be caused by endometriosis?
-My period is all over the place. Do I need testing to rule out polycystic o***y syndrome (PCOS)?
-What are my options for managing this symptom?
-Is my flow considered heavy, and should I have my iron levels tested?

Over the next few posts I’ll elaborate on these questions. In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions below.

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When I ask people what their eating patterns are like throughout the day, many people share that they skip breakfast and...
11/07/2022

When I ask people what their eating patterns are like throughout the day, many people share that they skip breakfast and sometimes also lunch, and feel that their appetite is out of control by the time they get home from work. The reasons vary, but I commonly hear: I don’t feel hungry in the morning; I don’t have enough time before work to eat; when I get hungry at work, I don’t have time to eat until lunch.

While I can relate, I think it is worthwhile to explore this a little deeper by thinking about your relationship with food, and how you could work on prioritizing eating enough. I have learned that eating in the morning supports my energy and mood for the rest of the day, and I feel my best when I have eaten enough food. As a person who does not enjoy typical breakfast foods, I have also unlearned that you have to eat “breakfast foods” for breakfast. I love having dinner leftovers in the morning.

If this is you, try to have something for breakfast, and pay attention to how you feel over time.

Address

314-1175 Cook Street
Victoria, BC
V8V4A1

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17782658340

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Dr. Chelsea Cole’s story and approach

My story

Outside of the brief period of time in kindergarten when I imagined being a painter or a writer when I grew up, I have always wanted to work as a healthcare professional. During my time as an undergraduate student, I studied behavioural neuroscience and philosophy to better understand the different ways humans interact with the world around them. At the same time, I had a growing interest in healthy living and natural medicine. After exploring various roles in the healthcare field, I decided to pursue naturopathic medicine. I appreciated the array of treatment modalities, from nutrition to pharmaceuticals, the focus on preventative medicine, and how health is viewed as more than the absence of bothersome symptoms.

The journey to becoming a naturopathic physician took me from my home province of Newfoundland to beautiful British Columbia. Growing up in Newfoundland instilled a love of coastlines, exploring wilderness, foraging and eating local food, and gatherings with friends and family. Thankfully, these early loves are able to flourish in Victoria, with the bounty of local foods, endless hiking trails, and surrounding ocean.

My approach