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What I Feed my Dog to Prevent Bladder Stones!

The diet you feed your beloved fur baby plays an important role in the treatment and prevention of bladder stones.  Stones can form in the urinary tract when minerals are concentrated in the urine, then crystalize.  Find out how I realized my dog needed a diet change, by reading  Cupcakes story here!    

Please consult your veterinarian before making any changes to your canines diet.  I am not a veterinarian, nor an expert in dog nutrition, but this is the only diet that I have seen do wonders for my dog Cupcake, who has had bladder stones since she was 3 years old.  If you are not satisfied with modern veterinarian medicine and keep having recurring problems in your dogs health, try this holistic approach.  

What I feed Cupcake!

Cupcake is on a low protein, high vegetable diet.  As a general rule, I feed her 30% protein, and 70% fresh raw vegetables.  In addition, I will add rich plant-based fats to her meal, and fresh fruits for a snack. 

  • Protein: ground turkey sautéed with excess water removed, lightly steamed fish, boiled chicken (fat removed), sardines, eggs.
  • Vegetables: zucchini, broccoli, celery, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, peas, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts, pureed pumpkin, butternut squash. 
  • Plant-based fats: coconut oil, avocado, olive oil, peanut butter, almond butter.
  • Fruits: banana, apples, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, pineapple, oranges, mango. 
Chopped raw vegetables with ground turkey

What Cupcake eats in a day!

I usually batch prep the protein and vegetables at the beginning of the week. If I’m making ground turkey, I will cook a whole package, separate it into small containers and freeze what I’m not using.  The same with the vegetables, I will chop a batch of fresh vegis every 5 days or so and keep it in the fridge. Unfortunately, because the vegis are fresh, you can’t make too big of a batch because it will go bad.

  • Breakfast: 30% ground turkey, 70% vegetables (green beans, cucumber, zucchini, carrots), 1/4 an avocado, 1 TSP of coconut oil drizzled over food. 
  • Snack: Sliced apples with peanut butter or diced bananas with goats milk.
  • Dinner: 30% ground turkey, 70% vegetables (same as above), 1 TBSP of sardines (she goes nuts over this), olive oil. 

Depending on what I have in the fridge at the time, I may throw in some sweet potato, breadfruit, brown rice, or quinoa. I occasionally will give her a store bought dog treat, but I stay away from the ones filled with junk.  If your looking for a tasty treat without all the bad preservatives, you have to try Rocco & Roxie Jerky Dog Treats, my babies go nuts over these things!

Conclusion

Cupcake basically eats what I eat, and thats what I love about it!  It may sound like a lot of work to make your dogs food, but its really not so bad! After I got the hang of it, prep time is maybe about 20 minutes a week, and as a result Cupcake has been stone free since she started!

I would love to hear from you, If you have any questions or thoughts please comment below!

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Forget New Years Resolutions – Set Real Goals and Make Them Stick!

Every year we make our new years resolution list excited and pumped to make changes in our lives, and at first were committed to our goals and determined to carry them out. However, within a few shorts weeks we fizzle, and by February or March (if we even last that long), were back to our old bad habits.

Did you know that half of all Americans make New Years resolutions, but only 8% actually follow through!  Thats pretty sad, but we’ve all been there and it’s easier said then done.  Instead of a resolution that won’t last past January, how about setting a goal that will be a lifestyle change that sticks!  

planner desire map

How can you set yourself up for success this year?

Start small and set REAL goals! 

“Go big or go home” doesn’t work with goals,  If you rarely exercise, it’s highly unlikely you will get yourself to the gym 5 days a week.

Instead, start small and make your goals attainable for you, how about starting with a goal of exercising 3 times a week?  Remember it takes at least 6 weeks to form a habit, and then you can increase the amount and time spent on that goal. 

Start with one change at a time! 

If we set a goal for multiple big changes in our lives, theres a high chance we will fail at some, if not all.  For example, if one of our goals is to take a multi-vitamin everyday thats totally do-able, because it doesn’t require that much discipline.

However, if one of our goals is weight loss, that requires a lot more time and effort. We would need to commit to an exercise routine by making time in our schedules, change our eating habits by shopping and cooking healthy clean meals, change our mind frame towards the goal of weight loss, etc. You get the gist! So start with one change at a time and you will more then likely succeed!

Make a list and review it every week!

I find it best to write your goals down on paper, grab a journal or notebook that inspires you and get busy!  Be detailed with your list of goals and how you will accomplish them and then review the list weekly.  If needed make changes and adjustments to your list as you continue towards your goals. 

I love to get inspired with a journal that gets me thinking and motivates me.  I recently started using The Desire Map, a guide to creating goals with soul, and I absolutely love it!  It’s a poetic motivational book and a journal all in one, and without sounding corny it really helps you look into your core desired feelings and map them out with journaling. 

Share your goals with others!

Don’t keep your goals to yourself, I’m a big believer in this one!  When you have a support group to share your struggles and successes with, it makes the journey a lot easier and gives you the motivation to keep going. 

How about rallying a friend to join you in a goal? It’s so much easier to have a friend going through the same struggles, so you can encourage each other on.  If exercise is your goal, why not find a workout buddy? 

Make a schedule and stick to it!

If you don’t schedule out your time you won’t stick to your goals! Personally I like to schedule my week on Sunday night. I look at all the things I need to get done that week, and the goals I’m trying to achieve and schedule them out accordingly.

I’m not a huge fan of planners, I have gone through a bunch and only last a few months and then it ends up collecting dust (maybe I should make that a goal for next year, haha).  However, I do love the The Desire Map Planner that works super well with the book that I mentioned above.  I prefer paperless so at the moment I’m using the digital Desire Map planner, and it keeps me organized and goal focused. 

If you fail, try try again!

This one totally applies to me, sometimes I have the “all or nothing” viewpoint and it sets me up for failure! If I don’t eat healthy in the morning, I might as well eat junk all day right? Wrong.  If you only exercise 2 out of the 3 scheduled times that week, don’t give up, but try again the next week. 

Remember that failure isn’t a sign of personal incompetence! Don’t let it get the best of you, and don’t get down on yourself.  If you try try again, eventually you will succeed. 

It’s a New Year, with the same you, and new goals!

Keep in mind that just because it’s the start of a new year, its not your only opportunity to set goals and switch things up!  Change can happen at any time or place in your life, but it all starts with you and your determination.  To truly grow in life, treat every day of the year as your first day, a new beginning.

What are your goals for next year? I would love to hear from you, please comment below!  If you need some goal ideas, check out The One Habit That Changed my Outlook on Life!

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The Importance of Amino Acids for Muscle Recovery!

Amino Acids exercise workout fitness

Whether your training for a marathon, a professional bodybuilding competition, or just to keep in shape, you need to be eating enough quality protein in order to build muscle!

Amino acids are the basic components of protein, so consuming enough protein is essential for the amino acids to determine the rate of muscle recovery.  There are twenty amino acids in the body, and nine are essential to your diet because your body can’t produce them on its own.  Of those nine, three are the branched chain amino acids (BCCA): leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Benefits of BCCA’s

  • Decrease Muscle Soreness

We all know the feeling; a day or two after your workout, climbing a flight of steps and getting up from a low chair ain’t that easy anymore! Well this is because of delayed onset muscle soreness, and researchers believe it’s because of tiny tears in the muscles after exercise.

Research has shown that BCCA’s can decrease muscle damage, and shorten the length of muscle soreness. In addition, supplementing with BCCA’s before or during your workout, can speedup recovery time.

Personally I have seen a huge improvement in my muscle repair by supplementing with DCCA’s.  After several pulled muscles, I have seen my recovery time shorten significantly!

  • Increase of Muscle Growth
back muscles

BCCA’s are a popular method to build muscle growth! Studies have shown that consuming BCCA’s post workout can increase your muscle growth by 22%.  In addition, consuming a whey protein drink after a workout has also proven to greatly increase muscle growth.

  • Reduce Exercise Fatigue 

At some point everyone has experienced exercise fatigue, when were tired the last thing we want to do is exercise right? We may experience fatigue while in the middle of exercise, or 10 minutes into our workout and we just feel too tired to finish.

How quickly you get tired depends on several things, including how strenuous the exercise, duration, and your overall health.  However, studies have shown using BCCA’s during exercise helps to improve mental focus and reduce fatigue. This is because during exercise BCCA’s in our blood decrease, and tryptophan increases.  In our brain, tryptophan is then converted to serotonin and this contributes to fatigue during exercise.

  • Prevent Muscle Atrophy

As we age we lose muscle mass, it’s also a sign of malnutrition, chronic infections, cancers, or from a lack of physical activity.  Muscle atrophy occurs when our protein breakdown exceeds muscle protein synthesis.

In order to halt or slowdown this progression, it’s so important that we replace our BCCA’s during times of muscle atrophy.  Studies have shown supplementing with BCCA’s can improve the outcome for people who are experiencing muscle atrophy, such as cancer patients, and the elderly.

Foods to eat high in BCCA’s

Thankfully BCCA’s are found in many foods and protein supplements.  For those who consume a high protein diet, supplementing with BCCA’s may not be necessary.

Here are a few examples of animal protein rich foods:

  • Beef
  • Chicken
  • Tuna
  • Turkey
  • Eggs
  • Whey protein powders

A few examples of plant-based protein rich foods:

  • Soy protein powder
  • Tofu and tempeh
  • Lentils
  • Chickpeas
  • Nut butters
  • Kale
  • broccoli

Conclusion

BCCA’s can only be obtained through food and supplements because our bodies cant produce them.  Eating foods high in BCCA’s and supplementing with them can decrease muscle soreness, increase muscle growth, reduce fatigue and prevent muscle atrophy.

Now if any of you follow me on Instagram you know I am no gym rat, and only consistently started to exercise and weight train less than a year ago!  I’m also not a huge fan of supplements, because my belief is you can get all the vitamins and nutrients you need through the food you eat.

With that said because I don’t eat a lot of animal protein, and I try to eat a mostly plant-based diet, I started taking a BCCA supplement a few months ago during my workouts, and I LOVE it!  I found a really awesome BCCA powder that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, doesn’t have a lot of fillers and tastes pretty good. With the powder, muscles feel so much better after a long workout, and when I tweak a muscle (which happens once and awhile), I’m usually back to normal within a few days.

Do you take a BCCA supplement? How do you like it? Please comment below, I would love to hear from you!

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What you may not know about Antibiotics!

Antibiotics have transformed modern medicine and if used properly can save lives!  However, there are some serious side effects to taking antibiotics and it’s commonly over-prescribed.  In fact, In one year the Center for Disease Control reported that out of the 154 million prescribed antibiotics, 30% were unnecessary.  People may feel better off taking antibiotics “in case”, but are we causing our bodies more harm than good?

Now I am definitely no doctor, so please do your own research and consult with your primary physician or other qualified health care professional before making any decisions.  However, before rushing  to the doctor for antibiotics consider these facts.

Antibiotics Only Treat Bacterial Illnesses Not Viruses!

This is a common misconception and can be confusing because both bacterial and viral infections often have the same symptoms, such as sneezing, coughing, fever, diarrhea and vomiting.  However, there are huge differences between bacteria and viral infections!

According to Lauri Hicks, DO, medical director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign.  She says ““Most upper respiratory infections are caused by viruses. A very small percentage of upper respiratory infections are caused by bacteria, and antibiotics are completely ineffective for treatment of viral infections.”

Some of the most common viral infections that shouldn’t be treated with antibiotics are the common cold, Flu (influenza), cough, bronchitis, some ear infections, and some sinus infections.  Most of these viral infections get better on their own without antibiotics.

bacteria pathogen slide

Serious side effects of Antibiotics!

Since the discovery of antibiotics and the over-prescribing of them, antibiotic resistance has grown.  Taking antibiotics when they are not needed or misusing them, increases the risk that an infection you get later will resist antibiotic treatment.  According to the World Health Organization “The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, more and more governments recognize (it is) one of the greatest threats to health today.”

Among other things, antibiotics kill disease-causing bacteria and our friendly gut bacteria!  In fact only one week of antibiotics can change the makeup of your gut microbiota for up to a year!  Recent studies have also shown that mothers given antibiotics during child-birth, can delay the growth of healthy bacteria in the infant for up to the first 12 weeks of life!

If you choose to take antibiotics

Take a probiotic during and after antibiotic use!  A number of studies have shown that taking a probiotic can reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.  However, because probiotics are also bacteria, they can be killed along with the harmful bacteria when you take antibiotics, so it’s important to take the antibiotics and probiotics a few hours apart.

In addition, Probiotics can help restore the microbiota to its original state after taking antibiotics. Choosing a probiotic can get a little tricky, so make sure to choose one that contains a mixture of different beneficial bacteria, rather than just one.  Check out “Everything you ever wanted to know about choosing a good probiotic,” to get detailed information about how to choose a good one!

Personally I use The Garden of Life Raw Probiotic, because It contains 34 probiotic strains with 100 billion CFU, plus it’s only one pill a day which makes it easy for me to remember.

garlic onions natural remedies for infection

Instead of antibiotics

Hippocrates couldn’t have said  it better, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”  Instead of using an antibiotic, why not opt for a much easier and cheaper way that nature provides!  The following is a list of the most powerful antibiotics that nature provides.

  1. Garlic and Onions can be used to treat an earache, pneumonia, the flu, common colds, and MRSA.
  2. Echinacea can strengthen your immune system to fight the flu, colds, and bacterial infections.
  3. Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) can be used topically or internally to treat bacterial infections.
  4. Oil of Oregano has anti-viral and anti-fungal properties making it great for sinus infections.
  5. Manuka Honey kills bacteria, removes toxins, boosts the immune system, and soothes the digestive tract.  Learn more about this amazing honey here!
  6. Grapefruit Extract  is high in antioxidants that boost immunity and strengthen the beneficial gut bacteria.
  7. Colloidal Silver has been used for centuries as a natural antibiotic, it destroys bacteria, viruses, and fungi.  However, be careful not to use it over long periods, because it can be harmful to your body.

Try these natural antibiotics instead of relying on what your doctor prescribes for you, they wont harm your body and they taste great!  As well as natural antibiotics, what we eat is extremely important to our immunity also! Check out Why You Should Eat a Plant Based Diet!

I love to hear your comments below =)

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What is Manuka honey? The Benefits and Uses!

Manuka Honey

Not all honey is created equal!  Manuka honey is one of the most unusual and beneficial forms of honey in the world, and that’s because it’s produced in New Zealand by bees that pollinate the Manuka tree.  Most good quality honey contains some hydrogen peroxide. However, Manuka honey also has Methylglyoxal (MG), known for its antibacterial effects, which is in high concentration on the nectar flowers of the Manuka tree.

Benefits and uses of Manuka honey

  • Heals Wounds.  Because of its antibacterial and antioxidant properties, Manuka honey is great for healing wounds, plus it helps maintain a moist environment and protective barrier from infection.  When my dog Buddy accidentally bit my nose, piercing down to my nasal cavity, I used MediHoney Gel on the wound, and I was in awe at how fast it worked to heal the pretty deep gash. It is now a staple in my medicine cabinet!  No wonder that in 2007 the FDA approved Manuka honey as an aid to wound treatment.
  • Soothes a sore throat.  Manuka honey can provide relief when your throat is achy and sore, the antiviral and antibacterial properties in the honey will reduce inflammation and coat the lining of the throat, soothing your pain.  Try this simple and easy,  Natures Flu Buster if your coming down with a cold or flu.
  • Treats acne.  Most often acne is caused by hormonal changes, but it can also be a reaction to poor diet, stress or bacteria growth. The antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties of Manuka honey, can help keep your skin free of bacteria and expedite the healing process.
  • Improves digestion.  Irritable Bowel Syndrome includes constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and research has shown that the regular consumption of Manuka honey can decrease these symptoms. Research has also shown that it attacks the bacterial infection Clostridium difficile, which is what causes severe diarrhea and inflammation of the bowel.

Choosing Quality Honey

Because of industrialization honey is not what it used to be, unfortunately most products at your local grocery store are not much different then high fructose corn syrup.  So it’s important to select quality Manuka honey, the higher the concentration of MG, the stronger the antibiotic effect.  Manuka honey producers use the “Unique Manuka Factor” (UMF) scale for rating the concentration of MG.  Obviously, the higher the number, the more antibacterial properties.

I prefer to purchase Manuka honey with a 15 UMF or higher, this makes it a little pricey, but totally worth it!  Here is a link to a local New Zealand Manuka Honey that is exceptionally good!  Overall Manuka honey is the best choice of honey when it comes to medicinal uses.

Love to hear from my followers, please comment below!