Healthy Lifestyle Archives -

The One Thing Your Immune System is Missing!

While boosting our immune system is especially important during cold and flu season, it shouldn’t JUST be a seasonal thing. Besides living a healthy lifestyle including: eating plant based foods, exercising regularly, and getting adequate sleep and relaxation. There may be one key thing you’re missing!

Immunity is in the gut.

When we think about gut health, the first thing that comes to mind is digestion. But did you know that as much as 70 percent of your immune cells actually reside in the gut? That means if you have a slow imbalanced gut, you may have a weakened immune system. In fact, there is an increasing amount of research being done on how different organ systems are affected by the gut environment.

If you think about it, the food we eat doesn’t actually enter our blood stream until it passes through our gut wall. So this makes our gut the first defense against any nasty things we consume, and it helps to break down and absorb the nutrients we eat.

This is where our gut microbiome plays a BIG role in immunity! It’s responsible for strengthening the gut wall, killing harmful bacteria, and it regulates the inflammatory immune response, just to name a few. Moral of the story; a healthy gut makes for a healthy immune system.

Probiotics may help strengthen your immune system.

So how do we keep our gut healthy and ensure there is more good bacteria in the gut than bad? Well as was mentioned, eating healthy and exercise is very important! But let’s face it, were human, and sometimes the junk food is just too irresistible! That’s why I play it safe by taking a probiotic daily.

Exercise workout, healthy lifestyle, plank

So what exactly is a probiotic and what does it do? Well in a nutshell (because no one has time for all the science), your gut needs healthy bacteria to replace the bad bacteria, and probiotics help do this. Probiotics also inhibit the growth of harmful disease causing bacteria, giving your immune system a boost.

If you know me (or have followed me for awhile), you know I’m not one for supplements. I believe we can get what we need through nutrient dense plant based foods. However, there are a few supplements I religiously take daily, and this is one of them! I haven’t been sick with the flu in over 2 years and I attribute this to my change of diet, and my daily probiotic.

Just a side note, I even give my dogs probiotics when they are experiencing some kind of ailment such as, after a round of antibiotics for a UTI, or ear infection. Recently two of my dogs had a bout of diarrhea and vomiting (from something they ate), so I followed it up with a round of probiotics to replace any of the nasty bacteria in their guts. Just a warning though, I’m not a veterinarian, I’m just telling you what works for my animals and me. If you wanna know more about what I feed my dogs check out: What I feed my dog to prevent bladder stones!

How to choose a probiotic.

Probiotics come in a variety of forms from powders, tablets and capsules, and choosing one can get a little tricky because there is a lot of crap out there on the market. Now I like a bargain as much as anyone, but QUALITY probiotics are not cheap, so don’t even bother taking a probiotic from Walmart or CVS pharmacy because they won’t do anything for you.

Remember probiotics are live strains of bacteria, so when looking for a quality product, make sure it’s refrigerated (to prevent the bacteria from dying), in a glass bottle, and preferably uses bioshield capsules (which insures the probiotic gets to your small intestine). In addition, make sure you purchase a probiotic with at least 5-100 billion (not million) colony-forming units (CFU). Start low and increase your tolerance.

Recently I started using TruFlora Probiotic’s with enzymes, it’s not shipped with a cold pack but they give an explanation on their website, I do however store them in the refrigerator during use. So far I really love Truflora, they do third party testing on their products and offer a money back guarantee. They are one of the better probiotics on the market (that I can buy online), instead of going to my local health food store, and they aren’t too expensive either.

If you have any questions or comments on probiotics please comment below, I love to hear from you! Also if you like this article please share it on your favorite social media app, by clicking on one of the bubble icons to the right ➡️or below if you’re on the mobile site. Mahalo!

The Importance of Amino Acids for Muscle Recovery!

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

Garlic and Onions can be used to treat an earache, pneumonia, the flu, common colds, and MRSA.
Echinacea can strengthen your immune system to fight the flu, colds, and bacterial infections.
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) can be used topically or internally to treat bacterial infections.
Oil of Oregano has anti-viral and anti-fungal properties making it great for sinus infections.
Manuka Honey kills bacteria, removes toxins, boosts the immune system, and soothes the digestive tract. Learn more about this amazing honey here!
Grapefruit Extract is high in antioxidants that boost immunity and strengthen the beneficial gut bacteria.
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 =)

What is Manuka honey? The Benefits and Uses!

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!

Why you need to Exfoliate!

No matter how great you treat your skin by cleansing, moisturizing, and protecting with sunscreen, if your not exfoliating your missing an important step! Whether you have oily, dry or sensitive skin, exfoliation is key in having glowing radiant skin!

What is Exfoliation?

Exfoliation is the removal of dead skin cells on the surface of your skin. You can physically exfoliate by using an abrasive scrub on the surface of your skin, or by using a chemical exfoliator that contains acids that dissolve and remove the dead skin.

Benefits of Exfoliation

It unclogs pores! When sebaceous glands produce oil it can get stuck under the dead dry skin, causing breakouts because theres no where for the oil to go. Getting rid of that dead and dry layer of skin prevents it from clogging your pores and causing white/black heads, and acne.
Makes your skin glow! As we get older our bodies take longer to shed old skin and regenerate anew, the old skin starts to pile up on the surface and it can leave our skin looking dull, rough and dry. Proper exfoliation removes the dead skin and uncovers fresh new skin cells below.
Evens skin tone! Dark spots, rough texture, hyperpigmentation, and acne scars can be reduced with exfoliation. It takes time but exfoliants can break down the dead skin, leaving your skin smooth and more evenly textured.
Reduces wrinkles! Sign me up! Exfoliating is proven to stimulate collagen synthesis, keeping the skin looking more plump, tight and young.

How Often Should You Exfoliate?

This is a tricky question because everyones skin is different! My best recommendation is to listen to your skin! Since I use the oil cleansing method daily, I exfoliate once a week. However, on occasions when I’ve been wearing a lot of make up or sunscreen, I exfoliate twice a week. If your skin is on the sensitive side you might want to start exfoliating once a week, where as normal skin could handle daily exfoliation. Feel it out and determine whats best for you!

What I use to Exfoliate

I have been using the oil cleansing method for a few years now, and I can not recommend it enough, it’s been amazing for my skin! Yet it’s still super important that I exfoliate regularly to prevent breakouts and remove the dead skin.

For my face, I recently started using Eminence Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant and I’m totally hooked! This scrub is really nice because it’s very mild and doesn’t dry you out. I have used facial scrubs in the past that leave your skin feeling sucked of all moisture and dried out, but this one doesn’t do that, it leaves your skin feeling soft, smooth and supple. As a plus the bottle lasts forever! You only have to use a dime sized amount of the exfoliant, and you mix it with water. It takes a good year for me to get through one bottle, making it great for the money.

I would love to hear your thoughts on exfoliation and how it’s helped you, please comment below!

Tag: Healthy Lifestyle