Tag: Probiotics

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Healthy Holiday Tips

The holidays are a great time to celebrate with friends and family. Even though many people go into the holidays with the best of intentions to stay healthy- the immune system can be pounded down from the stress of excessive shopping and over-eating, leaving illness an easy entry. Here are a few solutions to keep your family healthy and happy this holiday season:

Stay Away from (Refined) Sugar

Refined sugar is not a treat – it is artificial; a non-food. It cannot be well digested, actually inhibits digestion, is addicting, and causes a great number of biochemical errors. Remember, natural fructose is contained in most raw fruits and vegetables. It is a natural food. Moderate amounts of natural fructose can be easily digested by the body with no stress or depleting of mineral stores. Natural fructose does not cause rollercoaster blood sugar, unless the person overdoes it. Natural fructose is not addicting. There are many other great options to enjoy a sweet “treat”, that don’t involve refined white sugar and HFCS. Continue reading “Healthy Holiday Tips”

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Back to School Health Essentials

With children across America gearing up to begin the school year, what better time to explore some ideas to help ensure your child starts the school year healthy and happy. The following are 3 Ways to Start the School Year Healthy:

1. Backpack Safety 101

When people think Chiropractic and back to school, the first thing that usually comes up is backpacks. Here’s what you need to know – most backpack problems occur from excessive weight, inappropriate fit, and incorrect wearing of the pack. Your child should carry no more than 10-15% of their body weight in their school bags. When a heavy weight (such as a book-stuffed backpack) is incorrectly placed on the shoulders, the weight’s force can pull a child backwards. To compensate a child may bend forward at the hips or arch the back which can cause the spine to compress unnaturally.

If your child uses the traditional backpack – urge them to wear both straps (Here’s what to look for when picking a backpack: two wide, padded shoulder straps / padded back / waist belt / multiple compartments). Although it’s worth noting that messenger bags or purses – despite potential problems – are usually the better choice for children. When used correctly, the strongest muscles in the body, the back and abdominal muscles, support the weight of the packs. If not too heavy and if they are used correctly the weight is then evenly distributed across the body. Continue reading “Back to School Health Essentials”

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Boost Your Immune System

The following are specific recommendations and methodologies, backed by a substantial amount of science and physiology, on ways to avoid getting ill and what to do if you get sick or your body is fighting something.  Remember, your body is an incredible complex of systems, and your behaviors and choices will determine the health and vitality of those systems, especially the immune system.  So if you are sick, you must ask yourself: “What type of body have I been building?”

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE SICK:

NO SUGAR…

DRINK LOTS OF WATER…

GET PLENTY OF REST…

GET EXTRA ADJUSTMENTS…

EAT SIMPLY AND NUTRITIOUSLY…

BOOST UP YOUR SUPPLEMENTS… Continue reading “Boost Your Immune System”

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Who Should Be Taking Probiotics?

If you’ve read my post on the Core Four nutritional supplements, you know that I recommend that everyone should take a probiotic supplement. The main reason being that 80% of your immune system resides in your intestines, and by keeping the ratio of healthy bacteria (intestinal flora) in proper balance – it can have a profound impact on your health and well-being.

The good thing about probiotics is that they don’t even need to be taken every day. Once the healthy flora has been introduced into your gut (usually after several weeks), they tend to multiply and flourish easily on their own. The benefits of taking a probiotic include: improved digestion, strengthen immune function, and better nutrient absorption.

Now, new research is giving us more reasons to take a probiotic supplement. Probiotic bacteria have the potential to alter brain neurochemistry and treat anxiety and depression-related disorders according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Science News:

“Mice fed broth fortified with a type of friendly intestinal bacteria called Lactobacillus rhamnosus behaved less anxiously than mice fed broth without bacteria. Those behavior changes were accompanied by differences in levels of a brain-chemical sensor and stress hormones.

In addition, ingestion of the bacteria resulted in significantly lower levels of the stress-induced hormone, corticosterone. These findings highlight the important role of bacteria in the communication between the gut and the brain, and suggest that certain probiotic organisms may prove to be useful adjunct therapies in stress-related psychiatric disorders.

This is the first time that it has been demonstrated that potential probiotics have a direct effect on brain chemistry – it is something that defintely warrants more research. So, if better digestion and a stronger immune system weren’t good enough reasons to add a probiotic to your daily routine- you can now add happiness to that list.

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Why Whole Food Vitamins?

Are synthetic, isolated vitamins and non plant sourced minerals really that different from naturally occurring vitamins, plant sourced minerals, and other micronutrients? The answer is a resounding YES.

Here is what you need to know. Synthetic, isolated vitamins never grew in the ground, were never energized by the sun, and were never alive. They are chemicals; they are NOT food or nutrients. The tragedy is that under the current standards these chemicals can be marketed and studied as vitamins. They are also what are used to determine daily values and to study potential benefit and harm of supplementing your diet with vitamins. However, ingesting chemical synthetic vitamins does not represent vitamin supplementation; it represents the ingestion of chemicals or drugs. Continue reading “Why Whole Food Vitamins?”