Health & Wellness

  You know, there was a time when our food supplies were so healthy that we didn’t need to even manufacture supplements, let alone take them! Those times, unfortunately, are long gone.  With the ushering in of the industrial revolution especially, this had both good and bad effects. Food became much more abundantly available on a widespread basis. However, preserving of foods had to happen due to food being shipped to other places farther away and the food would not stay fresh that long.   So, companies started using chemical additives, pesticides, herbicides, etc., and began to invent ways to create calories using not only chemicals, but also other heavily processed foods like wheat and sugar. In fact, some food became so nutritionally deficient, that vitamin C had to be added back in to prevent scurvy, and vitamin B to prevent pellagra. After stripping these foods of their nutrients, the ones added back in were negligible in terms of their ability to create health....

  Vaping is a “thing” now. People believe it is a safer, less toxic alternative to traditional smoking of cigarettes. But first, let’s see if this is really better than smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products. Vaping is another word for smoking e-cigarettes. It is known colloquially as JUULing. Some people are trying to use it to help stop smoking. While it is currently unknown exactly how many chemicals are present in the process of vaping (heating nicotine and adding flavoring and other chemicals to create a water vapor), and we know that at least regular tobacco products contain about 7,000 chemicals, we can easily see that it’s still very harmful. By the way, harm reduction in alcohol use, called controlled drinking, does not work well at all according to many studies. Can you draw a parallel here with tobacco? At least think about it! Because nicotine is present in both products, we know that vaping is still highly addictive. If you are vaping, you are likely to have cra...

  These days, especially with the  heroin crisis  still raging across America, it is wise to be able to notice signs of drug use in your teenager. We see in the news everyday how this can cripple individuals, and also take down families who were otherwise functioning well. You would be wise to make sure your teen does not take any prescription opiates or opioids, as this is a very common way that people, no matter what their age, get started on street drugs after getting hooked by taking prescriptions. For more information specific to heroin, go  here . If you want more information on how teens get addicted to drugs together with risk factors, go  here . These are all excellent and informative articles from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Here are  5 signs  that your teen may be addicted: 1. Partnership for Drug-Free kids tells us to  use your nose.  Have open conversations with your teen, especially after they socialize with friends. I...

  To even try to make some changes to your daily routines can be a daunting thing. Many of us have family obligations including children, and jobs – often full-time – and then we need to find time to get or even stay healthy. Too much! So how can we make this manageable? Here are some easy tips: Upon rising in the morning,  or do at night, or both times, take 5-10 minutes to play a  free meditation  from your phone or other device. There are free apps available. Just search! You can also get benefits from playing  binaural beats ; again, free phone apps are available. Before you get out of bed, after your meditation,  or before going to bed, do some simple stretches, like extending your arms to the side, pulling your knees up and then extending, sitting up and trying to touch our toes, etc. Here are some suggestions from  blogilates.com,  who recommends stretching at night before going to sleep … whatever works for you! Prepare your meals in advan...

  Hey! March is almost gone already in 2023 and I would be remiss if I allowed the month to go by without mentioning that it is  National Kidney Month .  A little about them – we (usually) have two kidneys, which are shaped like beans. They live on each side of our spine, below the ribs and behind the belly. The main function is to filter and clean the blood; kidneys also control our fluid balance and keep the electrolytes at the proper level – when they are working correctly. A few symptoms you might have if your kidneys are not doing so well are fatigue, being cold when others are feeling warm, feeling faint and perhaps itchy, and you might have some swelling in your hands or feet. You might also know that if you have diabetes, your kidneys are at great risk. You would want to make sure your blood pressure is also healthy. If you have been reading my blogs, then you know I am very interested in natural, holistically healthy approaches to preventing disease (and that goe...

We hear a lot of things about fitness, particularly exercise fitness, and we buy into programs, we buy equipment, and let’s face it: not all of it works for everyone. In this blog, I wanted to give you a few myths about fitness. If you sweat while exercising, you are burning more calories.  Alas, this does not always prove to be the case. Sweating is a natural physiological response to exercise. It cools the skin and is like an internal thermostat for regulating your body’s temperature. You might also be sweating if the room you are exercising in is hot and this does not necessarily translate to burning more calories!   You need to work out for 45 minutes to get any health benefits.  Any amount of working out equals some  heart health benefits . So, if you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes to spare, you will still get something positive from that. One study showed better blood pressure readings when splitting their time walking into 3 10-minute segments rather than one 3...

  We are hearing a lot in the news today about Alzheimer’s and whether it can be prevented, treated successfully, and reversed. Think about what you believe for a second. Conventional medical practitioners seem to be thinking that it cannot be prevented, or, that once a person is in a state of cognitive decline, it can never be reversed. Some believe it cannot even be slowed down. But is this still true? Increasing numbers of  studies  are demonstrating the impact that nutrition has on brain health. Even older people with mild or more advanced cognitive decline show improvement when nutrition is changed for the better. So, it is important to work both in prevention and treatment to address this all-important subject of preserving and improving our brain health, especially as we age. B-Complex.  These give us protection against mood disorders, lowered cognitive performance, and Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. Coffee.  If you like it, drink it! Both ca...

  Too many teens engage in dramatic and moody ways of communicating including what they say, how they say it, and what they do. Can you remember when you were in your teens? What were you like? Very importantly, what type of food were you eating?! One way to help teens navigate that space between childhood and adulthood is to teach them good coping skills. Help your child find out what triggers him or her, and how to avoid them. Although this will not work for all teenagers, try to continue to teach!   Role model  healthy habits  at home, such as getting enough sleep at night, and show how you cope with stress in a healthy way. If you are having issues, perhaps it is a good idea for you to get some help … there is no shame and no blame in doing so.   Make sure you are role modeling getting exercise a few days a week. This can take the form of a certain number of daily steps, going dancing, riding a bike, or whatever is pleasurable to you. Encourage your teen to ...