You know the old saying, “Beauty is only skin deep”? Well, did you know that the beauty of the skin
comes from deep inside you?
Your skin is actually an organ. In fact, your skin is the single largest
organ of your body.
Your skin has many
functions. Obviously it protects your
muscles and bones. It is also an elimination organ, meaning it will help eliminate toxins when needed. It helps to cool your body with its ability to sweat. It also helps you stay warm by shunting blood from the vast capillary beds.
Healthy skin in our environment takes work. Just look at the average American
teenager. Most teens don’t stand a
chance without some serious diet, toxin elimination, and concentrated gut
health work.
You see, the health of our skin, often reflects the health
of other body systems. When the liver is
backed up with toxins, when the lining of the small intestine is damaged, when the
kidneys aren’t functioning properly, or when the endocrine(hormone) system is
off kilter, often these will be manifested in poor skin health.
The health of our skin is also a reflection of our
diet. Many times when people complain of
dry skin, I’ll ask if they drink water or if they eat healthy fat. Both of those things are imperative to soft,
well hydrated skin.
So what do you do if you have skin that isn’t where you
would like it to be?
First……examine your
diet.Do you drink half your body weight
in ounces of pure water each day?Do you
consume adequate amounts of healthy fats, especially those high in omega’s?
Second, examine your gut health. If you need to work on that, go read the last
few blog posts, they will walk you through a quick tutorial on how to regain
gut health and hook you up with where to get more information on gut health.
Third, take inventory of the toxin load on your body from
your environment.Look at all the
products you are using in, on, and around your body.What improvements can you make?Can you eliminate any of the toxin load?Making small changes can all add up to a huge
difference for your health.
Want a few ideas on toxin sources to get rid of?
In your body:
cooking with tools made of aluminum or teflon coatings
bpa plastic containers
oral care products
highly processed foods and preservatives
synthetically manufactured vitamins and OTC drugs
poor water
On your body:
deodorants with aluminum hydroxides
synthetic cosmetics
perfumes (remember the skin absorbs things readily...if you don't intend to ingest something don't put it on your skin!)
synthetic personal care products
Around your body:
synthetic air fresheners (inhalation is a very efficient way to get chemicals outside of you, into you.)
synthetic cleaners and the fumes that accompany them (marketers have caught on that putting "natural" on the label sells products)
So, I thought I would share a toxin-free and cost saving DIY:
Thieves Foaming Hand Soap: Cost is about $2.00
Supplies:
Empty Foaming Soap Container in working condition
Dr Bronner’s Unscented Liquid Castile Soap
Coconut or Vit E oil
Young Living Essential Oils of choice
Depending on your container size, start with 10% soap, fill remainder with water(remember to leave room at the top for the foam making apparatus.
Then I add 2tbs of liquid soap, 8-10 drop of Thieves oil for my 8oz container. I usually don’t add the coconut or vit E, but that is just me. Shake well.
Oh and did I mention your scent combinations here are endless. Two of my favorite aside from Thieves are
Lemongrass/Lavender
Lemon/Spearmint.
After your initial cost of the bottle, you can refill for less than $1 with ingredients you can pronounce!
Would you like to burn some calories and produce something for your community? How about up-cycling to build a cold frame or hoop house? Nothing beats cabin fever like planting. It's probably good for your skin too...
It's amazing what can come together in one afternoon with cheap plastic sheeting, hoops from conduit or PVC pipe, and left-over lumber. I put old wire around mine so the chickens can prepare the beds when it's time to re-plant. Carrots and salad greens are only a few weeks away! What are your favorite up-cycling and toxin busting activities?
We have talked about teeth, livers, kidneys and elimination. I will continue to talk about that topic today.
I want to talk about giving your intestines(guts) a break from their daily grind of digesting and eliminating food waste. We are going to talk about cleansing your intestines. One quick word of caution: Absolutely NO cleansing if you are pregnant or breastfeeding! Your body will follow the path of least resistance when eliminating waste and toxins will be pushed to the baby. I’m in that season right now. I’m looking forward to my next gut vacation, but I have a little one dependent on me and she is my priority.
Opinions are a dime a dozen on when, where, how, how long…..to cleanse. Do some research and decide what you think works best for you. I’m going to share what worked for me…but it may not be where you need/want to start. Remember….baby steps are still forward motion. Don’t feel like you have to jump into an intense food fast to be successful. Baby steps.
Young Living has a GREAT first step called the Nutritive Cleanse. It is a five day cleanse that would be a great first cleanse for someone new to cleansing. Using this cleanse is gentle, it is short in duration, and you won’t be hungry! Another option is the Cleansing Trio kit. Because so many people love these, they are often out of stock, but most of the time you can get substitutes.
Ok, before I go any further…..I want to remind you that before you embark on any cleansing journey that you check out your plans with your medical provider. You may be on a medication or have a health condition that warrants medical oversight prior to attempting something like this. Did you know there are inpatient health spa’s all over the country with Medical Doctors that can help you? YES again, you have choices, you have options! You DO NOT have to continue to live in a state of dis-ease. However, I know for a FACT if you change nothing, nothing will change for the better. In fact, chances are things will get worse.
Ok, moving off that soap box…..
The cleanse I (Joy) use most often is the Master Cleanse. It consists of a diet of Lemonade made with water, organic lemon juice, grade B maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. Yep, that’s it. I drank a gallon+ of that every day for 10 days. At the risk of TMI, it took 4 days for me to not have formed stool. Thinking I was a bit backed up! But then just think, my liver and intestines had 6 days to celebrate and have a vacation.
Because the Grade B maple syrup has loads of calories(all low glycemic index), I was never hungry. The first 4 days were pretty challenging! I used LOTS of oils to help with the headaches, nausea, and DRA(dirty rotten attitude) I struggled with. After that however I felt great. In fact, I felt amazing!
I lost about 10 lbs the first time I did this cleanse. My tummy was relatively flat when I got done. The bloated feeling was gone. The heavy, weighted down, can’t get up off the couch, stuck in slow motion feeling was gone as well.
I don’t recommend this cleanse to just anyone. Again, check with your medical provider to make sure they are aware of your plans, especially if you are under care for a chronic illness. The book “Master Cleanse” will give you all the ins and outs of this cleanse. Or you can get a good picture of the plan from Google. The purpose of fasting and cleansing is to flush and rest the gut. The diagram of a cross-section of the small intestine is instructive. These little fingers, Villi, are designed to absorb nutrients and secrete digestive enzymes through surface contact with the output of the stomach. When our modern diet builds up plaque these Villi literally get covered up with gunk.
What I (Clint) enjoy doing is intermittent fasting. A pubmed.gov search for 'intermittent fasting and human metabolic health' yields 25 interesting articles. I will skip dinner Saturday evening, then break the fast Monday morning. This gives the gut a regular break of 24 to 36 hours. It's hugely important to increase water intake while fasting. Our bodies can do quite well without food for many days--not so without water. Fasting is as much mental as it is physical. You may need to work up to longer fasts. Start with skipping a dinner meal and have breakfast as normal the following day. Then skip dinner and stretch it to break the fast with lunch. Keep working towards your time goal. Many things can help such as:
avoid being around really smelly foods
drink water when you feel hungry
stay active-go for a walk, get out of the house
tinker with a hobby i.e. crafts, fly tying, art, etc.
keep spiritually connected to fasting's other higher purposes
increase fresh fruits and vegetables intake before and after fast
Some folks start with a 10 day raw diet or a 10 day juicing fast. Both are great!
The book Inner Transformations talks about setting up a cleansing routine. It makes parallels with the seasons and how nature has a cleansing routine. I love how it gives easy to follow guide lines.
Renew Your Life has a similar set up, in that it helps you figure out where to start and how to cleanse the whole digestive system in a systematic way. What it doesn’t seem to have is an ongoing plan that provides a structured plan for maintenance.
The bottom line is start somewhere. Just like you need a vacation from time to time, your digestive system will improve its performance if you will rest it from time to time as well.
A common term lately is "Leaky Gut". This is simply a gut that no longer can tell what it should expel and what it should absorb. It absorbs toxins right along with needed nutrients, and likewise expels at random. I think many of the intestinal issues we face today come from poor diet that causes elimination problems, which causes absorption problems.
Bone broth is a great way to boost the easily absorbable nutrients your body needs. This is a no-fuss way to make it. As always, think about the raw materials you're starting with. It would be counter-productive to make bone broth from bones produced with (and still present) pharmacueticals, hormones, GMOs, etc. So find a food source you can meet and ask questions of. Gelatin is highest in the feet and neck bones of chicken, lamb, or beef. Gelatin is important because it is very hydrophilic, meaning it attracts liquids (including digestive juices and enzymes) that tend to be repelled by cooked foods. The method described is based on the recipes from Nourishing Traditions.
Depending on your family size, you'll need:
chicken carcass leftover after baked chicken meal
fish bones (not bottom feeders)
soup bones, long bones, etc. (we like to roast in oven or wood grill for flavor)
crock pot
purest water possible
vegetables and herbs of choice
vinegar (to increase nutrient leaching from the bones)
Sea salt
For a large crock pot we usually do about 4 pounds of bones, 2 cups veggies, 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 Tbs salt, gallon filtered water (enough to bring up to 1" from top of crock pot). We let this cook on low for 24-72 hours. When you can't stand the smell anymore(or do what Joy does and banish the crockpot to the garage while it cooks), skim the top, strain out the bones, and refrigerate. Once cool, pull off fat from top and freeze or can the broth.
If you are struggling with a 'leaky gut' or digestive issues, you can just have a continual broth by rotating out bones every few days and adding water as you drink it straight. Impurities float, so skim before serving. A cup of broth with each meal is good soul food.
Productive exercise for this time? How about providing your own chickens for the pot? Many cities are coming on board with allowing backyard chicken flocks. Building a coop and husbanding your birds daily is not going to be found on a personal trainer's fitness plan. But, the stress-reducing and therapeutic benefit of providing for your own table is not to be despised. I just got a catalog in the mail from the hatchery the other day...Spring is right around the corner!
How has fasting and cleansing impacted your health? If you haven't tried these practices, what has held you back? We'd love to hear your comments.
In our last post we talked about how important a healthy mouth and stomach are to proper digestion. Now I want to talk about two organs that play an important role in digestion as well. Your liver and your kidneys.
There are entire sub-specialties in Western Medicine that focus on each of these two organs individually, so I’m not going to pretend to even scratch the surface of what each of these organs do. Just the liver produces and controls literally 10s of thousands of enzymatic pathways associated with thousands of processes in the body.
One of the liver’s main roles is to produce and deliver food enzymes to the small intestine.
The liver filters our entire blood volume multiple times an hour. It removes toxins and by products of metabolism, and dumps those into the small intestine to be excreted with the food waste.
The kidneys play a similar role with filtering the blood. It excretes waste through the bladder. The kidneys play a key role in electrolyte balance. Electrolytes play a key role in heart, brain, and muscle function. Did you know your entire digestive system is lined with muscle? Smooth muscle needs the same things striated (or skeletal) muscle does.
Both systems can become overloaded and bogged down with the toxin load, if we are careless about how we feed and nourish our body, and if we are careless with what we expose our bodies to environmentally(i.e. what we use in, on, or around our body).
For the purposes of simplicity I will focus on the liver. An overloaded liver can cause a massive back up in your whole digestive system. It can lead to obesity, constipation, and some would say will ultimately cause chronic illnesses like Fibromyalgia, Lupus, or chronic fatigue.
So how can an overloaded liver lead to these?
When the liver filters out a toxin, it has to put it somewhere. Ideally, it will push the toxin out the intestines to be excreted with the rest of the waste. However, if it is overloaded the toxin may not be removed and is then stored elsewhere in the body to be removed later. This is when damage can happen to the body that may lead to disease.
One of the ways the liver attempts to protect the body is by storing toxins in fat cells. Fat cells are relatively low in blood supply, and so they become a safe place for the liver to store a toxin that it can’t process, and that may lead to obesity. The liver may push toxins into fat cells, it may push toxins into joints, or even into other organs until it is caught up and can deal with the backed up toxins.
Obviously toxins are TOXIC and they need to be removed from the body, not stored elsewhere.
Decreasing your toxin load is one of the best things you can do for your health.
So how do we help support our liver and decrease the toxin load?
First, you MUST move your Bowels! Yep I did just say that! You must eliminate the waste the liver delivers to the intestines as soon as possible. A healthy elimination cycle is eliminating at least twice a day or about 12-18 hrs from meal to movement. Second, look for ways to decrease the toxins your liver has to process each day. It is EASY in this day and age to decrease your toxin load! You have so many choices!
Decrease/Eliminate processed foods. A simple change here is to only shop the outer perimeter of your grocery store. Don’t walk down the aisles. Stop and think about that. What do you put in your cart that comes from walking down the aisles? Yep…..all the processed, chemical laden, toxic, dead food. The stores put things with a short shelf life that aren’t overly processed in coolers on the perimeter. This is where you want to shop! Try a whole grocery shopping trip with no trips down the aisles! I dare you!Change to toxin free personal care, Young Living offers fabulous options here, or if you are a go getter, you can easily make products at home and add in essential oils to boost the aroma and healthy cellular regeneration factors. I’ve included my favorite moisturizing blend that I DIY.
Move your bowels! IF you don’t go, your gut will re-absorb what the liver has processed and it will have to re-process those toxins all over again! I’ve been hearing rave reviews on the squatty potty….may be a great $25 to invest in your gut health.
Try some liver supporting Young Living products. Use JuvaFlex oil, take
JuvaTone, and Detoxzyme daily as recommended. “ JuvaTone® is a powerful herbal complex designed to promote healthy liver function.* It is an excellent source of choline, a nutrient that is vital for proper liver function and necessary for those with high protein diets. JuvaTone also contains inositol and dl-methionine, which help with the body's normal excretion functions.* Methionine also helps recycle glutathione, a natural antioxidant crucial for normal liver function.* Other ingredients include Oregon grape root, a source of the liver-supporting compound berberine, and therapeutic-grade essential oils to enhance overall effectiveness.*”
You always want to make sure you are eliminating efficiently before starting a cleanse. You can confirm this by eating the healthy beet salad shared below and monitoring your intestine’s transit time. Comfortone, ICP, and Digize Vitality taken as suggested internally support healthy digestion
It's hard to Beat this Beet Salad for taste and an efficiency check of your gut:)
-Cooked beets, cubed—1-2 beets per person
-¼ cup fresh mayo per beet (google how to make if you don’t already!)
-Horseradish to taste
-Young Living Lemon Vitality oil—diffuse 1 drop oil in 4 Tbsp organic coconut oil and add to taste.
Boil peeled beets for 30-45 minutes (wear rubber gloves if you don’t want Smurf hands!) Mix all ingredients after beets have cooled and toss with Lemon Vitality oil infusion before serving. Can be served with fresh greens and goat cheese or any number of combos.
In the last blog we talked briefly about the digestive
system.
Now I would like to break down that system a bit more and
add in a few more details, as well as discuss a few common health issues
associated with this system.
Let’s start at the top: Your Mouth
Did your mom ever scold you and tell you to not swallow your
food whole? Well, she was right…. Chewing
is one of the first acts of the digestive process. If it hurts to chew chances are you aren’t
going to want to chew much, so dental health is an important part of digestive
health.
I have an opportunity to get on a soap box here…however, I
don’t want to give you the fish, I want you to go fishing and decide for
yourself. I want to encourage you to
explore the different options you have regarding dental care. YES!!!! You have options! You have choices! You have opportunity!
3 things to think about:
Amalgam (which are more
than 50% Mercury) fillings vs Tooth colored fillings
Flouride toothpaste vs
fluoride free
Oil Pulling(adding in
essential oils to boost the flavor factor and germ fighting)
Now let’s move down the pipeline a bit(LOL yes pun
intended).
Your stomach. Your
stomach is a muscle, shaped like a kidney bean balloon with an entry and an
exit point. Remember we talked about
Nexium last time. Well, one of the main
complaints in our American world is acid reflux. Did you know this can come from actually not
having ENOUGH acid?
We talked a lot about enzymes last time. But I didn’t tell you this bit of
information. Enzymes in your stomach are
activated only at a certain pH. So if
your acid level isn’t high enough, the enzymes won’t activate, and vis-versa,
if it is too high, they won’t activate either.
Both will lead to undigested food, gas formation, pressure build up and
acid reflux. So once again we see the
need for enzymes but now we add in the need for proper pH.
Nexium depresses acid formation in your stomach. Now for someone who has an over production of
acid, that might be the right choice.
However, for someone who has acid reflux that stems from poor food
digestion, linked to improper enzyme activity, due to low acid…this just makes
the pattern worse, and worsens the nutrition depletion in the body from lack of
digestion.
So how can you support these two key areas of your digestive
system?
Mouth:
Consider changes in your dental care.
Add in an essential oil infused toothpaste. You could even make your own. Or do as some do, brush with a drop of
Thieves EO or try YL's Toothpaste.
Do Oil Pulling a couple of times a week if you struggle with gum
health. Google this one. Its pretty cool!
Floss! I only recently started this on a regular
basis. I’ve been told for years that it
is important, but I didn’t listen. So
here is a challenge, floss everyday once a day for 10 days. See how your teeth and gums feel. Bet they will feel better!
Chew your food! Chew chew chew
chew! Your stomach will thank you.
Stomach:
Chew your food! Give your stomach a
head start by giving it properly chewed food!
Eat some raw food, or living food at each meal, or take a digestive enzyme.
If this is an area you really struggle in, you might consider intermittent
fasting for a while to give your gut a break.
Try to go 12-17 hrs without eating once a week(some do this every day),
or replace a meal with fresh green juice. Ningxia Red is a great way to get a powerhouse of nutrients while not making your stomach work for it.
Exercise! Yes, this can help in many
ways. Stress can cause an over
production of acid. Find an activity
that helps reduce the emotional stress load.
Productive exercise is the best!
Finally, for those of you ready to make some major changes,
we will start talking about the ‘leaky gut’ phenomenon and cleansing the
digestive system in the next post.
Hiking is a great productive exercise for this time of year. Not only are fewer people on the trail, the underbrush is idle too. It's an aerobic activity that can be an exercise in thought too. Tolkein said, "All who wander are not lost". Each bend and hill promises new challenges and rewards--just like each day. I love the feel of a well balanced and properly fitted pack on my back while the miles pass under my boots. Hiking with the family is a fun afternoon memory to make too, enjoying Creation together.
What are your thoughts or experiences with fasting?
It has been said, “You are what you eat.” A more accurate statement is, "you are what you
digest, absorb, and assimilate".
Did you know digestion starts before you ever take the first
bite? Ever walked past a plate of
cookies on the counter and your mouth began to water? That friend, is your body getting ready to
digest. You see saliva contains loads of
enzymes.
Want to see this at work?
Take a small bowl of oatmeal that you have prepared, and then add
about a teaspoon of saliva. WATCH it
work! It is amazing!!! Within minutes that bowl of cereal will be
completely liquefied.
That is what enzymes do in our digestive tract. They break down the food we eat into a liquid
and break down the proteins, carbohydrates and fats into absorbable size
particles. Those are then used by the
body to run all aspects of our physical health.
So what is the big deal about enzymes—do they deserve all
this talk?
Well, the enzymes
found in saliva aren’t enough to complete all the break down that has to happen
to get food from your fork to your muscles and organs.
In fact there are dozens if not hundreds of steps where different
enzymes are needed at different places along your digestive tract.
Ever so briefly here is a quick description of what the major
players of the tract do:
Mouth: grinds the food into
hopefully a paste
Stomach: churns the food into a liquid called chyme
Small intestine: absorbs most of the nutrients
Large intestine: reabsorbs the water from the liquid
Rectum: holds waste until eliminated
Well, this post is about enzymes right? So where do enzymes come from? Well, they can come from a number of
places. Your saliva, gallbladder,
pancrease, liver, the good bacteria in our intestines even produce enzymes…but
honestly a lot of enzymes are supposed to come from our food.
The unfortunate thing is the Standard American Diet(aka the
SAD diet) is so processed, preserved, frozen, and cooked, that no enzymes are
present. So, often times supplementation
of these enzymes can alleviate many digestive discomforts that millions of Americans
experience--and medicate--for on a daily basis.
A publication of the top 200 drugs sold in 2010 listed here(http://www.drugs.com/top200.html)
puts the top drug sold in 2010 as Nexium.
To the tune of 5.3 BILLION dollars.
Aside from masking the symptoms of digestive discomfort, Nexium does
little to fix anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe there is a time and a place
for meds, but wouldn’t it be smart to explore other alternatives first? I mean if you look at the serious side
effects of Nexium(google it), I would rather go a more natural route first.
So what does ABNORMAL (digestive enzyme deficiency) look like?
Stomach pain/discomfort
Skin problems (eczema, acne, rashes, etc.)
'Brain Fog'
Mood swings
Chronic Fatigue
Some simple ways to support healthy digestion:
Add raw food to your diet
Add lacto-feremented food
to your diet
like homemade sauerkraut
homemade yogurt(super simple to make in
a crockpot)
homemade ginger ale
or lacto-fermented pickles.
Add lacto-fermented drinks to your diet
Apple Cider Vinegar(with the mother)
Kombucha
Kefir
All these are loaded with great bacteria that will nourish your gut’s healthy bacterial levels. Google it and make your own! It’s not hard. It makes a fun family science project that tastes great.
Now if you are like most Americans and the thought of making
any major diet changes terrifies you and makes you not even want to try, that
is ok. We all start somewhere. A simple first step might be to
add a supplemental food enzyme to begin with.
Then as you begin to make small diet changes you can begin to add in a
few of those foods.
Change is challenging!
I’m right there with you! It is
easier to open a bag of prefab meatballs than to make my own. However the long term health effects of that,
if that is my everyday habit can be extremely bad.
I’m an 80/20 kinda momma.
80% straight and narrow, 20% convenience/comfort.
Sometimes the enzyme pill is way easier than a serving of
homemade lacto-fermented pickles.
Young Living has many great enzyme options. KidScents® MightyZyme is an all-natural, vegetarian product in the form of chewable tablets designed to help children combat the negative effects of enzyme depletion. MightyZyme chewables address each of the digestive needs of growing bodies and assist normal digestion of all foods, including proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Allerzyme is great if you know you have a high number of food sensitivities.
Detoxzyme is a good choice if your diet has been loaded with preservative
and chemicals for a LONG time and you are just getting going on turning your
battleship around to actively pursue better health naturally. The Essentialzyme and Essentialzyme-4 each
have a specific set of enzymes in them, read up on those and see if one is right for you.
The bottom line…Enzymes are vital to your ability to break
down and absorb what you are eating. You
could eat a completely raw, organic diet and absorb none of it if you don’t
have the enzymes to digest the nutrients.
The other main culprit commonly seen is an inefficient, damaged small
intestine (aka leaky gut) that does not absorb the good things you are putting
in. We’ll look at ways to address this
as we go. A great resource if you can get your hands on it is Renew Your Life by Brenda Watson.
Ginger Ale...an old favorite with lots of enzymes and other beneficial microbes that is trending again thanks to the home-brew and micro-brew movement. The following recipe is recounted in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.
"Makes 2 qts
3/4 cup ginger, peeled and finely chopped/grated
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4-1/2 cup Rapadura (we like Grade B maple syrup)
2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 cup Whey (see our previous post for how to make)
2 qts- filtered water
Place all ingredients in 2qt Mason jar or jug. Stir well and cover tightly. Leave at room temp for 2-3 days before transferring to the refrigerator. Keeps several months well chilled. Ginger ale may be mixed with carbonated water and is best sipped warm rather than gulped down cold."
Need a productive exercise to stave off cabin fever? Winter is the perfect time to cut wood. The most efficient fire wood is ‘well
seasoned’, meaning it has dried out, this usually takes about 6 months to a
year depending on humidity and local weather. Right now sap levels are at their lowest. Weeds, snakes, and poison oak/ivy are more
dormant. You don’t have to break out a
chainsaw either. Hand saws and axes
still do the job and provide more stress relief without a fume/noise induced
headache. Eye protection and substantial
foot gear is prudent. Always check your
back swing and the path of the axe overhead to ensure you don’t get hit with a
deflected strike. Cutting small brush to
clear out fence rows and edges is a good chore for the axe in winter too. If you don’t have land of your own try asking
a local farmer if you could clear out some storm deadfall. Most sizeable public lands have firewood
permits at really affordable rates.
Enjoy
the aching muscles and a big mug of your own house made Kombucha or Ginger Ale!
Feel free to comment on your family's favorite enzyme-rich recipes.
The parathyroid is named for its snuggled up position around the thyroid. These 4 little rice grain-looking structures regulate the calcium level in your bones and blood. The muscular and nervous systems must have Calcium in order to properly:
Clot blood
Conduct electrical messages
Contract muscles
The bones and teeth are the body’s storeroom for Calcium—99% of it! When blood Calcium levels drop, the Parathyroid glands release Parathyroid Hormone (PTH).
Fun fact: our bodies can’t make Calcium—not a lick of it. So…it must come from our diet. When we fail to take in what is needed our bodies pull it from elsewhere.
PTH signals these changes:
Increase absorption of Calcium in the intestine by activating Vitamin D.
Kidneys pump up Calcium conservation from blood stream.
Osteoclasts ramp up free Calcium by breaking down bone.
What does abnormal look like? Low PTH (weakened or stressed Parathyroids) causes fatigue and anxiety. A hyperactive Parathyroid (hormonal imbalance) causes increased Calcium in the blood stream and less in the bones, resulting in low bone density and calcium build up in the vessels.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends men and women take between 1000 to 1200 mg daily.
Where do we get Calcium in our diets? We suggest finding the closest source of whole, unprocessed, grass-fed milk you can get your hands on.
As mentioned above, our bodies can’t absorb Calcium without Vitamin D. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends men and women over age 50 take 800-1000 IU daily, while those under 50 take 400-800 IU daily.
Luckily, our skin can make Vitamin D with ample sunlight. Wild-caught salmon and other fish also contains Vitamin D. For those with conditions preventing exposure to the sun, and for many people during the winter months, it may help to invest in a high quality vitamin D supplement. Supplemental Vitamin D comes in D3 or D4 form—both are effective in Calcium absorption processes.
Young Living’s Master Formula is one of the best whole food multi-vitamins for daily health available.
Naturally supports general health and well-being for the body.
Has gut flora-supporting prebiotics.
Ingredients help neutralize free radicals in the body.
Includes antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other food-based nutrients.
Contains 400 IU of Vit D3 and 200 mg of Calcium.
Another option from Young Living is OmegaGize³™.
This natural supplement combines the power of three core daily supplements-omega 3
fatty acids, vitamin D-3, and CoQ10 (ubiquinone). These supplements
combine with our proprietary enhancement essential oil blend to create
an omega-3, DHA-rich fish oil supplement that may support general
wellness. Used daily these ingredients work synergistically to support
normal brain, heart, eye, and joint health. It contains 950 IU of Vitamin D3.
As we’ve seen over the past few months, the endocrine system is intricately…and inextricably linked to diet. Without the enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins our body was designed to run on, break-downs happen. Just like an internal combustion engine was not designed to run with water as the fuel source, so our bodies cannot function with vigor and vitality on the typical modern diet of processed and stabilized foods.
We’ve looked before at the Two Types of Nutritional deficiencies:
Primary deficiency is found when the nutrient is not physically present. A secondary deficiency is found when you fail to absorb or utilize the nutrient because of some other lack. Examples… fat is needed to transport vitamin A,E,D, or K to where it is needed in the body. B9 and B12 are needed for the body to utilize iron. Protein or the break-down of proteins are necessary for the transportation of iodine to the thyroid.
These secondary deficiencies are much harder to pinpoint the cause of. Unfortunately, many people are just too busy to put in the time and effort to correct such maladies caused by a lacking diet with what is needed: Good Food. This is what happens as nutritional deficiencies persist:
Reserves in the body are depleted.
Nutrients are depleted from body tissues.
Depletion is detectable in body fluids such as blood and serum.
Body creates symptoms like gas, indigestion, heartburn, headaches, cramps, pain etc.
Depletion causes changes in the body such as degeneration of bones, discs, muscles etc.
The majority of Americans fall into level 4 or 5 because of poor dietary choices, not getting proper rest and stress.
Good Food is found as close to the source as possible, as fresh as possible. The result of a diet of highly processed, high temperature, and high pressure treated foods are a distinct lack of enzymes among others. Next time we’ll begin a discussion of the digestive system. It’s been called the foundation of health, and it begins before you even take a bite: with the enzymes in your mouth!
Grass-fed dairy is such a great resource to have access to! It may take some work, but more than likely there is a farmer near you doing the right thing who would like another good customer. Try here.
One of our favorite things about having our grass fed raw milk is making whey to have on hand for lacto-fermentation of all sorts (from pickling veggies, to making tasty healthy drinks, to soaking whole grain flours before baking, and so much more)! Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon is a great go-to on the how-as well as why-of lacto-fermentation. The other by-product of making whey is the best cream cheese you've ever had. Don't be intimidated! You don't even need a stove to make this cheese!!!
To start, we get a fresh 2 quart mason jar of creamy milk. You'll love step #2....you put the sealed jar on the counter out of the sun....and do nothing. Seriously. Wait 2 to 4 days depending on temperature, etc. You'll know the milk has clabbered when you see voids on the glass walls as you gently move the jar. Next get a good cheese cloth, a colander, and a large bowl. Line the colander with the cheese cloth, put the colander in the bowl, and dump the clabbered milk in the cloth lined colander. Next, fold the cloth over the milk and let it sit for a day or two in the fridge or cellar. In the bowl you now have the whey, (about 1 quart) and the cream cheese in the cloth. You can mix in honey, maple syrup, berries, fruit, or whatever you like to taste. We've also enjoyed adding some of this cream cheese to homemade yogurt to thicken it up some. Yum. The whey lasts for several months.
A large part of maintaining bone density is exercise. If we don't use it, we lose it. Exercise is commonly prescribed now for it's health and stress reduction benefits. Hormone health has also been linked to exercise--especially for men and testosterone production. Any activity is better than no activity. However, I would like to make a case for HIIT (high intensity interval training) if you are able, as opposed to a slower paced activity like walking, biking, or jogging.
I occasionally enjoy a good trail run or bike ride in the country, but I try to make the bulk of my activity loosely around a HIIT approach. This does not have to mean buying expensive weights or spending a ton of time in the gym. In fact, that is why I enjoy it--it's cheap, fast, and effective. One of my favorites is the Tabata--20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 sets...each taking 4 minutes to complete. I often do body weight calisthenics with the kids--push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, squats, etc. The goal is to do as many as possible, and push yourself to achieve the same number of repetitions each time.
Functional exercise is important. In my mind, if I'm going to grab a barbell it's because I'm training my body how to move correctly so I don't get hurt during a normal activity of daily living. Picking up the box of Christmas decorations from the floor and lifting it to a shelf overhead for storage is an example of daily activity that could injure you if you don't train on good body mechanics beforehand.
The clean and jerk is an exercise that pays dividends for bone density, coordination, strength, and flexibility. I suggest learning and warming up with a broom stick or PVC pipe. You can also clean and jerk things besides a barbell for workouts--boxes of decorations, a medicine ball, fire wood log sections, stones, hay bales, a container filled with sand...it's a recycling project:) Check out the video, below, go slow and light to learn, and have someone watch you if you're not sure. Remember to keep your back straight, butt down, and drive through your heals.
Don't hesitate to comment on your simple changes to diet, exercise, toxin reduction, or natural health!
What will your small intentional change in lifestyle be for 2016?
We wish you all the best in the new year.
Clint and Joy
