Go on, Love on your liver

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.

• Throw out your personal care products that contain synthetic chemicals and perfume-grade essential oils.  Check out Young Living's personal care line.

• 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.

Enjoy!

Dental Health and your Stomach

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?

Gut Health and why it drives Nutritional Health

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. 

How are the Parathyroid, cream cheese, and squats related?

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:

1.  Reserves in the body are depleted.
2. Nutrients are depleted from body tissues. 
3. Depletion is detectable in body fluids such as blood and serum. 
4. Body creates symptoms like gas, indigestion, heartburn, headaches, cramps, pain etc. 
5. 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!

If you’d like more info on Young Living’s nutritional support, go here.

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





 

Ph…a good example of a bad trend in America.

pH is a measurement of hydronium ions in a substance.  Low pH equals less Hydronium ions, equals an ‘Acid’ state (<6.2 on the pH scale).

High pH equals high Hydronium ions, equals a ‘Base’ state (>6.8).  Normal blood pH is 7.4, slightly alkaline.  It’s the Kidney’s job to maintain that blood pH by taking what it needs during the filtration process.  Body chemistry is such a hard thing because there are so many components.  Our body pH is one of those components.  Mineral absorption, enzyme catalysts, vitamin availability, and cellular metabolism are all affected by changes in pH (Mercola) and vice versa.  

Remember how important Iodine is to Thyroid function?  This chart shows the pH range of elements' most effective assimilation in the body.  Notice Iodine has the narrowest margin.  Recall that the Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 both are made up of Iodine molecules.  So wouldn’t it be wise to at least see what balancing pH does before hormone replacement therapies?  Many in the 'Natural Health community' have used this chart to monitor and adjust their urine and saliva pH through dietary changes for decades and they say the health benefits are clear.  Many in the ‘scientific’ world argue that a link between disease and pH has not been PROVEN.  Ironically, both sides can use the same research studies to argue their opposite conclusions!

On more than one level pH balance and the debate surrounding it indicates the state of our culture’s health and it’s understanding of health.  Diseases common now (diabetes, obesity, endocrine disorders, depression, auto-immune disease etc.) were not so 50 to 100 years ago.  Have our genetics changed so much in 3 generations?  Can we blame everything on that?  Disease does not just happen for no reason.  There are causes in health, just like there are cause/effect relationships in the rest of reality.  Our lifestyle is changing our health.

Now more than ever, people are searching for the very best…at the very lowest cost.  With the amount of information at our fingertips this should be a snap, right?  Wrong.  This ‘information age’ has created a “battle of the mind” according to Dennis Waitley, a former Blue Angels pilot, author, and speaker.  He warns that in this battle it is not the quality of the information, but the quality of interpreting that information that will turn the tide of the battle.  

It seems as though no matter what you say, someone will be ready and more than willing to argue with you.  The more personal (and powerful) the issue, the harder the fight.  Christmas Nativities, politics, healthcare…better get on guard!

Those of us advocating personal responsibility for health by considering lifestyle changes in a locally produced, non-GMO, organic diet, productive exercise, toxin reduction, and natural health alternatives are a likely target.  

We are not professional researchers or academicians.  We just love seeing people’s lives improve.  Our hope is that people will make their own choices instead of relying on what someone else read, thought, printed.  We like to live by a ‘risk management’ approach—if the ‘risk’ of trying something (with no chance of harming us) is outweighed by the POTENTIAL benefits…that’s a risk worth taking.  Why let someone else tell you what is or isn’t possible?  Try it yourself!

Because body pH and it’s effect on health has been written about so much, with the attendant diets and products designed to address it, many sharply criticize it’s validity.  They say “more research is needed”, and the research that has been done is “largely observational”.  

What is generally accepted is that the typical American lifestyle (diets poor in nutrition and enzymes, and lack of exercise) tends toward an Acid state.  It’s also known that many diseases, including cancer, thrive in acid environments (PubMed.gov).  So why not try to balance pH?

How?

•  Hydrate--drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day of the highest quality water you can get. i.e. 200 lbs = 100 oz of water (around 3 quarts) per day.       

•  Exercise--your lymphatic system is your drainage system to get rid of acidic toxins.  Muscle movement ensures lymph movement.

• Get your Colon healthy--the gut is not only where nutrition is absorbed into the blood stream, it's how most of the toxins drained by the lymphatics get eliminated.

• Try a tonic of Apple Cider Vinegar--try it for a month…what do you have to lose? See below
  
  for how to make it yourself.

• Try Young Living’s AlkaLime for a month…again why wait for somebody to do a study…do your own study.  "AlkaLime® is a precisely-balanced alkaline mineral complex formulated to neutralize acidity and maintain desirable pH levels in the body. Infused with lemon and lime essential oils and organic whole lemon powder, AlkaLime also features enhanced effervescence and biochemical cell salts for increased effectiveness. A balanced pH is thought to play an important role in maintaining overall health and vigor."

• Improve your diet--increase your fresh leafy greens and bright veggies.  Decrease your processed and low-quality foods. 
  

Apple Cider Vinegar is cheap and easy to make.  A google search will give you a dozen different

methods, from buying juice and a Bragg’s Vinegar with ‘mother’, to starting from scratch. What we do is soak apple leftovers (cores, peels, over the hill ones lost in the bottom fridge drawer, etc) in 2 quart mason jars.  Fill the jar up ½ way with apples, add 1 cup raw sugar or honey, and fill to ¾ full with pure water.  Plastic yogurt or similar containers can be cut out to fit the jar diameter.  These push down the floating apples below the water level.  Weight them down with small jars filled with water and cover with a coffee filter on the top.  These are left for 10 days, then strained—don’t worry about getting all the tiny apple pieces, you can skim the top if needed.  ACV will give ‘mothers’ similarly to Kombucha.  If there is one available, we add it now, cover and let stand for 2 to 4 months depending on fermentation speed.  For a daily tonic we take a Tbs of ACV and a Tbs of our own raw honey in 8oz of pure water.

One of my favorite productive exercises on sunny winter afternoons is double digging my raised garden beds.  It won’t make you an Olympic athlete, but it sure does burn calories and you get the added mineral bonus of playing in the dirt!  Double digging is best done when the soil is warm for the microbes to get full benefit, but I invariably don’t get to all my beds during the busy fall period.  Basically, you turn over the topsoil,  adding humus and compost as you go.  I like to take care of weed roots and let the chickens have the beetle larvae along the way.  If you don’t have a garden, double digging in the winter is a good way to start a small victory garden space.  Mulch deeply when you’re done to prevent runoff leeching away your good stuff.  A great way to learn about gardening if you’re not willing or able to in your own space is to find a local Community Supported Agriculture garden to volunteer some muscle.  It’s a great way to build up the soil and your soul at the same time.

Next time we'll look at the tiny Parathyroid glands.  Like the other endocrine glands they have a hugely important role in the body.  Calcium regulation is the Parathyroid's wheelhouse.