Category Archives: Health

The Beauty of Butterfly Pea Tea

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This spring I went to a mocktail event at the Thyme Herbal Apothecary in Worcester. They taught us to make several delicious, healthy, and beautiful mocktails with different herbs. The star of the show was the Butterfly Pea Tea because of its dazzling blue hue (although sometimes it’s a gorgeous purple like in the picture).

As a nutritionist, I know that those natural blue and purple pigments are extremely healthy and not that easy to come by in our regular diet, so I eagerly bought a package of the dried Butterfly Pea flowers to brew up at home.

I told one of my friends about it and we both started drinking it daily. Within one month, we both noticed a notable lack of interest in sugar. Cravings had just vanished even when around our favorite things. My friend had been eating sugar throughout the day so this was a minor miracle for her.

Then, one month after that, she showed up looking like a new person. She had lost 25 lbs and was feeling so light and joyful, like “a deer prancing in the woods” as she described! Her routine bloodwork confirmed that she is no longer prediabetic.

Yet another bonus – we both notice that our hair has become thicker and healthier. Since this all happened, we’ve been telling our friends about our experiences, and they in turn are also delighted with the effects of drinking it daily. Some friends have reported a reduced need to pee all the time and dark spots on the skin fading. Of course it’s possible this is all coincidence because of the small size of our unofficial “study” but I do believe that there really is something profoundly healthy about this tea.

The Science

  • The scientific, Latin name of Butterfly Pea tea is Clitoria Ternatea.
  • The rich hue in butterfly pea tea is due to a class of antioxidants called anthocyanins which have numerous health benefits.
  • One published review reports that Butterfly Pea has “diuretic, nootropic, antiasthmatic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, antidiabetic, antilipidemic, anti-arthritic, antioxidant, and wound healing properties.”

A Few Tips

  • You can get Butterfly Pea Tea from Thyme Herbal Apothecary or Mountain Rose Herbs. If you choose another supplier, just be sure that the flowers are organic.
  • We make a big batch of the tea once a week by adding about a half cup of the dried flowers to a saucepan of water. Depending on the size of the flowers you get, you may need more or less, depending on what color tea you want (blue or purple). You can’t go wrong. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes, and then let it cool. Once cooled, strain it into a bottle and store it in the fridge.
  • The tea has a unique earthy flavor. You can add enhancements to the tea like a little lemonade, fresh lemon juice, or lavender.
  • Don’t ruin your tea by adding artificial sweeteners!
  • Have a cup consistently every day and see what happens in a month or two.

I hope that you also have amazing results from your Butterfly Pea experiment. Please let me know how it goes!

Happy Earth Day!

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Happy Earth Day!

Since the first Earth Day in 1970 here in the US, participation has grown to an estimated one billion people in countries all around the world. It’s uplifting to know that so many people want to take care of this beautiful planet.

As the saying goes, “Think globally, act locally.” We can do a lot for the Earth by making simple adjustments to our diets and daily lives, such as eating lower on the food chain and using less plastic and fewer chemicals.

Simply being healthier reduces your personal carbon footprint. The healthcare industry, it turns out, has a massive environmental footprint, so much of which is due to avoidable chronic disease.

In addition to making you feel amazing, our cleanse helps you to be kinder on the planet by getting healthier, emphasizing plant foods, and reducing chemicals. You’ll even be inspired to do more home cooking because our recipes are easy and delicious.

Here’s to healthy people and a healthy planet!

A Significant Source of Oxidative Stress

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We’ve known for a long time that oxidative damage (also called “oxidative stress” and “free radical damage”) causes inflammation, chronic disease, and accelerated aging. The well-known sources of oxidative damage include smoking, fried foods, excessive sun exposure, and toxins. But there is a newer, stealthy source of oxidative stress that is affecting us 24/7/365 at home, at work, and while out and about. This omnipresent source is the radio frequency radiation (RF) emanating from WIFI, smart devices, smart utility meters, cellphones (ours and other people’s), wearable devices, laptops, iPads, wireless baby monitors, cellular networks, and more.

Unlike ionizing radiation from x-rays and gamma rays, RF doesn’t have the power to knock electrons out of their orbit. However, there is a large and growing body of evidence that RF causes harm in other ways by increasing oxidative stress, disrupting our blood brain barrier, and interfering with our body’s electrical conduction via the calcium ion channels in our cells.

These biological effects cause numerous and varied symptoms like ADD, ADHD, brain fog, fatigue, depression, anxiety, behavioral issues, nausea, headaches, rashes, sleep disorders, and also increased risk of cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, DNA mutations, and fertility issues.

People who experience debilitating symptoms near high RF areas are like the canaries in the coal mine. The rest of us may not have yet connected our symptoms with RF because we didn’t know it could be connected. For example, perhaps your headaches, fatigue, or brain fog are actually caused by the RF in your environment.

Also, RF damage is cumulative and we may need to cross our own unique threshold before symptoms appear.

I know this topic is totally inconvenient and even overwhelming. I’ve been subconsciously avoiding delving into it because I knew it would be huge, concerning, and seemingly impossible to tackle.

The good news is that there are simple things you do to reduce your exposure, like hardwiring your devices, turning off the antennas on devices when not in use, turning off WIFI when not in use (especially at night), keeping cellular phones as far away as possible, etc. Just like cleaning up your diet or personal care products, reducing your RF exposure can be done one small step at a time. From what I’ve learned so far, I do believe this is important for our health and wellbeing.

To learn more, I recommend:

  • Watching this informational video.
  • Watching “Generation Zapped” or at least the trailer. (I watched the movie on Peacock, but it’s available through other networks.)
  • Checking out this research summary of RF’s impact on our brains.
  • Subscribing to Massachusetts for Safe Technology and listening in on their free public webinars. Their website is rich in resources tailored to your specific concerns.
  • Filling out the form on Tech Safe Schools so that your local school districts will receive information about the RF dangers in schools that is negatively impacting kids and educators.
  • Being an RF detective by purchasing an RF detector. I bought one and am amazed at how quickly the signals shoot to unsafe levels around cell phones, laptops, the microwave oven, etc. I bring mine out and about to show everyone what happens when you turn on and off a cell phone.

I hope that this inspired you to learn more and share. The more of us that know, the more quickly we’ll be able to implement community-wide solutions that protect our health, and especially kids who are at increased risk.

Mind Your Mouth

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Not to complain, but right now I feel like Edward Scissor Hands brushed my teeth for about 3 hours straight, and it’s rather unpleasant. This week, I had gum surgery to repair some recession. This was my third and, thankfully, final one. (They only do small areas at a time.) I’m grateful that this helped prevent me from becoming toothless in my old age, but it would be way better not to get in this situation at all.

Preventing gum issues isn’t only about keeping your teeth and avoiding painful surgeries either. The health of your mouth, teeth, and gums has a massive impact on the health of the rest of your body. Chronically inflamed gums are strongly correlated with many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s. The inflammation simmering in the gums can spread to other parts of the body. Because inflammation is at the root of all chronic disease, controlling inflammation in your mouth is an important part of prevention. Also, when your gums are inflamed, weakened, and injured, bacteria can more easily get through and start trouble around the rest of the body.

Brushing, Flossing, and More!

We all know to brush and floss at least twice a day, preferably also after meals. Yadda yadda yadda. But here are a few refinements, some of which I learned only recently.

  • An electric toothbrush like Oral B or Sonicare really do clean your teeth better than a regular toothbrush. I couldn’t believe how much cleaner my teeth felt after I started using one 20 years ago. It almost feels like you had a professional cleaning every day!
  • My hygienist told me that recent dental research has found that slowing down, and spending a few seconds on each area is much more effective than mindlessly moving the toothbrush around the mouth, like I used to. I think of this new (to me) approach as “mindful brushing”. A little more mindfulness is always a good thing!
  • It’s also recommended to angle the brush into the gumline, GENTLY wiggle it, and slowly angle the brush so that you clean the rest of that tooth. Let the brush do the work. Don’t be like me and grind the brush into the gums. There are youtube videos showing this – it’s called the modified Bass technique.
  • When flossing, bring the floss down the inner edge of the tooth into the gum, rather than slamming it into the top of the gum between the teeth, if you can picture that. My gums are apparently scarred from doin’ it wrong.
  • Now, the next topic makes me want to run screaming down the street wearing an old bathrobe, waving a toilet plunger in the air. Get this – some floss is coated with teflon, that forever chemical that is being phased out because its so toxic and persistent. There are flosses with no teflon, like Cocofloss. Only get the mint flavor though, because the others have synthetic fragrance at this time, which makes me want to put my head through the monitor. (Okay, breathe and relax, Lisa.)

Mouthwash Kills!

You know how the intestinal microbiome (the good bacteria in the gut) is so incredibly important for every aspect of our health? Well, your mouth has a microbiome too! It’s made up of 20 billion microbes with 600 different organisms, all highly organized in different neighborhoods in your mouth.

It might sound gross but those critters are an important part of your immune system. They keep pathogenic microbes in check and help you digest food. We should not kill them. Listerine, first developed to sterilize operating rooms, demolishes the protective ecosystem you have in your mouth. If you really want to swish something around in your mouth, try oil pulling with coconut or sesame oil. This is an Ayurvedic practice that’s excellent for gums and teeth, whitens your teeth naturally, and helps you to detoxify. Check here for more info.

Lactobacillus species are particularly important for a healthy oral microbiome. You can “repopulate” your mouth by eating yogurt with active cultures or other fermented foods on a regular basis. Some experts even suggest letting the yogurt sit on your tongue for a few moments. The non-dairy options are excellent and better for you overall. Forager vanilla is almost dessert like, but does contain a little sweetener. I really enjoyed the Kite Hill plain as well, especially after I put some berries in it.

Tongue Scraping

It’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact, once you start tongue scraping, you’ll never go back. Tongue scraping is another Ayurvedic technique to cleanse the bacterial debris (they call it “ama”) off your tongue. It’s usually recommended first thing in the morning.

To scrape your tongue, you can get a stainless steel or copper tongue scraper, like Banyan Botanicals’ Tongue Cleaner. Stick your tongue out and and gently move the scraper across the surface of the tongue back to front five times, rinsing the scraper after each round. Follow with brushing and flossing.

Trust me, you’ll love it!

Mouth Breathers Beware!

I always thought “mouth breather” was just an insult kids hurl at each other. Turns out, there are health related reasons not to breathe out of your mouth. Our saliva is important for maintaining pH, cleansing the oral cavity, nourishing the oral microbiome, and facilitating healing of any gum injuries. When you breathe through your mouth, your saliva evaporates and the oral cavity dries out. You also lose more hydration when you breath through the mouth vs the nose. You end up with more plaque, which causes gum recession, inflammation, and bad breath. Research has found that mouth breathing actually changes facial structure in kids, resulting in an elongated face, crooked teeth, gummy smile, and more.

So breathe through your nose! If your nose is stuffy, investigate the cause. It could be food sensitivities (especially gluten and dairy), synthetic fragrance in your home or detergent, or allergies. After my friend Kim told me about “Breath” by James Nestor, I’ve been working really hard to breathe through my nose during exercise, which has a nice side effect of increasing cardioprotective nitric oxide.

If you tend to breathe through your mouth when you sleep, they actually suggest putting a bit of tape on your lips. It won’t stay the whole night, but over time can train your brain to keep your mouth closed. The good news is that as you retrain yourself to breathe through your nose, the passages open up more and nose breathing becomes more natural.

Dental Armageddon

As if we aren’t dealing with enough, some experts are concerned that the pandemic is also ushering in a “dental armageddon”, from missed or delayed appointments, stress, or possibly even masks. There have been reports of increased gingivitis in patients who never had that before, an upswing in broken teeth possibly due to stress-related teeth grinding, and complaints of “mask mouth”. Masks increase the temperature of your mouth area by 2 degrees C, which modulates the oral microbiome. Compounding that, people may tend to breathe through their mouth when they wear a mask. When wearing a mask, be sure to breathe mainly through your nose and stay well hydrated. As you know, steer clear of antiseptic mouthwash, because that will only exacerbate the issues.

Nutrition for Gum Health

After I already was committed to doing the surgeries, I came across “Nutritional Medicine” by a Alan Gaby MD. It’s a treasure trove of natural health approaches to a huge variety of medical issues. He recommends excellent nutrition for gum health including avoiding refined carbohydrates, and taking specific nutrients like Coq10 (ubiquinol), folate, zinc, vitamin E, vitamin D, and ensuring sufficient copper and calcium. (Don’t supplement with calcium or copper without verifying there is a need.) He also shared this amazing case report:

“I saw a 49-year-old woman with moderately severe periodontal disease who had been told by her periodontist that she needed extensive surgery. She was advised to take 60 mg/day of CoQ10, to use 5 ml of 0.1% folic acid mouth rinse twice a day, and to brush buffered vitamin C (calcium ascorbate) powder gently into the gums once a day. After 1 month of treatment, the periodontist remarked with surprise that her condition had improved substantially and that she no longer needed surgery.”

If you’ve been warned that you’re heading toward gum surgery, this might be a cool experiment that could save you some physical and financial pain. Be sure you get the exact vitamin C recommended – calcium ascorbate.

You can read the entire chapter for free here.

Summary to Smile About

We’ve known for decades how important it is to take care of our mouth, teeth, and gums. In these wacky times, it’s more important than ever, and maybe even more challenging than ever, to practice excellent oral hygiene. Just as the eyes are the windows to the soul, the mouth is the gateway to the body. Oral hygiene is an important pillar of overall health.

The Demonic Duo: Dairy and Gluten

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Today I got an email from Dr Sharon Stills, who was talking about the benefits of avoiding dairy foods like cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. She wrote that dairy sensitivity can be at the root of digestive problems, acne, eczema, fatigue, and weight gain. I’d add to the list; chronic sinusitis, post nasal drip, allergies, headaches, autoimmune disease, and joint pain. Dairy also contains strong estrogens, which contribute to estrogen dominance in both men and women, resulting in increased risk of hormone sensitive cancers and other symptoms. Not to mention the unpleasant gas and bloating in 70% of the population that’s lactose intolerant. So milk doesn’t really do a body good. Avoiding dairy would be incredibly helpful for millions of people.

While I applaud Dr Stills’ message, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that people with dairy sensitivity are often cross reactive to gluten. Besides the estrogen related problems, gluten sensitivity can cause most of the same issues dairy does. When you eat something regularly that your body doesn’t like, it can show up in a variety of ways depending on your unique genetics.

Gluten and dairy are two of the top food allergens. Considering that most American meals contain both gluten and dairy (pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, subs, pasta alfredo, cake, cupcakes, etc), is it any surprise we have a problem?

My fall cleanse expertly supports you in avoiding this demonic duo as well as other common allergenic foods, while helping you to add in nutrient dense food and rejuvenating self care. It’s a powerful combination that will support your health in every way – your immune system, metabolism, nervous system, mood, skin, digestive system, and so much more. It doesn’t have to be difficult or boring either. I’ll share with you more delicious options than you could ever use. This is the perfect time to experience the synergistic benefits of this plan! We begin gently easing into healthy habits and self care on September 27th. I hope that you’ll join us.

Book Review: Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art

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I am so thrilled. I’ve been wishing for years, maybe even a decade, that my funny, deep thinking, well read, amazing yoga teacher, lawyer friend Kim Blanc would do some book reviews for the hundreds of books she reads every year. Over the years, we have had many illuminating discussions about what she learns. She’s so well spoken, in a relatable and inspiring way, that I’ve always believed that her knowledge needs to reach a wider audience. Today is that day I’ve dreamed of. I am so happy to share her review of James Nestor’s book, “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art”, that has the yoga world buzzing. Without further ado, here’s Kim’s reflections:

These days, more than ever, we need to take responsibility for our own health. Currently, our healthcare system is over-burdened and healthcare costs are through the roof. As individuals, there are simple things we can do not only to maintain our health but even improve it. Improving diet and exercise, reducing toxins and stress can have a profound and lasting effect on the prevention and treatment of most chronic ailments and diseases. However, there is nothing more important to our health and well being than the way we breathe.

I’ve just finished reading BREATH: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor. I honestly believe that if the whole country read this book, and learned to breathe better, there would be no health care crisis (physically or financially) in the US (COVID-19 aside). “Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, asthma, respiratory issues and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines.”

In a nutshell, Nestor’s research, dating as far back as 500 BCE, and citing ancient wisdom and modern science, tells us that for optimal health we need to breathe through our nose, day and night, and breathe less by slowing down the breath. The perfect breath being to breathe in slowly for about 5.5 seconds and breath out for about 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air.

As part of his research and under the supervision of an Otolaryngologist (a nasal and sinus surgeon) at Stanford, Nestor conducted an experiment where he plugged his nose and breathed only through his mouth for ten days. At the end of the ten day period Nestor’s snoring had increased 4,820 percent, he experienced, for the first time, sleep apnea which dropped his oxygen levels some nights to 85%. When oxygen drops below 90% the blood cannot carry enough oxygen to support body tissues. If this continues for too long, he writes, this can lead to heart failure, depression, memory issues and early death. In addition to a whole host of other miserable symptoms, Nestor’s blood pressure rose to the level of stage 2 hypertension, his stress related hormones spiked, suggesting that his body was under physical and mental duress, and his heart rate variability plummeted. Luckily, when he removed the plugs after ten days and began to breathe through his nose all system returned to normal. Since he is now primarily a nose breather, and regularly practices breathing exercises, his overall health has improved significantly.

Most of what I read in this book was not a big surprise to me as I have been practicing yoga and its recommended breathing techniques for ten years. In reading this book I appreciated so much all of the research and science that Nestor brought to light. I won’t bore you with a litany of my own past ailments, but suffice to say that the quality of my life has vastly improved since I began practicing yoga with an Ujjayi breath (slow steady balanced breath with an inhale for 5 and an exhale for 5 through the nose while constricting the back of my throat to created an ocean sound) and other forms of pranayama (breath exercises). A mouth breather my whole life, especially during sleep, and the host of health issues that went with it, I now sleep with my mouth closed and I no longer suffer from periodontal disease, sore throats, a whole host of sinus issues, anxiety and the misdiagnosis’ of many doctors. I now take responsibility for my own physical and mental health by breathing better and consistently practicing yoga and as a result, I have not had to see a doctor in years. This isn’t to say that I don’t appreciate doctors, I certainly do, but I take as much responsibility as I can to avoid having to see one in the first place and breathing better most definitely helps.

Let me close by saying that if you snore and/or experience sleep apnea, try placing a one inch piece of surgical tape over your mouth before going to bed. Nestor describes it as a Hitler mustache dropped down one inch over the lips. Don’t worry if it doesn’t last the night. Just keep doing it night after night. You will eventually train yourself to keep your mouth closed. If your sinuses are blocked try some saline spray before bed. By employing these two strategies, over time, your sinuses will open and enlarge and your overall health will improve, guaranteed! The nose is a use it or lose it apparatus! Use it!

Read the book! You’ll never breathe through your mouth again. Improving your health is that easy and it’s free!

(Note from Lisa – Thank you Kim!)

What Could Be Worse Than Corona?

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Out of all this craziness, one silver lining is that we’re not taking our immune system and overall health for granted anymore. Covid19 has been like a crash course in public health. Like “flatten the curve”, terms like “metabolic health” and “systemic inflammation” are on everyone’s lips because almost all (94%) of Covid19 victims have underlying metabolic disease and systemic inflammation. These simmering dynamics aren’t random bad luck. They’re directly caused by diet, especially ultraprocessed food, which unfortunately makes up the majority of the western diet.

Every day the numbers of corona virus deaths are plastered all over the news. But did you know that our western diet kills ten times more people than Covid19 every single year? Ten times! Yet there’s no massive public health effort to save these lives. Where’s the outrage?

There will never be a vaccine for ultraprocessed diet. It’s on us individually to save ourselves and families. Fortunately, it’s really not that difficult. In his epic book, “In Defense of Food”, Michael Pollen boiled all the data down to one, memorable phrase, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

  • Eat food. By food, we mean food – real, whole, and natural. Not ultraprocessed “edible food-like substances”. Look at those hot dogs, fluorescent mac and cheese, and neon candies with more disdain than you’d look at some bare faced villain coughing on your child.
  • Not too much. We’re going to have to stop using food as entertainment, stress relief, and comfort and start dealing with our emotional stuff the real way (with wine – just kidding!). Using food to sedate ourselves is a temporary fix that just makes more and worse problems. Instead, meditate, breathe, exercise. They work better.
  • Mostly plants. Eat the rainbow of veggies, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. We know that plants have really great things like vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. But did you know that many of the phytonutrients in plants are actually part of the plants’ immune system? Fascinatingly, when we eat them, they inform and strengthen our immune system! How cool is that? If you’d like to learn more about this, check out this podcast with two Functional Medicine titans – Dr Mark Hyman and Dr Jeffrey Bland. I bet you too will be googling Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat.

Let’s translate our new vocabulary to action in the kitchen. Grab a whole food, plant based cookbook like Forks Over Knives, anything by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Engine 2, or Thug Kitchen (which is hilarious but contains abundant profanity). If cooking isn’t really your gig (yet), new clean brands, restaurants, and food delivery services pop up every day that feature delicious, whole, natural, organic plant foods. We’ll be strong, resilient, and ready next time a mutant virus comes around. (Fist pump!)

 

Don’t Worry – It’s Just an Allergy!

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Allergies are bloomin’ and every sneeze is now not just annoying to the sneezer, but causes wide spread panic to anyone within earshot. Now we want to reduce our allergy symptoms not just for our own comfort, but everyone else’s too. We have enough to panic about these days.

We get allergies when the immmune system loses tolerance to innocuous substances. Why would that happen? Well, the Standard American Diet and Lifestyle get blamed for many things, and this is no exception. It’s nutrient devoid, inflammatory, toxic, and high in sugar. Add stress to the equation and we have the perfect immune storm. The battered immune system becomes like an in injured, cornered animal – weak, yet vicious, and attacking anything that comes near it. I get into detail about this in my recent post. I highly recommend reviewing that and starting to support your immune system better right away, so over time, you won’t need to sneeze for any reason.

But there are a few additional things you can do right away to alleviate allergy symptoms.

  • Quercetin is a flavonol found in plant foods that helps to reduce histamine, the substance that causes that maddening red itchiness. You can boost your intake by eating more apples and onions. (You’re wearing a mask anyway right now, so why not?) You can also get quercetin in supplement form. In my experience it works extremely well. As always with supplements, quality matters! Pure Encapsulations is a great choice. You may be able to ditch the allergy pills that make you dehydrated and tired, and have this wonderful substance that offers many other benefits (antioxidant, heals the gut, supports the cardiovascular system, has anticancer effects, etc). This is what I love about natural plant medicines – their side effects are also beneficial!
  • Stinging nettle leaf makes histamine receptors less sensitive, so is a great dynamic duo with quercetin. You can drink it as tea! I usually combine with with my matcha green tea. Why not double up?
  • Getting probiotics daily is calming to the immune system and has been shown to improve allergic symptoms. You can get them from a probiotic supplement or from fermented foods like Real Pickles, Kombucha, Fire Tonic (also called Fire Cider), Gut Shots, etc. So many options – pick one you like!
  • You will also benefit from eliminating dairy 100% as it causes excess mucous. Also, elminate gluten as much as possible because it contributes to systemic inflammation and immune hypervigilance. For more about this, see my post about gluten.
  • Some people find that having local raw honey desensitizes them to local pollen. Stir some into your nettles tea!

I hope this helps you to stay allergy free. Let me know how you do!

 

Corona – Reducing your Exposure AND Susceptibility

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All of the advice we’re hearing about social distancing, washing hands, and disinfecting, is to reduce exposure to the Corona virus. Hopefully these important measures will slow down the infection rate. But there is an equally important aspect that needs to be emphasized more…

We need to start taking better care of our immune system to reduce our susceptibility to Corona virus, as well as Lyme disease, Lyme coinfections, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, the flu, etc.

We can’t avoid every microbe, even if we sit alone in our houses for a year. So, we really need to keep our immune system healthy and balanced so we aren’t as susceptible to the ravages of these infectious diseases, as well as things like cancer and autoimmunity.

Louis Pasteur, the father of germ theory, concluded that, “The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything!” He was referring to whether our inner tissues are hospitable to microbes or not. Is our immune system nourished and balanced or suppressed and depressed?

If you were to design a diet and lifestyle that would decimate the immune system, it would be the Standard American Diet and Lifestyle! As a society, we are sleep deprived, stressed out, toxic, sedentary, and eating nutrient poor food. The fact that we’ve survived this long is a testament to our incredibly intelligent immune system and biochemistry. Your body is doing the very best it can, within the environment you’re asking it to live.

Let’s improve that environment to the extent we can, so that we can better weather current and future health threats. As a bonus, because everything in the body is interconnected, an immune supportive lifestyle and diet is also a boon to our overall health.

Below are key recommendations to support your immune system. Although numerous research papers and books have been written on these topics, I will do my best to summarize action steps that you can take right away.

Prioritize Sleep

• Your immune system and general wellbeing depend on regular, excellent quality sleep.
• Aim to go to bed around 10 PM and wake up with the sun. Being a night owl (self imposed night shift work) suppresses your immune system.
• Practice good sleep hygiene by avoiding screens (TV, phones, and tablets) an hour or two before bed and remove all ambient light while sleeping. This will help to maximize melatonin, your primary sleep hormone and potent internal antioxidant.
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine. This isn’t just for kids!
• If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, try the heavy blanket! It’s like swaddling a baby – except you’re the baby. The gentle, constant compression activates your parasympathetic nervous system (known as the rest and digest nervous system), which helps you to relax and sleep like a baby.
• Magnesium is known as the relaxation mineral. Low magnesium may make it harder for you to relax enough to fall asleep. Magnesium is one of the top three deficiencies in the US. Get more magnesium by eating more leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and legumes. If you opt to supplement, magnesium threonate or magnesium taurate are more relaxing options that increase the action of GABA in the brain.

Reduce stress

• When you’re stressed, your body de-prioritizes immunity because getting over a cold is way less important than escaping from a tiger. Deadlines, relationship stress, financial worries, etc might not feel like being chased by a tiger in your mind, but your body experiences it that way. There’s enough evidence about the negative impact of stress on our whole body. Now is the time to become aware of your stressors and do something about it. Yoga, meditation, exercise, breathwork, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction are all effective strategies. Choose one that resonates with you.

Optimize immune nutrients

• Yes vitamin C is good for your immune system, but it also needs vitamins A, vitamin D, zinc, and protein.
• Start your day with fresh lemon juice in water for vitamin C with all of its cofactors. Oranges, red peppers, broccoli, kiwi are also great sources of vitamin C and other nutrients.
• With sunnier days coming, get out in the sun without sunscreen for 20 minutes so your body can produce vitamin D. If that’s not possible, supplement with D3 drops.
• Eat your darkly colored veggies for beta carotene (which gets converted to A).
• Snack on pumpkin seeds for zinc (these are a great option because they’re sprouted, and therefore more digestible and nutritious).
• Most people get ample protein, but you may want to double check that you’re getting at least 45-55 grams per day from varied sources. If not, plant based protein powder in your smoothie can easily and tastily fill in the gap. (Lately I’ve been liking Orgain best.)

Other dietary considerations

• Some foods we eat are a constant challenge to the immune system, making it less able to fight actual threats.
• A high sugar meal suppresses the immune system for hours… Just in time for your next obscenely decadent latte or snack. If you think about it, most Americans are immune suppressed all day long due to regular sugar spikes.
• The chemicals in pesticides hamper the cellular metabolism of all cells, including immune cells, by multiple mechanisms. Choosing organic foods whenever possible reduces this toxic burden.
• Subclinical food allergies and sensitivities are rampant, and result in chronic activation and depletion of the immune system. The top two food sensitivities are gluten and dairy. For most people, avoiding them helps the immune system stay balanced, which not only makes it more effective in fighting microbes, but also helps reduce the inappropriate immune reactions such as allergy and autoimmunity. There are many delicious dairy alternatives out there now for milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, and even ice cream. Switching from wheat to naturally gluten free grains like rice and quinoa has many benefits.
• Dairy causes most people to produce more mucous, which then provides a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
• Garlic, onion, and mushrooms are fantastic for your immune system. Try to eat them every day! I’m going to be writing more about mushrooms in a future post. They are amazing!

The immune system in the gut

• Did you know that two thirds of your immune system is in your gut? The microbiome, or the good bacteria in our gut, is so vital to our health that some consider it an organ.
• Most of what we do decimates that line of defense, including many medications (NSAIDs, antibiotics, oral birth control, SSRIs), fake sugars like sucralose, glyphosate (the herbicide heavily sprayed on many grains), alcohol, sugar, and conventional animal foods which contain antibiotic residues. Minimize all of that whenever possible.
• Boost your microbiome by consuming probiotics (beneficial bacteria) daily whether through unpasteurized fermented foods like Real Pickles veggies, Fire Cider, Kombucha, and/or Gut Shots or a probiotic supplement. Those good critters live on fiber, so feed them with lots plant foods.

Stay hydrated

• Dehydrated mucous membranes are more vulnerable to microbes. Drink a couple glasses of water first thing in the morning (with fresh lemon juice as a vitamin C bonus!) and then sip water throughout the day.
• Minimize things that dehydrate you like coffee and alcohol.
• Eat lots of fresh plant foods that contain lots of water.
• Consider using a humidifier when the air is dry.

Exercise!

• You know it, but here’s a journal reference if you need one. Just do it.
• Outside in the woods is especially helpful. Being out in nature increases natural killer cells. Plus it’s fresh, nontoxic air, with plenty of space between germ infested people.
• But don’t over do it. Exercising too much raises your stress hormone cortisol, which suppresses your immune system.

Your immune medicine chest

• These are the things that I have found extremely effective for both cold triage and prevention. It’s a great idea to have them on hand.
• Epsom salt baths. Soaking in the hot tub functions like a fever – it heats up your body causing the viruses to die off and may boost the immune system. The steam also helps to clear your sinuses. Baths are relaxing, and when you’re relaxed, your body can prioritize immune function. I always add the Epsom salts to the bath because it’s a great way to get more magnesium and sulfur (which gently supports detoxification). If you’re congested, you might want to add a bit of eucalyptus essential oil as well.
• Oregano essential oil. Put a drop of oregano oil in a shot of water and throw it back. Two or three times a day if you’re sick. This is quite potent, so don’t over do it or splash on your face. I was actually paranoid that I might be getting sick the past couple days because I was extremely tired. I had a drop of oregano oil in water a couple times each day, and I’m good as new!
• Drink tea. Lemon balm and cats claw tea are antiviral. I usually multitask with both teabags in the same mug. Throat Coat is really nice for soothing your throat, and these herbs are soothing for the rest of your digestive system! Another benefit to green tea is that it strengthens and balances the immune system. What doesn’t green tea do?! Matcha green tea (the powdered version) has the most nutrients. Be sure all tea is organic, otherwise the first time the pesticides are washed off the leaves are in your mug.
• Fruit and vegetable extracts. My kids and I have been taking Juice Plus for 10 years, and we rarely get sick. When I feel something coming on, I double it up.
• Elderberry syrup and lozenges (which may have added zinc as a bonus) are also very helpful for colds.

I hope that this has inspired you to take great care of your immune system. There’s a lot here, which can be overwhelming. But even if you start with just one thing, that is a step forward. Comment below if you have any questions. I’d also love to hear what your remedies are!

Image attribution: CDC

A Tasty Technique for Better Sleep

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If you’ve been having trouble sleeping, here’s a unique strategy… eat pistachios! They are a surprisingly excellent source of the hormone melatonin that helps us to sleep. Most foods have 1, 10, or even 100 ng/g of melatonin, but pistachios have a whopping 200,000 ng/g!

I purchased a huge bag of pistachios before I learned this, and have been eating a couple tablespoons of them daily for about a month. I gotta say, I’ve been sleeping like a LOG! I was actually wondering why. When I came across this study, it all made sense. The good thing about my own accidental experiment was that it ruled out the placebo effect.

And don’t worry, eating them during the day won’t make you sleepy because of all the ambient light. But when the lights go out, you’ll have more than enough melatonin to help you get and stay asleep.

If you don’t need to improve your sleep, you’re lucky! But you might want to consider adding these tasty morsels to your diet anyway. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant with far reaching benefits. Pistachios also have other notable antioxidants such as lutein, zeaxanthin, and polyphenols. Antioxidants help protect you from chronic disease and slow the aging process. Pistachios are also one of the lowest calorie nuts, and eating the ones with shells helps you to slow down and eat just the right amount.

Image credit: Mae Mu