Natural Remedies For The Cold & Flu Season!
As we gear up for the upcoming colder seasons to come, one thing I always get questions about is how to naturally boost your immune system to prepare for flu season. Here are some of my favorite tips!
01. VITAMIN C- such a powerful antioxidant! When supplementing make sure you’re getting a naturally sourced vitamin c, not synthetic. I love @pure_synergy Pure Radiance C.
02. ELDERBERRY SYRUP - Elderberries contain important vitamins like A, B and C that stimulate the immune system. We don’t take this daily because it does stimulate the immune system response, but we take it a few times a day if we start to feel symptoms. I love the @wellnessmama recipe!
03. PROPOLIS BEE SPRAY! - From @beekeepers_naturals.This throat spray is great for when you feel a sore throat coming on or preventatively when you travel.
04. VITAMIN D WITH K2- we use this daily and if we feel symptoms of a cold coming on I dose up. I also recommend getting as much sunlight/skin exposure for Vitamin D3 production in the body.
05. GARLIC - did you know garlic is a natural antibiotic? You can add it to your food or eat it by itself too
06. GINGER- ginger is anti-inflammatory. You can add it to fresh juice, or hot tea!
07. CHIROPRACTIC CARE- Improves nervous system aka our immune system! If my son shows any signs of illness I get him in right away! I swear by it! We love Dr Brandon & Jenny @superiorhealthcarewdm!
What Does A Normal Cycle Look Like?
Let's chat about the menstrual cycle!
What is it? What's normal? Why do we have hormone imbalances? Why PMS?
We'll be covering these questions in this mini-series I'm going to do, but today let's start off by reviewing the basics of what a normal cycle should look like.
A normal cycle is 21-35 days long and includes a follicular phase and a luteal phase. Day 1 is the first day of menstruation, the follicular phase is day up to ovulation, the luteal phase starts after ovulation, and is all the days following ovulation up to the next cycle day 1. During menstruation FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) from the anterior pituitary gland stimulates the follicles which are growing to choose the secondary oocyte (egg) that will be released at ovulation. The growing follicle produces estrogen and we see an estrogen rise. The high estrogen levels and low progesterone levels continue to stimulate GnRH (Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, FSH, and LH (luteinizing hormone). As LH rises it stimulates ovulation from the matured secondary oocyte (mature egg). After ovulation, the luteal phase begins and continues for the remainder of the cycle. The follicle that is left after ovulation occurs is renamed the corpus luteum and this produces increased progesterone levels in preparation for fertilization. Here there will be a rise in progesterone and estrogen which stimulates and maintains the buildup of the endometrial lining. If fertilization doesn’t take place and implantation doesn’t occur, estrogen and progesterone levels drop and stimulate the endometrial lining to shed and this begins day 1 of the next cycle.
As we move forward with this mini-series what questions do you want me to answer about the menstrual cycle?
Eat Local
Some of My Family’s Favorite Places To Locally Source Our Food!
We’re all looking for ways to improve our health, save a little money, and support each other through this wild ride right now, right? One of my family’s favorite ways to accomplish all three is to source our food locally as much food as possible!
Not only does it accomplish the above, but it’s also much more nutrient-dense and organically grown!
Here are a few of my favorite places to source our family’s food!
Wallace Farms in Eastern Iowa Nick is so nice and we love all their meat, but we especially love their free-range whole chickens, sugar free-nitrate free bacon, and wild-caught Alaskan salmon. Nick delivers to DesMoines every month at several different locations. So, I just order online and pick it up! It’s super convenient. They were hit pretty hard with the storm last week so any extra support you can give them next month by ordering would be extra awesome! https://wallacefarms.com/
Prudent Produce is a delivery service for local produce! Yep, they deliver right to your doorstep as often as you’d like! https://www.prudentproduce.net/
Iowa Food Coop highlights local farmers and their products where you can buy online and pick it up or have delivered to your home. https://iowafood.coop/
Dogpatch Urban Garden is a local urban garden stand! I love their place! https://www.dogpatchurbangardens.com/
I talk a lot about the benefits of raw milk! If you’re looking for how you can access some look here: https://www.realmilk.com/ (see my post about benefits of raw milk)
This local pasture-raised pork is so good! A friend of mine recently let me try some they had: https://www.facebook.com/Pasture-Raised-Goodness-441047080050875
You’ll know we buy these Local grass-fed-gluten-free beef sticks by the 100’s at a time! They are seriously SO good! The kids love them and they make such an easy on the go snack! https://www.facebook.com/CoryFamilyFarm
What Your Doctor May Not Know About Folic Acid
Are you pregnant or in the preconception period and have been told to take a prenatal with folic acid? Then this info is especially important for you! I encourage you to dig in.
Folic acid found in enriched foods or supplements, once ingested, has to be activated in our body by an enzyme called DHFR. This is a very slow process, and research indicates that high doses of folic acid from enriched foods and supplementation completely impair the DHFR enzyme, therefore, impairing the ability to activate folic acid into its useful form dihydrofolate. This causes un-metabolized folic acid to circulate in the blood, unable to be utilized by the body.
Folic acid ingestion and metabolism have also been shown to inhibit the MTHFR enzyme, ultimately inhibiting methylation (gene expression and repression…aka…what traits, diseases, etc... we have turned on & off in our body)
Consider that in research 220mcg of folic acid is considered a high dose, but the RDA recommends 400 mcg for adults and 800 mcg for pregnant women. This recommendation is double the limit for the DHFR enzyme to convert it into the active form.
Research shows that women who are supplementing with folic acid are still having babies with neural tube defects, and in 100% of the blood samples in these mothers is un-metabolized folic acid.
So, why are moms with enough folic acid still having babies with neural tube defects? Because neural tube defects are not a folic acid deficiency problem, they are a methylation deficiency. So, if you’re pregnant and supplementing with folic acid (which is in most conventional store-bought prenatal supplements & often still recommended by your OB) you’re impairing methylation and the MTHFR gene thus you’re still at risk, possibly even a greater risk, for having a baby with NTD.
Even further folic acid in either supplement form or enriched foods like bread, pasta, etc… binds more readily to the receptors in our body’s cells than natural folates are able to. So, even if you’re doing your due diligence to eat all those leafy greens with natural folates. If you are eating enriched foods or taking folic acid supplements than your body isn’t able to adequately absorb natural folates.
Research shows that mothers who are taking a high dose of folic acid have much higher rates of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and 98% of those children show MTHFR SNP (gene mutation) which may be related to the overload of folic acid mothers are getting. This issue may progress as the infant is given formula that is fortified with folic acid or through the breast milk of a mother who is taking folic acid.
So, what to do?
Avoid processed foods that are enriched with folic acid
Take a quality prenatal like Seeking Health or Thorne that have active forms of folate instead of synthetic folic acid
Eat 1-2 cups of veggies high in natural folates with each meal like leafy greens, broccoli, beets, asparagus. Eat them raw and uncut when able as cooking and chopping deplete folates
If you need to use formula look for an organic formula that uses an active form of folate vs folic acid
Stress & Digestion
How does our stress affect our digestion?
Well, first let’s consider what constitutes as stress. The brain doesn’t differentiate physical stress from psychological stress. Therefore, stress to our body is anything from negative thoughts, threats, and willful sleep deprivation (psychological stressors) to trauma from an accident, infections, over-exercising, and sleep deprivation/insomnia (physical stress).
The normal, short-lived, stress response by our body to these stressors is the activation of our sympathetic nervous system or better known as our “fight or flight” response. You know the one that is activated when a bear is chasing you in the woods! Our body responds to all the above stressors as if they are the bear!
The fight or flight responses include:
Increased heart rate
Constriction of blood vessels to viscera & skin
Dilation of blood vessels to heart, lungs, brain, and skeletal muscles (so you can run from the bear aka the stressor)
Contraction of spleen
Conversion of glycogen (stored sugar) into glucose (sugar) in the liver (again so you have an burst of energy to run from the bear aka perceived the stressor)
Sweating
Dilation of airways
DECREASE IN DIGESTIVE ACTIVITIES
Water retention and elevated blood pressure
Ok, so these are all NORMAL responses and we want them to occur in response to a stressor, especially if that bear is chasing us!
The problem then lies in the fact that most of us today live in a state of CHRONIC STRESS. Meaning we constantly have these perceived stressors overloading our system (work stress, sleep deprivation, over-exercising, under-eating, etc…) When this happens our hypothalamic (endocrine gland) releasing hormones sustain the stress response causing a resistance reaction aka chronic stress.
So how does this tie into our digestion exactly?
When we are constantly in a state of stress, as mentioned above, we have decreased digestive functions. Our body thinks that we need to be pumping all our blood and focus onto our body systems like our heart, lungs, and muscles so that we can run form the bear (the perceived stressor), and limits the blood and activity of the digestive system. Because who cares about eating or pooping when you have a bear chasing you?
Why does this matter?
When our digestive system isn’t functioning optimally we aren’t breaking down our food which means we aren’t absorbing it either. This leads to nutritional deficiencies, lethargy, brain fog, reproductive difficulties, menstrual cycle disturbances, gut infections, a decrease in immune system, and more!
Our overall health is dependent on a healthy digestive system.
So, what can we do to decrease stress & improve digestion?
Decreasing stress
Light to Moderate exercise daily like yoga and walks
Set up good sleep habits, ensure you are getting 8-9 hours of sleep, go to bed before 10 pm
Turn off your phone/manage screen time. Always being available via text/FB/email is a stressor
Get outside in the sunshine
Download the IBreathe app and take breaks through the day to breath deep
Improving Digestion
Avoid foods that are inflammatory (sugar, processed foods, pesticides, conventional dairy, eggs, gluten, and wheat)
Sit down to eat
Take a few deep breaths before meals (get out of the fight or flight/stress response)
Eat slowly and chew your food well
Avoid drinking liquids with your meals