Last week, I wrote about the most commonly available probiotics and some of their benefits. This week, I'll debunk some common probiotic myths and share what you might expect when you begin taking a probiotic. As I also mentioned last week, you may benefit from taking a probiotic if you've taken antibiotics in recent years, you eat processed foods (or have in the past), or you live or grew up in an urban area. Even if you're generally healthy, you may benefit from taking a probiotic. Because of our Western lifestyles and diet, most people have a compromised microbiome. Also, please keep in mind, if you have SIBO (small intestine bacteria overgrowth), you may not benefit from taking a probiotic. You would want to remove the overgrowth before taking a probiotic. If you are immune compromised, you will also want to avoid taking a probiotic. Even good bacteria could overload the body. Probiotics are a preventative, not a treatment for any condition. Please see your medical provider to see what's best for you. Common Probiotic Myths
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The word "probiotic" is thrown around everywhere. What are they, really?The literal definition of probiotic is pro-life. In terms of how probiotics are applicable to us, they are living organisms that are beneficial to health when administered in appropriate doses. Probiotics are the same bacteria as the beneficial bacteria in our gut. Because of exposure to antibiotics, anti-bacterial soaps, and poor diet, most of us have fewer beneficial bacteria in our guts than we need. So how are the different probiotics, or gut bacteria beneficial?There are four major types of probiotics widely available: Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, soil based bacteria, and spore forming bacteria. Of the four types, there are many different strains that are beneficial depending on your individual gut microbiome.
This part's exciting...at least to me. I guess I'm a bit of a nerd.Simple lifestyle changes go a long way in reducing chronic, low-level inflammation. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, here, chronic, low-level inflammation plays a part in many disorders, such as, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's, arthritis and more. When chronic, low-level inflammation shows itself as an auto-immune disease, your body is unable to turn the immune system off. That's basically what's happening before we ever get to a disease state. The three most common symptoms of chronic, low-level inflammation, are brain-related, joint-related, and digestive system-related. Read more here! The first two almost always lead back to the digestive system, or gut, even if you don't have any digestive system symptoms. The three main causes of chronic, low level inflammation are stress, damage to the digestive system, and toxic overload from environment factors. Read more here. As I wrote in last weeks post, stress and toxic overload, also cause damage to the gut. In fact, researchers are now linking 90% of chronic diseases to an unhealthy gut. Think about it, when you're feeling stressed, worried, or anxious, where do you feel it? If you're like me, it's right in the pit of your stomach. How can you fix it?It's easier than you think, for the most part!
Have you recognized some of the symptoms of chronic, low-grade inflammation in yourself? If you haven't read my last two articles on inflammation, click here for a description of chronic inflammation and click here for my article on the symptoms of chronic inflammation. So, what causes chronic, low-level inflammation?I don't usually eat gluten containing foods much. But this year I hosted Thanksgiving, and I love good old fashioned bread stuffing. My favorite Thanksgiving memories are the smells of onion and celery being sautéed in butter first thing in the morning. So since I love bread stuffing so much, I made a double batch because I DID NOT WANT TO RUN OUT! I didn't run out, in fact I had enough for leftovers for at least one dinner and probably a lunch, too. By Sunday, I woke up with a horrible headache. The kind of headache that doesn't go away with a cup of coffee and doesn't go away by sleeping it off, either. I knew that it was the gluten, so I swore it off. Again! I was pretty successful until the Christmas holiday rolled around. It's just too easy to arrive at a holiday party starved and make bad food choices. So between eating those yummy crackers and cheese, and staying up later than I like, I ended up with the two day headache again the day after Christmas. Doesn't everyone get headaches?Do you really want to be healthy and feel great? Follow these three steps to make it happen.1/10/2018 Make it happen!Most people do want to be healthy and feel great. Then, why isn't it a reality for more people? The reality is that there's a big difference between want and intention. Wanting is simply wishing you can have or do a particular thing. Intending means you've committed to achieving something by making an actionable plan, and sticking to it! The key to intention is action!The first step is to get clear on where you are right now and where you want to go. What do you want to accomplish? How do you want your life to be?
Crowding out!
Crowding out is the idea that instead of taking foods out of your diet or telling yourself that you can't have certain food that may be unhealthy, you add in foods that pack a nutritional punch.
No one wants to feel restricted! Try to have at least half of your plate taken up with vegetables or base your meal around vegetables. Fibrous vegetables take up more space in your stomach, making you feel full and leave less room for foods that may be unhealthy. Most of us could eat more vegetables and we know it!
If you aren't a big vegetable eater, it can be easier to start with sweet vegetables. Almost everyone craves sweets. Rather than depending on processed sugar to satisfy your cravings, add naturally sweet foods to your diet to satisfy your cravings.
Sweet vegetables soothe the internal organs of the body and energize the mind.
And because many of these vegetables are root vegetables, they’re energetically grounding, which helps to balance out the spaciness some people feel after eating other kinds of sweet foods. Adding in sweet vegetables helps to crowd out less healthy food in the diet. Your Mother Told You So....Eat breakfast! Eating breakfast within an hour of waking power starts your day. We all need that, right?
Last August I wrote a blog post about accountability. I had just finished a 2.7 mile open water swim race with a friend and felt that our accountability to each other really helped us make it happen. Fast forward a year and we both decided to sign-up for the race again, even though we both had a lot of other commitments for our summer. This year, we didn't make it happen. In a large part it was because we were distracted by our other commitments. But I also think that we didn't do a very good Job, this year, of holding each other accountable. Sometimes having a close friend as an accountability buddy works and other times you need someone who will be a little tougher on you, someone who won't take no for an answer. Maybe even a larger group to keep you going. This next Monday, September 25th, I'm leading a 21-Day Well-Being Challenge. During the first five days, we'll be working on setting the stage for success. Then we'll go on to food choices, exercise choices, and end with heart and mind health. Click below to find out more! SIX STEPS TO HOLDING YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE
Yes, there's still a common misconception that can be hard to let go of. Eating fats doesn't make you fat. Eating the wrong fats can make you sick!
Healthy fats? Really?
In my last blog post, I talked about my ten healthy body tips. One I mentioned was eating healthy fats, but I didn't really elaborate on it, so it might have been confusing.
Are fats good or bad? The answer is both. Not all fats are created equal.
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Women's Wellness Circle: Create Your Extraordinary Life AuthorHi, I’m Crystal! If you'd like to access my Farmer's Market Friday posts from 2018, click here!
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