UPDATED May 11, 2008
There are so many products on the market claiming health benefits, immune system boosting and antioxidant prowess that it’s difficult to know how to make sense of it all. Here’s a no-nonsense summary of Best Practices for building an arsenal of healthy herbal and supplemental products. It’s not a complete list, by any means, and it does not cover food, but it’s a good foundation for any health-oriented kitchen.
Berry Juice: Find yourself a quality antioxidant-rich berry juice that contains juices from dark purple and red berries, as well as carotenoids from orange veggies. One good product is “Berry Young Juice” from the Young Living group. These types of juices are excellent for restoring antioxidant power to your immune system to fight free radicals, slow aging signs, and increase immunity to viruses and other pathogens.
Green Drink: To compliment the antioxidant juice, add a healthy green drink that combines a number of green substances and superfoods. Some of the best include spirulina, chlorella, seaweed (kelp), spinach powder, olive leaf, and kale. Many of these beverages also contain bee pollen and probiotic cultures and should be kept in the refrigerator after opening. The green drink will add protein, balanced carbohydrates, and mineral nutrients to your diet even if you don’t get them from your food — and you will require fewer vitamins and minerals as a result.
Vitamins & Supplements: The basics that work for just about everybody include plenty of vitamins C and E. A good liquid B-complex is also a staple, as many Americans are B deficient. Get about 10-15 minutes of unblocked sunshine every day for the best source of D vitamins. These will help you stave off colds and fight cancer. One of the most important supplements to add to your health cabinet is a high-quality CoQ-10. Don’t bother getting the crummy stuff ad Walmart or the local drugstore…you’ll be wasting your money. Do your health a favor and invest in a high-quality brand. I use Q-Gel from Tishcon Corporation of Japan. They are on the top of the CoQ-10 game with their products.
Water: A good source of clean, filtered water is essential. If possible, add liquid oxygen or activated carbon to your water for better molecular absorption in the body. Enhanced water can help hydrate your body, clear your intestines and rid your organs of toxins. Another thing to consider in the wate department is a good alkaline water, which keeps your pH more alkaline, which helps to prevent disease. You can find alkalizing water filters or water with alkaline added, such as with calcium, potassium, and cesium.
Fatty Acids & Anti-inflammatories: Keep a healthy supply of fish oils and the spices tumeric, cayenne and garlic oil. These will help with all sorts of joint and back pain, reduce risk of heart disease, and help normalize blood pressure. Always use hemp oil and/or flaxseed oil for salads, baked potatoes and steamed veggies. Alternate these for best results, because each of these, besides being anti-inflammatory, has its own special properties. Garlic is antifungal, cayenne helps fight cancer, and fish oils provide omega-3 fatty acids.
Extracts & Essential Oils: Some of the most important super-supplements to keep on hand include olive leaf extract, cordyceps mushroom powder or extract, and picnoginol (or pine bark extract). These are all super immune boosters. Pine bark extract also provide antioxidants and mushrooms help with brain function and so much more. To these top choices, you can add St. John’s wort for antiviral and antibacterial uses (good for stopping itchy throat), dandelion extract (good all-around health tonic), and liquid Echanacea (immune booster and helps fight colds and infection). Some essential oils to have on hand include tea tree oil (antifungal, antibacterial, antidepressant, grounding), lavendar oil (antifungal, antiviral, anti-stress, fever reducer), and oregano oil for fighting fungus and bacteria (great for skin fungus).
With these basics in your alternative medicine cabinet, you’ll be well nourished with a minimum of confusion and excess bottles in your cupboard.
Bottle photo by http://flickr.com/people/strph/
May 11th, 2008
If you’ve read a few of the posts in this blog, you’ll see that I’m a fan of certain super foods and health formulas. There are certain health supplements (or non-supplement enhancement products) that I think benefit just about anyone who might adopt them. One of these is a good green superfood drink. A good green drink is made from freeze-dried plants and vegetables (and often fruit or fruit juices) and is actually a food product — not a supplement, like a vitamin or mineral supplement. Green drinks are basically food in concentrated, powdered form. The best ones use organic ingredients and combine a variety of food sources, which may include the following super ingredients:
- Spirulina
- Chlorella
- Spinach, kale or other green leafy vegetables
- Maca Root
- Nettles & Milk Thistle
- Gooseberry
- Green tea or extract
- Bee pollen
- Olive leaf
- Wheatgrass, barleygrass or other grasses
- Alfalfa
This is not a complete list, but is a good list of some of the best ingredients to look for in a good green drink. Many green drinks also include probiotic ingredients that help to balance your intestinal flora, reduce yeast infection, and help with digestion and elimination. These are excellent to add to your diet and getting some extra culture can never hurt. If you don’t take a probiotic supplement or eat plenty of live cultures, then getting this in your green drink is a good strategy.
Many of these drinks must be refrigerated for the live cultures to remain live. However, some plant-based cultures can be stored outside of the refrigerator without a problem (although the best require refrigeration and come from animal sources, such as yogurt).
Depending on the green drink you choose, you may be adding more than just vitamins and minerals to your diet. Many green drinks have blood cleansing, blood pressure balancing, diuretic and energy enhancing properties. Here’s the key: By taking a green drink every day, you’ll be giving your body more nutrition and, therefore, you will require less food to nourish your body. Most likely, you will lose weight as a result because you will eat less. Many people report that certain cravings go away when they take green superfoods regularly.
Find a drink that works for you. Experiment with different brands and read the labels to compare ingredients. Some drinks have fillers. Some have more variety of ingredients. Others have organic ingredients. Most have certain key ingredients that come first on the list — and each of these offers something different. Experiment with recipes and methods of taking the powder. Most people combine these with juice and drink in the morning. I find that being able to “shake” the mixture is important, as it really mixes the powder with the juice and eliminates that lumpy texture.
Next article, I’ll compare some of the popular brands and make some recommendations. Stay tuned…
Related Articles:
Comparing Green Superfood Products
My Favorite Power Foods & Super Foods
landscape image credits
August 14th, 2007
Did you know that inflammation is a major factor in numerous medical conditions and could very well be the primary cause of coronary disease? This natural body process is designed to protect tissues (especially skin and ligaments) from certain kinds of injury. But when inflammation is excessive, it can lead to a variety of problems, including:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cardiovascular disease
- Prostate disorders
- Many types of cancer, including colon cancer
- Certain respertory problems
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Some types of tumors
Traditionally, inflammation is treated with anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin and Ibuprofin, but have some unfortunate side-effects, including erectile disfunction (caused by the inhibition of nitric oxide, an inflammatory substance essential for erection) and decreased immune response. As usual, you’re better off using natural treatments to reduce inflammation. Thankfully, nature has provided quite a few plants and herbs for us to try:
- Omega-3 fatty acids are among the best anti-inflammatory substances, especially those found in oily fish. The omega-3 fatty acids produce resolvins (a type of fat) that have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
- White Willow bark extract is what aspirin originally came from. Taking the pure, herbal form has the same effects effects as taking aspirin, but without the chemical processing agents and additives. Aspirin is an effective anti-inflammatory and helps prolong the effects of other herbal remedies. It also has antisceptic and antispasmotic properties and helps reduce fever.
- Lobelia extract is used for all types of inflammation, especially those associated with the broncules, such as coughs and asthma. It has mild sedative qualities (relaxes broncules).
- Black walnut hull or extract is also an anti-inflammatory agent and helps purify the blood. It is commonly used in natural colon cleanse products due to its laxative and anti-parasitic qualities.
- Tumeric is one of nature’s best anti-inflammatory herbs. It works both topically and internally and has been found to fight cancer cells. It also has antidepressant qualities and helps the liver and gallbladder produce bile, which aids digestions. If you are suffering from gallstones, you should first cleanse the gallbladder of stones before using tumeric.
There are many other anti-inflammatory herbs besides these. You can look into wild yam oil, milk thistle, ginger oil and vitamin C to name a few of the more noteworthy possibilities. With all these choices for anti-inflammatory herbs and remedies, nature has made it pretty easy for us to keep inflammation under control.
Fish photo by http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jewgienij_Bal
December 9th, 2006
UPDATED May 11, 2008
