Chair Yoga for Joint Healing - Yoga Prehab (TM) with Tristan

 So, I'm pretty much a qigong girl, have been doing that since the mid-1990s, but I came across this recently and liked it a lot. Especially, I like this guy's attitude; don't wait until you have a problem and need rehabilitation, get proactive and do PREHABilitatin to stay flexible and healthy.

The video is about 18 minutes, includes explanation and practice. There is a course, you can find the link in the description of the video on YouTube. See link at end.

The only thing you need is a chair with no arms. A towel and throw pillow could be handy. 

(Ignore the intro photo, it does not reflect the practice at all!) 

Find on YouTube

Chair Yoga for Joint Healing - Yoga Prehab (TM) with Tristan

Dr Mark Hyman podcast interview with Kelly Noonan Gores on The HEAL Podcast

 This  has such Great information, I had to share it! 

Here is the description from Kelly's The HEAL Podcast:

Dr. Mark Hyman is a practicing family physician and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, 14 times New York Times bestselling author, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He has devoted his life to helping others discover optimal health by addressing the root causes of chronic disease through the power of functional medicine. Dr. Hyman believes that our biggest risk factor for disease, disability, and death is our diet, with the western diet being among the most detrimental to our health.

Today, I sit with Dr. Hyman to discuss his latest book, The Pegan Diet and how food is medicine, which can heal or harm. We break down the issues with dairy, wheat, and meat, and delve into many of the common misconceptions surrounding food as a whole. By making the right choices in our food (which can be done on a budget!) we can reverse chronic disease and heal our bodies, ultimately inviting us to see and use our local grocery store as a FARMACY.

12 Ways to Improve Your Circulation for Healthy Blood Flow, According to Doctors

This is a partial reprint of an article by Krissy Brady on Prevention.com, a list of a dozen natural ways to improve circulation. Visit the article to see all the details. 

My personal interest in healthy circulation is due to gum recession. I don't yet know if this will help, but dehydration and poor circulation can affect teeth and gums, and I believe that incorporating some of these ideas - I've been rather lazy of late - will not only improve overall wellness, but help my gums as well. 

What is Your WHY for wanting to improve your circulation? When you have a WHY, you are more likely to start a plan and stick with it. So, go for it! 

1 - Go on regular walks.

“Contraction of the calf muscles causes venous blood to be pushed back up to the heart,” says Misty Humphries, M.D., a board-certified vascular surgeon and associate professor of vascular surgery in Sacramento, CA. “The arteries dilate when patients walk and improve blood flow all throughout the body.” 

2 - Take more work breaks

Do your best to take stretch breaks every 15 to 20 minutes, and get-up-and-go breaks from sitting every hour—even if it’s just a power walk around your home.

3 - Eat more fruits and veggies

Besides reducing your sugar and fatty food intake to steer clear of high blood pressure, plaque formation, and diabetes, adding more fruits and veggies to your repertoire leads to more nitrates and other compounds in your diet, says Dr. Patel, which your body then uses to create nitric oxide—a chemical compound we exhale that boosts blood flow by relaxing blood vessels.

4 - Stay Hydrated

“Your blood is about half water, so staying well-hydrated will help keep it moving,” says Dr. Patel. When you’re dehydrated, not only does the amount of blood circulating through your body decrease, but your blood retains more sodium, causing it to thicken and making it that much harder for your circulatory system to do its thing.

5 - Quit smoking

Smoking causes a build-up of plaque in your arteries that can ultimately lead to peripheral artery disease (PAD). 

6 - Manage your blood pressure

Exercising, cutting back on sodium, and reducing stress are some of the lifestyle factors that can help lower your blood pressure and improve your circulation in the process. 

7 - Control your blood sugar

Elevated glucose levels can cause damage to the lining of your small blood vessels and this can mess with your circulation.

 8 - Wear compression socks

Wear compression socks from morning to evening to steadily squeeze your legs so your veins can move blood more efficiently. 

9 - Elevate your legs

Elevating your legs (at or above heart level) improves blood flow to the rest of your body by keeping the blood from pooling in your lower legs. “When you elevate your legs it helps take the pressure off your veins, since they don’t have to work against gravity to get blood back to the heart,” says Dr. Patel.

10 - Drink green tea

Green tea contains catechins, which are compounds that help to improve blood vessel function.

11 - Take it easy on the booze

“Alcohol consumption at levels above one to two drinks per day is associated with high blood pressure,”

12 - Finally, have a family meeting 

“Even without classic risk factors, your genetics and family history play a key role in plaque development.”

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

 

I was in a conversation with a friend the other day talking about vitamins, and she said something like, 'Well, if I get too much Vitamin D, I'll just pee it out.' I said, 'No, your body stores it!' 

And that, in a nutshell, is the major difference between water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. The important piece being that you won't likely have too much of a water-soluble vitamin in your body, but you can accumulate high amounts of fat-soluble vitamins and that may be harmful. 

I've shared information from Fat-Soluble Vitamins: A, D, E, and K - 9.315 from Colorado State University  The authors are J. Clifford and A. Kozil. Please read the article as it contains quite a bit of excellent information I've not included here like quantity needed and signs of deficiency. 

Here is the basic info:

• Small amounts of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K are needed to maintain good  health.
• Fat-soluble vitamins will not be lost when the foods that contain them are cooked.
• The body does not need these vitamins every day and stores them in the liver and adipose  (fat) tissue when not used.
• Megadoses of vitamins A, D, E or K can be toxic and lead to health problems.
• Requirements for vitamins may be expressed in different mathematical units. Close attention should be paid to ensure that similar units are being compared.

As stated, the vitamins that area stored in your body are A, D, E, and K. 

Vitamin A sources are dairy and fish. Also, your body converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A, so carrots, pumpkins, squash, and other orange vegetables, as well as dark green leafy vegetables are good sources.

Vitamin D sources are mainly sunlight - your body makes this vitamin when skin is exposed to sun.  [Other sources state about 20 minutes daily of sun exposure without sunblock will suffice to make an adequate amount of this important vitamin.]  Food sources can be fortified dairy products, oily fish, and cod liver oil. This source recommends exposure to sunlight without sunblock for 10 to 15 minutes twice a week. Vitamin D is extremely important to a strong immune system. 

Vitamin E sources are fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, and sunflower seeds. 

Vitamin K food sources are green, leafy vegetables like spinach, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. 

Here is another excellent website article containing information on fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins as well as micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals Are You Getting What You Need  - A Harvard Health Article. 

Healthy Benefits of Dehydrated Fruits - Do It Yourself

 These are 10 benefits of dehydrated fruits identified by Food N Health. 

1 - Great source of nutrients

2 - Light on the stomach

3 - Easy to digest

4 - Source of instant energy

5 - Delicious

6 - Antioxidants

7 - Rich in Fiber

8 - Rich in calories

9 - Improves immunity

10 - No preservatives 

Number 10 is my personal favorite and the reason I do my own dehydrating. 

As I write, I have a batch of pears in my dehydrator. Above is a photo of strawberries and bananas I did yesterday. 

The berries are very sweet, and the bananas taste like candy. If you want a sweet and healthy treat for yourself and your family - especially kids! - you'll want to take advantage of this! 

It takes a while to dehydrate, anywhere from 4 to 10 hours depending on the density of the fruit, but the nice part is, once you have them set on the trays and turn it on, you can ignore it for the rest of the day! 

Another thing I've make in the past is croutons, plain, garlic, and cheese. Again, very simple, prep and forget for a few hours. 

It's actually pretty relaxing to do this, and you can feel satisfied in the knowledge you're doing something good for yourself, and your family if you have one, and your friends if you share - my friends love getting little jars of my dried fruits! They make sweet holiday treats! 

Here is a link to a dehydrator, the same brand I use but mine is an older model no longer available. This one has an excellent rating! 

Straw Bale Gardening

In my humble opinion, the best way to know what you're eating is to grow it yourself. I've had flower gardens for decades, and have been growing vegetables for about seven or eight years now. Not always successfully, I admit, but for every thing that does not work, I learn how to do it differently and try new things. 

Some years, I've had patio or balcony gardens with everything growing in pots, some years I've had in-ground gardens. I have wanted to try this straw bale technique for a while. Maybe next year! 

 

 Latest edition of Joel Karsten's book.

 

Joel Karsten's website

Straw Bale Garden Club

The connection between inflammation, red (mammal) meat, and NEU5GC

The information in the first 40 minutes of this interview of Dr Roger Seheult with Lewis Howes is pure gold. It's rather long at 1:53:35 and covers many topics relating to health. 

We know we have an inflammation problem in the U. S. and we've been told that red meat can be a cause, but never before have I heard How and Why red meat can be a culprit. Dt Seheult does a fine job explaining it. He talks about a gene called neu5gc and why it's a problem. 

I did a bit of additional research and found these two related articles. See if they apply to you; not all information will, but it's worth researching. 

Neu5gc, Red Meat, and Human Disease:Part I

Neu5gc and Autoimmunity: Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism

Welcome Back!

Ten years is a long time to be on hiatus! 

I did repurpose this blog a couple of times and then changed my mind. It really wants to retain its original character and focus on natural health and wellness. 

I've also learned a lot over the last decade and have plenty of new things to share with you to promote a naturally healthy life and lifestyle. Stay tuned, lots of good things are coming your way!