The PMS Diet!

Who else experiences PMS symptoms of existential dread and sadness which suddenly turns into rage and then after 5 minutes you realize you are on an emotional roller coaster and this is not how you really are?? I DO, and it used to be so much worse before I found out we could eat the right foods to lessen these manic feelings!! That’s just the emotional part of it, but the physical symptoms of cramps, acne, breast tenderness, lower back pain, BM issues, bloating, and fatigue can also be balanced with the proper nutrients.

When I was in college I knew nothing about nutrition. I moved away from my luxury of home cooked food, so my diet predominantly consisted of Wendy’s, a lot of prepackaged foods, and eating out a majority of the time. Definitely not the healthiest time period of my life, but we live and we learn! Since 2018 I’ve been implementing healthier dietary and lifestyle choices and now in 2023 I can say with confidence that what we put into our body and how we nourish it is so important.

My mood swings have severely reduced, they do occur on occasion but I can attribute it to my hormones and instead of being hard on myself, I’m trying to be understanding of it. The physical symptoms for me used to be so much more intense than they are now! In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they say if women feel discomfort it’s associated with an imbalance. Eating the right foods help bring your hormones and body into balance.

It’s key to limit and/or avoid high sugar, artificial/processed foods, and foods using white flour such as white bread, pastas, and pizzas. Focus on eating whole foods consisting of lean protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins that inhibit inflammation which can help with cramps and also protect against oxidative stress.

Omega 3 fatty acids from fish, nuts, and seeds promote a healthy inflammatory response as well and can help with mood.

Dark chocolate can curb the sugar cravings and is a source of iron and magnesium. Iron is necessary due to the loss of iron during our cycle and magnesium promotes a positive mood and relaxes the smooth muscles which can also be beneficial for cramps.

Lentils and beans are a good source of protein for those following a vegetarian diet. Avocados and ghee (clarified butter) are other fantastic healthy fats. Filling in nutritional gaps with food is essential for whole body health.

Tips for Managing Anxiety

Its wild times right now, the last 2 years have seemed like a bombardment of bad news one after the other. Anxiety is natural when a sense of impending doom looms, so how do we manage it?

We first got to remember that anxiety is a biological reaction that stems from fear. We physically feel nervous, shaky, sweaty, panicky, and shortness of breath all because we are EMOTIONALLY FEELING fear. Meditation is a helpful tool to separate the physical sensations of the body from the emotional triggers caused by the mind. Look within to discover the root cause of your fears and try to feel them to really heal them.

Secondly, a lot of things are simply out of our control. We cannot control what others do or say, or what is going on in our external world, for example, the weather will be something we can never control. So from that perspective it’s good to be aware of what you CAN control and what you CAN’T control. At the end of the day, the only thing we really have control over is ourselves, how we react to certain situations or current events. Our reactions to anxiety provoking news, which is inevitable in one’s lifetime, is how we manage our anxiety. If something in particular is triggering your anxiety, remove that trigger as best you can.

When life throws adversities your way, it ok to feel anxiety, because remember, feeling is healing. However, find the opportunities and learn lessons from that unfortunate circumstance instead of being a victim of your circumstance. You can either let something bad turn you angry, bitter, and depressed or you can let it empower you to make lasting change within yourself and help those around you. Let something negative allow you to grow mentally, physically, and spiritually. How can you solve the problem instead of dwelling on it?

So feeling anxious? Try a grounding exercise where you use your senses to navigate back to the present. REMEMBER TO TAKE DEEP BREATHS! Observe how you breathe when you feel anxious, usually its shallow breaths, taking deep breaths helps with alleviating anxiety. Now look for 5 things where you are, touch 4 things, listen to 3 things, smell 2 things, taste 1 thing. When we feel anxious it’s generally because we are not in the present moment, we are either in the future or the past. When you’ve achieved a state of calmness, journal about your experience. Write about your anxious thoughts, how it made you physically feel and usually when you see your thoughts written down on paper its easier to see how far-fetched some tend to be.

Anxiety and depression has been linked to the state of our gut health. Our gut is connected to our brain via the vagus nerve, so if our gut is in dysbiosis, as will our mind. Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters that give us the feeling of happiness and pleasure, and they both are created in the gut so it’s important we feed ourselves with the proper foods to make sure our gut is happy. Limiting sugar, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, artificial flavors and replacing them with whole foods rich in lean proteins, healthy fats, and a variety of fruits and vegetables will take you a long way! We are what we eat, so if we are eating foods that cause chaos in our gut, then it will cause chaos in our minds as well. Eating fish, magnesium, and probiotic rich foods, or supplementing them will help with mental health in the long term.

Staying active, exercising at least a minimum of 30 minutes whether it be intense running, biking, weight training or tai chi, yoga, gardening, can significantly improve anxiety and depression by simply releasing endorphins that make us feel better. Getting a minimum of 8 hours of sleep is essential as well. Sleep debt is a real thing, if you are constantly losing an hour of sleep each night you will reach a deficit that will compound until it starts manifesting as anxiety.

These are simple habits that can be added each week to feel overall a better state of wellbeing. It’s not hard or expensive and doesn’t include a prescription, the hardest thing is choosing one good habit and sticking to it! Some supplements that are natural and can help with stress and anxiety include ashwaganda, L-theanine, lemon balm, and passionflower.

Remember to be kind to yourself, anxiety is natural and being aware of it and wanting to manage it is a huge step in helping yourself heal. When you notice feelings of anxiousness coming on, take a pause, limit the trigger, decide what you can control in that moment and do something you enjoy. Listen to your favorite song or read a book, dance, walk, jog, drink water, hang out with a friend, use aromatherapy, these will all help you flip the script by creating new neural pathways in the brain!

How Can You Make White Rice Healthier?

Being an Indian, white rice is a staple in my household. I’ve been eating it since I was a baby but little did I know until recently that white rice is one of the most highly processed grains and contains a high glycemic index. White rice removes the germ and bran which is where the bulk of its vitamins, minerals, essential fats and fibers are found. So really, white rice is far from being healthy. Alternatives to white rice are brown rice which still has the germ and bran intact, so you obtain the vitamins and minerals we need to thrive. Also barley is a great alternative that contains beta-glucans which lowers LDL “bad” cholesterol. Quinoa and millet are awesome gluten free grains! So think about making the switch! However, if you’re a die-hard white rice lover like my dad who refuses to look at any other grain despite its health effects, there’s a wonderful solution for you!

When you add a tablespoon of coconut oil to white rice while it’s cooking, it completely changes how we digest it. Usually white rice digests quickly, that’s why we tend to feel hungry almost immediately after eating it. If coconut oil is added, it changes the rice’s chemical composition and the digestible starches turn into indigestible starches or more commonly known as resistance starches. What does this even mean? It means that the rice doesn’t readily metabolize into glucose (sugar). When glucose isn’t used by our body for energy, it eventually converts into body fat and is a contributing factor to gaining weight.

Coconut oil in white rice, being a resistant starch is considered a prebiotic. Prebiotic foods feed the good bacteria in our guts to help diversify the gut microbiome to aid our immunity and digestive system. This little hidden secret prevents body fat accumulation and cuts the calories of the rice itself. A cup of rice is usually around 246 calories, when adding coconut oil, it reduces to 147 calories! That’s quite a deal for those white rice fanatics who want to lose weight and take care of their overall health without removing something they love out of their diet.

What Can You Do To Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease?

What Foods Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disorder that is caused by the brain shrinking and brain cells dying. It’s the most common type of dementia and affects 5.8 million people aged 65 + in America. It leads to progressive cognitive decline and memory loss. Being a holistic health coach, I’m all about that prevention method, there may be no cure for Alzheimer’s disease but there is a way to prevent it from happening to you or your loved ones!

What are the 4 key factors for a healthy brain?

1. Diet and supplementation
2. Stress management
3. Exercise
4. Spiritual fitness

A holistic approach to any disease is viewing the imbalances throughout the entire body. Nutritional deficiencies, heavy metal toxicities, hormonal imbalances, and inflammation should all be taken into consideration. American’s have a processed diet high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and salt. This leads to numerous health issues including hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease to name a few.

These foods are all part of an anti-inflammatory diet which will help your body in other ways as well! Replacing unhealthy foods with healthier options is the easiest way to start eating healthier. 

• Eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, it provides the body with the phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed to boost brain health.
• Quality proteins such as pasture raised chicken and/or grass-fed beef
• Healthy fats such as omega-3 which can be found in salmon, nuts, and seeds
• Complex carbs such as sweet potatoes and other non-starchy vegetables as well as grains like quinoa and barley
• Fiber (include prebiotic foods into your diet to feed gut bacteria)
• Anti-inflammatory herbs such as turmeric

Sugar Addiction!

How many people know that sugar is a real addiction?! Our ancestors did not have access to as much sugar as we have to today. Sugar is everywhere and it’s honestly scary what it’s doing to our society. Brain scans show the dopamine release of a cocaine user and high sugar consumer –an obese person, and the results are not that shocking. Sugar and cocaine do look similar so why wouldn’t they have the same effect on the brain? So if you think you don’t do drugs, think again… you are getting the same dopamine release through SUGAR!!!

Artificial sugar is toxic, inflammatory, and it has 0 benefits for our body, it actually hurts our immune system. Just consider how much sugar you consume in 1 single day! How many spoons of sugar do you put in your coffee? 1 teaspoon of sugar = 4.2 grams of sugar so knowing that you can calculate how much you are consuming. The recommended amount to limit per day is 4 tsp for kid, 5 tsp for women and 9 tsp for men. Anything over this is now just hurting your mind and body. A pillar of good health is awareness, being aware of what you are putting into your body, how much, how it makes you feel etc. Knowing this helps you accommodate for feeling your absolute best.

Replace the sugary juices and sodas for water. There is nothing more refreshing than water!! I grew up never drinking water, I drank a disgusting amount of sugar now that I think back on my childhood years. I drank so much mountain dew, lemonade, Coca-Cola, ugh just thinking about it makes me cringe! I drank so much soda that when I went to the dentist she asked me why my teeth were soft… that was eye opening! Yet I still didn’t change because I had never drank water and I wasn’t going to start now!

It wasn’t until I was 21 that I started drinking water because I would’ve died of dehydration in Ecuador if I didnt! I was building a staircase for a community on a mountain in Esmeralda while on a medical mission trip and I was hauling concrete for hours, if I didn’t drink water because I was craving sugar I would’ve certainly perished!

My issue was that I didn’t like water because it had no taste, that’s where the sugar addiction part comes in. Our brains crave that sugary drink for that hit of dopamine! A good way to convert to a water lover is by almost dying doing what you love HAHA. It was after that life or death experience (or so it seemed!) that made me a water drinker. I try to drink 55oz a day as per recommended for my weight but I have to admit that I don’t always meet the goal. There’s always room for improvement I say!

I still drink lemonade here and there but I am conscious about my water intake now because I can feel my body is more tired and in pain on days that I drink less. Water to me now is so refreshing, I feel alive!!!

Remember sugar just isn’t in beverages, it’s also hidden in A LOT of packaged and processed foods. Always read the ingredient list and nutritional label before you eat or drink anything. Personally I like to know what I’m putting into my body. Here are ways to kick your sugar addiction today!

The Beginner’s Guide to Cutting Out Sugar

Breaking Sugar Addiction!

Did You Know Okra Is Related To Hibiscus?!

As you know, I am growing okra in my garden and I decided to try eating the leaves because I felt bad throwing them away when I cut them off. So turns out they are edible and as any other leafy green vegetable, it’s filled with nutrition our bodies could use. Remember that the food we eat nourishes our cells, muscles, tissues and organs. So we need vitamins and minerals to replenish our body from living in an industrial world, exposed to toxic chemicals every day.

The okra leaf contains insoluble fiber and has trace amounts of vitamin A and K, iron, and magnesium. What is insoluble fiber you ask? It’s fiber that cannot be digest by our body so it regulates gut function by keeping food and waste moving through the body. It helps repopulate the gut microbiome with good bacteria. When we have the beneficial gut bacteria, it assists with breaking down food and absorbing its nutrients.  It helps relieve constipation so if that is something you struggle with… add sources of insoluble fiber in your diet which besides dark leafy vegetables, includes carrots, potatoes, legumes, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, brown rice, barley, and couscous.

The leaves are huge and they do have little hairs on the surface that can irritate the skin. My recommendation is to boil the leaves to soften the hairs so it’s not noticeable when eaten. I sautéed mine on the stove with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, thinking it would turn into something comparable to sautéed spinach. However, it turned into the okra leaf version of kale chips, still delicious! I know that not everyone has the ability to grow okra, but if you can and you’ve ever questioned if you can eat the leaves… now you know!

The Health Benefits of Sweet Potato Leaves!

So I decided to do what I’ve never done before and I planted 2 sweet potatoes from my kitchen into a pot of soil. What ensued was a beautiful lush plant that came into existence! This easy to grow spud literally has 0 maintenance and not only is the final product a delicious delight, but the leaves are very healthy to eat too!! I harvested them and my momma sautéed them with garlic, salt, ghee and red chili flakes and added it to lobster ravioli, soooo soooo good!! The leaves grow relatively quick, I saw the first growth maybe 2 weeks after I first planted it. The sweet potato itself takes 110-120 days to harvest.

Sweet potato leaves are a great source of calcium, magnesium, iron, folic acid, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, antioxidants, vitamin C, K, E and A. It contains higher nutrients and dietary fiber compared to other leafy greens, in particular it has 88% of vitamin K. So if you don’t know how to get your vitamins and nutrients from food, look no further!

Anyone can grow this, it can be grown in a small pot, and all you will need is a pot, sweet potatoes, soil and the sun! It’s excellent at reducing inflammation, maintaining eye, brain, digestive, and heart health. It helps lower blood sugar levels, it boosts the immune system and is a great source of protein. Vitamin A is necessary for healthy hair and skin by contributing to collagen production. It also lowers inflammation which lowers the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Vitamin K helps prevent the arteries of the heart from calcifying which is one of the main causes for heart attacks. It takes away plaque cells from lining of the blood vessels and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. It’s also necessary for calcium absorption for optimal bone health, vitamin K along with vitamin D reduces the risk of osteoporosis. Check out my post about the health benefits of vitamin K. This vitamin is crucial for blood clotting and treating various cancers, so we need it daily for vital health.

Like I mentioned, sweet potato leaves are great for inflammation which is a key factor in digestive health. Excess inflammation leads to numerous digestive disorders, so by lowering inflammation gut health is easier to heal. The leaves help with nausea, diarrhea, stomach aches, and constipation. There are many more health benefits associated with eating this leafy green but I don’t want to bore you! I’d imagine it would be hard to find these greens in a store. That’s why I’d recommend growing it yourself because it’s fun and easy, just buy an organic sweet potato and plant it. You can cultivate a new hobby too!

Welcome To My Garden!

Hey guys!! I know it’s been quite a while since my last post, I’ve recently been focusing my attention to my newest project… gardening!! If you follow me you’ll know I recently moved and was blessed with a bigger yard to pursue my passion in gardening. So right now I’m growing quite a few fruits and vegetables, it’s definitely hard work, but its soooooo totally worth it!!!

Every morning I enjoy waking up and taking a walk around the garden to look at any progress, pests, and diseases. I will pull any mushrooms from the raised bed and keep up on any maintenance. Having the garden has given me a sense of routine to uphold every morning, which forces me to meditate and exercise or at least stretch to get my day going! Then I will go to work and when I come home I love to go straight to the garden to see the growth that has developed over the day!!! It’s so amazing to see the fruits of your labor! Today my mom and I harvested okra, fenugreek and cilantro. We also saw the cucumber fruiting, after it combated a nasty worm infestation about a month ago.

What gardening has taught me is that loss will occur but great things are yet to come. I have a really hard time cutting plants, but what I need to realize is that cutting it, allows it to flourish!! I am so excited to be growing my own produce. I’m currently growing radishes, beet root, asparagus, brussel sprouts, okra, sweet potato, tomatoes, napa cabbage, cucumber, malabar spinach, a plethora of assorted chili peppers, bananas, moringa, mango, jackfruit, sapote, ivy gourd, curry leaves, and an assortment of herbs such as basil, thai basil, sage, dill, tarragon, oregano, thyme, cilantro, parsley, rosemary and chives.

It’s always something I’ve wanted to do since I was a young child, most likely from watching my mom, grandma and grandpa always in the garden, made me naturally want to follow in their footsteps. There will be days I will feel a bit overwhelmed thinking I’ve bitten too much than I can chew, however, thus far when the garden has experienced any foreign invader threats in the forms of pests and diseases I’ve gotten advice from friends that have prevented any heavy damage. So thank you to those who give me advice on maintaining my garden, yall know who you are!!

Gardening is work, yet somehow it doesn’t feel like work to me. I absolutely enjoy the heavy lifting that goes along with maintaining a garden because as seen in my last post about The Blue Zones, the exercise that we get from gardening helps with increasing our life expectancy! It’s helped me cultivate even more patience, diligence, and a grateful mindset for what goes into growing the food we eat. It’s so easy to go to the grocery store and buy our produce, but does anyone really think about what goes into growing what we eat? Farmers don’t get enough credit for how much hard laborious work they put into producing your food.

Also a lot of the produce we get from grocery stores are sprayed with pesticides because yes, pests on produce is a real problem, but do you really want cancer causing chemicals in your food supply? It really makes you question what you are putting into your body and I stand by organic gardening and using only organic pesticides like neem oil, chilies, and garlic.

The whole point of consuming food is to nourish our bodies and if our produce contains toxic chemicals that are hurting us, I’d rather pass on grocery store produce and grow my own while I get a work out doing it!! On that note here are a few pictures of my garden and what I am currently growing. Follow me on Instagram @thevitaqueen1 for daily posts on gardening updates and general holistic wellness facts!!

The Blue Zone Regions Of The World!

Did you know there are 5 cities in the world where the people residing within that community live to be centenarians, that means they live into their 100’s!!! These cities are:

• Icaria, Greece
• Okinawa, Japan
• Nicoya, Costa Rica
• Loma Linda, California
• Sardinia, Italy

I learned about the “Blue Zones” while I was taking courses at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and thereafter I kept seeing/reading about it everywhere! What’s unique about these zones, residents only suffer a fraction of the diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world. The common habits that were shared amongst these individuals were healthier lifestyle choices including spending time outside in nature, gardening, social circles/family engagements, constant moderate physical activity, and no smoking or alcohol.

In addition, these communities practice their faith (spirituality or religion), don’t have a “time urgency”, and also tend to know their life purpose which all in turn directly relate to stress reduction. The diets consist of a plant-based or semi–vegetarian diet, legumes, nuts, soy, whole grains, high polyphenol wine, and turmeric.

So even though we may not live in these geographical regions, or if you do, lucky you! That’s not to say that we can’t pick up these healthy habits and incorporate them into our daily lives to achieve longevity and reduce the rate of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are high blood pressure (hypertension), certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, etc. diseases that are preventable!

In Icaria which is a Greek island, the people eat a Mediterranean diet which is rich in olive oil, red wine, and home grown vegetables. In the Ogliastra region of Sardinia, the region is mountainous where the residents work on farms and also consume lots of red wine. In Okinawa, Japan the people eat a lot of soy based foods and practice tai chi (WHICH IS TOTALLY MY JAM!!!), the oldest women in the world live here. In Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica the Nicoyan diet is based around beans and corn tortillas. The residents perform physical jobs into their old age and also have a sense of life purpose known as “plan de vida”. The Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California are a very religious group that are strict vegetarians and live in tight knit communities.

Foods That Lower Cholesterol Naturally!

Heart disease has widely been known to be caused by high cholesterol levels and due to that, doctors are quick to put patients on Statins by the age of 45. Did you know that heart attacks and atherosclerosis are ALSO caused by white blood cells entering the arteries following LDL blocking the arteries? Cholesterol is ESSENTIAL for brain health, however, Statins lower both LDL and HDL cholesterol. While LDL is the bad cholesterol and should be lowered,, HDL cholesterol is necessary for removing excess bad cholesterol from the blood. So instead of having to fall back on medications, opt to eat foods that NATURALLY lower LDL cholesterol!

According to a Harvard Health Study, the best foods to implement into your daily diet include:

              Eggplant

              Beans

              Garlic

              Okra

              Fatty fish like salmon & mackerel has a lot of omega 3 fatty acids!

              Unprocessed soy

              Nuts – especially walnuts and almonds which are high monosaturated fats & omega 3 fatty acids

              Strawberries

              Citrus fruits

              Apples

              Grapes

              Oats & barley – whole grains that have tons of soluble fiber!

              Avocados

              Carrots

              Potatoes

              Dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale

Dark chocolate & cocoa

Green/black/white tea

Olive oil that is left cold and not heated              

Reference:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/11-foods-that-lower-cholesterol

What Is Leaky Gut?

I have briefly mentioned leaky gut in previous posts as it being a leading cause of inflammation in the body, which manifests into numerous other chronic health disorders, but what is it?

When the gut lining weakens, it develops microscopic holes in the intestinal wall, allowing toxins to pass into the bloodstream. There are many contributing factors to how the gut lining weakens: our gut microbiome may become imbalanced by gut infections such as parasites, candida overgrowth, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), the foods we eat, the drugs and alcohol we may consume, chronic stress exposure, and our environment.

The toxins include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and undigested foods, and we want our gut to destroy these things. After prolonged toxin exposure in the blood, the body could experience constipation, bloating, diarrhea, gas, autoimmune disorders such as colitis and Crohn’s, even asthma, allergies, psoriasis, eczema, hormonal imbalances, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and depression.  Remember that the gut and brain are constantly communicating with each other (check out my posts on the Gut-Brain Axis, SIBO, and Candida Overgrowth to learn more!!) Our happy hormones are created in the gut, so if our gut is hurting, our mind will hurt as well.

Gluten is a known gut irritant and inflammatory food, along with alcohol, vegetable oils, canola oil, dairy, refined grains, and sugar (check out my post on Inflammatory Foods!!). Eliminate these foods out of your diet along with processed foods gradually by replacing them with healthier options such as organic fruits and vegetables, lean meats, healthy fats (ghee/coconut/olive oil), smaller fish like salmon, seeds, and nuts. Add bone broth to your daily diet, this has a plethora of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and collagen to heal and seal the holes in the gut lining.

Some common environmental concerns include the mercury found in large/farmed fish, BPAs found in plastics, and pesticides on produce (check out my posts on Hormone Disruptors and the Best Fish To Eat With Lower Mercury Levels!!). Medications that are harsh on the gut lining include antibiotics, NSAIDs (anti-inflammatory pain killers), birth control, steroids, and PPI (acid blocking drugs).

If you know you have IBS and intestinal discomfort, check out my website Rainbow Body Vitality above in the menu to fill out a FREE health history. It will help you become conscious of your eating habits, and you can begin healing your gut today! Remember that our bodies are constantly healing, so if you target the root cause of any other medical issues you may have, you can start to feel alive again! Kick those gut related issues to the curb!!

What Foods Cause Inflammation?!

Recently, research suggests that chronic diseases such as heart disease, strokes, hypertension (high blood pressure), cancer, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, osteoporosis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, COPD, autoimmune disorders such as colitis, IBS, Crohn’s, lupus, and multiple sclerosis are the result of chronic inflammation. These are all lifestyle diseases that can be prevented if you become mindful of what you put into your body, and you could avoid getting on prescription medications for these diseases if that is what you want.

So what causes chronic inflammation? Certain foods trigger an inflammatory response within the body, the following foods release inflammatory markers:

Canola/vegetable oil (inflammatory fats including trans and saturated fats)

Dairy

Gluten

Refined sugars

Refined grains

White flour (cakes and pastries)

Food additives (artificial ingredients)

Fried foods

Alcohol

Processed meats

These are foods that our body simply cannot break down and digest and also lack the essential vitamins and minerals to establish a feeling of wellbeing. Constantly incorporating these foods in your diet exposes your body to oxidative stress, and it causes leaky gut which also contributes to chronic inflammation by allowing toxins to pass through the intestinal wall to the bloodstream (this leads to mental health issues as well), and weight gain. Stay tuned for a post on leaky gut coming soon!!

Diet and lifestyle are major key players for reducing inflammation, this includes eating a whole foods diet rich in vitamins, nutrients, and healthy fats like avocados, nuts, ghee, coconut and olive oil and eliminating a processed/artificial diet. Getting proper sleep and reducing stress is so vital for health and wellness, without adequate sleep our hormones and digestion go out of whack, this in turn leads to many other disorders! Obviously exercise is a necessity for optimal health and also reducing stress, it releases endorphins, and strength training regenerates new cells and strengthens bones. Living a sedentary lifestyle can cause muscle atrophy and osteoporosis and even contribute to anxiety and depression.

Start reducing inflammation by integrating some of these foods into your diet! Some ANTI-inflammatory foods include:

Salmon

Bone broth

Coconut oil

Turmeric

Green leafy vegetables

Bok choy

Ginger

Broccoli

Celery

Beets

Walnuts

Flaxseeds

Chia seeds

Blueberries

Pineapple

Have a great week everyone!! Stay safe! 🙂

How Is Gut Health Related To Mental Health?!

Recently the word “gut-brain axis” has been everywhere, but what is it?! Scientists have discovered the connections between our gut, its microbiome (bacterial quantity & quality) and our brain.

The gut (our digestive system) and the brain are connected via the largest nerve in the body called the vagus nerve. Through this link, the gut and the brain have a bi-directional (2-way) communication. Simply put, the brain and gut send signals to each other!

Did you know that many hormones and neurotransmitters are created in the gut? The top 3 neurotransmitters that everyone may have already heard of are Serotonin, Dopamine, and GABA, these all regulate mood and emotions.

• 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut and contributes to the feeling of happiness. It also regulates appetite and digestion, and is a precursor to melatonin so it regulates sleep and our circadian rhythm.
• 50% of dopamine is produced in the gut, and contributes to the feeling of accomplishment, reward and motivation.
• GABA contributes to controlling the feelings of fear and anxiety. Studies on mice have shown that taking certain probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus) increases GABA production in the gut, reducing depression and anxiety.

Now lets redirect to our gut microbiome, we have trillions of bacterial colonies (approximately 40 trillion) that are so important for digestion. They break down our foods and assimilate our nutrients, and it is vital for immune health as well. Our microbiome which has been developing since we were in our mother’s wombs is responsible for killing off any viruses and bad bacteria that may cause illnesses and diseases. Without these diverse warriors our health is compromised!!!

When our gut microbiome has a higher number of bad bacteria to good bacteria (dysbiosis) it causes what is known as leaky gut. This is is when the tight junctions in our intestines are permeated with holes that allow these adverse substances such as fungi and viruses to pass through into our blood. This excess exposure to toxicity causes our body to react with releasing an inflammatory toxin known as lipopolysaccaride (LPS). Chronic inflammation and high levels on LPS in the blood have been linked to severe depression, dementia and schizophrenia.

So what can we do to begin healing our gut? EAT REAL WHOLE FOODS!!! Cook your own foods with lean meats, vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts. Eliminate sugar because it feeds the bad bacteria and artificial ingredients that our body does not recognize as food. Eliminate gluten as it is a gut irritant that contributes to leaky gut. Eat foods that contain prebiotics and probiotics.

PREbiotic foods: dietary fiber that feed and increase good bacteria.

• dandelion greens
• garlic
• chicory root
• onions
• jerusalem artichoke
• asparagus
• bananas
• apples
• leeks
• oats
• flaxseeds

PRObiotic foods: have beneficial bacteria that studies have shown decreases the amount of cortisol that is released (stress hormone).

• yogurt
• miso
• kefir
• kombucha
• kimchi
• pickles
• sauerkraut
• buttermilk
• tempeh

Are you in need of a gut reset? Do you need help healing your mental health? Click on my website (Rainbow Body Vitality) in the menu above and fill out a FREE health history to start your journey today! Let me help you help yourself and get that gut-brain axis in order 🙂 We can work on getting your gut regulated, inflammation reduced and mental health back to 100%.

Have a great week everyone ❤

Emotions Store In Your Organs!

Last week I wrote about how chronic pain in your body may be linked to your emotional state of mind. This week I take it further and dive into Traditional Chinese Medicine and the science that says different emotions store in different organs within your body. So think twice when you want to dwell in sadness or rage out in anger because your organs are keeping count and eventually chronic inflammation within those organs will manifest into chronic illness.

• stress and frustration will affect your brain health
• tension is stored in your neck and spine
• lack of trust will affect your thyroid health
• fear and worry affects the heart & kidneys
• sadness is stored in the lungs
• anxiety manifests into digestive issues
• anger is stored in the liver & gallbladder
• the sympathetic nervous system of “fight or flight” will affect the adrenal glands
• feelings of guilt affect the spleen

A major life lesson that has stuck with me is “stress isn’t the problem, it’s how we react to it”. Stress is inevitable, life is stressful but we can alleviate any bodily harm our emotions can cause by noticing them at its source. When we feel the start of an emotional reaction, we can observe how it makes our body’s feel in that very moment. This is triggering the awareness within ourselves, we are becoming mindful of our bodily sensations.

To release inner anger that is stored in the liver, eat leafy greens like spinach and kale, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. These foods will detoxify the liver from heavy metals, pesticides, and any toxic chemicals. Eating apples and beets will provide the liver with nutrients while also detoxifying the blood. Eating whole foods allow the liver to self-repair.

Have a wonderful week! Remember to keep tabs on those emotional ups and downs and instead of identifying with it, just simply observe it and allow it to pass. Don’t allow it to store in your organs!

The Dangers of Gluten

In recent years we’ve been hearing more about how gluten may not be optimal for vital health. Eating gluten free was strictly for those with celiac disease at first, however, today it’s a way of life! Gluten consists of 2 main proteins called glutenin and gliadin, the latter being the cause of adverse health effects. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, spelt and barley, and is also used as a flavor enhancer and thickening agent so it’s also found in many sauces and dressings. Gluten is used in foods to maintain its shape and acts like a glue to hold food together.

Gluten has been known to cause concentration problems, irritability, behavioral changes, dental enamel abnormalities, delayed speech, growth, and puberty in children. Gluten is a gut irritant, it not only disturbs the gut microbiome, but a gluten intolerant person can’t digest it, this leads to what is known as leaky gut which is when holes permeate the gut lining. This causes an inflammatory response which leads to a slew of other chronic illnesses and autoimmune disorders such as thyroid disorders, type 1 diabetes, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, psorasis, and eczema.

The bacteria in our guts are responsible for regulating our immune systems, digesting our foods and assimilating the nutrients we receive from that food. Eating foods containing gluten may cause gastrointestinal discomfort such as bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea. It may also cause brain fog and fatigue since out guts are linked to our brains via the gut-brain axis.

Naturally gluten-free foods are:

• fruits and vegetables

• beans, nuts, and seeds

• lean meats, poultry, fish

Gluten free whole grains such as:

• brown rice, wild rice

• quinoa, millet

• gluten free oats

• amaranth, buckwheat

• teff, sorghum

Gluten free flours include:

• almond, coconut, brown rice flour

• bean flours such as chickpea