5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Health–Day 4

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Health-Day 3

Fruit smoothies/slushies are one our favorite snacks. All you need is a blender. Not only are they versatile, but provide a great way to consume a lot of nutrients at one time. Although it’s not the cheapest snack, if we cut out buying most other cakes/cookies, etc., the health benefits make up the few extra dollars.

Here is some of what we put in ours:

• Frozen strawberries (I have read that frozen fruit/vegetables contain more nutrients than “fresh” at the store because they are frozen as soon as they are picked and that preserves them.)

—The average strawberry has 200 tiny black seeds. Each of these tiny black seeds contain Omega 3 fatty acid.

• Bananas–sweetens the smoothie.

—Bananas are one of the world’s finest foods for supplying fuel energy

• Apples–put the seeds in there too! Fruit seeds contain high amounts of the vitamin B-17 which is known for preventing/curing cancer. Apricot seeds contain the highest.

—A medium sized apple contains 5 grams of fiber, 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance.

• Frozen blueberries–named one of the world’s super foods for its antioxidants.

—Berries are brimming with vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.

• Kiwi is great too, but we don’t have it on hand as often. Peaches would be good too.

• Pomegrantes pack a powerful, nutritional punch.

  —The antioxidant levels in the pomegranate juice stands higher than other fruit juices.

  

• Nuts if you wish.

• Flax seed–no taste, just extra omega oils.

• Yogurt–great for your stomach, full of probiotics. It also makes the smoothie smooth!

• Liquid vitamins–if they don’t taste bad, they usually add to the flavor.

• Orange juice–just a little makes the smoothie blend and freeze better.

• Raw coconut oil is an excellent nutrient to add in.

We eat is as is, make Popsicles, or stick it in the freezer and make “ice cream”.

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5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Health-Day 2

Take a daily supplement.

I know that seems obvious, but sometimes we forget the simplest of things!

With our diets and our food being so depleted of necessary vitamins and minerals, I think it’s really important that we and our families take a nutritional supplement. But not all supplements are the same.

Do some research, ask around, and make sure you are taking a “whole foods” supplement, so your body can naturally ingest the nutrients. Otherwise, you may be flushing a lot of your money.

Some can be pricey, but then again, what’s a little prevention worth?

I take Supermom vitamins, from Beeyoutiful, and really like them. I have taken Body Balance before, and still take Juice Plus when I’m out of Supermom. I also keep Superkids periodically for my children. (Hubby takes Supermom with me–don’t worry, he still has a deep voice and facial hair

I would love to hear your recommendations for nutritional supplements!

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Health-Day 1

A combination of wanting desperately to renew my energy and my usual resolutions for the new year brought me to a few changes I’m trying to implement in the health category. (Maybe some on simplifying meals after this?)

And I think we can all agree that busy moms need all the health and energy possible!

For all my sweet health-expert friends far beyond the rest of us (soaking and sprouting your wheat berries–do you make chia pets from them? Just kidding.) I admire you, I’m just not one of you…yet

So for you, this might bore you. But for those who just want to move in the direction of better health in baby steps, I hope this will be helpful.

Today’s tip is so simple, yet I chose to start here because I think it may be one of the most important things you can do.

After reading quite extensively over the last few years about acid vs. alkaline and the importance of keeping your body’s pH balanced, I’m always on the lookout for easier ways to consume alkaline-producing foods. (If you haven’t read about this yet, I strongly encourage you to. Here is another link with a food chart. Some have reported getting rid of severe cases of cancer just by radically increasing their alkaline levels.)

Since most of a normal diet consist of acidic foods, it’s important to counter-balance it with alkaline foods.

But a really easy way to increase your body’s alkaline level is to drink a glass of water with a whole lemon squeezed into it a day. I drink mine in two glasses-half a lemon at a time to keep it from being so sour.

That’s it! Lemons are a very high-alkaline producing food, so the more you drink, the better!

“Though lemons, limes, and grapefruits are chemically acid, tests show that when they are metabolized in the body they actually have an alkalizing effect and are very beneficial. They have very little sugar. And they contain an abundance of oxygen. Lemons are said to be the richest source of minerals and vitamins of any food or foods known to man.”

Now that’s easy enough for me!

My Thrifties Find Yet (and Healthiest!)

I’m still raving, 4 days later to anyone who will listen about my recent find at our “Bent and Dent” store. Yes, I even shop at second-hand food stores

I’m glad I bought 8 jars…I left a few for my friends who I knew would rush to get them

(I’m dangerously close to a staple diet of chocolate and coconut oil

My kids are pretty excited about Mom’s new health food…well, Kyla isn’t thrilled…I keep shoving spoonfuls–”Eat it, it’s delicious and good for you…maybe I should leave the “good for you” part out.

• Hair Care: Coconut oil is one of the best natural nutrition for hair. It helps in healthy growth of hair providing them a shinny complexion.

• Stress Relief
  
• Skin Care: Coconut oil is excellent massage oil for the skin as well. It acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin.
• Premature Aging: Coconut oil helps in preventing premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its antioxidant properties.
• Heart Diseases: There is a misconception spread among many people that coconut oil is not good for the heart. This is because it contains a large quantity of saturated fats. However, coconut oil is beneficial for the heart. It contains about 50% lauric acid, which helps in preventing various heart problems including high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. The saturated fats present in coconut oil are not harmful as it happens in case of other vegetables oils. It does not lead to increase in LDL levels. It also reduces the incidence of injury in arteries and therefore helps in preventing atherosclerosis.
• Weight Loss: Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.

• Pancreatitis: Coconut oil is also believed to be useful in treating pancreatitis.
• Digestion: Internal use of coconut oil occurs primarily as cooking oil. Coconut oil helps in improving the digestive system and thus prevents various stomach and digestion related problems including irritable bowel syndrome.
• Immunity: Coconut oil is also good for the immune system. It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

• Healing: When applied on infections, it forms a chemical layer which protects the infected body part from external dust, air, fungi, bacteria and virus. Coconut oil is most effective on bruises as it speeds up the healing process by repairing damaged tissues.
• Infections: Coconut oil is very effective against a variety of infections due to its antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. According to the Coconut Research Center, coconut oil kills viruses that cause influenza, measles, hepatitis, herpes, SARS, etc. It also kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, etc. Coconut oil is also effective on fungi and yeast that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete’s foot, thrush, diaper rash, etc.
• Liver: The presence of medium chain triglycerides and fatty acids helps in preventing liver diseases as they substances are easily converted into energy when they reach the liver, thus reducing work load on the liver and also preventing accumulation of fat.
• Kidney: Coconut oil helps in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases. It also helps in dissolving kidney stones.

• Diabetes: Coconut oil helps in controlling blood sugar, and improves the secretion of insulin.
• Bones: As mentioned earlier, coconut oil improves the ability of our body to absorb important minerals. These include calcium and magnesium which are necessary for development of bones. Thus coconut oil is very useful to women who are prone to osteoporosis after middle age.
• Dental Care: Calcium is an important element present in teeth. Since coconut oil facilitates absorption of calcium by the body, it helps in getting strong teeth. Coconut oil also stops tooth decay.
• HIV and Cancer: It is believed that coconut oil plays an instrumental role in reducing viral susceptibility of HIV and cancer patients.