We all need our beauty sleep, myself included. This is true especially in today’s fast paced society where sleep tends to be put on the back burner so that you can meet a deadline, watch a TV show, answer emails, etc.
But few truly understand the physiological importance of sleep. There are much more imposing implications to a lack of sleep than how beautiful you appear or how sharp you mind functions.
During your sleep cycles is when your body is most efficient at repairing damaged cells, including those cells that comprise your intestinal lining. And disrupting this natural healing process can stop even your best efforts of healing Leaky Gut.
In fact, your circadian rhythm dictates this healing process and typically between the hours of 10pm to 2am your body facilitates physical repair. And during the hours of 2am to 6am your body facilitates mental repair.
With that being said, here’s 7 safe and natural ways to improve your quality of sleep and help bring your health to new levels.
Heal Your Leaky Gut
When it comes to sleep, Leaky Gut and intestinal inflammation play a much larger role than you can probably imagine. In fact, most people don’t realize it but the majority of the neurotransmitter serotonin, your body’s natural antidepressant, is produced inside your gut.
When there’s inflammation present and you can no longer efficiently produce the necessary serotonin, you often see heightened anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders because your brain does not have the necessary chemicals it needs to function properly.
And no, it’s not just all in your head like your doctor may want you to think.
But when your serotonin levels are low, it negatively affects your sleep.
Diet, Diet, Diet
First and foremost, if you’re not eating the right diet for you then you will likely have sleep issues at some point in time. This is because a poor diet leads to problems with blood sugar stabilization and regulation.
And when you sleep at night and go for so long without eating it’s quite common for your body to become hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) since your body relies on the food you eat to maintain this balance.
And because your body must regulate your blood sugar levels in order for you to function and survive, your body will wake you up in order to persuade you to eat and raise your blood sugar levels back up to normal.
Get Some Sun
Some people’s sleep issues stem from a deficiency in the hormone melatonin. This might stem from a deeper serotonin deficiency which is common with Leaky Gut Syndrome as mentioned above. Or your body might not be converting the serotonin you do have into melatonin efficiently.
Regardless of your sleep, you should be getting at least 30 minutes of sunlight per day which is necessary for you overall health and wellbeing. But this 30 minutes of sunlight will also help stimulate your pineal gland which is responsible for producing the melatonin you need for sleep.
Avoid Alcohol
Aside from the fact that alcohol creates inflammation within your gut and is one of the many contributing causes of Leaky Gut Syndrome, it does have an effect on your sleep as well.
Alcohol consumption affects your brain in such a way that does not allow you to reach a deep level of REM sleep which is necessary for psychological repair and to keep you thinking sharp and straight.
Put Down the Remote
Odds are that you’ve become accustomed to watching TV at night. Many people are, so you’re not alone. But you have to understand that even though you’re sitting there in your lazy-boy, your brain is being hyper-stimulated by the constant flashing and changing of scenes on the TV screen. And this hyper-stimulation elicits a stress response within your body.
And to make matters worse, you watch the news before bed where you learn about all the horrible things that are wrong in the world. And after all of this, you try to fall asleep while fearing for your life at the same time.
By simply cutting out your TV time and stop watching the news, your brain will not be over-stimulated which can help alleviate stress or stimulation related sleep issues.
Avoid Caffeine
This should go without saying but so many people are having coffee after dinner or for dessert. But with coffee containing caffeine, a natural stimulant, it can have lasting effects through the night if taken too late in the day.
So be sure to never drink coffee after 3pm.
Dim the Lights at Night
Your body is designed to function based upon the natural rhythms of your day. When the sun comes up, it stimulates cortisol production in your body which in turn wakes your body up from sleep naturally.
And throughout your day to when the sun sets, your cortisol levels taper off which puts your body back into a relaxed state and preparing you for sleep.
But when your house is brightly lit at night, this can promote your body to continue to produce cortisol while it should be suppressing it. And this can be enough to keep you up at night.
So dim your lights at night to help lower your cortisol levels and make your sleep easier.
Karen Brimeyer is a nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner, and health consultant. She has helped over a hundred personal clients heal their leaky gut, digestive problems, lose weight, and resolve their chronic symptoms and conditions.
She is the owner of Optimal Self-Healing in Tampa Bay Florida, a private nutrition and health consultation business and author of the Leaky Gut Cure program.
Karen has worked with a wide variety of populations from new moms to athletes overcome their health problems and achieve optimal health.
Karen found her passion for nutrition as a teenager. While striving to achieve optimal health by following the widely accepted diet and nutrition tips of the media and conventional medicine, she found her own health declining rapidly with the development leaky gut which led to digestive problems and chronic fatigue.
Unwilling to accept her situation, she set out to determine the truth about health which led her through her own research as well as studying and working with some of the best holistic doctors and holistic practitioners in the fields of nutrition, functional medicine, and life coaching.
She has since applied her knowledge with herself to overcome her own leaky gut and achieve an unprecedented level of health and wellbeing. Her happy and healthy pregnancy and now two-year old son, TJ, are a testament to the health she has achieved.
To find out more about this program, click on Leaky Gut Cure
Slow Down or Even Reverse Symptoms of Parkinson’s – This Song Reverses Parkinson’s
How can a song reverse an ‘incurable’ disease like Parkinson’s?
Sounds impossible!
But a new study published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies shows exactly how this happens – and how you can do the same.
The authors of this study recruited 13 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease to test whether music therapy could improve their cognition, balance, mobility, muscle strength, and overall disability level.
They tested their subjects’ performance on these measurements at the beginning of the study, after which they provided music therapy for all of them.
They then discontinued the music therapy for a second study period, after which the subjects’ functioning was re-tested.
In so doing, they examined their subjects’ performance in the presence and absence of music therapy.
They discovered that their subjects performed better in balance, mobility, and cognitive tests during the music therapy period than their performance prior to the study. In other words, music therapy improved their condition.
But these improvements were not maintained when the music therapy ended, showing that it is similar to physical exercise: it works while you do it, but its effects are not permanent.
So why exactly does music therapy work for Parkinson’s patients? Scientists have several theories.
Firstly, music produces joy; it makes us feel happy. Positive mood facilitates better cognitive and physical function.
Secondly, upbeat music can trigger the production of serotonin and dopamine, two of the neurotransmitters in the brain that decline when we suffer from Parkinson’s disease.
Thirdly, the parts of our brains that perceive auditory cues like music usually remain unaffected by Parkinson’s disease. Scientists increasingly believe that when we stimulate these unaffected parts of our brains, other areas of our brains start to synchronize with them and jump into action automatically.
In other words, instead of making the decision to walk (and possibly fall on your backside), music therapy makes walking an unconscious activity that works via the auditory processing of a beat, which then automatically triggers the parts of your brain that move your legs through pathways that unaffected by the disease.
That is why some music therapists have observed that Parkinson’s patients who can hardly walk can learn to dance, or that patients who struggle to speak can sing.
The moment you set your activities to an audible rhythm, your brain processes them differently.
Slow Down or Even Reverse Symptoms of Parkinson’s – A Fun Way for Parkinson’s Patients to Prevent Falls in
The rate of falls is high in Parkinson’s disease patients because they tend to have reduced control over their movements and balance.
A new study from Candido Mendes University, State University of Rio de Janeiro, and Rio de Janeiro State University, published in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, now reveals a surprisingly effective, fun way to restore postural control and prevent falls.
The researchers selected the 11 best studies they could find, with 393 Parkinson’s disease patients as subjects.
Of these, 211 were trained and supervised to perform dance therapy, while the other 182 were used as controls without such therapy.
These researchers were specifically interested in whether dance therapy could work over the short term, not only when practiced over the long term.
Indeed, they found that this was the case and that past studies backed the performance of dance therapy as a way to improve postural control among Parkinson’s sufferers.
This means that you do not have to dance for months or years to improve control over your motor symptoms, even though that would probably be best.
In fact, an international group that specializes in dance therapy for Parkinson’s patients, called Dance for PD, lists both long-term and short-term studies on their website, and they could find dozens of studies that support the effectiveness of this therapy.
The benefits are wide-ranging, promoting everything from self-efficacy, better mood, cognitive abilities, balance, stability, gate, flexibility, stamina, movement, participation in social activities, and so forth.
Slow Down or Even Reverse Symptoms of Parkinson’s – The Cause of Parkinson’s Disease Discovered
Parkinson’s disease has traditionally been blamed on genetics, with little hope of preventing or curing it.
But a recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health reveals an environmental cause, one that can increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s more than tenfold. But at the same time, it’s completely avoidable.
The researchers obtained records of people who were hospitalized with Parkinson’s disease in 95 different hospitals from the Louisiana Office of Public Health. These diagnoses were made between 1999 and 2012, with more recent data unavailable.
They then obtained the ZIP Codes of 23,224 of these patients so they could calculate the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease per 10,000 residents.
The researchers compared these Parkinson’s statistics with maps of local agricultural activities and water quality samples taken by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
They also received estimates from the US Geological Survey of herbicide and insecticide use on farmland and timberland in Louisiana between 1992 and 2004, with the estimates based on the farmers’ record keeping.
While the average occurrence of Parkinson’s was approximately 2.9 out of every 10,000 people, those areas in which certain herbicides and insecticides were used featured 35–46 people out of every 10,000-receiving treatment for Parkinson’s.
The highest rates appeared to be in areas dominated by forestry, woodlands, and grass pastures.
To be precise, the worst insecticides seemed to be 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and paraquat, and the worst herbicide was chlorpyrifos.
The scientists found the highest occurrence of Parkinson’s in areas where aquifers were refilled via rain water that seeped into them through chemically treated farmland or where small streams delivered chemical-containing water to the aquifers.
Accordingly, they discovered that some of the highest Parkinson’s rates appeared in areas where tap water was taken from these recharged aquifers.
This means that we do not have to live or work on a farm to come into contact with these harmful herbicides and insecticides; they can seep into the water supplies of cities and suburbs as well.
It also serves as another reminder to use good water filter devices in our homes, preferably multi-stage reverse osmosis devices with new filters.
It also reminds us to wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly before we eat them.
Watch these 2 videos to learn how to slow down or even reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s –
This post is from the Parkinson’s Protocol Program created by naturopath and health researcher, Jodi Knapp, to help you diagnose and treat Parkinson’s naturally and permanently. The Parkinson’s Protocol is a comprehensive program that teaches you simple ways to reduce your symptoms, slow down the progression of Parkinson’s and repair the effects it has had on your body.
The Parkinson’s Protocol Program has a four-part series (consists of 12 simple steps) that comes with an abundance of valuable information that teaches you the relation between dopamine and Parkinson’s, the different treatment options, causes, and more. It then provides you with easy, step-by-step instructions that allow you to improve your brain health to begin delaying Parkinson’s and healing the brain within.
The Vegan Diet is nothing new. More importantly, it’s becoming one of the most popular diets today.
To kick start your weight loss goals this year, we’ve thrown together our top 30 best vegan recipe collection. Save this list and feel free to share it with your friends and family.
How about oats in donuts? Dessert for breakfast with dates as well? You will also get you healthy daily dose of fats with the cashews included, previously rinsed for more health benefits. A pinch of the Himalayan salt full of minerals that regular salt lacks.
Then some more healthy fats like coconut oil and a healthy sugar substitute – maple syrup. All scented with luscious vanilla.
Snack time. Why not warm up with healthy dessert in a glass? Vegan hot chocolate with vegan marshmallows. The almond milk for proteins, raw cocoa for antioxidants.
Also, sea salt and vanilla to enhance the flavor and healthy sugars with Medjool dates. Add ginger for better digestion and cinnamon to regulate blood sugar.
Your palate will thank you for these healthy cupcakes. The carrot pulp will add freshness and instead of sugar use dates. For the fats use walnuts. Then add some oats for fiber and coconut oil to get the best fats even more. Some nutmeg and cinnamon to warm you up and raisins for vitamins. The whipped cream of cashews and coconut will burst with more nutrients and flavors.
Super fast and easy to prepare. Just toss in frozen bananas to be satiated, some protein of peas. Then some healthy and fatty coconut milk and a bit of vanilla for magical taste. There is more – chia seeds for good digestion and berries for vitamins and minerals. Health-bomb made in a minute!
In the winter time, you need a soothing creamy dessert? Orange pudding with cocoa taste? Yes, please. Toss some chia as well and blueberries to digest this all well, add orange zest and vanilla beans for that cozy winter aroma Lastly add Goji berries for a boost of nutrients.
When you are a parfait-lover, make it with berries, and you got the perfect vegan parfait. Be creative, add strawberries too. Use healthy sugar like maple syrup and sea salt for a flavor to remember. Healthy fats with pecans and…more vitamins with blueberries and blackberries. All mixed with coconut whipped milk and vanilla extract.
A different type of mousse if you need to skip chocolate flavors. Healthy pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and vanilla for aroma. Add maple instead of sugar and nutmeg and ginger for amazing smell and better digestion. Some cloves, healthy fats with coconut whipped milk and that are all you need. Whip the milk and toss the rest!
So, you like coconut, and you like raspberries? Combine them for a refreshing mousse. Whipped healthy coconut full-fat milk and fresh raspberries for vitamins and minerals. Also more raspberries for decoration and skip the sugar – add maple syrup instead. Dig in as soon as it is done, of course!
If you crave something ice-creamy or frozen, make popsicles of papaya! Good and healthy calories with the same taste as store-bought popsicles – perfect! There is more to this like coconut milk for the fats and lime juice for taste and vitamins. Then vanilla for amazing smell and some honey to give you instant natural-sugar energy.
No bake cookies? Anytime! Coconut shreds that we all love, agave for healthy sweetness or some honey. Coconut oil for a daily dose of fats and salt and vanilla for better taste. With perfect sauce of coconut oil with cocoa to get antioxidants and honey for sugar substituting – can cookies get better than this?
You want a healthy vegan cake, but you also love coffee. Read on! With the coconut flour, you make the whole aroma magical, and the sea salt will enhance the sweetness of the honey. The cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves will burst as piñata of tastes. Skip the eggs to make it vegan, crispier and better! The coconut oil will add the fats. Lastly squash puree and nuts for creamy/crispy bites and date sugars!
Perfect for guests, the best finger-dessert of one bite. Coconut shreds and coconut oil for good fats and maple or honey as natural sugars. Then vanilla for good scent with dark chocolate which keeps the heart healthy and some good fats as pecans for decoration. A healthy vegan version of store-bought brand bars and bites.
Who does not love cookie dough? Moreover, the one with banana and chocolate? We all do. With added cashews, you get good fats and with the coconut flour the perfect aromatic crumbliness. You get sugars due to the dates and flax meal is for good digestion. Pinch of salt and this healthy dough is ready for enjoying.
Nobody refuses PB and chocolate. Moreover, this is vegan, bite-size so make it anytime! The vegan cream cheese is a pure delicacy, and the PB is the best fat here along the coconut butter. Agave will sweeten this up with the chocolate chips and best for last – vanilla scent extract.
Warm up in the winter days with a super-tasty vegan pudding of chocolate and bananas for fiber. The avocado is for healthy fruit fats plus some almond butter (yum!). Cocoa for a healthy heart and Himalayan salt for more minerals we lack.
Sprinkle vanilla and with the whipped coconut cream. Hazelnuts for nut fats and pomegranate arils and chia-raspberry jam you get best of sugars and vitamins in one serving.
Creaminess from bananas, fats from whipped coconut milk and antioxidants from cocoa and chocolate-y flavor. Vanilla scent and minerals from Himalayan salt. Sugars from dates and vegan ice cream (yes, please!). Chia jam (digestive delight) and more fats from almonds. Freshness from cherries and granola clusters for crumbliness. A heavenly vegan creamy-crumbly delicacy.
You can dig right in with a spoon or use it as spread or glaze. However, this is the healthiest plum jam ever! Sweet due to maple syrup, refreshing due to lemon juice. Aromatic with the vanilla and cardamom – healthy vegan jam ALL would adore, for breakfast, snack or sweet dinner!
Popsicle time again. It has cherries, coconut (water and kefir both!) and lime juice! Imagine those flavors and nutrients together! The lime zest would make you want another Popsicle with minerals and vitamins, good sugar and healthy aromas all in one vegan frozen dessert. Make more of these; you would grab the second one.
Vegan or non-vegan, fudge chocolate is an all-time favorite. The cashewfats keep your heart healthy along the cocoa powder and organic coconut oil. The maple replaces white sugar, and the dates add more sweetness (natural sugars are always good even in larger amounts). The glaze is just as healthy; coconut oil and shreds and maple syrup.
How long have you not tried pears in a healthy sweet snack? With raspberries too? Make this now and add oats for fibers and energy, maple for a sweet taste. Then healthy coconut organic oil, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice for aromatic burst and coconut four if you like this dryer. Now grab the spoon!
You do not need to buy toffees when you crave that taste. Make a caramel-flavor vegan DIP at home! Does it get any better? The dates would make it ultimately healthy sweet, and some vanilla caviar will make it smell amazing. The sea salt will enhance the ‘caramel’ taste. Of course, the good fats would be there from the coconut oil.
Every person adores chocolate mints, but what if you get the same flavor and in mousse form? Perfect! Coconut cream for consistency and good fats for the heart and cocoa powder for taste and healthy heart as well. Vegan chocolate chips for more sweetness and mint organic extract for that minty-addictive aroma.
For getting energetic instantly, you can have these as both dessert and energy bites for metabolism boosting due to dates for good digestion and good sugars and pecans for healthy fats. The oats are for fibers and maple for replacing sugar.
Cinnamon will regulate blood sugar and add aroma too. Sounds flawless and healthy!
Unexpected guests and you wanted to try something creamy with coconut anyway? Fast and simple, vegan and healthy. Good fats from coconut cream of full fat and vanilla to make the smell pop better. Add a natural, healthy sweetener per your choice (maple or Stevia is prefect). So simple, vegan, tasty and healthy!
Heavier or too sweet desserts like classic truffles can be vegan, lighter, but will taste the same as those non-vegan truffles from markets. You get the good fats from coconut oil and the sugars from date paste. Antioxidants come from the cocoa and aromas of gingerbread spices. You can eat these as much as you want, unless you are on slimming diets – these are addictive!
Yes, a vegan cheesecake for any time of the day with refreshing raspberries on top and sea salt cookies of dark chocolates that keep the heart in great shape. Then good fats from cashews and coconut oil and lemon juice for vitamins. A bit of salt and vanilla for aroma enhancing and coconut shreds (no harm in the healthy decoration on top) and agave to make it healthy-sweet.
When impatient to bake regular macaroons opt for these chocolate no-bake rounded ones. Creamy from the bananas, sweetened with maple syrup and coconut shreds.
The good fats come from coconut oil, antioxidants from the cocoa powder and aromas from sea salt and vanilla. However, with chia seeds added this is the perfect digestive vegan macaroon you will have ever.
Who said chocolate pudding could not be healthy and vegan at the same time?
Made in seconds too. Sweet from the dates and chocolate shavings along coconut shreds with some dates too. Scented with vanilla and sea salt (full of minerals), cocoa for the chocolate taste and healthier heart. With the almond milk, banana and avocado you get a mix of protein, carbs, and good fats as well.
When you need a fruity vegan, ice-creamy treat, why not sorbet with coconut healthy cream and apricots for vitamins? Apart from apricots, the healthy sweetness is added with agave as well and coconut shreds. Some lime juice for aroma and vitamins – good as a snack, dessert or even as a light healthy-sweet dessert in between meals!
Yes, you can have cake batter of chocolate in the form of a vegan smoothie anytime you need a healthy dessert. Almond milk for the proteins and oats for fibers and good digestion. Banana and chocolate chips for sweeteners and vanilla with cinnamon for amazing scent. Some carob powder for healthy substitute of flours and cashew butter for a daily dose of good fats for the heart.
This post is related to The Anti-Anxiety Recipe Plan by Danny Jeffers. Danny Jeffers, a health and wellness devotee who for years struggled with life-crippling anxiety. This causes him to be obsessed about finding a natural and effective solution to end anxiety. This results in the creation of The Anti-Anxiety Recipe Plan.
If you’re someone who suffers from anxiety, this Anti-Anxiety Recipe Plan will help you take an entirely natural approach to improve your mind and well-being. Dishes like Sweet Potato frittatas, and Crispy Baked Chicken will blast your anxiety with each bite.
The recipes inside The Anti- Anxiety Recipe Plan remove ingredients that inflame your gut, leave you in a sluggish mental state, or trigger anxiety. Each recipe leverages the power of the Paleo Diet.
Instead of eating recipes full of refined and unnatural foods, The Anti-Anxiety Recipe Plan uses ingredients like antioxidants, healthy fats, and healing herbs.
These “Holistic Mind Soothing Ingredients” are time-tested, proven, all-natural ingredients that BANISH anxiety and SOOTHE your mind. Not only that, but you can use them to regain your health, energy, and vitality.
