This is my first blog post. Let’s start off with 3 healthy lifestyle tips that will have the most profound effect on your health and vitality.
Spiking and Dipping Blood Sugar
Your body is designed to run on food. In the morning your body has to decide how much food it will get to meet the demands of the day. If your body does not get enough food in the morning, it will start picking & choosing what organ systems to run & at what level. Repair and deep healing is dialed down to just get you through the day.
During these hours without food intake, your blood sugar is dipping. Many people experience this as lightheaded, feeling of shaky energy or anxiety. The liver kicks into high gear and converts stored energy to glucose so your brain will continue working. After 3-6 hours, the body will typically start strongly craving sugar just to keep you a float. Otherwise, your brain would not have enough fuel to run on. This situation creates low blood sugar, hypoglycemia.
After hours of not eating, your body has adjusted to the no food intake. When your first substantial meals is eaten, the body can not react quick enough. Your blood sugar levels spike, hyperglycemia. This alternating between low and high blood sugar is the way lots of disease starts.
The simplest way to alleviate this situation is to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks. This gets you running on food early in the day and it stops the swings between hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. “Fuel your day by filling up in the morning and throughout the day. More meals; smaller portions per meal.”
Fiber, Fiber, Fiber
Our world is full of lots of toxins. This causes lots of stress and strain on the organs of detoxification. Once these toxins have been deactivated by the liver, they are typically dumped into the gastrointestinal tract for removal.
Fiber will bind these toxins and remove them from the body. However, you will never get enough fiber from food to do a good job of removing these excess toxins. You do not want these toxins to recirculate. The toxins may have come out of one set of tissues but many recirculate to an altogether different set of tissues. Its this recirculation that has the most potential to cause harm to the body.
In order to avoid recirculation, supplement with lots of fiber. I like to start patients on flax seed because it does has the following effects:
1) It’s a lubricant for the colon. This effect helps resolve painful constipation.
2) It is a bulking agent that enlarges the stool and allows better movement.
3) It binds toxins and removes them from the body.
4) It ferments in the gut to butyric acid which is the preferred fuel source of the colon.
Here is the dosage of flax seed I recommend when patients are starting:
Start with 1/2 teaspoon flax seed in beginning. Work your way up to 2 tablespoons offresh ground flax seed daily.
Buy the whole flaxseed & keep the whole seeds in the freezer. Grind a portion that will last for 1 or 2 weeks (refrigerate) The oil in the ground seed goes rancid quickly. Do not buy pre-ground flax seeds.
Dosage:
Week #1 – 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground flax seeds
Week #2 – 1 teaspoon of freshly ground flax seeds
Week #3 – 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seeds
Week #4 – 1 1/2 tablespoons of freshly ground flax seeds
Week #5 and thereafter – 2 tablespoons of freshly ground flax seed
Removing toxin with fiber will improve most metabolic processes and it is one of the most effective ways of clearing up brain fog.
Stay Hydrated – Water, Water, Water.
Your whole body runs on hydration. We hear it all the time, drink enough water.
The reason for the constant reminder is that without an adequate amount of water your body does not function well. Your electrolytes get depleted. This in turn can effect your pH balance through the entire system could.
Altered pH can change how your metabolic process works, by turning on different pH dependent enzymes. When hydration gets relatively low, the body will draw water from the liver and kidneys to keep the circulating blood volume constant. Now the liver and kidneys are working suboptimal and toxins can begin to back up in these organs.
Consequently, drink at least 100-150 oz. of water daily depending on the amount of exercise you are doing. Without adequate hydration, neither deep healing nor day to day repair can happen.