Month: October 2017

The health benefits of walking daily are incredible. You can get so much out of such a small investment of your money and time. Walking for only thirty minutes each day can increase your metabolism, improve your circulation and help prevent cancer. There isn’t anything that you can buy that will replace the health benefits of walking daily. Our bodies were meant to move, but we have gotten into the habit of allowing them to stay stagnant

Fitness Does Not Have to Be Complicated

Remember the first time Oprah decided to lose the weight. She did it by walking! Taking a stroll at lunch time and after work. She had tons of people on board with walking. Of course, her life got busy again and she stopped, but the simple act of walking helped her to reduce her weight.

Walking is the simplest exercise that there is for a human being. We all learn how to do it as toddlers and it is an exercise that we can take with us into old age if we remember to do it each day. The problem becomes when people don’t move enough each day, they start to accumulate health problems that movement can address. Their immune systems become sluggish and they don’t want to move anymore.

Health Benefits of Walking 30 Minutes Per Day

Walking for just thirty minutes can have a profound impact on your overall day.

Walking for thirty minutes per day can improve your mood and increase your creativity. At California State University in Long Beach, they conducted a study which demonstrated that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were. This is due to the fact that walking releases natural painkilling endorphins to the body. This is an emotional benefit of exercise!

Walking for just thirty minutes per day increases the demand on the heart and strengthens it. 

Thirty minutes of walking per day can help you to lose weight, which in turn will reduce your risk of chronic disease. The motion of walking increases peristalsis and improves your digestion. Due to the fact that your leg muscles are contracting, your circulation is improving.

Walking also helps to loosen up stiff joints. Joints do not have a direct blood supply. They get their nutrition from synovial fluid that circulates when we move. The impact that follows movement or compression, such as walking, compresses the cartilage, which brings oxygen and nutrients into the area. When you don’t walk, the joints become deprived of the blood supply, which can speed up deterioration.

Because walking is a weight bearing activity, it increases your bone density. Michael A. Schwartz, MD claims that it can help to halt the loss of bone mass for those with osteoporosis. Additionally, a Brigham and Women’s Hosptial study done in Boston discovered that thirty minutes of walking each day decreased the risk of hip fractures by forty percent.

Walking for just thirty minutes per day can increase the number of immune cells in your body, according to a study done by the Appalachian State University in North Carolina. Over time, this can have a wonderful impact on your body’s ability to fight disease. Specifically, walking at least twenty minutes per day can reduce the risk of getting sick by almost 43%.

Want to Prevent Cancer – Get Walking!

In 2012, at Harvard University, a Women’s Health Study examined walking for one to three hours per week. It discovered that walking for one to three hours per week reduces the risk of death from uterine and breast cancer by up to 19%! As the women pushed themselves a bit more and increased their walking efforts to three to five hours a week, they reduced the risk of breast cancer and uterine cancer to about 54%!

The American Cancer Society published a study in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention discovered that walking up to seven hours per week reduces the risk of breast cancer itself by fourteen percent. This study was conducted over twenty years with a very large group of 73,600, which makes the study results even more credible.

 

Walking Can Boost Your Brain Function

Because walking helps to improve circulation, it brings fresh blood and vital nutrients to the brain. As you institute a regimen of walking, you will start to notice more clarity in your thoughts and a greater ability to focus. You may even reduce your incidences of headaches as well.

Exercise improves brain function and specifically memory function.  In 2011, a study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which showed that walking for forty minutes at a time for three times per week could increase the volume of the hippocampubs by 2%. This is fairly significant. In 2014, another study was presented during the  American Association for the Advancement of Science, which found that regular brisk walks can slow down the shrinking of the brain and the failing mental skills that come with old age. This study was conducted on women and men between the ages of 60 to 80. It conculded that taking a short walk three times per week increased the size of the brain that is linked to memory and planning.

Time to Get Walking

With all the health benefits of walking everyday, isn’t it time that you scheduled it into your day to ensure that you are healthier and preventing disease? I’ve found that the best thing to do is keep it in my schedule at a set time to make sure that I do it. Any additional walking throughout the day is just additional benefits! For me, walking during the early morning hours helps me to get my mind focus on the tasks that I need to accomplish that day. It puts me in a great mood to tackle the day and helps me to concentrate. Whether you are taking a walk in the park or avoiding the cold and rain and doing some treadmill walking, you have free access to these wonderful health benefits when you consistently put in the effort to walk for thirty minutes per day! I have even constructed a treadmill desk workstation with an inexpensive confidence treadmill to ensure that I get some walking while I work!

 

 

 

 

Asthma is a condition that I suffered from for a good portion of my childhood. Inhalers, steroids and allergist visits were a common part of my daily life as a child. I never felt that the inhalers were fully effective. I would exercise and wheeze. As the seasons changed, my breathing tended to be even worse. I can remember visiting the emergency room with such labored breathing that my mother was worried that I would die. Luckily, I started to manage it better when I became a swimmer. It wasn’t until years later that it became clear to me why my asthma improved as I swam more and more.

Nasal, Diaphramatic Breathing

[easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”B00RLU286G” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41lIfyvZQsL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”331″]When I was in grade school, I was taught by my P.E. teacher to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth when I exercise. It sounds easy enough, but it was very hard to do. I ended up gasping in through my mouth and exhaling through my mouth. As it turns out, we were both wrong in the correct way to breath. Our nose is what we are supposed to use for inhalations and exhalations according to the Buteyko Breathing method.

As I got older, I joined a swim team. There I learned to discipline myself and exhale more slowly. I was still inhaling through my mouth, but I was learning to control my breathing. I was also drinking lots of water. When I would feel overwhelmed and exhausted, I would grab my water bottle and drink more water. This gave me a break from the exercise and also rehydrated me. What I didn’t know at the time was that hydration and breathing are interconnected. A fully hydrated body does not wheeze! I just thought at the time that I was outgrowing my asthma and learning to manage it. Little did I realize that there was an underlying scientific reason that my asthma was going away.

Chronic hyperventilation actually reduces the levels of carbon dioxide in the alveoli and the airways of the lungs. Carbon dioxide is a powerful relaxant of smooth muscles. Therefore, alveolar hypocapnia, or lower carbon dioxide in the alveoli, also causes spasm of airways or bronchoconstriction. The wheezing that an asthmatic experiences is a bronchoconstriction.

Since CO2 is a potent vasodilator, reduced CO2 levels in the blood causes cell hypoxia leading to the suppressed and distorted reactions of the immune system. This creates the foundation for appearance of allergies and inflammation in airways, which manifests itself as asthma, with production of excessive mucus. Additional damage often takes place due to incorrect exercise leading to exercise induced asthma, which is what I had.

With prolonged hyperventilation and inflammation, some people develop severe asthma due to destruction of their lungs and ventilation-perfursion mismatch. This further reduces body oxygenation and makes symptoms of asthma worse.

I was actually training myself to breathe less and therefore more correctly as I was swimming! Later in life, I discovered the Buteyko breathing method and enhanced my health further as I focused on breathing only through my nose and slowing down my rate of breathing.

Asthmatics and The Acid/Alkali Balance

The body naturally regulates the acid and alkali balance in the body through breathing. The gas exchanges in the lungs regulate the hemoglobin in the body. Hemoglobin is a complex molecule that delivers carbon dioxide to the lung tissue to be released into the air as it collects oxygen to circulate through the body.

When carbon dioxidide leaves the lungs, the body fluids become more alkaline, which is an ideal situation for a healthy body. In asthma attacks, the escape of excess hydrogen atoms in the low volume exhaled air can make it acidic. Therefore, breathing normally is vital for the acid/alkali balance of the body. The direct relationship of air exchange in the lungs and effective pH regulation is the reason deep breathing is encouraged in all exercise protocols.

For asthmatics, due to the reduced rate of air exchange in their lungs, the acid-eliminating mechanism is inefficient and the main source of danger to their lives. Thousands of asthmatics die from this imbalance of their body physiology. The cause of death typically takes place in the brain that swells from inefficient oxygen supply and a faulty pH regulation that causes the brain cell environment to become fatally acidic.

Water is a key element in the acid/alkali regulation by the kidnesy. As the kidneys form more urine, they rid the body of excess hydrogen ions that would otherwise acid-burn some important parts inside the cells that produce the extra hydrogen.

Salt is another vital element for regulating the acid/alkali balance in the body, especially for brain cells. The element sodium in salt is involved in the extraction of acid radicals from inside the cells for secretion by the kidneys. Sodium is a factor in the forming of bicarbonate soda in the mucus layer of the stomach that protects its cell lining from the acid inside the stomach cavity.The pancreas also produces sodium bicarbonate and secrets it into the first part of the intestine at the same moment that the acid content of the stomach enters the intestine.

The Water Cure

Ensuring that the body is fully hydrated allows for the appropriate gas exchange in the lungs during breathing and the elimination of the acid wastes that are naturally produced during metabolism. Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of the ABC of Asthma, Allergies and Lupus – Eradicate Asthma Now, recommends that you drink 1/2 an ounce of water for every pound of body weight that you have and take a 1/8 teaspoon of salt for every ten glasses of water that you drink. This protocol will help you to get to a healthy re-hydrated body.[easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”096299426X” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51SkKU2IcdL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”315″]

It is best not to drink all the water all at once. When you drink water too quickly, it actually becomes a diuretic and dehydrating. Break up the water doses throughout the day. Do not drink more that 32 ounces at a time. Ideally, you want to drink between 8-16 ounces at a time.

Since we respire during the night and lose some water through respiration, we should have two glasses of water when we wake up first thing in the morning to correct for water loss during the eight hours of sleep. Ideally, you want to ensure that you are hydrated when you are eating a meal. Therefore, it is ideal to drink water about half an hour before you eat and drink another glass of water 2 1/2 hours after food.

For people who don’t like the taste of plain water, drinking lemon water has many benefits for your body as well. You will get the benefits from the water as well as some vital nutrients and flavor from a splash of lemon!

Exercise

Exercise feels problematic for a person with asthma. They don’t want to feel the pain of wheezing. They don’t want to trigger the discomfort of not feeling like they can breathe. However, exercise is the most important factor in survival after air, water, salt and food. Exercise expands the vascular system and prevents hypertension. It opens the capillaries int eh muscle tissue by lowering the resistance to blood flow. Exercise will build up muscle mass. It stimulates the activity of fat burning enzymes for the manufacture of constantly needed energy for muscle activity.

The best exercise for someone who is struggling with asthma is going to be walking. It may not sound exciting or even challenging at first, but it will be extremely beneficial as you are eliminating your symptoms of asthma and rehydrating your body. As you are healing, it is recommended to walk for an hour each day. You will gradually strengthen your muscles and be able to handle more challenging workouts. However, walking is an activity that can be done well into old age.

Conclusion

With proper breathing, hydration and daily walking, you can conquer your asthma symptoms! I know this as I have thrown out all of the asthma medications and inhalers that were prescribed to me. I have far more energy with the water cure protocol and proper breathing techniques than most of my friends who are relying on a boost from caffeinated beverages, such as coffee and diet soda. You can read up more on how I quit drinking soda here.

 

 

 

 

Don’t believe that you need to join a gym to get fit and healthy. Don’t buy into the idea that you absolutely need a personal trainer to get your rear in gear. (Although, they will take your money and workout with you. I’ve been a personal trainer before!) Working out at home is accessible to everyone. You just need to get moving and implement a work out each and every day. This will lead you to building muscle, improving your immune system and increasing your overall health and wellness! 

So, why is it so difficult for some people to get themselves to work out at home? The first thing to understand is that it is going to be a change in routine. We often are resistant to change and thereofore getting the new habit to stick can be tricky for some people. 

Focus on Your Goal

Working out produces sore muscles. It makes you uncomfortable and sweaty. Before you achieve the euphoric state from working out, you will be dripping in sweat and you will likely have challenged your muscles beyond what they are comfortable doing. Working out isn’t always a fun walk in the park. It challenges you. That is how you build muscle.

In order to get over the discomfort of a new routine and deal with sore muscles, you will want to focus your mind on your goal. Think about how your efforts will pay off. If you are losing weight to fit into a new dress, picture yourself looking great while you work out. Imagine your success as you put in the effort. It will help you 

Select a Fun Workout

Everyone has different likes and dislikes when it comes to working out. For some people, a major challenge to their muscles is going to be the best thing in the world. Other people will want to improve their flexibility with a pilates workout or a yoga workout. All of these can be very challenging and help you achieve the results that you seek if you consistently do them. You are more likely to be consistent with a workout that you enjoy. You may want to try out a few workout programs and discover if you enjoy the personality of someone like Jillian Michaels. I have a few favorite workouts, Shawn T’s Hip Hop Abs is a fun workout to go through. I also enjoy rebounding workouts and when I am in the mood to challenge myself, I do Jillian Michael’s workout. 

Some people are more likely to stick with a workout when they are distracted from the movements. I have personally found that I enjoy working on a treadmill desk in order to get some cardio in while I am working. Another fun thing to do with treadmill desk workouts is to learn something on youtube while you are walking or to watch movies. I admit that I have a guilty pleasure of watching sitcoms on hulu while running! 

Program Your Mind For Success

Positive affirmations are a great way to reprogram your mind and change your behavior. I use the ThinkRightNow programs whenever I want to make a change in my lifestyle. The advantage of using these programs is that you release the negative associations with the tasks that you want to achieve. I have used ThinkRightNow programs for getting organized, exercising and eating right and even their sales success program. At first, you start to hear the affirmations and may not believe them, but as the weeks and months go by, you start to notice that you are naturally changing your behaviors and they are sticking! 

One of the things that I noticed improving while I listened to the Get Organized Now program was that not only did I start to get more organized and pick up after myself, but the people I lived with were more likely to clean up after themselves faster than usual. They were overhearing my CD and making changes too! 

Reward Yourself

People tend to be either motivated by rewards or motivated by avoiding consequences. If you don’t know whether you are more reward motivated or a person who avoids consequences, then you should assign both to your workout program. When you meet your goals, you should reward yourself by doing something fun. When you neglect a workout, make sure that you have a negative consequence such as cleaning out the garage or doing more housework as a result of skipping out on your workout. Eventually, before you know it, you will be working out on a regular basis and finding ways to challenge yourself! 

Some ideas for workout rewards can include:

• Buying Cute Workout Clothes
• A fun outing with your friend
• Movies
• Eating at your favorite (healthy) restaurant
• Buying your favorite healthy snack
• A weekend getaway

You Can Do It!

Make sure that you believe that you can achieve your workout goals. This will help you stick with it when the going gets tough! 

[easyazon_link identifier=”B00P8E0QQG” locale=”US” tag=”mcurle08-20″ cart=”n”]Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil, Reliable and Quick Source of Energy (16 Ounces)[/easyazon_link][easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”B00P8E0QQG” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41N1yRIPzKL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”500″]

Brain Octane Oil Review

Name:Bulletproof XCT oil, Reliable and Quick Source of Energy (32 Ounces)
Website: Amazon.com
Price: $21.49
Owners: Dave Asprey
Overall Rank: 70 out of 100

Brain Octane Oil, Product Overview

This product is marketed to consumers as increasing your brain function. It is said that it is quick source of energy and transforms into ketones in the body quickly.

The Good & the Bad

The Good: Brain Octane Oil has medium chain triglycerides

PRO #1: You’ll get fats from medium chain triglycerides.
PRO #2: The body may use this source of fuel before breaking down carbohydrates and sugars.
PRO #3: Consuming oil does provide a source of energy for your body and you may not need to eat as much.

The Bad: Very refined product.

CON #1: This product is highly refined. It is not a naturally occurring product.
CON #2: Whether your body breaks down the oil into ketones quickly will depend more on whether you are consuming high amounts of carbohydrates and your body is already in ketosis.

Who is Brain Octane Oil For?

The people who would be most interested in Brain Octane oil are Dave Asprey’s followers and people who are on the ketogenic diet and are utilizing fats for fuel instead of carbohydrates.

Brain Octane OIl Price

Brain Octane oil sells for $23.50 per bottle. It is a reasonable price for a supplement. The bottle will last you about a month, so it isn’t an extremely high cost.

My Final Opinion of Brain Octane Oil

I tried Brain Octane Oil for a month and the month that I was testing it out, I did experience a seizure. I was very disappointed that the product did not prevent the seizure, since it is supposed to encourage the body’s production of ketones for fuel.

I only used this product for a month, but I did not notice the reported effects that Dave Asprey mentions. I didn’t experience an increase in clarity of thought or mental performance. I didn’t notice any higher energy levels, although my energy levels are pretty good as they are.

Brain Octane Oil at a Glance…

Name: Bulletproof XCT oil, Reliable and Quick Source of Energy (32 Ounces)

Website: amazon.com
Owners: Dave Asprey
Price: $21.49
Overall Scam Rank: 70 out of 100

VERDICT: LEGIT!

 

I think this is a legitimate version of MCT oil. It will provide your body with energy because it is an oil and full of fat. However, I do think that it overpromises and underdelivers! I think that if you are already following a ketogenic diet, you are probably producing plenty of ketones without this special brain octane oil. Additionally, if you are following the ketogenic diet, you have good energy levels and clarity of thought.

 

Water is the basis of all life and that includes your body. Your muscles that move your body are 75% water; your blood that transport nutrients is 82% water; your lungs that provide your oxygen are 90% water; your brain that is the control center of your body is 76% water; even your bones are 25% water. A 12-ounce can of soda contains around 150 calories and up to 40 grams of sugar. Drinking one a day means ingesting more than 130,000 extra calories a year, or 15 pounds of added fat ! Many people hail the benefits of drinking water to lose weight, but is this just a myth or is there some substance to the theory? Does adding a lemon to the water help you to lose the weight?

As someone who only drinks water and doesn’t have a ton of weight to lose, I had to rely on my experience with the personal training clients and friends who actually took my advice to switch to water drinking only. One of my friends, who was over 300 pounds at one point actually did follow my advice to drink half of his body weight in ounces. What happened? Months later, he told me that he had lost fifty pounds! He hadn’t started exercising or anything else, he just increased his water intake because I told him to do so. So, I don’t believe that drinking water to lose weight is a myth.

Lemon Water Health Benefits

Lemon water has a lot of health benefits that people cite. The following are some of the benefits that you may notice by increasing your consumption of lemon water. Some of these benefits are due to the increase of water consumption and some benefits can be attributed to the vitamins and nutrients in the lemon.

• Improve digestion
• Speeds up metabolism
• Improves depression
• Improves skin vitality
• Reduces inflammation
• Wards off cancer
• Prevent back pain
• Heal arthritis
• Prevent migraines

Replacing Other Beverages With Water

Water has no calories, which other beverages tend to have, therefore leading drinks like soda and juice to increase your daily caloric load. Not only are these beverages higher in calories, but they are also higher in carbohydrates. When your body has too many carbohydrates, it uses them as fuel and stores the excess as fat. Your body can not do that with water, since it has no calories.

Take soda, for example, one twelve ounce soda has about 150 calories and approximately forty grams of sugar! By drinking one can of soda per day, it means that you are drinking an average of 130,000 additional calories each year. That can be turned into fifteen pounds of fat! By replacing your daily can of soda, you will avoid adding those extra inches to your waistline.

While drinking lemon water alone may not lead to weight loss, when you are replacing higher carbohydrate and higher calorie beverages, you reduce the number of calories that you consuming. Reducing your calorie and carbohydrate load will lead to weight loss.

Drinking Lemon Water Prior to a Meal

When you drink lemon water will have an impact on your digestion. If you drink lemon water prior to a meal, you will feel more satiated and need fewer calories to feel full. This can lead to a reduction in your overall carbohydrate and calorie consumption which can trigger weight loss.

The evidence on drinking water prior to a meal is scant, but there is a study published in the journal, Obesity, that may support this theory. Researchers randomly divided overweight older men and women into two separate groups. Both groups were put on a hypocalorie diet, meaning they were consuming fewer calories than their energy expenditure. However, one group was told to increase how much water they drank. Those in the group on a diet and increasing water consumption had to drink 500 ml of water thirty minutes before each of their three large meals. After twelve weeks, it was determined that the group who had drank water prior to their meals had on average lost an additional four pounds (2kg) compared to those who were only on the hypocalorie diet.

Drinking Lemon Water Aids Digestion

Many people claim that lemon water helps to improve your digestion and have noticed that bloating goes down when you drink lemon water. Improved digestion can help aid in weight loss. As your body becomes more efficient with its digestive abilities, it is able to eliminate toxins instead of holding on to them. This could assist you in your weight loss goals.

Lemon juice’s atomic structure is very similar to the body’s digestive juices in the stomach. It is theorized that it tricks the liver into producing bile. This helps keep the food moving through your body and its gastrointestinal tract. This can relieve indigestion and ease and upset stomach.

Lemon juice’s acids can also encourage your body to digest food more slowly. This allows for drawn-out absorption and means insulin levels remain steady and you get more nutrients out of the foods you consume. Better nutrient absorption reduces bloating. Lemon water benefits the enzyme functions in your body, stimulating the liver and flushing out toxins. Because it’s a mild diuretic, you might find yourself using the bathroom more often, helping the urinary tract get rid of any unwanted elements. With these bodily systems working better, it is likely that your body will be able to eliminate toxins and waste better.

Water Boosts Metabolism

While the lemon in the water may not increase your metabolism, it has been shown that drinking water boosts your metabolism. According to a study which was published in “Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism” in 2003, it was discovered that the metabolic rate of adults increased 30 percent after they drank two glasses of water. This effect lasted between 10 and 40 minutes following their water consumption. Therefore, scientists conclude that drinking 8 glasses of water a day can increase your body’s ability to burn calories. Drinking lemon water, which involves just lemon juice and water alone, would add to your daily consumption of water. Increasing your metabolism, or your body’s ability to burn calories will help you to lose weight. This is just one way to do it.

 

 

 

 

[easyazon_image align=”right” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”B01M25WHRM” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uu11NV4ZL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”313″]Most of us are well aware that the ingredients in soda and diet soda are not doing anything to promote our health. However, a lot of people are still addicted to their daily soda pop. This includes some wonderful people like my father, who would prefer to go see a variety of doctors than quit his daily coke habit. (Oh geez, that makes him sound like a drug addict. Good thing he doesn’t read this blog.) But seriously, the chemicals in soda are not natural and most likely are causing incremental damage to your health.

I stopped drinking soda and carbonated beverages about a decade ago. For me, I was having terrible teeth problems. I had two root canals within the space of two years! I was desperate to change something in my life that was causing these issues because my dentist had prescribed an extra strength flouride toothpaste and I still had massive sensitivity in my teeth. I knew that my seizure medications could cause gum damage, but at the time, I didn’t think I could get off of them.

One day, when I was in the grocery store, I read a book about the miracles of coconut oil. This got me to thinking about changing my diet in order to fix my teeth problems. I started looking online for remedies and low and behold, there were tons of recommendations for alternatives to the dentist!

I started implementing and testing out these different things, some of which worked and others did not. One of the biggest recommendations across the board was to give up soda pop! My addiction to soda pop was not very strong at the time, but I recall enjoying soda with friends at events. The Mormon church always had functions where they served soda because the Mormons don’t drink alcohol. Their preferred indulgence is sugar! I knew that going to events with my Mormon friends was going to be more challenging.

Make the Decision to Quit

Every change in life starts with the decision. I made a conscious decision that soda was not going to be part of my diet. I knew that it wasn’t good for me and was likely creating more problems in my life than anything else.

Making the decision and being firm about it in your mind and actions is the first step. It is the most important step. If you decide that it is still okay to have once in awhile, you’ll backslide and eventually end up back on the stuff. If you don’t think you have the willpower to quit for life, make the goal time sensitive. I won’t drink soda for a week. That can seem more reasonable and manageable to someone who is very addicted to caffeine and soda pop.

Learned about the Health Benefits

After I decided that I was going to change my lifestyle and eliminate soda from my diet, I reinforced that decision by learning about the benefits of quitting soda. I listed some of them on a sheet of paper. I wanted to know that I was going to get something out of the effort of changing my beverage choices. Change isn’t always something that most people want to do. Let’s face it, drinking soda is tasty and sometimes fun with friends.

Read Up on the Cons of Soda

I know that I am someone who is more likely to avoid negative consequences than to work hard for benefits. After reading up on the benefits of quitting soda, I went online and read about how soda was detrimental to my health. I googled “side effects of drinking soda.” As I discovered more and more about the awful impacts of the ingredients on my health, it solidified my resolve to give up soda pop for good.

What to Drink Instead

Unfortunately, in all of my research on tooth health and healing teeth naturally, I found out that the best thing to drink is going to simply be water. Beverages such as juice contain a good amount of sugar, which has a negative impact on your body as well.

However, by switching your beverage to water only, you end up gaining a lot of health benefits. Your cells stay hydrated and they function so much better. You are able to sleep better and function better. Skin health improves almost immediately when you are fully hydrated. Ugh, water? All the time?! How boring, I thought. I’m sure that you may be thinking the same thing. But it improved my overall health and wellness.  

 

 

 

 

 

If you ask a neurologist, they will tell you there are no natural cures for epilepsy. However, you must understand the source. Doctors are trained in medicine. They know medicine well and they understand it. They are going to prescribe medicine before trying any type of home remedy or natural cure. Using the word “cure” is a bit tricky as well. There are a lot of legal implications to curing something and proving that it works is very expensive.[easyazon_image align=”right” height=”500″ identifier=”1489569987″ locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513jdxBM0KL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”313″]

So, while I’m going to share with you the natural cures for epilepsy that I implemented into my life, you may discover that you need to tweak them a bit to fit into your treatment plan. They may not be a comprehensive cure for you, but they definitely can help you to get healthier and happier in the process.

 

The Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet is the treatment of last resort for doctors. They test out a few different anti-convulsants first and then if those don’t work, they go to the tried and true, ketogenic diet. They will recommend the ketogenic diet for very young patients because they feel like the parents have more control over the food and compliance with the diet will be easier. For me, I was simply told at 13 years of age that the diet won’t work for me.

The ketogenic diet is gaining steam and popularity. There is absolutely no reason not to try the ketogenic diet. People are losing weight with it, it has a low glycemic index and prevents and reverses diabetes and has been shown to prevent seizures. The ketogenic diet does not need to be started in a hospital and strictly monitored. You can do research online and start it at home. I have even written a great blog post on how to get started on the ketogenic diet.

What type of results can you expect from the ketogenic diet? Research has shown it to work in about half of the patients with epilepsy. For a few patients, they became 100% seizure free. Other patients were able to reduce their seizures by about 50%. For someone who truly wants to cure their epilepsy naturally, this is a great step. It is inexpensive and only requires and adjustment in your eating habits.

Need help getting started on the ketogenic diet? Try the free Bacon and Butter ebook. It is loaded with recipes and instructions that will get you started on the healing ketogenic diet. It is also available in print if you pay for shipping.

 

Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet

The Gut ans Psychology Syndrome Diet is another diet that is aimed at healing and sealing the gut in order to address neurological and psychological symptoms. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, who is a neurosurgeon, created the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet as a way to heal her son of Autism. This diet can heal one of the [easyazon_image align=”left” cart=”n” height=”500″ identifier=”0954852028″ locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518j6rvvLlL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”352″]contributors of seizures, which is a leaky gut. A leaky gut can leak toxins into your blood stream, which may cross the blood brain barrier and trigger a seizure in the brain. Fixing a leaky gut can improve your overall health and even cure autoimmune conditions.

When Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s son was diagnosed with autism, she became determined to help him. She went back to school and earned a degree in nutrition in order to heal her son, who she claims has been healed of Autism. Her book is very detailed about the mechanisms of a leaky gut and how to address it.

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet is a very structured diet. She recommends staying on it for 2 years. However, my willpower only made it through about 4 months on the diet. I have a weakness for sweets! While on the diet, I did feel very healthy. It eliminates starchy foods and sugars. She also emphasizes restoring the good bacteria in the gut through fermented foods.

 

Buteyko Breathing Exercises For Epilepsy

This is my favorite natural cure and one that I discovered almost by accident. Buteyko breathing exercises slow down your rate of breathing in order to encourage more oxygenation of the body. It is theorized by Buteyko that diseases begin because the body is deficient in oxygen. You can easily figure out Buteyko breathing exercises through videos and reading up on them. They do take some time to do, but you will discover higher levels of health than you ever imagined as you do them.

Why do I list this as a natural cure for epilepsy? When you go into an EEG, one of the things that they always have you do is hyperventilate. Hyperventilating triggers seizure activity in the brain. Therefore, slowing down you breathing should logically have the opposite effect! Many people who have experienced seizures will note that their breathing prior to the seizure was erratic. Some people who have longer auras can actually prevent a seizure through slowing down their breathing.

One aspect of the Buteyko Breathing Method is exercise. Nasal breathing during exercise can help to prevent seizures. 

 

The Water Cure

When one gets dehydrated, the body is highly likely to go into dysfunction. For me, I went to the beach once and experienced what felt like an aura. I immediately drank some water and the feeling calmed down. I don’t know if it prevented the seizure or if I never would have had the seizure in the first place.[easyazon_image align=”right” height=”500″ identifier=”0970245815″ locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/5167SVBVCDL.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”340″]

Dr. Batmanghelidj theorizes that the root cause of disease starts with a dehydrated state. This makes sense to me as the body is 60% water. Having a deficit in one of the most abundance elements in the body is going to cause dysfunction somewhere in the body, or at least contribute to the problem. His theory is that the initial stages of disease begin when the amino acids get used up as detoxifying agents because the body isn’t producing enough urine to rid the body of toxins. Toxins building up in the brain can trigger excessive electrical activity in the brain. Hydrogen and oxygen (water) has a calming effect on the neurons.

The water cure is very simple and can easily be implemented by anyone. Drink half of your body weight in ounces per day and dissolve a pinch of sea salt on your tonuge with each glass of water.

Will this absolutely cure you of epilepsy? Probably not initially. It may take awhile for you to get accustomed to drinking the proper amount of water and taking in the right amount of salt to reverse your health conditions. I have worked with some friends who implemented this technique and they felt much better drinking the water and taking the salt. They were able to lose weight and reduce chronic pain. I feel much better when I am consuming plenty of water. I am not having tons of seizures and I’m off my medication now, so this step is working pretty well for me.

 

CBD Oil

CBD oil is gaining more and more traction in the news lately. CBD oil helps to calm the nervous system down. Cannabis-based products have been used to treat seizures since 1843 by W.B. O’Shaughnessy, a physician in the Bengal Army. After he tested the behavioral effects of cannabis on goats, sheep, cows and other animals, he investigated the effects in patients with a variety of disorders. He observed an anti-seizure effect. The use of cannabis has declined a bit due to the plant becoming illegal. As scientific advancements have been made, and it has become clear that cannabis has an effect on seizure control, more and more people have started to use CBD oil.

Cannabis is the flowering plant. The most abundant and biologically active chemicals in cannabis are called cannabinoids. The two main cannabinoids in cannabis are CBD and THC. THC has a psychogenic effect on the body. However, CBD has a positive, anti-seizure effect.

The body has two cannabinoid receptors type 1 (CB1) and 2 (CB2). Both the CB1 and CB2 recpetors are in a class of G-coupled metabotropic receptors. There is an involvement of endo-cannabinoid signaling pathways in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. Studies have demonstrated that endogenous cannabinoids systems are altered in a variety of models of seizures, epilepsy and epileptogenesis. There have been observations that the endocannabinoid systems is involved in finding and reducing anandamide concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid of people with new-onset temporal lobe epilepsy. It downregulates CB1 receptors and redlated molecular components in gluatmatergic neurons from surgical samples of the hippocampus of epilepsy patients.

CBD oil is now available through network marketing companies, such as Hempworx. You can also find online companies that sell CBD oil. In some states, you can purchase CBD oil through distilleries.

Conclusion

There are many things that you can do at home to prevent seizures and naturally cure your epilepsy. You don’t need your doctor’s permission to start one of these diets, however, you will want to let him in on the fact that you are doing it. The reason for this is that as you get healthier, you may become more sensitive to the side effects of the medication. If this happens, you will want to request a reduction in medication and an EEG to see that your brain waves are normal. Keep in mind that a “normal” EEG can be had by someone who has epilepsy and someone who doesn’t have seizures can have an “abnormal” EEG. It is just a benchmark that neurologists use. It is somewhat imperfect.

 

 

 

 

I love my keto chicken soup recipe. It is super easy to make and utilizes a lot of healthy vegetables. The great thing about making keto chicken soup is that you can take some of the broth that you made and use it for another soup dish or another meal. My keto chicken soup recipe starts out with a whole chicken, but you don’t need to use the whole chicken in the soup. You can use half the chicken and save some of the chicken for another recipe, killing two birds with one stone! (I usually divide the chicken meat in half and make a chicken broccoli casserole with the other meat. It is tasty!)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots (these can be omitted because root veggies tend to be higher in carbohydrates, but I still like a slice or two in my soups)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup frozen green beans
• 1/2 cup frozen broccoli
• 1/2 cup cabbage
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 8 cups of water
• 4-5 mushrooms sliced (optional)
• grated pepper (to taste)
• 2 boullion cubes

Directions:

Remove the organs from the cavity of the bird. Place the whole bird in a crockpot with 8-10 cups of water. Add in tablespoon of sea salt, bay leaf and one stalk of chopped celery. Cook under pressure for 30-40 minuts. If you are using a crockpot, add the water and the chicken to the pot and cook for an hour. Remove the chicken and allow to cool. Take all the meat off of the chicken carcas.

Chop up the celery, onions, carrots, cabbage and mushrooms. To the broth, add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery, cabbage, broccoli, green beans and pepper. Chop up the chicken that you deboned and add it to the soup. Season with boullion cube If you are using a pressure cooker, cook for ten minutes under pressure. If you are using a crock pot, then cook for 30 minutes. Cool and serve!

My keto chicken soup recipe tends to follow my style of throw everything in the pot and hope it turns out cooking. You can omit veggies that you dislike and add in ones that I may not have thought to add. These are my tried and true veggies that I enjoy eating on a regular basis. Therefore, they get thrown in!

 

[easyazon_image align=”right” height=”90″ identifier=”B001E5DZJ8″ locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51eeTiQ6CTL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”160″][easyazon_image align=”right” height=”159″ identifier=”B00FLYWNYQ” locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41L%2Br0px7RL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”160″][easyazon_image align=”right” height=”110″ identifier=”B0012BS9F4″ locale=”US” src=”https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41UzvzNZUuL._SL110_.jpg” tag=”mcurle08-20″ width=”48″]

 

 

 

This week as I was deciding what I would eat prior to going to the grocery store, I had a few things in mind. I had decided that I wanted to try a pumpkin soup recipe that was similar to butternut squash soup, but used canned pumpkin puree, so I could avoid the mess. Well, that led me to deciding to make a soup so I could use the stock in the pumpkin soup. I decided to buy a whole chicken and debone it myself today! That is quite the task! I could have simply eaten the chicken sliced, but I decided to stretch my meat purchase as far as I could. I will be able to use this chicken in four different recipes this week! 

Chicken Soup!

Chicken soup was going to be a no-brainer. I was boiling up the chicken in my pressure cooker and would have plenty of broth. After cooking the chicken, I took it out to debone it. I divided up the chicken into three portions. For the chicken soup, I used a ton of ketogenic veggies – frozen green beans, cabbage, 2 carrots (not keto, I know, but I only used two and the portion of carrot in each soup bowl would only be one or two slices), an onion, celery, mushrooms, sea salt, pepper, an organic boullion cube, and parsley. 

 

I reserved about 2 cups of chicken stock for my pumpkin soup that I will be making tomorrow.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I have already posted my recipe for a chicken broccoli casserole. This time, I didn’t have fresh broccoli that I wanted to use for it. I was thinking about using the fresh broccoli for a stir fry or steamed as a side dish later in the week, so I whipped out some frozen broccoli, layered the chicken over it and then spread a layer of cream of mushroom soup and a layer of mayonaise, chopped up some mushrooms and onions and put them on top of that and topped it off with shredded cheddar cheese. So excited to see how the frozen broccoli works when I eat it for dinner tonight! 

Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is a dish that I haven’t made in awhile. I took the third portion of the chicken and chopped it up. I added a spoonful of relish and two tablespoons of mayonnaise. I chopped up two celery stalks and mixed it up. I loved it! It is similar to tuna salad, but it has a milder flavor than tuna fish. I loved the relish in it too. It will make a fun lunch meal for tomorrow. But because I was stretching this chicken, it didn’t make a ton of salad. I’m glad that I tried it. I may try out canned chicken for chicken salad next.

Pumpkin Soup

This soup is being made with the chicken stock. I’m super excited to test this out tomorrow an may update the blog afterwards.

Weekly Prep Saves Time

This week’s food prep is going to save me time during the week as now I have at least half of my meals made. I will be consuming a lot of chicken and veggies this week! It actually only took me about an hour and a half to prepare the chicken casserole and the chicken soup. The main time waster was the deboning of the whole chicken. I could have cut that out by using some frozen chicken breasts or chicken thighs with fewer bones. In the future, I may want to add some more chicken to the batch that I am cooking so that I can have more chicken salad or sliced chicken for eating.