Inflammation
Dopamine – part 4
Dopamine Deficiency Part IV: More Solutions
Do you struggle with belief in any area of your life? Maybe it’s work…. Self confidence…. Big goals…. If so, know that improving your dopamine balance will only help you grow into living what you struggle to believe. Now would be a great time to grab that bottle of Believe essential oil and become a walking diffuser for yourself. Go grab it now… I’ll wait for you!
Gary Young knew which plant chemicals stimulate, protect, and support healthy dopamine levels. And of course, he knew that belief is fueled by dopamine. Essential oils Balsam, Coriander, Bergamot, Frankincense, Idaho Blue Spruce, Ylang ylang , and Geranium all fuel belief through their effect on dopamine within us. These are the oils within the blend Believe. Pretty cool right? Gary never made a product that wasn’t highly purposeful!
Other oils that have been found to contain constituents supportive of healthy dopamine levels in the body include rosemary, oregano, thyme, rose, sandalwood, neroli , palmarosa , and marjoram . Did you notice that many of these oils are used in Raindrop massage? Just one more reason everyone should receive a Raindrop on the regular!
God has gifted us with so many natural ways to support dopamine levels. (Go back and review last week’s post so that you’ll have the full combined list!)
Mowing the yard! It may be hard work, but the aroma of fresh cut grass contains a chemical called hexanal (the “green” smell of grass) that stimulates dopamine release.
St. John’s Wort has been found to increase dopamine in the prefrontal cortex of the brain by 40%. Resveratrol has been found to perform similarly ( found in red wine, fresh grapes, dark chocolate, blueberries, peanut butter)
Organic coffee (No more than one cup a day or it may contribute to adrenal fatigue…. A dopamine high followed by a crash!) or a cuppa organic green tea (Have you tried the YL Vanilla Lemongrass Green Tea yet?) is a dopamine supportive treat.
Rhodiola is another herb known to stimulate dopamine receptors and inhibit enzymes that break down dopamine in the brain. Ashwagandha (You might recognize this as an ingredient in Powergize and Endogize) is also an effective adaptogen with supportive dopamine activity.
Pregnenolone is a natural hormone produced in the body that has a positive effect on dopamine levels in the brain. It is an ingredient in hormone supportive Cortistop capsules, PD 80/20 capsules, and Regenolone moisturizing cream. Do a little research on each of these to determine if they might fight your individual hormone balancing needs.
Acupuncture stimulates the vagus nerve, which in turn support healthy dopamine levels. (Go back and reread the section on low vagal tone!)
Creating and performing music boosts dopamine levels even more than listening to your favorite tunes, but all three are effective. Listening to music has even been shown to improve fine motor skills in Parkinson’s patients.
Chronic inflammation reduces dopamine synthesis and release in the brain. We’ve got tools on hand to support a healthy inflammatory response (as opposed to the runaway variety!). Sulfurzyme, BLM, Agilease, and OmegaGize3 are excellent supplements. Nobody can “out supplement” an unhealthy lifestyle…..examine your life and look for offending (and often hidden) toxin triggers in household chemicals, processed foods and drinks, body care products, and makeup.
Lack of sleep down regulates dopamine receptors and reduces dopamine receptor availability. You know what to do! Sleep is so very important in ALL aspects of health. Review your sleep hygiene practices and look for “holes in the armor” that may result in interrupted sleep. I LOVE and incorporate Rutavala on the base of my big toe and Immupro (chewable) in my bedtime rituals.
Iron plays a role in dopaminergic neurotransmission. Iron and ferritin levels are important lab values to watch (both for being too low and too high). Natural sources of iron include spirulina ( an ingredient in Multigreens), dark chocolate, spinach, shellfish, organ meats (I highly suggest Sally Fallon’s cookbook Nourishing Traditions), beans, lentils, chickpeas, red meat, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, turkey, broccoli, and fish.
Vitamin C assists with the formation and conversion of dopamine in the brain. Deficient levels of vitamin C may show up as a low mood. Super C Chewables are a tasty way to supplement daily.
Vitamins B6 and B9 are critical for dopamine synthesis. Low folate levels contribute massively to low dopamine levels which may ultimately lead to depression. Super B is another fantastic supplement to help the body in at least a thousand little and big ways.
Alternate between standing and sitting. “Chronic sitting” lowers dopamine levels. Our body was designed to move!
Finish a project. Who knew? This in itself causes the brain to flood with dopamine.
Huge (and easy) list, right? And yet, sometimes it may seem hard to get motivated to make the changes. Circle back around….. Grab your bottle of Believe, and start somewhere small. I promise you won’t regret finding your dopamine happy place!
xoxo~liz
#caringissharing#knowbetterdobetter#dopamineisdope#balanceddopamineisgoodmedicine#goodmedicine#BecomingYourOwnHealthDetective
#ThanksYL
Chronic Stress Damage- part 2
Prior to 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared stress the “Health Epidemic of the 21st Century”. The ramifications of chronic stress costs American businesses an estimated $300 billion dollars annually, though that stat is a pretty cold way to look at stress… from a purely financial perspective. Numerous studies show that job stress is the leading cause of stress for American adults. Other triggers include finances, relationships, parenting, and trauma…. Oh, and let’s not forget simply living through 2020/2021.
Unpacking stress as a clue is like peeling back the layers of an onion. What actually happens to a body that is chronically stressed?
Initially, we may feel the effects of adrenaline and cortisol being released. The heart speeds up, digestion slows down, the blood supply shunts blood to major muscle groups, and fight or flight kicks in. In normal situations, the perceived threat eventually leaves and we relax and recover.
In a state of chronic stress, this scenario doesn’t happen the way it should, and some real problematic changes in the body occur.
The brain actually begins to decrease in both size and weight😳. Ultimately this affects both cognition and memory. The basal ganglia and the pre frontal cortex are especially affected by these changes. The basal ganglia is involved in the processing of information related to emotions, motivations, and movement, while the pre frontal cortex is responsible for “executive decision making”….. The ability to differentiate between conflicting thoughts, identifying good from bad, predictions of outcomes, expectations based on actions, and the ability to suppress urges. This area of the brain dictates our personality, goals and values. As you might imagine, over time, chronic stress plays a very real role in brain disorders like Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and dystonia.
Unmitigated chronic stress affects the immune system by activating low grade inflammation🔥 throughout the body. It may take years to develop, but strong evidence suggests that low grade inflammation eventually triggers dis-eases such as rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, colitis, IBS, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, lupus, MS, diabetes, cancer, and other autoimmune disorders.
Additionally, this stress affects the production of blood cells needed to effectively fight off illnesses.
Chronic stress also alters the activity of:
🔥The hypothalamus (libido, behavior, emotions, body temperature, weight, and sleep/wake cycle.
🔥The pituitary (which largely controls both the adrenals and thyroid)
🔥The adrenal glands (produce hormones that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, and how we respond to stress). Even a minimal amount of stress can activate the adrenal glands.
🔥Growth hormones (can be halted during severe stress)
Additionally, chronic stress can lead to malignancies, genetic instability (epigenetics… the role our environment plays in gene expression), and tumor growth by effectively decreasing the activity of the normal systems within the body that keeps aberrant (cancer) cells from growing.
Digestive disorders are also a common physical symptom of chronic stress, including changes in motility, increased intestinal permeability,and inflammation in the form of Crohns, ulcerative colitis, and IBS.
Chronic stress is no joke when it comes to its impact on health, and not a single person is immune to the effects of it. This is why it is incredibly important to have a plan of action to care for yourself and encourage others to do the same.
We are all built incredibly differently, and stress will ultimately expose the unique weakness that is within each one of us. This is why it is so very important that we know and understand our bodies well, so that we can support it in the manner that best serves us.
Sleep😴 is our body’s only true time of repair and recovery. If you are not getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night, make that a priority. If quality sleep is not happening, work on sleep hygiene and habits to improve your zzzzzz’s.
👉Stop screen time well before bed and keep electronics out of the bedroom (pineal gland disruption).
👉Get 10-20 minutes of full sunlight during the day.
👉Keep sleeping temperature at less than 70 degrees F.
👉Take an epsom salt bath before bed…. Add in Lavender, Frankincense, Peace and Calming, Cedarwood or Sandalwood to the salts.
👉Consider diffusing with any of the calming oils!
👉Exercise earlier in the day, and consider restorative yoga or meditation before bed.
👉Avoid artificial sweeteners (they can cause insomnia!)
👉Support a healthy night’s sleep with either YL’s Immupro chewable tablets or Sleep Essence capsules.
Next week I will cover some strategies for coping with chronic stress.
xoxo~ liz
#sharingiscaring
#takecareofyourself
#ThanksYL
Milk Thistle…not just a weed
“Milk thistle’s benefits derive from silymarin and silybin. Silybin belongs to the flavonoid group called flavonolignans, which have strong antioxidant properties that reduce proinflammatory mediators through modulation of a variety of cell-signaling pathways.”
Some of you are like 👏, while others of y’all are like. I get it. If this were something written about computer technology, you’d have lost me too! That is why we are all gifted uniquely!
So, if that was a foreign language, let me translate for you 😉.
God made plants with capabilities to heal.
Milk thistle is literally a crazy obnoxious weed in our farming world. And it is loaded with thorns, which makes it hard to handle without gloves.
This large obnoxious stickery weed just also happens to be a potent antioxidant ( something that fights free radicals in the body. Excessive free radicals in the body are linked to diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and others). Milk thistle also happens to have anti inflammatory and anti fibrotic effects (fibrosis of any organ is not a good thing). This wayward weed also appears to reduce insulin resistance and decreased fasting insulin levels. Kinda cool, right?
Mostly tho, I’m pleasantly surprised to find this article in a Big Pharma journal… Ya’ll, plants heal. Don’t underestimate the power of plant juice 😉.
xoxo~ liz (your friendly pharmacist purveyor of plant juice and plant juice information.)
#knowbetterdobetter
#plantjuiceisgoodmedicine
#onemansweedisanothermansmedicine
#whatsinthegardenisbetterthanwhatsinthela
#ThanksYL
Health Clues from Your Eyes -part 5
*Iris clues. Are you ready to dive a little deeper down this fascinating rabbit warren of information? If you are just now joining in this portion of detective work, I’d highly suggest a quick look at last week’s post before proceeding-Health Clues from Your Eyes – part 4.
🔎Noting the changes within your eyes may be likened to the notification lights on the dashboard of your car. If you know something is wrong early enough, you often have time to correct that which is setting the signal off. The iris manifests clues marking changes within the body that warrant correction.
Depending upon how the clues manifest themselves, they may indicate acute, recovery, chronic, or degenerative situations within the body.
Acute – active inflammation. During this time, the body is using its resources rapidly in an attempt to gain control of the inflammation. The iris “warning signs” will look like white ribbons in the areas corresponding to the inflamed tissue. Other corroborative clues may include noticeable mucus production somewhere in the body, or visibly inflamed or swollen tissue. Detoxification is occurring, but often it’s not fast enough. Consider giving your body all the nutrition support you can. Add in Young Living’s Master Formula and NingXia Red for added support.
Sub-Acute- Once the initial rapid inflammation has tapered off, the white ribbon like areas start to become darker. This is suggestive that nutrients have been depleted and need to be restored. If a sub-acute state is left unattended and the body continues to be exposed to either nutritional or physical stress, a chronic state of inflammation may result. Don’t stop supporting your body!
Chronic- In this state, toxins and waste are not eliminated properly, cellular activity has slowed down considerably, nerve impulses are impaired, and conditions become ripe for chronic illness or dis-ease to set in. The iris will manifest the chronic condition state with the appearance of various sized “black holes” in the netting of the iris fibers. This will ultimately lead to further degeneration if positive changes are not made to a person’s lifestyle in an effort to reverse the course of dis-ease or illness. The black holes may get larger and multiply as more body systems are affected.
*About ⅓ of the way away from the iris lies the autonomic nerve wreath. The autonomic nervous system is broken down into two subsystems. The parasympathetic nervous system is for basic housekeeping within the body and it controls the body while we rest. The sympathetic system is also commonly referred to as our “fight or flight” response. The nerve wreath is not always uniform in shape.. The more this wreath shape deviates from a standard roundish type shape, the more suggestive it is of a system off balance. Additionally, the color of the autonomic nerve wreath should match the color of the rest of the iris. Any increase, decrease, or change in color in this area suggests disharmony within the body. To recap, color and shape of the wreath are important clues🔎!
What about colored spots within the iris? These are called psora, and are typically considered to be an indicator of toxin loads within the body. If you watch your eyes closely, you may notice that these colored spots often change locations over time. This suggests the toxin load (including drug deposits) has moved to another portion of the body. Sometimes these spots show up in different colors: red yellow, and orange are not uncommon. They are most often seen in Zones 1 thru 3 in the irises.
“Scurf rim”🔎 is another clue on the outermost zone (7) of the iris. Is the area darkened? This is suggestive that the skin (remember, it’s an organ!) is not able to function effectively in the detoxification process, and toxins and metabolic waste are having a hard time being released from the body. An accompanying clue🔎 might include not sweating easily.
At the very top of Zone 7 (roughly 10pm -2am on a clock) look for an arc that often has fuzzy edges with a whitish tint. Though this used to be a mark of old age👵, it is becoming more and more common in younger people👩👨. Presence of this arc is suggestive of poor oxygenation and blood perfusion in the brain.
Now look for a solid white ring🔎 on the periphery of Zone 7. This suggests a chemical imbalance of some sort in the body. Western medicine also recognizes this ring as an indicator of probable excessive cholesterol and triglycerides in the body. Not surprisingly, further digging (with lab work and testing) often reveal poor calcium metabolism which contributes to plaque in the arteries (arteriosclerosis) and joints (arthritis), and subsequent higher blood pressure.
Zone 6 sometimes houses cloudlike spots 🔎resembling a string of pearls. If the spots are very white, these spots suggest acute inflammation. Yellowed or brownish pearls suggest that the inflammation has moved to a chronic state.
Check yourself for other clues. Do you also produce a great deal of mucus elsewhere in your body or have swollen lymph glands? Dry brushing, lymphatic massage, and regular exercise are all excellent ways to mediate impaired lymphatic function.
Nerve rings🔎 may appear anywhere in the pupil.. They look much like growth rings found in a cross section of a tree. These rings suggest long term stress in one or more parts of the body, and are most often seen in chronically stressed individuals. Shouldn’t we all be huffing our Stress Away whenever the moment requires it? We have so many blessed tools at our fingertips to help support our bodies during times of stress. These nerve rings are similar to an SOS smoke signal. Pay attention to them!
Check your eyes for dark lines 🔎radiating out from the pupil. These lines (called radii solaris) suggest a slower moving digestive tract and a subsequent toxin load. If you are not offloading the poo my friends, the toxin load will be there. ! This clue might also be suggestive of a parasite load.
We’ve just barely skimmed the surface of the clues🔎 the eyes can give us, but if you’re ultra curious, keep digging on your own. Dr Bernard Jensen is considered to be the modern “Father of Iridology”, and his work is an excellent place to start!
I’ll leave you with this cool factoid…. Did you know that you may be able to change the color of your eyes? Brown discolorations in blue/green eyes are suggestive of digestive system dysfunction, a gallbladder weakness, or liver dysfunction. Cleaning up these problems with clean eating habits and restoring health to the digestive system just might make your brownish eyes blue! The next time you think someone might be full of it💩, check their eyes…. You just might be right!😉
xoxo~ liz
#sharingiscaring
#supportyourlocalpeepers
#goodmedicine
#ToxinFreeIsTheWayToBe
#goodmedicineisproactiveinsteadofreactive
#ThanksYL