Good Medicine
Holistic Health Coaching
Meditation. Do you? Meditation is reflective thinking.
When I spend time in meditation, it allows me to clear my mind so that I can more easily “hear” what God is asking of me. How often do we neglect to do this? And yet, it’s asked of us.
Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God. Choose wisely what you allow your brain to spend time “chewing on”. …For whatever you choose will change you.
Friends, PLEASE make sure you have a WELL STOCKED kit on hand. It is literally insurance. The best defense is a good offense in this case. When you feel rotten is not the time to go look for all the pieces. Much of what you need takes planning as much of what you will need has to be ordered. It might take a week or two (or three in some cases) to get your stock together. The people who are calling me don’t have that kind of time when their oxygen levels are hovering at dangerous levels. If you need a suggested prep list, please message me and I will share what I have put together for my family and friends. The hospital is NOT where you want to be, though you are worth more to “the system” if you are sick than if you are well and are able to bounce back quickly.This is a great article (with audio demo’s) of unhealthy lung sounds. Please hang on to it for reference if needed. Make sure you have a primary care doctor that believes in the things that you believe in. You want someone on your side, not someone who will simply follow hospital protocol that may not be in your best interest.
Discussing solutions is one of my favorite topics to write about, but if we didn’t first identify root causes, how would what we are doing be any different than the tendency to bandage a festering abscess? Solutions can be clues all on their own too, right? I ask that you be mindful of three things while navigating and identifying ways to improve and support healthy dopamine levels:
Would I be prone to developing an addictive tendency to something I already particularly enjoy? (Too much of a good thing makes it not necessarily a good thing.)
Am I willing to step outside of my comfort zone in the pursuit of happiness and improved dopamine balance in the body?
There is no magic “one hit wonder”. Lifestyle is where the sweet spot lies….. Just as it took every single person doing their part in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem (read Nehemiah 3 sometime!), it takes symphonic effort to succeed in body balance! Now, on to the fun stuff!
Exercise: Exercise slows the breakdown of dopamine in the body, and helps prevent loss of dopaminergic
brain cells. You may have heard of the “runner’s high”. There are several neurotransmitters involved in this sensation of feeling great, and dopamine is one of them. The brain is literally washed with dopamine in these moments. If strenuous exercise is new to you, start with walking, yoga, pilates, or aquatic exercise. Mild exercise causes dopamine release too. Bonus points for exercise outdoors and with a group of friends!
Learn something new: Learning a new skill (language, hobby, sport, or activity) or simply learning new information causes dopamine to be released. It’s very likely happening right now as you read this information! You’ve heard of “seminar highs” or research junkies (yep, this is one area I receive a huge dopamine dump from!). When the dopamine release happens, it makes you want to learn more and repeat the experience. Bonus points…. The more you engage in learning new things, the stronger your brain gets too!
Vitamin D: Vitamin D has a role in the production of dopamine and in also protecting dopamine receptors. Evidence suggests that supporting healthy Vitamin D levels also supports healthy dopamine levels, especially if clinically deficient in Vitamin D. Make sure to ask for Vitamin D levels whenever you have the opportunity to get labwork! Young Living’s Super D is most bioavailable when it is dissolved in the cheek or under the tongue.
Phenylalanine and tyrosine are two amino acids used in the biosynthesis of dopamine. Foods high in phenylalanine and/or tyrosine include meats, beans, milk, nuts, seeds, whole grains, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, cherries, eggs, yogurt, and NingXia Wolfberries! Supporting healthy dopamine production is just one more reason to get your ounce or two (or four!) of NingXia Red every day!
Increasing Vagal Tone: There is a direct correlation between low vagal tone and lower levels of dopamine. You’ll want to go back and review ALL the wonderful and fun ways you can improve vagal tone! (We talked about this a few months ago….use the search option in this group to find the posts.)
Uridine is a supplement. It’s also found in beer, brewer’s yeast and nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is not the same yeast that bakers use. If you do a little digging, you’ll find recipes incorporating nutritional yeast into tasty options.
Here’s a quick recipe for Caesar Salad Dressing:1 & ½ cups extra virgin olive oil¾ cup coconut milk½ avocadoJuice of one lemon1 tsp balsamic vinegar3 cloves of garlic2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast¾ tsp sea salt or pink saltA toothpick swirl or two of Young Living oregano vitality essential oil (1 drop might be WAY strong!)½ tsp onion powder(Use organic ingredients whenever possible). Put all ingredients (except olive oil) into a blender and blend til smooth. Slowly add in olive oil while blender is running at low speed. Stores up to one week in the fridge. Note: may also be used for a dipping sauce!
Cryotherapy: You’ve seen advertisements for it I’m sure. Be brave and consider giving it a try! Remember, simply exploring something new increases dopamine in the brain. Ice water immersion (or cryotherapy tanks) increase dopamine by an estimated 250%! Yowza! I am a fan of cryo….. I find it both terrifying and exhilarating (probably from that ginormous dopamine dump I received!)
Intermittent Fasting not only leads to higher levels of dopamine release; it also reduces age related dopamine receptor attrition. There are many additional reasons to incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle if you’ve not considered it before now.
Curcumin is the yellow pigment found in turmeric. Curcumin reduces the metabolism of dopamine in the brain thereby increasing levels. YL Golden Turmeric or Spiced Turmeric Vitality Tea for the win! You might also consider adding Golden Turmeric to yogurt or smoothies!We’re about halfway through this pretty amazing dopamine support list! Next week we’ll wrap up with more simple and inexpensive ways to support this happy hormone.
xoxo, liz #caringissharing#knowbetterdobetter#dopamineisdope#balanceddopamineisgoodmedicine#goodmedicine#BecomingYourOwnHealthDetective#ThanksYL
Isn’t that snapshot of the microbiome on that child’s hand beautiful? Pretty is as pretty does. Our body NEEDS cooties. Without them, we’d be in a sorry state. Take care of whatcha got, and work to create diversity among the community within you. You won’t regret it! 😉
xoxo~ liz
The microbiome is truly beautiful! 🍄
*This is the hand of an 8-year-old boy who placed his hand on a petri dish after coming inside from playing. Now I am sure at first glance you thought to yourself how disgusting this is and how this MUST be a bad thing, however, it is actually the contrary
I sure do love my Jordan. She is a firecracker, owns her own gym and online fitness program, and I’m blessed to be her godmother! Keep on speaking truth girl… the world needs to hear you! 😘
At what point in our life do we go from celebrating our weight to obsessing over it?
My 4 year old steps on the scale and says, “I weigh 45 inches!!” and we all celebrate how much she’s growing (We’re working on correct measurements hehe)
My 7 year old grabs her cute little belly and says “I got a lotta muffins and pop tarts in there” and we all giggle.
But my 23 year old client really wants to lose 10lbs.
My 60 year old client is frustrated the scale hasn’t moved after weeks of trying.
It’s okay if you’re a kid.
It’s okay if you’re pregnant.
It’s okay if you’re old.
It’s okay if you’re sick.
It’s okay if you’re handicapped.
But if you’re between 15 and 60 and there’s nothing fundamentally “wrong” with your body’s ability to lose weight….. You 👏🏼better 👏🏼get 👏🏼it ! together!
No, I call bull shit.
THROW AWAY THE SCALE, SIS.
It literally means nothing.
We KNOW that someone can be unhealthy and weigh 125 while someone else can be at their healthiest and weigh 175.
But we obsess, anyway.
It’s not moving. It’s not working. We’re failing. We’re gross. We should be embarrassed. This is dumb. Why do we even try.
NO
It is working. Our health does matter. We shouldn’t be embarrassed. We are not failing. We can do it.
And the scale has nothing to do with any of it.
If you eat out every meal, make some adjustments. If you still drink 5 sodas a day, do a little better. If you know you could have a more balanced diet, add some fruits and veggies in. If you know you’re not currently at your healthiest, start being consistent in building better habits.
Our health is about how we feel, how our clothes fit, how well we can now get down and back up without hurting, how well we can play with our babies, how living feels better now than it used to, how we treat people better because we’re in a better mood, how we crave good food because we know we worked out hard that day.
It’s not the scale, sis.
It never will be.
