6 Small Things You Can Do to Kickstart Your Healthier Year

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Flickr Creative Commons_Marco Verch

A big lifestyle change can seem daunting, but taking small steps can make your goal both manageable and possible.

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to take action, you can start right now. Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.

Traveling? 10 Tips to Boost Immunity and Avoid Getting Sick

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While you might try to protect your immunity against the cold that’s going around in the home or office, it’s less common to have such protection during travel, which can be even more hazardous to  your immune system.

You are changing your environment, which means you are adjusting your daily healthy routines and eating habits, while in physical contact with far more objects that many others have touched.

Even though traveling during the upcoming cold and flu season might make getting sick feel inevitable, falling ill have to be your fate.

By initiating a few best practices and precautions, you might be able to dodge illness.

Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.

Taking Antibiotics? Here Are 5 Ways to Maintain or Restore Good Gut Bacteria

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a set of fermented food great for gut health - top view of glass bowls against grunge wood: cucumber pickles, coconut milk yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, red beets, apple cider vinegar

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Nearly everyone has been prescribed an antibiotic at some time in their life, as antibiotics, in addition to preventing the spread of disease and reducing serious complications of disease, are commonly used to fight against bacterial infections like pneumonia and bronchitis.

What Exactly Do Antibiotics Do?

In short, they attack the bacteria.

When we say bacteria, we mean all bacteria – that means the bad and the good bacteria residing in your gut, otherwise known as your microbiome. The five pounds of bacteria that make up your microbiome are a complex mix of healthful and less healthful bacteria working hard to keep a healthy balance.

So while the infection may have been tended to, what also needs tending to is rebuilding and rebalancing your microbiome. Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.

3 Reasons Women Should Know Their hs-CRP Levels

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For women of any age, knowing your hs-CRP levels is invaluable because of its association with living a long and healthy life.

hs-CRP as a beacon for inflammation. Because your liver produces this protein in response to inflammation, hs-CRP is one of the best indicators of inflammation. Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.

Ben Greenfield’s Top Two Recommended Ways To Fast For Longevity

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This is a guest post from WellnessFX practitioner, Ben Greenfield. Greenfield is an ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, Spartan racer, coach, speaker and author of the New York Times Bestseller “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life.” Ben blogs and podcasts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com, and resides in Spokane, WA with his wife and twin boys. To learn more about Ben’s practice, education, and specialties, skip to the bottom! 

While they are unlikely to be familiar with popular fasting acronyms such as CR, IF, DTRF, ADF or FMD, centenarians in Blue Zones like Nicoya, Sardinia and Okinawa tend to eat relatively small portions of whole foods, consuming a low to moderate calorie diet by being mindful of their hunger and avoiding calorie-dense, fat- and sugar-laden processed and packaged foods.

Okinawans practice the traditional cultural rule of hara hachi bu, which means eating only until they are about 80% full. Typically, most meals are consumed within an 8- to 12-hour feeding window throughout the day, referred to by researchers as a “compressed feeding window.” This is the same window observed in many of the new, Westernized forms of fasting- or caloric-restriction-based diets, most of which involve at least 12 to 16 hours of not consuming calories during a given 24-hour period.

So why do all these different forms of fasting seem to work so well? You’re about to discover why, along with a quick primer on fasting and the two methods of fasting that I’ve personally found to be most effective for me and my clients. Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.

Ask the Practitioner: How Do Popular Diets Stack Up Nutritionally?

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There are a lot of options and opinions on how to eat – but which one is healthiest and most nutritionally sound? Are there risks? If you peep the latest Instagram fitness influencer, you’ll find many people, products, foods, and philosophies focused on achieving a look at any cost, shifting health and long-term health to the wayside. Unfortunately, all too often there is a disconnect between health and fitness – what makes you fit isn’t always what contributes to a healthy lifestyle.

We asked WellnessFX practitioner, Registered and Licensed Dietician Lori Brizee to give us a break down of the various popular diets and help examine how they stack up nutritionally. Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are for information only, and are not intended to substitute for a doctor-patient or other healthcare professional-patient relationship nor do they constitute medical or healthcare advice of any kind. Any information in these posts should not be acted upon without consideration of primary source material and professional input from one's own healthcare professionals.