Category: Healthy Living

Healthy Living, Holistic Healing

Foods for Cold and Flu Season

Kristine


We all know that what we eat affects our health, but we often don’t think about how important our diet becomes when we are ill. Eating too much of the wrong types of foods when we are sick can worsen symptoms and weaken the immune system, making us feel worse and making it harder for our body to fight off infection.

Eating healthy foods is always important and becomes even more so when we are sick, as our body needs all the help it can get to fight infection. The following foods help to lesson the severity of cold and flu symptoms and boost immune function to help our bodies recover from illness more quickly.

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Healthy Living, Pets

The Benefits of a Furry Friend

Kristine

It’s no secret that pets can bring a lot of joy to the lives of their owners, but did you know that having a pet can actually improve your health too?

Spending time with pets actually causes physical reactions in your body that reduce stress and improve your mood. Just petting a cat or dog, or watching a fish swim actually decreases your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and helps increase production of serotonin, a feel good chemical that increases feelings of well-being.  Additionally, playing with a pet can increase your levels of both serotonin and dopamine, which will leave you feeling more calm and relaxed.

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Healthy Living

The Truth About Caffeine

Kristine

Caffeine is one of the most popular and commonly used drugs in the world and is consumed by up to 90% of the global population in some form or another. Despite caffeine’s frequent use, however, many people don’t really know how caffeine affects their health or even how much they are taking in on a daily basis. 

The average person person consumes about 200 mg (about two, 8 oz. cups of coffee) per  day. To help you determine how much caffeine you intake, some of the most common sources of caffeine are listed below with the average amount of caffeine they contain.

  • brewed coffee (8 oz):  85 mg
  • instant coffee (8 oz): 75 mg
  • brewed or instant coffee (8 oz):  3 mg
  • single shot of espresso (2 oz): 80 mg
  • black tea (8 oz): 40 mg
  • decaf black tea (8 oz): 4 mg
  • green tea (8 oz): 40 mg
  • dark, semi-sweet chocolate (1 oz): 20 mg

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Healthy Living

Hydrate Your Health

Kristine

Did you know that staying properly hydrated can prevent an array of health issues and promote better overall well-being? The secret to better health may be no further away than a big glass of water.

Water makes up about 60% of the human body and is an essential part of bodily function and maintenance. It helps your body digest food, absorb nutrients, circulate bodily fluids, create saliva, transport nutrients, flush wastes, and regulate body temperature.

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Healthy Living, Non-Toxic Home

Improving Indoor Air Quality with Houseplants

Kristine

 Did you know that many of the synthetic building materials used in building and furnishing newer buildings are known to emit toxic compounds, including formaldehyde?

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most indoor air pollution comes from sources that are inside of the building. These chemicals, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), can cause acute reactions at low to moderate levels of exposure and serious health issues in people who are exposed to high levels.  VOCs are most commonly released from things like adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, man-made wood products, copy machines, cleaning products, and pesticides. This problem is compounded by the fact that most newer buildings are constructed to be as airtight as possible to conserve energy used on heating and cooling the building. Thus, pollutants are trapped inside and have little opportunity to dissipate outside.

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Healthy Living, Holistic Healing

Natural Relief from Spring Allergies 

Kristine

Updated May 20, 2022

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, April showers and May flowers can bring you a lot of discomfort. And you aren’t alone. Hay fever (an allergy to mold or pollen) affects 30 to 60 million people nationwide each year.

Springtime is especially rough for sufferers since this is when trees are beginning to produce pollen. Additionally, all those spring showers, especially those accompanied by warmer temperatures, encourage mold growth. Spring breezes worsen the problem further by carrying these allergens far and wide.

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