Tag Archives: supplement

Maca Powder: The Best Thing You’ll Find in the Supplement Aisle

If you’re looking to decrease stress, stabilize your hormones, boost your sex drive, neutralize the acidity of your body, and blast your system with nutrients, look no further than that section at the health food store you always ignore: the supplement aisle.

I know what you’re thinking: Supplements? Aren’t those the often untested, unapproved sorta drugs that always seem too good to be true. For the most part yes—I largely avoid most of the powders, pills, and formulas available in this section of the health food store. But there’s one supplement that’s definitely worth picking up for any of the above conditions: Maca powder.

maca

Maca-what?
Maca powder has also been called “Peruvian ginseng”. Although it’s thought of as a supplement, researchers suspect this South American staple has been consumed for around 2,000 years. The Incas considered maca to be a gift of the gods, due to its superior nutritional value, and it’s one of the only plants to thrive in the tough conditions of the Andes mountains. Maca powder comes from the root of the plant. (more…)

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Katie McGrath

Sacred Lotus Leaf Promotes Natural Weight Loss

The sacred lotus leaf found in the Far East has recently been identified as a successful aid for weight loss. There have been many health benefits associated with the lotus leaf but medical studies have only recently confirmed that this plant can help people lose weight in a completely natural way.

The technical name for the lotus leaf is the Nelumbo Nucifera and it is also referred to as the bean of India, Indian Lotus or He Ye in Chinese cultures. This plant has been used to treat things like skin disorders, diarrhea, heavy menstrual bleeding, as a treatment for blood in the urine, and now it has been discovered to help in weight loss. The study that has uncovered the weight loss was conducted by Korean nutrition and metabolism expert scientists Ji-Yung Park and Huan Du at the Department of Food and Nutrition at Inha University in Incheon, Korea. The study was conducted in 2024 and the scientists stated that when the sacred lotus leaf is paired with L-carnitine can prevent adipogenesis which is the formation of fatty tissues. This study also found that the lotus leaf slowed the absorption of fat and carbohydrates. Energy expenditures were increased and lipid metabolism was also rapidly increased with the use of sacred lotus leaf.

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Posted on March 16, 2024 by Descygna

3 Supplements to Help Kick the Common Cold

Getting the sniffles? Fall and winter are the time of year when people seem to be more susceptible to colds. It might be the change in temperature or it may be all the bugs that your kids are bringing home from school, but most come down with at least one cold when the temps drop. Regardless of feeling under the weather, most of us can not drop everything we are doing to rest and recuperate like we should. The average cold can take seven days to almost two weeks to recover from, but there is hope. There are many over the counter products and herbal supplements that may shorten the duration of a cold and help you get back to feeling a hundred percent.

Echinacea

Echinacea is an herbal supplement that is often used to prevent a cold or shorten the time you have one once it starts. It is believed that echinacea works by reducing inflammation to help deal with cold symptoms. The most common side effects from echinacea supplements are fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and muscle aches, but I do, however, think that many of these symptoms could be caused by the cold itself. If you are allergic to certain flowers like mums, ragweed or marigolds you may become allergic to echinacea.

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Posted on October 19, 2024 by Sarah

Keep Your Joints Healthy with Effective Supplements

There are two things I’ve learned since moving into my new home.

1. I had no problem meeting my step goal from Miss Courtney Crozier’s summer challenge since I now have 3 sets of stairs to go up and down all day.

2. The creaking noise I’m hearing is not from my stairs, it’s from my knees.


I’m not sure what caused it: whether it’s my years of sports playing goalie and catcher in high school or rugby in college. It could be the stress on my body from the extra 120 pounds of weight that I had less than a year ago. Maybe I’m just getting, dare I say it, … getting old??

The good news is I’m not in pain…yet. However, this could be the warning signs of something greater and as a health care professional I should not be ignoring things. I am considering taking some supplements to help lubricate my joints like I’m the tin man in the Wizard of Oz.

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Posted on September 10, 2024 by Sarah

When Migraines Attack: How to Stop Them Before They Start

The word is out: Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann suffers from occasional migraines and she’s not alone. Millions of people have to deal with the pounding, pain and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines not only cause pain and suffering but also can cause people to miss days at work- bad news for Miss Bachmann, because the President doesn’t get sick days.

The letter released from her doctor states that she is aware of her triggers. Examples of migraine triggers can be hormone-related (pre- or post-menopause), stress, too much exercise, warm weather and strong smells. Food and drink triggers included things like aged cheeses such as blue cheese, feta, mozzarella and Parmesan, red wines and certain liquors. Tyramine is the culprit and is a chemical substance that is contained in both. You might also be able to blame your migraines on your Mom or Dad because they are sometimes hereditary. There has also been a possible link drawn between obesity and increased occurrence of migraines.

Congresswoman Bachmann was diagnosed with “migraines with aura”, which are  migraines accompanied by spots in vision and possibly temporary vision loss. The aura usually appears 20 minutes to an hour before the migraine itself. Patients usually experience throbbing pain in one or both temples, have difficulty dealing with strong odors, like perfumes or cologne, and excessive light or noise, accompanied by some form of nausea, vomiting, or dizziness.

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Posted on July 25, 2024 by Sarah

Calcium and Vitamin D are Essential for Bone Health

Are you bad to your bones? There is a growing trend in the United States and Canada: calcium and vitamin D deficiency. Bone mass reaches its peak around age thirty so calcium and vitamin D are critical in helping you to prevent breaks or fractures down the road. As important as strong muscles are to your overall health, bones are what hold us together. Otherwise we’d just be a puddle on the ground. I’m hoping I can shed some light on all the benefits that calcium and vitamin D have to offer.

What is vitamin D and why do I need it?

Vitamin D is key in helping to produce strong bones. It also helps absorb calcium from the intestines so that is why you find so many products with the two in combo.  The current recommendation depends on age, but for a woman age 18-30 you are looking at around 600 internal units (IUs) per day.  Our bodies naturally convert vitamin D into a usable form from midday sun (between 10 am and 2 pm).  People like me who live in northern parts of the world and get to see old man winter usually do not get enough midday sun to make our own vitamin D.

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Posted on June 23, 2024 by Sarah

Vitamin D Recommendations too Low for Cancer Prevention

Researchers at Creighton University School of Medicine and University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine are saying that people need to get a much higher amount of vitamin D to protect themselves from cancer.

“We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4,000-8,000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases – breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes,” said Cedric Garland, Dr. P.H., professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention recommends that people get their vitamin D from a combination of our dietary choices and supplements, not by making an effort to get more sun exposure which helps out bodies produce it.

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Posted on March 12, 2024 by Jason

Bread Holds Promise for Increasing American’s Vitamin D Intake

The more researchers learn about the vitamin D, the more it seems to be essential for our well-being. Seeing that most of us can’t get enough of the “sunshine vitamin” most of the year (winter just makes it so darn hard!), many of us are deficient in this key vitamin- especially now that the recommended levels of vitamin D for adults and children have been increased. Because getting the country on a regular vitamin-D supplement regimen isn’t really feasible, researchers have been working on the best way to up our intake. One solution? A new vitamin D-fortified food: bread made with high-vitamin D yeast.

In a study published in ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers did experiments with laboratory rats and found that bread made with vitamin D2-rich yeast had effects that seemed just as beneficial as taking vitamin D3. Previously, vitamin D2 was not thought to be not as biologically active as the form produced by the sun, vitamin D3.

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Posted on February 28, 2024 by Jennipher

NOx Edge Credited for Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s Physique

By Descygna Webb

The popular TV show Jersey Shore has brought about some colorful characters with an affinity for working out, like Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. Many people have started to adopt the Situation’s routine of hitting the gym, tanning booth and doing laundry, or GTL as the cast likes to call it.

A product that is part of The Situation’s workout routine is NOx Edge. This is a dietary supplement that you take before you work out to enhance your strength and help you get bigger in a faster period of time. The supplement has been formulated to speed up your recovery time and raise nitric oxide levels which will increase muscle size. For men and women that want to bulk up and gain more strength, this product is designed to help those who are already working out on a regular basis and engaging in a healthy diet. By increasing your levels of nitric oxide, you will be able to boost stamina, increase your load capacity, maximize your muscle pump, and achieve longer workouts.

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Posted on January 27, 2024 by Health Buzz