In Good Health

Jet Lag and Your Health

I’m getting ready to travel tomorrow, and, while I won’t be changing time zones, I got to thinking about jet lag and our health. Transatlantic flights are the most obvious culprit for jet lag, but even a flight from coast to coast can do a lot to disrupt our natural biorhythms and impact our health.

 

Try these tips next time you travel to combat jet lag and feel fresh when you reach your destination:

• Melatonin is a nutrient found in the body that acts as a sleep support hormone. Melatonin is found in very small amounts in some foods, and is available in supplement form in the U.S. Supplementing with melatonin works to encourage your natural sleep cycles. Melatonin is present at higher levels as you prepare for bed (evening time) and throughout the night as you sleep. Taking melatonin in the evening in your new time zone can help your body adjust to a new sleep schedule.

• Avoid carbohydrates, especially simple sugars, when adjusting to a new time zone. I know you want to sample those exotic French treats, but if you can hold off for the first day and stick to a lean protein and raw, fresh food regimen, your body will thank you for it and your energy levels will remain more constant throughout your new adjusted daytime hours. Oh, and one unpopular tip: choose water over caffeine, if you can manage it.

• Let the sunshine in and get outside as much as possible for the first few days after you travel. Sightseeing usually affords plenty of outdoor time, but, even if you are traveling for business, make time for walking breaks outdoors. Exposing yourself to daylight helps reset your body clock to local time.

• Do not oversleep before you travel or during days/nights in a different time zone. Stick to your usual 7-8 hours, or whatever works best for you. A quick way to set and then reset your body clock is to keep sleep times consistent. If you are exhausted, take a 20 minute catnap, but avoid hour long snooze fests during the day.

Vitamin C!

This is my personal favorite on the vitamin roster. It’s been my staple for years as an immune support vitamin (I’ve recently added vitamin D3 to this list of daily supplements as well).

What is Vitamin C?
Vitamin C, known commonly as ascorbic acid, is a water soluble vitamin (your body doesn’t store it, so it’s important to get enough of this vitamin through diet or supplementation) that plays a vital role in maintaining healthy collagen levels in the body.*

Most of us think skin when we hear the word collagen, and indeed collagen levels are important in supporting healthy, vibrant skin. But collagen is also a major building block for tendons and ligaments, bones, and even blood vessels. Collagen is an important structural agent in the body, and the body uses vitamin C to synthesize collagen properly.

Vitamin C is also revered for its powerful antioxidant properties and immune health support.* This vitamin helps protect essential fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and building blocks for DNA from free radical damage. Smokers are especially encouraged to take in adequate vitamin C levels to help fight free radical damage.*

Vitamin C also supports healthy neurotransmitter activity by synthesizing norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in the body’s natural flight or fight response. Healthy synthesis of this neurotransmitter is important in promoting a relaxed and balanced state in body.

Last but not least, vitamin C supports healthy energy production in the cell’s mitochondria, the miniature powerhouses vital to each cell.

What’s not to love about vitamin C?

Citrus fruits and strawberries are just a few fruits that are good sources of vitamin C.

The Rest of the B Vitamins

This installment will cover the rest of the B vitamins, vitamins B6-B12. The B vitamins make up a complex of eight vitamins that play important roles at the cellular level in the body.

Vitamin B6
Known most commonly as pyridoxine, vitamin B6 also supports enzyme functions in the body—about 100 enzyme functions in all. Some of these functions include supporting the immune system in synthesizing antibodies, producing white blood cells in the lymphoid organs, and helping to form red blood cells. Vitamin B6 also supports healthy nerve function.

Vitamin B7
Commonly called biotin, vitamin B7 works in the body as an enzyme cofactor. It attaches at active sites of enzymes called carboxylases to help facilitate glucose production, fatty acid synthesis, and amino acid metabolism. Like the other B vitamins, biotin also assists in protein, fat, and amino acid metabolism.

Vitamin B9
Listed as folic acid on fortified food and supplement labels, vitamin B9 plays an important role in the formation of healthy cells. Vitamin B9 plays an important role in supporting fast growing tissues and cells such as immune cells and red blood cells. Vitamin B9 also helps the body process iron properly and is an important vitamin during pregnancy.

Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 assists with normal nerve cell health, DNA replication, red blood cell formation and the production of SAMe (S-adenosyl-L-methionine). SAMe is required in more than 40 biochemical reactions in the body and helps produce brain chemicals and joint tissues. Vitamin B12 also helps maintain normal energy levels and supports the immune system.

Know Your Vitamins - Vitamin B

This week is all about the B’s. There are eight B vitamins under the term “vitamin B,” which we used to think was a single nutrient. Now we know them as the B vitamin complex. Each of these eight play an important role in your cellular health and all are water soluble (meaning your body excretes what it doesn’t use instead of storing the excess).

Vitamin B1
Commonly known as thiamin, vitamin B1 plays an important role in every cell in the body. This vitamin helps produce a molecule known as ATP, which is essential for energy production in the cell. Thiamin also helps break down carbs, fats, and proteins in the body and supports healthy nerve function.

Vitamin B2
Also known as riboflavin, vitamin B2 acts as a coenzyme in the body, coenzymes FAD and FMN, and supports the action of flavoproteins in the body. Flavoproteins are essential for cell respiration, and vitamin B2 supports this process. Vitamin B2 also supports protein, fat, carb, and iron metabolism and supports other B vitamins in their roles.

Vitamin B3
Known also as niacin, vitamin B3 also acts as a coenzyme, coenzymes NAD and NADP. As a coenzyme, vitamin B3 supports the function of approximately 200 enzyme reactions in the body. Vitamin B3 supports protein, carb, fat, and alcohol metabolism and supports cellular health.

Vitamin B5
Also called pantothenic acid, vitamin B5 is an important part of coenzyme-A, which in turn supports many essential enzyme reactions in the body. Coenzyme-A works throughout the body to help turn proteins, fats, and carbs into energy and synthesize hormones such as melatonin (for healthy sleep) and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (for healthy nervous system function).

Coenzymes - What Are They? What Do They Do?

By now, you may be familiar with enzymes as catalysts in the body that speed things up. Enzymes are necessary for unlocking the energy in nutrients and rearranging molecules so they can be used effectively. Enzymes are specific in their functions (for example, digestive enzymes) and essential for bodily processes.

Coenzymes
Maybe you’ve heard the word “coenzymes” mentioned in conjunction with enzymes. Coenzymes do what their name implies—they are co-workers (or cofactors) in helping enzymes do their jobs.

A lot of coenzymes are derived from vitamins. For example, the coenzyme derived from vitamin B1 is a long scientific sounding word we’ll shorten to TPP. TPP is responsible for oxidative decarboxylation, a fancy way of saying the cellular process that separates oxygen from carbon dioxide during respiration.

Coenzymes are smaller than their protein enzyme counterparts but essential for many chemical reactions in the body. Without a coenzyme, most enzymes would not function.

Coenzymes actually make up part of the “active site” of an enzyme. Basically, when enzymes attach to a molecules to “unlock” their energy potential they need a good fit to do their jobs properly. Coenyzmes help with this fit on the active site and facilitate molecule attachment.

Coenzymes are available in supplements. You might recognize CoQ10 (coenzyme Q10) on your local health food store shelf. This coenzyme assists in cellular membrane health, a hot spot for cellular energy transfer.

Know Your Vitamins - Vitamin A

This week we start our breakdown of the vitamins and the good each one does our body. Let’s start at the beginning of the alphabet, with vitamin A.

Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is a collection of various compounds that perform different functions in the body. Vitamin A is absorbed to help play a crucial role in maintaining healthy pigment in the retina of the eye.*

Vitamin A also plays a role in immune health by supporting the mucosal cells that line the digestive and urinary tracts, the airways in the lungs, and skin—all part of your body’s first line of defense.

Certain carotenoids, the red/yellow/orange pigments found naturally in plants, contain a form of vitamin A called a provitamin. This provitamin is utilized in the body as vitamin A. The most commonly known of these nutrients that provide vitamin A is in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that supports many processes in the body, most famously eye health.

Did You Know? Vitamins have scientific names but have been given letters in order of identification or based on their functions in the body. For example, vitamin K was named for its role in blood clotting (koagulazion in Danish, thanks to the scientists who identified this vitamin’s primary function).

Fat Soluble vs Water Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins are classified into two categories: fat soluble vitamins and water soluble vitamins. We need both types for optimum health, and there are some important differences between the two.

Fat Soluble Vitamins
This group includes vitamins D, E, A, and K. Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed by lipids (fats) and then travel into the body’s bloodstream for use in the body. Fat soluble vitamins are stored in bodily tissues, especially the liver, for later use. It is important to keep an appropriate level of healthy fat intake in the daily diet to support fat soluble vitamin absorption.

Water Soluble Vitamins
This group includes the B vitamins (8 vitamins, total) and vitamin C. You can find “water solubilized” vitamin E, which is treated in a special process to help it behave more like a water soluble than a fat soluble vitamin.

Water soluble vitamins are not dissolved in fat to be absorbed and stored for later use. Instead, water soluble vitamins dissolve in water for use in the body as needed to support many cellular processes and, in the case of B vitamins, coenzyme functions. These coenzyme functions support the way the body utilizes energy from food. Any extra amount of water soluble vitamins is eliminated in urine, making it important to obtain a healthy daily value of these nutrients in your health plan.

Check back over the next few weeks as we explore each of these vitamins in depth and what they mean for your health!

6 Tips for Tricking the Afternoon Bloat

Has this happened to you? You wake in the morning, slip easily into your favorite pair of pants, then after lunch…come afternoon…suddenly your pants don’t fit. It feels like you’re three pant sizes up since that morning, but all you’ve had is a light breakfast and a healthy lunch. What happened?

Afternoon bloating can strike without warning, but it is not unstoppable. The next time you get that unexplained “full” feeling try these tips for staying your true size and skipping the bloat altogether:

1. Watch out for the gassy food no-no’s. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, cabbage, and, of course, beans can all cause bloating. 
2. Eat raw food sensibly. A good tip is to avoid eating dried fruits and nuts together. Soak your raw nuts overnight to help break down the enzyme inhibitors in them that are difficult to digest.
3. Food combinations. This is a big one for many of us. Typically, dairy and fruit are not digested well together. Monitor not just the foods you eat but also the foods you eat together and take notes to see which combinations tend to cause bloating.
4. Try a self-tummy massage. Gently massage your middle in a clockwise direction to help move food and gas through the intestines.
5. Move it. A brisk (and I mean brisk) 15 minute walk can also help get things moving. Very helpful if you happen to have a sedentary job.
6. Supplements. Easily my favorite supplement for bloating is FloraZyme - with probiotics plus digestive enzymes and a non-gas forming fiber (scFOS®) to help balance intestinal flora and keep things moving in the digestive tract.

Amino Acids in the Body

Amino acids are specific molecules that work in unique ways throughout the body. If you think back to health class, scratch your head and try very hard to remember, it may come back to you that amino acids the building blocks for proteins and vital for daily functioning.

Amino Acids and Proteins
As components of proteins, amino acids each perform a specific support function. Proteins are necessary in the body for virtually all cellular processes, and amino acids are an essential part of this chain.

There are 20 primary amino acids, and the human body naturally produces half of these. We rely on nutrition to get the remaining 10. Our bodies cannot store a bank of amino acids for later, so we must get these amino acids daily from the foods we eat and supplements we consume.

Amino Acids in Supplements
Amino acids are available in supplements. Nutri-Health’s Focus Force™ Active Memory features gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), an amino acid derived from glutamic acid, one of the 10 amino acids produced naturally in the body.

GABA is found naturally in the brain. It helps calm the central nervous system by blocking overactive nerve cells. In a supplement, GABA supports healthy neurotransmitter activity in the brain to promote a balanced stress response and cognitive focus.* Focus Force features all-natural Pharma GABA 80—no synthetic substitutes.

So, the next time you’re trying to remember that lesson from health class, try a little natural GABA for an amino acid boost that helps you zero in and focus!

Pretty, Healthy Salad

With spring around the corner (ok, it’s not quite February but I’m hopeful), I’ve got flowers on the brain. Flowers make a great addition to planter patios, cut indoor arrangements, in the garden, and in salads. Wait a minute, did you say salads?

Dress up your salad
Adding edible flowers to salads, soups, or other foods is not a new idea. The petals or edible portions of these flowers often provide a tangy, spicy and fun flavor plus a vibrant burst of color in select dishes. A great option for a reliable and organic edible flower source is your own window planter full of your favorite edible blooms.

Visit this What’s Cooking America article for some helpful advice on picking out truly edible flowers and what to watch for when choosing flowers for your salad or food. The nutritional profile of different flowers will vary—most of the flower petal is typically water with a small vitamin and nutrient value.

Do you have a great recipe featuring edible flowers? Feel free to share using the comment field below!