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Chia Seeds Superfood and Health Benefits for a Human Body

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Chia Seeds Superfood and Health Benefits for a Human BodyChia Seeds Superfood and Health Benefits for a Human Body

Chia seeds are tiny black seeds from the plant Salvia Hispanica, which is related to mint. This plant grows natively in South America. Chia seeds were an important food for the Aztecs and Mayans back in the day. They prized them for their ability to provide sustainable energy … in fact, “chia” is the ancient Mayan word for “strength.”

Despite their ancient history as a dietary staple, only recently did chia seeds become recognized as a modern day superfood. In the past few years, they have exploded in popularity and are now consumed by health conscious people all over the world.

Chia Seeds were largely unknown in North America until researcher Wayne Coates began studying chia as an alternative crop for farmers in northern Argentina about 29 years ago.

Coates started his work on chia in 1991, and since then has become an advocate of the tiny seed’s health benefits. The human trials are limited —as is often the case with food research— but the anecdotal evidence of chia’s positive health effects include boosting energy, stabilizing blood sugar, aiding digestion, and lowering cholesterol.

Chia seeds are among the healthiest foods on the planet. They are loaded with nutrients that can have important benefits for your body and brain.  Chia Seeds are rich in fiber, omega-3 fats, protein, vitamins and minerals such as:

Dietary fiber (11g – 42% recommended daily value)

Protein (4.4g – 9% RDV)

Omega-3 fatty acids (4915 mg)

Omega-6 fatty acids (1620 mg)

Calcium (77 mg – 18% RDV)

Copper (0.1 mg – 3% RDV)

Phosphorus (265 mg – 27% RDV)

Potassium (44.8 mg – 1% RDV)

Zinc (1.0 mg – 7% RDV)

Chia also contains essential fatty acids alpha-linolenic and linoleic acid, mucin, strontium, Vitamins A, B, E, and D, and minerals including sulphur, iron, iodine,  magnesium, manganese, niacin, thiamine, and they are a rich source of antioxidants.

This is particularly impressive when you consider that this is just a single ounce, which supplies only 137 calories and one gram of digestible carbohydrate! Just so that we’re all on the same page, 1 ounce equals 28 grams, or about 2 tablespoons.

Interestingly … if you subtract the fiber, which may not end up as usable calories for the body, chia seeds only contain 101 calories per ounce. This makes them one of the world’s best sources of several important nutrients, calorie for calorie.

Buying Tips
You can find chia at any Whole Foods Market, health food stores, and well-stocked supermarkets like Kroger. Some of the more widely available chia seed brands include The Chia Co., Nutiva, and Bob’s Red Mill. All chia seeds are naturally vegan and gluten-free, but check the packaging if you want to buy seeds that are certified organic and non-GMO. Look for seeds that are either a speckled black or white, but not uniformly brown. The Chia Co. founder John Foss explains brown chia seeds are immature seeds that haven’t had a chance to mature properly, and this can result in fewer nutritional benefits and give the seeds a bitter taste.

How to Store
Chia seeds have a long shelf life, and will keep for several years when stored in a cool, dry place. Easy!

Goji Berries Superfood Benefits for Your Health

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goji berries health benefitsGoji Berries Superfood Benefits for Your Health

These berries are so common today and everyone knows what they are, but …. Do you know what they do to your body? Trust me it’s not bad but in fact very good!
Goji berries have been around for hundreds of years as being a medicinal herb in Chinese medicine. Some of the great benefits include:
– Boosting your immunity – increasing your blood cells – Increasing your concentration levels
– Helps fight against cancer mutation cells
– Improves your eyesight – Helps with weight loss – And decreases allergy symptoms
So grab a small handful and put them in to your daily smoothie or have it with hot water and lemon.

Origins:

The original habitat of the goji plant, often referred to as the wolfberry, is to date unknown. The region of origin is proposed to be somewhere in the southeastern parts of Europe or the southwestern region of Asia. Currently, China is responsible for the majority of commercially grown goji on plantations near the Yellow River floodplains. However, it is typically grown in most parts of the world.

It is a species of two boxthorn varieties in the Solanaceae family, better known as the nightshade family. This family of wolfberries is related to eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, flowers, tobacco, and of course the deadly nightshade.

The wolfberry grows to a height of approximately 3 to 10 feet. Southern Chinese varieties of the wolfberry tree are shorter than their northern counterparts. Flowers are one to three on a stem and start out as bell-shaped before bursting to accommodate and release the growing berry. The striking orange-red “pepper-shaped” berry is a half-inch to an inch in size.

 

 

What Are Goji Berries?
A raw goji berry is about the size of the tip of your pinky finger, if not smaller. However, these size berries are difficult to find in North America and are native to parts of Asia (usually in China) and Europe.

The Health Claims
Goji berries have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, says health and nutrition expert Rosanna Lee.
Some even claim these berries are natural remedies for diabetes, hypertension, malaria or even fever. However, Lee says a lot of these claims may not be true. “At present, there is still inconclusive evidence from research for such claims to be made.”

Goji Berries contain the following complex compounds:

  • Beta-Sitosterol, an anti-inflammatory agent. Beta-Sitosterol also lowers cholesterol.
  • Cyperone, a sesquiterpene that benefits the heart and blood pressure, alleviates menstrual discomfort, and has been used in the treatment of cervical cancer.
  • Solavetivone, a powerful anti-fungal and anti-bacterial compound.
  • Physalin, a natural compound that is active against all major types of leukemia. It has been shown to increase splenic natural killer cell activity in normal and tumor-bearing mice, with broad-spectrum anti-cancer effect. It has also been used as a treatment for hepatitis B.
  • Betaine, which is used by the liver to produce choline, a compound that calms nervousness, enhances memory, promotes muscle growth, and protects against fatty liver disease.

Omegas

Goji berries are high in essential fatty acids, the healthy omegas, which are required for the body’s production of hormones and the smooth functioning of the brain and nervous systems. In particular, linoleic acid is abundant.

Even More

Modern science has shown that this bright red berry not only contains extremely high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, but also contains many unique phytochemicals, polysaccharides, and complex compounds that scientists are just beginning to understand.

What do goji berries taste like?

Goji berries have a mild tangy taste that is slightly sweet and sour. When dried, they have a similar shape and chewy texture as raisins.

 

Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

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Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

Don’t forget to breathe people!
I know you probably like “what is he on about? I breathe, I’m walking and I’m alive” that’s not the point. The point is that everyone forgets to actively breathe more oxygen into their lungs. This is because in this day and age everyone is busier and our sedative lifestyles are becoming more prominent so we forget to breathe or we hold our breaths without noticing. So how can we achieve greater vitality?
Simple just breathe more, breathe deeply and focus on where it is going in your body.
Oxygen is vital for all the nutrients in our bodies. It is essential for the functioning and alertness of our brains, ever wonder why you’re yawning or tired? Not enough OXYGEN!
It’s also important for our nerves, glands and internal organs- these are all connected. If one fails the other will too and then a domino effect arises.
So it’s simple “BREATHE” and let it the oxygen consume you !

Anatomy of a rib cage

Care of the thorax in the chiropractic setting is adapted to the beautiful design of the chest. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.

It was designed to give protection to the vital organs, in particular the heart and lungs. However, compromise was needed to enable us to breathe.

So these organs are surrounded by a cage of bone, interspaced with small gaps filled with muscles, and some other structures, nerves and an artery. They have to rise, increasing the space in the chest, drawing fresh air into the lungs, and then drop again as we exhale.

The ribs have a bucket handle configuration, with one joint in the front, with the breastbone, and three joints at the back, with the spine, allowing the ribs to rise and fall rhythmically with breathing.

The ribcage

Rib pain treatment by chiropractors was designed around this beautiful structure. Like anything mechanical, the ribcage too needs maintenance. Both the joints at the front, the costo sternal joints, and the joints at the back, the costo spinal joints, can be injured by freak movements.

An unexpected sneeze, a bout of bronchitis and trauma such as the injury from a seatbelt in an motor vehicle accidents, or a fall on the fist as in skating; all of these can and do injure the ribcage.

Rib subluxations can be exquisitely painful. Every breath may be a nightmare. However, the treatment, correctly done is not usually particularly painful.

Breathing is an automatic bodily function. Every day we do it up to 20,000 times without a thought, but most of us don’t use the full potential of our breathing to feel energised and to keep in good health.

Poor Breathing – Poor Posture

Poor breathing is usually connected with poor posture, physical stiffness, tense shoulders, a curved spine and a rigid pelvis, all of which disturb the natural balance of the body.

Therefore, when your breathing is out of balance the diaphragm, abdomen and pelvis are also out of balance.

Poor Posture – Poor Breathing

With so many of us becoming more and more sedentary in our lifestyles, a common bad posture seen during sitting is the head forward, with rounded shoulders and a slightly caved in chest. This posture stops the rib cage opening up and makes the mid back area tight and often painful.

Important points to remember to help your breathing

• Limit the amount of time that you spend sitting
• Watch the posture of your upper back at all times
• Make sure that your abdominal muscles are fairly strong and have good tone.
• The most efficient way to breathe is by pushing through the abdomen, or the diaphragm, as gravity dictates, to encourage the air to go to the bottom of the lungs where the best blood supply is and oxygen exchange will occur most efficiently.
• Only through abdominal breathing can we access this deep breathing.

If you follow these points and breathe in this way, the diaphragm can move up and down efficiently, hence massaging the internal organs below and ensuring that there is good blood circulation.

Rib pain treatment

Rib pain treatment is usually straightforward unless associated with trauma or costochondritis.

Your chiropractor will likely use one of a number of loosening up techniques prior to manipulation. This could be massage, or a vibrator, or stretching, or a mobilising technique. D not mistake radiating rib pain for a heart attack – read more here

 

Nervous System, Chiropractic and Innate Intelligence

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nervous system

Nervous System, Chiropractic and Innate Intelligence

This is a picture of a person’s entire nervous system (with the exception of the nerve endings in the skin). As far as I am concerned, this is what ‘someone’ looks like in their distilled essence. This mass of neurons was once sentient. It produced the mind and housed the intellect of the person it belonged to. It processed the information coming in through the senses and painted of a picture of the world the person found themselves in. It controlled various bodily processes. I steered the body through the obstacles of life. It once had dreams and ambitious. It learned how to interact with other nervous systems. It encoded the information it found relevant into long term memory. It enjoyed the pleasures of life and it had original ideas. It mourned the loss of others and experienced the sensation of physical pain. At times it became depressed/stressed/anxious/content/relaxed/afraid/empathetic/concerned. It fell in love and procreated with others. It had invested interest in the pursuit for knowledge. It knew that it would not last forever so it at one point in its life it decided to donate itself, once expired, for scientific research. This photo wouldn’t exist if the mind this nervous system once generated didn’t have a sense of intellectual altruism for everyone else it left behind. Whomever this nervous system once belonged to, you are appreciated.

Functions of the Nervous System
The nervous system has 3 main functions: sensory, integration, and motor.

  • Sensory. The sensory function of the nervous system involves collecting information from sensory receptors that monitor the body’s internal and external conditions. These signals are then passed on to the central nervous system (CNS) for further processing by afferent neurons (and nerves).
  • Integration. The process of integration is the processing of the many sensory signals that are passed into the CNS at any given time. These signals are evaluated, compared, used for decision making, discarded or committed to memory as deemed appropriate. Integration takes place in the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord and is performed by interneurons. Many interneurons work together to form complex networks that provide this processing power.
  • Motor. Once the networks of interneurons in the CNS evaluate sensory information and decide on an action, they stimulate efferent neurons. Efferent neurons (also called motor neurons) carry signals from the gray matter of the CNS through the nerves of the peripheral nervous system to effector cells. The effector may be smooth, cardiac, or skeletal muscle tissue or glandular tissue. The effector then releases a hormone or moves a part of the body to respond to the stimulus.

 

via GIPHY