July 2022 - Natural Toolbelt

July 26, 2022August 15, 2022

8 Vitamins To Reduce Hair Loss

Many people view healthy-looking hair as a sign of health or beauty. Like any other part of your body, hair needs a variety of nutrients to be healthy and grow. Many nutritional deficiencies are linked to hair loss. While factors such as age, genetics, and hormones also affect hair growth, optimal nutrient intake is key. In this article, we will share with you some of the most effective vitamins for hair growth.

First, we will talk about vitamin D, protein, and zinc. Then, we’ll cover vitamins E and C, iron, vitamin A, and B vitamins. Once you have finished reading, you will be able to take advantage of the benefits of some of the most effective vitamins for hair growth.

1Vitamin D

Low levels of vitamin D are linked to alopecia, a technical term for hair loss. Vitamin D is thought to play a role in hair production, but most research focuses on vitamin D receptors. The actual role of vitamin D in hair growth is unknown. That said, most people don’t get enough vitamin D. It may still be a great idea to increase your intake.

Your body produces vitamin D through direct contact with the sun’s rays. Good dietary sources of vitamin D include fatty fish, cod liver oil, some mushrooms, and fortified foods. Vitamin D’s actual role in hair growth is not understood, but one form of hair loss is linked to deficiencies. You can increase vitamin D levels through sun exposure or by eating certain foods.

2Protein

Hair is made almost entirely of protein. Consuming enough is vital for hair growth. Animal studies show that protein deficiency may decrease hair growth and even lead to hair loss.

However, actual protein deficiency is extremely rare in Western countries. Eating enough protein is essential for hair growth. However, a protein deficiency is rare in Western countries these days.

3Zinc

Zinc plays an important role in hair tissue growth and repair. It also helps keep the oil glands around the follicles working properly. Hair loss is a common symptom of zinc deficiency. Studies show that resolving zinc deficiency with supplementation may reduce deficiency-related hair loss.

However, some anecdotal reports that supplementing with too high of a dose can also contribute to hair loss. For this reason, it may be better to get your zinc from whole foods. Foods high in zinc include oysters, beef, spinach, wheat germ, pumpkin seeds, and lentils. The mineral zinc can improve hair growth in people who are deficient in it. Great sources include oysters, beef, and pumpkin seeds.

4Vitamin E

Similar to vitamin C, vitamin E is an antioxidant that can help prevent oxidative stress. In one study, people with hair loss experienced a 34.5% increase in hair growth after supplementing with vitamin E for eight months. The placebo group had only a 0.1% increase.

Sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach, and avocados are all excellent sources of vitamin E. Vitamin E helps prevent oxidative stress and boost hair growth. Great dietary sources include sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach, and avocados.

5Vitamin C

Free radical damage can block the growth and cause your hair to age. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect against the oxidative stress caused by free radicals. In addition, your body needs vitamin C to create a protein known as collagen, an essential part of the hair structure.

Vitamin C also helps your body absorb iron, a mineral necessary for hair growth. Strawberries, peppers, guavas, and citrus fruits are all excellent sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed to make collagen and can help prevent the hair from aging. Good sources include peppers, citrus fruits, and strawberries.

Iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen to your cells. This makes it an important mineral for many bodily functions, including hair growth. Iron deficiency, which causes anemia, is a major cause of hair loss. It’s especially common in women.

Foods high in iron include clams, oysters, eggs, red meat, spinach, and lentils. Iron deficiency is a major cause of hair loss, especially in women. The best sources of iron include clams, oysters, eggs, red meat, spinach, and lentils.

6Iron

7Vitamin A

All cells need vitamin A for growth. This includes the hair, the fastest growing tissue in the human body. Vitamin A also helps skin glands make an oily substance called sebum. Sebum moisturizes the scalp and helps keep the hair healthy. Diets deficient in vitamin A may lead to several problems, including hair loss.

While it’s essential to get enough vitamin A, you don’t want too much; studies show that too much vitamin A can also contribute to hair loss. Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, spinach, and kale are all high in beta-carotene, which is turned into vitamin A; vitamin A can also be found in animal products, such as milk, eggs, and yogurt. Cod liver oil is a particularly amazing source. Your hair needs vitamin A to stay moisturized and grow. Excellent sources include sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, kale, and some animal foods.

8B Vitamins

One of the best-known vitamins for hair growth is a B vitamin called biotin. Studies link biotin deficiency with hair loss in humans. Although biotin is used as an alternative hair loss treatment, those who are deficient have the best results. However, deficiency is very rare because it occurs naturally in a wide range of foods.

There’s also a lack of data about whether biotin is effective for hair growth in healthy individuals. Other B vitamins help create red blood cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients to the scalp and hair follicles; these processes are important for hair growth. You can get B vitamins from many foods, including whole grains, almonds, meat, fish, seafood, and dark and leafy greens. Additionally, animal foods are the only good sources of vitamin B12. So if you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diet, consider taking a supplement.

Healthy-looking hair is viewed as a sign of health or beauty by many people. Your hair needs a variety of nutrients to be healthy and grow, just like many other parts of your body. Many nutritional deficiencies are linked to hair loss. Optimal nutrient intake is key; however, factors such as age, genetics, and hormones also affect hair growth. In this article, we shared with you some of the most effective vitamins for hair growth.

First, we took a look at vitamin D, protein, and zinc. Next, we discussed vitamins E and C and iron. Then, we covered vitamin A and wrapped up with B vitamins. Now that you have finished reading, you can take advantage of the benefits of some of the best vitamins for hair growth.

July 19, 2022July 30, 2022

In Nutrition Tipsby Renee Saunders

7 Mistakes That May Promote Illness

People often act as though they are poor victims of a vicious assault by a pathogen when they get sick; what they don’t often realize is that their lifestyle provided the proper environment for the pathogen to do what it was created to do. The job of any pathogen is to “break down decaying matter.” Your job must be to “not be decaying matter” by keeping your body functioning and adapting at its peak potential. Your responsibility to yourself is to use your lifestyle to strengthen your immune system so that you can overcome the stressors of life. Here, we will share with you some major things most individuals in our society do to promote illness.

First, we’ll go over how sleep deprivation affects you. Then, we’ll talk about the perks of going outside and why you shouldn’t stay inside all the time. After that, we’ll talk about the dangers of municipal tap water and how sugar can damage your immune system. Finally, we’ll talk about chronic dehydration and sugar and vitamin C. Once you have finished reading, you will understand the importance of steering away from these major things that promote illness, thus allowing you to improve your overall health.

1Lack Of Quality Sleep

Quality sleep is one of the most fundamental nutrients that every person needs to perform at their optimal level. Sleep deprivation creates a heightened stress response within the body that disrupts normal healing and tissue rejuvenation processes. When the body has a heightened stress response, it lowers immune coordination and increases inflammatory processes.

We need at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Our ancestors were regularly getting eight to nine hours of sleep, if not more, each night. We typically try to get by with less than seven, and it leads to chronic stress, inflammation, and immune dysregulation. If you are struggling with sleep, be sure to address it and get it corrected, as it will play a huge role in your quality of life!

2Not Getting Outside And Getting Grounded

The body is a living matrix of energetically charged biochemical circuits that are charged and coordinated through the activity of the central nervous system. The Earth itself is regulated by subtle but dynamic electrical circuits. The electrical crosstalk between the Earth and the central nervous system helps program trillions of biochemical reactions. Getting the body exposed to these biochemical circuits is very calming and healing for the body.

This is why there are so many huge fans of grounding, where you get your skin directly exposed to grass, dirt, sand, or even concrete to get these healthy electromagnetic frequencies. This is much harder to do in the wintertime, but take advantage of any chance you get to even get one minute of direct contact with the Earth and, ideally, some sun. If you live in a northern snowy climate, consider a beach vacation in the wintertime to get grounded and get good sun exposure.

3Regularly Staying Indoors

We spend as much as 90% of our lives indoors nowadays, and researchers are investigating our exposure to indoor pollutants as contributing causes to the rising incidence of chronic illnesses in our society. According to the EPA, our indoor environment is two to five times more toxic than our outdoor environment. In some cases, the air measurements indoors are 100 times more polluted.

By spending so much time indoors, we are also missing out on the protective factors inherent in nature. When outside, we are exposed to low levels of natural pathogens, and our immune system can gently adapt to these. Being outside also offers the benefit of fresh air, sunlight, vitamin D3, and, if you take off your shoes, the electrons from the ground.

4Drinking Tap Water

Municipal water is extraordinarily toxic to the body and destroys the immune system; this water is loaded with environmental toxins, such as chlorine, DBPs, arsenic, heavy metals, and fluoride. Proper water filtration is essential to remove these chemical agents. High-quality reverse osmosis systems are one of the very few water systems that can effectively remove fluoride. Add a pinch of pink salt (1/4 teaspoon per gallon) to replace any lost minerals from the reverse osmosis process. You can also get RO systems that take out all the bad stuff and automatically remineralize and bring up the pH of the water.

Another great portable water system that will get the bad stuff out and keep the good stuff in is the Berkey system. The best water is the Synergy Science hydrogen water, which is what many use at home, as it is powered by molecular hydrogen that reduces oxidative stress in the body and improves immune function. Parents should teach their children not to use municipal water fountains but instead to carry filtered bottled water; ideally, this is from your home water system, but you can also get bottled water from time to time. Do your best to avoid plastic bottles as much as possible, and instead, use glass or stainless steel bottles to reduce the consumption of toxic chemical residue that leaches out of the plastic and into the water that you are drinking. Your body can handle and detoxify a little of this, but if you are always drinking from plastic bottles, you are going to build a high toxic load in your body.

5Consuming Too Much Sugar

Consuming sugar feeds parasites within your body and depletes your system of critical immune-boosting nutrients, such as vitamin C, glutathione, zinc, etc. Sugar also feeds the development of abnormal tissue and cancerous growth. When sugar and starch are metabolized in your body, it breaks down into a simple molecule called glucose that is used for energy production.

In the 1970s, Dr. John Ely discovered the glucose-ascorbate antagonism (GAA) theory. Glucose and vitamin C (ascorbate) have a very similar chemical makeup. This theory proposes that elevated glucose levels compete and effectively restrict vitamin C from entering the cells. Both glucose and vitamin C depend upon the pancreatic hormone insulin and its signaling effects to get into the cells.

6Not Drinking Enough Water

All life begins in water; even the developing fetus is surrounded by water. A water rationing system takes effect immediately in response to any form of dehydration. A neurotransmitter named histamine becomes active and redistributes water throughout the body. Some areas of the body are more important than others – the order of circulatory priority (an inborn triage system) is the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, and glands; of least importance are the muscles, bones, and skin. Histamine’s responsibility is to ensure that these vital organs have enough water to function properly during times of dehydration; if the dehydration issues become chronic, then water must be taken from major regions within the body.

Additionally, chronic dehydration can cause histamine to become excessively active, leading to symptoms that are often mistaken for other disorders; the most common symptoms associated with dehydration and elevated histamine include allergies, asthma, dyspepsia, colitis, constipation, rheumatoid arthritis, headaches, and chronic pain. Be sure to drink at least half of your body weight (lbs) in ounces of clean, filtered water each day. If you weigh 150 lbs, then you should drink a minimum of 75 ounces of water daily. In the colder months, people are not typically doing this. One way that can help is to drink warm water with lemon or herbal teas.

7Insufficient Vitamin C Intake

There is an important receptor called the GLUT-1 receptor that activates in response to insulin to allow both glucose and vitamin C to enter the cellS. However, glucose has a greater affinity for the insulin receptor. This means that the greater the content of circulating blood sugar, the less vitamin C will enter the cell.

White blood cells have more insulin pumps than any other type of cell and may contain 20 times the amount of vitamin C as other cells; they also need 50 times more vitamin C inside the cell than in the blood plasma to handle the oxidative stress that occurs when they encounter a pathogenic substance. When white blood cells encounter pathogenic bacteria and viruses, they must ingest or phagocytize these organisms to neutralize them. The phagocytic index measures how effective a particular white blood cell is at destroying viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells. Elevated blood sugar impairs this phagocytic index. A blood sugar of 120 reduces the phagocytic index by 75%.

When people get sick, they often act as though they are poor victims of a vicious assault by a pathogen; something that people often don’t realize is that their lifestyles provided the proper environment for the pathogen to do what it was created to do. “Breaking down decaying matter” is the job of any pathogen. By keeping your body functioning and adapting at its peak potential, your job must be to “not be decaying matter.” Using your lifestyle to strengthen your immune system so you can overcome the stressors of life is your responsibility to yourself. Here we shared with you some major things most individuals in our society do to promote illness.

First, we went over how sleep deprivation affects you. Then, we talked about the perks of going outside and why you shouldn’t stay inside all the time. After that, we discussed the dangers of municipal tap water and how sugar can damage your immune system. Finally, we closed with chronic dehydration and sugar and vitamin C. Now that you have finished reading, you understand the importance of steering away from these major things that promote illness, thus allowing you to improve your overall health.

July 12, 2022July 28, 2022

In Nutrition Tipsby Renee Saunders

6 Keys To Gut Microbiome Health

Whether you know it or not, like it or not, your body houses about 10 times the number of bacteria than it has cells in the body. There are estimated to be close to 100 trillion bacteria compared to the 10 trillion cells that make up the body. These living organisms are labeled the “human microbiome.” In this article, we will dive deep into the microbiome and how it impacts our health.

First, you will learn about the development of the microbiome and then you will learn about the ratio of good and bad microbes. Next, we will teach you the importance of the internal ecosystem. Then we will cover improving your gut biofilm and wrap up with the microbiome and your immune system. Once you have finished reading you will understand better what the microbiome is and how it affects your health.

1The Ratio Of Good And Bad Microbes

So what is the microbiome and how is it measured? The next time you get on the scale, you can rest assured that 2-3 pounds that are registering are not you. They are the bacteria you are hosting! We host over 500 different species of bacteria.

With some of these being classified as good and others being bad. No person has the same set of gut bacteria, we all contain our own unique set of intestinal bacteria. In other terms, we have a symbiotic relationship (life-enhancing for both parties) with some and a parasitic (life-stealing) relationship with others. The correct ratio for health and wellness is considered to be about 85% good to 15% bad.

2The Development Of The Microbiome

In utero, the fetus is completely devoid of microbes. However, the child’s first (and perhaps most important) meal comes as it heads down the birth canal, which is full of bacteria. These microorganisms make their way onto the newborn’s skin, eyes, & mouth as the baby pushes through the vaginal walls. From that moment on, every mother’s kiss, every swaddling blanket, carries on it more of these special critters, which are introduced into the baby’s system. By about the age of 2, most of a person’s microbial community is established.

Amazingly, just small differences in our microbiome may have a big impact on the genetic expression of the individual. Factors, such as maternal health, early childhood nutrition, nervous system function, and antibiotic usage play a gigantic role in the maturity of the gut flora. Experts believe that the critical colonization period happens in the first few years, which explains why the microflora fingerprints of adult twins, who shared an intimate environment (and a mother) in childhood, more closely resemble each other than they do those of their spouses, with whom they became intimate later in life.

3The Importance Of The Internal EcoSystem

Most of the bacteria reside in our digestive system and play an enormous role in the digestive process, allowing nutrients to be easily assimilated into our systems. These probiotic organisms also help clean up toxic debris and contaminate food particles in our gastrointestinal tract. Additionally, gut microbiota health has been linked with conditions ranging from cancer to autoimmunity, to diabetes.

They produce vitamins, in particular thiamine, peroxide, and vitamin K. These little friends of ours also create the enzymes necessary to metabolize cholesterol and bile acid. Finally, they are necessary for us to digest complex plant polysaccharides, the fiber found in grains, fruits, and vegetables that would otherwise be indigestible.

4The Microbiome And Our Immune System

Our immune system is also very much dependent on these microbial beings to compete with the virulent strains of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, & fungus. All of these would love to take control. These parties fight over nutrition and attachment sites on various cells in the colon tissue.

If the pathogenic strains take over they steal nutrients, destroy cells, release toxins into the bloodstream and create massive inflammatory processes in our immune system. An improper microflora balance most often leads to disruptions in digestive, immune, & neurological function. Leading to a variety of pathological processes.

5Improving Your Gut BioFilm

The gut bacteria live within the mucus membrane that surrounds the epithelial tissue of the intestine. This layer of mucus is called “biofilm.” Within the biofilm, the bacteria produce certain vibrations which communicate with the intestinal epithelium and throughout the body.

These vibrations stimulate a healthy immune response. This response affects all of the major tissues and regions. This is the reason for the ingestion of probiotic bacteria affecting nasal, & vaginal health.

6Food And Our Microbiome

Our diet & lifestyle have a powerful effect on the microbial balance in our gut. Throughout the ages, every traditional culture has fermented foods to add “life” and longevity to the dish. Ancient Rome used sauerkraut at nearly every big meal. In India, they enjoy a pre-dinner drink called a lassi, which is a raw, fully cultured yogurt drink. At the end of the meal, they’d have a small serving of raw, cultured curd.

These Indian traditions were based on the principle of using sour milk as a probiotic delivery system to the body. Other examples are all around us. Bulgarians are known both for their longevity and their high consumption of fermented milk and kefir. In Asian cultures, pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash, and carrots still exist today. Consequently, fermented foods have been shown to not only provide probiotics, but also to act as antimicrobials, boost antioxidant activity, improve enzyme production, and degrade harmful toxins in the digestive tract.

Your body houses about 10 times the number of bacteria than it has cells in the body. Compared to the 10 trillion cells that make up the body there are estimated to be close to 100 trillion bacteria. They are referred to as the “human microbiome.” In this article, we dove deep into the microbiome and how it impacts our health.

First, you learned about the development of the microbiome, and then you learned about the ratio of good and bad microbes. Next, we taught you the importance of the internal ecosystem. Then we covered improving your gut biofilm and wrapped up with the microbiome and your immune system. Now that you have finished reading you understand better what the microbiome is and how it affects your health.

8 Vitamins To Reduce Hair Loss

7 Mistakes That May Promote Illness

6 Keys To Gut Microbiome Health

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