Wellness Trends To Try This Year

(Contributed Post)

There are new health and wellness trends emerging all the time, from milk alternatives to online classes. New ways to manage your mental and physical health are always popular, whether as part of a trend or on the advice of medical professionals. What trends are worth trying this year?

Flexitarian Diets

A flexitarian is someone who eats a mix of vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian diets. While not a new trend, it is become more popular, partly due to the rise of veganism and more people taking the environmental impact of the meat, dairy, and fishing industries more seriously. 

A flexitarian eats a mostly plant-based diet but will sometimes incorporate meat, fish, or dairy products. It allows people to make their own rules based on their own health and is a way to lower your carbon footprint without dropping anything from your diet. 

Eating flexitarian is simpler to do now as more big-name food brands expand their plant-based ranges.

Sustainability

Sustainability has become more and more popular, with people looking at how greener living can help them to both improve their health and live a more eco-friendly life at the same time. For example, many people have chosen to swap to homemade or more natural cleaning products in their home, to reduce their own exposure to chemicals and the chemicals that get released into the environment. 

A lot of sustainable choices in your home can improve the air quality, which is great for those who suffer from allergies. Encourage your place of work to improve the air quality there too, so you aren’t breathing in nasties in the office. Breathing stale air from the off A/C can lead to headaches, or in extreme cases, old offices can expose you to asbestos. If this has happened to you and you’ve become ill, look for reliable mesothelioma attorneys.

Mental Health

One of the most popular trends for this year that is only getting more popular is solution-focused hypnotherapy. 

Hypnotherapy focuses on what the client wants to achieve rather than on what the problem is that made them seek help in the first place. A combination of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy is a popular way for people to take on their problems and move on in a helpful way. 

Online Fitness Classes

Last year saw a many people head online to get in their workout. With continued lockdown measures, it seems likely that fitness instructors and personal trainers will stay online for most of 2021 and beyond. 

Heading onto YouTube for a pre-recorded workout is a good way to get your exercise every day at a time that works for you, and has been for a while. For 2021, it’s likely that we will see a big increase in live group fitness options. Peloton is going nowhere.

Remember that trends always come and go, and while it can be fun to try a new trend, you don’t have to ditch your tried and tested methods that work for you. 

Heal Autism, Depression and Autoimmune Disorders with a GAPS Diet

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet (GAPS) is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience and dedication, not to mention time -- up to three years. But for those suffering from asthma, food intolerance and allergy, developmental delays, depression or a spectrum of digestive disorders, it can be a miracle. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, creator of the diet, believes that all disease begins with a compromised gut and if the digestive tract is healed, so is health.

A damaged gut equals compromised health

Through poor food choices, environmental toxins or genetic disposition, the gut can develop lesions that leak toxins into the bloodstream. This opens the door to a host of dysfunctional autoimmune conditions, systemic candida infections and neurological disorders. Dr. Campbell-McBride, who specializes in neurology and human nutrition, recognizes the crucial role a well functioning digestive system plays in physical and mental health. Using the GAPS protocol, she has witnessed full recoveries from autism to irritable bowel syndrome to food allergies.

Beat the Winter Blues with These Tips

With shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight available in autumn and winter, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) rears its unpleasant head in up to 20 percent of the American population. Characterized by moodiness, depression, cravings for simple carbohydrates, weight gain, fatigue and melancholy, the condition can range from simple "wintertime blues" to full blown incapacitation. The affliction tends to be more prominent in young people and women.

Defeating seasonal malaise

Several natural remedies are helpful in alleviating SAD. Short of traveling south every winter for a hearty dose of sunshine, the following methods offer practical solutions for curbing this distressing syndrome.

Ultimate Brain Food - Increase Memory, Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer's and Protect Against Multiple Sclerosis with Ginger

r

Ginger root is a well-recognized health marvel, mending everything from inflammation to cancer to diabetes. But did you know that it can also improve brain function? In our demanding world, acute cognitive ability is essential. Fortunately, ginger is an outstanding ally in the quest for enhanced memory and clarity. Moreover, it plays a substantial role in guarding against brain oxidative stress and neurological disease.

Psychobiotics: Bacteria For Your Brain?

(GreenMed Info) By Dr. Kelly Brogan, M.D.

Every functional medicine psychiatrist has case stories of the 'probiotic cure' – of a patient with debilitating symptoms, often obsessive compulsive range, whose symptoms remitted completely with dietary change and probiotic supplementation. Is this voodoo or is it based on a growing understanding of the role of the microbiome in mental health and behavior? For two decades now, pioneering researchers have been substantiating inflammatory models of mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.  Research has focused on markers that indicate immune distress in an important subset of patients, many of whom are labeled "treatment resistant." Through this body of literature, we have identified that depression can be induced, in animals and in humans through inflammatory agents, that it is correlated with blood levels of inflammatory markers, in a linear way (more markers = worse depression), and that symptoms can be reversed through pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories.

The Effects Of Negative Emotions On Our Health

(Collective Evolution) By Joe Martino

Humans experience an array of emotions, anything from happiness, to sadness to extreme joy and depression. Each one of these emotions creates a different feeling within the body. After all, our body releases different chemicals when we experience various things that make us happy and each chemical works to create a different environment within the body. For example if your brain releases serotonin, dopamine or oxytocin, you will feel good and happy. Conversely, if your body releases cortisol while you are stressed, you will have an entirely different feeling associated more with the body kicking into survival mode.

What about when we are thinking negative thoughts all the time? Or how about when we are thinking positive thoughts? What about when we are not emotionally charged to neither positive nor negative? Let’s explore how these affect our body and life.

How Stress Is Making You Lose Your Mind

 By Jenny C. Evans

(Huffington Post) Stress is affecting your brain much more than you think. Sure, you've experienced the distraction, forgetfulness, negativity or anxiety that comes from stressful situations, but did you know it's also shrinking your brain? Hormones released in response to stress not only affect brain function, they also change the physical structure of your brain.

The stress hormone cortisol can kill, shrink, and stop the generation of new neurons in a portion of the brain called the hippocampus. (1)

Trace mineral lithium really does curb violent crime, depression and suicide

The word lithium frequently conjures images of catatonic psychiatric patients and side effects so severe that premature death is commonplace. But naturally occurring lithium is a far cry from pharmaceutical grades. Found in the soil, water and certain foods, it is an essential mineral for maintaining physical and mental health. When exposure is low, suicide rates, mental illness and violent crime increase.

Mental well-being influenced by trace mineral intake

Lithium has a long history of use in the treatment of mental disorders. However, it hasn't been until recently that scientists began exploring the psychiatric implications of naturally occurring lithium in the water supply. As stated in the article, Foods Rich in Lithium And Lithium Supplements:

"Research suggests that locations with the highest concentration of lithium tend to have the lowest rates of depression and violent crime. These studies have been conducted across the globe in different climates with different natural habits and diets. Researchers have therefore concluded that this phenomenon is fairly universal."

Boost vigor and mental well-being by harmonizing copper levels in the body

Migraines, depression, fatigue and insomnia - these are just a few of the disorders that may be caused by a remarkably common nutritional imbalance of copper. When proper levels of this mineral are not maintained, illness and disease can develop. Since copper deficiency and toxicity have far reaching health consequences, it is vital to recognize the signs of imbalance.

Copper is an essential mineral necessary for many functions of the body. Along with iron, copper assists with red blood cell formation. It is also required for healthy connective tissue, bones and the nervous and immune systems. Copper is helpful in treating a wide range of illness from anemia to heart disease, leukemia to HIV/AIDS. In addition, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis and certain types of mental illness all respond well to balanced copper levels. Excellent sources include avocado, sesame, asparagus, crimini mushrooms and molasses along with most organic grains and nuts.