The 8 Nutritional Challenges Facing Athletes

GET EDUCATED AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH

MCVitamins has been looking for supplements that work well for athletes and actually anyone who want to be fit. The below is what my research discovered

Read on……

Athletes face 8 nutritional challenges. Their bodies work harder and need good nutrition. What are the all-natural solutions?

Athletes want to enhance their performance. Nature provides us with the most effective and powerful choices.

The choice becomes clearer when you compare the long term muscle fitness and health building effects of whole food and nutritional supplements versus the well-documented health issues often associated with the artificial methods.

What is the needed nutrition that is the most proven and effective choice for enhancing performance – without breaking rules, laws, or endangering your body!

What are the Challenges?

The 8 challenges area as follow:

Core Nutrition
Muscle Building
Energy
Reaction Time
Hormone Balance
Recovery
Repair
Re-hydration

All these challenges must be met in order to enhance the ability to excel.

What are our recommendations?   Athlete Challenges and why we recommend them.

How is your Metabolism?

This seems to be an attention getter, even for younger people let along menopausal women or older men. Find out what can easily help this is what MCVitamins found and which really works. We tried it as well and the first thing noticed is really good sleep…. the list of benefits goes on.

If you have high blood pressure, high blood glucose, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, excess weight around the waist you have a metabolic disorder – an imbalance or deficiency – that negatively affects the way your body functions. This also means you have an increased risk of a serious health condition, such as cardiovascular disease. If you have 3 or more factors this is commonly referred to as Metabolic Syndrome and your risk increases even more. You are not alone.

Metabolic Syndrome is increasingly common and up to 30% of U.S. adults have it and about 44% of people over 50 years of age are affected by it. Every 5 seconds someone is diagnosed with a condition caused by metabolic disorder and every 10 seconds somebody dies from a metabolic health issue. It is one of the most important health challenges we currently face.

Do you want a Healthier Metabolism?

Improving Metabolism

How the Gut-Brain Axis Can Affect Your Health?

Medical science has recently discovered that a root cause of particular health issues involves the gut and the Gut-Brain Axis.

The Gut-Brain Axis is the communication system between the brain and the trillions of bacteria and enzymes living within our intestines – our gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome weighs about 2 kg and is bigger than the average human brain. It’s an active community of trillions of bacteria and microbes.

The gut microbiome is a crucial part of this gut-brain connection. It develops simultaneously with the central nervous system and has a powerful influence over many different mental processes.

Multiple studies have shown that the composition of our gut bacteria has a profound impact on mental health and the functioning of our nervous system.

Gut microbes make a number of chemicals that affect how our brains function. Gut microbes play a crucial role in brain development and the flow of signaling information across the central nervous system.

As neurotransmitters synthesized by the brain are involved in regulating mental health, emotions, behaviors, and mood, a disrupted gut microbiome can play a significant role in neurological conditions.

“The gut microbiome is the most important scientific discovery for human healthcare in recent decades,” says James Kinross, a microbiome scientist and surgeon at Imperial College London. “We discovered it – or rediscovered it – in the age of genetic sequencing less than 15 years ago. The only organ that is bigger is the liver.”

Professor Jack Gilbert, an award-winning microbiome scientist at the University of California San Diego and author, has stated, “Over the last 80 years and since the dawn of antibiotics, there has been a multi-generational loss of microbes that appear to be important for human health. They are passed from mother to child (during birth, via breast milk and skin contact) throughout the generations, but at some point, in the last three or four generations, we lost some. We’re not entirely sure if the cause was our lifestyle, our diet, cleanliness in our homes or the use of antibiotics. We’re missing certain immune stimulants that people in the developing world have plenty of.”

The gut’s microbiome is critical for short-term and long-term health. Given all the new data about the importance of the gut microbiome and the gut-brain axis, there are steps you can take to ensure you maintain a healthy gut microbiome.

Studies suggest having a diverse population of gut microbes is directly associated with better health.

The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation suggests the following:
“Make sure to eat your vegetables!
“Especially the leafy green ones. Vegetables are loaded with fibers which cannot be digested by people but are consumed by the good bacteria in your gut. It has been observed that people who follow a diet rich with fruits and vegetables are less likely to grow disease-causing bacteria. Some great examples of vegetables that feed your microbes are:
• Leeks
• Onions
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Spinach.
“Stock up on dietary sources of prebiotics
“Prebiotics are food for your microbiome! It’s important to feed these little guys to give them the energy they need to complete their very important task of managing your enteric (relating to the intestines) nervous system.

Here is a list of dietary prebiotics that should be staples in your home kitchen:
• Apples
• Leeks
• Onions
• Cocoa Extracts
• Garlic
• Bananas
• Asparagus
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Red Wine Extracts
• Root Vegetables
• Beans
• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Green Tea Extracts.
“Fermented foods are gut-friendly
“Fermented foods are another great source of probiotics.

The crowd favorite is yogurt, however, if you’re going to be eating a lot of yogurt, make sure that it is sugar-free! There are several other options that are a great source of good bacteria. Kombucha is becoming a very popular source of probiotics. You can also eat things like pickles, kimchee, and kefir to ensure that you’re getting enough live cultures to keep your gut healthy and happy.”

Supplements Can Help, Too

Taking supplements that contain probiotics to support an optimum microbiome can help, too.

Improving your Metabolism 

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Is Chronic Inflammation Making You Hot and Bothered?

If you’ve ever stubbed your toe or suffered a minor paper cut, then you’re familiar with the effects of inflammation. The heat, redness, and swelling you experienced following that minor injury was the result of acute inflammation, which is part of your immune system’s natural response to trauma.

But there’s another kind of inflammation with which you may not be aware. Unlike acute inflammation, which usually involves pain and is short lived, chronic inflammation can be a “silent fire” and last for weeks or even years.

In fact, most people don’t even realize they’re “on fire” until they’re diagnosed with a serious disease. This may be why chronic inflammation has been identified as a factor in such diverse disorders as autoimmune diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, type II Diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

So, what is chronic inflammation? And more importantly, what can you do if you are suffering from it?

The Connection Between Inflammation and Your Immune System

Inflammation is an integral part of your body’s natural defenses. When threatened by harmful substances, such as a bacteria or viruses, your immune system sends wave after wave of white blood cells and chemicals to seek and destroy the offending organisms. This “inflammatory cascade” produces the heat, redness, and swelling which characterize acute inflammation. Once the offenders are destroyed the inflammatory cascade stops and healing begins.

During chronic inflammation, however, the inflammatory response is continual. Any number of factors can cause chronic inflammation.

Hereditary and environmental factors. Both may have a causal effect on autoimmune disease, such as inflammatory bowel disease or rheumatoid arthritis. In an autoimmune disease, your immune system mistakes its own tissues as “foreign,” unleashing the inflammatory response.

Typical Western lifestyle. Diets rich in sugars, fats, and food additives, as well as a sedentary lifestyle, may promote the production of inflammatory chemicals.

The “Fire” in Your Belly

Most people aren’t aware of the major role our gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays in our immune health. Besides digestion, our GI tract is home to nearly seventy percent of our immune system. It is a major source of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that plays a large role in defending the body against disease, and mast cells, which release histamines and other chemicals as part of an allergic response.

Calming the Flames—A Natural Approach

As home base for the majority of your immune system, your GI tract plays a vital role in your inflammatory response. By paying attention to your gut, you can minimize the effects of inflammation naturally. The following natural approaches can help:

Omega Essential Fatty Acids such as EPA and DHA may help decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease and support a healthy immune response. Although the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids are oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, non-fish food options include flaxseed, flaxseed oil, and walnuts.
Ginger and rosemary have been shown to support the healthy metabolism of inflammatory chemicals.

Turmeric extract inhibits the activities of a wide range of enzymes implicated in pain and inflammation.

Rice protein has been shown to have a lower allergy potential than other protein sources, making it a safer alternative.
You can also minimize chronic inflammation by eating a healthier diet (including more vegetables and nutrient-dense superfoods) and getting regular, moderate exercise. Both will reduce the amount of fat in your body, which research suggests may incite the inflammatory response.

By Cindy Clayton-Sudalnik, D.C.

The Most Powerful Natural Antioxidant You May Never Have Heard Of

Antioxidants can play an important role in reducing inflammation in the body. Antioxidants help to counteract oxidative stress. They neutralize excess free radicals to protect cells, prevent illness, and reduce inflammation.

The most powerful natural antioxidant discovered to date is Hydroxytyrosol.

Hydroxytyrosol has an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity – its ability to absorb cell damaging free radicals) of 68,576 – which is considered to be 15 times higher than green tea and 3 times greater than CoQ10. It is recognized by scientists, because of numerous, well documented studies, for its powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effectiveness.

Hydroxytyrosol has the highest level of free radical absorption ever reported for a natural antioxidant. It has some very special characteristics that contribute to its effectiveness. It is:

* Rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and tissues where it can perform its free radical scavenging duties

* The only phenol (organic compound) that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which allows it to absorb free radicals throughout the central nervous system

* Both fat and water soluble, giving it the highest bioavailability of any antioxidant.

The Science Behind Hydroxytyrosol

In numerous human, animal and in vitro (test tube) studies, Hydroxytyrosol has been shown to:

* Reduce markers/indicators of inflammation

* Support healthy mitochondrial function and significantly increase ATP (a molecule that carries energy within cells) energy production

* Promote significant and rapid reduction of LDL (bad cholesterol)

* Boost eye health and reduce risk of macular degeneration

* Have a therapeutic effect on the heart and cardiovascular system.

What is Inflammation? 

Why is Optimum Metabolism so Important in Children?

Mitochondria, an integral part of diverse cellular functions, are susceptible to damage which leads to non-optimum metabolism.

Today, unknowingly, children are exposed to many toxins in their food and environment and the damage done to the mitochondria could explain particular behavior and health issues. For example, tests of baby food sold in the US revealed that 95 percent contain one or more toxic chemicals, including lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium. As children grow, they continue to be exposed to chemical preservatives and additives in the food they eat, and harmful chemicals in their environment.

Children are more susceptible to exposure to toxins than adults because the toxins potentially have a bigger impact on the pathways in their smaller bodies, and their bodies are actively developing.

A paper from 2017 describes how mitochondrial dysfunction is the root cause of many diseases that are bewildering in their variety and complexity. They include rare genetic disorders in children. (3)

Children must have optimum metabolism to correctly support the many biochemical reactions in their body that regulate the activity of the cardiovascular, neurological, reproductive, and detoxification systems.

Cellular metabolism plays a more dynamic role in the cells that previously thought. Nearly all of a cell’s genes are influenced by changes to nutrition they have access to.

There is now scientific evidence for the use of metabolism-based protocols to provide tailored nutrition to improve the health of children. (1)

Check out the Spectrum Care+ Protocol link on this page

A Cmprehensive Nervous System Support – A Formula by Dr. Eric Berg

Supporting your nervous system is key to a healthy and sound body and mind. Your nervous system controls muscle movement, memory, thought, sleep, and hundreds of other functions

Without the right nutrients, your nervous system can become susceptible to oxidative stress, inflammation, and damage.

There is a natural nerve formula that”

  • Promotes a strong nervous system and brain
  • Supports healthy neurotransmitter levels
  • Helps if you struggle with inflammation
  • Reduces free radical damage|
  • Is a comprehensive nervous system support

This formula was developed by Dr. Eric Berg.

Supporting your nervous system is key to a healthy and sound body and mind. Your nervous system controls muscle movement, memory, thought, sleep, and hundreds of other functions. Without the right nutrients, your nervous system can become susceptible to oxidative stress, inflammation, and damage.

Dr. Berg’s Nerve Support is designed to promote the health of your entire nervous system using eight powerful ingredients, including benfotiamine, folate, magnesium, alpha-lipoic acid, and vitamins D3, B2, B6, and B12. These ingredients are excellent for reducing oxidative stress, lowering inflammation, and supporting normal nerve function.

You can learn more including what each ingredient is necessary for health nerves

LEARN MORE ABOUT
Dr. Berg’s Nerve Support with Benfotiamine

The Best Natural Antibiotic Drink

Dr. Berg’s Home Remedy Formula

Antibiotics are commonly used in the treatment of bacterial infections. But because of abuse and incorrect usage, many bacteria have become resistant to these drugs.

Moreover, many antibiotics also come with side effects that can sometimes damage organs like the liver and kidneys. Therefore, many people today look for natural alternatives to these drugs.

Dr. Berg has developed an incredible natural remedy for colds and sickness.

Your immune system is your greatest weapon against infections. All we want to do is use natural compounds to enhance the immune system’s defenses.

This natural antimicrobial remedy uses powerful chemicals from plants that have antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties to help support the immune system and fight against pathogens.

How do you make this incredible natural remedy for colds and sickness.

Of course, this antibiotic/antimicrobial home remedy has fewer side effects than a conventional antibiotic. Your immune system is your greatest weapon against infections. All we want to do is use natural compounds to enhance the immune system’s defenses.

Along with this home remedy, it’s crucial to address things that lower your immune system, like stress. Also, keep in mind that vitamin D is essential to boost immunity and increase your immune system’s ability to fight against sickness.

Here’s how to make the best natural antibiotic drink! Ingredients:

• 15 garlic cloves

• 1 whole lemon

• 1 Tbsp turmeric powder

• 1/4 cup grated ginger

• 1/4 cup manuka honey

• 1 oz olive oil (or 1 tsp coconut oil)

• 3 oz apple cider vinegar

• 1 cup water

Directions: Add the ingredients to a blender and blend for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a 16 oz mason jar and pour in additional water until the mixture is about a 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Seal the jar and keep it in the refrigerator. The longer this formula is in the refrigerator, the more potent it will become.

How to take this natural antimicrobial remedy: At the first sign of sickness, take a shot of this drink. You can then take an additional four shots of this remedy throughout the day.

Always be sure to check with your doctor before using any substitute for medication.

Natural Antibiotics

 

Do you have a Metabolic Disorder

If you have high blood pressure, high blood glucose, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, excess weight around the waist you have a metabolic disorder – an imbalance or deficiency – that negatively affects the way your body functions.

Metabolic Syndrome is increasingly common and up to 30% of U.S. adults have it and about 44% of people over 50 years of age are affected by it. Every 5 seconds someone is diagnosed with a condition caused by metabolic disorder and every 10 seconds somebody dies from a metabolic health issue. It is one of the most important health challenges we currently face.

Do you want a Healthier Metabolism?   Read about Improving Metabolism