good carbs, Happy Liver, liver, liver health

Clean Carbs

When I run across information that I resonate with, I like to post it somewhere for future use.

Today I ran across this from Anthony Williams, The Medical Medium, and I agree wholeheartedly, so I thought I would share here on MaggiesVitaminsBlog

Critical Clean Carbs or CCC

“Critical Clean Carbohydrates (CCC) is the name I have given to the healthy carbohydrates that provide our organs, tissues, muscles, and cells with the glucose they need to help us stay alive and thrive.

CCC are:

• Fruit
• Raw Honey
• Potatoes and sweet potatoes
• Winter squash
• Coconut water

The critical glucose we get from CCC:

• Protects the nervous system
• Stops the brain from shrinking
• Builds muscles
• Protects the heart
• Is vital for liver function
• Protects the adrenals
• Helps you cope with stress
• Is critical for healing
• Feeds every cell in the body

We all need CCC. Without glucose, we won’t stay alive. Unfortunately, so many people are dealing with low glucose and glycogen reserves and it’s affecting their health without them knowing. How do we run  out of the liver’s glucose and its stored version, glycogen? An overabundance of stress to the liver, which can come from many different sources. Plus, even if you’re eating what seems like enough CCC, there’s also obstacles to glucose absorption, which almost everyone faces due to the diets we have grown up on and the way we are told to eat today, such as the hyper focus on including fats and eating a high-fat diet (which is synonymous with a high-protein diet). This way of eating blocks critical glucose absorption. “

I am keeping this post short today but feel free to do more research on this and also read my prior blogs posts on the importance of liver health. And be sure to eat lots of all of these foods mentioned. 🙂 And enJOY those CCC’S!

Detoxing, Happy Liver, liver

Detox Quiz

Do you need to detox?

Here are a few questions for you when it comes to scents and sensitivities:

Answer: 0 for No and 1 for Yes … simple but effective

Are you bothered or sensitive to:

Gasoline or Diesel fumes? ___

Perfumes/Colognes? ___

Hair sprays, new car smells? ___

Soaps, Detergents, Cleaners? ___

Tobacco Smoke? ___

Chlorine? ___

Dust? ___

Cats, Dogs? ___

Pollen (tree,grass,ragweed)? ___

Molds? ___

Total Score ___

If you answered one or more you have sensitivities and my wish to look at detoxing as well as improving your liver function. Many people may have not symptoms but will later develop ailments and diseases later in life. Others are extremely sensitive to any outside scent or invader and suffer greatly. I have included a link here to posts about liver health.

Bromelain, Digestive Health, hair mineral analysis, Happy Liver, heavy metals, liver, liver health, medical medium

Amazing Help For Your Liver!

The primary functions of the liver are: Bile production and excretion. Excretion of bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones, drugs and metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. The liver is also the master filter used to disarm and detain harmful materials, screen and filter the blood, store glycogen for use as glucose in the body, and much much more!

However, today I want to touch on the role the liver plays in protein and fat synthesis. People tend to eat a lot of protein and most of that protein is also high in fat! Even nuts and seeds have fat content along with the protein. Although these protein sources might be healthier to some degree than animal protein for example, they, along with animal protein are high in fats.

When you combine large amounts of fats and proteins, in conjunction with the myriad of other issues our livers deal with everyday like pathogens, viruses, pesticides, herbicides, perfumes, scented candles, toxic cleaning products, stress, and the biggie heavy metals, our livers are overburdened and cannot keep up. This is why it is estimated that about 90% of the population in North America has a fatty liver or at least a sluggish liver.

This brings me to the point of my blog post today. I have found something that I love for helping with protein synthesis to help support the liver and overall health and well being. I am sure we have all heard of the enzyme bromelain? If you have not heard of that term, I am sure you know what a pineapple is? 🙂

Here is the best part about bromelain when it comes to the liver:
Bromelain is a protein-digesting enzyme derived from the pineapple plant that has a centuries-long history of being used to treat medical ailments, primarily throughout Central and South America. It is currently categorized as a dietary supplement, and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA

Enzymes like bromelain are so important and also help the body function properly, trigger the production of hormones and muscles and support a healthy metabolism (think weight management here).

When the liver is able to assimilate and break down the macro nutrients like proteins, carbs and fats, it functions better and burns fuel better. What this means is that we become healthier in every cell of our body, we can uptake the micro-nutrients likes vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, and we burn fuel properly!

I truly believe that one of the keys to health, and perhaps the biggest key, is to support our liver and to help it function optimally. Anthony Williams, The Medical Medium has dedicated an entire book to liver health and it’s called “Liver Rescue”.

Here is a paragraph from one of Anthony’s blog posts on liver health:

“Your liver is an amazing, powerful and hardworking organ. When it’s not doing well—when you have sluggish liver or fatty liver or its bogged down by toxins or too much protein or fat in the diet—that’s a big part of the root of just about every condition and symptom under the sun, including: acne, adrenal problems, autoimmune disorders, brain fog, chemical food sensitivities, diabetes, constipation, dark circles under the eyes, emotional issues, fatigue, gallstones, gout, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, hormone problems, IBS, inflammation, body pain, jaundice, aging, liver cancer, eczema, psoriasis, vitiligo, insomnia, cysts, methylation problems, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), SIBO, sinus infections, urinary tract infections, varicose veins and weight gain.”

*****************

There are many things one can do to support the liver and bromelain is one of my favorite go-to’s because of it being a Proteolytic enzyme, also called protease, proteinase, or peptidase, any of a group of enzymes that break the long chainlike molecules of proteins into shorter fragments (peptides) and eventually into their components, amino acids.

MORE BENEFITS:

Other added benefits of the Bromelain Plus product I am referring to and use with my clients is:

  • Supports the body’s normal healing process
  • Promotes optimal cell health
  • Supports the body’s normal inflammatory response
  • Supports the body’s normal tissue and recovery repair process
  • Supports a healthy immune system
  • Supports healthy joint function
  • Promotes healthy blood circulation
  • May help support normal blood viscosity and blood platelet aggregation

Another reason I love this product is the delivery system. You actually get to drink this product! Yum. Yum! In fact I am drinking my morning dose right now. I usually shoot for twice a day with this supplement.

Isotonix – the World’s Most Advanced Nutraceuticals
Isotonic, which means “same pressure,” bears the same chemical resemblance of the body’s blood, plasma and tears. All fluids in the body have a certain concentration, referred to as osmotic pressure. The body’s common osmotic pressure, which is isotonic, allows a consistent maintenance of body tissues. In order for a substance to be absorbed and used in the body’s metabolism, it must be transported in an isotonic state.

Isotonix dietary supplements are delivered in an isotonic solution. This means that the body has less work to do in obtaining maximum absorption. The isotonic state of the suspension allows nutrients to pass directly into the small intestine and be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream.With Isotonix products, little nutritive value is lost, making the absorption of nutrients highly efficient while delivering maximum results.

And as it gets even better. There is also white willow bark in the supplement. Willow bark comes from the willow tree (Salix species). The bark contains salicin, a compound chemically similar to aspirin. Salicin is metabolized in the body to salicylic acid, which is a precursor to aspirin. The herbal extract became popular as a remedy to relieve pain, inflammation, and fever. More bonuses here!!! 🙂

Here is a link to the product for more information and to see the science behind it.

https://www.shop.com/THESHOPCONSULTANT/Isotonix+reg+Bromelain+Plus+-912160941-p+.xhtml?credituser=R1159126

I highly recommend supporting your liver with things like lemon water, fruit intake to provide the liver with the natural sugars it needs to produce glycogen, lowering your use of toxic chemicals that the liver has to filter, juicing celery, movement and exercise, de-stressing, and using supportive supplements like Bromelain Plus.

As a side note, if you would like more information on assessing your toxic load and the presence of potential heavy metals in your body, as well as determining nutritional deficiencies, here is a link to information on Hair Mineral Analysis that I am pleased to be able to offer my clients, using an accredited lab here in Canada.

You can just click on the picture or any of the pictures in this post to get to the correlated site and then if you wish, to return to this blog post, you can hit the back button or back arrow, to get back. Easy Peasy. 🙂

http://www.SuperiorHairAnalysis.com

If you would like to follow my Facebook page for supporting a healthy and happy liver you can do so by clicking on the Happy Liver.ca picture below.

Contact Maggie if you have any questions about anything discussed in this blog post or if you would like to inquire about life or nutrition or life coaching. Maggie also has a monthly newsletter that goes out on the 3rd of the month, if you would like to be added to that list.

Maggie Holbik.com is a Board Certified Nutritionist, Natural Nutrition Clinical Practitioner, Registered Nutritional Therapist, Certified Life Coach and good standing member of the Canadian Association of Natural Nutritional Practitioners.

Fatty Liver, Happy Liver, lemons, liver, liver health, medical medium

Liver Kindness – 5 Ways to Be Kind To Your Liver

Learning to love our livers is truly a life saving practise. The liver, until recently, with the surge of the Fatty Liver epidemic, has been far under appreciated in its role in our heath and in our life force.

In chinese medicine, the liver is associated with anger.  Anger being the “seat of the emotions” resides in the Liver, which is often described as the “Immature Child”. When one denies their feelings especially anger, it causes stagnation…. hence an angry person may have a red face and suffers from headaches. The liver is home to many deep seated emotions and by improving our liver health both physically and emotionally, it can have dramatic positive effects.

I have written a few articles about the liver and its role and function in our bodies and I will include them below. But for today I will share a few things you can do to be kind to your liver.

  1. Forgive Yourself. Let go of any negative self talk and forgive yourself for anything that you feel you need to. If you need to get help to do this, get it! Do whatever you need to do to become your own loving best friend. Nothing eats away at the liver more than self hatred or lack of compassion for oneself. You liver LOVES YOU and is always working for you best and highest good 24/7. It needs you on board. 🙂
  2. Deal with Anger. If you find you are irritable or tend to become angry a lot, you may want to pay extra attention to working at supporting your liver. Anger and irritability can be a BIG clue that you have a liver that is not functioning at an optimal level and don’t feel bad, most people are dealing with compromised livers in this day and age. We have way too much stress, toxic exposure, dealing with heavy metals, poor diet choices, exposure to chemicals in fragrances and products, etc. Clean up your liver (see articles below) and get help to support your emotional health.
  3. Find Peace. It can’t be stressed enough that peace and lowered stress levels are integral to your health when it comes to body, mind and spirit! Find ways in your day to decompress (in a healthy way :-)) and to back off the adrenaline. Adrenaline can act like a poison in the body and creates more toxicity and burden on the liver. Actively work at finding peaceful moments in your day. It is extremely important to do this!
  4. Lemons. Lemons. Lemons. Start your day with warm lemon water with honey and incorporate lemons into your day anytime you can! Lemons and limes are God’s gifts for the liver! Here is a quote from Anthony Williams, Medical Medium who is an advocate of lemon water:
    “Lemon water is the perfect way to hydrate, purify, and revitalize your body each morning. Water coming straight from the tap or a bottle has lost its vitality and its innate living structure. By adding fresh squeezed lemon juice, you “wake up” the water and bring it back to life. This allows it to travel more deeply into your tissues & cells and carry the essential nutrients and compounds you need in order to thrive. Lemon water is a good source of vitamins C & B and minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Lemon water is excellent for weight loss, the immune system, alkalinizing the body, controlling high blood pressure, anti-aging, detoxification, purifying the blood, and regulating body temperature. Lemon water is particularly beneficial for the digestive tract and can help relieve constipation, nausea, and even parasites. Lemon water is also good for the cardiovascular and muscular system making it an ideal drink before and after exercise. Consider an early morning ritual of squeezing half a lemon into 16oz of your best quality water upon waking. This deep form of hydration will awaken your mind and energize your body for the day.” ***************** I am sure you can see why I recommend lemons in any way shape or form. 🙂 Squeeze them on salads, in water, and on different foods. They really bring out the flavors in foods. Get creative with them.
  5. Move Your Lymphatic System. Find ways to incorporate movement that helps with lymphatic drainage. Your lymph system, unlike the circulatory system, does not have its own pump, so it needs us to help move it along. The more it is helped, the less the burden on your liver! There are many ways to move lymph but some easy ones are walking, exercise, rebounding, using a whole body vibration machine, massage therapy, dancing and more! Find something that works for you and make sure you do it everyday.

I hope you found this helpful and that you also take advantage and take a peek at the articles below. I wish you all the best.

acid reflux, celery juice, Digestive Health, Happy Liver, healing, Health, heartburn, medical medium

My Client’s Success with Celery Juice!!!

Celery Juice is the latest health hack and for good reason. People everywhere are drinking their daily 16 oz of celery juice and seeing tremendous benefits especially with digestion.

One of my clients started on the celery juice some time back and has had great results with acid reflux! She messaged me yesterday and it made me very happy!  I will share her message below and her NP is her Nurse Practitioner by the way…

Client: “Omg !!! I totally forgot to tell you about my NP visit !! I know you’ll be excited by it too. I don’t have to take my acid reflux medication daily any more. I told her how I was about to go a few days at a time now. She said ok. Now don’t take it until you have a heart burn attack. Then only take it til the heart burn is gone. Then stop until you have another attack again.”

I am very happy for my client. She was a little apprehensive about trying the celery juice at first, but now she is addicted! 🙂 We often keep each other posted about which grocery stores in town have the best celery in stock, with the best price, etc.

If you would like to learn more about juicing celery and its many benefits, you can access my earlier blog post with everything you need to know here: Celery Juice 101Celery Juice 101

I thank Anthony Williams, Medical Medium, every day for introducing the world to this natural medicine that is helping people every day all over the world. There are countless stories and pictures on Instagram, Facebook, and all over the web.

Happy Juicing!

Maggie Holbik.com is  a Board Certified Nutritionist and Certified Life Coach who loves to think outside of the box and is open to the many gifts that nature offers us to support our wellness of body, mind and spirit.

 

Happy Liver, liver, liver health, Your Amazing Life

HappyLiver.ca

happylivercared.jpg

Did you ever come to a point in your life or career when all the dots lined up and everything made sense and felt right? That’s how I feel after all my years of studying health and wellness and also pursuing my education in the field.

I have come to know that I really want to help my clients and future clients, when it comes to nutrition and wellness, with liver health. I truly believe the liver is the master organ that can make or break us. We need to think beyond the basic thoughts we have about liver. For example the effects of alcohol on the liver or having a fatty liver. Sure these things are important but the liver is way more complex than that and does WAY MORE than process alcohol. The good news is there are easy things we can do to improve our liver health, and they can make a HUGE difference and become catalysts in our overall health.

I have written several articles already on the liver and the powerful role it plays. Here is one You Liver Loves You and another is: All About The Liver

As a Board Certified Nutritionist building my practice all over the world via technology, I have never been more excited about a project. I invite you to join my on this quest of improving everyone’s liver health and in turn their health, including your own. How can you help? By following along and sharing these blog posts. By Liking the new Facebook Page that I have created just for Liver Health and having a Happy Liver. My new saying is “Happy Liver, Happy Life”. Here is the link to follow along Healthy & Happy Liver Facebook Page

The picture in this blog post was from yesterday as I was preparing my lemons for my Happy Lemon Water…. full of sunshine and goodness. I hope it makes you smile and reminds you that lemons are here to help us and they are super helpful for our livers. En-JOY them daily and as often as you can. I will be sharing more liver tips here on my blog and on the FB page.

Happy Liver, liver, liver health

Your Liver Loves YOU!

sponge-2541251_1920 (1)

Our livers love us! Unfortunately like any love relationship, sometimes one side gives more than the other and that is what is happening with people and their livers. Our livers are bombarded with much more than it can keep up with these days and we all need to do our part in the relationship by taking off some of the burden.

There are many, many things that are contributing to this toxic overload but today I going to focus on one area that is a HUGE player in overworking our livers and making us sick. What I am referring to are chemicals that are involved in scents, paints, sprays, perfumes, colognes, air fresheners, candles etc… the list is endless.

I have found a new way to view my liver when it comes to these very nasty invaders. I see my liver as a sponge! Because it is a sponge. Our livers filter everything… everything! It filters all our blood and sends it back out through the circulatory system. The filtering from the liver includes scents and air borne chemicals that are around us! They must be filtered too! The skin is the largest organ and both the skin and lungs deal with these airborne nasties.

Have you ever walked into a greasy restaurant? Maybe a fried chicken place?
When I was in my twenties, I had a roomie who worked at KFC and she would come home wreaking of grease. That smell never came out. It stuck and absorbed into her clothes and then everything that she was around, including our apartment. Now think about that. Just let that ‘sink in’, no pun intended. 🙂

Here is another example. I had someone 3 years ago walk into one of my rooms in my home and they were wearing strong cologne. That smell is still in the room. Every so often it overwhelms me when I walk into the room. Wow. We can see how powerful these chemicals are. And if this chemical compound can do that to a room and it’s contents years later, imagine a lifetime buildup of these and other toxins that are livers are dealing with. Chemical compounds used in perfumes and colognes have the same chemical compound construction as particular pesticides and herbicides. Also, everytime we pump gas we are exposed to toxins.

The list is unfortunately endless, but I will keep it short for today. I am sure you get the message here.

As a side note, it is a beautiful cool, sunny and windy day where I am. So I am airing out my bedding and also washing my new flannel sheets multiple times to remove the chemicals involved in their making. They too will head out to be line dried and aired to protect my most important organ, my liver. 🙂 I often think another great reason to buy second hand also. 🙂

I encourage everyone to rethink the use of many of these invaders. Not only do they hurt us but those around us. Life is precious. Let’s preserve that gift.

Maggie Holbik.com is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Life Coach who resides in Ontario, Canada. She has been an advocate of environmentally safe cleaning products for close to 30 years now. She shares freely tips and tricks to lower toxicity in the home and the body.

Digestive Health, Happy Liver, liver, liver health, Vitamins for the Body

Liver “LIVE-er”

liver

As a Nutritionist who continues to study every single day of my life, the more I go down the rabbit hole of what is plaguing people in the way of illness and disease, the more information I come to over and over again that lands at the liver!

The word ‘liver’ when broken down is about living and the liver is indeed responsible for so many functions that allow us to ‘live’.  It is difficult to give a precise number, as the organ is still being explored, but it is thought that the liver carries out 500 distinct roles!!!

There are so many ailments that can be affected by or affect our livers. Fatty liver is becoming more and more common out there in the world as well as a host of other symptoms associated with a compromised liver.

The term ‘sluggish liver’ is used to describe a situation in which your liver and gall bladder are not functioning as well as they could be. Some indications that your liver function may be sub-optimal and may benefit from therapies designed to support the detoxification and excretion of toxins may include:

  • Intolerance of alcohol and/or fatty foods
  • Indigestion, constipation  and other digestive problems
  • Headaches
  • Itchy Skin
  • Acne and other skin conditions, such as eczema
  • Irritability
  • High cholesterol and blood lipid levels
  • High Blood Pressure
  • abdominal bloating
  • pain or discomfort over the liver – (right upper abdominal area under the rib cage)
  • excessive abdominal fat; pot belly; or a roll around the upper abdomen
  • trouble digesting fatty foods
  • had your gallbladder removed
  • acid reflux/heartburn
  • dark spots on the skin commonly referred to liver spots
  • overheating of the body & excessive perspiration
  • acne/rosacea or itchy, blotchy skin
  • unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction

Other signs and symptoms may indicate the presence of more serious conditions requiring professional treatment (such as hepatitis or gall stones). These include:

  • Jaundice (yellow discolouration of the skin and eyes)
  • Nausea , vomiting and/or diarrhoea
  • Loss of appetite
  • Indigestion, bloating and wind
  • Fatigue
  • Abdominal Tenderness or pain, which may be generalised or localised under the right ribs
  • Swelling and hardness of the liver (hepatomegaly)
  • Dark urine
  • Unusually light or dark stools
  • Swollen feet, legs and/or abdomen
  • Confusion, sleep disturbance, and occasionally mental disturbance
  • Generalised itching over the whole body
  • Increased sensitivity to medicines and their effects

If you are suffering from any of the symptoms listed above, it is essential that you see your health care professional to determine the cause of the problem. Professional treatment and prescription medication may be necessary for the treatment of severe liver and gall bladder disease such as gallstones, hepatitis, fatty liver or cirrhosis, and permanent changes to your dietary and lifestyle habits may also be required.

Some of the often overlooked everyday liver stressors in general, are chemicals and toxins. Exposure to things like heavy metals, hair dyes, perfumes, artificially scented candles and cleaning products, etc. all create a substance or air borne substances that eventually are filtered through the liver which is the major clearing house for the body.  Some people find that as they age, they are less able to handle scents and exposure to certain chemicals due to a further comprised liver and ability for it to filter as it becomes overloaded. Unfortunately in this day and age our livers are challenged to keep up with the demand of their role as a clearing house and the liver’s role in the digestion and processing of proteins, fat and sugar.

One of the best things you can do is to limit your exposure to  liver stessors and add in healthy additions for liver support. In future blogs posts, I will cover simple strategies to support the liver with diet, supplementation and lifestyle modifications.

Maggie Holbik.com is a Natural Nutrition Clinical Practioner and Holistic Nutritionist who enjoys learning, developing healthy recipes and has a passion for sharing information on wellness of body, mind and spirit.