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Natural Skin and Beauty

Dry Skin Brushing and How it Works

It can be hard to struggle with skin issues, whether it is acne, keratosis pilaris, stretch marks, spider veins, cellulite or something else. While it is valuable, crucial even, to come to a place of acceptance and contentment with our bodies, that doesn’t mean that we can’t also take strides toward improving our inner and outer health! One natural remedy that might be your new best friend is dry skin brushing. Dry brushing is the practice of using a dry bristle brush on different areas of your skin, usually on a daily basis. Skin is your largest organ, so it makes sense to take care of it! Why Should You Try it? “Dry brushing has been used for centuries by Scandinavians and Russians. More than 30 years ago, a Finnish doctor by the name of Paavo Airola prescribed this technique for his patients to detoxify, exfoliate and stimulate the skin.” (Source) There are several benefits to dry skin brushing. One of the main benefits is, of course, the removal of dry skin from the body through exfoliation. Some other benefits include the reduction of cellulite by increasing circulation. This helps you to produce new skin cells faster and keeps your

July 4, 2019

Chronic Illness

Himalayan salt therapy and what it can do for you

Salt therapy, or halotherapy, uses the chemical composition of pure pink Himalayan salt to raise negative ions in the air. This kind of feels like a day at the beach! It helps you feel relaxed, reduce stress, improve respiratory function, and more. Not only that, but it is 100% natural, drug-free, safe, noninvasive! We recently installed two salt walls and several salt lamps at Cornerstone Wellness Center, and I can tell a huge difference in how I feel. Origin of Himalayan Salt The only pure source of Himalayan salt is in the Punjab region of Pakistan, near the foothills of the Himalayas, where it is hand-mined from rock crystals. (Source) Himalayan salt comes from the primordial seas that dried up millions of years ago. Always do your research on where you obtain your Himalayan salt, ensuring it is from Punjab and is extracted using a gentle method. Some companies use explosives to mine their salt. They do this because they can get this salt much faster and cheaper, but the structure of the salt is compromised in the process. Himalayan salt gets its pink hue from the extra minerals it contains above and beyond normal sea salt. These include

June 28, 2019

General

All About Making a Healthy Acai Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie bowls have been popular for several years, and the trend all started with the acai (ah-sigh-EE) bowl. Acai berries are small, dark purple, blueberry-like fruit grown on palm trees in South and Central America. Although they look like berries (and we will call them such) they are technically drupes like apricots or plums since they contain a pit. Acai’s use in smoothie bowls originated in Brazil, and since they are usually only found fresh in these areas, you typically find them in the form of frozen acai puree in the U.S. Benefits of Acai Acai berries are high in antioxidants, rich in fatty acids, and are majorly anti-inflammatory. This is due to the nutrients they contain like protocatechuic acid, procyanidins, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and epicatechin. Specifically, the antioxidant anthocyanin is a powerhouse. (Source) It may lower oxidative stress and inflammation, promoting brain health. Regular consumption of anthocyanins can reduce the risk of heart attack by 32 percent in young and middle-aged women. It also engagees in anticarcinogenic activities. The many nutrients in acai have been shown to: Improve cognitive function Alleviate Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases Improve heart health Contain anti-cancerous properties According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),

June 20, 2019

Emotional Health

Benefits of Using Guided Meditation

Meditation provides amazing benefits for your mental, emotional, and physical health. And with a study from 2015 showing that 16.1 million Americans reporting experiencing major depression during the previous year, we clearly are in great need for alternative and supplemental methods for treating depression. Studies have shown the efficacy of meditation for helping alleviate many conditions, most strongly those including depression, chronic pain, anxiety and high blood pressure. One neuroscientist showed how the changes in brain activity experienced by those who have learned to meditate remain steady even when they aren’t meditating! (Source, Source) If you think about the number of diseases, especially autoimmune, that are worsened by stress, it makes sense that a stress-relieving activity like meditation could be hugely beneficial. Not only can meditation help alleviate medical conditions, but it can also increase the brain’s ability to process information and may slow, stall, or even reverse changes in the brain due to aging. (Source) Even with all these benefits, meditation can seem intimidating if you’ve never tried it! If you have been wanting to test out meditation, but don’t know where to begin, you might want to start with guided meditation. I don’t want fear to keep anyone

June 14, 2019

General

Anti-Inflammation and Micronutrients for Anti-Aging

If you have been looking into anti-aging remedies, you have probably come across a lot of topical products—some expensive, and some you can make at home. There are a lot of things you can try to slow the aging process, but if you are only looking skin deep, topical creams won’t help much. We’ve talked about inflammation as a root cause for disease, what if I told you inflammation also causes your skin to age more quickly? Understanding How We Age While there is no one factor or study that totally explains aging, there are generally two ways skin ages: intrinsic and extrinsic. (Source) Intrinsic aging is an inevitable physiological process that we all experience as we get older. Extrinsic aging is caused by external environment factors such as physical and psychological stress, alcohol intake, poor nutrition, overeating, environmental pollution, and exposure to UV radiation. Studies have shown that exposure to these factors induce the generation of free radicals as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) of our own metabolism. Whoa. Lots of terms there. Let’s define a couple so we’re on the same page. Reactive oxygen species (ROS): A type of unstable molecule that contains oxygen and that easily

June 7, 2019

General

Natural Ways to Treat a Sunburn

Sunburns may be a common occurrence for you, but they shouldn’t be! They’re a painful sign that you didn’t protect your skin and perhaps spent too long in the sun. Everyone needs to protect their skin, regardless of whether you get tan or not. Even people with darker skin can get burns, which comes with many risks to your health. (If you need some natural sunscreen options, check out my blog article on the topic here.) However I do encourage some sun exposure in moderation as it is wonderful for you physically and mentally. And since none of us are perfect, even the best laid plans fall short sometimes. When that happens and you start seeing that pinkish hue appear, it’s best to act quickly. After all, it can take up to 24 hours for the full effects to appear! (Source) Symptoms of Sunburn: Red, tender skin that is warm to the touch Blisters that develop hours to days later Severe reactions (sometimes called sun poisoning), including fever, chills, nausea, or rash Skin peeling on sunburned areas several days after the sunburn As soon as you see the signs, get yourself to the shade and treat it with some natural

May 31, 2019

Inflammation

How Probiotics Help with Your Overall Health

Dealing with digestive issues can be difficult! Not just in the daily discomfort, but also in trying to figure out exactly what the problem is. Even after eliminating foods, changing your diet, and switching up your daily habits, you might still experience the same issues with your digestion. That’s where probiotics come in. You’ve probably heard the word “probiotics” used lately now that our understanding of the importance of gut health has grown. But you might not understand exactly what they are, be scared away by the terminology (what do “strains” have to do with it?), or not be sure how to use them for your benefit. So let’s dive in! Understanding What Probiotics Are If you’re somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of probiotics, then you’ll be happy to know that they could be a step towards some relief for a variety of issues in your gut. To get started, it would be beneficial to see where the belief in these tiny organisms began. To put it simply, probiotics are live microorganisms that are thought to have a positive effect on the body. The use of probiotics can be traced back to the early days of humanity, when fermentation processes

May 23, 2019

Inflammation

AIP: How the Autoimmune Protocol Diet Can Relieve Your Symptoms

If you have been diagnosed with or suspect you have an autoimmune disease, your doctor might have (or should have!) recommended to change your diet. While making dietary and lifestyle changes can be difficult, it is worth the relief from symptoms in the long run. Especially since autoimmune diseases are notoriously hard to treat! Typically, you will start with an elimination diet so that you can figure out which foods trigger your symptoms. A popular option is to start with the autoimmune protocol diet, or AIP. What is the AIP diet? As with any new diet you try, the very first step is understanding what the diet is and why you follow certain rules of that diet. With the Autoimmune Protocol diet, your goal is to help reduce inflammation in your body and thereby the uncomfortable symptoms inflammation worsens. (Source) The Autoimmune Protocol diet, or AIP, is a type of restrictive diet meant to help you use food as medicine. That is the basic principle of the AIP diet. You are gaining a new relationship with the food you eat by focusing more on what is going to heal your body and prevent inflammation naturally by healing from the inside

May 15, 2019

General

What You Need to Know About Autoimmune Disease Triggers

Autoimmune disorders and diseases occur when the immune system tries to attack healthy cells. “Autoimmune disease happens when the body’s natural defense system can’t tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells.” – John Hopkins Medicine This in turn can lead to many different types of conditions, some of the most common include: Lupus, a disease that damages areas of the body that include joints, skin and organs Rheumatoid arthritis, a form of arthritis that attacks the joints Celiac, a reaction to eating gluten that triggers an immune response in the small intestine Psoriasis, a condition marked by thick, scaly patches of skin Psoriatic arthritis, a type of arthritis affecting some people with psoriasis Thyroid diseases, including Graves’ disease, where the body makes too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism), and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, where it doesn’t make enough (hypothyroidism) of the hormone Type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin Multiple sclerosis, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks myelin in the central nervous system While the cause of autoimmune diseases is still relatively unknown, many say it is a combination of genetic predisposition, stealth infections and

May 3, 2019

ARTICLES

Dry Skin Brushing and How it Works

Himalayan salt therapy and what it can do for you

All About Making a Healthy Acai Smoothie Bowl

Benefits of Using Guided Meditation

Anti-Inflammation and Micronutrients for Anti-Aging

Natural Ways to Treat a Sunburn

How Probiotics Help with Your Overall Health

AIP: How the Autoimmune Protocol Diet Can Relieve Your Symptoms

What You Need to Know About Autoimmune Disease Triggers

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