Dealing With the Menopause

Hello Everyone. Understanding physiologically what is going on can help you understand why you feel like you are during menopause.

You may be surprised that some symptoms may not be entirely menopause-related.

Menopause can make you feel like your mind and body have been hijacked but not necessarily.

If you, or anyone you know, is experiencing the menopause transition, this post will bring some good news! Spread the word!

Why Do You Feel So Unwell With the Menopause?

Is It Really the Menopause or Not?

Inflammatory Responses

Does Alcohol Affect Menopause?

Menopause and Sleep

How to Stop Menopausal Weight Gain

Best Exercises to Get Rid of Menopause Belly

Best Natural Remedy for Menopause

What Is the Good News About the Menopause?

Why Do You Feel So Unwell With the Menopause?

With any physiological events, there will be challenges (for some, more than others).

Not everyone feels unwell with menopause. It shouldn’t be seen as a fearful time in a woman’s life.

Some women sail through menopause with very few symptoms. And others can feel like they have been in a tumble drier all night and are walking around in someone else’s body.

Menopause can feel so chaotic and out of your control.

Weight gain! Hot flashes/flushes! Night sweats, vagina soreness, bloating, brain fog…!

Menopause can make women feel uncontrollably moody, agitated, frustrated, indecisive, forgetful, tearful, and more sensitive emotionally.

There could be an array of symptoms that go on. Symptoms of menopause include joint pain, weight gain, skin conditions, slow healing, and digestive changes. Anxiety can kick in, such as muscle pains, urinary incontinence, migraines, lethargy, and low libido.

The libido might be there, but you may not be able to experience the same pleasures because of discomfort and the lack of estrogen in your vaginal tissues.

Symptoms around menopause can be managed with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle since the decline in hormones and depletion of eggs produced in the ovaries are inflammatory events.

Premium Members, get straight to the Personalized Advice for Perimenopause & Menopause section for all the tools you need to get through this transition.

Top these off with what else is happening during menopause; how we live, eat, drink, move, stress factors, genetics, exposure to toxins, and even how we think (and what we think about).

You cannot control biological changes like hormone imbalances and depletion that cause many symptoms of menopause. Still, you can intervene and eliminate a lot of multifactorial effects.

Understanding how our bodies work helps us take more care of ourselves at all times.

Is It Really the Menopause or Not?

As I mentioned, there could be things that you are doing that are contributing to the effects of menopause.

Discuss your menopause with a health professional who deals with women’s health issues. Certainly, rule out conditions by having some health screening/blood tests.

It is good to question whether you are going through menopause, whether it is something else, or to take stock and make some lifestyle changes.

I suggest listing all of your symptoms and going through them and not dismissing any of them. What could be evident to you as a menopause symptom could be something else, and vice versa.

Many symptoms of menopause are linked to inflammation. Signs of chronic inflammation can be surprising.

They may present themselves at this time of your life since low estrogen levels cause more inflammatory responses.

Inflammatory Responses:

• • Brain Fog – recognized as a part of menopause, as lower serum hormone levels temporarily affect cognition and memory loss. Brain fog is also a sign of inflammation running in the body. Diabetes and high blood pressure can also affect brain health, for example. Depression is neuroinflammation.

• • Thyroid issues can lead to weight gain, brain fog, fatigue, and low moods, for instance.

• • Weight gain can result from low estrogen levels, but it could be the food you eat, lack of sleep, too much alcohol, digestive changes, and lack of exercise. Weight gain is linked to inflammatory events and, if it isn’t controlled, leads to the chronic inflammation condition of obesity.

• • Gut dysbiosis leads to a whole array of issues, including immune dysregulation and, of course, not producing ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters, chronic inflammation, and neuroinflammation.

• • You may feel like crying or have increased anxiety because your gut health is off because of your food, new intolerances, dysbiosis, insomnia, overloaded liver, fatigue, and the consequences of your lifestyle.

• • Menopause ‘Belly’ can be gut imbalances due to a change of diet, lack of sleep, insufficient movement, and even stress.

• • Decreased libido can directly result from lower levels of estrogen and testosterone. Still, it could be the side effects of medication and even psychological feelings surrounding menopause. 

• • Medication can cause gut dysbiosis, affect sex functions, and cause ‘menopausal symptoms.’
  • Sleep, although connected to the estrogen-hypothalamus link, could cause depression, rumination, weight gain, chronic inflammatory conditions, and life stressors. There is a bi-directional relationship between mood and sleep disturbances.

Hot flashes, night sweats, and sweating all have to do with how estrogen levels affect the hypothalamus, which regulates temperature control. You cannot change this, but you are in control of making some positive changes with a menopause-support diet and lifestyle.

If you are looking to lower your cholesterol, please check this article.

Does Alcohol Affect Menopause?

Alcohol can cause biological stress and can undoubtedly affect your gut homeostasis. This then affects your immunity and neurotransmitter production, which all affect menopause.

It depends on your tolerance, which can change during menopause, but estrogen levels rise when you drink alcohol.

Then, when they have dropped, this is when you can feel doom and gloom, anxiety, irritability, and have more hot flushes. It can also encourage mood swings.

Alcohol can cause weight gain, depression, mood swings, metabolic issues, and sleep disruptions – all of the symptoms that you may just be attributed to menopause!

Menopause and Sleep

Sleep is a significant part of optimum health, and menopause brings disruption due to temperature control being askew, which can significantly impact your quality of life.

It may not just be disrupted due to night sweats because many factors cause poor sleeping patterns. You could have many challenges and personal life stressors at this time.

Again, it could all be down to lifestyle and what you eat and drink, but sleep deprivation is linked to increasing the risk of chronic inflammation, weight gain, and joint pain.

It is such a vicious cycle because, of course, without regular, decent sleep, energy is depleted, depressive symptoms occur, and feelings of not being able to cope!

Check out the article: Weight Loss and The Link To Sleep.

How to Stop Menopausal Weight Gain

If you are gaining weight yet haven’t changed your healthy lifestyle and have been on the leaner side for most of your life, this will be disconcerting, I know.

So many women feel like they don’t recognize their bodies anymore, which can be upsetting.

It doesn’t mean that gaining weight during menopause will happen to everyone, but there is a reason for it.

It is all explained in the Personalized Advice Section for Perimenopause & Menopause for Premium Members. 

You may now have an intolerance for what was okay to eat before, which a menopause diet would alleviate.

You could be consuming emulsifiers and additives in foods you thought were healthy. I always advise looking at ingredients.

You would not believe how many ‘health foods’ in ‘health food stores’ are full of inflammatory additives. Plus, additives may have crept into foods that were originally made more wholesomely.

You may not have changed your routines, but with hormones fluctuating, those foods and drinks may be too much for your system to metabolize now that you are in this transitional time.

When faced with a challenge such as this weight gain that has suddenly appeared, try not to be so hard on yourself.

I always turn my thoughts into positive ones when faced with challenges, including physical challenges, because it helps – and works!

Turn your thoughts into positive ones, and know you can get back on track with this anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle to treat menopause weight gain and all the other symptoms. 

The great news is that menopause weight is reversible with Eat Burn Sleep.

Best Exercises to Get Rid of Menopause Belly

Stay fit and stay active to eliminate ‘menopause belly’ and menopause.

It may seem like a slog when your weight used to be easy to maintain, but changing your exercise and movement routine may be the answer.

For instance, even though you are active, you may need regular movements to reduce inflammation since estrogen decline is linked to chronic inflammation conditions.

The right menopause exercise will help your bone health and protect against osteoporosis, a significant concern in these years.

It will also strengthen parts of your body that will aid in reducing symptoms.

Like strengthening the core to aid gut health and reduce menopause bloating, for instance.

You could be doing less dashing around than you used to or be full of lethargy during menopause and not prioritizing yourself and exercise (or food, stress reduction, sleep!).

It can be an overwhelming time, menopause.

Best Natural Remedy for Menopause

Eat Burn Sleep addresses all the needs of peri-menopause,  menopause, and post-menopause and can complement allopathic treatment.

Also, it may better prepare you for an easier time with the whole menopause transition if you are too young to even think about this stage in your life. 

As well as being a Bupa Global-approved lifestyle, doctors prescribe and use it worldwide. This combination can completely transform your experience of menopause.

Embark on a Happy, Healthy Lifestyle!

It will reduce inflammation, weight, mood swings, depression, brain fog, cortisol and stress, cholesterol, blood pressure, and water retention and protect against all of the consequences of menopause.

Also, being part of our fantastic health community here at Eat Burn Sleep is inspirational and motivational.

Exchanging coping strategies, sympathy, and empathy with people going through similar situations and connecting with all of us gives extra support. It’s a beautiful thing!

Members: access the Personalized Advice Menopause section for advice on how to take care of yourself during perimenopause and menopause.

Access the Masterclass Live on How to Stay Fit over 35 for more menopause support, as well as the personalized advice section for Hormonal Balance and Menopause, Hair Loss Treatments, Depression and anxiety, Migraines, Insomnia, Bloating issues, and any other menopause symptoms that you may have.

Treating the body at systemic levels will increase the positive impact of nutrient-rich compounds from omega-3s, phytoestrogens, antioxidants, and so on.

And it all works synergistically together, promoting well-being, energy, and happiness! Oh, and the Eat Burn Sleep ‘Glow’.

What Is the Good News About the Menopause?

Menopause can be all-encompassing, but rest assured, the symptoms you are experiencing can be reduced, and most definitely are not forever.

Once you get the proper support with transitioning to the other side, you will feel more energized and happier, with more clarity, and just pretty fantastic!

Imaging studies at Weill Cornell Medicine show that the brain’s recovery after menopause was associated with increased memory and cognitive performance!

Many women can feel beautiful and free at this time—no more PMS and periods. No more anticipating when to have holidays or when to have sex!

Relieving yourself from the symptoms of menopause through Eat Burn Sleep could have you embracing this transition into one that might be one of the most liberating, empowering times in a woman’s life!

Lifestyle factors can have a significant effect on how long menopause lasts. By understanding your body, you will be in a better place to take care of it. As you transition through life, looking after yourself will always be a good decision. Treat yourself with kindness.

I hope that you have a great day!

Liver Disease Prevention

Hello Everyone! Did you know that what you ingest (and what you don’t) has an incredible impact on your liver? What you eat and drink and your supplements and medication affect the liver.

Your liver is the second largest organ in your body, and it performs over 500 functions that are essential to life. It has a role in nearly every organ system in your body and has a bidirectional connection with your gut.

Homeostasis in the gut is essential for liver health; likewise, the liver must be healthy for the gut!

There are plenty of reasons why you need to look after your liver. For this post, I explain some of a healthy liver’s functions. It will also showcase why an Eat Burn Sleep Liver Detox and Lifestyle are imperative to good health and liver disease prevention and remission.

Why You Should Care About Your Liver

What Conditions are Linked to Liver Disease?

How Does The Liver Digest?

Leaky Gut and Liver Disease

What a Healthy Liver Does

Why You Need a Liver Detox

What Is Fatty Liver Disease?

How Do You Protect the Liver?

Why You Should Care About Your Liver

Liver disease has increased since 1970 by 400%.

In fact, the hospital admission rates for liver disease in the financial year ending 2021 in the UK were the highest since the financial year ending 2011 and significantly higher than the financial year ending 2020.

Many of my clients have been diagnosed with fatty liver disease and have not been able to put their conditions into remission before. A doctor may tell you to eat healthily and watch what you are drinking, but they can’t follow you around and advise you. The big issue is that many foods and drinks that we think are healthy are not. Even many supplements!

Everything impacts the gut, which affects the liver!

What Conditions are Linked to Liver Disease?

Your liver is around the size of a large cone and is tucked under the right-hand ribs in the upper abdomen. It weighs around 3 pounds and takes about 13 percent of your blood supply. The portal vein brings nutrient-rich blood from your gut, and the hepatic artery carries oxygenated blood from your heart.

The thing is, is that there are so many conditions that can create sub-optimum liver function. Gut dysbiosis and chronic inflammation, for example. And all the conditions and symptoms that are attached to those, like gastrointestinal symptoms, SIBO, IBD, eczema, chronic fatigue, nausea, anxiety, multiple sclerosis, fatty liver, and joint disorders.

Fatty liver disease is linked with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart attacks, and obesity.

There are so many things that we ingest that are linked to these conditions, through gut bacteria and chronic inflammation, that ultimately affect the function of the liver.

The liver is an important buffer between gut contents and systemic circulation.

How Does The Liver Digest?

You see, some of the liver’s vital functions are that it is involved with digestion and blood, which I will describe. If you think about how it processes, purifies, detoxifies, and stores from what we eat and drink, I think it makes you more aware of why you have to look after your gut and liver health. Not just to avoid fatty liver disease and other conditions.

Once something is ingested (food, drink, medication), the stomach and intestine digest it; it gets absorbed into the blood, and 80% of hepatic blood goes to the liver through the portal vein.

This is rich with molecules from gut bacteria, and dietary and environmental antigens. It carries simple sugars, amino acids, glycerol, vitamins and salts, toxins, and byproducts to your liver.

The liver must tolerate this immunological load while providing ‘surveillance’ for viruses, infections, pathogens, malignant cells, etc.

A good-functioning liver is involved in many immunological functions. There are many cells in the liver that are involved with immune activity (Kupffer cells). They destroy disease-causing viruses and other bacteria that enter the liver from the gut.

Leaky Gut and Liver Disease

In a leaky gut, where the intestinal barrier is damaged, the liver becomes exposed to numerous toxins from the gut, as well as from gut bacteria.

If there is an imbalance of gut bacteria, this will dysregulate the immune system, and liver health is further compromised.

Toxins that reach the liver via a disrupted gut barrier accelerate liver disease, increasing the inflammatory response.

It is easy to overload the liver, create an imbalance in gut bacteria, and damage the intestinal lining with today’s diets and sedentary lifestyles.

What a Healthy Liver Does

On receipt of what is delivered to the liver, it then does a filtering process. It will store nutrients like vitamins and minerals to be released when needed. If we eat the right ones, that is! Malnutrition causes liver disorders!

There are all sorts of things that a healthy liver does to convert vitamins into functional forms to be secreted back into circulation or metabolized for excretion.

It detoxifies and pushes toxic substances out of the body.

When food is processed, the liver will also remove excess glucose (sugar) from carbohydrates from the blood and store it as glycogen for when blood sugar decreases. It turns to glucose, giving instant energy into the bloodstream.

When glycogen storage is used up, the liver creates glucose from carbohydrates and some protein.

A healthy liver also produces bile continually, which is critical to digest and absorb any fat that has been eaten, and converts it into energy. Any excess carbohydrates and protein are converted and stored for later use while synthesizing other fats like cholesterol.

Bile comprises bile salts, bilirubin, electrolytes, and cholesterol and is essential for vitamin K absorption. The liver has to produce enough bile to help vitamin K create coagulants to help clot the blood!

It is bile that carries away toxins!

The liver also absorbs and metabolizes bilirubin, which comes from the breakdown of hemoglobin. (High levels in a blood test are a sign of fatty liver disease or hepatitis). The liver or bone marrow stores iron released from hemoglobin. This makes the next generation of blood cells.

The liver also produces albumin, which carries enzymes, hormones, and vitamins through the body. It also keeps fluids in the bloodstream from leaking into the surrounding tissue. Low levels in a blood test indicate liver or kidney issues.

A healthy liver directly synthesizes multiple hormones! It has numerous endocrine functions which are essential for growth, development, metabolism, and reproduction.

It regulates amino acids, synthesizes angiotensinogen, which manages sodium and potassium levels and blood pressure, and removes hormones such as estrogen and aldosterone when necessary. Thyroid hormone conversions also occur in the liver.

Why You Need a Liver Detox

This is just a simplistic look at some of the liver’s functions. It is an incredible organ that must be looked after to prevent it from developing a disease. As I mentioned, it gets overloaded, particularly with the foods and drinks produced now if you consider all the chemicals around us and what we ingest.

You may hear that you do not need to detox because a liver detoxes itself, but food has changed dramatically, and inflammatory lifestyles slow the liver down! Here are a couple of sample recipes from Eat Burn Sleep to show you what type of meals will do you good when eaten every day: Cream of Broccoli & Zucchini Soup & Coconut Yogurt & Almond Cake.

I thoroughly advise our liver detox in the Personalized Advice at least twice a year.

You may be interested in reading: Detox Your Liver Naturally & Looking For a Safe Liver Detox for Weight Loss?

What Is Fatty Liver Disease?

If inflammatory mechanisms in the liver that deal with pathogens and tissue damage, for instance, become disrupted due to less-than-optimum health, disease progression can develop.

Many liver diseases share the same gut dysbiosis, gut permeability, and pro-inflammatory changes in many studies. 

Fatty liver disease is a condition caused by irritation to the liver and often runs alongside obesity or heavy alcohol use. Liver tissue accumulates amounts of fat in response to the injury in liver cells. What we ingest contributes to fatty liver disease.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a little different because it is not because of alcohol directly. It is most common in people with diabetes, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, obesity, etc. NAFLD also affects people who are not overweight.

Hepatitis is an infection of the liver from viruses and toxins. An autoimmune response can cause it, too!

Cirrhosis is where scar tissue replaces liver cells in a process called fibrosis. Hepatitis can cause this, as well as alcohol and toxins.

Gilbert’s syndrome is a genetic disorder where the body cannot break down bilirubin, so mild jaundice occurs.

Liver cancer is the sixth most common form of cancer globally.

Several organs, like the lungs, heart, and kidneys, are affected if liver disease occurs.

Manipulating gut bacteria to reduce inflammation and improve gut barrier function is an important strategy in the management of diseases.

This is why this anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle are proving to be a success in putting a fatty liver into remission and avoiding getting one!

How Do You Protect the Liver?

Unhealthy diets and lifestyles change gut bacteria. This results in the production of pathogenic factors that impact the liver.

I advise a lifestyle change to avoid liver overload, with good food, nutrition, and little daily tweaks detailed in The Lifestyle Guide that cumulatively make a massive difference to liver health.

Looking after gut bacteria and avoiding immune dysregulation, dysbiosis, and chronic inflammation will do amazing things for your health.

Remember that chronic inflammation leads to the pathology associated with autoimmune, infectious, and malignant liver disease. Gut health increases or decreases inflammation depending on what you eat, think, and how you live.

If it hasn’t gone too far, your liver can be repaired. It is the only visceral organ that can regenerate. Start a fabulous detoxification to reset your liver and move on to the next level of health.

Members, although I advise following this lifestyle on an 80/20 ratio, there are times when it can be more like 70/30 because, as you know, this lifestyle isn’t about perfection. So, I advise doing the liver detox twice a year. Check Instagram for the results of the last time I did one!

You won’t believe how incredible you feel afterward, such as a newfound enthusiasm for life and your health!

I am sending you all good health wishes.

Malnutrition Could Lead To Thyroid Malfunction

Hi Everyone. If you have been following Eat Burn Sleep for a while, you may remember that I wrote about thyroid foods and health at the beginning of the year.

In this article, I will briefly explain the link between digestive issues like leaky gut syndrome and thyroid issues.

If you have digestive issues, like leaky gut syndrome or IBS, along with thyroid issues, you may be deficient in micronutrients. What is unfortunate is that these micronutrients are imperative to keep your thyroid healthy, which puts you in a perpetual cycle of less-than-optimum thyroid health.

So this post is about how you can heal digestive issues and intestinal conditions like leaky gut syndrome, absorb the proper nutrients for thyroid hormone synthesis, and protect yourself from other diseases related to the thyroid.

What Is the Best Thyroid Diet?

The best thyroid diet has a focus on gut microbiota. You see, your gut bacteria influence many functions in the body.

Not only does the gut microbiota influence the availability of the micronutrients needed for thyroid hormone synthesis, but as I mentioned above, it influences the development of further thyroid diseases.

Healthy gut bacteria have beneficial effects on immune system activity and may prevent thyroid hormone fluctuation and disorders.

A healthy composition of gut bacteria influences things like the availability of iron, which allows the utilization of vital nutrients for thyroid health. It also provides the perfect reservoir for T3 (one of the thyroid hormones), for instance.

Thyroid Issues and Leaky Gut Syndrome

There’s a reason why if you have the autoimmune thyroid disease Hashimoto’s or Graves disease, it wouldn’t be surprising if you had leaky gut syndrome. Or any intestinal disease like celiac disease or digestive issues like IBS, bloating, and diarrhea.

Intestinal diseases and thyroid diseases often co-exist.

Chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases affect the thyroid gland.

What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Leaky Gut Syndrome, also known as ‘increased intestinal permeability,’ is an intestinal (or digestive) condition.

Inside our stomachs, we have an extensive intestinal lining. Like a tight net, this lining forms a barrier and filters what gets absorbed into the bloodstream. When it is damaged and malfunctioning, a barrier doesn’t exist, and it may have cracks and holes in it. It may become ‘leaky’.

These holes allow partially digested food, harmful bacteria, and other toxins to penetrate the tissues beneath them.

The immune system then becomes activated because it sees the particles as foreign objects or can react with other intestinal tissues.

The tissues become inflamed, and the regular bacteria change.

How Food Links to Thyroid Issues

The changes in gut bacteria (dysbiosis) lead to inflammation and digestive conditions and affect other aspects of your health too.

The gut dysbiosis that occurs with digestive issues alters the immune response by promoting inflammation and reducing immune tolerance. This interferes with important conversion and functions of thyroid hormones. Plus, nutrients for the thyroid are not absorbed.

Dysbiosis has not only been found in autoimmune thyroid diseases like Graves and Hashimoto’s, but it has been reported in thyroid carcinoma (which is treatable these days).

What you eat can change gut bacteria, cause dysbiosis, and affect thyroid hormone synthesis.

Gut bacteria that are fed by the food that you choose may be having a detrimental effect on your thyroid.

Bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract (gut) must be diverse and are a mix of viruses, protozoa, fungi, etc. If the mix gets disturbed and the harmful bacteria start multiplying, then this is the state when health becomes challenged.

The bad guys can multiply for many reasons, but certainly because of the type of food you eat (and don’t eat!).

For example, if you love fried foods every day of the week, the harmful bacteria that welcome compounds that are not particularly good for you will thrive on that. Feed them regularly, and your body goes into a state of disease.

Malnutrition (insufficient nutrition) affects the functioning and recovery of the gastrointestinal tract, immune and thyroid (as well as every single organ!).

Micronutrients Affect the Thyroid

Gut microbiota has to be a certain mix to ensure essential micronutrients obtained from food are available for thyroid hormone synthesis.

Also, the necessary conversion of T4 (thyroxine: mood, body, temperature, metabolism) to T3 (triiodothyronine: digestive, metabolic, bone health) is performed in the liver, as well.

Then, it would help if you had vitamin D because this hormone (vitamin D is a hormone) assists in regulating the immune response and for healthy bones, teeth, and muscles. 90% is produced by sunlight and 10% by food.

The Benefits of Sun Exposure explains more about vitamin D.

This is why the liver needs to be looked after, too. 

Not to mention that thyroid medication is heavy on the liver!

Have you read: Detox Your Liver Naturally?

Studies have shown that these specific co-existing micronutrients, including iodine and zinc, essential for hormone synthesis and immune response regulation, are deficient in people with autoimmune thyroid diseases.

What Are the Symptoms of Thyroid Issues?

This article: Thyroid Health Foods & Advice, tells you:

• * the symptoms of a low thyroid function
• * the symptoms of hyperthyroidism
• * about men’s symptoms of thyroid issues
• * what can cause thyroid disorders
• * how a healthy thyroid functions
• * the importance of liver detoxing (our detox is so powerful!) for thyroid health

What Food Affects the Thyroid?

Many foods affect the thyroid, but you must ensure that you eat the right food with the right micronutrients because malnutrition can lead to thyroid malfunction.

Members, please check Expert Advice for thyroid issues and watch the Masterclass Live on thyroid issues.  Non-members, you can join here to access the best thyroid diet and lifestyle to avoid malnutrition and heal your digestive condition.

Here are a couple of recipes to sample: Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps & Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It is easy to follow and equips you with all the tools you need to be in your best health, including the proper exercise for your thyroid that is associated with improving serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and cortisol-reducing practices (stress affects T4 and metabolism is affected), for instance. 

Thyroid Healing Diet & Lifestyle

Healing your gut lining, promoting positive changes in gut bacteria, absorbing nutrients, boosting immunity, reducing inflammation, detoxing your liver, treating conditions like leaky gut, IBS, IBD, celiac, Crohn’s, Colitis, diverticulitis…it’s all here!

Be wary of following online thyroid diets from non-reputable sources. Some tell you to eat lots of vegetables, which is dangerous. Certain vegetables may block the body’s ability to utilize iodine, which is essential for thyroid health, as mentioned above.

Some minerals and foods interfere with thyroid medication. A good thyroid diet is rather complex; getting nutrition advice from a trusted source is essential.

Not everything ‘obviously’ healthy is healthy. Not everything is off-limits on EBS.

The impact of food on thyroid issues shouldn’t be underestimated.

Good nutrition is fundamental to good health.

Check out the reviews!

I hope that your day is healthy and happy.

The Effects of Sleep Deficiency on Your Body

Hello Everyone! I am not talking about the odd night of fitful sleeping. I am talking about sleep deficiency, where you regularly sleep poorly.

Sleep deficiency is a severe health condition that can affect you physically, mentally, and emotionally, increasing the risk of disease, accidents, and even ADHD in children.

The good news is that I will tell you how you can address your sleep quite dramatically if sleep deficiency is what you experience!

Can You Reset Your  Sleeping Habits?

Yes, you can turn your sleeping patterns around through Eat Burn Sleep. (Sleep is an essential component treated on the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle).

Gut health, movement, and sleep work synergistically together. Sleep will be less effective without a healthy gut, the correct type of exercise, and stress reduction techniques.

Gut health aids sleep by promoting the production of serotonin and dopamine, which are feel-good neurotransmitters. Gut dysbiosis causes a lack of serotonin in the gut and induces inflammation, thus affecting sleep-wake cycles!

Inflammation is an essential player in the sleep-gut microbiome relationship. Reducing inflammation is critical.

Even if you have been getting by on little sleep for decades or are used to working shifts.

Or have conditions that may cause wakeful cycles, like depression, anxiety, or gastrointestinal disorders. Since reducing inflammation through Eat Burn Sleep aids in treating anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal diseases, this, in turn, aids in reducing insomnia.

What Happens When You Don’t Sleep Enough?

Sleep deficiency is not really about how little sleep you are getting. Sleep deficiency is more about the quality of sleep you have and whether you are getting the right type of sleep.

Disruptions in the natural circadian rhythm have a negative impact on your body.

Without good quality sleep, your body is more susceptible to disease and can involve health changes to the brain, heart, breast, prostate, uterus, gonads, liver, pancreas, kidney, etc.

Sleep deficiency can lead to:

• • Weight gain/obesity
  • Altered metabolism
  • Heart attacks
  • Heart disease
  • Diabetes
  • Chronic stress
  • Neurodegenerative disorders like Dementia
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Infertility
  • Cancer
  • Gastrointestinal diseases

Of course, sleep deficiency can lead to cognitive dysfunction, which affects your memory, learning, resolving, reacting, coping, making decisions, and dealing with emotions.

 In a child, it can result in hyperactivity symptoms and difficulty focusing and learning.

There are safety issues when you don’t have good quality sleep and are operating machinery or driving, which may cause injury. Lack of quality sleep can make you feel irritable and less sociable and experience mood swings and behavioral changes, even!

Sleep deficiency can make you move slowly, have less energy for exercise, and induce unhealthy cravings, which encourages weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and joint issues.

You may have sleep deficiency if you suffer from any of these or have excessive daytime lethargy.

Not enough sleep can activate the expression of inflammatory genes. Inflammatory activity, in turn, can influence sleep.

What Is Circadian Rhythm?

Your body clock has a 24-hour circadian rhythm, vital in the sleep/wake cycle, including sleep duration and continuity.

Metabolic hormones such as Human Growth Hormone (HGH), leptin, Ghrelin, melatonin, and cortisol rely on good sleep quality and the circadian rhythm.

When the sun rises, cortisol is released in your body, preparing you to wake up and get going!

The circadian rhythm activates many body and brain mechanisms during daylight hours, designed to keep you alert.

When it gets dark, your body starts to deactivate ‘alert’ signals and produces melatonin, which tells your body it is time to prepare for sleep. It increases as the night passes, but the inclusion of artificial light inhibits the process and stops the natural cycle, making it harder to fall asleep.

Throughout the night, HGH, leptin, and Ghrelin continue to do their work. See below for what else happens to your body during good-quality sleep.

What Important Health Functions Happen During Sleep?

Functions that happen during sleep increase longevity and healthier body composition. Without healthy sleep, essential functions become dysregulated, and our bodies become inflamed.

• • • Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is released from the pituitary gland. It helps lower body fat levels and repairs the body, including the turning over of bone, collagen, and muscle. It replenishes the lining of your blood vessels. This process occurs during deep sleep, has a role in puberty, and declines with age. (Exercise also induces HGH).
    • Leptin and Ghrelin are regulated. They increase and decrease throughout the daytime, signaling the need for calories. Grehlin is responsible for hunger, and leptin is responsible for feeling full. If sleep is not good, Grehlin can increase, and leptin can decrease, which means you can never feel satisfied with what you eat.
    • It affects how your body cells react to insulin, the hormone that controls blood glucose. Cells repel rather than absorb insulin. Glucose intolerance and insulin resistance can occur without good sleep, which is another connection between obesity and diabetes.
    • Genes in the brain are regulated.
    • Resistance to oxidative stress occurs with good sleep. Sleep deficiency alters cellular physiology and can potentially generate free radicals.
    • The immune system fights infections during sleep. So, lack of sleep means a lack of natural killer cells fighting off pathogens and malignant tumor cells.

You can see why there is a strong link between circadian disruption, lack of sleep, and the development of diseases.

What Happens When You Stay Up Late Regularly?

When you stay up late regularly and reduce your sleep, you can put your body into sleep deficiency.

You may ‘treat’ yourself to a late night after busy days, work late on your laptop, or keep checking your phone apps in bed.

If sleep is a basic human need, like breathing, eating, and drinking, staying up late regularly means taking away critical health matters vital to life.

Reducing sleep on purpose to stay up late watching TV, looking at screens, and being exposed to artificial light, impacting the circadian rhythm, is not a ‘treat’ for your body.

Essential functions for health occur during good quality undisrupted sleep, as mentioned above.

This is why shift workers often have an increased risk of developing chronic heart disease or why they are most likely to suffer depression, cognitive impairment, and obesity.

How Do You Sleep Well?

You can reprogram your sleep, health, mind, and body with Eat Burn Sleep because gut health influences sleep quality. Gut bacteria affect circadian rhythmicity.

Improving gut health reduces inflammation, which treats disease and protects from disease.

Have you tried these anti-inflammatory recipes: Sesame & Sumac Lamb Chops, Turmeric Spinach, and Quinoa Taboulé?

You start with a Six-Week Reset, which is powerful!

This healthy lifestyle protocol ensures you have the best health possible without compromise, restrictions, or disrupting natural body cycles.

Stimulating the vagus nerve, improving core strength and bacteria diversity in your stomach, and reducing tension and inflammation in the body form part of it.

As you reduce inflammation on this protocol, you learn more about how your body works and what is and isn’t good for you mentally and physically.

Because we are all unique, you personalize your anti-inflammatory protocol by incorporating nourishing tailored health advice (from the Personalized Advice section).

Science-backed research and personalized qualified nutritionist advice are simple to follow.

Next-level health will have you sleeping beautifully in no time.

You won’t believe the difference it makes!

Your family, friends, and colleagues will notice, too!

Be safe and be healthy.

Have a lovely day!

Resetting Health After Illness and Antibiotics

If you have had a virus that resulted in you having oral or intravenous antibiotics, I have no doubt that you will be feeling unhealthy and lethargic. You may have depression, memory lapses, joint pain, and brain fog. Or maybe small signs like dark circles under your eyes, a skin rash, or a white coating on your tongue.

You may be wondering why you are not recovering well from a virus or why you keep getting sick over and over.

You see, there’s a reason for you feeling ill after antibiotics, even if it was months ago that you had them.

I myself just recently have had to have two lots of antibiotics in the last couple of months, and it all stems from emotional shock, which made me sick last year when a loved one was in an accident. If you watch my Lives on Instagram, you will know the story of how emotional shock led to my catching bacterial meningitis, what subsequently happened, and why I didn’t share it at the time.

Why Do You Keep Getting Sick?

What Do Antibiotics Do To Your Body?

Can You Recover From Antibiotic Damage?

Reducing Bacterial Overgrowth

How Do You Know If You Have Candida?

The Best Way to Recover From a Virus

How Do You Get Bacterial Meningitis?

Bacterial Meningitis Recovery

Can You Prevent Bacterial Meningitis?

Can You Fully Recover From Bacterial Meningitis?

Best Way to Eliminate Candida

How to Optimize Health

Why Do You Keep Getting Sick?

Chronic inflammation leaves you susceptible to viruses. There are signs of inflammation that may surprise you.

Chronic inflammation is a dysregulation of the immune system.

Constantly getting sick means that your immunity needs boosting. I advise Eat Burn Sleep’s 6-Week Reset in the Membership section and following the specialized advice within the first three weeks for Long Covid Recovery and the Candida Protocol. It will ensure that getting sick all the time does not happen to you anymore. You will feel incredible afterward, too. See below.

For me, recently, when I am usually robust, my immunity was compromised because I went through a terribly stressful time just last year. (I have two autoimmune diseases that I keep in remission through this anti-inflammatory lifestyle).

A very close family relative had a terrible accident. The shock that lasted some time caused excess cortisol to run through my system, which reduced my immunity and caused hair loss.

Then, further down the line, because of my reduced immunity, I had bacterial meningitis, which is the type of meningitis that can kill you.

On the first visit to the hospital, they didn’t pick up on it. When I went back, I was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and sepsis, and they quickly put me on an antibiotic intravenous drip, thankfully.

Afterward, I had to have ten days of antibiotics. This is why I got sick after being treated for the infections.

What Do Antibiotics Do To Your Body?

Well, in many incidences, they clear the virus quite rapidly, and I needed them desperately when I had bacterial meningitis. I am so grateful because I think I may have died.

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives by removing pathogenic viruses.

Ultimately though, oral or intravenous antibiotics damage our gut health by reducing the bacteria that are good for our health, like Bifidobacterium, and increasing the bacteria that aren’t, like antibacterial resistance genes, for instance.

70% of our immune system cells (GALT – gut-associated lymphoid tissue) reside in our guts, so you can realize that your immune health is compromised with an unhealthy gut microbiome. Also, a healthy gut maintains the mucus layer, which will keep pathogens from leaking into the bloodstream.

So, on top of this, with the emotional shock that lowered my immunity, all in all, this flu that I contracted recently wiped me out. Unfortunately, it developed into a lung bacterial infection, and I had to be given antibiotics again.

Of course, gut dysbiosis causes inflammation and triggers.

If you have ever experienced diarrhea or bad stomach ache when taking antibiotics, it is Clostridium difficile that is causing it, for instance, which is increased in the gut in the presence of antibiotics. The bacteria often live harmlessly, under the control of the beneficial gut bacteria, but dysbiosis allows its growth.

So, this is a disaster for anyone with an inflammatory bowel disease, and I know that many of you have experienced similar.

Don’t miss the post: Side Effects of Antibiotics & IBD.& Can Food Poisoning Cause Inflammation?

Can You Recover From Antibiotic Damage?

Yes, you can recover from antibiotic damage, and depending on how you go about it will all matter to recovery time and outcome.

You can change your gut microbiota within 24 hours, but there can be a longer-lasting negative effect on the body following antibiotics.

Typically, if you work on being healthy, it can take your microbiome months to return to a good balance of good bacteria after antibiotics, and even then, you can still feel not quite right. Antibiotics can really do a number on your gut and leave you feeling sick for months.

Resetting your microbiome is how we start the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle, as I mentioned above, and it works after antibiotics, chronic inflammation conditions, autoimmune diseases, and any time you need to reset your health and go forward for the long-term.

We begin with the 6-Week Reset!

This is designed to balance the microbiome to a healthy diversity. So, with Eat Burn Sleep, in as little as 42 days, you could not only be feeling better and healthier but simply fantastic.

Once you have reset your health by balancing your microbiome and cleansing your liver (because all sorts of wonderful things happen to your body when you do the Eat Burn Sleep reset), you can begin the 80/20 balance.

You can enjoy treats but still feel incredible, and as each day passes, you feel even more wonderful than the day before.

Optimize your health, but also live and enjoy life without restrictions. Nobody wants to follow strict regimes all the time (which is why many diets are unsustainable).

The problem for me is that the ratio changed a lot by the end of the year because of the party season, so that is why I got the flu, too, not long ago. I was having way too many treats!

Reducing Bacterial Overgrowth

The problem is that when we have been on antibiotics, we have much higher chances of developing candida overgrowth, and our bodies become inflamed.

Resetting my system was what I needed to do because I felt so ill. So I stuck to Eat Burn Sleep’s green list only and didn’t have wine or my usual treats. The first days were challenging, but I was in such a way that I did not feel good at all physically, and I didn’t want a treat. You know that feeling when you are just too ill to think about treats?

I then implemented the Candida Recovery protocol in the Personalized Advice section, which is under Menu in the Learn section of the app.

I advise going on the 6-Week Reset and, in the first few weeks, implementing the Candida protocol in the Personalized Advice section.

Soon, you will be feeling mentally and physically better than you did before.

Then start doing movements like the energy-boosting 16-min Wake-up Stretch.

How Do You Know If You Have Candida?

The way to see if you have candida is that you have a white coating on your tongue. Recurring nail infections, sinusitis, tiredness, joint pain, and thrush are other signs. There are so many symptoms of candida overgrowth, which, of course, is treated successfully on Eat Burn Sleep.

The Best Way to Recover From a Virus

Oh my goodness, let me tell you how I feel after following the best antibiotic recovery, as described above. I feel incredible. My mental well-being is indescribable, and I feel like I am enjoying life even more because of it.

I have lost 3 or 4 kg of weight, which is probably mainly water, but what is game-changing for me, which is why I am reluctant to have too many treats at the moment, is that my mental well-being has gone through the roof.

It isn’t just my mood that has improved, but my efficiency and productivity with work are insane. My brain is functioning so well. It is so amazing.

I feel stronger physically and mentally, but my mood is better, and I feel like I am enjoying life more and feeling less overwhelmed. It has done me so much good.

Did you know that anxiety, depression, low mood, and brain fog are linked to chronic inflammation, which leads to neuroinflammation (inflamed brain cells)? I don’t experience any of these now, but treating my mind and body to the Eat Burn Sleep 6-Week Reset and Candida Recovery protocol has reduced the inflammation in my body so much that I am hooked on this feeling!

Have a read of 4 Secrets to Feeling Good.

How Do You Get Bacterial Meningitis?

Well, I was in the South of France with my kids in the summer. We were staying with friends, and I think the pH in the pool wasn’t quite right. They do have a pool cleaner, but something happened for the water to change because my son got a terrible ear infection.

His ear infection was so bad, and he had a fever, so we ended up in A&E, seeing an ENT specialist. We canceled the flight home because of the risk of ear popping and the pain that would cause and took a train instead to London from the South of France.

During that time, I felt a little bit of ear pain, and I just presumed that I was picking up on my son’s pain!

Now, I have a high pain threshold, so this should have been a sign of something, but I was so focused on my son that I missed that I had a middle ear infection.

Untreated Ear Infections Can Be Dangerous.

Fast forward a week or so, and I was hearing noises amplified. An ambulance siren sounded even louder, and somebody shouting was too loud, for instance. I found myself putting my fingers in my ears a lot and asking my boys if it was particularly loud, and they told me it wasn’t and that it was me.

So, I decided that I would get my ears checked when they returned to school. This didn’t happen because when I was on the way home from dropping my son off at school, I felt so ill that I stopped by the hospital. They checked for COVID-19 and discharged me.

A couple of weeks later, I was at A&E, and I felt so terrible that I felt like I was dying. I couldn’t sit down, yet I was trying to find three seats so that I could lie down, and I was so thirsty. My friend had to communicate with the doctor because I couldn’t speak. The pain in my stomach was horrendous, and I had the worst headache that I had ever experienced.

I didn’t know that the pain in my stomach was the beginning of sepsis.

The doctor asked if I had recently had a cold or a virus, and of course, I had a middle ear infection, which I dismissed because of my high pain threshold.

They quickly put me on intravenous antibiotics, thank goodness.

What happens is that we have bacteria all over us, and when it travels to the brain membranes (meninges), that is when it can be a killer. Death can occur in little time with bacterial meningitis.

Bacterial Meningitis Recovery

So, there is viral meningitis, which I am vaccinated against, and bacterial meningitis, which I had.

You can’t catch it, but it develops after a cold or flu, untreated ear or sinus infection, or a skull fracture. Which is what it was in my case, and that is how I got bacterial meningitis.

So, knowing that antibiotics can lead to candida overgrowth (and even the pharmacist said to me when he gave me the antibiotics – and steroid spray for my lungs because I was so inflamed – that I may get thrush in my mouth and other places), I knew that I had to reset my body and do the Eat Burn Sleep Candida Reduction protocol that we have on this anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

I had symptoms like tinnitus, too, which is a sign of inflammation, so I needed to follow the EBS recovery method to a tee to reset my gut health, boost my immunity, and sort the ear ringing out! I had to ensure that my cognitive function wouldn’t be affected in the long run, too.

Can You Prevent Bacterial Meningitis?

No, you cannot prevent bacterial meningitis, so I advise that if you are not feeling well, go to the doctor. I wasn’t feeling well, and I had ear pain, and I ignored it. Look what happened!

It is better to be safe than sorry, so visit the doctor with any ailment that you have and get it investigated.

Can You Fully Recover From Bacterial Meningitis?

Bacterial Meningitis is serious. Some people have had to have amputations with Bacterial Meningitis. Thankfully, I just made it, so yes, if you catch it early enough. Bearing in mind that I live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle on an 80/20 ratio usually, which bolsters me. Of course, I have not only recovered, but by following the protocol to recover from viruses, I am feeling better than before!

Best Way to Eliminate Candida

Well, the candida protocol is part of the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle, so it is an add-on. I advise implementing the candida protocol within around 3 weeks of the 6-Week Reset.

How to Optimize Health

Members explore the platform. When I did my liver detox this summer, I pointed out the Liver Detox personalized advice to follow on top of this lifestyle, and so many members hadn’t seen it.

The lifestyle is easy to follow, and many members have not explored the whole platform yet. It is packed with health education, and members have access to everything.

There is everything you need on this health platform to improve your health.

You may be suffering from multiple symptoms or needing a boost where you need an extra protocol, like for depression and anxiety, fertility, bloating, insomnia, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, healthy weight loss, healthy weight gain, long COVID recovery, acid reflux, Hashimoto’s, and other thyroid issues, hormonal imbalances, gout, psoriasis, or what to eat during Ramadan, say. The list goes on, and it is continually added to. 

You may come across some things that you experience, like migraines, as an example. That extra advice in the Specialized Advice section under Learn in the app could give you more results and have you feeling even more incredible.

Knowing how our body works is key to taking care of it.

Because I mentioned France, I must point you to my podcast appearance on Alicetuyet.com. Le podcast est en français!

I have been feeling so good that I thought that I wouldn’t drink again, but the other night, I had a couple of glasses of wine when I went out to dinner.

The next day, I did not like how I felt. Once you get hooked on feeling good, you can’t tolerate not feeling 100%.

This is how members can connect with why Eat Burn Sleep works and is so powerful.

When you feel this good, not only do your brain and microbiota not crave the food and drink you used to have, but you actually don’t want to feel like that again.

Standards rise when you get used to feeling so incredible, and this is how you get hooked on this healthy lifestyle.

Feeling really alive is intoxicating.

This is why so many members state that they are on Eat Burn Sleep for life and love the simple, healthy, delicious recipes like Lebanese Meatballs & Pumpkin Pie.

You feel happier and healthier in your first year on this optimum healthy lifestyle, but it gets better as the years go by. Members (even the ones that had chronic conditions that took over their lives) who are in their second and third years say they have been achieving things beyond their wildest dreams.

Eat Burn Sleep is a way of life that gives even better results as time goes by and gives you more autonomy over your health, which is priceless.

I hope that you have a beautiful day!

Do You Have a Deficiency?

Hello Everyone! If you are tired all the time, with no energy and low moods, and feel that you sleep well, consider getting tested for anemia.

Chronic inflammation and conditions like IBD, Crohn’s, colitis, celiac disease, and Hiatal Hernia often cause anemia due to nutrient malabsorption and blood loss. Still, if you don’t have a known condition and are feeling exhausted, it may come down to your eating and what you are not eating.

This post is worth a read because many so-called healthy and trendy diets could lack essential nutrients that can cause irreversible damage to health, and yes, your gut health can help you!

Why Are You So Fatigued and Short of Breath?

What Is the Best Diet to Avoid Anemia?

Are You Short of Breath When Resting?

Do You Need Iron?

Why Do You Feel Depressed and Sick?

What Is B-12?

B-12 Deficiency Symptoms

Symptoms of Anemia:

Can Vegans Get Anemia?

Why Are You So Fatigued and Short of Breath?

Anemia causes fatigue and shortness of breath, as does chronic inflammation. I advise that you have blood tests with your healthcare professional.

Anemia is a severe global public health problem, affecting over two billion individuals. It is caused by loss of blood, lack of red cell production, and high rates of red blood cell destruction.

It is problematic by itself, but it can also impact other global public health concerns like obesity, for instance, due to the symptom of having no energy to exercise.

Sedentary lifestyles, diabetes, and chronic inflammation are linked to anemia.

Gut dysbiosis causes chronic inflammation.

Chronic inflammation alters nutrient availability, and this includes iron.

Sometimes, the cause of anemia is unknown, but it is usually caused by a condition, factor, trigger, and mostly, according to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency.

Anemia can occur when we don’t eat enough foods containing essential nutrients like B-12 and B-9 that promote iron-absorbing microbiota.

A significant concern is not the source of the iron but the type of iron and absorption. The kind of iron ingested is essential from many foods that provide iron, but there is also a specific microbiota that improves dietary iron absorption.

This article focuses on protecting yourself from anemia through gut health, reducing inflammation, and increasing nutrition absorption.

What Is the Best Diet to Avoid Anemia?

Gut health is essential to protect yourself from anemia, and many factors cause an imbalance; this includes your diet, how you live your life, how you move, breathe, think, sleep, de-stress, and so on.

Well-being affects gut health, which affects iron absorption.

Anemia is showing particular prevalence lately with this growing trend of veganism. Also, with other unhealthy diets, such as following a calorie-controlled diet.

Vegetarians also risk anemia due to limited essential daily nutritional requirements.

Following an anemia diet devised by a qualified gut health nutritionist is crucial since you have the right amount, depending on your body’s needs and functions.

Addressing any chronic inflammation condition and autoimmune disease causing your anemia and healing it through Eat Burn Sleep will aid in iron, B-12, B9, and other essential minerals and vitamin absorption.

For times when your body may need more red blood cells, with physical changes like trauma or pregnancy, for instance.

You may like to read: How Do You Get Nutrients With Celiac Disease?

Women need more iron than men due to menstruation, but an iron deficiency can also come from regular blood donation.

The primary way to get iron is from food, and many excellent sources exist. Without it, we don’t produce heme, the molecules in blood that host iron.

Heme and non-heme iron absorption in the digestive system involves various processes and proteins.

Many factors, including foods and additives that are eaten, inhibit iron (and other essential nutrients needed to avoid anemia) absorption. As I mentioned above, the gut microbiota is a significant factor. Stimulating the growth and colonization of beneficial gut bacteria will increase iron absorption.

Reducing chronic inflammation through balancing gut microbiota will increase nutrient bioavailability. Improved immune function also occurs!

What is also imperative to iron absorption is lifestyle!

Dietary changes are never enough to achieve optimum health.

Are You Short of Breath When Resting?

Shortness of breath, even when resting, is a sign of iron-deficient anemia. Again, I advise visiting your doctor for a health assessment.

Iron-deficient anemia is when there is a reduced hemoglobin level in your blood. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen around the circulatory system.

When this dips below a healthy level, oxygen is not circulated to bodily tissues, and body homeostasis is not maintained, causing anemia. Iron isn’t absorbed optimally in your gut, either.

This is when you can experience those feelings of exhaustion, low moods, shortness of breath, and irritability attached to anemia. The tiredness you get with anemia differs from the tiredness from lack of sleep! You can feel so drained!

You may like to read How to Ease Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, How to Recover From Virus Infections.

Do You Need Iron?

Iron is imperative to health, as it participates in various metabolic processes.

Iron is needed for electron transfer, DNA, cell cycle control, hormone synthesis, nitrogen fixation, and antioxidant properties. It is essential to a healthy immune system, and you are more likely to pick up infections when you are depleted of iron.

Still, its volume in the body has to be regulated because too much can lead to tissue damage and neurodegenerative diseases.

Iron deficiency and excess iron levels are essential to gut health. Fluctuating levels can impact gut microbiota. Gut microbiota dysbiosis is, of course, the link to chronic inflammation, compromised immunity, and the development of chronic diseases that are linked to 78% of deaths worldwide.

You don’t need to be anemic to be iron-deficient!

Why Do You Feel Depressed and Sick?

Feeling low, depressed, and nauseous are signs of anemia and chronic inflammation, and it would be a good idea to request a blood test from your doctor.

Pernicious anemia, a type of Megaloblastic anemia, can occur without B-12 and B9 (folate).

Not enough nutrients cause pernicious anemia in the diet, and it is also an autoimmune condition that can be inherited. It is when antibodies to intrinsic factor are produced, so the body cannot absorb B-12 (because it needs intrinsic factor to do so). This means that it cannot make enough red blood cells.

Damage to the terminal ileum, which can happen when chronic inflammation is present, can cause impaired B-12 absorption because that is the part of the intestines where B-12 is absorbed.

Gastric bypass surgery is a cause, too, because the area (parietal stomach cells) where intrinsic factor is produced is now bypassed!

Autoimmune conditions also cause an inability to make intrinsic factor due to the body attacking its own tissues and gastrointestinal disorders.

Nutrients are not absorbed, and malnutrition, particularly anemia, can kick in.

Gut health and mental health are connected through the brain-gut axis. Eat Burn Sleep is a successful diet and lifestyle for improving depression and anxiety.

You may be interested to read Depression Diet & Lifestyle Intervention, Signs of Inflammation That May Surprise You, Come Off Antidepressants, Feeling Depressed, Not Jolly? and Do You Often Feel Like Crying?

What Is B-12?

B-12 (cobalamin) is a water-soluble vitamin from red meat, eggs, and dairy.

Intrinsic factor is produced in your parietal stomach cells that help your intestines absorb vitamin B12. It aids in synthesizing DNA, fatty acids, and myelin through its use as a cofactor for the enzymes involved in the process.

Myelin is an insulating sheath that forms around nerves, such as the spinal and brain cord. If it is not functioning, which can happen with a B-12 deficiency, then important electrical impulses slow down.

B-12 Deficiency Symptoms

Not only does B-12 deficiency cause symptoms like fatigue, lack of energy, irritability, brain fog, headaches, weight loss, chronic infections, a tender tongue, and shortness of breath, but it also causes neurological problems.

B-12 deficient-neurological problems can be irreversible, and they include:

• Memory loss
• Pins and needles
• Vision issues
• Damage to the nervous system, which affects walking
• Loss of coordination

B-12 deficiency can affect your unborn child, increase heart conditions, put you at risk of jaundice, and compromise surgery recovery.

A doctor recently told me about a vegan patient who was depleted in B-12 and was paralyzed after an injury involving myelin from the waist down. That’s how vital B-12 is!

B-12 deficiency is tricky to pick up since symptoms may be subtle in the early days, and you may have grown accustomed to living with them.

Symptoms of Anemia:

• Lack of energy
• Fatigue – it feels so different than ‘lack of sleep’ tiredness
• Shortness of breath – even when you are resting
• Cold hands and feet
• Chest pain
• Depression
• Loss of appetite
• A smooth tongue
• Nausea
• Restless legs
• Cravings for non-food items

Can Vegans Get Anemia?

If you are a vegan, you will not have essential B12, heme iron, and other minerals needed for optimum health. You won’t be having essential complete amino acids, etc.

B12 (cobalamin), B9 (folate), and iron are essential for optimum health and protection from anemia. Without them, megaloblastic anemia can settle in, which symptoms include: shortness of breath, palpitations, shortness of breath, weakness, heart murmurs, and some irreversible neurological issues. 

Although folate is abundant in many foods a vegan can eat, being vegan is unsuitable for your body. I know this is a hot topic, but if you have to supplement for something that your body needs and nutrients are not absorbed efficiently because of what you eat, it isn’t an optimum healthy diet.

If you have been thinking about changing from being a vegan to introducing animal products into your diet again, which I strongly advise, then in the Premium Membership, there is specialized advice guiding you gently through the process, emotionally and practically—Reintroducing Animal Products.

It is imperative to get all of the nutrients that you need from food.

(If you have an IBD condition like Crohn’s or Colitis, you will possibly be having iron supplements or transfusions to treat anemia due to the nature of your condition).

The bioavailability of food is far superior to any supplement, and many nutrients do not work without their synergistic allies!

There are consequences to not taking care of your health. 

Gut health will soon be compromised by not getting all the essential macro and micronutrients your body needs and eating ultra-processed foods. You may be living with stress or not getting enough sleep. You could be overloading your liver and not exercising properly for optimum health.

Many people feel that they live a healthy life. Then they realize that they eat a limited diet and have learned to live with symptoms like feeling tired and cold all the time. Or are burning the candle at both ends and have a sedentary job, and so on.

There are many external factors that you can blame for your lack of energy, like having young children or a busy job and not having enough sleep, but it is always a good idea to keep an eye on your health.

Your microbiota needs your attention, not just for iron absorption.

Sustained inflammation running in your body may not present itself at the moment. How to Silence Hidden Inflammation.

It may not mean anything to you now if you feel semi-okay and are not overweight, and manage your weight by counting calories. your body needs to absorb essential nutrients to age beautifully and live fully. Gut microbiota needs to be balanced to keep chronic inflammation at bay.

Without counting calories and having fantastic food, effective workouts, sweet treats, neuroplasticity, better mental well-being and sleep, energy, joie de vivre…

Eat Burn Sleep is not just a lifestyle. It is a life changer!

There’s no finer way to start your journey to optimum health. You won’t be disappointed if you join our fantastic community.

I wish everyone a wonderful day!

Reduce Cervical Cancer

Hi Everyone! Many members have amazed their oncologists by following this lifestyle. It’s for a good reason. Gut health and inflammation play a role in cervical cancer treatment and development.

This post is about protecting yourself from cervical cancer and managing cervical cancer, not just through treatment, diet, and lifestyle but through something so powerful that it has a massive role in remission recovery.

Run this anti-inflammatory lifestyle by your doctor if they haven’t already prescribed it!

How to Reduce Cervical Cancer Risk

How to Keep Your Cervix Healthy

Reduce Chronic Inflammation for Cancer Protection

How to Keep the Female Reproductive System Healthy

Which Foods Increase the Risk of Cervical Cancer?

Best Cancer Diet

What Helps Cancer Recovery?

An Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle for Cancer

How to Reduce Cervical Cancer Risk

Cervical cancer is the most common gynecological cancer, the fourth most frequent cancer in women, and cervical cancer is treatable. The lower the number, the less chance it has spread, and many women who have cervical cancer put their condition into remission.

Members, access your personalized advice for Cancer here.

If you have been diagnosed with cervical cancer, there are many factors that influence your outlook. Indeed, there are also many factors for reducing the risk of developing cervical cancer.

Reducing the risk of cervical cancer is possible by:

• Regular screening. Symptoms don’t present themselves in the early stages.
• Protecting yourself against sexually transmitted diseases by using barrier methods and practicing safer sex.
  HPV (common sexually transmitted disease) vaccination and regular screening.
  Reducing lifestyle contributing factors like smoking, lack of exercise, malnutrition, etc.
• Follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle: 
• Reduce high-inflammatory food intake.
  Reduce oxidative stress.
• Reduce psychological stress.
  Encourage diverse, healthy microbiota in the gut.
• Improve sleep.
  Boost immune cells.
• Detox liver.
  Increase nutrition.
  Do regular anti-inflammatory movements.
  Practice neuroplasticity exercises.

Remember that information about cancer advice and treatment online does not replace your doctor’s advice or treatment. There are some strange cancer-cure diets and suggestions online! Run everything by them.

This anti-inflammatory lifestyle is BUPA-Global-approved and is prescribed by doctors worldwide. Check the testimonies under cancer for our members’ cancer treatment success stories.

How to Keep Your Cervix Healthy

Although HPV is a pivotal factor in cervical cancer development, it is not HPV alone that causes it, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Most HPV viruses are harmless and can go away on their own, or the immune system clears them up.

For ones that don’t go away, many contributing factors increase HPV persistence.

Keep your cervix healthy by keeping your inflammation down and your immune system boosted with healthy gut microbiota composition.

This will reduce the environment that creates optimal conditions for HPV to thrive and for cancer to grow. Chronic inflammation has powerful effects on cancer development.

In studies (Mhatre et al., 2012; Di Paola et al., 2017, Gosmann et al., 2017, Casellie et al., 2020), elevated inflammatory cytokines are found in the vaginas of patients with cervical cancer or precancerous lesions.

Inflammatory cells have potent effects on the development of tumors, a mass of tissue that forms when cells grow, divide more than they should, and do not die.

It isn’t the growth of cells alone that causes cancer. It is the environment in which they are, along with other responses to tissue injury.

Many processes happen alongside the inflammatory cells, DNA-damage-promoting agents, and other factors that promote the risk of tumors.

Inflammatory cells promote tumors early in development

This is because the state of inflammation and the chemokines and cytokines that are produced provide an environment for the growth, survival, and spreading of cancer.

Reduce Chronic Inflammation for Cancer Protection

Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress lead to the production of reactive oxygen species and the release of pro-inflammatory factors, decreasing antioxidants.

This reduces the activity that antioxidants play since fighting reactive oxygen species at the cellular level does not occur, and this inactivity increases oxidative DNA damage.

Persistent, sustained inflammation encourages disease and can turn on genetic expression. If non-communicable diseases exist in your family, you have more chance of developing these diseases if you don’t reduce your inflammation. 

Chronic inflammation is one of the critical drivers of cervical cancer.

An anti-inflammatory lifestyle will protect the body from the development and the progression of cervical cancer tumors by decreasing tumor-promoting properties such as pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing tumor-reducing properties like anti-inflammatory cytokines.

When the homeostasis of microorganisms is compromised, the microorganisms themselves cause immune responses in the organism.

How to Keep the Female Reproductive System Healthy

Focusing on gut health will assist here because certain microbes trigger inflammation which contributes to cervical cancer development.

Like in the gut, there is a diversity of bacteria in the female reproductive tract, and imbalances and inflammation can occur through various factors. Some of which we are in control of.

For instance, our dietary patterns, sex life, contraception, and cigarettes, as well as where and how we live, influence the composition of a vaginal microbiome. It can also be affected by hormones like estrogen and the immune system.

Of course, estrogen fluctuates throughout a woman’s menstrual life. It reduces in menopause, of which we have no control, but a weakened immune system can be something that can be controlled and managed, too (as in autoimmune diseases, which are treated successfully on Eat Burn Sleep).

Numerous studies show that healthy women have one or more good bacteria in the vagina and a small diversity of other bacteria.

This suggests that healthy microbiota composition is a potent defender in the female reproductive tract, as it is in the gastrointestinal tract.

When the female reproductive tract is in disorder, bacteria that destroy tissue or release toxins are dominant, and this counteracts the positive effects of good bacteria, which change the pH, promote oxidation, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and so on, and epithelial cells (which maintain structural integrity) can be damaged, disrupting the mucosal barrier (which is essential to health).

When microbiota is disturbed, physiological changes can lead to disease development like cancer.

An effective immune system clears most HPV that enters the reproductive tract. However, a compromised immune response sparks up the pathological process and aids in the development.

HPV, inflammation, and microbiome dysregulation all influence each other.

Which Foods Increase the Risk of Cervical Cancer?

High-inflammatory diets almost always open the body up to chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, joint issues, depression, and autoimmune and skin disorders like psoriasis.

Countless studies suggest a direct association between high-inflammatory diets and cervical cancer.

High-inflammatory foods that are highly processed, low in dietary fiber, and high in sugars, carbohydrates, saturated and trans fats, protein, cholesterol, sodium, and additives with very little nutrition increase dysbiosis and inflammation and dysregulate the immune system. This all contributes to the development of cancers.

Consumption of processed, high-inflammatory foods will increase your risk of an array of diseases, leaving your body susceptible to cervical cancer and less robust to fight illness.

Have you read: Anticancer Diet: Recovery & Prevention & Why Aspartame is Linked to Cancer?

A pro-inflammatory lifestyle induces chronic inflammation. Cervical cancer is associated with women with a pro-inflammatory diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and an HPV infection.

Best Cancer Diet

Eating gut-healthy, nutritious foods to keep inflammation down will fight cervical cancer and, indeed, can prevent the development of cervical cancer.

Increase nutrition and good gut bacteria composition, boost immunity, and lower inflammation to protect against HPV and reduce proliferation and migration if HPV is already present.

A diet rich in powerful antioxidants, prebiotics, probiotics, omega-3, and other cancer-fighting vitamin and mineral essentials, micronutrients, and compounds found on Eat Burn Sleep will encourage and maintain an excellent antioxidant balance. It will reduce oxidative processes and inflammation, protecting cells from DNA damage and proliferation and mitigation, preventing cervical tumors.

It is important to remember that the mind and body should be treated holistically to recover well.

Successful cancer treatment is possible. But it is never just by diet and medication combined. Nor just regular anti-inflammatory exercise and boosting immunity. It also includes something so powerful that it is often overlooked and has a massive role in remission recovery.

What Helps Cancer Recovery?

Health status and mindset are vital for responding to cancer treatment.

A focus on health recovery as well as protection from cancer and chronic disease also includes the powerful tool of the brain. Neuroplasticity exercises are as important as what we put into our bodies and how we move, breathe, destress, etc.

This is what Sofia, our member, who also kindly appeared on a recent podcast, said was the missing link that she was looking for on her cancer recovery journey, which she found on Eat Burn Sleep.

All areas of Eat Burn Sleep promote the lowering of chronic inflammation and protection from disease. It promotes the mental power to get through and keep stress and inflammation down through neuroplastic exercises.

Plus, members can access the Cancer Prevention and Recovery Protocol in the Personalized Advice section. This includes advice on nutrition, supplements, mental wellness, exercise, and what to avoid for cancer protection and cancer recovery.

Plus, the forum is valued for being in touch with fellow members. Drawing on others’ experiences, support, and sharing our journeys helps us so much.

When Sofia returned for her blood results, her Oncologist was so impressed with her blood results, going down the list, saying, ‘Wow! Wow! Wow! What did you do?”.

An Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle for Cancer

Chronic inflammation is modulated by what we eat, how we live, and how we mentally deal with recovery.

Listen to my conversation with Dr. Tamsin Lewis about the links between mental and physical health here.

Encouraging a diverse microbiota, regulating immune cell production, and reducing pro-inflammatory factors are well documented in mitigating types of cervical cancer strategies.

Of course, Eat Burn Sleep detoxifies the liver, which is essential for good health, and was especially protective during medical treatment for Sofia. Your liver has to process many chemicals in cancer treatment and perform its regular functions, of which there are 500.

Cancer Recovery Success Story

If you haven’t heard Sofia’s uplifting cancer recovery story yet, please head over there when you can. Sofia is in remission from squamous cell carcinoma. She is raising awareness about this common cancer that presented itself in her anal canal.

Her approach in how she dealt with it, through what we practice on Eat Burn Sleep, visualizing the cells and holding the tumor, and leading it all out of her body as quietly as it came, is precisely what neuroplasticity is all about.

She appreciated the help she was getting and embraced each day of treatment, knowing that she was getting better. You have better chances of recovering with this mindset.

It is so powerful and a reminder not to fight with your body but to treat it with kindness and hold it in your hand.

The truth is, we are not our bodies. We are a soul within our bodies. Our body acts as a vessel.

The vessel changes as we go from being a baby to a child, to a teenager, to an adult, to an elderly person until we die.

The vessel has nothing to do with who we are. It doesn’t make you less of a person or less strong to have health issues. If you have been diagnosed with a health condition, see it as a dent on the vessel that needs to be fixed.

And you have the tools and the power to fix it.

I urge you to have cervical screening, protect your body, and arm yourself with the most powerful tools to get through anything!

Have a truly wonderful day!

What Are the Benefits of Walking?

Walking is such an underrated exercise! How many of us give it a second thought when going about our daily business?

When stopping to think about that last question, how many of us realize that we spend a lot of time in the car, on public transport, or sedentary, staring at screens? 

For this post, I wanted to remind you about the benefits of what we have access to and have control of that contributes to our good health.

The speed, duration, and frequency can be adjusted to suit you*. You can do it alone, anywhere, and year-round. It’s facility-free, and it doesn’t cost a thing!

Does Walking Reduce Inflammation?

1. Anti-inflammatory 

Persistent, sub-clinical inflammation is a risk factor for many chronic diseases and disabilities associated with aging.

Keeping chronic inflammation at bay is essential for your overall health – through your eating, thinking, moving, and lifestyle.

Physical inactivity is linked with low-grade systemic inflammation, as is inappropriate physical activity. 

Regular walking exerts anti-inflammation and can assist with protecting against those diseases associated with low-grade systemic inflammation.

Diseases such as obesity, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and pulmonary and neurological conditions, for instance.

What Exercise Burns Fat?

2.  Fat Burning

Walking is so good for fat burning. What happens is that we break down triglycerides when we take regular walks. 

Fats are liberated from adipocytes into free fatty acids that flood into your circulation. Muscles, lungs, and the heart pick up these fatty acids and utilize their energy.

What is left are the byproducts: water, which is eliminated as urine and sweat, and carbon dioxide, which is breathed out from your lungs!

It is a great way to feel energized, improve body composition, and improve muscular strength.

Is Walking Good for Stress?

3. Lowers Stress

Stress comes in many mental, emotional, and physical forms, produces many symptoms and is an inevitable part of life.

It is anything that triggers the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol regularly.

Cortisol is needed in the body and touches every single system, playing a huge part in assisting the body when dealing with stress.

It is also vital for regulating processes like metabolism, blood pressure, and immune response.

When you are experiencing stress frequently, though, and cortisol is triggered from the adrenals more often, this is when it becomes a problem. 

Excess cortisol in your system can lead to hormone imbalances, immune dysregulation, thyroid problems, Cushing syndrome, and serious chronic inflammation conditions, including neuroinflammation. 

Of course, then the vicious cycle begins because when the body has inflammation, then mental stress is increased. 

As part of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, walking lowers cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones.

It also promotes the release of ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters which will send signals of calm, relaxation, and pleasure to the mind and body. 

What Exercise Is Good for Mental Health?

4. Improves Brain Health

Again, because it induces the production of the neurotransmitters endorphins and dopamine, walking is so good for your brain health.

Endorphins interact with receptors in your brain that reduce pain perception. They decrease sensitivity to pain and stress and can make you feel euphoric. 

Walking will lessen the risk of depression and anxiety, improve cognitive functions and affect your emotional health because it reduces neuroinflammation, increases cerebral flow, and activates neurotransmitters. 

There is so much involved with brain health, but basically, reducing neuroinflammation and increasing cerebral flow brings nutrients to your brain cells and removes toxins.

Also, the Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor is an essential protein for neuronal health, cognitive thinking, depression, and such, which is released with walking.

Should You Rest With Joint Pain?

5. Gentle on the Joints

Because it is a low-impact exercise, walking does not exert any strain on your knees, hips, and ankles. Sometimes the pain is a way to say that you need to take it easy, but many conditions will worsen if you rest too much, as joints are made to move. 

Combined with anti-inflammatory food and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, walking is a super way to exercise to protect your joints and if you have swelling.

If you have arthritis, for instance, walking can relieve pain, stiffness, and swelling by lubricating the joints and strengthening supporting muscles. 

Can You Exercise With Heart Conditions?

6. Improves Heart Health

Walking improves cardiorespiratory fitness so that it will protect you from cardiovascular disease. As you walk, your heart rate increases, lowering blood pressure by improving blood flow. 

When regular walks are taken, there is a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and so on. 

Run it by your healthcare provider about what other forms of exercise you can do.

What Exercise Will Lower Blood Sugar?

7. Good For Blood Sugar

When you walk, insulin sensitivity increases, so your muscle cells can use any available insulin to take up glucose.

Walking helps the muscles use more glucose, the sugar in your bloodstream, and use it for energy whether insulin is available.

So, when done regularly, it is a natural way to lower your blood sugar levels. 

Does Walking Help Your Immune System?

8 Enhances Immunity 

Regular walking will boost your body’s defense system and ward off infections.

Getting the blood circulating helps the white blood cells in the immune system roam around as needed, fighting off pathogens. 

Because walking reduces stress, too, and this assists with immune defense because stress causes impaired immunity. 

Is Walking Good for Sleep?

9. Improves Sleep

It goes without saying that the more active you are, the more likely you will sleep better, but it isn’t just that alone. 

Walking, as mentioned, is beneficial for reducing stress and aids mental well-being, which will help your quality of sleep.

*Depending on when you walk, walking will affect your melatonin secretion and natural circadian rhythm.

Click for more information about the benefits of sleep.

Does Walking Boost Your Creativity?

10. Aids Creativity

Walking taps into the different parts of our brain (dependent on the type of creativity domain) and truly promotes creativity.

Whether visual, musical, verbal, or visuospatial… walking is the perfect antidote to getting creative, as it refreshes the mind and eliminates distractions.

Shifting writer’s block or coming up with an idea often comes from a good walk! 

Should You Walk Every Day?

*There’s a comprehensive version of this article, including speed and timings, in the Walking Guide for Eat Burn Sleep Members here, as part of the anti-inflammatory lifestyle advice to reduce inflammation with efficacy. 

Walking is good for you whether it is your lunch break stroll around the block, in the park, on the treadmill, or as part of your commute.

If you can find some green, natural space, then this will be even more beneficial.

Walking in nature is even healthier, as you do earthing simultaneously and boost vitamin D levels. It improves your mood and lowers cortisol.

It can be calming and a time to reflect, tuning into what is around you and clearing your head.

Put your phone in your pocket. Let your brain have a rest from focused attention. You never know what you will discover!

Breathe deep—free your mind.

It’s also a reminder that some of the best things in life are free!

Have a wonderful day!