National Blueberry Month: 5 Reasons to Celebrate

National Blueberry Month: 5 Reasons to Celebrate

There are dozens of reasons we love summer between cookouts, beach vacations, and all of the fresh fruits and veggies in season, but one little fruit is getting extra attention this month.  Refusing to be overlooked, the small-but-mighty North American fruit is taking over July with National Blueberry Month! Keep reading to find out why these little fruits pack a huge punch:

Blueberries are a classic summer food.  The blueberry season itself runs from May until October, but peaks in July just in time for summer salads, smoothies, and farmer’s markets! If the sweetness wasn’t enough to make you fall in love with one of America’s favorite superfoods, here’s a peek at the long list of benefits that make them more than deserving of their month of recognition:

They’re great for your bones

Can you guess how many vitamins the blueberry has that assist bone health? Most would stop at two or three. After all, they’re tiny! In fact, they contain seven: iron, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and vitamin K.  While iron and zinc help to maintain the elasticity of bones and joints, vitamin K has been shown to prevent bone fractures over time.

They help with weight loss & digestion

Blueberries have a surprisingly high fiber content within the jewel blue skin. In fact, adding one cup of fresh blueberries can add up to 4.2 grams of fiber to your diet with only 80 calories!  Getting enough fiber not only helps with regulating digestion and maintaining a healthy digestive tract, but it also helps you feel full and satisfied for longer which can help support a healthy weight and lifestyle.

They support your skin’s health

Your skin’s support system, collagen, relies on vitamin C to help prevent damage.  This damage comes from many things we come in contact with every day.  These including smoke, air pollution, and smoke (firsthand and secondhand), so they can be hard to get away from. Thankfully, the vitamin C found in blueberries can help assist collagen in smoothing out wrinkles and improving overall skin texture so that your skin looks as healthy as it feels!

They’re packed with antioxidants

Antioxidants are important. They help protect your cells against free radicals! In case you’ve never heard of them, they are molecules produced when your body breaks down food or is exposed to tobacco smoke or radiation.  They can start a chain of harmful chemical reactions that hurt the cells in your body.  Not to worry, blueberries are actually believed to be the highest antioxidant-containing food of all commonly eaten fruits!

Blueberry boosts your brain

As we age, our memory tends to decline and conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia become more common.  In recent studies, however, blueberries have been found to boost cognitive function and reduce the likelihood of these diseases.  We can thank the dense concentration of flavonoids, a group of plant chemicals that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors.  This chemical has been shown to increase brain activity and blood flow to the brain which makes it a powerful weapon in the fight to treat Alzheimer’s.

This is just a handful of the amazing list of health benefits offered by this power-packed fruit.  Check out your local farmer’s market, grocery store, or even your own garden to stock up while they’re ripe! Since washing the fruit actually softens it and makes it overripen more quickly, try opting for an organic option as their thin skin allows for chemicals and pesticides to seep into the fruit.  Add them to your smoothies, oatmeals, and yogurts this month and enjoy a healthy, fresh July!

Posted On July 13, 2017 from Unfranchise Blog

Why Omega-3 Fatty Acids Are Important to Your Health

Are you like me with a goal to always be the #1 advocate for your own health? Then read this post. You have probably already heard about omega-3′s, which are “essential fatty acids” we all must consume for consistently good health. The problem is that our bodies do not make omega-3′s on their own, leaving it up to us to actively seek omega-3 fatty acids through our diet and supplements.

Foods That Fight Inflammation

Why Omega-3 Fatty Acids Are Important to Your Health

• Reduce inflammation in the body
• Lower lipids in the bloodstream
• Inhibit thickening of your arteries
• Improve the body response to insulin, which can regulate weight and metabolism
• Help prevent cancer cell growth

If you’ve been dealing with depression, chronic pain, heart disease, clotting issues or hormone imbalances, talk to your doctor about focusing on your intake of omega-3 fatty acids. I rely on this fish oil supplement as well as organic foods like walnuts, salmon and flaxseeds (which naturally have omega-3′s) to cover my bases!

Do you take a fish oil supplement? Have you noticed any benefits?

Resveratrol shows potential for blood sugar

Resveratrol shows potential for blood sugar

Three months of consuming a daily supplement of resveratrol may help with blood sugar control and improve blood pressure in type­2 diabetics, suggests data from India.

“The results of the present study support our hypothesis that resveratrol supplementation improves glycemic control and the associated risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” wrote researchers in Nutrition Research .
“The study also suggests that resveratrol could be used as an effective adjuvant therapy with a conventional hypoglycemic regimen to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

Resveratrol, a powerful polyphenol and anti­fungal chemical, is often touted as the bioactive compound in grapes and red wine, and has particularly been associated with the so­called 'French Paradox'. The phrase, coined in 1992 by Dr Serge Renaud from Bordeaux University, describes the low incidence of heart disease and obesity among the French, despite their relatively high­fat diet and levels of wine consumption.
Other studies with only resveratrol have reported anti­cancer effects, anti­inflammatory effects, cardiovascular benefits, anti­diabetes potential, energy endurance enhancement, and protection against Alzheimer’s.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first clinical study to evaluate the effect of resveratrol as supplement in Indian patients with type­2 diabetes,” wrote the researchers. The potential mechanism behind the benefits is not clear, they added, and additional research is needed to elucidate the mechanism.
“Oral supplementation of resveratrol is thus found to be effective in improving glycemic control and may possibly provide a potential adjuvant for the treatment and management of diabetes,” they concluded.  

Isotonix Resveratrol

What Makes Isotonix® Resveratrol Unique?   

Poor cellular and cardiovascular health is becoming a worldwide epidemic. An unhealthy diet of processed, high-calorie, high-fat foods, pollution, smoking and sedentary lifestyles all contribute to poor cell and heart health. Scientists revealed The French Paradox, which states that even though the French drink, smoke and eat high-fat foods they have some of the lowest incidences of poor cardiovascular and cellular health. Scientists attribute this to the large amounts of red wine that the French consume or, more importantly, an extract found in red wine: resveratrol. Resveratrol is an ingredient with incredible clinical research, revealing that it supports cardiovascular and normal cell health. Because wine is so highly processed, the actual amount of resveratrol is quite low. One would have to drink at least three bottles of red wine a day to experience the effects of resveratrol extract. Additionally, the content of resveratrol in red wine is inconsistent and varies by type of wine, region and processing techniques. Resveratrol extract or more specifically, Resveravine®, which is a more concentrated form of resveratrol, ensures that the body reaps all of the benefits of resveratrol, without the ill effects from three bottles of wine.*

Isotonix® Resveratrol is an isotonic-capable supplement, made from three patented ingredients: Resveravine with 20% resveratrol extract, BioVin® Advanced with 5% resveratrol extract, and VitaBlue® (wild blueberry extract), designed to promote normal cell health. Isotonix Resveratrol works to maintain cell health, promote normal cell cycle activity, promote apoptosis (programmed cell death) in unhealthy cells, support the normal activity of the SIRT-1 gene, and promote cardiovascular health, by promoting healthy platelet activity, promoting vasorelaxation, and providing antioxidant protection of LDL particles. Resveravine is a combination of trans-resveratrol (20% purity) and viniferin extracted from vine stems, which work synergistically to enhance the effectiveness of resveratrol extract.Trans-resveratrol is the predominate isomer found in red wine grapes and juice, and Resveravine is 100 to 300 times more concentrated in trans-resveratrol than other products from grape skin. According to the Linus Pauli

Primary Benefits of Isotonix® Resveratrol*:

• Maintains cell health
• Promotes normal cell cycle activity
• Promotes apoptosis (programmed cell death) in unhealthy cells
• Promotes normal nuclear factor kappa B (NF-Kappa B – protein) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2 - enzyme) activity
• Promotes normal activity of the SIRT-1 gene (involved in calorie restriction, fat mobilization, mitochondrial function)
• Promotes cardiovascular health (promotes normal platelet activity, helps maintain normal vasorelaxation, provides antioxidant protection of LDL particles).
• Superior antioxidant and high ORAC value
• Promotes a healthy prostate gland
• Helps promote apoptosis in unhealthy prostate cells

Click here to try it today!

Chronic Inflammation at the Heart of America’s Deadliest Diseases

Chronic Inflammation at the Heart of America’s Deadliest Diseases

Author: willllamas 

New science has linked diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s,
stroke, and cancer to one condition: chronic inflammation. Chronic
inflammation is a condition brought about by obesity and from a diet high
in fatty foods.  This condition can
attack the immune system and clear the way for harmful bacteria to enter the
body.

“You need to have inflammation when you have a wound
and the immune system goes in to heal it. Yet we don’t want too much
inflammation in our system causing damage to
our arteries” and other harm, says Wendy Weber, a program director at
the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the
National Institutes of Health.

Chronic inflammation can be caused a few different ways. One
recent discovery showed that fat cells were not solely acting as storage for
excess weight. “Instead, fat cells act like small factories to churn out
molecules known as cytokines, which set inflammation in motion,” says Peter
Libby, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston.

Besides body weight issues, a diet rich in high-fat foods is
another common cause of chronic inflammation.

What can be done to combat inflammation? First and foremost,
maintaining a healthy body weight is a must. Losing excess weight and fat cells
will counter cytokine production and keep down inflammation. On top of that, a
specialized diet limiting fat consumption can help. However, no diet alone can
completely stop inflammation. “If you weigh 300 pounds and eat healthy,
the weight will still counter any beneficial foods you are eating,” says Dr.
Cannon, a professor of medicine at Harvard University.

The American Heart Association also recommends consuming
omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, and omega-6 fatty acids found in nuts and
vegetable oils to reduce the risk of inflammation. Supplementation is also
recommended if you are not getting the proper amounts.