April is a fantastic month. We’re exiting the snowiest month here in Colorado, and entering the second-snowiest, which gives us hope that perhaps all this shoveling and sidewalk-salting may be over in the not-too-distant future. We also love this month because we’re finally in in Spring! Spring is certainly one of the most picturesque of the months in our beautiful state. Flowers start blooming, trees start to bud their leaves, and there is a palpable quality of release in the air with the general population.
To celebrate World Health Day, we are offering 10% OFF ALL Acupuncture, Cupping, and Combined Acupuncture + Cupping/E-Stim/Moxa/Ear-seeds treatments on Sunday, April 7th! Book your appointment using the link at the top of this page!
World Health Day is an event celebrated on the founding day of the World Health Organization. This year, they are having their 71st anniversary since their founding in 1948. The WHO’s primary objective is to one day achieve Universal Health Care. Universal Health Care would mean affordable, accessible health coverage for every human on this planet, which is an ideology we at Herb + Legend firmly believe in and support (and have developed our clinic’s creed and culture around).
One of the ways we push for the health of everyone is by regularly checking in with our patients’ overall gut health. While it may be a no-brainer to some patients that the health of their gut affects the health of pretty much every other aspect of their wellbeing, to others, this concept is still somewhat unknown.
To break it down in simplistic terms, the gut is a complex system which is a vital part of your body’s health foundation. Rather than just thinking of it in terms of food going in, calories being produced, and waste going out, there are trillions of microbes living on and in the body, most of which are house within the digestive tract. In fact, there are more bacterial cells in the bodies than there are human cells. Each of our bodies contain approximately 40 trillion bacterial cells only about 30 trillion human cells.1 It may even be fair to say that humans are more bacteria than we are human!
Bacteria work with the body to break down the food that we eat, which enters our digestive tracts. With so much bacteria in the body, it’s important to note that there is a difference between the types of bacteria within our systems. There exists both what we consider “good bacteria,” and also “bad bacteria.” The “good bacteria,” when strong in numbers, helps to combat the “bad,” and can in fact keep the “bad bacteria” from colonizing the digestive tract. However, sometimes the balance of “good” vs. “bad” can become toppled, which may result in the “bad bacteria” overwhelming the good bacteria, which may then lead to may symptoms of illness… and these symptoms may or MAY NOT be digestively related. Indeed, gut health and the negative imbalance of “good” vs. “bad” bacteria may lead to sleep problems, anxiety, joint pain (via being in a chronic state of inflammation), and even weight gain. Gut microbiota are essentially a miniature ecosystem, and the foods and beverages we consume can cause significant changes in the balance of microbes within the gut.
Knowing that diet so heavily influences the bacterial presences in our bodies, we’ve come up with a couple of easy recipes to try out that can very positively influence the balance of “good bacteria” over “bad.” Below, we’ve provided a recipe for one JUICING recipe, and if juicing isn’t your thing (or you don’t have a juicer), we’ve also created one SMOOTHIE recipe you can make in your blender. Enjoy!
GUT HEALTH GREEN JUICE
Ingredients
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 orange
- 1 cup kale
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 lemon (juiced)
- ½ inch knob of ginger (peeled)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric mixed in ½ cup coconut kefir water (stirred vigorously)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into juicer
- Pour juice into a glass, combine with turmeric and coconut kefir water and enjoy!
Celery juice is high in Vitamin K, promoting bone and heart health. Kale is among the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, and calcium in spinach can help fight against injury. All of these ingredients are high in Vitamins A and C, and will have your gut feeling clean and balanced in no time.
GUT HEALTH SMOOTHIE BOMB
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut kefir water
- ½ cup dairy free yogurt (unsweetened)
- ½ cup chopped spinach
- ½ cup chopped kale
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ounce aloe vera juice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to blender.
- Blend until smooth, adding more cinnamon or vanilla if you prefer it sweeter. Enjoy!
Coconut kefir is coconut water that has been fermented with kefir grains. Like its dairy counterpart, it provides fuel for the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Staying dairy-free in this smoothie promotes a resurgence of this good bacteria. Aloe vera is a rich source of antioxidants and vitamins that helps to protect your skin, as well as the organs within your body. Cinnamon lowers blood sugar levels, reduces the risk for heart disease, and as it lowers the temperature within the stomach, it aids in digestion.
