Health Blog

From the second your alarm clock jars you into consciousness, your brain processes the sights, sounds, thoughts, and stressors you experience throughout your day. Exposure to a constant barrage of email notifications and the endless to-do list running the monologue of the mind makes up just a smidgen of what the brain has to process. And considering the increase of stress and anxiety since the onset of the pandemic, we all need some serious R&R.

A logical solution to overstimulation is to reduce stimulation, and one such way is to practice silence. Researchers now acknowledge that silence plays a significant role in healthy human physiology, well-being, and spirituality.

While escaping to the woods for a seven-day silent retreat would likely work wonders to calm the mind, it’s just not feasible (or desirable) for most of us to live in silence for the rest of our lives just to keep stress at bay.

But you can find moments throughout your day to create a special retreat from the many stressors constantly surrounding you by practicing intermittent silence.

When we think of staying healthy, most of us consider the importance of keeping our bodies fit, but we may not give our brain a second thought. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple things you can do to give your brain and mental faculties a boost.

We all know that stress can zap our energy stores, both physically and mentally. When we’re letting stress get the best of us, we don’t sleep well, we eat fatty and sugary foods to comfort ourselves, we get achy and immobile as we let stress continue to control us.

But we don’t have to let stress take control. Some simple steps can help us get back the energy we are losing to the demands of everyday living. Watch this video for a snapshot view of our energy tips. Or listen to the full podcast to learn about lifestyle choices and supplements that can help you support good energy.

Due to stigma, many men are hesitant to seek professional help for mental health concerns, and it can have tragic long-term effects. Here’s how we can fight back.

Plus, Energy Tips Podcast!

Our new, Whole Food Supplements are Organic, Non-GMO, and Vegan, and crafted to emulate the way nutrients are found in nature. 

This podcast discusses our new suite of whole food supplements.

It’s never too late to improve one’s approach to a healthier future. Diet and exercise choices become even more important every day we age. Simple changes, like adding a brisk walk to your daily routine, can make surprising differences to the way you feel and look, especially if you have been under a lot of stress.

In these studies, omega-3s, vitamin D and folate offer some promising prospects for the quest to age gracefully. Find out more below.

Sarcopenia, age-related muscle loss, happens to everyone. We lose 3% to 5% of our muscle power every decade after our 30s. This reality of aging makes it all that more important to pay attention to muscle health at any age. Besides important proteins which provide crucial amino acids, other nutrients help with muscle health. For example, we know that CoQ10 is crucial to muscle health, especially your most important muscle, your heart.

In these studies, nutrients like omegas, niacin and alpha lipoic acid showed promise in helping to maintain muscle strength. And remember, regular weight-bearing exercise like walking and some resistance training for your muscles every week are also key to maintaining muscles. Whether you’ve been on top of your nutrient needs or just beginning, it’s never too late to pay attention to your muscle health.

Research has shown that restrictive diets don’t lead to long-term healthy weight. While this may, in part, be because reducing food intake is not sustainable over the long term, unresolved unhealthy relationships with food may also be involved. For example, subconscious childhood messages to “clean our plates” of food we didn’t put there and enforced mealtimes that required us to either ignore our hunger until dinnertime or eat at a certain time—even if we weren’t hungry—may have led, eventually, to poor communication with our hunger GPS.

Intuitive eating is based on the premise that the body has an innate wisdom about the quantity and type of food required to maintain an appropriate weight and achieve nutritional health. It has been associated with less disordered eating, more aspects of positive body image such as body appreciation, and improved emotional functioning.

Stress is a part of life, but it doesn’t have to take the life out of living. A healthy diet, regular exercise and meditation or relaxation, plus supplements to help support the body back into balance can help you beat stress. At Betsy’s Health Foods, we’re ready to answer your product questions and help you with supplement needs when it comes to stress or any other area of health.