General Wellness

We all want to be healthy, right? Nobody wants to be sick, or down, or lacking something in their life. But often times, in our hectic and fast-paced society, we look for things with instant results, rather than long-term effects. In terms of our body, overall health and fitness, and general wellness, there is no magic cure-all. These things are aspects of our lives that we must strive to maintain and improve, even with small steps, so we can have a healthier future. You've got to really decide that you want to make a change for the better, plan ways to make that a reality, and then stick with it. Again, as nice as it would be, there is no magic pill that you can take once, or a workout you can do for only a day, that will give you the lasting effects of a gradual, lifestyle change. 

There are a few simple things you can gradually incorporate into your life that can have a big impact on your health and wellness over time. 

• Get active! If you've been living a pretty sedentary life and generally spend most of your time sitting down, adding some activity to your days can greatly increase your health over time. Even if you just start with a daily walk or stretching, building up to a few short workouts a week, to maybe even daily workouts or runs, you can begin to see the increased energy and improved mood in yourself in no time. J  
• Eat healthier! Even if you don't think you eat unhealthy as it is, you can just start by monitoring what you eat for a week - keep a food journal or list on your phone, or use one of the many health apps that lets you log in food and drink as you consume them and monitors calories and nutritional value. After doing this for a little while, you may become more conscious when putting things that really aren't the best for you into your system. You can also try simple things like decreasing your sugar intake, or trying to eat more fruits and vegetables (and fewer desserts). 
• Drink more water! I really can't stress enough how important it is that we all drink more water. A lot of us don't really feel dehydrated because we consume liquids in other forms, such as soda or coffee, but these have negative components as well and sometimes do more harm than good. Your body needs adequate supplies of water to maintain a healthy metabolism and keep all of your organs functioning their best. 
• Be aware of your emotional health! Being stressed or angry for long periods of time can have a very negative impact on your ability to keep your fitness goals, and your overall physical health and immune system. Trying to be more aware of the things that cause you stress and anger, and finding healthy ways of releasing these feelings can help your overall feeling of well-being immensely. It's also equally as important to realize when you are depressed or sad, and strive to find ways to not feed into those feelings, but to battle them and discover ways to find happiness in the day and yourself (even if it's only a tiny amount J ). Always remember that your mental and emotional health are just as important as your physical health! 

Sugar Detox

Studies show that the average American eats about 19 teaspoons of sugar a day. But, the American Heart Association reports that a healthy level of sugar intake amounts to no more than 6 teaspoons a day for women, and 9 teaspoons a day for men. Breaking a sugar habit can be a very difficult thing to do. Why is this? Is it actually an addiction? What's the best way to really cut down on the amount of sugar we consume? I'll be discussing all of these things, as well as some MOBU products that can help, in the rest of this post! 😊  

Sugar Addiction – 

I think sugar habit is a better term, as there aren't actually the 'withdrawals' typically associated with addiction. You may not be eating a whole lot of sugar intentionally, in fact, you might not even realize how much sugar you're really consuming. But, if you find yourself craving sugar and eating more than you planned, you may need to look closer at your sugar intake. 

Sugar fuels your brain cells. Your brain also recognizes sugar as a reward, making you want more and more of it. Eating a lot of sugar reinforces that reward, making it very difficult to break the habit. Sugar highs and energy rushes happen when you eat a candy bar, syrup, soda, candy and add sugar to things. These sources have sugar in the form of simple carbohydrates, which are quickly converted into glucose in the bloodstream. This causes your blood sugar levels to spike. There are also simple carbs in dairy, fruit and vegetables - however, these also have fibers and proteins that slow the process down. After consuming your sweet snack, your body then needs to move the glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells for energy. For this process, your body makes the hormone insulin. Following the conversion to energy, your blood sugar levels can drop rapidly (the 'crash' after the high) and can cause you to feel shaky and wiped out, making you want more sugar to regain the positive feelings from the sugar high. This is not a good cycle! Inadvertently, you may be continually feeding the cycle and making it harder and harder for yourself to eat healthily. 

Starchy foods can have similar effects. If you don't necessarily crave sugar, but instead find yourself wanting bagels, chips, french fries, or pasta, it's basically the same thing, even if you don't realize it. When consumed without other foods that slow the process, these things are complex carbohydrates which break down into simple sugars, which cause the same high and crash feelings as regular sugar. White rice and flour also work in similar ways. 

Ways to break a sugar habit – 

Many of the sugar detox plans out there tell you to avoid all sweets, or, anything with the simple sugars. This would include all fruit, dairy, and refined grains, as well as the obvious things such as soda or candy. Their idea is that you need to purge your body of all sugar. But is this really the best way? WebMD states that changes like this are too drastic to keep up, and can really only be done for the short term, causing you to fall back into your old habits quickly. 

A much better option is to try and teach your taste buds to enjoy other things that may be healthier for you. You can do this by slowly decreasing the amount of sugar you consume. For example, try cutting out one sugary thing from your diet every week, like your dessert after dinner, or putting less sugar in your coffee. Over time, you will lose your craving for the sweet tastes. 

You don't have to give up everything that tastes sweet either! Just do your best to get it from sources with other nutritional value as well, such as fruits or low-fat milk or yogurt. These have other benefits as well as tasting sweet, and can help you kick the sugar-habit. As you slowly start to decrease your overall sugar intake, you'll also find yourself enjoying them more and more as your need for the overly sweet flavor (that can be found in sodas or candy bars) decreases. 

By taking baby steps and cutting out one thing at a time, or slowly reducing your sugar intake, you can make long-term changes in your diet that will really help your overall health in the long run. Eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking extra water are also excellent habits to pick up, to replace your sweet cravings.

Proteins can also help curb sugar cravings. High protein foods such as eggs, nuts, and beans digest slowly and help keep you feeling full for longer, without providing the sugar high and crash of the simple sugars and refined carbs. 

Fibers can also help keep you feeling full longer, as well as give you energy. With this kind of energy, however, there is no crash afterward because they don't raise your blood sugar levels. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains can help with this. For a good fiber and protein combination, try eating fruits or vegetables with some peanut butter. 

Many artificial sweeteners are also on the market to replace sugar. However, these generally do more harm than good, as they can have many other chemicals in them that can be detrimental over time. They also don't help break a sugar habit, because they can actually leave you craving more sugar and continuing the high/crash cycle.  Honey, brown sugar and cane juice may be slightly higher in nutrients than regular sugars, but should still be used only in moderation as they can cause your blood sugar to rise just as regular sugars do. 

MOBU Herbals products that can help fight sugar habits: 

The slim stick is great for appetite and sugar craving assistance on the go! It is a simple lip balm that helps to reduce sugar cravings and regulate blood sugar. The slim stick has a green tea flavor for a quick pick me up that also helps curb your appetite, as well as the Gymnema herb which makes sugar taste bland, helping to control your sugar cravings. 

  

Slim lotion (not to be confused with the Slim Wrap lotion) is another great product for helping combat sugar habits. The lotion should be applied 30 minutes before meals, or whenever you're experiencing sugar cravings. This lotion also has the Gymnema herb combined with green tea, as well as kelp and other herbs that help with overeating. It helps curb your sugar cravings by supporting healthy blood sugar levels, as well as easing the jittery feeling resulting from low-calorie intakes. 

Feel Better Naturally - Aerobic & Strength Training

I know we've talked about the benefits of exercise before (if you missed it, check it out here) but now I want to give you some more details on suggested amounts and actual types of activity you can do! 😊 

The Mayo Clinic recommends 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Moderate aerobic exercise includes things such as brisk walking, swimming, and mowing the lawn. 

As a general goal, you should aim for at least 30 minutes of activity every day. If you want to lose weight, or meet a specific goal, you may need to exercise more if you have the time. Another important thing to consider is your time spent sitting. If you can reduce your sitting time, you reduce your risks of metabolic problems! 

If you don't have the time to add 30 minutes of exercise a day, that's ok! You can break up the amount in whatever way you see fit, such as a ten minute walk in the morning, doing household chores, and another walk later on. Whatever you can do - the important part is making regular physical activity a part of your lifestyle. 

The Mayo Clinic also recommends doing strength training a couple times a week. Strength training can include anything from weight machines to kayaking or rock climbing. While the aerobic activities will help maintain your fitness levels and toning, the strength training will help you build muscle mass as well. 

Just like there are many different kinds of aerobic activities, there are also strength training options for every fitness levels! There are many strength building exercises that can be done with little to no equipment, including push-ups and situps, ab crunches, squats, and stairs. There are also a number of activities that can be done with a set of resistance tubes, as well as free-weights. Feel free to use the lowest weight amount you feel comfortable with - you want your muscles to be tense and worked, but not to the point where you wear yourself out too much, or pull a muscle and cause yourself pain. 

Here's a link to videos showing specific strength exercises you can do, for any fitness level! Give some a try and find the ones that work best for you. If you have any others that you regularly do, feel free to share them so others can try them too! 

Lice: Prevention and Detection

It's that time again! The kids are back in school, and with that comes the greater likelihood of catching a whole bunch of colds, diseases, and also - lice! Nobody likes to think about it, those itchy bugs living on your head, but we've got to talk about it! There are ways to minimize the likelihood of becoming infected, let's start with those first. 

Lice cannot fly - they can only jump or crawl. Therefore, the only way to contract head-lice is by being near someone else with them. Common places for lice transmission are places where people are often in close proximity: playgrounds and classrooms for sure, as well as within families or in tight-knit workplaces. It is also possible to transfer lice through sharing of objects, like hair brushes or accessories, headphones, hats, jackets, pillows, towels, etc. You can minimize the risk of you or your kids getting lice by telling them the importance of not sharing these things, and by storing these things apart from each other (keeping all the jackets in a classroom together is another excellent way for lice to infect multiple people).  

Regularly check your kids (and yourself, if you're concerned) for lice! Many schools will have regular lice checks of all students, and doctors will often do it too at regular checkups. Using a fine tooth comb, you can check all over your child's scalp and base of the hair follicles for live nymphs (immature) and adult lice, as well as the eggs, which are attached to the shafts of the hairs, approximately 4mm from the scalp. 

If you do find evidence of lice - don't worry, it's not the end of the world! Lice don't carry any viral or bacterial infectious diseases, but they do feed on blood from the human scalp. These tiny bites can cause the head to become very itchy and uncomfortable, so it is important to treat as soon as identified. If you scratch too much, you can open sores and scratches on the scalp, which can allow for other infections to enter the body. But there are many simple ways to combat the itchy infection. There are several over-the-counter treatments such as shampoos and lice combs, to help rid the infected head of these little buggers. 


MOBU Herbals also has a preventative treatment available: Buzz Away Lotion. This lotion is simple and easy to use! To help prevent head-lice, all you have to do is rub the lotion in along the hairline at the back of the neck and near the ears. This product is also great for repelling other insects, such as mosquitos! 




Once treated, it is possible that there will still be some dead lice remaining in the hair, but they are no longer going to be feeding or causing the itching and will go away with regular washing and brushing over time.