The Benefits of L-Theanine

L-Theanine benefits your health. It’s that simple. What is L-Theanine, though? L-Theanine is a great supplement.

It is an amino acid naturally found in green tea. L-Theanine has many health benefits, but primarily known to support mental health. It is an excellent mood balancer and can provide relaxation without causing drowsiness. It is also very safe to use, as it is found to be harmless at very high doses, so you can slowly increase your dose until you get to your desired results.

It can be taken throughout the day whenever needed. This amino acid is great to take for anybody who is anxious or stressed, as it helps calm the mind and body down. It works in the brain by blocking receptors that normally accept excitatory neurotransmitters to induce the calming effect and help prevent overactivity of the brain. L-Theanine can provide many benefits that anti-anxiety medications supply, without the negative effects.

L-Theanine Benefits

In addition to the calming effect, L-Theanine can increase alertness, lower blood pressure, improve memory and cognitive functioning, and even supply the mind and body with energy, without having the jittery feeling that caffeine can create. This amino acid may even increase fat burning. Some studies have also shown that the blocking of overactivity that L-Theanine provides, can also help in protection and prevention of neurological illness such as stroke, or schizophrenia. Further studies continue to be conducted to unmask all the benefits that L-Theanine can provide.

Call AgeRejuvenation today to learn more about how to incorporate L-Theanine into your diet. Individual results vary by patient. Ask your AgeRejuvenation practitioner about your specific health concerns.

Vitamin C — Why Vitamin C is Good For You

Vitamin C has long been considered one of our foundational antioxidants, essential to immune health and support (humans are unable to produce Vitamin C and must consume it via whole foods or supplementation). All antioxidants work in a similar way by removing damaging oxidizing agents from the human body. That is, when damaging, cancer-causing free radicals are ingested and incorporated into our bodies (through fried foods, alcohol, tobacco, pesticides, pollutants, extreme sun exposure, etc), Vitamin C is one of the nutrients that will scavenge the body to remove and neutralize these damaging particles. Current research funded by the National Institutes of Health is evaluating how Vitamin C prevents, delays, and destroys the development of certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases caused by oxidative stress. You can see why it’s so beneficial for our health!

In addition to its powerful antioxidant properties, Vitamin C is essential for collagen production—that is, collagen production cannot occur without Vitamin C. Collagen is the most abundant protein in our bodies and gives our skin, muscles, bones, blood vessels, and tendons strength and elasticity. Collagen production naturally declines with age, and this decline manifests itself as wrinkles, sagging skin, and joint pain. We literally cannot produce collagen without Vitamin C, which is why consumption and supplementation with Vitamin C can prevent and treat UV and free radical damage to our skin and collagen, and reduce and reverse inflammatory joint pain and disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.

One other powerful effect of Vitamin C is its contribution to heart health. We know that your body’s connective tissues, including your blood vessels, are comprised of collagen. As Vitamin C strengthens the collagen in your skin and joints, reversing aging and inflammation, it also strengthens the collagen in your blood vessels. Weak blood vessels are more susceptible to damage from oxidized LDL cholesterol, cigarette smoke, heavy metals, and other pollutants, and the damage can cause inflammation and plaque formation in your arteries and veins. Vitamin C also helps your arteries dilate, or widen, reducing blood pressure and preventing heart disease. It can be as beneficial to your heart as walking in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle!

If you’d like to prevent the onset of cancer and reduce your risk, reverse the signs of aging (e.g. sun damage, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkle formation), treat and reverse heart disease, and strengthen your immune system, consumption of Vitamin C through whole foods and supplementation is highly recommended.

At AgeRejuvenation, powerful intramuscular Vitamin C injections are used in conjunction with a healthy diet to prevent and reverse the signs of aging. Ask your AgeRejuvenation practitioner for more info on this therapy.

The Benefits of Proper Nutrition and its Effects on Weight Loss

Losing weight is not solely dependent on exercise and nutrition, understanding your hormones and how to work with them is also a huge part of weight loss success.

Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Healthy eating is about feeling better, having more energy, improving your outlook. and stabilizing your mood by choosing the right foods to give your body the nutrition it needs to perform all of its daily functions. Eat properly and you can increase your metabolism, improve and balance hormone levels, boost energy, balance mood, and increase your brainpower.

So, what exactly does eat properly mean? At each meal, focus on eating lean proteins, gluten-free carbohydrates that are low on the glycemic index with good fiber content, and incorporating healthy fat sources. This approach to eating stabilizes blood sugar, helps maintain or boost energy and increases the body’s’ production of glucagon – a hormone that burns fat, and opposes the action of insulin, which signals the body to store fat and increases appetite and cravings. Incorporating fiber in each meal also increases adiponectin levels, a hormone that signals the body to burn fat.

The idea of healthy, balanced eating works two-fold: supplying the body with proper nutrition and optimizing the body’s hormones to improve metabolism of nutrients. In summation, healthy eating is not a calorie-counting or number game – the health and metabolism of your body is primarily dependent on proper nutrition and balanced meals.

Gluten

While blood work is critical for identifying the issue, it is important to be mindful of what foods one is eating. For the past few years, there has been a lot of hype promoting a gluten-free diet. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, several whole grain foods, and barley to name a few. There is good reason for the hype, as it originated when there was a connection discovered between gluten intolerance and Thyroid diseases like Hashimoto’s and Grave’s Disease (when TSI antibodies attack the thyroid and send it in overdrive). Specifically, a portion of the gluten molecule closely resembles molecules of the thyroid.

When foods with gluten are consumed, and the gluten is released into the bloodstream, and the body senses it as an invader. When antibodies are released to attack this “foreign invader”, because of its structural similarity, it ends up attacking its own thyroid tissue too. While consuming gluten does not always mean an autoimmune disorder, it can lead to other symptoms such as diarrhea, bloating, skin irritations, and abdominal pain.

If you are experiencing any of these, we encourage you to ask one of our Team Members about Thyroid Testing, as well as, learn more about the right diet and foods to incorporate into your lifestyle! Individual results vary by patient. Ask your AgeRejuvenation practitioner about your specific health concerns.

Is Potassium a Super Nutrient?

Potassium is the third most prevalent vitamin in the body, an essential nutrient. It’s used to maintain the fluid and electrolyte balance in the body, and is integral in proper organ function.

Deficiencies in this electrolyte can attribute to dehydration, cramps, mental fatigue, increased blood pressure, weight gain, and cause cellulite accumulation.

Integrating potassium-rich foods or supplements into your dietary regimen can decrease or even alleviate a variety of conditions. Potassium can also increase weight loss, reduce bloating, and minimize appearance of cellulite.

Most Americans consume far too much sodium and not enough potassium to balance them out. These nutrients are one of those pairs that need to stay balanced in your body for ideal functionality.

The sodium causes the cells to bloat and retain water while potassium helps to flush the excess waste out of your cells. Reducing sodium and increasing potassium will allow for the release of a lot of the water retention and also improve the appearance of cellulite.

This super nutrient can be found in a variety of foods, the best sources are avocados, spinach, sweet potatoes, yogurt or kefir, white beans, acorn squash, and bananas.

The Importance of Magnesium

Magnesium is an electrolyte that is necessary for proper muscle, nerve, and enzyme function. This electrolyte is also the one most greatly depleted by exercise, even more so than potassium and sodium.

Magnesium is beneficial in many facets of physical performance, but the primary influences are:

Improved Strength and Power

The enzymes that synthesize proteins are compromised without magnesium impairing recovery, growth, and strength. This nutrient also helps movements to be more powerful and explosive. Magnesium deficiency can slow progress and prevent physical progression.

Improved Hormone Balance

Magnesium helps to increase free testosterone, which is the testosterone in the body that is available for use. Magnesium aides in the relaxation process, allowing the autonomic nervous system to relax. This decreases the cortisol level within the blood. Cortisol is an antagonist for testosterone so magnesium is a double-edged sword for optimization of hormone function!

Increased Insulin Sensitivity

Magnesium plays an important role in metabolization of carbs helping with insulin sensitivity and improved metabolism. Proper supplementation can lead to a better body composition by increasing muscle and decreasing body fat.

Improved Sleep and Recovery

Magnesium aids in relaxation by calming the autonomic nervous system. This allows the heart rate to decrease and breathing to slow, promoting improved relaxation and sounder sleep. Magnesium also fights inflammation, acts as an antioxidant, and helps improve storage of energy.

In short, if magnesium is not a part of your regular supplementation, you are missing out on great improvement in all aspects of your life — from sleep to muscle recovery, reduced inflammation to improved body composition. This electrolyte has it all.

Turmeric

Turmeric is an orange spice often used in Eastern dishes such as curry whose use dates back to 3,000 BC. Not only can it make a tasty dish, this spice also packs a powerful health punch! Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric and helps fight obesity by suppressing the growth of fat and helping the body to break down fat within the body. Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory, working similarly to hydrocortisone, helping to decrease muscle and joint pain. This nutrient has also been shown to ease digestive troubles and soothe the symptoms of GI disease such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Chrons. Turmeric has antioxidant powers and aides in preventing and reversing the damage done to cells and their DNA. This spice has been shown to decrease bad cholesterol, improve good cholesterol, and even lower blood pressure!

Far from just a food flavoring, turmeric seems to assist in almost every aspect of the body’s function so adding this superfood into your health regimen is a must!

Low Glycemic Foods

When eating different types of foods they all have a glycemic index rating. This is just a numerical value that shows the rate at which the food is turned into glucose in the body. The scale ranges from 0-100 with 100 being the high for rapid rise in blood sugar. Glucose itself is a reference point for the scale and is given a rating of 100. What is the importance of even knowing what the glycemic level is? Your body functions best when your blood sugar levels remain steady. Decreases cause you to become hungry while increases will cause your body to release excess amount of insulin. Low glycemic foods are 55 and below. Foods with a rating of 70 or higher are considered high. Some common foods that are in low glycemic are apples, grapefruit, peanuts, bean sprouts. Common high glycemic foods are baked potato, ice cream, white rice, white bread, watermelon, and mac and cheese! There are many lists available online to find out exactly what each food is. To help maintain proper glucose levels, knowing how the food is affecting you is a good start. Talk with your doctor today about low glycemic foods and to see if changing your diet could benefit you. Results may vary by individual.

Improve health with fish oils!

We all know that fish oils are good … but why?

Throughout the years, our diets have shifted away from getting a high amount of Omega-3s. The shift has come from eating more processed foods and corn fed beef.

Now we consume a diet filled with Omega-6s instead of Omega-3. These Omega-6 rich diets have a high association with various diseases.

The Omega-6 has effects on the inflammation of the body and could cause arthritis and cancers. When it comes to weight loss, Omega-6s could also reduce the body’s capability to metabolize Omega-3s.

AgeRejuvenation has something that may help fight all of this. Omega-3 to the rescue!

The Omega-3 EPA/DHA plays a key role in fighting the side effects from too much Omega-6. Inflammation is one of the most easily noted changes that will occur.

In addition to reducing inflammation, an increase in heart health, your good HDL cholesterol, vision health, and lower blood pressure is common among the many benefits — including weight loss.

Where can Omega-3s be found? The best source of food rich in Omega-3s is from diets plentiful in canned light tuna, catfish, wild salmon, shrimp and Pollock.

When it’s sometimes hard to implement food in a person’s diet, to reach the body’s needs a supplement could help you reach healthy levels. There are many Omega-3 supplements; however, they’re not all the same.

Many of them only have about 30% of the fish oil containing the Omega-3 EPA/DHA. The rest of the fish oil is often filled with a mix of less desirable components.

We recommend Quell Fish Oils, since they’re filled with 75% of the active ingredients needed so get more for less.

There are two main types of Omega-3 fatty acids: Long-chained Omega-3 and short-chained Omega-3. The long chained are more beneficial and come from seafood and algae sources.

The short-chained are less desirable, since it takes much more to get the same effect of the long-chained sources such as fish. Short-chained sources are plant or flaxseed items.

When it comes to EPA and DHA omega-3s, both are great but DHA is better due to the increased capability for your body to convert it.

This is why our fish oils are higher in DHA. The recommended dosage for fish oils is to take 2 soft gels per day with a meal if using our Quell Fish Oils. This can vary depending on your health status or by the product itself and how much is in each soft gel.

Because of the amount of health benefits from these Omega-3s, we highly recommended them if a person is taking any currently or if one’s body is simply not getting enough from food sources!

Results may vary by individual, so consult your doctor today and see if this is right for you!

Glutamate

Glutamate which is one of the main excitatory neurotransmitters is your best friend when in balance. When levels are low or high issues arise. Do you feel fatigued or have a hard time focusing or simple lack any excitement about life. These are just a few signs that your levels are too low. On the other end when levels are too high you may be anxious, tend to over think simple tasks a lot, and you may be very sensitive to stimulants. While we need these excitatory neurotransmitters to provide motivation, energy, and focus they need to be balanced. Glutamate works with cells that have glutamate receptor proteins. Upon here, glutamate will bind and activate the receptor proteins. While when balanced glutamate is extremely beneficial and needed for proper function in the body when your levels are off or you have signs that they could be off it is good to look into options for getting back your balance. Consult with your doctor and find out if your levels are good and if they are not what the best treatment would be for you. Results vary by individual consult your doctor today to find out testing methods and treatments available for you.