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How to Achieve Healthy Adrenals & Adrenal Support Cocktail Recipe!

Posted on April 15, 2019January 7, 2024 by Whitney Board

Do you suffer from the 2pm energy crash? If you are reaching for a coffee, a cookie or craving a quick power nap this cocktail is designed for you!

Natural Ways to Support Your Adrenals:

1) Get some sleep. You must rest if you are going to help your adrenals get stronger. That means going to bed every night by 10 p.m. Make this a priority and stick with it. Your adrenals need their beauty sleep!

2) Eliminate sugar and processed carbs. Sugar and simple carbs (junk!) put stress on the adrenals. Adrenal glands help to regulate blood sugar levels.

3) Eat clean animal protein foods, organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, beans and grains.

4) Quit the coffee habit and drink plenty of fresh filtered water every day.

5) Try this energy boosting cocktail! This cocktail is designed to support your adrenal health.

Orange Juice– High in vitamin C will nurture your adrenal glands.

Coconut Milk– High in fat to help to stabilize the adrenal glands and stabilize stress response in the body.

Pink Salt– Your body can excrete more sodium when your adrenals are taxed, they are less efficient at modulating sodium, potassium, and magnesium which are crucial for daily functioning.

MCT Oil– Medium Chain Triglycerides, a form of saturated fatty acid that has numerous health benefits which include: boosted cognitive function and support with weight management.

Vitamin C– This powerful antioxidant vitamin is directly involved in the production of cortisol in your adrenals.

Collagen– Healing to the gut, and supportive to the bones, tissues, skin and nails.

Ingredients:

2 oz orange juice

2 oz coconut milk (from can, full fat)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp Pink Salt

2 tbsp collagen

1 tsp vitamin C

1 tbsp MCT oil

Stir, shake over ice or blend and enjoy! We suggest doing this around that afternoon crash time between 2-3pm.

Emily Potter

The Master Detoxifier: Glutathione

Posted on March 18, 2019January 7, 2024 by Whitney Board

Glutathione is available at Spring as an intramuscular injection, and is one of the body’s main antioxidants. An antioxidant is a cell protectant, which donates an electron to help regenerate healthy cells in a variety of ways. Glutathione is necessary in all cells and its depletion eventually results in cell death. Most glutathione is found in the liver and helps us to detoxify by assisting our enzyme function. It is also found in our eyes and helps counteract damage from UV and other radiation. Glutathione can be depleted in the body in cases of viral infection, environmental toxicity or exposure to household chemicals, in surgery, with generalized inflammation, or if someone is deficient in the dietary precursors that allow the body to make glutathione. Our bodies deplete glutathione with age, and thus supplementing with it is a prime anti-aging strategy. Each “Anti-oxidant Aid” injection at Spring contains 200mg of glutathione. We can also add glutathione as a push at the end of a Myers’ IV. This is a useful therapy when you are fighting infection, are cleansing/detoxing, or want to give your cells a little extra boost of protection.

Dragging through the days? Tired after a full night sleep?

Posted on November 7, 2017March 4, 2019 by kincade

By: Dr. Alisun Bonville — Just helping you out in your everyday journey 🙂

Let’s talk about adrenal fatigue. This is a true epidemic in our society due to the pressure to succeed in all categories of life and to look great while doing so! We work hard, play hard and spend more hours in our day working than we do relaxing and enjoying each other. Between the pressures of life and the food we have come to know as “healthy” it is no surprise that most of us are walking around exhausted and dependent on stimulants like coffee, sodas and sugar.

What is Adrenal Fatigue?

This is our bodies reaction to us asking too much of it. Each time we wake up and drink our morning cup of coffee, the adrenal glands kick in and produce the hormones known as corticosteroids. Cortisol levels typically are at their peak in the morning when we wake up and then taper off at night to help us begin our sleep cycle. Caffeine and sugar increases our cortisol levels. Once we begin our work day and our stress levels rise because of deadlines, a difficult boss, co worker or customer etc and more cortisol is produced to help the body manage these stressors. Now after a hard day of work, we hit the gym or the trails and we push our bodies to the max asking more from our adrenals. Or perhaps we lead a life of low stress that includes meditation, gentle exercise and pretty good diet, however we have an unknown food intolerance that causes bloating, joint pain, fatigue, brain fog and dis-ease. Or perhaps we have an injury or a accident that called for surgery….All of these incidents and lifestyles can lead to adrenal fatigue or worse exhaustion. Sounds hopeless? Not at all!

What are the symptoms?

Chronic fatigue, menstrual abnormalities, insomnia, hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, depression, rapid aging, obesity, stress. Waking up after a full 8 or more hours of sleep and you’re still tired or not being able to fall asleep until the wee hours of the night are both symptoms that your adrenal glands are stressed.

How do I prevent this?

The good news is there’s a lot we can do to avoid this adrenal catastrophe! We can test for adrenal fatigue, hormonal imbalances and food intolerances to get a clear picture of what’s going on. We can work with a doctor and nutrition expert to guide us through diet and supplements to support our adrenal health. A two fold approach is necessary in maintaining adrenal health.

Nutrition:

A clean diet void of food intolerances, fried and processed foods and low in sugar, caffeine, alcohol and gluten not only help your body run like a freshly lubed engine, but also gives your adrenals a break and allows them to produce enough hormones at the appropriate times, rather than all day long! If you can maintain a diet rich in plant nutrients, healthy fats & proteins and organic fruits and vegetables along with probiotic rich foods like fermented cabbage (think sauerkraut, kimchi) your gut will thank you with a balanced gut flora and strong immune system. When your gut is healthy and balanced, your adrenals don’t have to go in over drive. This diet will also reward you with a sharper, more relaxed mind and sustained energy rather than brain fog, sugar spikes and crazy energy.

Lifestyle:

Laugh more, dance more, love more, and do what you enjoy more! Managing your stress through meditation, practicing your spirituality, talk therapy, self care (massage, acupuncture, craniosacral work, yoga, time away) and moderate exercise is important not only for your sanity, heart and bones but also for your over worked adrenals. Take some time to listen to your favorite music and go for a walk or perhaps you play an instrument or used to dance and sing? Tap into the things you used to do before life got hectic! Unplug from your electronic devices and plug into your loved ones or nature.

The Whole Life Cleanse: A Family Approach to Detox

Posted on October 3, 2017May 21, 2019 by kincade

By: Dr. Alisun Bonville

Autumn is in the air and my family is “falling” into our cold-weather routine. I like the consistency of getting up at the same time each morning and getting the kids ready for their daily activities, making lunches, attending athletic events, and making homemade dinners. My husband and I fall into our routine of pick-ups and drop-offs, and we get a little more time as a couple with the kids in school, which is nice. But what I don’t like about the “back-to-school” season is the onset of colds, junk-food school snacks, rushed dinners, and my uncanny knack for over-extending myself.

Join me on the Whole Life Cleanse, a journey through each area of life and how to get rid of what is not needed and enjoying the items that nourish us.

Cleansing is not just about physical detox, but about feeling healthy in all areas of life–at work, with friends and family, with the products in your home, with diet, and with your personal routine.

Start by shopping smart. As you restock your pantry and shelves with school year snacks and other food fuel, make healthy choices; organic, whole food ingredients and BPA-free containers for storing leftovers and lunches-to-go. We also shop smart when restocking cleaning supplies such as dish soap, detergents, tampons and paper towels. We chose soaps and detergents that are free of artificial scents and dyes so we aren’t picking up unnecessary toxins from our dishes and through our skin. Unbleached, organic cotton tampons are a gentler choice and lower the female body-burden of potential toxins for the gals in your household. Using recycled paper goods like paper towels, tissues, and toilet paper is one way to support the environment, which in turn supports the joy we derive from our beautiful natural world.

Once the larders and shelves are stocked, we make a mindful effort to find time to slow down each day. Busy, active kids and working parents can make this a real challenge. My husband and I find time to meditate together just after we put the kids to bed. This routine helps us unwind and touch base with our home world each evening. As for kids, reading a bed time story, or taking a moment before meals to say Grace or hold hands in silence can be just the right amount of slow-down that busy kids need.

Cleansing doesn’t have to be all about food, exercise, and a strict regimen. Feel free to start slow! Pick one or two of these things to focus on each week or month, sometimes that really is the only way these things can happen. Oh, and lastly, please don’t forget to get outside and enjoy our beautiful Bozeman fall before winter hits!

~Dr. B

Eat Your Sunscreen: Shield Your Skin from the Sun with Food!

Posted on June 5, 2017March 4, 2019 by kincade

Protecting your skin from the inside out is a great excuse to eat the rainbow this summer! A safe sunscreen (like zinc oxide) is your best bet when it comes to protecting your skin from harmful UV rays. But did you know that you can increase your skin’s resistance to damage, aging, and even cancer with certain healthy foods?

Plants have their own built-in protection against the damaging effects of the sun. When you eat foods derived from these plants, you consume those protective compounds known as phytonutrients. These phytonutrients such as carotenoids, flavonoids, flavanols to name a few help boost your skin’s natural ability to protect itself by stimulating the synthesis of melanin and by chasing away free radicals caused by UV rays and and many other environmental toxins. These plant nutrients are also known as anti oxidants, and they cruise around the body searching for free radicals so that they can neutralize these free radicals and promptly escort them out of the body. This antioxidant protection allows the skin cells to regenerate new healthy cells and reduce your risk from skin cancer, sun spots and wrinkles. A study published in 2010 came to conclusions that food nutrients can protect not only against skin cancer, but photo-oxidative damage that leads to skin aging. Scientists noted that antioxidant vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, in addition to essential fatty acids, have demonstrated protective properties against UV rays. This makes sense as there are many regions in the world like the Mediterranean, where incidents of skin cancer are low even thought their exposure to the sun is very high. Mediterranean diets are rich in plant nutrients and low in highly processed foods. SO what do you eat this summer to protect your skin?

Carotenoids: Carrots, red & orange bell peppers, watermelon, squash, tomatoes, dandelions, marigolds

Curcuminoids: Turmeric root, black pepper

flavonoids: green tea, citrus fruits, apples, kale, onions, berries

Resveratrol: red grapes, red wine (moderation), dark chocolate, blueberries

Glucosinolates: cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, cabbage, cauliflour and the baby versions of these plants like broccoli sprouts, micro greens have much higher counts of the antioxidants than their adult versions.

Bottom line, eat the rainbow this summer! Mix it up and keep those local organic fruits and vegetables high in your diet.

SUN PROTECTION SALAD:

1 bell pepper finely diced

2 carrots finely chopped

1/4c sweet pea shoots

1/4c micro greens of choice

3c baby spinach

1/2c baby tomatoes halved

1/4c unsprayed dandelion heads or nasturtiums (optional)

**Dressing:

1/4c extra virgin cold pressed olive oil

2 tbls white wine vinegar

1 tables fresh squeezed orange juice

1tbls fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 small shallot finely diced

1 tbls orange zest

pinch of sea salt and drop of honey

Mix dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. top salad with dressing and toss well then top the salad with the flower heads.

Serve with a fresh local grilled trout or grass fed meat and a side of watermelon and blueberry salad!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired? Try Hydrotherapy!

Posted on October 8, 2016January 7, 2024 by kincade

Most of us have grown up putting an ice pack on a sprained ankle, or a hot pack on sore muscles. We use heating pads to ease menstrual cramps, ice cubes to take the bite out of bee stings, clothes straight out of the dryer for comfort and coziness, and cold wet cloths on our foreheads in fever. There are so many ways that we all use the application of either hot or cold to bring about certain feelings in our bodies.

Constitutional hydrotherapy is a naturopathic medical treatment that involves applying alternating hot and cold to the patient’s body in order to improve the flow of blood and lymph.

Naturopathic constitutional hydrotherapy is a treatment that lasts about an hour, and involves application of gentle electrostimulation, along with alternating hot and cold towels to the abdomen and back to increase blood and lymph flow in the patient’s body.

Blood is the great nourisher in our bodies; it carries nutrients, oxygen, immune cells, inflammatory molecules, and cellular waste, just to name a few things. When we can improve blood flow, we impact its delivery of all of these beneficial things to the cells that make up our internal organs, our skin, our muscles, and the immune system.

Constitutional hydrotherapy is indicated in many different types of ailments, because so many conditions of the body can be improved when we affect blood flow. Colds and flus resolve quickly with constitutional hydrotherapy because of the improved immune function seen when blood and lymph increase circulation. Increased circulation means more bug and virus-fighting immune cells are distributed around the body to do their job fighting disease. The treatment is also very relaxing, and every sick body needs time to rest and rejuvenate in order to heal!

Constitutional hydrotherapy is also helpful in GI complaints because it nourishes the tissue and provides gentle stimulation to the digestive system. Additionally, hydrotherapy is great for patients with stress and fatigue because the increase in blood flow means an increase in delivery of nutrients to all the tissues and organs of the body. Fatigue is also helped due to the clearance of cellular wastes and toxins, which tend to accumulate and in doing so, can make us feel sluggish as our bodies work hard at cleaning up.

Constitutional hydrotherapy addresses chronic inflammation in similar ways to fatigue by increasing clearance of cellular wastes and inflammatory factors by increasing blood flow. Also, the nourishing quality of improved blood flow can help our bodies operate better under the stress of chronic disease by providing nutrients and cofactors to support cellular processes.

Lastly, menstrual irregularities can be helped by constitutional hydrotherapy because increased blood flow means nourishment of the reproductive organs, delivering nutrients and oxygen, and clearing inflammation and cellular wastes that can contribute to painful menses or other reproductive issues. Female patients should note that due to the increase in blood flow created by this treatment, they may not want to receive constitutional hydrotherapy on days with heavy menses.

Constitutional hydrotherapy is often applied in a series, and some patients will see results more clearly when they have more than one treatment. For this reason, at Spring Integrative Health we offer packages for constitutional hydrotherapy sessions, and suggest scheduling one or two treatments per week. We look forward to your visits and the opportunity to improve your health with this traditional naturopathic treatment, long loved by both doctors and patients alike!

How To Stop Winter Colds and Flus

Posted on January 7, 2013 by kincade

Feel like you are getting sick? Scratchy throat, headache, upset stomach? Well the best medicine is to catch it early! Even if you are already sick there are many things you can do to shorten the duration and the severity of the cold or flu. Here are a few tips to keep you in top shape during the winter.

The immune system “lives” in the gut. There are more immune stimulating lymph nodes in the walls of and around the intestines than anywhere else in your body! Be kind to them and eat easy to digest foods when you are coming down with a cold or flu. This includes broths, soups, well-cooked grains, cooked squash, stewed apples, toast, cooked lentils, and bananas. Of course, you should always avoid foods you are sensitive to during an illness. Also, dairy foods can make respiratory and intestinal illnesses worse and should be avoided.
Start WARMING SOCKS every night . See our blog post on Home Hydrotherapy on a how-to guide for warming socks. This is a home treatment that increases lymph (and therefore immune) circulation and decreases congestion.
Throat compress for sore throats and chest colds. Again, see our blog on Home Hydrotherapy.
Avoid sugar and alcohol. We need your liver working on detoxifying the inflammation form your illness, not from your diet.
REST and RELAX….sound easy, right? This is usually the hardest part, especially since we are all so busy. But rest is the best medicine, usually shortening the illness by a day or two in my experience.
If you keep getting sick, or “catching everything that goes around,” get your vitamin D and thyroid checked!
We love immune herbs at Spring Integrative Health to prevent colds and flus. Ask your provider for the right one for you!

Be well!