Health Made Simple

The Top 4 Supplements I recommend for EVERYONE!

You had probably heard about food supplements sometime over the last 20-30 years when they gained in popularity. People who are not using them usually think of supplements regarding weight loss and bodybuilding. However, quality supplements can benefit everybody, and this is the article about four best supplement you can use to improve your everyday life.
The mindset for using supplements should be ‘’what can I do to be the best version of myself?’’ People often say ‘’Well, I am eating healthy, why do I need supplements?’’
While it’s true that a proper diet should be the no.1 priority and the staple of healthy living, there are certain deficiencies you can have even with the best nutrition.
Busier lifestyle than any time before is one of the reasons we are so deficient in some essential nutrients. Things like stress, 24-7 availability, and smartphone use hinder with our sleep and are affecting the health of many adults.

(1:45) The mindset for using supplements - what can you do to be the best version of yourself?
(2:43) Busier lifestyle than any time before is one of the reasons we are so deficient in some essential nutrients. Another huge reason is farming practices. GMO veggies and fruits have become deficient in nutrients, soils are depleted and fed with chemicals.
(4:35) No. 1 supplement - Fish oils (tung oils, cod liver oil, krill oil) - are all essential fatty acids that our body needs, rich in omega 3. We have to eat them because we don't make them and our brain is made of 50% fat, and DHA is made from fish oil.
(7:04) Benefits: reducing inflammation, protection. Essential fatty acids are building the protective layer of the cells.
(9:46) Rotate different fish oils because each has their benefits and your body reacts differently. Put your oil through the bite test - if your fish oil tastes terrible it's probably not that good.
(11:37) A symptom of a deficiency in essential fatty acids; other than inflammation, is brain fog. Fish oil is a great way to clear brain fog, and also for joint paint.
(14:00) The no.2 supplement is broad-based minerals. The primary reason that we need them is that our soils are depleted. The quantity of nutrients in fruits and vegetables is 50% less of what we had 50 years ago.
(16:50) The best time to supplement minerals is to drink them with water first thing in the morning because we are dehydrated during the night.
(18:03) It's challenging to mimic natural processes, and because many minerals are correlated, it's important to use whole food supplements. Probably 90% of supplements are synthetic and come from drug companies, which is not beneficial in the long run.
(19:43) Sea salt (Himalayan) is excellent for getting minerals back in your body. Table salt is processed and is bad for us, that's why salt has a negative reputation.
(20:36) When kids become deficient in minerals, ADD and ADHD are much more likely to happen.
(22:18) No.3 is Magnesium, which is responsible for 300 different biochemical reactions. Probably 75% or more people are depleted in magnesium. Sugar, alcohol, and meat deplete it at twice the rate, stress also.
(24:40) Magnesium is an exchange mineral, detox mineral. It will help you stay asleep at night, helps parasympathetic activity to rest and recover. Most people will benefit from it and improve sleeping, pooping, mood, and energy level.
(27:26) Different types: magnesium lactate, citrate. Magnesium oxide is not really absorbable. 400mg a day is ideal but find your personal magnesium tolerance. Most important is to take it later in the day.
(30:47) Whole food supplements are way better than synthetic - secret for realizing if the supplement is organic is the label on the back. If it says (some sort of vitamin) AS something else, it means it only mimics something natural.
(33:47) No. 4 – Catalyn. Developed in the 1920s, a great supplement that covers a lot of most depleted minerals and vitamins. Made from whole foods, a great source of natural extracts. Make sure you use Catalyn when you buy it because it will lose nutritional value over time.

I suspect that you and I are not that different. I want to be energetic, have fun, and explore what life has to offer. To do this, it helps to be healthy. Health can be a simple topic, it doesn’t need to be complicated or frustrating. The truth is our bodies were designed to feel good and heal on their own. Our job is to help them along the way. Maybe even get out of the way. It’s a simple process: get educated, become empowered and take action!
-Doctor Bart

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

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Are you struggling to lose weight?

Many people who are overweight often go on different diets, and they struggle to keep up with them. Are you struggling to lose weight? This article explains what are the possible causes behind weight loss inability.

The most important thing about weight loss is to make sure we have the right goal in mind. You should have a realistic goal, and know how to get there, and trust the process behind it.

The worst thing people do is when they decide to go on a diet on a whim and start starving themselves to death. That ultimately leads to stress, anxiety about food, bad mood, and the yo-yo effect because it’s not maintainable.

We all should have an ideal functional weight while being really healthy. That means we should not have a lot of excess body fat and be properly nourished at the same time.

But what makes people fat? What is the process behind it?

(1:27) The most important thing about weight loss is to make sure we have the right goal in mind.
(2:07) We all should have an ideal functional weight while being really healthy.
(2:40) Insulin is a fat storage hormone. It's released when we have sugar in the blood, and then it converts into fat, to protect us from inflammation.
(4:10) If you are drinking alcohol or eating sweets before bed, you are producing insulin and storing fat at night.
(6:02) If you are eating too frequently, you will always burn food for energy instead of fat, even if you eat healthily.
(7:36) Stress produces cortisol. If you don't slow down and stay in sympathetic dominance - you are starting to use cortisol for fuel. And then cortisol releases sugar, which releases insulin and we store fat.
(11:26) Adrenal dysfunction and fatigue happen if you produce too much cortisol. If you struggle with constant soreness after workouts, you likely have adrenal fatigue.
(12:20) The second wind of energy at night is another indicator of adrenal dysfunction. That late wind of energy interferes with sleep, which then, in turn, creates hormone imbalance that makes it harder to lose weight.
(15:26) If you are always sore from working out, you should reduce it to a minimum. ASI (adrenal stress index test) is a fantastic saliva test to see how much cortisol you are producing at what time.
(16:42) Great herbs that help adrenals are Ashwagandha, and Ramana. Even though you will benefit from using them, make sure you are working with a practitioner when it comes to your health, don't dabble.
(17:45) Cellular toxicity - the outer layer of the cell is a fat layer that serves for protection. If that layer has become toxic, a good diet won't be enough. If we continually eat bad fats, they get stuck in the lipid layer of the cell.
(20:20) In the last 10-15 years, chemicals in GMO foods such as glyphosate have significantly impacted the lipid layer of the cells, and our body is becoming worse at filtering.
(22:47) Intermittent fasting is taking a block of time when you don't put food in your body, and eating in a specific time window. It's a great strategy to starve toxic cells to death.
(26:25) Get your body more fat-adaptive, so it burns fat for fuel. Avoid snacks and create a 12-16 hour fasting window.
(28:50) Antibiotics kill all bacteria (good and bad) in the body, and imbalance the gut flora. If you use antibiotics once or twice year after year, that breaks down your gut flora. It makes you more vulnerable, and you can develop weight loss resistance.
(28:50) If you think you have cellular toxicity, your starting point to recovery should be fixing your diet and eating the food from God’s garden (roots, plants, animals, fish). Also, consult a practitioner familiar with this because it’s possible that your digestive system is not working well.
(31:54) Don’t do the same thing over and over again, diet variation and workout variation are critical. We are not designed to eat a certain way all the time, and intermittent fasting should be seasonal as well.

I suspect that you and I are not that different. I want to be energetic, have fun, and explore what life has to offer. To do this, it helps to be healthy. Health can be a simple topic, it doesn’t need to be complicated or frustrating. The truth is our bodies were designed to feel good and heal on their own. Our job is to help them along the way. Maybe even get out of the way. It’s a simple process: get educated, become empowered and take action!
-Doctor Bart

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drbartprecourt/
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/drbartprecourt/

Arthritis- What to avoid and how to treat

I suspect that you and I are not that different. I want to be energetic, have fun, and explore what life has to offer. To do this, it helps to be healthy. Health can be a simple topic, it doesn’t need to be complicated or frustrating. The truth is our bodies were designed to feel good and heal on their own. Our job is to help them along the way. Maybe even get out of the way. It’s a simple process: get educated, become empowered and take action!

-Doctor Bart

 

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

 

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drbartprecourt/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/drbartprecourt/

What to AVOID if you want to have high testosterone?

I suspect that you and I are not that different. I want to be energetic, have fun, and explore what life has to offer. To do this, it helps to be healthy. Health can be a simple topic, it doesn’t need to be complicated or frustrating. The truth is our bodies were designed to feel good and heal on their own. Our job is to help them along the way. Maybe even get out of the way. It’s a simple process: get educated, become empowered and take action!

-Doctor Bart

 

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

 

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drbartprecourt/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/drbartprecourt/

 

How do we make the most testosterone and use it efficiently?

I suspect that you and I are not that different. I want to be energetic, have fun, and explore what life has to offer. To do this, it helps to be healthy. Health can be a simple topic, it doesn’t need to be complicated or frustrating. The truth is our bodies were designed to feel good and heal on their own. Our job is to help them along the way. Maybe even get out of the way. It’s a simple process: get educated, become empowered and take action!

-Doctor Bart

 

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

 

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drbartprecourt/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/drbartprecourt/

 

How do we get the best night of sleep?

Sleeping pills, melatonin pills, tranquilizers, and various other substances are now used by millions of people to be able to go to sleep. It’s reported that over 80 million people in America are having trouble with sleep which is seriously affecting the quality of their life. If you are one of those people, you must realize that it shouldn’t be that way and that sleeping should happen naturally. So, how do we get we get the best night of sleep?

Sleeping used to be more simple than it is today. Life has gotten faster, more connected and more hectic 24/7, and it’s harder to follow a circadian rhythm.

Circadian rhythm is a natural cycle which nature and humans have been abiding by for 10000 years. We used to rise with the Sun and went to sleep when it got dark out, like all the other creatures. There was simply no other option, and today that is a challenge for humans.

We are living in a world of constant buzz. Commercials, infomercials, emails, messages, and notifications are omnipresent. In a world like that, it takes conscious effort to sleep properly. And if you don’t have good night sleep, you are not the half the person you can be.

What does proper sleep mean? It means 8-9 hours of interrupted sleep, naturally, every day.

Of course, we can operate with less sleep, and many people do so on a daily basis. Some people even brag about sleeping less and being able to work more hours. Young, motivated people usually fall into that category. It’s okay to do it for some time, but it’s not healthy in the long run, especially if you are older and can’t recover that fast.

Two most common sleeping problems that we face today is falling asleep and staying asleep. It’s possible to have both issues, and each of them has different causes.

If you are having trouble with waking up during the night, more than likely it’s between 1-3 a.m., as it is the most common time of waking up. That’s an indication of your liver detoxing because that is when it is most active. Improving diet and eliminating toxins is a great way to battle this.

If you are waking up between 3-5 a.m., that indicates lungs issues. That's when we build up the immune system in which lungs have a huge role.

If you have trouble falling asleep, your first thought should be setting up the proper conditions to sleep. As it goes dark, we get a signal from eyes to the pineal gland which releases melatonin, and that makes us drowsy.

If it’s bright and light, your body shuts off the production of melatonin. Melatonin’s primary role in the human body is detox, so it destroys cancer cells, and that’s another significant reason to have a healthy production of it.

When you go to sleep, your room should be pitch black, without any source of light. It should be cool and quiet. Back in Neanderthal days, there was no source of light at night, and it was colder, there were no sounds, and people slept well. That’s the environment you should try to accomplish.

Shut down the heat in your apartment, and decrease cell phone use because blue light stimulates your eyes and shuts down production of melatonin, the same goes for LED lights.

LED lights are popular at workplaces, and if at your work you have LED lights, remember to walk outside the office for at least 20-30 min during the day to get natural sunlight to increase melatonin levels.

Develop healthy ways to fall asleep. If you are using alcohol to go asleep, you will often wake up because you will not produce melatonin and not go into REM (Rapid eye movement).

REM is when you restore and develop your short-term memory and the ability to focus. Lack of REM may cause anxiety, irritability and other cognitive shortcomings, especially if you are having prolonged sleep issues.

Some people are exhausted during the day, and they have a second wind of energy at night. That may be indicative of an imbalance in cortisol production and release in the body, which gives them energy and they become too wired to sleep. It’s a chance that there is adrenal insufficiency, and taking herbs such as Ashwagandha may help with that unwanted energy boost.

People who use marijuana to fall asleep claim that it’s the best sleeping aid and that they are sleeping like babies. While marijuana can have benefits with relaxing your muscles and have a soothing effect on the organism; it has other health risks, such as decreased grey matter in the brain, heart, and lung function.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has proven to have some health benefits, but you risk grogginess and reduced brain function the next day.

Some people use melatonin pills to fall asleep, and they justify that by saying it’s a natural hormone which we release anyway. While that is correct, you must realize that melatonin is not a sleeping pill and that it’s a hormone which simulates darkness, and there are some side effects like grogginess and headaches. You shouldn’t use it every day as a crutch to go to sleep, but for short-term use you shouldn’t have any problems.

Eating habits are also fundamental when it comes to proper sleep. Sugar and carbs interfere with sleep because sugar releases serotonin, the feel-good hormone. If we consume too much sugar, we deplete our reservoir of serotonin.

Since serotonin is a precursor of releasing melatonin, our sleep gets imbalanced.

The ketogenic diet (high fat, medium protein, low carb) has a positive influence on sleep because it has low carb and sugar consumption. Before you go to bed, it’s best to eat a good source of healthy fats, because fats are slowly digested, and when you're sleeping your body uses fat for fuel.

Carbs give us energy, and it’s best to eat them during the day because if you eat them at night, they will be the energy that we will not spend and it will be stored as fat in your body.

Vegan and vegetarians often develop sleep challenges, because they are eating more carbs. Eating meats (especially liver) is an excellent source of b vitamins and tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid, a precursor to making melatonin, and it’s prevalent in meat and eggs.

A derivative of bad sleep is stress, and managing it is extremely important. If we go to bed with smartphones, with work, and keep a busy mind – we are not going to produce melatonin. If your mind is stressed, because of a mind-body connection you will you twitch, twist and turn during the night, and it will cause you to wake up and have less quality sleep.

We should remove all electronic devices out of the room at least one hour before we go to sleep. Having TV, laptops, and smartphones in the bedroom will affect your sleep. As the old saying goes, we should use the bedroom for two things only, and they both start with the letter S.

Developing a breathing practice such as meditation will calm you down before bed, and it will have a positive impact on your stress levels.

For people who are always on the go and have much stress, Kava (organic, water-based) is a remarkable herb, to shut things off and unwind before bed.

Magnesium is another great supplement that is great for the overall function of the organism, and it will also help us stay asleep. Almost every adult lacks it because of the stress, sugar, alcohol and meat consumption, which double the rate of magnesium expenditure.

Try to go to sleep at the same time and to wake up at the same time, for your body to fall into a routine. If you have decided to improve your sleep maybe you will stare at the wall for some time before you get drowsy, but that’s ok, don’t reach for your smartphone.

It’s a process, and it takes discipline to develop healthy sleeping practices, but it is definitely worth it and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Subscribe to the podcast here- https://www.drbartprecourt.com/healthmadesimple

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