Your body depends on the mineral potassium to help control the electrical balance of your heart as well as metabolize carbohydrates and build muscle.

Low potassium levels can cause muscle weakness and heart rhythm disturbances. On the other hand, too much potassium can cause dangerous heartbeat irregularities and even sudden death. If you have heart failure, you need to pay close attention to how much potassium you get each day. What’s more, some heart failure drugs can cause your body to excrete too much potassium, while others can cause your body to retain too much potassium.

Your doctor can tell you how the medications you need will affect your potassium levels. You’ll likely need to have your potassium level checked regularly to be sure it is within a good range for you.

If you need to raise your potassium level:

If your potassium level is too low, the solution may be as simple as taking potassium supplements.

If you need to get your potassium level down:

If your potassium level is too high, you may need to cut back on certain foods (see the table). These tips can also help:

• Soak or boil vegetables and fruits to leach out some of the potassium.
• Avoid foods that list potassium or K, KCl, or K+ — chemical symbols for potassium or related compounds — as ingredients on the label.
• Stay away from salt substitutes. Many are high in potassium. Read the ingredient lists carefully and check with your doctor before using one of these preparations.
• Avoid canned, salted, pickled, corned, spiced, or smoked meat and fish.
• Avoid imitation meat products containing soy or vegetable protein.
• Limit high-potassium fruits such as bananas, citrus fruits, and avocados.
• Avoid baked potatoes and baked acorn and butternut squash.
• Don’t use vegetables or meats prepared with sweet or salted sauces.
• Avoid all types of peas and beans, which are naturally high in potassium.

Potassium levels in common foods
	High potassium	Medium potassium	Low potassium	No potassium
Fruits and vegetables	Artichokes, avocados, bananas, broccoli, coconut, dried fruits, leafy greens, kiwis, nectarines, oranges, papayas, potatoes, prunes, spinach, tomatoes, winter squash, yams	Apples, apricots, asparagus, carrots, cherries, corn, eggplant, peaches, pears, peppers, pineapple juice, radishes	Blueberries, cauliflower, cucumbers, grapefruit, grapes, green beans, lettuce, strawberries
Meat and protein	Dried beans and peas, imitation bacon bits, nuts, soy products	Beef, eggs, fish, peanut butter, poultry, pork, veal
Dairy	Milk, yogurt		Sour cream
Grains and processed foods	Plain bagel, plain pasta, oatmeal, white bread, white rice	Bran muffins and cereals, corn tortillas, whole-wheat bread		Fruit punches, jelly beans, nondairy topping, nondairy creamers

With so many types of hearing aids on the market, which one is right for you? The answer depends on many things. The main consideration is the nature of your hearing loss, its cause, and its severity. The results of your hearing tests will guide your audiologist or hearing aid specialist in making recommendations. Here are seven things you should know as you evaluate your options.

1. If you have severe hearing loss, you may need one of the larger hearing aids.
2. If you are prone to an excessive buildup of earwax or to ear infections, small hearing aids are easily damaged by earwax or draining ear fluid and so may not be the best choice for you.
3. You may want to be able to reduce some types of background noise and boost the sound frequencies you have the most trouble hearing — something not all small hearing aids can do.
4. If you use electronic devices like cell phones, music players, or laptops that are capable of sending a wireless signal, then you may want a hearing aid that is compatible with wireless devices that are important to you.
5. If you are concerned about how you’ll look wearing a hearing aid, let your audiologist know. She or he can help narrow the choices to what will best suit both your hearing needs and your appearance.
6. Hearing aids range in price, depending on size and features. Unfortunately, Medicare and most other insurance plans don’t cover hearing aids, so your budget may be a factor in your decision.
7. Finally, consider your dexterity. If you have arthritis, you may find it difficult to insert and remove small hearing aids, and gladly opt for a larger one that’s easier to handle.

If you have diabetes — or for that matter, nearly any other chronic illness — exercise is one of the most powerful tools that can help you control your weight and blood sugar. And it can help you feel great, too.

The list of exercise benefits is long. Exercise helps control weight, lowers blood pressure, reduces harmful LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, raises healthy HDL cholesterol, strengthens muscles and bones, and reduces anxiety. Exercise can help regulate blood sugar and increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Both are important for people with diabetes.

Many studies have documented that exercise is a strong ally in treating diabetes. Here are a few examples:

• All forms of exercise — aerobic, resistance, and a combination of both — have been shown to be equally good at lowering HbA1c values.

• Resistance training and aerobic exercise both helped to lower insulin resistance in previously sedentary older adults at risk for diabetes. Combining the two was better than either one alone.

• People with diabetes who walked at least two hours a week were less likely to die of heart disease than their sedentary counterparts, and those who exercised three to four hours a week cut their risk even more.

• Women with diabetes who spent at least four hours a week doing moderate or vigorous exercise had a 40% lower risk of developing heart disease than those who didn’t exercise.

If you have diabetes, generally it is best to exercise one to three hours after eating, when your blood sugar level is likely to be higher. If you use insulin, be sure to test your blood sugar before exercising. If it is below 100 mg/dL, eat a piece of fruit or have a small snack. This will bump your blood sugar up and help you avoid hypoglycemia. Test again 30 minutes after your snack to be sure your blood sugar level is stable. It’s also a good idea to check your blood sugar after any particularly grueling workout or activity. If you’re taking insulin, your risk of developing hypoglycemia may be highest six to 12 hours after exercising. Experts also caution against exercising if your blood sugar is too high (over 250).

A medical alert bracelet should be part of your workout wardrobe. It should indicate that you have diabetes and whether you take insulin. Also, keep hard candy or glucose tablets with you while exercising in case your blood sugar takes a nosedive.

To learn more about how to live a healthy life with diabetes and ways to keep your blood sugar in check and avoid complications, contact Ronald @gyminmotion 07929 256856.

Even the healthiest people can find it hard to stick with an exercise regimen — and if you suffer from the joint pain of arthritis, moving your body may be the last thing you want to think about. But regular exercise not only helps maintain joint function, but also relieves stiffness and reduces pain and fatigue.

If you have arthritis, you want to be sure your exercise routine has these goals in mind:

1. A better range of motion (improved joint mobility and flexibility). To increase your range of motion, move a joint as far as it can go and then try to push a little farther. These exercises can be done any time, even when your joints are painful or swollen, as long as you do them gently.
2. Stronger muscles (through resistance training). Fancy equipment isn’t needed. You can use your own body weight as resistance to build muscles. For example, the simple exercise described below can help ease the strain on your knees by strengthening your thigh muscles. Sit in a chair. Now lean forward and stand by pushing up with your thigh muscles (use your arms for balance only). Stand a moment, then sit back down, using your thigh muscles.
3. Better endurance. Aerobic exercise — such as walking, swimming, and bicycling — strengthens your heart and lungs and thereby increases endurance and overall health. Stick to activities that don’t jar your joints, and avoid high impact activities such as jogging. If you’re having a flare-up of symptoms, wait until it subsides before doing endurance exercise.
4. Better balance. There are simple ways to work on balance. For example, stand with your weight on both feet. Then try lifting one foot while you balance on the other foot for 5 seconds. Repeat on the other side. Over time, work your way up to 30 seconds. Yoga and tai chi are also good for balance.

Arthritis doesn’t have to keep you from enjoying life.

From fast food restaurants and delis exploding with high-calorie sandwiches to salad bars stocked with high fat and high sugar salad add-ons — lunchtime can be a minefield of temptation for those trying to eat a healthy and balanced diet.

But a healthful and enjoyable lunch can be done. These simple tips can help.

Your meal should include lean protein, whole-grain carbohydrates, and produce. Roughly half of your plate should be vegetables or fruit; one-quarter should be lean protein such as fish, chicken, turkey, tofu, beans, or low-fat cottage cheese; and one-quarter should be whole grains, such as one slice of whole-grain bread, or half a cup of brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, or quinoa. You might include a small amount of healthy fat, such as a tablespoon of oil-and-vinegar dressing on your salad.

Salad can be a good way to go, but you need to be careful. Regular salad dressings, cheeses, and mayonnaise-based salads (such as tuna, chicken, and egg salads) can contain unhealthy fats, hidden sugar, and salt. Not to mention lots of calories. Here’s the trick to a healthy and satisfying lunch salad.

Step 1: Build a vegetable base. Load your plate with leafy greens and raw or grilled vegetables.

Step 2: Add some protein — a few scoops of garbanzo or kidney beans. Beans are an excellent source of fiber — and they’re filling! Other good selections include grilled chicken, low-fat cottage cheese, or chopped eggs. Go light on the cheese. A sprinkle of a strongly flavored cheese like feta or Parmesan can deliver flavor with fewer calories.

Step 3: Add a small amount of healthy fat. Sprinkle on the nuts and seeds. They are high in heart-healthy unsaturated fat and healthy protein, give you a feeling of fullness, and help food stay in your stomach longer. You might also opt for a dash of oil and vinegar.

Step 4: Whole grains and fruit make a nice addition to a creative salad. Look for whole grains like barley or bulgur wheat to sprinkle on top. Or add a few slices of fruit.

If you want to learn about other effective strategies for healthy eating contact Ronald on 07929 256856

One night, you're in a bad neighborhood. A grungy thug comes out of nowhere and starts chasing you down the block. Suddenly, you are able to run faster and longer than you thought you ever could. And this is because your sympathetic nervous system has taken charge, which stimulates your adrenal glands to work harder.

But say you have a work assignment that is due the next day, the baby is crying even though you need to get dinner ready for your guests, your other child is screaming at you, and the TV is on full blast in the other room. Your body still interprets this as being under severe stress. The sympathetic nervous system has a hard time shutting off, the adrenal glands are overworking, and problems occur. Unfortunately, modern life often has overstimulation and a lot of pressures and difficulties that keep the sympathetic nervous system in fight-or-flight mode continually.

So where exactly are the adrenal glands? The kidneys are located in the lower back region, right around the second lumbar section of the spine just under your waistline, depending on the person. The adrenal glands are situated right above the kidneys.

The body is a whole universe with an extensive communication network. The body's nervous system breaks down into two parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is part of the peripheral nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for involuntary movements and actions. It controls heartbeats, breathing, digesting, sweating, crying, etc. It is divided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems.

The sympathetic nervous system controls the fight-or-flight response. This means how your body responds to emergency and stressful situations. When the sympathetic nervous system is switched on your parasympathetic nervous system is switched off so that your body can cope with the emergencies more efficiently. When the sympathetic nervous system is on your heart rate increases, you sweat, your pupils dilate, and your body shuts down your digestion system so that it can focus on dealing with the emergency.

The parasympathetic nervous system kicks in when the sympathetic nervous system switches off. Your heart rate returns to normal, your digestion system starts back up, and body functions return to normal.

Although the nervous system's main communicators as neurons, the endocrine system's main communicators are chemical messengers known as hormones. Hormones are carried in the bloodstream to specific areas of the body, including organs and body tissues. Some of the most important endocrine glands include the pineal gland, the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, the thyroid, the ovaries, and the testes.

When the sympathetic nervous system has been in flight-or-fight too long, it affects the hormones of the adrenal system. Too little or too much of the hormones can lead to adrenal fatigue and because of the way this fatigue impacts the body, it can lead to illness. This process of adrenal fatigue does not happen all at once. Instead, it is a gradual breakdown in the body.

The Three Phases of Stress

In 1956, endocrinologist Dr. Hans Selye developed a key concept in the study of stress and its effects on the body, which he termed, the general adaptation syndrome. In the general adaptation syndrome, the body passes through three phases in the way it copes with stress:

1. Alarm Phase
2. Resistance Phase
3. Exhaustion Phase

1. Alarm Phase
In the alarm phase, the adrenal glands increase the amount of hormonal secretions in an attempt to maintain homeostasis (normal functioning of the body). The sympathetic nervous system is in excess. When the sympathetic nervous system is on and the parasympathetic nervous system is off, there will be a deficiency with digestion, the sex organs, the urinary tract, and less energy is being sent to these systems in order to deal with the more immediate crisis. That means blood is shunted away from hands, skin, feet, and the digestive tract (stomach and intestines) to the brain and the immediately important organs in the torso like the heart.

This can cause those raised knotted shoulders, tight upper back and neck, chills along the spine, clammy hands, cold feet, increased heart rate, a tight locked pelvis, and tight leg muscles. A good example of this is in someone who has just had a car accident - a hugely stressful event. Just as their body responds to stress by causing the upper back and legs to tighten, the muscles are jerked quickly, causing injury that can take time to heal. On the other hand, the body does this to stay alive, so that the heart can keep pumping blood even under poor circumstances, and so the person won't feel pain as quickly - that's the beauty of the sympathetic nervous system's response. In the alarm phase, stress is relatively short lived and the return back to homeostasis is with ease.

A list of what happens during a fight-or-flight response:

• The sympathetic nervous system response goes into excess as the body mobilizes by bringing large amounts of glucose and oxygen to the organs to ward off danger.
• Non-essential parasympathetic functions like digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems are inhibited.
• Adrenocorticol secretion rises sharply, raising the blood pressure and producing symptoms of sympathetic system hyperactivity.

Symptoms: Shortness of breath, palpitations, emotional instability, headache, back pain, decrease in frequency and quantity of urination, insomnia, lack of appetite, dizziness, nausea, eye pain, cold hands and feet, tight neck and upper back muscles.

Options on how to treat this stage:

• B-Vitamins: B-Vitamins help the body deal with stress better. Deficiencies in B Vitamins can cause muscle cramping and depression, but certain B Vitamins (for example, B-5) are also necessary for adrenal gland function.
• Magnesium: Magnesium can help both the skeletal and smooth muscle cramping that can be experienced as a result of stress. Because magnesium relaxes muscle, it can be helpful for stress-induced Anxiety or asthma attacks, and for lowering blood pressure.
• Electrolytes: After a stressful event or exercise, electrolytes like sodium and potassium can be lowered as well and these electrolytes are necessary for fluid balance in the tissues and regulating transport along cell walls. Also, sodium is closely involved in the regulation of the adrenals. Lack of sodium and potassium can cause swelling, as well as muscle weakness, fatigue, muscle cramps, fatigue, and mental confusion. If you have hypertension, you should check with your doctor about this because there may be a correlation between potassium deficiency and high sodium consumption in the diet of hypertensive patients.
• Vitamin C: Among other reasons to take Vitamin C (there's a list!) ACTH stimulation causes marked loss of ascorbic acid from the adrenal cortex. ACTH is what stimulates cortisol production when there is stress.
• Cutting down on coffee consumption: Coffee stimulates the adrenal glands, so if you are having problems with stress, this would be an important thing to cut down on. Try going without the afternoon cup and just having one cup in the morning.
• Drinking Water: Drinking water is important for treating stress as your body needs it for virtually every function so it's easier for your body to bounce back if it's hydrated. If you haven't been drinking water, you can begin drinking more along with taking in essential fatty acids and lecithin.
• Lecithin: Lecithin helps cell walls repair tissue and helps organ hydration and function.
• Essential fatty acid (EFA): EFAs attract water to dehydrated cells and connective tissue and maintain cell hydration.
• Meditation: Meditating for at least 5 minutes a day will help the body to relax, mitigating the effects of stress and keeping you from moving to stage 2.
• L-Theanine: If you have sudden high spikes of stress leading to extreme stress symptoms this is a great supplement. A good example is if you have test Anxiety, panic attacks, extreme sweating, and blanking out in stressful situations. L-Theanine is an amino acid taken from tea leaves, such as green tea, that creates a sense of relaxation 40 minutes after ingestion. This works in two different ways. It stimulates the production of alpha brain waves, creating a state of deep relaxation and mental alertness similar to what is achieved through meditation. It is also involved in the formation of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), which influences two other neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, producing the key relaxation effect.
• Rhodiola Rosea root: Rhodiola rosea root supports the functioning of the adrenal glands and encourages a healthy response to physical, emotional, and mental stress by normalizing cortisol levels and other stress-related hormones. If used regularly, it enhances the body's natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences. In some people it can make you hyper, so take with caution.

2. Resistance Phase
According to Hans Selye, M.D., traumatic situations cause an elevated function of the adrenal glands. If this elevated activity is prolonged, the adrenal gland will be overworked and become exhausted, and thus be unable to release adequate amounts of adrenal hormones, such as cortisol and epinephrine.

In the resistance phase, constantly reacting to stress leaves the body depleted, leading to a general decrease in overall resistance to illness, inflammation, and pain. Stress is wearing the body out even though the body is still resisting it. There is constant energy being sent by the adrenals and sympathetic nervous system to only the most important organs for a flight-or-fight circumstance. For example, since digestion is a parasympathetic function, undigested food begins to enter the colon, causing gas and bloating, and as the body can't pull the nutrients out of food as efficiently, there are less number of important nutrients to keep the body healthy and pain free. Secretion of the adrenal hormones is initially still high, but slows down as they begin to wear out. The sympathetic nervous system weakness leads to sympathetic deficiency. The parasympathetic nervous system begins to become more dominant as it attempts to compensate.

The parasympathetic nervous system will switch on and take over, but not because the sympathetic nervous system has switched off, but because it's so exhausted that the parasympathetic nervous system has to pick up the slack so the body can function. What occurs is a constriction of blood vessels such as capillaries and arteries in the brain, excitement of the digestive system, and adrenal gland deficiency along with a whole host of problems listed below.

What happens during the Resistance Phase?
-Parasympathetic dominance
-Sympathetic exhaustion
-Adrenal gland exhaustion

What kind of patient has moved from the Alarm Phase to the Resistance Phase?

• The adrenal gland exhaustion sign is most active on those who have suffered or are suffering from shock, trauma, or extreme stress.
• This could be a person under chronic stress, who has a sudden trauma or a big life change.
• This could be a person under chronic stress who has had past trauma that still challenges them in some way (car accidents, sexual abuse, child abuse, psychological abuse, fear of death).
• People may have also had many children or many abortions, have had surgery(s), a history of chronic disease and pain. Also, drug abuse or a history of strong medication can lead to this stage.

Symptoms:

• Feeling tired, low back pain, shoulder pain and muscular tightness in whole body. Other symptoms include lack of sweat (except on palms of hands), cold lower back, cold abdomen, cold extremities.
• Upper respiratory tract symptoms: Constriction of airways and wheezing, shortness of breath and coughing. Allergic asthma may have presented itself in the alarm phase but is more typical in the resistance phase.
• Urinary Tract symptoms: Parasympathetic system dominance can stimulate contraction of the bladder, causing frequent urination.
• Gastrointestinal symptoms: abdominal pain, cramps, diarrhea, excessive salivation and gas.

Options on how to treat this stage:

All the recommendations from Stage 1 will help, but here are a few more for the more severe stage 2. All of these should be checked out with a doctor first as you may be having more severe symptoms stemming from stress (for example, high blood pressure):

• Holy Basil: Holy Basil is an Ayurvedic herb that supports a healthy response to stress, nourish the mind, and elevate the spirit. It contains a variety of constituents, including eugenol, camphor, caryophyllene, ursolic acid, luteolin and apigenin that function collectively to normalize stress hormones and enhance adrenal function.
• Ashwaganda: Ashwaganda is an Ayurvedic herb and an adaptogen that supports mental and physical Vitality and stamina. It contains steroidal compounds and additional chemical constituents that advance the body's natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences. It supports mental endurance, promotes total metabolic efficiency and encourages an overall sense of well-being.
• Schizandra berries: Schizandra (Wu Wei Zi in Chinese medicine) is an adaptogen that promote overall health and Vitality, enhances the body's natural resistance to stressful influences, supports mental endurance and promote overall metabolic efficiency. This is also an astringent herb, so it may help if diarrhea and having to urinate too often are symptoms.
• Try different relaxation techniques: Meditation, deep breathing, long hot baths, relaxing yoga classes, journaling. You need to find something that relaxes you that you can do every day. This seems simple but is a great help for your body.
• Avoid sodium: Avoid sodium if high blood pressure is a symptom. In restoration of the adrenal gland function, typically one should include potassium rich foods and avoid foods that are too high in sodium.
• Cut out coffee completely: Coffee stimulates the adrenal glands and in this phase, they are over-stimulated. At this point, you need to do everything you can to calm them, so this is the time where you actually should consider not just cutting down on coffee, but quitting entirely.
• Cut out smoking: Smoking inhibits the ability of your lungs to breathe so it can be really important to quit at this phase.
• Cut out or significantly lower sugar: The injury to the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal gland weakness can affect the way your body metabolizes glucose. This may be especially important if you are diabetic (chromium increases the ability of your body to metabolize glucose, so this may be something to look into if that's a problem). Sugar will also increase inflammation.
• Watch out for inflammation symptoms: Increases in body pain, sudden muscular tension, allergy attacks, and new food allergies - all of these are signs of inflammation which are common in this stage. Turmeric /curcumin can help with this, as can essential fatty acids, but the inflammation may be happening because stress is affecting the body.
• Ginger: Ginger is very warming, and if you are constantly feeling cold due to stress, this would be a great tea to make you can buy ginger at any grocery store and slice a few pieces to make tea out of. It works in soups too.
• Bitters: Bitters might be good to take at this time if digestion and elimination is a large problem.
• Overstimulation: If you are experiencing an inability to relax even when exhausted, you might try making a tea out of linden flowers, skullcap, passionflower, and chamomile, but make sure you aren't driving and have a night of relaxation and sleep ahead of you.

Stage 3: Exhaustion Stage
- This stage occurs only when stress is extremely severe or when it continues over a long period of time.
- If stress continues to this level, cortisol secretion increases above normal rate and may even surpass levels produced by alarm reaction. However, the body's adaptive mechanisms are not adapting, they are decreasing.
- The body is not able to successfully cope with the stressor.

Possible Consequences of Exhaustion Phase:

• Arthritis, arteriosclerosis, nephrosclerosis, gastrointestinal ulcers, hypertension, etc.
• Prolonged exposure to high levels of cortisol and other hormones involved in the resistance reaction causes wasting muscle, suppression of immune system, and pancreatic beta cells.
• Even if changes are made in lifestyle now, resistance reactions persist even after stressor is gone.
• Serious diseases like Cushing's syndrome and adrenal diabetes may occur.
• Due to the fact that the body's systems are very much out of homeostasis, a multitude of problems may now occur and so we won't discuss natural remedies and supplements as this is the more emergency stage where you must work with a doctor.

Sources

- Bodymind Energetics Towards a Dynamic Model of Health. By Mark Seem, Ph.D.
- Kiiko Matsumoto's Clinical Strategies Volume 1. By Kiiko Matsumoto and David Euler
- Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. By Tortora and Derrikson
- The Ciba Collection of Medical Illustrations, Volume 4, Endocrine System and Selected Metabolic   Diseases. By Frank H. Netter, M.D.
- Color Atlas of Human Anatomy. By R.M.H. McMinn and R.T. Hutchings
- The Stress of Life. By Hans Selye, M.D.
- Natural Health Complete Guide to Medicinal Herbs. By Penelope Ody, MNIMH
- Medical Nutrition From Marz, 2nd Edition. By Russell B. Marz, N.D., M.Ac.O.M

This quick and simple salad is a delicious solution to the age-old question, “What’s for dinner?” It’s filled with wholesome ingredients, protein and fiber to enhance your hard earned fitness results.

Servings: 6 
Here’s what you need:

For the Salad

• 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
• 1.2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 Tablespoon red onion, minced
• 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
• 4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
• 4 strips, cooked nitrate-free bacon, chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped

For the Dressing

• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 packet stevia
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Instructions

1. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Mix to combine.
2. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle over the salad and serve.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 218 calories, 12g fat, 189mg sodium, 5g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, and 22g protein

Feeling adventurous? This strawberry avocado salad will give your taste buds a run for their money

Recipe: 
3 cups fresh organic strawberries, sliced
1 small avocado, diced
1 large or 2 small lemons, squeezed + pinch of fresh lemon zest
1/8 tsp fresh raw ginger, grated with a microplane
splash of grade B maple syrup (optional)
1 Tbsp fresh peppermint, finely chopped + a few leaves as garnish
2-3 Tbsp raw organic hemp seeds (optional)

Our bodies can obtain vitamin D from diet and make it from sun exposure. Even with these two routes for obtaining vitamin D, however, inadequate vitamin D is common, and deficiencies can be found on all continents, in all ethnic groups, and across all ages—a major concern, given the many ways that vitamin D helps protect our health. (1) There are a number of factors that increase the risk of having inadequate vitamin D, among them, lifestyle, sunscreen use, geographic location, skin tone, age, and body weight.

• Lifestyle: People who spend less time outdoors, or who cover up with clothing when they are outdoors, get less exposure to the sun, so they make less vitamin D. (1)
• Sunscreen Use: Correctly-applied sunscreen blocks the harmful ultraviolet B rays that cause skin cancer, but it also blocks most of the skin’s production of vitamin D. So people who use sunscreen daily are more likely to be low in vitamin D. (1) But don’t ditch the sunscreen: The American Academy of Dermatologists says that sunlight exposure to unprotected skin increases the risk of skin cancer, and that there’s no safe level of sunlight exposure that allows you to make vitamin D without increasing skin cancer risk. Their advice? Use sunscreen or other sun protection daily, skip the tanning booths, and get your vitamin D from diet or supplements. (2) Some Vitamin D experts take issue with the American Academy of Dermatologists’ hard line on sun exposure, and they recommend a more moderate option: Put sunscreen on your face, and allow your arms and legs to get a small amount of unprotected sun exposure—say, 15 minutes max—before applying sunscreen or covering up. It’s still a matter of scientific debate.
• Geographic Location and Season: In the summer, if you sat out in a bathing suit on a sunny afternoon for long enough to turn your skin slightly pink, you could make plenty of vitamin D. Yet during the late autumn and winter, people who live at higher latitudes produce little or no vitamin D from the sun, because the sun is at too low an angle in the sky. In the northern hemisphere, people who live in Boston (U.S.), Edmonton (Canada), and Bergen (Norway) can’t make enough vitamin D from the sun for 4, 5, and 6 months out of the year. (3) In the southern hemisphere, residents of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Cape Town (South Africa) can make far less vitamin D from the sun during their winter months (June through August) than they can during their spring and summer. (3) The body stores vitamin D from summer sun exposure, but it must last for many months. By late winter, many people in these higher-latitude locales are deficient. (1)
• Skin Tone: People who have a darker skin tone have more melanin in their skin, and this pigment is a “natural sunscreen” that slows down skin production of vitamin D. (3)  This the main reason why African Americans are more likely to be low in vitamin D. (4)
• Age: The ability to make vitamin D in the skin drops as we age, and is one of the reasons why older individuals are more likely to have low vitamin D levels. (1)
• Body Weight: People with excess body fat have lower vitamin D levels, so those who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of having inadequate vitamin D.  (1, 5, 6)

The bottom line: Low vitamin D can be found in all ethnic and age groups, around the world, for a host of reasons. Even if you are taking a standard multiple vitamin, the amount of vitamin D in most vitamins (400 IU) is not enough to prevent low blood levels. If you suspect that you are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, you can ask your physician to order a blood test for vitamin D.

Seasickness caused by boat motion can be a serious problem for sailors. Not only does the sick person feel terrible and become incapacitated, and therefore a problem too for others on a shorthanded boat, but the dehydration that may result from repeated vomiting can become a medical issue. Therefore it's important to know how to prevent seasickness.

About 90% of people will experience seasickness or motion sickness at some point in their lives. If you're new to sailing, or have ever experienced nausea or dizziness on a boat, it's worthwhile to take steps early to prevent seasickness. Once seasickness occurs, it's too late to do much more than cope with it as best you can.

Even with many medical studies and hundreds of years of experimenting with how to prevent seasickness, no one method or medication has been developed that works for everyone. But various methods do work for different people, so it's mostly an issue of taking the problem seriously and trying to determine what will work best for you.

Prevention, Not Cure

Seasickness prevention remedies fall into four general categories: medications, food and drink prescriptions, wrist bands, and behavior tips:

Medications

Note: if you have a health condition or are taking other medications, talk to your doctor before starting any new medication, to ensure the drugs do not produce a negative interaction.

Food and Drink

Wrist Bands

Behavior Tips

Remember to Start Early!

In most cases you should begin the remedy well before beginning to experience any signs or symptoms of seasickness. Usually that means before getting on the boat. But if you start out on a calm day and boat motion later starts to pick up, it's better late than never. Seasickness often begins with general feelings of drowsiness-the first sign may be yawning. Don't wait!