The mighty mitochondria! You’ve heard us talk about them before. Mitochondria are the tiny power houses inside our cells that take glucose and fats from the blood and magically convert them into energy. The more mitochondria we have, the more fat we burn, and the more energy we have. If you’d like more energy, more mitochondria will help you get it. How to get more mitochondria? According to a report on work being done at the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI) in Orlando, Florida, aerobic exercise stimulates your body to create more and better-functioning mitochondria. Without enough exercise, muscle atrophy accompanies aging. Starting around the age of thirty, muscle fibers shrink, while fat stores accumulate. Even if we maintain the same weight, we lose muscle-to-fat ratio. We also lose mitochondria, and those we have become less effective. This can lead to developing insulin resistance, making it even harder to manufacture energy, as well as…

It may seem like a simple mathematical equation:  One pound equals about 3,500 calories. If you want to lose one pound, you simply eat less and/or exercise more so that you consume 3,500 less calories than you’re burning. But the truth is more complex. Although if you eat less and exercise more, you can lose weight, most people who take this limited approach have a hard time and often wind up like our friend Debby who reported, “I exhausted myself losing five pounds, but they found me again!” As Raymond Francis says in Never Be Fat Again, overweight is a disease, a disease that can only be cured by normalizing body chemistry. This is done by permanently adopting a holistic lifestyle that supplies the body with all the nutrients it needs to be healthy, and eliminates toxins that interfere with good health. A body in optimal health sustains self-healing, self-regulating mechanisms that automatically shed excess pounds and then maintain a healthy weight. Regular exercise is…

Your body is harboring a couple of potential saboteurs! The words saboteur and sabotage come from French mill workers who would throw their wooden shoes, called sabots, into the machinery at work to make it break down or halt as a form of protest. The two potential saboteurs threatening to break down your body are inflammation and oxidation. Both are body processes that are helpful under normal circumstances, but if they get out of control, watch out!  If they’re allowed to develop into chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, they become health saboteurs of the first order and play a major role in every chronic disease, in problems with energy, and in the aging process itself. Unfortunately, almost everyone today is being damaged by these saboteurs. This is how it happens. Inflammation is the body’s response to injury, irritation or infection.  Cutting your finger, for example, will initiate an inflammatory process that enlarges blood vessels (the reason…

Quercetin is a plant compound found in fruits & vegetables, especially apples, onions, and tea. It makes so many different contributions to good health that at Beyond Health we consider it a foundational supplement that everyone should take. It’s hard to think of a body system or chronic disease that quercetin will not help. Quercetin is especially useful if you’re trying to recover your health or just don’t feel as youthful & energetic as you’d like. Quercetin also helps fight the battle of the bulge!  If you’re overweight, it not only can help you lose excess weight, it can also minimize some of the damage done by excess body fat. Healthy body fat and harmful body fat Having some fat is healthy, but when too much body fat accumulates, its composition changes, and it becomes a harmful source of chronic inflammation. This inflammation does two things. First, it damages the metabolism of the fat cells, which makes them resist being broken down as energy.  So,…

Quercetin (pronounced kwer՚-sa-tin) is one of Mother Nature’s most wonderful nutrients. Found naturally in many colorful fruits and vegetables, quercetin supports healthy cell function, providing myriad benefits to the body. Beyond Health considers quercetin foundational in building optimal health, and together with recommending a diet high in fruits and vegetables, we carry two quercetin products: Quercetin Pro and Cell Repair Formula.  Quercetin Pro is for maintaining health, while Cell Repair Formula is a more concentrated form for those who seek to restore compromised health or just want the extra support. Quercetin works synergistically with vitamin C to build collagen, the basic protein building block for constructing body tissues from the skin to bones, and may even prevent and reverse bone loss.  Both are powerful antioxidants that regenerate each other. As anti-inflammatories, studies show this dynamic duo is especially good at alleviating pain, acting as an ant…

While the world’s attention is riveted by COVID-19, pervasive magnesium deficiency has been an ongoing health crisis for at least sixty years, causing death, disease, and reduced quality of life. Magnesium plays many important roles in heart health, and a deficiency of this important mineral is a major risk factor for having a sudden, fatal heart attack! As one of the body’s most significant anti-inflammatory compounds, magnesium also helps to prevent the chronic diseases that plague our time, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other “co-morbidities” that increase chances of being hospitalized with and dying from COVID-19. In fact, virtually every known illness can be associated with magnesium deficiency.  Magnesium plays many essential roles in the immune system. It contributes significantly to anti-viral immunity, and has other properties that may make it especially useful for COVID-19. Meanwhile, low magnesium levels can seri…

It never seems like you have enough time - or motivation. You think your dreams and aspirations are within your grasp, but no matter your efforts, they always feel just out of reach. Don't give up or think of your efforts as futile; instead, you might ask yourself, how do you get the energy to achieve your goals and manifest your dreams? What fuels you? To start, the goals and dreams themselves, if they speak to your heart and soul, energize your spirit. But you also need physical health to manifest them. To be a human dynamo, you need to go beyond "health" as simply the absence of a disease diagnosis. True health is a condition of vigor, stamina and exuberant energy that is rare in today's world. True health means every cell in your body is bursting with vitality! That is the vision for you that drives us at Beyond Health - to go beyond conventional definitions of health and beyond what you may have imagined for yourself. No matter where you are now, we know…

"Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates Do your meals leave you feeling light and full of vitality, or do they weigh you down, making you feel sleepy and dull? Although all food supplies calories, how well your body utilizes those calories to provide you with energy depends on the "life force" in the foods you eat. And foods vary widely along a continuum in this respect, from producing vitality, rejuvenation and healing to sapping your energy, adding unwanted weight and contributing to premature aging and disease.Food also influences mood and mental abilities, from raising your spirits, making you optimistic and heightening your awareness and mental function to bringing you down and dulling your brain.A number of factors determine a food's vibration or life force. Overall, foods are most energizing and health-promoting when they're consumed raw, or as close as possible to their natural state. This gives pride of place to the multicolored fruits and vegetable…

You never feel like you have enough time. Your day seems like it just doesn't have enough hours, or you're too tired to tackle everything on your list. However, rather than attempt to speed up your pace or try another time management technique, consider addressing your sleep - specifically if and how much restorative sleep you're getting in each night. What Is Restorative Sleep?To operate at top energy and efficiency, getting a good night's sleep - seven to nine hours of "restorative sleep" that leaves you waking up feeling rested and refreshed - is essential.The body is self-healing, self-repairing and self-detoxifying - but only if it gets enough rest and sleep, because all this healing, repairing and detoxifying work is done when the body is at rest.To put it straightforwardly, when you wake up feeling alert, rested and ready to start your day, you've had a night of restorative sleep. Restorative sleep applies to the period lasting from deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM), durin…

Want to age slower and live longer? Back in 1976, Dr. Benjamin S. Frank, a medical doctor and PhD molecular biologist, published a best-selling book, Dr. Frank’s No-Aging Diet.  This book proposed a revolutionary way of looking at aging. Dr. Frank was a miracle worker.  It was reported that he could take anyone over the age of fifty and, in 3-4 weeks, have them looking 10-15 years younger, with much more energy, endurance, and aerobic capacity.  Over twenty years of meticulous research and record-keeping, Dr. Frank documented achieving many health building and rejuvenating effects in his patients, including significant increases in energy and oxygenation, enhanced immunity and cognitive performance, improved capacity to tolerate low and high temperatures, smoother skin and thicker hair. Although his intent was to build general health rather than to treat specific diseases, his approach improved acne, ALS, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, emphysema, glaucoma and po…

Life tends to feel like you're always on the go: You're reaching for a new goal at work, attempting to squeeze in more time for your family or hobbies, and then you address your health by going to the gym or another form of physical activity. Even if you do it all, the hectic pace catches up to you, and you notice how exhausted you feel over time. But why should it be either-or? Rather than pull back or surge forward while ignoring your health, understand how to effectively balance rest and activity. This year, Beyond Health is focusing on maximizing energy in order to do all the wonderful and amazing things you want to do with your life. But to maximize energy, you first need to balance activity with deep rest and relaxation, to give your body a chance to settle and become quieter, and to heal and regenerate.Understanding Balance in the BodyIn Chinese medicine, there are two principles that govern all life, yang and yin. Yang is dynamic, active, hard, brilliant, quick, courageous and…

The most common complaint bringing patients to doctors’ offices these days is low energy.  Most often, if you go in complaining of fatigue, after a battery of tests, you will be told there’s nothing wrong with you. Well, although it may not show up in their tests, there is something wrong! Low energy means not only that you don’t have the energy to do what you want to do; it means your body doesn’t have the energy to do what it needs to do to keep you healthy. In fact, the amount of energy your body can make may be the single most important measurement of your health. It’s important to get to the bottom of what’s going on.  (A doctor who specializes in functional medicine may find answers that conventional doctors don’t.) One of the most common reasons for low energy today is a sluggish liver. The liver is the largest and most hard-working gland in your body, performing over 500 essential functions, and when it isn’t up to par, every other system in your body suffers as a…

The strongest and most hard-working muscle in your body, your heart is also associated with vulnerability . . . and for good reason.  Powerhouse though it may be, the heart is living tissue that requires proper nourishment. A nutrient called coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is essential for keeping your heart strong and healthy. Yet it’s quite possible your CoQ10 levels are suboptimal, leading to a condition that underlies many heart problems called “energy-starved heart.” Every cell in your body contains hundreds of little energy factories called mitochondria. CoQ10 facilitates various chemical reactions in the mitochondria’s energy-producing process. Simply put, when you lack CoQ10, you lack energy. Your muscles, including your heart, may be ready, willing and able, but there’s just not enough fuel in the tank. Even minor deficiencies in CoQ10 can impair heart function and eventually damage the heart itself. CoQ10 plays yet another crucial role in cardiovascular health: Keeping…

We’ve said it frequently: More than 90% of the multivitamins on the market today are a waste of money and not worth taking, and one of the best investments you can make for your health is a high-quality multi. It is not easy to make a superior multi, but that’s what we do. So, what specifically are the features that make our multi superior? It is a high-potency formula, which means you get higher amounts than in other multis. Government RDAs are not sufficient for optimal health, and most people don’t absorb nutrients as well as they should. By using only the purest and safest forms of vitamins and minerals, we can safely provide generous amounts. All nutrients are in biologically preferred forms for enhanced absorption and activity even for those with compromised health. Over 90% of other brands do not use these preferred forms because they cost more. The nutrients in our multi are identical to those found in food, so the body recognizes them and knows exactly what to do with th…

Vitamin B12 and folate (aka vitamin B9) work together in a very productive partnership. Unfortunately, government statistics show that 30% of the US population is deficient in vitamin B12 and 75% in folate. This is using the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) as a reference, which many experts believe are far too low. And since they often work together, a deficiency in one means the other won’t work as it should. So it wouldn’t be too surprising to find you’re deficient in one or both, especially if you’re over the age of 50 when both B12 and folate levels start to decline. Because these two B vitamins participate in so many different biochemical processes, deficiencies can produce a wide range of symptoms: Do you have low energy? Feel weak, or get dizzy spells? Do you find you’re getting more irritable or feeling a bit low? Is your memory getting worse? Is it harder to learn new things; easier to get distracted and confused?  Do you have balance, vision or hearing proble…

What If One Simple Ritual Could Help You Recharge Your Body Naturally? Low energy. Brain fog. Poor sleep. Muscle tension.These are some of the most searched health concerns online today and they all share one thing in common: they’re signs your body needs recovery support. One increasingly searched solution is infrared sauna therapy a modern wellness tool gaining attention for its ability to support relaxation, circulation, and whole-body restoration. Let’s break down what it is, how it works, and how to use it effectively. ? What Is an Infrared Sauna? (And Why People Are Searching for It) An infrared sauna is a type of heat therapy that uses infrared light to warm the body directly rather than heating the surrounding air like a traditional sauna. Because of this difference, users often report that infrared sessions feel: More comfortable Easier to tolerate Less draining More relaxing These advantages are why search interest for terms like infrared sauna ben…