MCT (Medium-Length Chains) oil is a supplement often added to smoothies, bulletproof coffee, and salad dressings. As the name suggests, medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil contains medium-length chains of fats called triglycerides. Due to their shorter length, MCTs are easily digested and many health benefits are linked to the way your body processes these fats.
I have been adding MCT Oil to my Power Coffee, smoothies and salad dressings. I really like it – it is super slippery, doesn’t have a strong coconut scent and overall I like it.
Where Does it Come From?
MCT oil is most commonly extracted from coconut oil, as more than 50% of the fat in coconut oil comes from MCTs. These fats are also found in many other foods, such as palm oil and dairy products.
MCT oil has been shown to increase the release of two hormones that promote the feeling of fullness in the body: peptide YY and leptin. For this reason they are beneficial in weight loss.
MCT oil can help optimize the growth of good bacteria and support the gut lining, which could also help you lose weight.
Manage Your Fear – There is Creativity Living Beyond Fear
Don’t let fear immobilize you. However, this does not mean you should try to stomp it out entirely. Fear exists for a reason, we just need to learn how to “manage” it.
I found this concept fascinating recently when listening to a podcast of Elizabeth Gilbert interviewing Marie Forleo. Both of these women are fascinatingly creative ladies – I could sit and listen to them all day. Anyways, Elizabeth Gilbert was explaining a concept she talks about in her book:
I found this very interesting and I wanted to share the basics of what I understood from the conversation with you.
So many times in my own life I have let fear hold me back in my health journey.
If I have a busy day for example: I might be afraid I have to eat breakfast because what if there is not any food around at lunchtime (We live in America – like that is going to happen right ?!) 😀. Another “dumb” fear I let creep in on my health journey – I better change my plan to start eating better today and put it off until tomorrow – because today we are going to go out to eat and I don’t want to fail the 1st day. Or how about this one – do you ever do this? I better not get up and exercise early today because then I’ll be too tired this evening and I have a big day ahead of me… I’m sure these things never happen to you though… 😄
😨 Wow! Really?! This podcast really spoke to me on so many levels so let me see if I can explain what I got out of this one piece of her book:
Fear is a Necessary Companion
Often we want to push through our fear, get rid of it, punch it in the face or whatever way we see fit we “demonize” fear.
The concept she talks about is that of fear being a companion. We should not be wishing to be a “fearless” person, because the only truly fearless people are psychopaths or toddlers 🙂 Neither of which seems like a good place to be right?! Dangerous to themselves and others – not a good thing to model, right? 😱
She talks about how we should instead have respect and appreciation for fear. Fear is the reason you are still alive today. Think about the times in life where fear has kept you from harm: A situation that didn’t look safe, jumping when you should have jumped to miss a near accident – all those types of things.
Using Your Fear
Every single one of us can point to a thing that happened in our life that fear has saved us from. For example, I get very fearful when having to drive in heavy city traffic. But at the same that fear keeps me alert.
Fear does its job well, it just it can’t tell the difference between an actual life-threatening situation and a story or idea you have come up within your brain. Creativity will always provoke fear because it asks you to come into and uncertain outcome. Fear hates that and thinks you are going to die 🙂
So when you start a new creative project, be aware that fear is going to pop up. Fear is the mind-killer. Simply tell it that its services are not needed here. (For example, I’m just writing an email, or what have you.) 🙂
I got a big kick out of how she talks about the fear as another being within us. It is just misguided at times as to when it is needed and when it is not.
She talks about respecting fear because it is really important in protecting us. “Fear, you don’t own me. You can come along, but I’m still doing this thing :)” – Fear doesn’t get to make the decisions – YOU DO…
Especially in creative situations or even choosing to not eat the snack etc… (fear will tell you every time you are going to starve or it might be a long time before your next meal etc…)
“Fear does its job well, however it can’t tell the difference between an actual life-threatening situation.”
Don’t Let it Control You…
If you let fear control you, it will shut down one idea after the other – nope don’t do that, nope too risky, nope… One “no” after another and your life will be so much smaller than you want it to be.
I found this very insightful. It really helps us understand why we let our brains talk us out of things we want or need to do. Fear is not evil in and of it’s self, we just need to learn to look through it and see when it is not making rational decisions.
I hope this insight has been helpful in your journey to better health. What fears have you had to “talk yourself” out of recently?
Crepitus is actually the description of a sound. For instance, when we breathe, one of the sounds that we hear in the lung sometimes is called crepitus. It’s a very broad diagnosis and can encompass a variety of issues.
So all crepitus really is is a sound. Often you will find crepitus in joints, and is very common in knees. People can sometimes have crepitus of the neck and sometimes in their ankles. Essentially it’s a crackling of the joint.
Crepitus Symptoms
You can even have crepitus in your neck, but one of the types of crepitus is a tiny gas bubble that forms and collapses within the joint. This type of popping does not typically cause pain.
What can happen, is the tendons and ligaments repeatedly snap over the joints, body structure, etc. This snapping can sometimes cause pain.
The hormones in the body that affect which way the body shows up are:
Dopamine – Functions include: Pleasure, Fine Motor Skills and Preservation of our body.
Oxytocin – Known as the maternal hormone, but also arises when we have physical contact with another human.
Serotonin – A mood regulator related to happiness. Lowered levels are noted in people with depression.
Endorphins – Reduces pain, boosts pleasure and overall gives us a feeling of wellbeing.
Cortisol – This chemical controls your fight or flight and can leave you feeling fearful and drained if not managed. It also manages blood sugar, metabolism & inflammation.
We need to learn how to trigger these different hormones because they charge up our batteries to enhance our creativity and critical thinking.
Being able to do this sets us up to develop skills.
I’ve had someone close to me suffering with this and thought that you or someone in your family may be suffering from this as well. My friend got to having such bad heartburn that he quit eating anything spicy. Even high acid food like tomatoes and many other things in his diet would trigger acid reflux. Another friend of mine is taking anti-acids but doesn’t seem to think it is fixing anything because the symptoms come right back when he stops the medications.
If you look up GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder) You will find that it is the loss of pressure between the sphincter and the stomach. Medical experts say it is a relaxation of the sphincter (valve) at the top of the stomach.
Heartburn is often a symptom of GERD caused by acid reflux. So it appears as if all of these issues are linked back to this one root cause.
Are you struggling with any of these symptoms? If so, you may learn from the struggles my friends have experienced.
Another friend of mine was having digestive issues, so he cut all fermented foods out of his diet. It worked to an extent, but limited a lot of foods he could eat because he also had to also remove many raw foods from his diet as well.
I don’t know if you’ve thought about how frustrating this is, but for me when I want to eat healthy, having handy raw foods around just makes things easy. Would you agree? It is easier to eat healthy when you can prepare a nice bowl of fresh vegetables you can grab a few pieces of throughout the day… They are just so handy!
Put yourself in positive surroundings – a walk, pleasant places in nature, calm spaces, images that lift you up. We have identified 4 things that may help to inspire you in your day, and in your life.
Four Things to Inspire You
Adventure
History
Be Inspired
Journal
1. Adventure
Break your pattern of routine and do something that is adventurous to you. A walk, a bike ride… or something even more intense. What is something you can do physically to activate your brain, your body, and your breath? Those things energize you and open you to new ideas and thoughts.
Get outside your norm and go somewhere completely different from your typical routine. They are good for you even if you have to schedule your adventure out for a future time in your life. Make those bucket lists. Those are some of the things that will enrich your life.
2. Learn About history
Be inspired by visiting places where people from history thrived. These are archives of great accomplishments.
Even though they are from the past they can still inspire you to look forward. These people just lived their lives, they didn’t know that they were shaping history.
Have you ever struggled with heavy bleeding? Hemorrhage or even simply really heavy periods? How about menopause issues? How about Cysts, Ovarian Cysts or Endometriosis?
Some of my very close friends and I have suffered with these issues. It is really important for me to share what I came across. In fact, I don’t understand for the life of me why it is not being shared more publicly!
As uncomfortable as it is for me to talk about, I’ll tell you that I had some major bleeding issues while going through Menopause. I didn’t want to have to talk about it or even deal with it but it was affecting my productivity in a major way in my life. As a Mom, as a wife, at my work, at managing my home, it felt like it was all caving in on me.
From my medical background, I had heard of Vitamin K but had dismissed the idea of using it because it causes blood clotting so quickly that the conclusion was it was dangerous to take as a supplement. I decided I wanted to try just a little of it to see if it would help me.
Talk about opening a can of worms. I found out there is a huge difference between vitamin K1 & Vitamin K2 – Vitamin K1 is just what I had know about. It helps the blood to clot and has very little other function in the body.
Vitamin K2, on the other hand, has so many benefits that you must to hear about! It is good for young women, older women & even men 🙂
It supports the heart, the brain, and has a major role in calcium absorption in our body.
Here are the details of my research if you would like to read it:
The little known Vitamin K2
Health benefits and sources of vitamin K. Vitamin K refers to a group of fat-soluble vitamins that play a role in blood clotting, bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels. The body needs vitamin K to produce prothrombin, a protein. Prothrombin is a clotting factor that is important in blood clotting and bone metabolism.
What is the Vitamin k2 good for?
Vitamin K is also given to treat and prevent vitamin K deficiency, a condition in which the body doesn’t have enough vitamin K. It is also used to prevent and treat weak bones (osteoporosis) and relieve itching that often accompanies a liver disease called biliary cirrhosis.
The K Vitamins
Vitamin K activates proteins that play a role in blood clotting, calcium metabolism and heart health. Controlled studies in people also observe that vitamin K2 supplements generally improve bone and heart health, while vitamin K1 has no significant benefits.
Small steps over time – and be intentional about those steps.
Be intentional that you want “change” and what that ideally looks like to you
For example, what are the intentions you want?
To feel better?
To have more energy?
To do more of the things you love to do?
Maybe even to have a better outlook on life?
Be True to YOURSELF
We live in a world where we worry about what others think, about being judged by others. Being “liked” by others…
Are you ready to make a change in your life?
Sometimes this clouds our judgment. You will find that showing up as yourself (really digging in and deciding what better health looks like for you) is when being better to yourself and making healthier choices truly works.
If you can find a way to put the fear of what others are going to think aside when it comes to being more active, eating better, taking a certain supplement or avoiding a certain medication, you will be significantly more likely to succeed.
Desire to Change
Change by moving away from something – you want less of and – move toward something you want more of.
I am passionate about helping you on a path away from things that are holding you back in life to leading you to open up your life to a place of abundance. I am beyond excited – to help you with that…
The desire to change is going to be that thing that helps you push through on those days when you just don’t feel like doing it. Days when things feel hard or you don’t feel motivated.
A sense of Urgency
Giving yourself a sense of urgency will help you get going and do something to propel you forward even if it is not perfect.
