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In an effort to add more Omega-3 fats in their diets, many persons are turning to the best quick fix method: fish oil supplement. Fish oil is extremely popular for several reasons and is usually obtained from mackerel, salmon and sardines. Some health benefits derived from fish oil include improving heart health, easing anxiety, enhancing your brain and reducing inflammation inside your body.  

According to health professionals, especially dieticians, fish oil is fat from fish and is made up of different types of fats such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Each type of fish oil has different fat content depending on the source and the method used to produce it. The different types of fats can be as many as 30 or more.

In this article, you will read about the advantages and disadvantages of taking fish oil supplements and how to get the best fish oil. Additionally, you will learn how these supplements can influence your dietary goals.

 

• Good for heart health.

 

Research has revealed that Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil can help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It was discovered in the studies conducted that fish oil raises HDL levels, which is known as “good” cholesterol but does not really lessens LDL levels (bad cholesterol). Fish oil cuts your triglycerides, which is the kind of fat that is in your blood. Although more research needs to be done, studies also indicate that consuming fish oil in small amounts can lower blood pressure, minimize your risks of getting a heart attack and prevent the formation of plaque in your arteries.

 

• Promote healthy brain function for both adults and babies

 

Health experts say that almost 60 percent of your brain is made up of fat. Therefore Omega-3s are important for your brain to function optimally. EPA and DHA are fatty acids that are linked to better-quality health results, such as mental health, cognitive health and enhanced markers connected to cardiovascular health.

 

• May boost your mental health.

 

When compared to other fats, supplements usually do not have a high concentration of Omega-3s, but in the studies conducted it was found that fish oil can reduce ADHD symptoms and can lessen depression. When taken in larger doses, fish oil might relieve anxiety, help to regulate moods, and curtail or prevent symptoms associated with psychotic illnesses.

 

• May decrease allergies and skin problems.

 

If you eat fish or take Omega-3 supplements regularly, this can help to minimize food allergies and skin problems such as dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis.

 

• Benefit your vision.

 

Health experts claim that Omega-3 is specifically useful for eye health.  While it is impossible to prevent eyesight degeneration you can modify your lifestyle and diet habits to slow the process down. Foods that have a high content of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are great for your eyes. The following are extremely beneficial to eye health: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, lutein, Omega-3 and zeaxanthin.

Persons who get inadequate amount of Omega -3 in their diets usually are at a higher risk of developing eye disease and although eating fish may prevent age-associated macular degeneration, the consumption of fish oil supplement will probably not make much difference. See this URL for more info on fish oil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_oil

 

• Decrease inflammation.

 

A chronic inflammation supports all types of illnesses and diseases, including cancer, and as indicated by research findings, fish oil can help in the treatment of inflammation inside the body. Any diet that has inadequate amount of Omega-3 will certainly multiply the risk of inflammation, and fish oil supplements can definitely reduce liver inflammation and decrease pain in the joints.

What are the downsides of Fish Oil?

Health experts say that there are not many downsides in consuming fish oil supplements, although some can lead to gastrointestinal problems. The experts are advising that if you suffer from food allergies, you should definitely avoid fish oil. In addition, pregnant mothers and persons who take blood thinners should ensure they talk first with their health provider before taking fish oil supplements. Some smaller studies indicate additional side effects including nosebleeds, an increase in blood sugar levels and acid reflux.

If you are healthy, then you should eat fish because this is the best way to get the nutrients your body needs.  Eating two servings of fatty fish a week, such as tuna or salmon, will provide the necessary levels of DHA and EPA to deliver optimal health benefits. The following foods are rich in Omega-3:  salmon, mackerel, tuna, walnuts, herring, chia seeds, white fish, flaxseeds, hemp seeds, sardines, anchovies and egg yolk.

You are cautioned not to overdo it.  Don’t feed on too much as this may lead to some serious adverse side effects such as diarrhea. Another thing you should consider is the source you’re getting them from. Not all brands of supplements are controlled by the FDA, therefore be careful. Its best to seek your doctor’s advice. The US market has multiple options for fish, which can be confusing to the average consumer.  The options include farm or wild fish, fish with dyes and fish without dyes, among others.

What to Look for When Buying Fish Oil

When buying fish oil find a transparent, reliable manufacturer. Anyone can claim that they are quality fish oil manufacturer, however, what do they have to show as proof?  The only impartial proof of pure, quality fish oil are third-party test results, which confirm compliance to strict standards. Therefore, you need to look for a producer that is not afraid to offer these test results.

The best route to take is getting your fish oil is from supplements especially when you don’t know the original source of your fish. It is better to get your fish oils from fish and other natural sources, and use supplements when you notice that your diet lacks adequate amount of fish oil.

Conclusion

Although fish intake continues to be a significant part of a healthy diet, the enthusiasm for fish oil supplements has been stifled by several new studies that showed no benefits for several conditions. Are consumers now taking a wait and see approach to the findings of these recent research?

You do not need to wait until the start of a new year to live healthier as many people do with their resolutions. You can start today if you choose to do so but you need to find ways to stay motivated. Resolutions usually have goals associated with them so setting goals should be one of the first steps that you take. The best thing that you can do is to start educating yourself on certain topics you are unsure about or need more information on. This proactive approach is one that can get you started immediately as a lot of people are reactive about their health only making changes when there is a problem. The following are tips to live healthier in these 4 areas of health.

Nutrition

Changing your diet can have a myriad of benefits for you especially if you are eating in an extremely unhealthy manner currently. Slowly change your diet so your tweaks will be long term by doing it one meal at a time. Changing all of your meals at once can leave you in far too large of a caloric deficit leading to you binging after what many would consider a caloric fast. Doing this slowly also allows you to figure out recipes for each meal that not only are healthy but also delicious.

Joint Health

Those people that are living a healthy lifestyle need to make sure their lifestyle isn’t impacting their joints in a negative manner. Looking into foods that help with joint health is the first step but understand there are supplements that can also help with this. Listen to your body as pain is far different than discomfort which plenty of people have a hard time deciphering. Low impact activities like that of swimming could be a great change to someone with a bad knee that has been running for years.

Dental Health

Spend an extra 2 minutes per day on your teeth and  you are going to start seeing results. Whether you are starting to floss for the first time or are using mouthwash to eliminate plaque, you will be happy you have done so during your next visit to the dentist. Dental work can be painful and most importantly expensive as problems when ignored tend to get far worse. A tooth having a cavity that turns into an infection is a perfect example of this.

Mental Health

The ability to distress and sit in a massage chair for a holistic massage might be one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself mentally. People often times forget to relax and cannot separate a bad day at work from their life at home. Exercise can help mental health as it triggers a chemical reaction that is linked with better moods. Yoga is a great example of an activity that not only takes care of your body but also your mind. Rejuvenate daily to become a better person all around as bottling up this stress is a recipe for disaster.

As you can see you can start immediately and make yourself better when it comes to your health. You only have one body, take care of it!

If you’ve been reading through our blog  religiously over the last couple of years you’ve already collected some very nice tips and tricks about how to best utilize tech and gadgets available to you.

We are all aware that we’re living in the time where we spend much (maybe even too much) of our time on a laptop, tablet all staring at our cellphone. Whatever reason it is, we should seriously look into cutting the time spent on any device and dedicating ourselves to socializing with friends and family.

Holidays are perhaps the best time of the year and time when most of the families that are separated come together again. It would be a shame if you wasted that time on your laptop, instead of socializing with your closest ones, wouldn’t it?

Automate as Much as You Can

Speaking about business or about private life, you should always look into ways to automate things that can be automated.

Mint is probably the best solution for automating payments for the household. Being one of the oldest apps on the market for budgeting purposes, Mint makes it easy for you to track purchases associated with each credit or debit card on your account, makes budgeting and organizing your future spendings real smooth. Keeping in mind a few drawbacks and loopholes attributable to this neat app, you can use one of the alternatives that will fill in the gap.

For example, if you want to restrain from overspending you might want to take a look into PocketGuard, or if you’re sharing the budget with your beloved Goodbudget can be more suitable to what you need.

By utilizing one of these, you’ll not only free up some time for yourself, but you’ll be more focused and concentrated on business issues that are presented to you on an almost everyday basis. Truth be told, some things can’t (and shouldn’t) be automated, and they will require a human touch.

Don’t Spend All Your Money

During the holiday season, it’s really easy to get caught up in the spending-craze. Buying Easter decoration and all the sweets don’t sound like a huge deal, but as the stores get into the craze, you start seeing just how much of these little things end up in your cart.

Also, many families like to go on a weekend getaway on a mountain with the entire family. While you can go for a luxury package, you can still go with a more cost-effective option such as ones offered at Lantern Apartments and choose a trip that won’t cost money as well.

Not to mention that most of the arrangements are more expensive during the holiday season and for a reason of course. However, holidays don’t need to be that time of the year when you will spend all your money.

Some of these discounted sites and apps may help you save some buck for later, as holidays will certainly pass, but you’ll still need money after they’ve finished.

On that note, carefully planning for your holiday stay and hunting discounts by booking way up ahead can prove to be a lifesaver for your budget. Use one of the apps from the link above to hunt discounts and fares in advance.

Stay Fit and Healthy

Traditionally, the holiday season is known for feasting and stuffing lots of food in your stomach. At the same time, that’s perhaps part of the year when physical activity is on minimum.

If you don’t want to end up with a few extra pounds which you’ll struggle to get rid of months’ after the holidays are officially over, you can use one of the many fitness apps out there to keep track of the number of calories you absorbed and burnt during the holidays.

Yes, it’s hard to stay disciplined and strict when it comes to delicious Easter chocolates, but a little composure can be a long way really. Luckily enough, some apps can help with that as well.

Keeping cholesterol on the low is easier if you have respectable knowledge in nutritionism. Apps like Fooducate can help you raise the bar when it comes to this.

Also, and you probably already heard about this one, but FitBit is still the number one app when it comes to handling your eating and active life.

What Is Biohacking?

You’ve heard of ‘Life Hacks’ that ultimately make your life easier. But, have you heard about Bio Hacks? Biohacking is an emerging term in the health and wellness space. It is based upon the idea that what you put into your body has a huge impact on the way that you feel on the outside. It goes back to basics, understanding the building blocks of human biology, and the ways in which we can look and feel our best. Movement, nutrition, gratitude and even music are some examples of biohacks that individuals have found to alter their health for the better. It’s about shifting the right things in the body and the mind to boost energy, to enhance memory, to become free of disease, and to live the most healthful lives possible.

Addressing the Root Cause of Disease

Biohacking encourages us to look within and understand how different inputs yield significant outputs. This is different from modern healthcare, which tends to respond to the disease instead of the source of imbalance. According to board-certified physician of internal medicine, Dr. John Limansky, modern medications work to suppress symptoms and fail to address the root cause of modern western diseases. Essentially, traditional medicine caters to Sick Care, rather than Health Care today. This is exactly what he hopes to change with his medicinal platform. “By taking simple steps such as modifying diet, exercising, incorporating stress reduction, improving sleep and focusing on meditation among other techniques, many of the diseases afflicting our society may be reversed,” Limansky contributes.

Enhancing Interaction in Medicine

Another problem with traditional medicine is a lack of interaction. Older physicians will reminisce on the days where they were on a first name basis with their patients. They miss having adequate time to delve into the real issues behind the disease and find a personalized solution. As a practicing physician, Dr. Limansky is also limited in the number of patients he can interact with on an individual basis. It is for this reason why he and his team created online platform, biohackMD.

The patient-facing platform educates the public on the benefits of biohacking as well as the ketogenic diet. It is a place where readers can find research-backed information that is also processed by a physician. All content is free and available on multiple platforms. Essentially, biohackMD serves as a conversation between you and your physician. It provides a sense of personal power as well. “By introducing the concept of biohacking to the public, my goal is to show how everyone can regain their health, wellness and increase longevity while being able to stop taking medications,” Dr. Limansky adds.

Coupling the Ketogenic Diet with Biohacking

While biohacking is a new and emerging concept, the ketogenic diet has been recognized with a great deal of popularity in the last couple of years. It is also one of the oldest diets in terms of research. Back in the early 1920s, the keto diet emerged as a medicinal treatment for children with epilepsy. Today, the diet continues to be studied as a potential remedy for type two diabetes as the disease continues to skyrocket among young populations.

Recognized as ‘The Keto Doctor’ and one of the foremost authorities on the Ketogenic lifestyle, Dr. Limansky sees Keto as a sustainable tool that boasts a variety of benefits. “The ketogenic diet has gained in popularity for the simple reason that it works. It is a pathway to eating real non-processed foods in the right ratio. By incorporating a ketogenic diet, we are able to gain control over our insulin levels, improve hormone levels, lose fat while gaining control over our hunger signals. A ketogenic diet enables us to relearn what it means to be hungry instead of simply craving foods,” he adds.

Supplementing Health

By coupling the Ketogenic Diet with Biohacking, Dr. Limansky helps to point individuals towards optimum health and longevity. Consulting performance athletes and everyday champions, he demonstrates how health is a personal practice and gives individuals the tools to take back control of their health. Supplementing nutrition and modern medicine, biohackMD provides a variety of keto supplements to help achieve and maintain ketosis. The company currently offers Keto Matrix, Green Matrix, Whey Matrix & Multi Collagen Matrix to support individuals on their health journey.

Getting back to healthy basics has never been easier.  Having a deeper understanding of the physical body, and the factors that contribute to health, enables us to rediscover ourselves in a new light.  

Move over FitBit, there’s another fitness tool that’s taking over the weight room. While perhaps less sophisticated in nature, the humble foam roller is literally on a roll, with more and more research supporting its wide range of benefits. This includes everything from increased flexibility and pain prevention to enhanced performance.

Increased Flexibility

According to the Journal of Sports Rehabilitation, the practice of foam rolling, coupled with static stretching may increase range of motion in the hip more so than stretching alone. Essentially, it helps to increase flexibility in ways we can’t necessarily achieve on our own.

Ever pushed through a great workout only to be punished later on with stiff, cranky muscles? We work out to enhance our lives, but when our workouts leave us in an aching heap the next day, it can become pretty counterintuitive. This is where the foam roller comes in. The tool is a method of self-myofascial release (SMR), an alternative therapy that treats immobility and pain in the muscles.

Pain Prevention

Myofascial release techniques are intended to bring gentle and sustained pressure to the body. Working to smooth out those hard ‘knots’ in the fascia, or connective tissue, the technique encourages a sense of release in the body. And according to a study published in Current Sports Medicine Reports this may be just the release you need. In the study, it was concluded that self-myofascial release has a positive impact on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOM) and can help to decrease soreness following DOM. This can lead to enhanced performance in the long run as it allows the active individual to exercise longer and more actively.

In another study, individuals were to perform 10 sets of 10 repetitions of barbell back squats over the course of four weeks. In order to identify the effectiveness of foam rollers on quadricep muscle soreness, some subjects completed 20 minutes of foam rolling. The control group did not perform any type of post-exercise treatment at all. When the results came around, the difference was quite astounding. In fact, those who did perform foam rolling were significantly less sore than those who did not, according to the Journal of Athletic Training study.

Enhanced Performance

Don’t let soreness keep you from playing in the game! By incorporating foam-rolling exercises, you may prevent the limiting pain that keeps you from doing what you love. You might also become a better athlete for it. In a study featured in Sports Medicine, it was discovered that those who use a foam roller actually experience an increase in maximal voluntary contraction. For lead researcher, Dr. Lewis Macgregor, there is a strong case to be made for the foam roller as a pre-workout activity to both enhance performance and lower the risk of injury. “I surmise that foam rolling prior to exercise helps to light up the pathway between the brain and the muscle, providing a better understanding of what is required,” Macgregor says. He continues, “Our research—for the first time—suggests that foam rolling offers a viable alternative warm-up technique that does not result in diminished muscle strength, which is often associated with static stretching. It shows that foam rolling may be a useful technique in helping to reduce stress and strain on muscles during exercise and, therefore, could reduce injuries.”

Whether you’re an elite athlete or an active individual, the use of a foam roller can benefit your performance on and off the court. It’s inexpensive, it’s easy to use, and it’s even easier to find ways to work towards your health and fitness goals. Luckily, recovery and training company, BLACKROLL, sold through Active Life Solutions, is making it even easier to reap the benefits.  Active Life Solutions focuses on healthy living, healthy lifestyles and products, which not only rehabilitate, but also prevent injury.  With a full family of products in-house, Active Life offers everyone from the beginner to the elite athlete the products and tools they need to succeed.

Regeneration and Functional Training

BLACKROLL’s foam rolling products are intended to help in two main ways, regeneration and functional training. Used for regeneration, the foam rollers can be used to heal from the aches and pains of daily life and an active lifestyle. While helpful for healing and restoration, the Myofascial release tool may also be used to challenge the intensity of your workouts and to build strength, overall.

Whatever you’d like to achieve, BLACKROLL helps you get there, providing the right exercises to engage and relax various muscle groups. BLACKROLL even provides a convenient phone app, The Blackroll® App to guide training and self-massage techniques.

So, the next time you’re at the gym, you’ll understand just why this tool has become so popular. And with a tool like BLACKROLL at your fingertips, you’ll be ready to roll!