Your adrenal glands produce powerful chemicals (cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine) that help you respond to stress. These chemicals are excitatory hormones, neurotransmitters that get our bodies ready for dangerous situations (which is what the anxiety response was originally designed to do).

However, with your foot to the gas pedal like this all the time, you burn out and feel stressed, you get anxious and exhausted, you can’t sleep, and you are either tired or wired constantly.

Thankfully our brains have an antidote to these stress hormones.

It is called GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), and it calms the brain from an overload of the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine. It is like a brake on overstimulation in the brain. When you have low levels of GABA, it is harder for your body and mind to relax after these excitatory neurotransmitters have been released in your body.

Valium works by imitating GABA, our natural brain relaxant. Many use alcohol or marijuana to self-medicate for anxiety. These, too, act like GABA in the brain. People with anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, seizures, and schizophrenia all have low levels of GABA.

Who likes the feeling of tense muscles, a pounding heart, dry mouth, sleeplessness, fatigue, and sweaty palms? No one. That’s why so many self-medicate with the medications mentioned above.

But using alcohol, marijuana, or tranquilizers backfires because they are all addictive and produce diminishing returns over time, so you need more and more to “relax.”

Why not just take GABA? Well, thankfully, you can, and you can use other natural substances to boost GABA levels to overcome the anxiety that millions of you experience every day.

One study showed that within just 60 minutes of taking GABA, alpha brain waves (a sign of relaxation) were increased on EEGs. Taking GABA also boosted the immune system, which functions best when you are relaxed.

You can take GABA supplements directly or supplement your diet with the raw materials from which GABA is produced. For example, another key amino acid helper called taurine boosts the production of GABA and helps relax the nervous system. It can even reduce seizures.

Other helpful brain relaxants that boost GABA in the brain include theanine from green tea and a few others, including inositol (a B vitamin); other B vitamins such as B3, B6, and B12; and magnesium. Calming herbs such as kava, valerian, hops, and passionflower can also be helpful.

To find out more about how to relax and overcome the effects of stress, consider joining my 3- or 7-Day Juicing Detox program.

Feel Alive From the Inside Out!

The post Dealing with Stress and Anxiety? – Learn which Natural Substances will Relax and Calm You Instantly appeared first on Chef Doc Dee's.

Modern conventional medicine battles diseases directly by means of drugs, surgery, radiation and other therapies, but true health can be attained only by maintaining a healthy, properly functioning immune system. It is the immune system that fights off disease-causing microorganisms and it engineers the healing process. The immune system is the key to fighting every kind of insult to the body, from that little shaving scratch to the gigantic amount of viruses the constantly try to invade our bodies. Even the aging process may be related to a deteriorated immune system.  

Weakening of the immune system makes us vulnerable to every type of illness that affects humans. Some common signs of impaired immune functions include fatigue, lassitude, repeated infections, inflammation, allergic reactions, slow wound healing, chronic diarrhea and infections related to overgrowth of benign organisms already present in the body, such as oral thrush, vaginal yeast infections and other fungal infections. It has been calculated that a normal adult gets an average of two colds per year. People suffering from colds more than the average are likely to have some sort of immune deficiency.  

Immune system malfunction can also cause dark circles around the eyes.  Explaining what the immune system is, is the hard part. The immune system is not an organ but an interaction between many organs, structures, and substances with the task of recognizing or differencing from things that belong and those that don’t belong to the body, and then neutralizing or destroying the ones that are foreign. 

The immune system is like no other bodily system, the patrolling and protecting tasks of the immune system are shared by white cells, bone marrow, the lymphatic vessels and organs, specialized cells found and various body tissues, and specialized substances, called serum factors, that are present in the blood, ideally all of these components work together to protect the body against diseases. 

To boost and protect your immune system, I recommend a list of herbs, vitamins, supplements and special recipes that have shown remarkable results throughout the years. Astragalus boosts the immune system and generates anticancer cells in the body. It is also a powerful antioxidant and protects the liver from toxins. This makes this plant ideal for people suffering from dark circles due to liver problems and depressed immune system. IMPORTANT: Do not take this herb if fever is present.  

• Bayberry has antibiotic effects for sore throat, coughs, colds and flu. 
• Garlic is effective against at least 30 types of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. It has anti-inflammatory and astringent properties. 
• Echinacea boosts the immune system and enhances lymphatic function. 
• Goldenseal strengthens the immune system, cleanses and detoxifies the body. It has anti bacterial properties. 

In a small town called Chirchik, Russia, a flu epidemic swept the town. When many adults and children did not get sick scientists wanted to know why they were immune to the disease. It turns out that all of them used the berries from an herb called Shizandra. 

Immune System Booster

2 cups of water. 

1 tsp. echinacea root. 

½ tsp. chamomile leaves. 

½ tsp. shizandra berries. 

½ tsp. peppermint leaves. 

Mix all the herbs and add boiling water, step and strain drink one cup a day for two weeks. 

Immune Tincture. 

½ tsp. Echinacea root tincture. 

½ tsp. pau d´arco bark tincture. 

½ tsp. Siberian ginseng root tincture. 

½ tsp. licorice root tincture. 

½ tsp. astragalus root tincture. 

½ tsp. bupleurum root tincture. 

Combine all these ingredients. If you have evidence of a depressed immune system, take 3 tsp. of the formula daily for up to 5 days. Double the dose during an infection. 

Include in the diet chlorella, garlic and pearl barley. These foods contain germanium, a trace element beneficial to the immune system. Also giant red kelp contains iodine, calcium, iron, carotene, protein, riboflavin and vitamin C, which are necessary for the immune system’s functional integrity. 

Vitamin C may be the single most important nutrient for the immune system. It is essential for the formation of adrenal hormones and the production of lymphocytes. It also has a direct effect on bacteria and viruses. Vitamin C should be taken with bioflavonoid, natural plant substances that enhance absorption and reinforce the action of this vitamin. 

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