I have heard how Elderberries are a good source of Vitamin C and full of antioxidants. Research has shown they may reduce cold and flu symptoms. Take a look at the pros and cons of elderberries of Healthline.com. I made this recipe from Nikisha Riley, who had a blog at the time. I would watch the Urbanbushbabes youtube videos. I’ve been making this recipe ever since I saw it. I was looking for a healthy alternative to a cough syrup that also may boost the immune system.
Elderberry Syrup Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried elderberries
3 cups water
1 cup local or raw honey
2/3 cup organic raw apple cider vinegar
Directions:
Fill a pot with 3 cups of water and dried elderberries. Bring to a boil, and on low heat, let boil for 30 minutes. Take off heat and mash elderberries up well with a potato masher. Strain out the liquid into a separate bowl using a strainer, cheesecloth, coffee filter, or something similar.
Once strained, add honey to the elderberry liquid, stir well, and add the apple cider vinegar. Place in a glass jar with an airtight lid and place in the fridge. The syrup will last for up to 6 months.
To Use: Adults 1 Tablespoon a day and children 1 teaspoon a day. If you are using it as flu and cold medicine, you can take the same dose every hour instead of just once a day.
Raw berries, stems, and leaves can have side effects of nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Wellness Mama has her elderberry recipe, which is almost identical, except she uses additional added flavors like clove and cinnamon.
Disclaimer This recipe has been provided for informational purposes only. Please check with your doctor first if you have medical questions, if you are pregnant, have allergies, or allergic reactions.
You will understand the importance of healthy eating already as much has been written about a nutritious diet’s physical and mental health benefits. We have discussed some ways to eat healthier on our website, including this article on how to improve your diet. When you start to eat nutritiously good foods, you will boost your health, prolong your life, and inspire others to follow your good example.
But here’s the thing. Healthy eating is a choice, so you do need to be proactive. You might fall into bad habits if you don’t make an effort, so with this in mind, here are some simple ways to make healthier food choices.
#1: Plan your meals in advance Don’t begin each week not knowing what you are going to eat. If your goal is to eat healthier, consider the recipes you might want to consider. Then make a meal plan and work out what ingredients you need to buy. This way, you won’t be tempted to buy those foods that aren’t healthy for you at the supermarket. You won’t be tempted to order a takeaway as you shouldn’t run out of things to cook. And you won’t be inclined to eat snacks between meals if your meal plan consists of healthy foods that keep you going throughout the day.
#2: Make healthy food swaps Think about the foods you enjoy but that aren’t necessarily good for you. Then consider the healthier alternatives. So, you might choose wholemeal bread over white bread, for example. Instead of putting butter on your toast, you might use olive oil margarine. Rather than frying an egg for your lunch, you could boil or poach an egg instead. And rather than putting full-fat milk on your morning cereal, you could use homemade evaporated milk for your breakfast. Think about all of the other things that make up your diet and swap out anything that isn’t particularly healthy.
#3: Visit healthier restaurants Whether it’s a fast-food restaurant or somewhere a little posher, be sure to avoid those places that will tempt you away from a healthier diet. Of course, you might tell yourself that you can still pick the healthier choices when you visit somewhere that offers unhealthy foods. But be honest with yourself. When you see or smell the appetizing but unhealthy foods others are ordering; you might be tempted to forsake all that is good and nutritious and eat something bad for you instead. If you relate to this, do the sensible thing and be more choosy when it comes to where you eat in town. For inspiration, here is a list of America’s healthiest fast-food restaurants.
#4: Prepare a packed lunch for work Sure, you could eat out when on your lunch break. Or you could quickly grab a sandwich when on your morning commute. But what if you opt for something unhealthy? You might, especially if you don’t have time to choose something carefully. To avoid such a situation, prepare a healthy packed lunch before you leave for work. There are some examples in the linked article, so have a read and note the foods you will enjoy.
Once you make these healthier food choices, you will start to experience the benefits. Be mindful then and steer away from any foods that you know are bad for you.
Did you know that nature is one of the best prescriptions for poor mental health? Numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature can reduce stress, lower your risk of dementia by as much as 36 percent, and alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
A lot of people, when they are suffering from mental health issues, will try to ignore them and hope they go away, or maybe talk to a therapist or try medication, and the latter two of those options are absolutely fine, but they are not the only things you can do. You can take natural remedial gummies such as Delta 8 Gummies that can help you relax, as well as spend time out and about in nature.
God has made a beautiful world, and spending more time in it, whether alongside therapy and medication or on its own, can help you find a calm, relaxing space inside yourself where you can just be you.
The combination of fresh air, no screens, and being in our true natural environment surrounded by beautiful trees, rocks, flowers, and plants seems to do something to our brain that staying indoors never could, as many of us have found out in the pandemic in the past year or so. Still, now it’s time to change that.
You don’t even have to head out onto the trails or camp in the nearest National Park to get the benefits if that isn’t your thing because, if you take a look at the infographic below, you will see that spending some time tending to your gardening has many health benefits both mental and physical, so a good bit of gardening could be all you need.
If you’re focusing on changing your diet as a means of meeting your health goals, then you’re already taking the right approach. A lot of people look at fitness methods first, but diet accounts for 80% of all health regimes. However, it’s still easy to make a few mistakes, especially if you’re relatively new to the world of dieting. Here are a few that you can keep note of, and avoid.
Having no goals Any changes you make for a healthier lifestyle should be done with a pinpoint focus. In particular, you should be thinking about what your goal is and ensure you’re making diet changes towards them. For instance, if you’re aiming to lose weight, then calorie restriction should be a key part of it. However, if you’re trying to address some deficiencies, then you should do your research on where to get the nutrients you need and incorporate those foods into your diet.
Cooking everyday Whole food meals are, undeniably, going to help you when it comes to reaching your nutritional goals. However, cooking healthy meals from scratch every day can be tiring and there are going to be days that you would wish you could take a shortcut. Make those shortcuts easier on yourself by preparing some healthy meals in advance. Apps like Noom Meal Prep can help you find meals that are easy to put together in advance while still sticking to your health goals.
Not keeping track Of course, you want to make sure that all of the foods that you eat are not only helping you stick to calorie goals, but are also providing the nutrients that you need. To that end, you can use tools like the MyFitnessPal Diet Tracking app that can look at your overall diet, letting you know what you might need a little more of and what you can cut back on from week to week.
Not fueling your exercises If you’re working out at the same time that you’re dieting, you should make sure both of them are compatible. Restricting your calories a lot while you’re also doing strength training is not a great idea, however. You can easily supplement your controlled diet with additions like Muscle Nation Custard. You want to make sure you’re giving yourself enough calories, especially in proteins and fats, to allow your body to meet its workout goals.
Allowing yourself snacks One of the worst habits that you can allow yourself to keep falling into is that of snacking. You should ensure that you’re only eating the meals that you have planned throughout the day. You can start by making sure you only have healthy snacks available in the home, but slowly you should start to phase even those out of your diet. The quicker you get out of bad eating habits, the sooner you can manage full control over your diet.
With the tips above, you can make sure that you’re avoiding some of the most common and easy pitfalls while building a healthy diet.
Your health and general wellbeing are important so that you can try and lead an active lifestyle. It is something that perhaps many of us have learned to appreciate even more this past year due to the pandemic. It can be difficult to stick to a particular routine and follow a strict diet, so finding small ways in which you can incorporate daily tasks into your day that will be beneficial for your overall health is certainly worth trying.
A Good Night’s Sleep Getting good quality sleep each night is important for your body to rest and recover in preparation for another day. It is the quality of sleep that is important as opposed to how many hours you get. Feeling fully refreshed enables you to be able to concentrate on your daily tasks and remain productive. You are less likely to make mistakes when you are not sleep-deprived, which is certainly vital when driving or dealing with heavy machinery.
Over time, if you struggle to sleep, it can start to affect your body’s hormone, which regulates your appetite. So you are more likely to opt for unhealthy foods and eat larger portions of foods if you continuously function on little sleep. A study that was carried out at the University of Warwick discovered that those that were not getting enough sleep were at greater risk of developing heart disease or stroke.
Drinking Enough Water It might not be the most exciting drink, but drinking enough water daily contributes to good health. Sometimes we can confuse hunger with thirst, so it is always worthwhile to drink some water first to ensure that it is not just hunger your body is crying out for. Water is essential because it hydrates you, keeps joints working efficiently, flushes out waste from your body, regulates body temperature, and enables your brain to function properly.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggest that the average amount of water that men require is around 15.5 cups of water (125 ounces) a day and 11.5 cups (91 ounces) for women. This will, of course, vary if you are physically active too. As long as you are not feeling excessively thirsty all the time, you will know whether you are consuming enough water each day.
A Balanced Diet Eliminating one food group or following a very restrictive diet where you are not eating enough calories will not be a healthy way of eating. Instead, it would help if you were aiming to eat a balanced diet that encompasses all the food groups (unless, of course, for dietary reasons, you cannot eat certain foods). Ideally, you want to be including a variety of the main five food groups.
Vegetables — Fruits — Protein — Dairy — Grains
Each food group provides a different health benefit for the body. Vegetables are full of various vitamins and minerals and help your immune system to function properly. Fruits are also a great source of vitamins and antioxidants that can help your heart and the body fight off various diseases. Protein is important for your metabolism and blood system. It also enables your bones and muscles to work efficiently. Dairy is rich in Vitamin D and Calcium, which is essential for maintaining your teeth and bones. It can also help reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Grains are important in maintaining blood sugars and providing a source of iron, fiber, and minerals. Collectively these five groups provide an abundance of health benefits for your body to function and thrive efficiently, which is why ideally, we need all of these to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Eat Before You Go Food Shopping It is a good idea to ensure you eat before food shopping as you are more likely to be tempted by unhealthy foods and not just purchase the groceries on your list, like stocking up on Asian pantry essentials. This will prevent you from being tempted to buy unhealthy foods and spend money unnecessarily on items you do not even need. A study published in the National Academy of Sciences discovered that hungry shoppers were much more inclined to spend money on food and non-food essentials, despite not even needing these items. So it is not just your waistline that can be affected but also your wallet.
Finding Time to Relax Your mental and physical well-being is linked to feelings of happiness and the ability to relax. This is particularly important when you lead a hectic, stressful life. It would help if you found moments to do activities that encourage a sense of calm and enable you to feel content. Finding moments to wind down is part of leading a healthy lifestyle. Feelings of stress can lead to heart complications, such as increasing your blood pressure or a heart attack risk. So whether it is doing some gentle exercises, reading a book, being creative, cooking, baking, playing a musical instrument, or going for a walk, it is important to break up the day with an activity you enjoy.
Out In the Fresh Air Finding the motivation to do an intense workout is not necessarily appealing, but it does not have to be a vigorous exercise session to be beneficial. The Journal of the American Heart Association published a study that demonstrated that short 10 minute sessions were adequate to experience the positive effects of exercise. So you do not need to be attempting marathons to consider yourself to be doing an adequate amount of exercise. Just being outin the fresh air in your local park can certainly make a positive difference. When you have a dog, you will probably find more motivation in venturing out so that both you and your pet can benefit from getting outdoors into the fresh air.
For most of us, regularly exercising is an essential part of staying healthy. However, the sad truth of the matter is that exercise itself can become unhealthy if we aren’t careful in the way we approach it. Indeed, with so much pressure from the media and society to look a particular way, and stay at a certain weight, many of us can fall into the trap of seeing exercise as a chore. Fortunately, there is a different way to approach exercise and it’s better for your mind and your body. Read on to discover what’s involved.
Start small When you begin to exercise or change to a new activity or routine, it can be tempting to challenge yourself and go all out right away. However, this is not usually the best way to approach things. Indeed, most people set their goals too high, end up failing and demoralized and so give up after a few sessions.
Instead what you need to base a new exercise habit on are small successes. After all, there is nothing more motivating than that endorphins release that you get when you have completed a task. Also by starting small you greatly minimize your chance of failure, and so make it much more likely that you will maintain your new activity over the long term, where you can improve your performance gradually.
Listen to your body Another important part of having a healthier attitude towards exercise is to truly listen to your body, and respect what it is telling you. Indeed, there is a lot of controversy around this topic, as many people think you have to push beyond your physical boundaries to succeed.
However, while this may be the case for professional athletes and dancers, it is vital to remember here is that they know their body so well, they are aware of precisely how far they can push it without doing any damage. Unfortunately, many of us mere mortals do not have such a well-developed connection to our bodies, and therefore risk injury when pushing too far.
Of course, if we do find ourselves injured from exercise, there are people like these physio experts that can offer assessment, treatment, and management of our problems. Thus helping us recover in tune with our bodies so we can exercise once more.
Set a new kind of goal Some of the most common goals for exercising include losing weight and shaping our bodies in a certain way. However, often it is these things that undermined what we are doing because in some way we are giving ourselves the message that we are not good enough the way that we are.
With that in mind, choosing some different goals such as getting better at an activity can be a refreshing change. That means aiming to do a yoga pose unsupported and getting there in small, gradual stages. Alternatively, why not try to shave some time off of your personal best for running or bike riding. Again focusing on performance and success at the activity, rather than changing our bodies. A far healthier approach for body and mind.
Learn More About JT
Bubbling with Elegance and Grace started out as an outlet for my passion for fashion but has evolved into a place for me to teach, collaborate, and inspire. My hubby has since joined the team and we have been digital creators for 13 years. We are thankful for those who believed in us from the beginning and those who have just started riding with us on this lovely journey.
Did you know that nature is one of the best prescriptions for poor mental health? Numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature can reduce stress, lower your risk of dementia by as much as 36 percent, and alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
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