Health & Fitness

Is It Possible To Workout Too Much?

Is It Possible To Workout Too Much?

If you workout out, but aren’t getting the results you want, you probably think that you need to spend more time or make your workout tougher. However, if you seem to be losing ground, no matter how much time you spend or how difficult the exercise program is, it might be that you’re exercising too much or pushing yourself too hard. If you’re spending hours exercising, but instead of seeing progress, your results seem to diminish, you may be working out too much.

Strength-building exercises can create the most obvious signs.

Strength-building workouts, like lifting weights, cause tiny microtears in the muscles. These small tears take time to heal, but when they do, they make the muscle stronger and bigger. It takes between 48 and 72 hours for that to happen. If you’re doing strength training every day, you’re not allowing that process to occur. Microtears also cause stress that can diminish the work of the immune system. It also takes several days to get it back to peak performance. If you’re building muscles, but aren’t making progress, maybe you’re working out too often.

Everyone wants quick results.

It’s normal to want to see quicker results, but it doesn’t necessarily mean doing more is always better or even quicker. Getting 24 hours of exercise spread out evenly over 24 to 60 days can help get you into shape, but if you do it all in one day, you’ll end up in worse condition. The intensity of that exercise makes a difference, too. The more intense the workout, the less time you should spend. You can workout every day, just don’t workout the same muscle groups or at the highest level of intensity every day. A tough workout one day can be followed by a moderate recovery workout day.

What are signs you’re working out too much?

If your mood is constantly sour and not your normally happy self, or you’re tired all the time, you might be working out too much. Depression, anxiety, irritability and confusion can also be signs. If you tend to get sick easier or reach exhaustion level quicker when you workout, maybe it’s time to take a week away from exercise. A longer recovery period is also a sign you need to cut back.

  • Your resting heart rate can be an indication that you’re working out too much. If your heart rate is normally between 40-60 bpm and suddenly jumps to 75-80, it’s a sign of overexercising.
  • Difficulty falling asleep or sleeping soundly can come from working out too much. Ironically, while exercise not only helps reduce stress and sleep better, too much exercise increases stress and disturbs sleep.
  • If you’re working out too much, it can cause a loss of appetite. It can also decrease the release of thyroid hormones causing weight gain. That’s exacerbated by an increase in cortisol that’s linked to belly fat and insulin resistance.
  • While most people need a minimum of 75-150 hours of intense exercise per week or 150-300 hours of moderate exercise, people who are in competitive sports may require more. For those people, working with a personal trainer may help find the right blend of time and intensity.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


Is Stretching Before Working Out Really Necessary?

Is Stretching Before Working Out Really Necessary?

You’ve probably heard of warming up before exercising. It’s simply stretching before working out and important in a number of ways. It helps boost circulation, which warms the muscles and improves flexibility. It also prepares your mind and body for the coming workout. Warm-up sessions involve stretching the muscles that you’ll be using during the session. It doesn’t have to be just stretching. If you’re about to run, taking a brisk walk or doing jumping jacks can be a good warm-up session.

You’ll improve circulation and raise your body temperature.

You’ll prepare those muscles for action, while increasing your body temperature. Both of these not only improve your workout, but also increase the number of calories you’ll burn. Waste can accumulate in muscles and stretching helps release the waste products, which can prevent muscle aches and pains. It also prepares your heart for a tough workout and eases the body from sedentary to active. Without that transitional period, a sudden demand on the heart can cause a spike in blood pressure.

Stretching before a workout can improve your posture and your mood.

You’ll have better form when you workout and improve your mood. Stretching can help make you mentally ready for a workout, so you’ll put more effort into your session. A warm-up session of stretching can prepare your nervous system, too. That preparation can boost agility and a faster reaction time. Warming up with dynamic stretches should be used before working out. These include lunges and other active motions. Static stretches, such as touching your toes, should not be included in warm-up sessions.

Lactic acid build-up is reduced with pre-workout stretches.

The increased circulation helps increase the oxygen in the blood. Too little oxygen can increase a lactic acid build-up. That can occur if you go from sedentary to extremely active too quickly. If it builds up too quickly, the body can’t remove it and it causes an increased acidity in the bodily fluids, such as the blood, interfering with the body’s pH levels. That makes working out more difficult and can even cause you to quit sooner than planned.

  • Stretching before working out can boost strength. It helps lengthen muscles that are tight and allows full extension to boost strength. It also helps protect the joints and muscles, preventing future pain.
  • The five to ten warm-up stretches can help you mentally get into exercise. It can aid in turning your focus into your workout session and leave the worries of the day in the past.
  • If you have aching muscles or pain, warm-up stretches can bring relief. You don’t have to sit too long before your muscles start to shorten. That can tug on joints and other muscles, causing pain. Warm-up stretches relieve that.
  • Taking five to ten minutes to warm the body before working out can prevent injuries that will prevent you from working out for weeks. It’s more than just worth the effort, it’s necessary.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


Can Exercise Help You Live Longer?

Can Exercise Help You Live Longer?

How can exercise help you live longer? It can help reduce the risk of obesity. Nine of the ten states with the top obesity rate are in the south. For instance, Louisiana is number seven in the nation. Obesity puts you at risk of serious conditions. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and even covid-19. The human body was created for physical exertion. However, a modern style of living has limited our needs. People can order in and no longer even have to get up and move to eat. Work has become moving fingers on the keyboard, but you need to move your body to stay fit.

Lack of exercise can make you sicker.

The body was created to renew itself. Exercise stimulates the production of stem cells that can replace old cells that are dying. Increased movement pushes fluid into the joints to keep them lubricated and increases the flexibility and strength of muscles. Exercise even increases the friendly microbes in the gut that help with digestion, boosts the immune system and can even improve mood. A study at Cleveland Clinic and New York School of Medicine found obesity was the leading cause of preventable deaths. Tobacco use was second, followed by high blood pressure and diabetes, which are also linked to obesity.

Exercise not only helps create new cells, it protects cells, too.

To be your healthiest, you need a lifestyle that includes a healthy diet, exercise, adequate sleep, hydration and more. On that list, diet is the most important, but exercise comes in a close second. Not only does exercise help create stem cells that can replace cells in the body as they die, it also protects each cell by increasing the length of the telomere. Telomeres protect the DNA and prevent unraveling that damages it. It acts like the plastic aglets on the end of the shoelace, taking the abuse so it doesn’t damage the genes. The longer a telomere, the longer the DNA remains intact and the more a cell can replicate. That means you’ll look younger and live longer.

Increasing your exercise can be free.

In fact, in some cases, you can increase your exercise and make money if you’re doing something active to boost your income. Increasing your daily steps can be a start. An Australian study found that when sedentary people increased their activity to 10,000 a day, it reduced mortality by up to 40%. Other studies showed that adding an additional 3,000 steps lowered the risk of dying by 12%.

  • Exercise can help reduce the risk of serious conditions, and also relieve painful conditions like back pain and arthritis. Best of all, no matter what your age or present lifestyle, you can increase your exercise.
  • Doctors who repair joints often suggest patients increase exercise before they repair the joint. That boosts the body’s creation of stem cells that can help improve healing after surgery.
  • Exercise increases the body’s creation of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps the blood vessels to relax, which lowers blood pressure. One study found that just four weeks of mild exercise, like tai chi, lowered blood pressure significantly.
  • When you exercise, you also burn off the hormones of stress and replace them with hormones that make you feel good. Exercise is also an adjunct treatment for depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s and dementia.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


How Can I Tell If I'm Dehydrated?

How Can I Tell If I’m Dehydrated?

The survival shows often focus on the person or persons focusing on finding a clean source of water or water and a way to purify it. Why is it so important? Without water, especially in severe climates, you can last about three days before you become severely dehydrated. Water is far more important than food, since body fat can help provide the energy necessary to live. You don’t have to go completely without water to become dehydrated. Simply sweating more, without increasing your intake of fluid can create a problem. Diarrhea and vomiting can also cause dehydration. Some symptoms of dehydration are dangerous, while others are far less severe.

Do you feel exhausted? It might be dehydration.

People often get a cup of coffee when the mid-morning blahs hits them. While the caffeine may wake them up, maybe it’s really the hydration from the coffee that’s doing the trick. If you drink more than five cups of coffee it acts as a diuretic, so you’ll urinate more frequently, which can add to dehydration. Instead, drink a glass of water. If dehydration is the problem, you’ll notice a boost of energy almost instantly. Dehydration has another effect. It can interfere with your sleep cycles, making them shorter and leaving you tired the next day.

One clear sign you can use in a pinch is a pinch.

One of the universal signs of dehydration in the animal kingdom is the pinch of skin. If you can pinch the skin and it doesn’t snap back to normal quickly, it’s a sign of dehydration on both animals and humans. It’s referred to as the skin turgor test and is taken on the arm or abdomen in people and on the back of the neck in most animals. Dry cracked lips and a dry mouth are two other signs that more fluid is needed.

Achy joints and a headache are signs of dehydration.

Your body needs fluid to keep the joints moist and make movement easier. If you’re dehydrated, your joints may ache, telling you to get a bottle of water and start sipping. Since your blood thickens the less fluid you have, it can lead to stretching blood channels in the brain, causing a headache. The low blood volume can lead to fainting or dizziness. Dehydration can affect how well your muscles function, which affects your performance.

  • If you’re dehydrated, it can cause the reduction of blood volume, which can cause low blood pressure. In other cases, it increases the amount of solutes in the blood and lowers blood volume, increasing vasopressin, which increases blood pressure.
  • Another quick check for dehydration is the color of your urine. If you have very little urine and it’s dark yellow or even brown, it’s a sign of dehydration. Normal urine is pale yellow if you’re hydrated.
  • Dehydration can cause you to wander mentally and lose focus, affecting memory, mood and concentration. Older people dehydrate faster and in many cases, the anger and confusion of dehydration is often mistaken for dementia.
  • If you’re drinking too little water, constipation can be a problem. Since water flushes out the toxins in your body, it boosts the immune system. If you have more frequent illnesses, consider drinking more water.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


Workouts That Almost Everyone Can Try At Home

Workouts That Almost Everyone Can Try At Home

No matter where you live, budgets are getting tighter. In Louisiana, even if you got a raise, the money doesn’t go as far. That’s why it’s important to save money where you can and the very reason Wellness on a Dime exists. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a trainer. There are menus that help you boost your health, but don’t break the budget. There are also excellent workouts you can do at home to get the look you want and the good health you deserve.

You don’t have to have weights to build strength.

You carry with you all the equipment you need to build strength, endurance and flexibility. It’s your body. Bodyweight exercises can provide a full workout and all you need is a small area to do them. The basic workouts start with lifts, push-ups, squats, lunges and pull-ups. If you want to build strength in your legs, do a hip bridge or single leg deadlift. You lay on your back with knees bent for a hip bridge and then lift the weight of your lower body to create a straight line bridge from your knees to your shoulders. All the exercises mentioned use the muscles of your body to lift your body, building muscle tissue as you do.

If you’re short on time, try circuit training or HIIT—high intensity interval training.

You can get cardio and strength training when you do your workout circuit training or HIIT style. Circuit training combines a group of exercises with little or no rest between each one. HIIT training could use the same group of exercises but varies the intensity for each one as you do the exercise. If your exercise is walking, you’d walk at top speed for a minute, then reduce the speed to recovery, a slower pace, then back to top speed. Both will enhance the benefits of each workout and reduce the time necessary.

Do you want to get a little fancier and add equipment?

Not all equipment costs a lot of money. Resistance bands, for instance, a set of resistance bands can be as low as $12.00. If you have milk, detergent or soft drink bottles or canned food, you can also make your own weights. If you’re just starting out, fill a clean, soft drink or water bottle with sand or water to get the weight you want. As you get fitter, move to larger detergent bottles or milk jugs for weights. You can run up and down steps for cardio or build a step platform with scrap wood.

  • If you have a busy schedule, you can break up your workout to several 10-15 minute sessions throughout the day.
  • You can work out while you’re getting supper ready. Butt kicks are good calorie burners and can be done at the counter or stove. They burn up to 300 calories in a half hour.
  • Other inexpensive workout equipment includes a jump rope and a hula hoop. You can get weighted versions of each, but it’s not necessary. Both can cost less than $10.00
  • No matter what type of exercise program you do at home, don’t forget to warm-up and cool-down to prevent injury. Taking a few minutes before you workout to do these can also improve the benefits from your workout.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


Are All Processed Foods Bad For You?

Are All Processed Foods Bad For You?

Every article you read about eating a healthy diet says to cut out all processed foods, but just what is processed food and are they all bad for you? First, let’s look at what the real definition of a processed food is and what most articles and diet experts are actually discussing. Any time you change a fruit or vegetable and it’s not exactly as it was on the plant, you’re processing it. Washing food, for example, is a type of processing. That’s definitely not what dietitians and health experts are discussing.

It’s all about what’s in the food and what’s not in it.

Frozen vegetables that contain nothing more than the vegetables are processed foods. They’re taken from the fields directly to the plant where they’re washed, sometimes blanched and fast frozen. The plants are often built close to the fields, so the fruits or vegetables have adequate time to ripen to their best in the field. In many ways, frozen fruits and vegetables, at least those with no other ingredients, are actually healthier than the ones you buy fresh in the store. The produce in the store is picked before ripeness and ripens in travel. Every day that the produce sits uneaten, it loses nutrients, unlike its frozen cousin.

Canned food may or may not be just as healthy an option.

It’s all about the ingredients that you find listed on the can. If there’s nothing but fruits, vegetables and water, you have a healthier option. Sometimes, even if there is extra salt, such as on beans, you can rinse the beans in water to remove the excess sodium. Buying canned fruits and vegetables, such as green beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, spinach and fruits packed in their own juice without added sugar, can save you money and provide good nutrition.

You don’t have to cut out a family favorite, peanut butter, to eat healthy.

There are all types of peanut butter, including ones that have jelly mixed in them. Some are healthy options, while others aren’t. Check the label. If there’s just one ingredient, peanuts, it’s a healthy option. If you’re not on a sodium restricted diet, peanut butter with the ingredients peanuts and salt also makes a healthy option. Processed peanut butter, like all highly processed food, has a whole list of ingredients, some of which sound like a lab experiment. Always opt for food with no added sugar, fewer and more natural ingredients.

  • Your favorite snack food probably is highly processed food, unless your favorite snack is fresh fruits or vegetables. Snack food often has additives to make you want to eat more and tend to be almost addictive.
  • Sometimes, a little processing can save you money and time, while still being healthy. Canned salmon, tuna or other types of fish packed in water are healthy options that can cut the cost of protein for a meal.
  • If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t fall for foods labeled low-fat or no fat. You need healthy fat to maintain bodily functions and when fat is removed, it’s replaced with sugar and unhealthy ingredients to make the consistency and taste more appealing.
  • It’s not just the food you eat, but also what you drink that makes a difference. Sugary soft drinks have 100 calories, compared to water, plain tea or coffee. If you don’t like water, make it infused water. There are some delicious recipes available.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


How To Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

How To Lose Body Fat And Preserve Muscle Mass

When you lose weight, it doesn’t always mean you’re only losing fat. Sometimes, you’re losing muscle mass too. You have to follow a weight loss program that specifically helps you lose body fat, while you preserve muscle mass. A fit appearance takes more than just reducing the number of calories you eat, but also exercise. The exercise builds muscle tissue, while the restricted calories help melt away the fat that hides that muscle.

Start with a healthy diet that focuses on building muscle tissue.

One of our goal specific diets is a muscle building nutritional plan. It focuses on providing all the nutrients you need to build strong muscle tissue, while also is lower in calories to help you burn fat. You need about 1.5 grams of protein for every pound you weigh to build muscle tissue. Our healthy plan helps you do it without having to calculate all the nutrients and micronutrients necessary. While most people think they have to cut out fat entirely, it’s important that you have about 15% of your calories from fat to build muscle tissue.

Of course, exercise is also a key to building muscle tissue and losing fat.

You’re probably aware that you won’t build muscle unless you exercise and that exercise also burns more calories to help you lose weight. What you may not know is that the more muscle tissue you have, the easier it is to lose weight. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, so you’ll be burning extra calories 24/7 as you increase the amount of muscle tissue.

Aim for reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories a day.

You can’t starve yourself and expect to build muscle, but you can’t lose fat without reducing calorie amounts. There’s a fine line to walk in how many calories to cut. For most people cutting calories by 500 a day can be the answer. Of course, this varies based on your size, gender and goals. Strength training can help you build muscles. You can combine your routine into a HIIT—high intensity interval training workout to burn extra calories. On the days you push that hard, you can up your calorie allotment by a few hundred calories to provide extra nutrients for muscle repair and rebuilding.

  • Don’t worry that you’ll look muscle bound if you’re a woman. Due to sex hormones, it’s harder for women to build bulky muscle and takes a strict diet, rigorous exercise and sometimes supplements to do it.
  • You do need cardio, but if you’re building muscle tissue, it can be counterproductive. When you do cardio, you’re burning both lean muscle tissue and fat. Focus on strength training.
  • Don’t do strength training every day. Your body needs to rest between sessions. Give it 48 to 72 hours before you work the same muscle groups again.
  • Get adequate sleep and hydrate frequently. Sleep helps make your workout better and keeps hunger hormones in balance. Being adequately hydrated improves your performance, while also boosting energy.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


The Best Freezer Meals For Meal Prep

The Best Freezer Meals For Meal Prep

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a healthy supper ready in minutes, with the only thing you have to do is heat and serve? You can get that and more when you meal prep and do extra freezer meals for later. Some food isn’t as appealing once it’s frozen, such as fresh vegetables used as a salad ingredient, like lettuce or cucumbers. Other food that aren’t the same after freezing include mayonnaise, soups or sauces that are cream based, cooked pasta, fried foods and most gravies.

A favorite of mine are stuffed peppers.

There are so many ways to make stuffed peppers and all of them are delicious when heated after you freeze them. You can make the filling using quinoa or rice, adding black beans, ground beef, chicken or even refried beans. The sauce can be as simple as a couple of cans of stewed, spicy or plain tomatoes or as complex as you want to make it. If you buy peppers in season to stuff, it’s a budget friendly dish that can be a whole meal when partnered with a side salad.

Pack the fixings for a great soup or leftover meal(s).

Did you serve roasted chicken? Pack up what’s left over for ingredients for your next meal. Debone the chicken and save the bones for broth. Chop the pieces of chicken so it’s ready for chicken salad. Just thaw and add onions, celery and dressing and it’s ready. You could save even more time if you chopped onions ahead and packaged them or have celery cleaned and ready to use as a snack. When you boil chicken, save the stock for soups with a few bits of chicken still in it. Freeze leftover vegetables, even small amounts. Toss the stock and the leftover veggies together in a slow cooker in the morning for a delicious soup that only takes a few minutes of actual preparation.

Make it fresh but make it easy.

You can assemble all the ingredients, freeze them and the day before you’ll be serving it, thaw the meal and use a slow cooker or insta pot the next day. Salsa verde chicken is an assembled and freeze ahead style meal. It requires a pound of chicken breasts, a cup or can of chicken broth, a whole 16 oz can of green salsa, 2 minced garlic cloves, a diced large onion, 4oz of green chilies and cumin. When you’re ready to cook, spray the slow cooker with non-stick oil, add the bag of thawed ingredients and cook. Use high for three hours or low for five or six. Salt and pepper to taste. You can use it for several meals if you make enough. Shred it to top a salad, rice or a burrito.

  • You can make sweet potato black bean chili and freeze it for up to three months. It uses sweet potatoes, black beans, lime juice, a can of diced tomatoes, onions, chili powder, garlic, cumin ground chipotle chili and salt.
  • If you’re using our menu planner, you can double most of the recipes and freeze part for later. If you’re making a creamed or milk based dish, hold the milk for the frozen version and add later.
  • Put the name of what’s frozen on the container and the date you froze it. Brown or cook all meats when you buy them and pack them in small freezer bags in smaller portions to use later.
  • We have a wealth of recipes you can make and freeze ahead for later in our DIMEnutrition meal planner option. The meals are custom-made for you and address your specific needs.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


Why Sourdough Bread Is Better Than Other Breads

Why Sourdough Bread Is Better Than Other Breads

At one time, all bread that was leavened was sourdough bread, which took a long time. In fact, the fact that the Jews had unleavened bread during the exodus from Egypt, may have been because they didn’t have the time to wait overnight for it to rise. These breads were made via natural fermentation of the grain. While it took a long time to rise, and required a starter, bread was extremely popular. About 150 years ago, baker’s yeast was introduced and it made the process less time-consuming and easier.

Sourdough bread is made by a fermentation process with less than predictable flavor.

Yeast bread, that’s the most prominent today, is far more predictable and faster. When you use a sour dough starter, it can vary from location to location. You can make your own starter by putting 2 TBSP of flour and 2 TBSP of unchlorinated water in a jar and make a thoroughly mixed paste. Scrape down the sides to avoid mold and cover it with a paper towel with a rubber band to secure it. Keep it in a warm place out of sunlight for 24 hours. Remove the paper towel, then remove 1 TBSP of it that you throw away. It grows fast and if you don’t remove some, by the end of a week you’d have a gallon of starter. Add 4 teaspoons of flour and a TBSP of water to feed it. Mix and cover. Repeat every day from 5 days to 14 days. As you can tell, it takes a lot of work and time.

A sourdough starter has a variety of bacteria and wild yeast.

The sourdough starter comes from the beneficial bacteria and wild yeas. For instance, lactobacilli feeds on the flour and changes it to lactic acid and carbon dioxide. Flour contains many of the different strains of beneficial microbes, as does the water you start it with. The bacteria break down the starch in the flour and change them into glucose and maltose, which the yeast metabolizes. When the yeast consumes maltose from fermentation, it produces carbon dioxide bubbles that cause it to rise or leaven.

Sour dough isn’t gluten-free, but it does contain less gluten than regular bread.

It’s all about that long fermentation process that makes a difference. It tends to degrade the gluten a bit each day. Gluten is a protein and while not bad, you can become gluten intolerant, causing health issues. You can make sourdough bread gluten free by starting with brown rice flour or other types of gluten free flour. It also will taste quite different from the sourdough bread made from wheat.

  • The longer sourdough is fermented, the less gluten it contains and the more the gluten is degraded. That can be healthier even for people who aren’t gluten intolerant, preventing bloating and gas.
  • If your starter smells like gym socks or has other bad smells, it often just needs more time to brew and let the good bacteria to take over. It should smell good. If the smell changes, it may be time to feed it again with flour and water.
  • The friendly bacteria and microbes help make the sourdough bread easier to digest. The fermentation process makes the nutrients easier to absorb. It eliminates the phytic acid that can block the absorption of minerals.
  • Sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index rating compared to processed white breads. You can make it with any type of flour, but whole grains are best. Some studies show it fills you up faster, so you eat less.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching


The Benefits Of Seaweed For Digestion

The Benefits Of Seaweed For Digestion

If you want to boost your nutrients, reap many benefits and add a dash of the unique to your diet, add seaweed. While seaweed is good for digestion for most people, some types of seaweed can cause problems for people with certain digestive issues. There are seven types of edible seaweed, wakame, kombu, nori, dulse, hijiki, Irish moss and sea lettuce. The edible seaweed is also classified by color, green algae, brown algae, red algae and blue-green algae.

Seaweed helps boost beneficial “belly bugs.”

Your gut microbiome, the collection of microbes in your gut, determines a lot about your health, both mentally and physically. There has to be the proper balance of beneficial microbes to harmful ones, or the harmful ones will take over and you’ll end up sick. For a healthy digestive system and to promote beneficial microbes, you need adequate fiber and polysaccharides. Not only is seaweed a good source of fiber, but it also promotes a healthy gut. The fiber feeds the beneficial bacteria, while the polysaccharides, some sugar in seaweed, boost the growth of beneficial gut microbes.

Seaweed can also exacerbate some digestive issues.

While seaweed can be good for most people, some people shouldn’t eat it. People who often have digestive issues or who have bacterial overgrowth in the small intestines, shouldn’t eat it. The carrageenan in some seaweed can cause inflammation. Irish moss is one seaweed high in carrageenan. If you have a thyroid-related health issue, such as hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, the high iodine content can interfere with your medication. Since seaweed is high in fiber, it aids digestion, but like any fibrous foods if you eat too much it can cause digestive issues, such as bloating, constipation or gas.

Seaweed helps protect the body, including the digestive tract, with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.

Free radicals cause oxidation. Oxidation can cause damage to your cells, but the food you eat can provide antioxidants that prevent that from happening. It also contains anti-inflammatory properties, which fight inflammation. Free radicals are both the cause and result of inflammation, so if you have one, you have the other. Seaweed contains potent antioxidants that both help eliminate free radicals, but also reduce inflammation, which can help prevent serious colon diseases and other digestive issues. Scientists have now proven that nutrients are responsible for fighting inflammation of the gut.

  • A type of seaweed that grows close to the Florida Keys has been found to be extremely important for fighting inflammatory digestive diseases and colon cancer.
  • The polysaccharides found in seaweed not only promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, but they also increase short-chain fatty acid—SCFA—production. SCFA nourishes and supports the cells lining of your gut.
  • You also should check the source of the seaweed to avoid contamination from copper, nickel, other heavy metals and radiation caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident that occurred in 2011. Consider land based seaweed farms.
  • Adding sugar kelp—a type of seaweed—to beans can help control a gassy response. It breaks down the raffinose sugars beans contain, so they’re easier to digest and less likely to cause bloating or gas.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching