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Hangover Prevention 101

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner, and with it comes for many folks an abundance of booze. Don’t be bedridden your first day of the new year – practice some damage control with this hangover prevention guide.

Note – this is NOT a green light or go-ahead to consume huge amounts of booze, or an excuse to consume booze regularly. Nothing in here prevents you from getting drunk, nor does it prevent or treat alcoholism – if you have a problem, go see a doctor. Above all else, drink responsibly – don’t drink and drive.

Look at this guide in two ways – there’s the “basic hangover prevention” protocol which entails only the first two steps, food/hydration and using antioxidants. This is the bare minimum and will work wonders for those who don’t drink too much, too often – if that’s you, then that’s all you need.

It will also work wonders in preventing hangovers for those who drink more heavily, but those who do should definitely consider some extra supplements to help combat the long term damage alcohol does to the body and brain.

Part 1 – The Night Of

1. Eat a good meal prior, and hydrate frequently

I remember vividly one night in Montreal a few summers back. It was the last night on a two week trip I took with my dad, complete with hiking Mt. Washington, seeing the Bay of Fundy, and experiencing some insane live music in Montreal.

We went out to celebrate – we managed to score a reservation at one of the best restaurants in town, Au Pied de Cochon, where we ate lavishly.

A dish of bone marrow topped with caviar - my $40 appetizer. — A dish of bone marrow topped with caviar – my $40 appetizer.

With britches loosened, I then did what any warm-blooded 20-something would do on his last night in a foreign city – try his hardest to get very drunk.

Something very odd happened that night, however. Despite trying to get drunk, and taking no antioxidants or other prophylactics, I simply never made it passed tipsy. Pretty tipsy, mind you, but never drunk, and when I awoke the next morning, I was simply a bit sleepy. And granted, this wasn’t just youth on my side – I’d had more than my fair share of vicious hangovers at this age.

Two things contributed to this – one, I ate a huge amount of food for dinner, and being French food, it was rich and high in fat.

Two, as my dad had reminded me ever since I reached the legal drinking age, I drank one glass of water per alcoholic drink – mainly because he was physically there to remind me.

Lesson learned – eat a big, rich meal, and drink a ton of water, at least one glass per alcoholic beverage, to help ward off a hangover.

Bonus tip – drink clear liquors. Clear liquors contain the least amount of congeners, by products of the fermentation process that worsen hangover symptoms.

2. Use quality antioxidants

One of the most effective ways to prevent hangovers is to prevent the actual damage done to your body from drinking alcohol. The best way to do this? Antioxidants, specifically ones that protect your liver and brain, the two organs that receive the brunt of the damage. It’s important to choose antioxidants that are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, a highly selective barrier made up of brain cells that only allow certain nutrients into the brain.

Astaxanthin is an extremely powerful antioxidant that is proven to cross the blood-brain barrier, and in one study was able to prevent damage done to the brains of rats by up to 40%. I personally use 4 mg of astaxanthin per 2-3 drinks. 12 mg pills are also available for the bacchanalians out there.

I personally also add 400 mg of Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ-10) per 2-3 drinks as well, another powerful antioxidant that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier. If tight on cash or just plain lazy, stick to astaxanthin.

Out of all the antioxidants I’ve tried, these are the only two that reliably spare me from head-splitting migraines the day after.

For the liver, I highly suggest using N-Acetyl Cysteine and a high quality Milk Thistle extract, prior to drinking. Both are dirt cheap and work wonders to prevent damage done to the liver from excess alcohol consumption, as well as speed up the rate at which the body is able to breakdown alcohol.

This product contains both N-Acetyl Cysteine and milk thistle, as well as some other liver-protecting goodies, for just 20 dollars.

LifeExtension offers an all-in-one product that contains both antioxidants and liver supporting substances. This is a great pick for anyone who imbibes just occasionally, but for the regular weekend warriors out there, it’s both more economical and more effective to stock up on the items listed above.

You can opt to finish the night off with 200 to 400 mg of L-theanine, a calming and neuroprotective amino acid derived from green tea that not only helps your body to break down alcohol more quickly, but helps to deepen your sleep, allowing you to recover better from your binge. This is critical as alcohol worsens the deepest stage of sleep, REM sleep, in which dreams occur, memories are formed and learning is solidified.

3. Replenish what you’ve lost

Alcohol is one hell of a draining substance, and depletes your body of numerous essential vitamins and minerals.

The easiest way to replenish what you’ve lost from boozing is to at least pop some high-octane multivitamins. Add probiotics and a greens drink if you have the money.

A multivitamin such as LifeExtensions Two Per Day capsules is a quick and easy way to replenish most vitamins and minerals that are depleted from excessive drinking. Consume 2-3 pills before, during or after drinking.

For additional support, I would add a quality greens powder the same night after drinking. My top picks are Vitamineral Green and Green Vibrance – both are insanely nutrient-dense green powders, and both pack huge doses of probiotics. However, both are also expensive, and rightfully so.

For those on a budget (myself included), take 6-12 tablets of chlorella, which is both a strong detoxifier and packed with nutrients and antioxidants, along with 1-2 probiotic capsules. Both products are quite affordable and help to further replenish nutrients and probiotics that are depleted or killed off by excessive alcohol intake. Consume with coconut water – see part two.

4. Additional support

Adaptogens are any number of substances that help to normalize the functions of the body, increase energy and prevent stress. Would they be any help in keeping you sharp the day after a few libations?

Turns out Siberian ginseng is able to prevent hangover symptoms. According to this study, the authors concluded that “… PEA (Siberian ginseng) may have potential to reduce the severity of the alcohol hangover by inhibiting the alcohol-induced hypoglycemia and inflammatory response.”

Here is a strong and very affordable Siberian ginseng extract – each 400 mg pill is the equivalent to 11 grams of the un-extracted, raw herb – all for just $14.

Red Chinese ginseng is also able to help prevent hangovers and reduce damage from alcohol. This study concluded that ginseng “showed positive effects on hangover symptoms. Considering the reduction of plasma alcohol levels, expiratory concentrations, and hangover severity, we conclude that red ginseng relieves the symptoms of alcohol hangover.”

Unfortunately, with Chinese ginseng you get what you pay for, and cheap versions found at CVS or Walmart aren’t going to do much. I personally use either Dragon Herbs’ Ginseng Sublime, or if money is tight, their more affordable but still high quality House Ginseng. Again, these items aren’t necessary, but do help.

Part 2 – The Morning After

1. Hydration in the form of coconut water

Lots of electrolytes are lost when you drink. Alcohol also slows the production of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which causes you to lose water through urination – the real reason behind the whole “breaking the seal” concept.

When you stop drinking, your body goes on to over-produce ADH in a rebound-type effect. This causes water retention, leading to puffy hands, feet and face, as well as a headache as your blood pressure increases. Your body also over-produces a hormone called vasopressin, which causes your body to retain sodium and lose potassium.

Drinking coconut water, which is extremely high in potassium, helps to lower blood pressure, rehydrate and prevent the excessive retention of water. I’m a huge fan of dehydrated coconut water – it’s cheaper, lighter and takes up less space, while providing all the benefits of liquid coconut water. Consume at least two tablespoons worth in a big glass of water.

Add two to three teaspoons of Natural Calm magnesium citrate to further replenish lost minerals and electrolytes, and reduce the inflammation caused by alcohol.

2. Caffeine

Lets face it, a cup of joe is just what the doctor ordered after a long night. Combine with L-theanine for less jittery side-effects and enhanced focus.

3. Nootropics

Nootropics (new-trope-icks) are a class of substances that act to increase cognitive function, and are commonly referred to as “smart drugs” – they’re great for students, for desk jockeys, for musicians, athletes, busy moms, hell, just about everyone. CEO’s of million dollar companies and Silicon Valley startups rely heavily on nootropics, as do professional level gamers. I’ve personally noticed a huge improvement in performance, focus and productivity, as well as improvements in mood and a decrease in stress from perfecting my nootropic use.

However, they’re also a tricky bunch – what works great for one person may not do much for another. There’s a great variety of nootropics out there as well, each one aimed at enhancing a specific area of cognitive function – memory, motivation, creativity, reaction time, energy, etc.

For this reason, your best bet is to contact me so you can quickly sort through which ones would be right for you, and avoid spending money on those that many in the community consider to be duds.

4. Optional – more antioxidants, liver cleansers and multivitamins

It depends on how much you drank and how bad you feel, but it never hurts to double up on antioxidants and vitamins, especially if you drunkenly forgot the night before. More greens powder or chlorella helps as well.

Party on, Garth!

So remember – at it’s most basic, you can simply eat a good dinner, stay hydrated, and take some antioxidants before and during drinking. This alone does wonders.

To take it up one more notch, add a high quality multivitamin and coconut water to rehydrate. Astaxanthin, NAC/milk thistle plus a quality multi will run you 20 to 30 bucks for multiple month’s worth of supply.

Everything beyond that is very helpful, but not necessary if you’re not regularly consuming multiple drinks per night.

The Highway to Health

Lemme be honest with you – if you want to be on the fast track to being healthy and feel absolutely fantastic, you need to improve your intestinal health. This should be your first priority, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Your intestinal health affects everything from your mood, your energy levels, cognitive function, and weight, all the way to your outer appearance, as the skin and gut are intimately connected.

How can all this happen just from the gut? Mainly due to inflammation. Controlling inflammation is the key that unlocks a more vibrant life, and the way to control inflammation is largely through improving intestinal health. Everything you consume affects your body’s level of inflammation, either positively or negatively. Think about it – all the stuff you cram down your gullet comes into contact with you via your intestines – all the irritants in food, all the artificial dyes and colorings, all the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, everything is in direct contact with the largest organ in your immune system, your intestines. It makes sense that if you’re eating crap, you’re going to feel like crap as well.

Further, the digestive system is your “second brain”. Called the enteric nervous system, this second brain not only has 100 million neurons, as many as your spinal cord, but also produces a bevy of neurotransmitters which have a huge effect on how you feel.

You want to have more energy, a better mood, less brain fog, lose weight and have better skin don’t you? Thought so.

Your Gut – What Went Wrong

In a perfect world, your gut would be in tip top shape – it would digest the food you put into it, absorb the nutrients and speedily discard the waste products. Sounds easy right?

It should be, but we’ve messed things up in the modern world. Rampant use of antibiotics have completely destroyed our beneficial intestinal flora, leading to overgrowth of bad bacteria like candida or contributing to SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth. A lack of fiber further gunks things up, as fiber is the food for beneficial bacteria in the gut, and helps to sweep debris out of the intestines.

Intestinal hyper-permeability, or “leaky gut syndrome“, is another way intestinal health can go way wrong, as certain irritants, be it undigested food sitting in the intestines, candida or constant exposure to gluten, can actually cause the intestines to become more permeable than they should be. This allows microbes, undigested food particles and toxins to escape the digestive tract and enter the blood stream, where they further cause damage and feelings of malaise.

Lack of fiber, water and magnesium can cause constipation, something affecting some 63 million Americans. Artificial dyes, chemical pesticides, aluminum and plastics leached from cans and bottles.. All these things irritate the gut and affect your energy levels and moods.

The list goes on – Crohn’s disease, Celiac’s disease, lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, parasites… A lot can go wrong. The good news is, it’s easy to fix. Read on.

Healing Your Gut, Step 1 – Fasting

It doesn’t matter who you are or what your current health status is, everyone can benefit from periodic fasting. While intermittent fasting has it’s benefits, prolonged fasts are the type recommended for improving intestinal health.

Think about this – when was the last time you gave your digestive system a rest? Here you are, shoveling food into your face all day, every day, and demanding that your digestive system break all that food down, absorb the good stuff and eliminate the bad stuff before you start eating more food. Can’t a homie catch a break?

All joking aside, a 3-7 day juice fast is the most therapeutic technique I know of for boosting health. 24-36 hours after you cease consuming food, the body begins the process of autophagy, where it starts to clean out cellular junk, detoxify, and even destroy old, worn-down cells and replace them with shiny new ones. The intestines get a chance to purge built up waste products (lovely), and get some much needed rest. All the organs and glands in the body get revitalized and re-calibrated. After the initial discomfort of not eating, the body’s energy levels skyrocket as it is no longer expending massive amounts of energy breaking down, absorbing and excreting foodstuffs, and turns to stored body fat as energy.

Fasting is powerful stuff, and after my first couple of 3 day juice fasts, the rosacea on my face and the persistent rash on my chest cleared right up. Spring is the best time for a prolonged fast, as the weather is warm and it gives you a chance to clean out some of the junk stored up from winter, a time of year when most people eat heavier foods to stay warm. Spring is the time nature provides us with the most detoxifying foods as well – sprouts, grasses, dandelion and nettle greens are all very powerful and natural detoxifiers, and if you have access to them and a juicer, all the better.

Here’s how to succeed at your first fast – choose two days that you don’t have much to do, when you preferably aren’t working. On the first day, eat a larger breakfast and a larger lunch before noon. Then consume nothing but fresh juices, teas and water until noon the following day. This gives you a full 24 hours of fasting, and you’ll be sleeping through the worst part, when hunger and fatigue would be peaking. The following week, repeat the process above, but extend the fast until dinner time. The third time you fast, try to hold out a full 3 days – so if you start your fast at noon on Friday, you wouldn’t eat again until noon on Monday. Keep in mind that by halfway through the second day, any feelings of fatigue and aches should disappear and be replaced with mental clarity and energy, and you likely wont even be hungry. It’s important to break the fast with very light foods – fresh fruit, preferably soft ones like bananas and melons, and soft, steamed veggies are best.

If you’re like me and enjoy a cup of joe in the mornings, you can use Dandy Blend during a fast, a blend of roasted chicory, beet and other detoxifying herbs that tastes surprisingly good. Wheatgrass, beet, dandelion, celery and cucumber are excellent choices to juice while fasting, although you can get by using just a combination of apple and grape juices too. Make sure you’re not only consuming citrus juices, as they are too acidic to be the only juice on a fast.

I highly recommend using Healthforce’s Intestinal Drawing Formula during your first few fasts for a few reasons. First, it adds bulk to your stomach, helping to ease a bit of the hunger and encourage bowel movements. Second, it’s loaded with natural demulcents, or substances that gel up and help to heal and soothe the intestines. Finally, it has Zeolite clay, Activated Charcoal and Volcanic Bentonite clay – these natural substances bind to toxins and irritants and help draw them out of the body, very useful during your first few fasts as your body will be purging toxins left and right. I highly recommend using the pills, as the powder tastes like, well, clay.

After your first few fasts, the Intestinal Drawing Formula is optional, but it’s also a great thing to have on hand for anyone with a highly irritated digestive system, as the demulcents are quite soothing. You can always add in some Vitamineral Green for enhanced detoxification during a fast as well. Aim for 3-4 three day fasts per year, as a minimum.

Step 2 – Eliminating Irritants

Figuring out what your trigger foods are can take a bit of work, but it’s critical to find out if you have certain foods that irritate your digestive system. For many people it’s gluten. Next in line is unfermented soy products, and for millions of people it’s processed dairy. MSG and artificial sweeteners do a lot of damage as well.

The best way to suss out suspected food irritants is to do an elimination diet. For one whole month eliminate all gluten, processed soy and processed dairy from your diet. Not only are you likely to lose a few pounds, you’ll likely discover that you have more energy. After the month without the offenders, slowly add each one back into your diet and notice how it makes you feel. If you start getting brain fog, stomach aches or fatigue, you’ll know that it’s an irritant for you.

While I don’t have any food allergies or intestinal irritants per se, I do feel better the less gluten, unfermented soy and highly processed, non-organic milk products I use. If you’re following a whole foods, plant-based diet, these will naturally be minimized.

Step 3 – Smart Eating Strategies

Both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine say all disease originates from a faulty digestive system. In Ayurveda, an energy known as Agni rules over the digestive functions. Agni is a type of “fire” that breaks food down into it’s smallest components, which are then absorbed and utilized by the body, getting turned into Prana (energy), Tejas (radiance, relating to metabolism) and Ojas (strength or vitality, the equivalent of TCM’s Jing). However, if Agni is depleted or malfunctioning, it can’t fully digest food and results in an accumulation of Ama, or toxins, which leads to disease. This is an amazingly accurate description of how the digestive system actually works, and how many diseases arise in the first place.

Personification of Agni

Ayurveda stresses the importance of doing all you can to keep the flames of Agni fully stoked, or put in modern terms, to keep all your digestive juices and enzymes fully stocked, and there are many ways to do so.

First and foremost, don’t over eat! This is the quickest way to accumulating Ama in Ayurveda and the quickest way to deplete Jing and shorten your lifespan in TCM. Following the Japanese idiom “Hari hachi bu”, or eating until 80% full, goes a long way here.

Preventing overeating can be difficult at first, but is easily corrected with a little practice. Focus on sloooowwiiiingg doowwnnnnn when you eat. There’s roughly a ten minute time delay between your stomach becoming full and your brain realizing that fact. Take a bite, set down your fork, chew thoroughly, and take a second to really taste the food. Many people recommend chewing each bite anywhere from 30 to 100 times – frankly I find this to be a bitch, but I do recommend chewing each bite of just one meal 30 times, not only to prove to yourself that you’ll feel full before the meal is done, but also to show how much more energy you’ll have when your food is properly chewed and ready for digestion.

Many yoga postures, through all the bending and twisting, improve the secretion of digestive juices and enzymes. A favorite method of mine to improve Agni is using digestive bitters. Using digestive bitters was a common practice throughout Europe, and many countries around the world still make it a habit to consume a very bitter/pungent substance prior to meals – think green chutney as a condiment with Indian food. Very bitter foods increase the amount of bile released, helping to digest fatty, heavier foods.

Salt is a simple and effective way to increase digestive powers. Salt is mainly comprised of sodium chloride – the chloride in salt helps to increase the hydrochloric acid of the stomach, the main acid involved in the dissolving of foods. Lightly salting your meals with a natural salt such as Himalayan salt or Celtic sea salt can go a long way.

Spicy, pungent foods also improves digestion – ginger, black pepper, red pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, cloves and many other spicy herbs increase the flow of digestive enzymes and gastric juices, as well as increasing peristalsis, the rhythmic movements of the intestines that expel waste. They also improve circulation, enhance detoxification and many boost the metabolism, so add some spices to your life.

Making lunch your biggest meal of the day is a great way to improve digestion as well. Your metabolism is naturally highest around 12-2 pm, making lunch a great time to digest your bigger, heavier meals. Breakfast should be just enough food to last you to lunch, while dinner should preferably be the lightest meal of the day, maybe just soup or a salad. It’s also important to have a light dinner before 7 so that your stomach is empty come bed time – if it isn’t, your liver won’t get the time it needs to detox as it’s busy processing food, and the insulin released from dinner will impair many a metabolism regulating hormone. To top it all off, your digestive powers are greatly weakened as you sleep.

Both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine recommend not consuming cold foods, and not consuming too much liquid around meals. Cold foods are said to “shock” the digestive system – while I can’t find any hard facts on this topic, I have felt that I digest warm foods better. Avoiding liquids near meals makes perfect sense, however. Lets say you were trying to melt some object with a bunch of acid – would it melt better if you added just acid, or if you diluted the acid with water? Liquids dilute the digestive juices and enzymes that help to break down the food you eat, so try to limit liquids around meal times. However, a shot of espresso, glass of red wine or some kombucha all help to actually improve digestion, just don’t over do it.

Make sure to consume plenty of fiber as well. Not only is fiber the food for probiotics, but it helps to sweep out undigested bits of food from the digestive tract. Keep that colon clean!

Finally, if you’re consuming a very large meal, say at Thanksgiving, or consuming something you know you’ll have a hard time digesting, make use of digestive enzymes. These make a HUGE difference in how easily and quickly you digest and absorb food.

Step 4 – Pre- and Probiotics

I already touched on the importance of probiotics here – long story short, they improve digestion and assimilation, improve mood and decrease stress, improve immunity, and even create new nutrients for you, some that help you to even lose weight. No discussion of digestive health is complete without paying due to our little friends in our gut. I suggest this brand here for daily maintenance, as well as consuming a wide variety of fermented foods in order to get a variety of probiotics, foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, miso, natto and fresh pickled veggies. It’s important to also provide prebiotics, the food for probiotics, in the form of fiber, or through supplementation.

You are a reflection of your digestive health. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel after a few fasts, upping your fiber intake, using bitter and spicy herbs to improve digestion and after regular use of probiotics. Watch as your mood improves, your skin clears up and your energy levels skyrocket. And remember, this is an ongoing process! Don’t think just because you fasted once you don’t have to ever again, or that you don’t need any probiotics after your first bottle. Trust me when I say improving digestive health is key to feeling amazing, and it will be easy to keep at it.

Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends

It’s a little disconcerting to think that the 100 trillion cells in our microbiome, the term for the collection of microbes living both in and upon us, out number our human cells 10 to 1. The genes of our microbiome outnumber human genes 100 to 1. Craziest yet, our microbiome plays a huge role influencing how we feel and perhaps even how we act.

Surreal landscape, or the bacteria crawling all over your face?

Do you have intense sugar cravings that you just can’t seem to overcome? It’s quite possible that certain bacteria within your gut, which feed off of sugar, are influencing you to consume more for their own survival. Is chocolate a must have every single day? It might not be just because it’s loaded with feel-good chemicals and may have more to do with the fact it feeds certain bacteria in your gut.

As usual, the modern world has interfered with our good health. While I don’t advocate a Paleo diet per se, they do hit the nail on the head in terms of the fact that our bodies have evolved to require certain things, one of which is a profusion of mixed bacteria in the gut – prior to a few hundred years ago, nothing was very sanitary. And for hundreds of thousands of years, the food we were able to consume had various levels of bacteria upon it, through which we’ve evolved to thrive. We later learned to use fermentation as a means to preserving our food, which further increased our exposure to bacteria in the form of probiotics.

But it’s not all bad news, far from it. We’re just starting to learn how critical these little guys are to our health, especially the good bacteria, or probiotics, in our intestinal tract. Probiotics (pro=for or towards, bio= life) mean literally for life.

First we need a little background on our digestive system, and one thing I’ll be touching on in the future is that you are a reflection of your intestinal health. It’s not the most poetic sentiment, sure, but it’s true, and if you’re trying to lose weight, have more energy and a clear mind, you need to pay more attention to intestinal health.

The human digestive system, a 30 foot long tangle of mass, is a huge player in our wellbeing, but the focus of this post is centers around probiotics and their interaction with us, and to understand that we need to understand a simple fact : your gut is your second brain. This second brain is in constant communication with the one in your head and the two are always influencing each other, which is one reason why food affects your mood, and why your mental state affects your digestion.

Technically know as the enteric nervous system, this “second brain” contains over a 100 million neurons, more than in the spinal cord or in the peripheral nervous system. And how do neurons communicate with one another? Through neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters have a profound affect on your mood, energy levels, behavior and outlook on life in general, and are largely a “missing link” when attempting to improve one’s health. For example, lets say you don’t produce enough dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in motivation, pleasure, increased mood, focus, and energy, as well as goal-seeking behavior. So if something’s going on that is disrupting the proper functioning of dopamine, you will experience less pleasure, less energy, have poor focus, little motivation and won’t be motivated to accomplish goals and tasks at hand. Other neurotransmitters include serotonin, a key player in mood and the target of most anti-depressants; GABA, a calming and relaxing neurotransmitter, our body’s natural Xanax; and quite a few more.

This all relates to your digestive system and probiotics in a large way. If your intestinal flora isn’t flourishing, not only is your digestion going to be wonky, but so will your mood, energy levels and outlook on life. Probiotics, those lovely little critters that call your digestive system home, produce the whole gamut of neurotransmitters, which your body then absorbs and responds to.

For example, Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum, two strains of probiotics, have been found to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Lactobacillus rhamnosis produces GABA which we then are able to utilize, keeping us feeling calm and collected throughout the day; you know that wonderful relaxed feeling you get after a long yoga session, or from a glass of wine at the end of the day? GABA at work. Bifidobacterium infantis helps produce serotonin, the same neurotransmitter targeted by most anti-depressants, as well as reduces inflammation and helps send “I’m full” signals to the brain. Lactobacillus reuteri stimulates the production of oxytocin, the hormone used to promote social bonding and which is released when we relax with loved ones.

Help them help you

So if you want to be depressed, stressed, anxious, hungry, on edge, less motivated, and experience less pleasure, don’t consume any probiotics or fermented foods.

“Say, how might I improve my intestinal flora?” So glad you asked. First, start by avoiding things that kill off the good bugs in your digestive system. The worst offender is by far antibiotics – these are a nuclear bomb to probiotics, killing off the bad bugs as well as the good. If you have a thriving microbiome you likely won’t ever need antibiotics, but if you are prescribed them make sure to take some very strong probiotics along with them and afterwards. Limit consumption of coffee, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs as well, as all damage your intestinal flora. Avoid consuming too many refined carbs, junk food and sugar, as these feed the bad bugs and promote their overgrowth, while starving off our little bacterial friends. Many pesticides and herbicides do damage to probiotics as well, so go for organic as much as possible.

Promote a healthy intestinal flora by consuming a wide variety of fermented foods. Things like unpasteurized yogurt, unpasteurized sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, kvass, kimchi, lassi, organic dark chocolate, and even high quality, unfiltered and unpasteurized beer and wine, though be careful not to overindulge. These are all fermented foods, teeming with a wide variety of bacterial good guys.

Consume plenty of high fiber foods, as fiber, while undigested by humans, is actually the food for our microbial friends, and is thus termed prebiotics. Berries, especially raspberries, apples, dark leafy greens, avocados, beans, certain whole grains, oatmeal and celery are all good choices. Onions, leeks, garlic and beets are high in inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which are basically crack for probiotics. You can also buy some potato starch, which feeds certain bacteria in the gut that then produce butyrate, a fat-burning, hunger suppressing compound. If you wish to supplement inulin and FOS, I’d go with this product, as it’s high quality and the price can’t be beat.

There are two high quality probiotic supplements I’d like to recommend as well. Renew Life’s Ultimate Flora Super Critical is a high quality probiotic, with a full 200 billion living organisms of 10 different strains. This would be my suggestion for anyone who has multiple courses of antibiotics in the past and is looking to boost their intestinal flora up to healthy levels, or for anyone who has to go on a course of antibiotics. My second recommendation would be Lee Swanson’s Ultimate Probiotic Formula, which has a very respectable 66 billion organisms and even comes with it’s own prebiotics. These are good supplements to have on hand in case you get sick, or to use in addition to a diet high in a variety of fresh fermented foods.

Just as a side note, I personally get my probiotics from fermented foods and from Vitamineral Green and Green Vibrance, two greens powders that I gave a detailed description of here.

To recap, if you want to avoid digestive issues along with depression, anxiety and a lack of motivation, be sure to pay attention to consuming fermented foods. Developing a healthy intestinal flora really is critical to maintaining not only proper digestive health, but emotional, physical and mental wellbeing as well.

My Number One Supplement Recommendation

A common mistake I see a lot of people committing is bringing their consumer-driven, “want it now” attitudes to health. This is one of many areas in life where you simply can’t rush things. People want to lose weight, look better, have more energy and a more vibrant life but these don’t just POOF! occur over night. Of course there are ways to speed up this process, which I’m all about, but there still isn’t and never will be any magic pill.

However….

If there were one supplement that gave you the most bang for your buck, the most broad spectrum of benefits, and jumpstarted your way to healthy living, would you take it?

My guess is that you would.

You can’t have all your health goals achieved at once or without any effort, but you can get a jumpstart on the process with Healthforce’s Vitamineral Green.

Vitamineral Green is a nutrient dense, low-calorie blend of some of the most nutritious, healing and protective plants in the world. It contains three blends of herbal substances – From the Land, From the Waters, and From the Oceans, as well as a blend of digestive enzymes and probiotics.

It’s “From the Land” portion of the blend boasts hearty doses of Nettle Leaf, a strong detoxifying and hormone regulating tonic, the concentrated juices of Alfalfa leaf, Dandelion (powerful liver detoxifier), chlorophyll rich barley and wheat grass, as well as oat grass. This portion of the blend also contains silicon-rich horsetail (great for hair, skin and bones), the adaptogenic herb tulsi to help manage with stress, ginger for digestion and it’s anti-inflammatory properties, as well as shilajit, an Ayurvedic substance that not only detoxifies the body but enhances absorption of other compounds consumed with it.

The “From the Waters” blend contains almost 4 grams of Spirulina and Chlorella, two of the most nutrient dense foods available. These two algaes both have more protein by weight than even beef, and it comes in a highly digestible free-amino acid form. They’re both rich in detoxifying chlorophyl as well as the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory blue pigments known as phycocyanins. Chlorella is also rich in nucleic acids, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, and has this cool compound called Chlorella-Growth Factor, all of which combine to make to chlorella one strong rejuvenative substance.

The “From the Oceans” blend is an array of seaweeds, known for being very nutrient dense and high in iodine, a mineral sorely lacking in today’s diets. Iodine is crucial for proper thyroid function, so if you’re looking to have a healthy balance of hormones as well as a metabolism that hums so loud you can hear it, get your iodine, folks.

As mentioned above, it has a hefty dose of digestive enzymes, which not only help your body to absorb the above listed ingredients, but can help to digest food when taken with meals.

It also boasts 10,000,000,000 live probiotic cultures per serving. Probiotics, those lovely little bacteria in our digestive tracts, are proving to be more and more valuable. They help digest and absorb food as well as create new nutrients for us – hunger suppressing butyric acid, anyone? They’re also a nice source of various neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, which play crucial roles in mood and energy levels. You can’t claim to be health conscious without using probiotics, whether as a supplement or in whole food form.

As you can see, this is one badass supplement! There are other green blends out there, but with the exception of Green Vibrance, I haven’t found any that pack as strong a punch. If you’re looking for a quick and noticeable boost in health, I strongly recommend you pick up one of these supplements and try it daily for just one month. You’ll be amazed at how great you’ll feel.

Have you used Vitamineral Green or Green Vibrance? If so, what were your results? Leave a comment and let us know.