Cholesterol is very firmly associated with lifespan. Just not in the way most people think.

In fact, according to newer research, levels of cholesterol in the ranges of 210-240 are associated with longer lifespans.

And lower levels of cholesterol lead to lower levels of energy, overall health and hormonal deficiencies among testosterone, estrogen and others.

In this article we cover how cholesterol actually operates in the body, what it actually has to do with high blood pressure and how it’s not quite the villain it’s been made out to be, but a vital part of our body’s proper functioning.

When working out, training, or just going about our daily lives, optimal blood flow is very important.

It's necessary for the fullest recovery after exercise, high energy levels, performance, muscle building, and fat loss. Not to mention, overall health.

Poor blood flow even affects our mood.

It's how the nutrients, water, and oxygen needed for energy creation and cellular repair flow to our cells.

And how the toxins flow out.

If our blood flow is lower, our cells do not get these nutrients or oxygen fast enough and our energy levels go down during high intensity workouts, or in daily life.

This lowers endurance, slows recovery, muscle building, and fat loss significantly, and can leave us feeling exhausted, low energy, and even depressed.

Achieving healthy blood flow then is important for maximum results and maximum overall health.

Everyone wants soft, healthy, supple skin. Especially as we get older.

This is so much the case that about $17 Billion is spent on skin care products yearly. And most of these products, while providing short term results, actually result in worsening conditions over time. This is due to the, in some cases, incredibly toxic ingredients used in many of them including hormone disruptors, formaldehyde, chemicals also used as plastic softeners, carcinogens, allergens, solvents and even neurotoxins.

We even have collagen creams containing collagen peptides to help our skin which… are too big to enter through our pores. So they just wash right off of us in our next shower. In realty, if we want softer, healthier, firmer skin, we need to attack the problem from another angle — internally, by giving our skin what it actually needs to maintain its health and softness. Things that are in very few skin care products.

Did you know low levels of thyroid can bring on not only low energy and weight gain, but also contribute to depression and brain fog?

This can make thinking, problem-solving, and just coping with the everyday stresses of life much harder.

With the rise in hormone-blocking toxins in our environment, processed foods and processed sugars, and the low amount of protein most of us consume, low thyroid is affecting more and more people, especially among women and the elderly.

But there’s one more thing affecting this — low magnesium. Magnesium is necessary for thyroid to be produced inside the body. Yet it’s being processed out of our foods more and more every year, until more than half the people in the US are now magnesium deficient.

In this article we dive into what thyroid is, how low thyroid occurs, how it affects our mood, energy levels, mental alertness, and our ability to think and cope with the problems of everyday life and what we can do to raise it.

Anyone who works out, runs, bikes or does any type of intense exercise, knows about DOMS — Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

This is the soreness you feel not right after a workout or exercise, but 24-48 hours later.

At one point it was thought this was caused by lactic acid build up, but this isn’t the case.

(Lactic acid is an acid that starts to build up just before we reach our VO2 Max and can’t go any further in our exercise or workout.) But lactic acid actually helps you. Your body can metabolize it (burn it and use it as fuel).

So what really causes DOMS? And how can we prevent it or lessen it?

Let’s see.

Getting good sleep is one of the most important things we can do, not just for muscle building and fat loss but for our mood, energy levels, and overall health.

Sleep is when our body is able to recover and repair cells, a lack of it even affects our aging process, speeding it up internally, as well as visibly causing wrinkles and sagging skin. 

During the first few hours of deep sleep is when many hormones, including growth hormone and IGF (major fat-burning hormone) are released.

Getting enough sleep also helps to keep cortisol levels lower and balance estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and thyroid.

So if we want a lean, toned or muscled body, then we need deep sleep every night for full recovery, muscle building, natural fat loss and hormonal balance.

Yet a third of Americans get poor sleep, and those with the worst sleep generally have poor health.

So what causes this and what can we do to not only get better, deeper, more refreshing sleep, but also to reverse the effects of poor sleep?

Let’s dive in and see.

Today, approximately one in three Americans experience skin issues of various sorts: clogged pores, breakouts, redness, and irritation of different kinds.

And while this number has been growing for the last few decades, it’s sped up in recent years.

Even more, accelerated aging of the skin: fine lines, wrinkles, dryness or flakiness, and skin sagging is occurring earlier than normal, with many in their twenties now experiencing it.

While there are several factors involved, and some include the skin care products being used today, there is a much larger factor bringing this on: the health of our gut.

When we have harmful bacteria or candida in our body, or toxins and even gluten coming in, our immune system produces what’s called an inflammatory response.

And this, when it gets to our skin, can cause all sorts of trouble.

It can cause breakouts by increasing oil production and clogging pores.

It breaks down collagen and elastin, the proteins responsible for keeping our skin firm and smooth. 

Then, as these proteins degrade, the skin begins to sag, and wrinkles or fine lines appear.

It also causes skin to lose its ability to retain moisture effectively, leading to dryness, flakiness, and irritation.

But, as much of this is caused by the health of our gut, no amount of skin creams, oils or regimens will be able to fix it as they’re addressing the end result, not the cause.

And the cause, if not itself addressed, will just continue the problem.

If we want healthy, radiant skin that stays clear, soft and firm for the longest amount of time, then we need to address our gut.

So let’s dive in.

As of today, about 42% of Americans are considered clinically obese. This is a large rise from the 1970’s when only about 10% were.

To combat this, recently, many have turned to the medication, Ozempic. This is a medication originally approved for the treatment of diabetes, but which has shown results in lowering appetite and blood sugar levels, and so allowing for loss of body fat.

However, it works by bypassing the body’s natural systems and in some cases lowering the body’s ability to naturally perform these actions as the body gets used to receiving it.

And, for some, it can come with severe side effects to one degree or another: increased risk of heart attack, bowel obstruction, gallstones, thyroid cancer, vision loss, muscle loss and weak or brittle bones especially for those in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, and severe stomach paralysis.

Not to mention the possible permanent lowering of digestive ability once off of Ozempic, along the return of the body fat lost, if the situation that originally brought about the obesity has not been addressed.

So understanding this medication, how it works inside our body, what it can and can’t do, its long term side-effects, and what to do if you intend to take it or already are is quite important.

In another article we covered what SIBO is, how it comes about, what feeds it, and how it creates cravings for sugar and other junk foods, preventing fat loss and causing low energy levels.

But there is another aspect to SIBO which has more destructive and far-reaching effects.

There is something called Leaky Gut, where there are actual microscopic perforations in the intestinal lining that is meant to protect our internal organs from the harmful bacteria, parasites and toxins coming in through our digestive tract.

And it's behind a significant number of physical conditions common today, from hormonal imbalances, stress and poor sleep, to liver and kidney trouble, heart trouble, skin issues and even premature aging.

So let's see what it is and what SIBO has to do with it.

It hasn’t been understood by most people just how vital our gut health is to our heart health.

But in truth, it’s key. If our gut health is good, and our digestive tract working properly, the risk of poor heart health is much lower.

If our gut is in poor condition, however (heart burn or acid reflux often, bloating, pains, regular diarrhea, or worse), then this will, over time, lead to poor heart health.

But gut health among Americans has diminished drastically in recent times, worsening every year mainly due to our processed foods and sugars, and the 50x increase in toxins in our environment in the last 7 decades.

Now, younger and younger people every year are experiencing more and more gut issues which were rare even in older individuals in earlier generations.

And along with them, they're experiencing more cardiovascular issues.

This is something we need to address now, for each of us, to ensure a long and healthy life.

Do you ever have strong sugar cravings during the day, or when you start a diet to lose body fat?

Do you have a protruding stomach after you eat, or later in the day, that doesn’t make sense?

Do you get gassy or have bloating after eating certain foods?

Or do you ever feel like the food you ate in the morning is still floating in your stomach at dinner time, making you feel like you couldn’t eat more, but you’re still hungry?

These all come from a specific thing, or type of thing. 

It causes intense sugar cravings, a protruding stomach, gassiness and bloating, and makes us feel full or give us indigestion or heartburn.

It makes sticking to a diet a nightmare, raises cortisol levels, makes gaining muscle harder, and causes hormonal issues and energy crashes.

And it affects our mood and makes it harder to get good, deep sleep.

So let's see what these things are, how they work and what we can do about them.

Our digestive tract is very important for our overall health.

When it’s running smoothly we have good digestion without discomfort where the foods we eat are fully broken down into useable nutrients for our body.

Our stomach kills off most harmful microbes entering it, and if they aren’t killed off there, then they are in our small intestine where 80% of our immune system exists for this exact reason.

Once any of these microbes are neutralized, our intestine opens what are called tight junctions to let the nutrients from our food through and into our bloodstream.

Further down we have our colon, where trillions of bacteria live, consuming left over food and producing vitamins, amino acids, and neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin which are then absorbed through the wall of our colon and sent to our brain or elsewhere. This is our microbiome.

And how well our digestive tract is doing, our gut, parallels fairly closely how well we are doing, both physically and mentally.

However, if harmful microbes do make it in and take root, evading our immune cells, along with toxins, these can cause real trouble.

This protocol aims to address these harmful microbes, ridding our digestive tract of them, while at the same time building all aspects of our digestive tract back up to optimal levels.