[annikalita]

Bloodroot - my favorite spring wildflower!

[annikalita]

Is your CBD oil pale and almost tasteless? You don’t want that! Clear or pale CBD oil has been heavily processed to remove most of the beneficial compounds in the hemp flower. The hemp plant contains a multitude of biologically active compounds, most of which interact with the human body. CBD is just one of hundreds of cannabinoids, plus the hemp flower contains many other beneficial ingredients, such as terpenes, flavonoids, fatty aids, and chlorophyll. A high quality, full spectrum CBD oil retains most of these beneficial compounds.

CBD isolate, which is the CBD molecule alone without any other compounds, is colorless. If your CBD oil is clear or pale, that’s a good indication that its made with CBD isolate and includes none of the other hemp compounds.

The paler a CBD oil is, the more intensively it has been processed. A good full-spectrum oil will be dark in color, because it’s rich in active ingredients. Also, real plant medicine is never tasteless! CBD oil can vary in flavor (some extraction methods result in very bitter oils), but all high quality CBD oils will have a grassy, earthy, or hempy taste.

If you’d like more information about how to source high quality CBD, I have a CBD buying guide you can download for free! Grab yours here: https://primalbotanical.com/cbd-buying-guide

[annikalita]

Beautiful Lisbon!

[annikalita]

This is my new day job. In addition to my CBD business, I work as a nurse. When my hospital stopped doing elective surgeries, I was temporarily laid off from my per diem job in the operating room. A week later, however, I was asked to work in the new respiratory isolation unit, where patients with suspected COVID-19 needing hospitalization go until their test results are back, and where patients who test positive will stay. So far we have had no positive tests within the hospital - but the surge is coming.

Our day surgery unit was hastily transformed into a negative pressure area (meaning no air escapes from the unit without being filtered) with a temporary double-door airlock. We enter in full protective gear: N95 mask with a surgical mask over it, face shield, shoe covers, hat, gown, double gloves. Anything we bring inside the unit cannot be brought out, so no pens, phones, paperwork. When leaving the unit, we remove all our protective garb inside the double-door tent entrance to the unit - that is, everything but our precious N95 masks.

N95s are made to be worn once and thrown away. Last week we were told we could wear them for eight hours. Now we are told to wear the same mask every day. I feel lucky to have an N95 to wear - in many other hospitals they are less fortunate.

At home, I enlist a different sort of protection utilizing my herbal allies. Usnea and lemon balm as antivirals. Echinacea and astragalus for immune support. Avena and skullcap and CBD to soothe my frazzled nerves. Fire cider and elderberry syrup. Bone broth with onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, red and black pepper.

A few CBD sellers have claimed CBD will help you avoid or beat Coronavirus. The truth is, CBD and the other cannabinoids in the cannabis plant have very complex interactions with the immune system. CBD is a potent anti-inflammatory, but acute inflammation can be a critical and life-saving weapon used by the immune system in the fight against pathogens. Some are speculating that CBD and cannabis should be avoided during severe infections like COVID-19. I don’t know. The data is not there. In the preventative stage, I believe it is fine. For an acute and severe infection? I don’t know.

I’m certainly not considering CBD part of my anti-Coronavirus arsenal. But it’s not just the virus we are battling. We are coping with fear, anxiety, stress, overwhelm, sleeplessness. Here is where CBD can help us now. We need to maintain composure during this crisis and not be torn to shreds by our fear. CBD helps keep me calm so I can go back through the double doors, into the isolation unit.

[annikalita]

Cannabis for migraine: an ancient remedy meets modern science

MIGRAINE. Not just a really bad headache, migraine is actually a neurological disorder, and headache is merely one of the symptoms. Other symptoms include the infamous nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances, but can also include brain fog, extreme sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, stiff neck, slurred speech, difficulty finding words, dizziness or vertigo, numbness or tingling, and weakness or partial paralysis.

Some people have such severe symptoms that they can appear to be having a stroke. Migraine can be catastrophically disabling for an individual, and it’s an expensive public health burden, too; healthcare and lost productivity costs associated with migraine are estimated to be as high as $36 billion annually in the United States.

Migraine is a tricky demon and exceedingly difficult to treat. A treatment that works for one person may have no effect on another. A migraineur may go for years trying dozens of different medications, devices, and interventions before finding a combination that helps.

Cannabis may be the oldest migraine remedy ever; it has been used as a headache treatment for thousands of years. According to neurologist Ethan Russo, written documentation of cannabis as medicine is nearly as old as writing itself, with examples from a broad range of ancient cultures. Cannabis was a highly revered headache remedy in Europe for centuries, and was the preferred treatment for migraines in Europe and America from the early 1800s until 1941, when it was dropped from the official US Pharmacopoeia and essentially lost as a medicine.

Despite its Schedule 1 status, which has stonewalled medical research for decades, the scientific literature includes some very encouraging studies on cannabis and migraine. Anecdotal evidence abounds; for examples of this and for peer support, I highly recommend the Facebook groups Migraine Strong and MigraineBuds.

Cannabis may exert its migraine-soothing powers in multiple ways:

Influencing neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate

Mediating inflammation by several different mechanisms

Boosting levels of endogenous opioids (endorphins)

Acting as an antioxidant to combat oxidative stress from free radicals, which some researchers believe is the common denominator underlying all migraine triggers

Augmenting the body’s endocannabinoid system, which is likely to be deficient in migraineurs.

Because migraine is such a complex disease, successful treatment is too often tantalizingly out of reach. When I developed chronic migraine upon reaching perimenopause (thanks, wonky hormones!), I tried dozens of medications and treatments and was still having 12-20 migraine days every month.

Desperate enough to wear these super dorky specially tinted migraine glasses in front of my coworkers in the operating room.

I was transformed from an avid hiker, gardener, and lover of the outdoors to someone who, if I made it through an entire workday, went home and went straight to bed, closing the blinds to shut out the light that felt like an icepick boring into my skull.

I’m lucky, though; I’m stubborn, curious, and don’t give up easily. I wasn’t going to take this lying down – or if I had to stay lying down, at least I was going to be on my iPad researching the hell out of migraine and all the possible ways I could potentially fix myself! Thankfully, I eventually hit upon a combination of interventions which managed to soothe my hypersensitive brain.

Preparing for my first sphenopalatine ganglion nerve block.

Cannabis was not a miracle cure for me, but it has been an important piece of my recovery. Unfortunately, using cannabis to abort a migraine in progress was a mixed bag. Smoking pot sometimes seemed to help, but more often than not I would end up uncomfortably baked but in no less pain – definitely not a fun situation.

Adding daily CBD oil has seemed to make the biggest difference, but again, it has been just one piece of my “treatment pie”, which for me included multiple interventions – CBD, acupuncture, and dietary supplements are the ones I still rely on to stay mostly migraine-free.

Will cannabis, whether from marijuana or hemp, work for your migraines? There’s only one way to find out - try it! Thankfully, access to both marijuana and hemp products is getting easier all the time. Experimenting comes with minimal risks (mainly, be aware of possible drug interactions), and the potential for benefit is huge.

You will likely need a multi-pronged approach to treatment, which could include dietary changes, supplements, medications, nerve blocks, electrical or magnetic devices, and lifestyle adjustments along with cannabis.

The options for treatment are seemingly endless and can be overwhelming, but look on the bright side: there is always something else to try! New treatments are coming out all the time – but the oldest migraine treatment of all may just be the one that gives you your life back.

This post first appeared on the Heady Vermont website.

[annikalita]

LAST NIGHT I SLEPT FOR ELEVEN HOURS. I try to prioritize sleep - a lot. I believe sleep is as important for health as diet, movement, and stress management. When I was struggling with chronic migraine, I learned that consistent sleep patterns are critical for controlling migraine. However, my job as an operating room nurse sometimes makes quality sleep impossible. I work a regular 8-hour day, but I also take call for emergency surgeries. Some weekends are blissfully quiet, but this weekend started off with a bang. On Friday I worked till after midnight, came home and slept for three hours, then was paged back in at 4:00 Saturday morning. We ended up working from 4:00 AM till 2:30 PM, with no break longer than it takes to pee. My inconsistent schedule wrecks havoc not only on my sleep, but also on the other heathy habits I try to maintain. Usually I try to stop eating a few hours before bed and fast from 14 to 18 hours a day. But after being in surgery for four hours, I’m ready for a snack, no matter what time it is! Last night I ate after midnight, and since I was up at work again by 4:00, I ended up eating earlier in the morning than usual, so my fasting window was only around 8 hours. My morning meditation and yoga practice certainly doesn’t happen when my pager wakes me at an ungodly hour and I have to rush to work. My food choices become less than ideal, because I usually have to eat what’s immediately at hand that I can wolf down in less than a minute (yesterday it was single-serving tubs of Smucker’s peanut butter, complete with sugar and trans fats - prototypical lunch of operating room staff). Usually a stretch of work like this absolutely wrecks me for the next day or two. But after eleven hours of sleep, I’m actually feeling pretty good! Sleep is truly a magical healer. I’m on call till Tuesday morning - I’m hoping for another couple of nights of uninterrupted sleep. https://www.instagram.com/p/BxFtPj0AM0I/?igshid=1412dbjhqz23h

[annikalita]

Paleo gingerbread

I ate off-plan a fair amount over the Thanksgiving weekend. Sugar, seed oils, and gluten-free products made a regular appearance on my plate. Normally I broaden my diet a bit when I travel, knowing and accepting that I will feel a bit less well for it, and making a conscious decision to indulge. This time, though, my bum shoulder, which has been bothering me since falling off my bike a few months ago, flared up to a whole new level. I’m not sure if the inflammatory foods were a contributing factor, but I can’t think of any other reason it would get so much worse. So I’m tightening up my usually relaxed 80-20 attitude and recommitting to a cleaner diet.

That said, life happens. Yesterday was my husband’s birthday, and I wanted to make a gingerbread cake to celebrate. No need for any inflammatory grains or seed oils, however - almond flour, coconut flour, and butter are used as healthier alternatives. This gingerbread is sweetened with blackstrap molasses, which is packed with nutrients, containing impressive quantities of iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, manganese, copper, and vitamin B6. However, molasses also contains a hefty amount of carbs; if you’re eating low-carb, this cake is not a great choice for you, since it contains about 24 net carbs per serving. And remember: paleo cake is still cake - it’s a treat and shouldn’t be a frequent part of anyone’s diet. As a treat, though, this gingerbread hits the spot! It’s moist, dark, and spicy. It can easily be made dairy-free by using almond milk and substituting coconut oil for the butter.

Ingredients

2/3 cup molasses

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup softened butter

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

Combine the wet ingredients on one bowl and the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix together. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350° for 45-55 minutes. Fabulous topped with whipped cream!

[annikalita]

How to set up a home sauna for less than $100

Confession: I am a closet sauna user. Let me explain: I’m not ashamed of my sauna use. Nor do I try to keep it a secret. No, I mean it literally: I built a sauna IN A CLOSET. And it cost less than a hundred bucks!

Saunas have been used throughout the world for hundreds of years and have been linked to a wide range of health benefits. Sauna’s effects on circulatory, cardiovascular, and immune functions reduce the risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary diseases, and dementia. Sauna use has been shown to improve chronic pain and reduce cardiac and all-cause mortality.

Sauna use has also been associated with improved endurance, muscle mass, and neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells), as well as reduced inflammation. The heat stress of a sauna triggers many of the same physiologic responses that exercise does.

I’ve had lots of questions about how I created my home sauna. People often assume that an in-home sauna is an expensive extravagance - and it certainly can be. However, it can be done very well on the cheap, and requires no tools or handyman skills!

I’ve written previously about the health benefits of red and near-infrared light. My setup has the benefits of red/NIR light plus the benefits of a sauna! I modeled it after the SaunaSpace portable sauna, which has gotten rave reviews and is used and lauded by health experts such as Chris Kresser and Dr. Terry Wahls. It’s made with lovely natural materials and is beautiful to look at, and, I assume (I haven’t tried it myself), a pleasure to use. Unfortunately, it costs more than $3000.

Let’s take a minute to reverse-engineer the SaunaSpace. It consists of

An enclosure

Four infrared heat lamps

That’s basically it! An enclosure can be created in a closet or bathroom (SaunaSpace even sells a kit for making a sauna in a bathtub). For my enclosure, I used a closet in the bedroom that was my daughter’s before she moved out.

SaunaSpace uses 250 watt infrared heat lamps, which are available on Amazon and at most home improvement stores and hardware stores. They typically cost less than $10 each.

SaunaSpace has a beautiful wood fixture for the bulbs; since I lack any construction or crafty skills, I opted for clamp lights. These lights are often used as worklights in shops, basements, or job sites, and are also available on Amazon or at any home improvement or hardware store for about $10. I’ve used the clamp light-infrared bulb setup in the past to raise baby chicks. Make sure you choose a clamp light rated for the wattage of the bulb you’re using!

Next, you need something to clamp the lights on. I first tried a shelf we had inherited from a friend which hadn’t yet been assigned a place in our home. It worked okay, but it was difficult to aim the lights precisely.

I was complaining about the shelf when my husband and I were returning from a walk one day; there was a hand truck in our driveway, and at the same time we said “how about that?” I transferred all the clamp lights to the hand truck, and it worked much better than the shelf.

I also experimented with a wooden laundry rack, which worked quite well - but, we need it for laundry. My point is: you probably already have an object in your home which could be used for the lights. No need to buy something new!

One thing you need to know about the clamp lights: they are awful. I can’t understand how something in such widespread use hasn’t evolved to a better design. The clamp is held together by a nut, which I find difficult to tighten. When the heavy bulbs are installed in the lights, the weight makes the lights droop; keeping them aimed in the direction you want can be a continual source of frustration. I’ve tried to secure the lights with various clamps, but it remains a bit of a struggle.

The big question: does it work? I’m happy to report that YES, it works and is wonderful! It’s tricky to report how hot it gets, because the temperature varies so widely inside the space. Far from the bulbs it might not get above 90º Fahrenheit, but if when I put the thermometer at the distance my body is from the lights, it hits about 115º. That’s not nearly as hot as traditional saunas, which commonly exceed temperatures of 160º. However, a traditional sauna uses heat to warm the air, which in turn warms your body, while infrared sauna heats your body directly without warming the air around you. This means an infrared sauna is able to produce the benefits of heat stress at much lower temperatures than a traditional sauna. Bonus: the lower temperatures of an infrared sauna are more comfortable and safer than the higher heat of a traditional sauna (although probably still not safe for pregnancy).

In any case, after 15 minutes or so in the sauna, I am dripping with sweat. It feels fantastic. My body temperature increases by about 2 degrees after being in the sauna for 30 minutes. And afterwards, I feel SO relaxed. What a pleasurable way to ramp up your parasympathetic nervous system!

Feels great, science says it is great for you, and can be done at home on the cheap? Yes please!

[annikalita]

How to make yogurt in a crock-pot

I’m a yogurt fan. Not the little yogurt cups that come in fun colors with cookie crumbs or sugar-sweetened fruit goo, though - I prefer the full-fat, plain variety. I’m lucky to live in Vermont, where I can get fabulous grass-fed yogurt. Unfortunately for some, yogurt has a fair amount of lactose, which can give a lot of folks unhappy tummies. However, yogurt can be long-fermented for 24 hours (instead of the usual 4 or 6 hours), which enables the yogurt bacteria to eat up nearly all the lactose.

As far as I know, you can’t buy long-fermented yogurt. Luckily, there are some great tutorials on yogurt-making. I was reluctant to spend any money on a unitasking gadget like a yogurt maker, so I experimented with various ways of keeping warm water at a steady temperature of 100° to 110°. I settled on a brilliant hack I found in the SCD Wiki: I used my crock-pot with a dimmer switch to reduce the temperature below the “keep warm” setting. Okay, this did require buying a unitasking gadget, but it was only ten bucks and fits easily in a drawer, unlike a yogurt maker. I’m very happy with my method! Here’s how I did it:

I got some fresh raw Jersey milk from a farm down the road from me.

I heated 4 pints of milk in a pot of water until the milk reached 180°. I used a cheap kitchen thermometer to keep track of the temperature. I put a spoon in the water too, to sterilize it for mixing later on.

I took the jars out, taking care not to burn myself, and let them sit on the counter to cool.

Once the milk had cooled to 110°-120°, I mixed a tablespoon of yogurt from my previous batch into each jar, and gently stirred it in, using my sterilized spoon.

I warmed up my crock-pot insert, then filled it with 105° water and placed the jars in the water bath. I set the crock-pot to “keep warm”, and set the dimmer switch at about half-way.

The dimmer switch (on the left) is pretty precise. It took a bit of fiddling to keep the temperature steady, but the second time I made yogurt I already had it down pat.

24 hours later, I took the jars out, cooled them on the counter briefly, then put them in the fridge. IMPORTANT: do not get over-excited and mess with your yogurt at this stage! It needs time to sit undisturbed in the fridge to thicken properly.

After a couple of hours I took the yogurt out. TA-DA! Nice and thick, and since the milk wasn’t homogenized, it had that awesome creamy top layer. So yummy!

Since I wrote this original post, I have become the proud owner of an Instant Pot, which makes the process of yogurt-making SO much easier. In fact, the yogurt feature was the thing that tipped me over into buying an Instant Pot! Stay tuned for an Instant Pot yogurt tutorial in the near future!

[annikalita]

The surprising science-backed benefits of red and near-infrared light therapy

It was my 21-year-old daughter who got me to explore red light therapy. She has some significant chronic health issues, and is an amateur biohacker and a diligent and thoughtful researcher. She was excited about the potential of red light therapy and sent me a bunch of studies.

I had heard of red light therapy, but had never thought to take a serious look at it. There are so many health modalities out there, and it’s impossible to research all of them. Some are grounded in solid science, while many others have anecdotal evidence behind them, but lack scientific data. I assumed that red light therapy was in the latter category. After all, it’s just light. How wrong I was!

What is red light therapy? First of all, let’s take a look at the light spectrum. Visible light is only a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which ranges from the short-wavelength (0.0001 nanometer) gamma rays on one extreme to the long-wavelength (100 meter) radio waves on the other. Humans can see only a small part of the spectrum, from about 390 to 700 nm. Below 390 is ultraviolet light; above 700 is near-infrared (NIR) light.

I’ve previously written about blue light and how it can be detrimental to our sleep when we are exposed to it too close to bedtime. In addition to affecting our circadian rhythms, light can have an enormous impact on health in many other ways. Red and near-infrared light in particular has been shown to be therapeutic for a wide range of conditions.

Red light therapy, also know as photobiomodulation or low level laser (light) therapy (LLLT), has been studied extensively for decades. This page meticulously details the photobiomodulation research and cites over 3000 studies, including over 900 animal studies and 140 randomized clinical trials in humans. Positive results have been found in a truly remarkable range of conditions. The ones which caught my eye included:

Alzheimer’s disease

Parkinson’s disease

Depression

Traumatic brain injury

Lymphedema

Periodontitis

Exercise performance/recovery

Tendonitis

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Hypothyroidism

Wound and fracture healing

The list goes on and on and on! I’m particularly interested in the positive effects on joint and muscle pain, since this seems to be my Achilles heel (ha!) - I have had tendonitis in my knee, shoulder, and both wrists, and I frequently have lower back or neck pain.

How can simply shining light on the body result in such dramatic and diverse health effects? Every cell in our bodies, with the exception of red blood cells, contain mitochondria, commonly referred to as the energy powerhouses of the cell. Mitochondria keep very busy manufacturing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of the body. All activity within the cell is fueled by ATP; without it, the cell would quickly die. Mitochondria contain tiny light-sensitive receptors called chromophores. Red and near-infrared (NIR) light can penetrate deep into the body, when it is absorbed by chromophores within all kinds of tissues: muscle, bone, skin, and organs. When red light and NIR light reach the mitochondria, the photons are absorbed by a light receptor enzyme called cytochrome-c oxidase, which stimulates the production of ATP in the cell. The take-away: red and near-infrared light act to increase production of ATP, which increases the energy with which the body performs all its essential functions!

The vast majority of the photobiomodulation studies have been conducted using light from lasers. However, it’s the wavelength of the light which matters, not the delivery system. One of the leading experts on light therapy, Dr. Michael Hamblin, who has published hundreds of papers on the subject, had this to say:

Most of the early work in this field was carried out with various kinds of lasers, and it was thought that laser light had some special characteristics not possessed by light from other light sources such as sunlight, fluorescent or incandescent lamps and now LEDs. However all the studies that have been done comparing lasers to equivalent light sources with similar wavelength and power density of their emission, have found essentially no difference between them. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5523874/

Wavelengths of red light (600-700 nm) and near-infrared light (NIR, 770-1200 nm) have shown positive results in hundreds of studies.

There are many companies making products for red light therapy, but two in particular are making a big splash in the ancestral health community: Joovv and SaunaSpace. Both make highly-regarded light therapy devices for use in the home, with one big difference: Joovv uses LED lights, while SaunaSpace uses incandescent heat lamps.

The Joovv consists of one or more panels with many LED lights. It emits red light at 660 nm and near infrared light at 850 nm; all the energy output is concentrated at these therapeutic wavelengths.

Incandescent bulbs put out a lot of heat, and SaunaSpace, as you might have guessed from the name, doubles as a sauna. The bulbs emit full-spectrum light, with the majority of the light in the 600-1400 nm range. As illustrated in the image below, 14% of the power is in the therapeutic range, with a much larger part producing heat.

Joovv and SaunaSpace both make compelling arguments asserting theirs is the superior product. Users seem to love both products. Both are highly recommended by experts I trust; Chris Kresser and Terry Wahls use the SaunaSpace, while Robb Wolf and Sarah Ballantyne use the Joovv.

After doing her research, my daughter decided she wanted to give the Joovv a try. She has used it for three weeks now, and remains cautiously optimistic. It hasn’t been the life-changing device she was hoping for, but she can feel a difference, especially immediately after using it. Joovv states that it could take 8-12 weeks of consistent use to see significant results, so the jury is still out.

The SaunaSpace and the incandescent heat lamps appealed to me over the Joovv for a couple of reasons. I really dislike LED lights; I’m very light-sensitive, and bright lights, especially LEDs, can be a migraine trigger for me. The full-spectrum, “natural” light of the incandescent bulb appeals to my hippie instincts. Plus, with the SaunaSpace, you get a two-fer: red/NIR light therapy, plus the heat of a sauna, which comes with a wide range of additional benefits.

My daughter’s health is one thing; for myself, I was not willing to invest a lot of money on a light therapy device. Even the smallest and most basic versions of both the Joovv and the SaunaSpace cost hundreds of dollars (and go up to several thousand dollars for the bigger versions). However, the same exact bulb used in the SaunaSpace is available for less than ten bucks! That sounded like an investment I was willing to make.

I bought a Philips infrared bulb and set it up with a workshop clamp light we had in our basement (incidentally, this is the exact same setup we used years ago for raising chicks). I clamped it to a chair and aimed it at my cranky lower back. Ta-da! Instant red/NIR light therapy setup for less than the cost of going out to lunch. I’ve been using the light on my back when I meditate each morning. It feels great, but I can’t say that it’s actually made a difference in my back pain - but, it’s only been a couple of weeks. Of course, one light does not a sauna make, but stay tuned.... my next post will be about creating my own DIY SaunaSpace knock-off! (Spoiler alert - it’s awesome!)

[annikalita]

Dim light, sleep tight: How to use light & darkness to optimize sleep

Feeling sleepy? You’re not alone. More than a third of Americans aren’t getting the recommended minimum of seven hours of sleep per night, and on average we get a full hour less sleep than we did 60 years ago. This has far greater implications than simply feeling tired and cranky or needing that extra cup of coffee to keep yourself going. Inadequate sleep has been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, impaired cognitive function, depression, and many other health problems.

For millennia, our bodies have been governed by circadian rhythms set by the rising and setting of the sun. We are hard-wired through millions of years of evolution to wind down in the evening and go to sleep soon after dark. Modern society has disrupted this natural pattern, and man-made light is partly to blame. Research has shown that nighttime light exposure suppresses the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep and wake cycles. This can be disastrous for sleep quality.

For thousands of years, humans were exposed to bright light from the sun throughout the day, while the night had only the warm yellow glow from fire and candles. Sixty years ago, we had plenty of light at night, but homes were mostly lit with warm-spectrum incandescent bulbs. TV, phone, and computer screens, on the other hand, emit blue-spectrum light, which suppresses melatonin much more than warmer light. In many homes, incandescent bulbs have been replaced with more energy-efficient fluorescent or LED bulbs, which emit considerably more blue light. All this blue-light exposure sends the message to our brains that it’s daytime and time to be awake.

When TV became widespread, there were only a handful of channels, and most signed off at night. Today, we have infinite digital entertainment available 24 hours a day. If there’s nothing good on TV, you can watch something on Netflix or YouTube. There’s always Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat to keep up with, strangers to argue with, and cat videos to watch. All this temptation makes it much more difficult to get to bed at a decent time. This constant online entertainment keeps us up later, while bathing our eyes in a constant flood of blue light. This has contributed to an epidemic of poor sleep, insomnia, and chronic sleep deprivation.

Solutions

Getting bright light exposure before noon increases the production of serotonin, a precursor to melatonin, and helps optimize our circadian rhythm. A walk outside before work or at lunchtime (without sunglasses) can make a big difference at bedtime.

Make your bedroom a pitch-dark space. Get rid of any glowing clocks, night-lights, and anything else that has a light. Even tiny lights, like those on a power strip, can have an effect on melatonin; these can be covered with electrical tape. Get blackout shades for your windows if light comes in from outside.

Choose warm-white bulbs for lights in your bedroom and other rooms where you spend time in the evening. You can even replace regular bulbs with orange bulbs for a cozy, firelight ambiance. I have an orange LED nightlight in my bathroom so I don’t have to turn a light on when I get up during the night.

Use your phone’s settings or an app to automatically change the color of your screen to a warmer hue, which will reduce the amount of blue light getting to your eyes. You can also do this on your desktop or laptop with a free app called f.lux.

Geek out and try orange glasses! If you want to watch TV or can’t keep off your devices, blue-blocker glasses can, as the name implies, block blue light and prevent melatonin suppression. You can buy blue-blocker glasses for less than $10.

This is a tough one: turn off your devices in the evening. Most of us are hopelessly addicted to our phones or tablets, and the urge to check your email one last time or see if anyone commented on your Facebook post is powerful. This not only exposes you to blue light, it also stimulates your brain much more than something more passive such as reading a book. Before bed, you want to be winding your brain down, not firing it up!

Set an alarm 60 or 90 minutes before bed to remind you to turn your devices off or put them away. Keeping them out of the bedroom can also reduce temptation.

Sleep well, everybody!

[annikalita]

The quintessential summer meal. Caprese salad with tomatoes, basil, and garlic from my garden. Zucchini from a free pile on the curb down the block from us.* Corn picked a few hours ago in our town. Burger from a cow raised on my friend’s farm in a neighboring town. (*Not as sketchy as it sounds; in Vermont lots of people give away veggies they have an overabundance of, especially zucchini.)

[annikalita]

Pleased to see a “keto-paleo approved” sign on the egg shelf! Not so pleased to see most of the veggies packaged in totally unnecessary plastic, like these 3 peppers on a plastic tray in a plastic wrapper (eggs also in plastic!). 😠 This was at a new-to-me supermarket, Market Basket.

[annikalita]

Now that’s my kind of green smoothie! Homemade chicken bone broth; senposai (an Asian green), garlic, and parsley from my garden; golden paste (turmeric in coconut oil, basically); collagen; and ginger. I heated up the broth in a pot and then whizzed everything together in the blender. Tastes like a fancy creamed soup. This is a great way to use up a lot of greens if your garden is overflowing like mine is!

[annikalita]

Green broth for breakfast! I like to think of this as a hot savory smoothie. This one has spinach, senposai (an Asian green), parsley, chicken bone broth, collagen protein, lemon, turmeric, ginger, salt, and pepper. A delicious nutritional powerhouse! With eggs (of course) & chives.

[annikalita]

I made my own CDB oil! Ingredients: high CBD weed, coconut oil, sunflower lecithin. Now, the experimentation begins. Will it help my husband’s neck pain and my headaches? I’m going to play with flavors too, starting with a chocolate one and a molasses-ginger one.

[annikalita]

Golden paste: a powerful anti-inflammatory food

Have you heard of golden paste or golden milk? Golden milk is an ancient drink from Ayurvedic medicine featuring the bright orange spice turmeric. The many benefits of curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, are borne out by both tradition and science. It’s a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, is fantastic for joint pain, and has potential for reducing risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and dementia. Unfortunately, absorption of curcumin is very poor, so simply adding turmeric to your diet is unlikely to have much of an impact. However, centuries of use of turmeric as a medicine has yielded some tricks which have been demonstrated to substantially boost the absorption and availability of curcumin. Black pepper contains piperine, which increases bioavailability of curcumin by 2000%! Curcimin is fat-soluble, and absorption into the bloodstream is enhanced when taken with fat. What's the most common way turmeric is traditionally consumed? In dishes such as curry, which typically contain - surprise! - both black pepper and some sort of fat or oil.

Golden paste is a traditional method of preparing turmeric using black pepper and fat. Making golden paste is so simple and easy!

1/2 cup turmeric powder

1 cup water

1 tsp finely ground black pepper

1 tsp ginger powder

1/4 cup coconut oil

Mix turmeric and water in a small pan. Heat gently while stirring until it becomes a thick paste. Whisk in the coconut oil, pepper, and ginger. Pour into a jar and store in the fridge.

To make golden milk, simply stir a spoonful of golden paste into hot milk, almond milk, or coconut milk. Add a bit of honey if you like. I like to make a broth drink with chicken bone broth and golden paste; adding some coconut milk makes it even better. Golden paste is great added to all kinds of soups, curries, and stirfries. Try adding some to a smoothie or scrambled eggs! Warning: turmeric is VERY orange and will stain everything it touches!

Adding a regular dose of turmeric to your diet, properly enhanced with pepper and fat, is an easy change you can make to reduce levels of inflammation and pain and reduce your risk of chronic disease. And it tastes great!