Here Are Some of The Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System

Here Are Some of The Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System

We all know the importance of taking care of our mind and physical body, but have you ever considered how your immune system takes part in that? Maintaining a healthy immune system is at the core of living a long, healthy and happy life!

The immune system is a system, not a single entity. For it to function well, it requires balance and harmony. Following general good-health guidelines will allow your immune system to stay strong and healthy, even as you age. 

Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System

  • Reduce stress levels
  • Eat a healthy diet
  • Consider taking supplements 
  • Get enough sleep

Reduce stress levels 

Reducing your stress levels is key to keeping your immune system running smoothly. Chronic stress suppresses the immune response of the body by releasing the hormone cortisol. Cortisol reduces the antibody secretory IgA, which lines the gut and respiratory tract. This antibody is our first line of defense against pathogens, so increased cortisol levels can be harmful to our immunity. Keeping your stress levels in check is not always easy, so it’s important to try different activities to see what works for you. Some great ways of managing stress are practicing yoga, meditation, or deep breathing regularly.

Eat a healthy diet

A healthy diet filled with lots of vegetables is also a great way to naturally maintain a healthy body! Veggies, fruits, seeds and nuts are loaded with nutrients that are great for our immune system, and should be consumed on a daily basis. Something you might not know is that our liver ensures the body’s natural detoxification, so it is extremely important we take care of it! For a healthy liver, vegetables like kale, broccoli and cabbage should be included in your regular diet. Check out our Juicing Blog for some inspo on easily getting those fruits and veggies in you!

Consider taking supplements

Taking supplements and natural herbs may also help boost your immune system’s capabilities. Herbs like AHCC, Echinacea, Elderberry, Andrographis and Astragalus can help reduce the duration and severity of illness. Vitamin C is one of the most common immune system boosters. Foods rich in vitamin C include oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, strawberries, bell peppers, spinach, kale and broccoli. Daily intake of vitamin C is essential for good health because your body doesn’t produce or store it. Vitamin B6 is vital to supporting biochemical reactions in the immune system. If you don’t get any in your diet, then you can find supplements online or at your health store. Vitamin E is also great for your immune system. It is a powerful antioxidant that helps the body fight off infection.

Get sleep 

Finally, getting enough sleep each night is a really essential part of leading a healthy lifestyle and allowing your body to fight off illness. Lack of sleep can cause the inflammatory immune response to activate, reducing the activity of T cells in the body. This can weaken your immune system and response to vaccines. Try to sleep for 7 to 8 hours every night to keep your body and immune system nice and strong!

We hope these tips were helpful, or at least a good reminder to take care of yourself. The most important thing is to make sure you are letting your body rest, and that you are fueling it with good nutrients! We would love to hear what other suggestions you have for building a stronger immune system. Comment them down below!

The Wonderful Benefits of Juicing and What It Can Do For You

The Wonderful Benefits of Juicing and What It Can Do For You

Mac and cheese, cookies and warm milk, cheesy chili and so many more delicious comfort meals to keep us warm in the winter! Don’t get me wrong, if we want to indulge, winter is the perfect excuse to do it. We do have to keep in mind that when we do indulge, we don’t get all the nutrients we need to stay energized and healthy. We need fruits and vegetables to help fuel our body! Let’s take a look on what exactly juicing is.

Juicing is a process that involves extracting the nutritious juices from fresh fruits and vegetables. The resulting liquid contains most of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants naturally present in the whole fruit or veggie.

Why and How to Start Juicing

  • You obtain nutrients quickly
  • It’s not used to ‘detox’ your body
  • Make sure to wash your fruit correctly

In general, many of us don’t obtain enough nutrients from our diets alone. This is one of the main reasons people juice; it is a great method to obtain a lot of nutrients quickly. So, what do these nutrients do exactly in our body? These nutrients can help protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer and various inflammatory diseases. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, valuable compounds called flavonoids and anthocyanins are abundant in many fruits and vegetables that help protect against oxidative cellular damage. This cellular damage can cause diabetes, inflammatory conditions, high blood pressure and more!

It is important to remember that too much of a good thing can also be an issue and juicing is no exception. Using it as a way to “detox” your body or doing a “juicing cleanse” can have harmful effects. Drinking only juice can lead to digestive problems due to a lack of fiber. Fruit and vegetable juice don’t carry enough fiber to help us properly digest. By including pulp in your juice, that can help you get more of that needed fiber.

Washing your fruits and vegetables is also key to preventing any adverse reactions. The CDC and FDA recommends rinsing your produce in cold water and even adding a little vinegar for additional protection. A study published in the “Journal of Food Protection” found that washing apples with vinegar and water reduced bacteria significantly than washing it just with water. Spray white vinegar on your produce and rinse!

For whatever reason you decide to start juicing, make sure that your overall goal is just to add good nutrients to your body to keep it healthy!

We are sharing here one of our favorite juice recipes and we hope you enjoy it. This juice is great to fight inflammation and help the digestive system.

The Early Riser Juice
INGREDIENTS
1 beet, peeled
2 carrots, roughly peeled
1 cup pineapple including the skin (YES… the skin)
1 lemon/lime
An inch of turmeric root

 

All The Benefits Of Running As A Method Of Meditation

All The Benefits Of Running As A Method Of Meditation

People run for as many reasons as they do miles – to keep fit, as a way to see friends, to lose weight, to get ready for races. But one common reason that is often shared by all, is to relax! In fact, it turns out that regular running can be a huge boost for your mood and mental attitude – just like meditation! 

The Benefits of Running as a Method of Meditation:

  • Boosts your mood
  • Helps with concentration
  • Gives you time to think
  • Relaxes you
  • Improves self-confidence

(more…)

Keeping Your Cool

Keeping Your Cool

August is officially around the corner and you’re doing your best to stay cool, we totally get it and we’re with you! We’ve put together a few bullet points that will keep you motivated to drink as much water as possible this Summer:

Reasons to Drink Water:

  • Regulates body temperature
  • Transports food throughout the body
  • Assists in delivering glucose to the muscles
  • Helps remove toxins and waste from the body
  • Maintains blood volume and blood pressure
  • Cushions and lubricates joints
  • Keeps blood thin and circulating

Drinking Water Results In:

  • Increased energy
  • Peak muscle function
  • Less cramping
  • Speedier recovery
  • More comfort during exertion

This is why Fitletic is so dedicated to developing superior hydration packs. Staying hydrated during exertion, especially in the heat, doesn’t just improve performance and comfort, it is critical for safety and health. We want to meet all your hydration needs and let you go totally hands-free while you do it! Ideally, you should be made up of a certain percentage of water, just like body fat percentage and muscle mass. It comes down to the numbers, the amount of water in the human body ranges from 50%-75%.  To get really technical, bodybuilding.com states that water makes up nearly 85% of your brain, about 80% of your blood and about 70% of your lean muscle. The thing about water is that you can’t replace it with something else. In fact, many of the beverages we drink do the opposite and actually steal water from the body instead of increase the amount. If all of the positives such as the reasons to drink water and what drinking water results in doesn’t motivate you, let’s flip the coin and look at the other side. Being dehydrated is the #1 cause of daytime fatigue, a 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, difficulty with basic math, and difficulty completing basic tasks. Without the proper amount of water, your body’s circulation can even falter. If you’re dehydrated, odds are your body is not even burning as much fat as it’s able to if hydrated correctly. If you’re into taking care of yourself and part of the self-love craze, look no further. One of the biggest and best beauty tips from models to actresses to everyday people is to drink water, water, water. Not only does it leave your skin dewy and smooth, it can leave your body odor smelling fresh, your breath better, and your hair and nails stronger. Water does just about everything you want that we pay oodles of dollars for in powders, creams and serums. Invest in becoming aware of your water intake and be prepared to see greater results. This quick fix is no joke! Fitletic is here to assist in your quest for proper hydration. Just check out our products today and you’ll be amazed at the variety of options both in function and aesthetics. Happy Summer shopping, athletes!

running guide

Cheer for the Green and Gold

Cheer for the Green and Gold

If you’re not following National Geographic on Instagram, now’s a good time to start. They offer up many visual examples of how humans are hurting the planet. They bring awareness and education directly to those unaware of how their personal products and habits are effecting our planet. Not all are guilty, many are simply uneducated about what it means to be green. If we can create conversation about the problem, we can become mindful about our actions and together make the choice to keep our planet happy and healthy. waterIt wasn’t the first time it hit me, but it was the first time I felt overwhelmingly frustrated about the state of my own habits… National Geographic had posted a picture of a baby seahorse grasping to a cotton swab. The size of the cotton swab is way bigger than the seahorse and they are co-existing as one entity in the ocean. It was a huge wake-up call. Even my cotton swabs were harmful. What else was I missing and were there solutions? As an avid runner, I’ve always felt the sport is environmentally-friendly. After all, it’s you, your sneakers, and the ground beneath you, right? Well, sort of. There’s a huge difference between running on your own 3-5 times a week and being a participant in a marathon event. Marathons have come a long way from being harmful to our planet. However, they were not always so eco-conscious. It’s the plastic cups from water stations that are problematic. According to The New York Daily News, at the New York City Marathon, the New York Road Runners association uses 21,600 bottles of water for the Marathon Eve Dinner. As for race day beverages, there are 1.6 million cups of water used on the course. Enter Fitletic Hydration Accessories. We have created solutions for this very serious environmental problem. Of course everyone needs to be and stay hydrated during a marathon. How you hydrate and what you use to hydrate, however, is a larger issue – and one that can be solved. Fitletic has created Hydration Gear made by runners, for runners. Tried and true gear with a genuinely loyal customer base, Fitletic gives runners the opportunity to do their part in being green on race day. Not only do our accessories allow runners to lessen the amount of cups used, Fitletic also gives runners the choice of when to drink water and not to waste excess water. runnerFirst, the Fitletic Hydration Belt comes in two sizes, the first holds two 6 oz bottles and the second holds two 8 oz bottles. The bottles are BPA free and they’re dishwasher safe. The dynamically designed waist belt doesn’t ride up or bounce and unlike most other belts, it will stay in place while you’re running a marathon. In addition to solving the harmful water cups issue, it also includes storage for your essentials, smartphone, and gel loops – plus it even has integrated toggles. The large pouch fits iPhone8 +, Samsung Galaxy S8 and other similar sized phones – with a thin case. The Ultra soft Dual-Adjust waist bet also has an interior pocket to securely hold ID and Credit Cards. Our second option for runners participating in marathons is the Fully Loaded Water and Gel Belt. This is a gel carrier and water bottle belt in one. The Fully Loaded carries a high-capacity BPA-free water flask with an easy-flow spout. The belt fits the same sized phones as the Hydration Belt. This brings us to our third accessory: The Hydration Hand Holders may be just what you’re looking for. The first option is the Hydrapalm Bottle Hand Holder that is a palm-held water bottle that dual functions as a smartphone holder. It contains a water-resistant neoprene pouch that fits the same iPhones as the previously mentioned accessories. It also has dual zippers that allow for easy access to phone and essentials in addition to the true touch window that’s audio friendly. The second option is the Hydra Pocket Hydration Band. Along with having the same features as the Hydrapalm, the Hydra Pocket has a lightweight mesh pouch that holds small essentials like your ID or CCs. Now that we’re all totally aware of the stats, the problem and the obvious solutions, don’t just go for the gold on race day, go green as well. Sometimes we need to see something for ourselves or understand how something we do that’s small (like drinking water from plastic cups) when added up, can create a huge problem for the environment. Do you remember your first experience seeing something or reading about an issue that had to do with the environment that really hit a nerve for you? The cups situation at marathons luckily has a solution, find a Fitletic hydration belt or Hydra Hand Held today that speaks to you and go for the gold while being green!

fitletic running guide

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