Alter Life

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are the powerhouse of vitality. Low "Kidney Xi" means that the body may be generally deficient, worn down, and lacking health.

When we consider the physiologic role of the kidneys in filtering the blood, the body's life energy, the importance of kidney energetics becomes clear.

In the psycho spiritual world, the kidneys represent stress and control - the universal issues for mankind.

The bladder and urinary system, parts more vulnerable to acute ailment, represent blame, manipulation, and being "pissed off!"

In today's Wisdom Wednesday, we explore these deeper topics to gain insight into how we can harmonize and heal the subtle body in support of general health and wellbeing. 

Some highlights from today's WW episode on Kidney Energy...

• The phenomenon of urinary urgency and the mind's role in needing to pee!
• The primary cause of UTIs (E coli bacteria) and why we may have UTI symptoms without a proper "infection"
• How feeling "PISSED OFF" in relationships to others can manifest bladder/urinary issues
• Some relationship insights and how to create more healthy intimacy, as well as kidney/urinary harmony
• The power of communicating from a grounded place in relation to self and others while letting emotions flow!

Links to some more good stuff

- Get weekly Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Stay connected on Telegram: https://t.me/alterhealth 
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

Your kidneys filter about 45 gallons of blood per day. About ~1-2% of that makes it's way into the toilet as urine.

Maintaining the health and function of kidneys filtration and urinary excretion is essential for health!

While it's common for kidney function to decline with age (just like it's common for blood pressure and/or cholesterol to rise) it is by no means HEALTHY.

In today's Medicinal Monday episode we bring you information to support you in creating and maintaining balance and harmony for your kidneys as well as fluidity to the urinary tract.

Reminder! Podcast episodes are prerecorded through November at which point the Podcast will be undergoing some changes. We look forward to the next rendition!
 

Some highlights from today's episode on Kidney and Urinary Function...

• How the kidneys are designed to filter our blood and how high protein diets put a strain on the filtration mechanism, as well as other factors that decline kidney function
• The intricate electrolyte balancing act and the importance of mineral-rich cellular hydration for kidney function
• How calcium oxalate kidney stones form - and it doesn't have to do with calcium or oxalate consumption!
• Where the E Coli bacteria come from that throw of urinary microbiome and cause UTI symptoms - this might surprise you!
• Preventing and treating UTI symptoms naturally to avoid antibiotics

Links to some more good stuff

- Get the Alter Health weekly WFPB Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

The podcast took a brief hiatus as we welcomed our Baby Girl into the world! What a wild and wonderful week it's been. We are so in love...

The podcast resumes with some pre-recorded episodes as we finish our "Head to Toe" series.

While the gallbladder helps with digestion and detoxification with its storage and release of bile, we can pause and consider what else besides the fatty foods and accumulated toxins can we allow ourselves to let go of...

Gallstones are one of the most common gallbladder afflictions. Sure, we want to avoid those foods and environmental exposures that can lead to the sluggishness and stone formation... but how about the hard thoughts, bitterness, and judgment that we might also be holding onto?

While the liver is all about the emotion of anger, the gall bladder represents that same anger directed towards oneself. So, to create the healthy energetics for gallbladder function, we can give ourself the mega dose of unconditional self-compassion we deserve!

Some highlights from today's WW episode on emotions and your LIVER...

• The brain - gallbladder connection and how the stress response burdens digestion and detoxification via shutting off gallbladder function
• What we can do with the inevitable angry and resentful thoughts and how we can release them from consciousness and the body 
• How a healthy stream of self-expression and compassion translates to fluidity and function of bile release from the gallbladder
• Where anger fundamentally comes from and ways we can normalize and integrate this heavy emotion

Links to some more good stuff

- Get weekly Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Stay connected on Telegram: https://t.me/alterhealth 
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

Most people don't consider the health and function of their gall bladder until there's a sharp pain in the upper-right abdomen!

What generally happens is sludge and stones form in the gall bladder that can cause a blockage of the bile duct leading to inflammation and infection - cholecystitis.

At this point, surgical removal of the gall bladder (cholecystectomy) may be medically necessary.

Preventing and reversing gall bladder issues can be a simple and powerful process! Also, since over 700,000 people (!!!) have their gallbladders removed each year in the US alone, learning to eat and live healthfully without a gall bladder is very important.

In today's Medicinal Monday episode we discuss the most important considerations to prevent and reverse gall bladder issues naturally to optimize digestion and detoxification.
 
Join us live each Monday at 12 PT / 3 ET on the Alter Health YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's episode on LIVER DETOXIFICATION...

• The main role of the gall bladder, i.e. bile sac, as it relates to digestion and detoxification
• Main risk factors for sludge accumulation, stone formation, and subsequent gall bladder issues
• The science, or lack thereof, around the classic "gall bladder flush"
• Most important whole food plant based considerations to prevent (and dissolve!?) gall stones
• The liver-gall bladder connection and how we should consider eating if we're living without a gall bladder

Links to some more good stuff

- Get the Alter Health weekly WFPB Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

The liver does so much more than just clear the body of harmful toxins...
but it's the toxicity from food, air, and water that interferes with normal healthy liver function to create a "sluggish" or fatty liver.

It's important to know that there are other sources of toxins in the environment beyond our food, air, and water...

The toxins we are discussing today are those that are internally generated from our thoughts and feelings. When it comes to liver function it is the rage, frustration, and guilt that can disrupt energetics of a balanced function.

This emotional energy, whether consciously felt or not, can cause or exacerbate stress in the liver which can contribute to any number of systemic symptoms (like those that we discussed in Medicinal Monday episode #343).

We hope you gain deeper attunement and insight through this episode as you give your liver the peace that it deserves!

Join the conversations live on YouTube every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's WW episode on emotions and your LIVER...

• The brain-liver connection - how the state of the nervous system impacts the liver’s role in digestion, detoxification, and more
• The effects of cortisol, adrenaline, and other molecules of stress on an already taxed and burdened liver
• How a healthy emotional expression, especially rage/anger, can take weight off of a sluggish liver
• How energetic factors such as anger, blame, victimization, grudges, and guilt interfere with liver function
• Finding ways to relate with anger and difficult emotions from a place of understanding and compassion

Links to some more good stuff

- Get weekly Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Stay connected on Telegram: https://t.me/alterhealth 
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

The liver has been named very appropriately - It lives you!

Of course all vital organs are essential to keep you vital, but the liver has many, many central roles.

Some of the 500+ liver functions include...
immune function
blood clotting
storage of amino acids
storage of glycogen
balancing of hormones
bile production (fat digestion)
processing blood cells/clearance of bilirubin
and of course DETOXIFICATION

Some say the liver detoxifies naturally so we don't need any specific "cleansing" strategies. This is true, BUT, only when the liver is provided to proper nutrients and resources!

Put simply, the liver has its hands full. This is especially true in todays day and age when thousands of environmental toxins ubiquitous in food, air, and water accumulate to potential overburden the liver to create "sluggishness," "fatty liver," and potentially more serious liver inflammation and disease.

We have two primary responsibilities to ensure a healthy functioning liver that is capable of keeping up with detoxification duties:
1) Avoid undue burden of environmental toxins in food, air, and water
2) Load up on liver-healing phytonutrients that promote natural detox pathways

In today's episode we cover the scientifically proven ways to strategically keep toxic load low and liver function high.
 
Join us live each Monday at 12 PT / 3 ET on the Alter Health YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's episode on LIVER DETOXIFICATION...

• Step #1 of Detoxification is to stop putting toxicity in the body! How to spot the most common toxins  in FOOD, AIR, and WATER 
• The complex processes of Phase 1 and Phase 2 detoxification pathways simplified and what to eat to ensure these pathways flow optimally
• Daily practices (aside from nutrition) to help our bodies naturally excrete toxins - hydration, sleep, movement, sweating, etc
• The importance of opening emunctaries (bowels, kidneys, airways, skin) to support the body in eliminating waste
• Different types of "liver cleanses" and their place in a healthy and balanced detoxifying lifestyle

For more on liver health and detox info, check out these episodes:

https://podcast.alter.health/291
https://podcast.alter.health/289
https://podcast.alter.health/127

Links to some more good stuff

- Get the Alter Health weekly WFPB Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

The Pancreas is your power center. It is mainly responsible for transforming food into energy in your body. In the energy body, its role is transforming soul purpose into physical world reality.

The Pancreas is at the core of the body's 3rd Chakra - the energy center associated with confidence, self-esteem, purpose, and clear movement forward.

Imbalance with these energetic themes can be the root of digestive and metabolic issues concerning the pancreas. Bringing this energy into harmony is therefore key in healing yourself!

We talked all about bringing both DIGESTION and METABOLISM into balance naturally during Medicinal Monday episode #341. Your digestive enzyme production and blood sugar balancing depends upon more than the foods you consume. Of course, nutrition is essential, but there's so much more to know!

Join the conversations live on YouTube every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's WW episode on your Powerful Pancreas...

• The brain-pancreas connection and how moment-to-moment autonomic nervous system function impacts digestive and metabolic capacity
• How the solar plexus neurons control endocrine and exocrine pancreatic function
• Signs and symptoms of 3rd Chakra imbalance - low self esteem, need for control, indecision, helplessness, stubbornness, aggression, criticism
• The key considering to bringing energy of the 3rd chakra into harmony - honor, respect, power

Links to some more good stuff

- Get weekly Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Stay connected on Telegram: https://t.me/alterhealth 
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

How often have you paused to consider how amazing your pancreas is?

It's one of those organs that's just a work horse, showing up each and every day to do its job and keep your body in balance.

The pancreas plays a central role in two essential functions - DIGESTION and METABOLISM.

In fact, your pancreas is kind of like two organs in one. It has an EXOCRINE portion which is responsible for manufacturing and secreting digestive enzymes into the intestines to promote heathy digestion. It also has an ENDOCRINE portion which secretes hormones like insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream to regulate blood sugar levels.

You could therefore say that the pancreas is part of the digestive system as well as the endocrine system.

In a nutshell...

• Endocrine Pancreas is just 1-2% of pancreas cells organized into islets
  • "alpha cells" secrete glucagon to raise blood sugar
  • "beta cells" secrete insulin to lower blood sugar
  • "delta cells" secrete somatostatin suppress both glucagon and insulin
• Exocrine Pancreas is 98-99% of the pancreas that releases enzymes into small intestines
  • Trypsin breaks down proteins into amino acids
  • Lipase breaks down fats into fatty acids
  • Amylase breaks down starch and glycogen into glucose
  • Nucleases break down DNA and RNA

In today's episode we cover the most important nutritional and lifestyle considerations to support a healthy and balanced pancreas - both the digestive function and the endocrine/blood sugar balancing function.

Join us live each Monday at 12 PT / 3 ET on the Alter Health YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's episode on the PANCREAS...

• Digestive enzymes are created and secreted only when the parasympathetic branch of the ANS is active in the "rest and digest" state
• Animal products (high fat/protein) and processed foods require more pancreatic enzyme production to break down and digest in the intestines than natural and unprocessed plant-based foods
• Reasons to consider taking digestive bitters vs digestive enzymes to promote healthy break down and absorption of food
• The two most important things to regulate blood sugar effortlessly - eating whole plant foods and staying sensitive to stress
• The difference between managing blood sugar with a low carb diet vs reversing insulin resistance with a wfpb diet naturally low in fat

For more on blood sugar regulation and reversing insulin resistance, check out these episodes:

https://podcast.alter.health/68
https://podcast.alter.health/72
https://podcast.alter.health/174
https://podcast.alter.health/201
https://podcast.alter.health/229

Links to some more good stuff

- Get the Alter Health weekly WFPB Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

You already know that digestive issues are far too common. You also know that your HEALTH and body's balance is dependent on clean, efficient, and harmonious digestive processes.

Many digestive issues can simply be due to eating unhealthy, processed, chemically-ladened junk foods. However, there are many who seem to consume loads of ultra-processed foods just fine without suffering from acute or chronic digestive complaints - though that certainly does not mean they are optimally healthy.

More often than not the root cause of digestive issues are not found in examining WHAT we are eating but rather HOW we are eating. That is to say, our state of mind and emotion plays a powerfully significant role in how the digestive system operates to create either health and harmony or dis-ease and imbalance.

We covered a bit of this "3rd Chakra" energy stuff last week in episode #338 when talking about the energetic connections with stomach health and function. Today we are moving down the digestive tract to discuss the energy that travels through the billions of neurons that send signals to and from the intestines. 

The theme of today: processing, assimilating, absorbing, integrating, and eliminating with grace and ease.

Join the conversations live on YouTube every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's WW episode on intestinal energetics...

• The brain-intestine connection - exploring how moment-to-moment state of mind impacts intestinal function
• How we can allow ourselves the power to absorb and integrate the more challenging aspects and relationships in life
• The root energetic causes of IBS, SIBO, food intolerances, and intestinal dysbiosis -  seriousness, controlling, self-judgment, strong opinions, irritability, resistance
• The importance of letting go to what no longer serves us in service of clearing the colon and optimizing bowel transit
• Why dietary changes offer little sustainable relief of chronic digestive issues and how we can instead fully embrace the present to find our digestive health

Links to some more good stuff

- Get weekly Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Stay connected on Telegram: https://t.me/alterhealth 
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products

You've heard the notion, "You are what you eat."

The more precise statement would be "You are what you digest, absorb, and assimilate to regenerate your cells and modulate your epi-genome!"

Food isn't medicine. Food is life.

What transforms food into life is the miraculous alchemical process of digestion, absorption, and assimilation taking place in your gut tube.

This is why HEALTH starts in the gut and your gut function is the central essential process for all physiologic functions.

It's hard to pack all the empowering gut healing info in a brief format such as this podcast episode, but we do our best to hit the high points to consider when healing your gut and optimizing digestion.

Join us live each Monday at 12 PT / 3 ET on the Alter Health YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/alterhealth

Some highlights from today's episode on the INTESTINES...

• To optimize digestive health it's critical to start from the TOP downward - mindset, mouth/chewing, stomach, intestines, colon, anus!
• Your gut tube is the body's interface with the outer world responsible for allowing nutrients in and keeping toxins out.
• The integrity of the single cell layer thick gut lining is maintained by the intestinal microbiome but vulnerable to antibiotics and toxic chemicals.
• Your small intestines are ~15 feet in length with a surface area of over 1 acre (!) which allows for absorption of nutrients.
• The large intestine is larger in diameter and home to the majority of the microbiome, but much shorter and smaller in surface area than the small intestine
• Biodiversity and harmony of the microbiome is key for digestive resilience - this naturally comes from diversity of fiber-rich foods on your plate

Links to some more good stuff
- Get the Alter Health weekly WFPB Meal Guides: https://www.alter.health/meal-guides
- Cleanse with Us during the next Alter Health Cleanse: https://www.alter.health/cleanse
- Work with us in the Thrive on Plants program: https://www.alter.health/thrive-on-plants
- ATTN Health Practitioners! Learn more and apply to the Plant Based Mind Body Practitioner Program: https://www.alter.health/pbmb-practitioner

Peace and Love.

Links to  more good stuff

- Work With Me - www.alter.health
- GREEN FORCE! - www.visfoods.co (use the code AlterLife for $10 off)
- Check out my favorite products - www.alter.health/products