These are the most popular wellness supplements and super foods you’ll want to get your hands on ASAP:
For anyone looking to level up their health in 2017, natural wellness supplements are the hottest thing to add to our ever-expanding vitamin rotation.
With adaptogenic herbs that promise to help your body adapt to stress more efficiently and fight off all manner of illness, it’s no wonder our fast-paced, high stress world is embracing them. Unlike traditional supplements, wellness supplements are more rooted in their natural form and can be taken daily in tea, green juice, and smoothies which is highly preferable among holistic health enthusiasts and anyone else who avoids taking medication like the plague.
Taking prescription and even OTC medicine is slowly, but surely, becoming a last option for those of us seeking a better way to support optimal health and well being. With the increased popularity of many plant-based and herbal supplements, alternative medicine is quickly paving the way for a healthier future.
While many wellness supplements can be found in pill form, some can easily be added to a variety of recipes or made into tonics to ensure that the optimal amount of nutrients are garnered.
With the coconut craze in recent years and now chia, cacao, and various others to hit the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before more natural wellness supplements began to make an appearance. From coconut oil to chia, chaga to maca, these are the 5 most popular wellness supplements and super foods you’ll want to get your hands on ASAP.
Maca
Maca is another beneficial herb that originates in the high Andes of Peru and has been cultivated by locals for over 3,000 years. Maca is a root plant that can actually be prepared in soup or tea, roasted, baked, or prepared in a drink called the maca chica. Many wellness enthusiasts purchase maca in powder form and ingest it dissolved into warm tea or plant milk to reap its many benefits.
Although it has a host of health benefits, it’s recent popularity is, largely, due to its ability to help improve women’s health.
The benefits for women include improved sexual function, balanced hormones, a decrease in menopause symptoms, mood and fertility support, energy and mood booster, and increased bone density. Other general perks include maca’s ability to help naturally treat anemia, erectile dysfunction, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis, improved memory function, athletic performance, and more.
The Benefits:
- Balance Female Hormones
- Energy, Mood and Memory Booster
- May Increase Athletic Performance
- Natural treatment for Anemia, Erectile Dysfunction, CFS, and Osteoporosis
- Increased Bone Density
- Fertility Support
- Decrease Menopause Symptoms
- May Help Clear Acne
Chaga
Chaga is a unique kind of mushroom because unlike other mushrooms which are soft, chaga is hard and looks like a lot more burnt charcoal or wood than mushrooms. Growing wild on birch trees, chaga mushrooms have been consumed for centuries in eastern societies, namely in tea, and are only now growing in popularity in western circles.
Often consumed as a tea, it’s recommended that you include a healthy fat such as coconut milk or coconut oil in your tea to help you fully absorb all of chaga’s beneficial nutrients.
Chaga has many benefits including it’s ability to boost your immunity, soothe pains and irritations, calm eczema and other skin conditions, and give your body a hefty dose of antioxidants. Studies have even shown it’s promise for counteracting the negative effects on cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, it’s ability to balance cholesterol and blood sugar, and the possible role it may play in supporting gastrointestinal health.
The Benefits:
- Boosts Immunity
- Soothes aches, pains and minor irritations due to ulcers
- May have anti-cancer properties
- High antioxidant content
- May counteract negative side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy
- Helps to balance blood sugar and cholesterol levels
- Supports gastrointestinal health
- May helps soothe eczema and other skin conditions
Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is a lesser known herb but is gaining popularity for its restorative properties. Used since ancient times in Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha is ideally ingested with some warm milk before bed. You can also use an alternative milk such as almond, coconut, flax or hemp milk if you prefer.
Ashwagandha boasts many benefits such as improved memory, stress relief, reduced depression and anxiety, helps balance blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and may enhance sexual libido in men and women alike.
One thing that makes ashwagandha particularly special is that it’s an adaptogenic herb. Adaptogens help one to adapt to inner and outer stresses. This can include the outside stresses of life such as pollution and other environmental factors as well as inner stresses such as anxiety, insomnia, and depression.
The Benefits:
- May offer some relief from stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression
- Improved Memory, Learning, and other cognitive functions
- Mood-boosting properties
- May enhance sexual libido in both men and women
- Balance blood sugar and cholesterol levels
- May help prevent the destruction of brain cells
- Adaptogenic properties help your body to cope with inner and outside stresses more efficiently
Turmeric
Turmeric has become increasingly popular lately and with good reason. The deep orange root warming, bitter flavor that’s similar to ginger, but slightly sweeter in taste. It can be taken in capsules, but many prefer to drink it as a tea, commonly known as golden milk tea, which has a deliciously flavor similar to chai tea, only slightly spicier. The spice has been used for centuries in India for curries, teas and other medicinal purposes.
If you want to enjoy turmeric in tea, it’s important to remember that it’s fat soluble. Fat soluble nutrients must be ingested with some kind of fat in order to be absorbed into the body. In my experience, coconut oil, coconut milk, or almond milk work best in turmeric teas.
Another thing to do is consider adding a small amount of black pepper which will boost turmeric’s bio-availability 1,000 times, thereby allowing your body to absorb more of its healthful properties. The active ingredient, curcumin, gives turmeric it’s bright yellow color and is also responsible for its insane ability to lower inflammation. In many studies, curcumin has been shown to be as potent as over the counter drugs, but without the harsh side effects. Turmeric can be used to soothe aches and pains, IBS, rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, menstrual cramps, and may even inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Turmeric may also help support liver health, heart health, balance cholesterol, and play a role in preventing Alzheimer’s Disease. It has even been shown in some studies to block carcinogens in grilled foods.
The Benefits:
- Soothes Aches and Pains from ulcers, menstruation, and other issues
- May help naturally treat IBS
- Reduces pain and inflammation due to Rheumatoid Arthritis
- May inhibit the growth of cancer cells
- May prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
He Shou Wu
He Shou Wu is a Chinese root plant. Also known to some as “Fo-Ti,” he shou wu is known as a powerful tonic for the liver and kidneys. Widely known in Chinese herbal medicine for many years, he shou wu is often used to revert greying hair back to its original color and other hair loss issues, but many other benefits are noted as well. More recently, in western societies, he shou wu has been used for endocrine health, intestinal parasites, balancing cholesterol, boosting immunity and cardiovascular functions, constipation, insomnia, improving skin conditions, reducing inflammation, and may be viable in cancer treatment.
The Benefits:
- Reverting Grey Hair Back to its Original Color
- Hair Loss Treatment
- Improved Endocrine Health
- Intestinal Parasite Treatment
- Balancing Cholesterol Levels
- Boosts Immunity
- Improved Cardiovascular Functions
- Natural treatment for Constipation, Insomnia and some Skin Conditions
- Reduces Inflammation
- May support treatment of cancer
One quick search of the internet for natural wellness supplements will turn up enough results to make your head spin so it’s important to choose a select few that fit your needs best. You don’t need all of them, but a select few can and will make a big difference for those who need a little extra support. It’s important to remember that a crap ton of supplements will not make you well if your diet is poor and you never sleep. Get the basics down first, invest in some of these awesome supplements to help you feel (and look) your best, and remember to breathe and you’ll be just fine.
I blog about organic beauty and style, natural wellness and green living, and entertainment with a unique sense of Italian Irish sassy sarcasm, laid back Cali girl style, and an innate love for pretty things.
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