Tips for healthy living

Immune Boosting Recommendations

These recommendations include amounts for when your body is at a time of increased immune concern and for year-round maintenance.

1. Vitamin C

• 4K mg daily for time of immune concern | 2K mg/day for maintenance

2. Elderberry Syrup

• 1 Tb twice daily or 400mg Elderberry capsule twice daily- we have several brands that include Vit C in their Elderberry! We have both shelf stable and refrigerated Organic Elderberry Syrups available. Elderberry Syrup is available as 3 types:
• Straight extract (Elderberry is clinically known to kill 99% of all virus that cause throat infections and boosts your immune system);
• Elderberry with Cloves, Honey, and Cinnamon (which also helps protect your bronchial system);
• Elderberry with Echinacea, Hibiscus, Rose Hips, Honey, and Cinnamon

3. Colloidal Silver

• 1 tsp twice daily during time of immune concern; ½ tsp daily for maintenance

4. Vitamin D3

• 4 kIU daily | 1-2 kIU daily
• If you are around a lot of people and/or children in your daily flow of life, we recommend taking this amount all year long.
• If not, then 4kIU during concerned time and 1-2kIU/day

5. Echinacea

• 400mg min daily during time of concern not to exceed 2 months of daily intake

6. Superfoods

• Such as Wheatgrass, Goji Berries, Blueberries, Muscadine Grape, and algae like Spirulina, Blue, and Red.
• These foods are extremely high in antioxidants, which boost your immune system. (There are many antioxidant-rich foods, but these top our list.) We do have these superfoods available to add into any juices or smoothies at our drink bar.

Hand Sanitizing Options

In addition to frequent hand washing (remember, it’s 20 full seconds!), use sanitizers to keep your hands clean throughout the day. We carry clean sanitizers that are usually only 75% alcohol combined with astringent herbs and probiotics to thoroughly clean and protect.

Remember that time you told yourself how nice it would be to grow sprouts at home? Well, with the shelter-at-home orders prompted by the Coronavirus, there’s no better time to try your hand at some of these at-home activities that are amazing for your health. 

This fun, DIY list of kits beats feeling stir crazy, can include the kids.

And it’s definitely healthier than a Netflix couch binge!

 

 1. Home Brew Kombucha Kit 

This kit from Humble Bumble Kombucha is perfect for the Kombucha tea lovers. It comes with everything you need, including the glass jar, black tea, pre-measured sugar, the cloth and band, and instructions. The only step after you pick up the kit is to go to Humble Bumble’s site and order your colony! Yes, you heard right! Your SCOBY, or, Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast is what makes your kombucha grow! It comes free with your kit purchase code, and they’ll ship it out right away so it’s fully alive.

 

And when you buy your kit at Harmony Farms, you’ll see it comes at a discount from the online price. Shopping local is always the way to go!

 2. Grow Your Own Sprouts 

Fresh sprouts are chock full of immune-boosting healthy nutrients, fresh enzymes, and are high in minerals. And growing sprouts at home is one of the approachable at-home activities. What we recommend (and carry) are the sack and jar growing kits.

With the jar method, you start by soaking the seeds in water for 8-10 hours. After that, you drain them, store away from direct sunlight* with proper airflow (to avoid spoiling), and rinse them 2-3 times daily. The sprouts are ready to eat once they grow to ¼-1 inch in length. To store, be sure to dry off the sprouts and place them in an air-sealed container in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator.

With the sack method, once you give them their initial soak, just empty your seeds into the sack and hang. You’ll still need to rinse them 2 times a day to keep them fresh. Once they’ve sprouted, drop them into a sealable container and refrigerate!

Bonus! With the jar method, you can create an amazing timelapse video to capture the sprouting. Just set up a spare phone or a GoPro in a nearby spot in sight of the jar. Your kids (and you) will love watching the finished timelapse!

*Sprouts like alfalfa, broccoli, and clover benefit from a couple of hours of direct sunlight which provides them with additional nutrients and color through photosynthesis.

 3. Cultures for Health Starters  

Based right here in the Triangle, Cultures for Health offers multiple culture starter kits—from sourdough bread to greek yogurt to cheese!

Do you have mason jars, coffee filters, and filtered water at your house? Then you can make sourdough! Milk, stainless steel pot, and a thermometer? Greek yogurt.

At first glance, making foods with culture may seem intimidating (who would think they could make their own cheese??), but Cultures for Health gives complete easy-to-follow instructions with each kit, including what ingredients you’ll need at home. Check out the Cultures for Health instructions for sourdough bread here.

Once you activate your starter, each kit has a unique, but easy to follow nurture cycle.

And they also have gluten-free starter kits as well as kits for vegan yogurt!

 4. Ferment it Yourself Mason Jar Kit 

Fermentation with this kit from Masontops is a breeze: all that’s needed are wide mouth mason jars, vegetables, and salt! While the vegetables provide bacteria and carbohydrates, the salt creates a brine that prevents the vegetables from spoiling during the process. 

Fermenting usually requires a couple pieces of special equipment like weights for your fermenting veggies and a way to vent the jar, but this kit takes care of those. The weight keeps the veggies submerged in your brine (they would otherwise rise from the carbon dioxide production), and Masontops special vented tops allow for the gas to escape—without them, you could have an explosion in your kitchen!

What this kit comes with:

• A step-by-step guide
• Pickle Pipes*
• Pickle Pebbles*
• Pickle Packer*

(Try to say that 5 times fast)

Fermented foods are packed full of the freshest probiotics you can give your body, and making them at home just got a lot easier.

 5. Make Your Own Elderberry Syrup 

One of our local favorites, Sweets, brings the power of immune-boosting syrup into your home.

Each Sweet’s DIY Kit includes their dried organic elderberries from Austria and their signature organic spice blend.

All you need is a pot and filtered water. Simmer as long as the packing directs, and then add the sweetener of your choice to create up to 32 ounces of syrup. 

Now is the time to try your hand at these fun at-home activities along with enjoying the spring sunshine and this unique opportunity to reconnect with loved ones.

On one point in the health world, everyone—nutritionists, naturopaths, grandmas, scientists, and sailors*—agree unanimously: Vitamin C is one of our nutritional superheroes. (*You only have to get scurvy once to know better.)

But in the beauty world, Vitamin C has gained attention for its ability to reverse skin damage. But, how much can it do? How does it work? And which products are the best ones? Those are the questions we’re here to answer.

 What is Vitamin C? 

An essential vitamin, known for its immunity-strengthening prowess and as a powerful antioxidant. It’s usually taken in pill form (a blog post for another day). In topical applications, it is usually listed as a compound like L-Ascorbic Acid, ascorbyl-6-palmitate, and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP), and Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate.

 Why does our skin need it? 

In our modern world, our skin really takes a beating, or what’s scientifically described as “oxidative stress.” Chronic exposure to the sun and UV light is the traditional offender, but environmental pollution, smoking, and indoor air systems are all agents that cause wrinkling, discoloration, and that general aging skin look.

 How does it work? 

Vitamin C works so well because it addresses several problems at once. First, as a potent antioxidant, it “neutralizes the oxidative stress by a process of electron transfer.” 

Second, it helps protect your skin against sunburn by aiding the skin’s immune response.  When UV radiation hits your skin, it reduces the number of Langerhans cells—cells, in the lower layers of your skin which are essential players in your skin’s immune system. Topical vitamin C has actually been proven to protect those cells from that UV harm. 

Third, vitamin C directly stimulates collagen production and stabilizes collagen fibers.

Fourth, it actually helps replenish vitamin E! Vitamin E is another powerful antioxidant we need to protect against oxidative stress, and one that UV radiation depletes.

 What should I look for in a product? 

The Type of Vitamin C Used

L-ascorbic acid is the most common type of vitamin C, but it’s not the only one out there. Unless modified, L-ascorbic acid is actually an unstable molecule and doesn’t easily penetrate the skin. Other sources include Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, which is oil-soluble, and studies have shown that this form of vitamin C penetrates the skin most deeply. The other is Sodium Ascorbyl Palmitate (or Phosphate) which is compatible with both oil-soluble and water-soluble solutions. We like how Mad Hippie uses Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, because the form they use is less likely to irritate your skin.

The Percentage

Studies have shown the most efficacy comes when the percentage of vitamin C is from 10%—20% (at higher than 20%, it might actually irritate the skin). The percentage really is most important when the source of vitamin C is L-ascorbic acid.

The Sourcing

Always look for products with plant-based sources.

The pH

Our skin is naturally acidic (4.5-5.5 pH), so look for pH-balanced products that lean in that direction. For example, L-ascorbic acid isn’t naturally at a skin-compatible pH, so it needs to be lowered to 3.5 to even be stable enough for our skin. 

How it’s Packaged

Vitamin C can lose efficacy over time with exposure to the light, so make sure your products come in a dark glass bottle or a UV-protected container.

 What brands we recommend 

These brands check all our boxes: effective and scientifically-backed, clean sourcing, cruelty-free, and consumer conscious!

• Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum
  
• Mad Hippie Triple C Night Cream
• Derma-E Concentrated Vitamin C Serum
  
• Derma-E Vitamin C renewing Moisturizer

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605218/

What is the Best Form of Vitamin C in Skin Care?