​This Sweet Beet Juice Recipe Has Blood Pressure Benefits

It doesn’t matter if you drink this vibrant tonic early in the morning or as a late-night snack — the benefits of beets can fit into your lattes, smoothies, and even cocktails. Our simple and naturally sweet beet juice is full of nutrients and easy to make.

Not only are beets full of vitamins, minerals, and medicinal plant compounds, they’re low in calories and high in fiber, folate, manganese, and dietary nitrates.

Beet benefits

• can significantly lower blood pressure after only a few hours of consumption
• low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals
• improves athletic performance
• improves cognitive function

Plus, they’re great for blood pressure! Well, the nitrates in beets are. Studies have shown that beets can significantly lower blood pressure  after only a few hours of consumption. Both raw beet juice and cooked beets were found to be effective at lowering blood pressure and decreasing inflammation. However, raw beet juice had a greater effect.

For athletes, the same nitrates can directly affect how cells produce energy. Studies have shown that drinking 17 ounces of beet juice daily enhances athletic endurance and can increase oxygen use. To maximize the effect of beet juice on athletic performance, it’s best to consume beet juice two to three hours before training or exercising.

Additionally, nitrates can improve blood flow to the brain. Poor blood flow to the brain contributes to many diseases and a decline in cognitive function. Beets can keep your brain sharp, as improved blood flow to the frontal lobe is linked with increased cognitive alertness and reaction time.

Recipe for Sweet Beet Juice
Ingredients

• 1 large beet, trimmed and chopped
• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1/2 lemon

Directions

1. Process all of the ingredients through a juicer. Serve juice over ice, if desired.

Pro tip: If you don’t happen to own a juicer, you can use a blender instead. Simply combine the beet, apple, and lemon with half a cup of water, give or take, and blend on the highest setting for about 60 seconds. Then pour the blended contents through a strainer or cheese cloth.

Dosage: One of the great things about beet juice is that you can feel the effects in as little as three hours. For the best results, drink one to two cups. And if you’re looking for sustained reduction in blood pressure, drink at least that much on a daily basis.

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS Beets are generally safe for consumption, but due to their high levels of oxalate content, they carry the risk of contributing to kidney stone formation. People with sensitive stomachs or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) should also eat cautiously, as beets can cause digestive discomfort.

********** STATEWIDE COVID-19 MITIGATION **************

The entire commonwealth is now under statewide COVID-19 mitigation.
    Here is what statewide mitigation means.
​
General Guidance
Freedom of travel will remain, but refrain from non-essential travel.
The Dept of Health strongly encourages the suspension of
    gatherings of more than 10 people over the next eight weeks.
Doctors Office's are encouraged to exercise discretion in order
    to mitigate the spread of illness.

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My office will be open daily throughout this COVID-19 Pendemic and scheduling patients.
Dr. Edwards will be doing phone visits with his patients for the next 2 weeks.
However some patients needing essential in-office therapy will be screened for
    COVID-19 and seen by appointment only.
For more information please feel free to contact our office at
    215-966-8774 or MartyEdwardsND@aol.com .

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​The Truth About Colds and Flu Doctors Won’t Tell You

If you suffer from cold or flu, you may want to let it run its course and rest both physically and emotionally, instead of taking conventional drugs that are supposed to suppress the symptoms.

Conventional medicine claims that there is no “cure” for common cold, and flu should be prevented with vaccines loaded with chemicals. You are also supposed to ease your discomfort with the help of different medications.

Unfortunately, this only indicates a lack of understanding what colds and flu are really like, and their effect on your body.

They are both caused by viruses. You have to understand what viruses can do at cellular level before you understand what colds and flu do at that very same level.

Do you remember your science classes when you learned about cellular division? Each of the cells are parent cells, and through mitosis (genetic duplication) and cytokinesis (cellular division) parent cells divide into daughter cells. Each daughter cell is considered to be a parent cell that will later divide into two daughter cells, and the process goes on.
Viruses, unlike your cells, cannot duplicate through mitosis and cytokinesis. They are microscopic particles of genetic material, and each is coated with a thin protein layer.
Viruses cannot reproduce on their own, as they are not designed to do so. The only way to manage flourishing in your body is to use the machinery and metabolism of your cells, and then produce copies of themselves.

Once viruses access your cells, of course, depending on the type of the virus that is involved, two things can happen:

1. The virus uses cell’s resources to replicate many times. It later breaks open the cell, and the newly replicated viruses leave and search for new cells to infect. This is called lysis, and it effectively kills the cell.

2. The virus incorporates in the DNA of the cell, so it can be passed on to the daughter cells that stem from that cell. Later on, the virus in every daughter cell replicates itself as we already described. The cell is lysed once there are multiple copies of the virus.
As you can see, the infected cell dies due to lysis in both cases.
​
Why colds and flu can be good for you when allowed to run their course
Viruses responsible for colds and flu mostly infect the weakest cells, usually cells that are burdened with excessive waste and toxins. You should get rid of such cells anyway, and replace them with new and healthy cells.

Colds and flu can be considered as a natural event that allows your body eliminate old and damaged cells. If there is no viral infection, it would take much longer for such cells to be identified, destroyed and eliminated.

Just imagine the “stuff” you blow out of your nose when you have a cold or flu, followed by all the dead cells in the mucous, due to the lytic effect viruses have.

As you can see, there is no need of cure for common cold. It is nature’s way to keep you healthy. Get plenty of rest, eat well and stay hydrated during colds and flu, and you do not need all those vaccines or heavy medications that suppress congested sinuses, fever or cough.

Each of these uncomfortable symptoms is a way through which your body eliminates waste material and goes through colds and flu. It is okay to use over-the-counter pain medication like acetaminophen in cases when the discomfort becomes intolerable, or if these medications help you sleep well.

However, try to avoid medications that suppress helpful processes like fever, cough and runny nose.

But, just because colds and flu help your body does not mean that you should expose yourself to them to improve your health. Protect your health and improve your immune system, get enough sleep and introduce some health-promoting dietary and lifestyle changes.

This will help your cells stay strong against viruses that knock on their membranes. In that case your body will not have enough weak cells available for the colds or flu to do their job and lyse them.

How to differentiate common cold and flu?
Colds come on gradually, within a day or two. You feel tired, sneeze, cough and have a runny nose. In most cases, you do not have a fever, but if you still have it, it is slightly higher than normal. A cold will last for 3-4 days, but sometimes even 10-14 days.

Flu comes suddenly, and it is more serious. It leaves you tired, weak, with a fever as high as 104f. Muscle and joint pain, severe headache, sore throat and a feeling of being chilled are just some of the symptoms. It would take much effort to get off the bed. The fever lasts 3-5 days, but you will feel weak and tired for 2-3 weeks.

Final Note
You do not need any antibiotics, because common colds and flu are caused by viruses. People who take these feel slightly better because antibiotics provide a mild anti-inflammatory effect.

But, the side-effects sure outweigh the benefits. Antibiotics affect friendly bacteria in the digestive tract. If you really need some help when dealing with pain during colds or flu, take a small dose of acetaminophen instead of antibiotics.
​

Traditional Naturopathic Healthcare Principles 
A guiding principle of traditional naturopathic healthcare is the physical body will heal itself when the obstacles to that healing are removed. This principle is called vis medicatrix naturae – the healing power of Nature. A second principle is to treat the whole person. This principle recognizes that a person is not only the physical body. The physical, emotional, and spiritual are integral parts of the whole person.
 
To live within these principles of traditional naturopathic healthcare should not be expensive. The greatest obstacles to health that we face as a culture today are the tens of thousands of man-made chemicals and natural toxins that suppress our immune system. These chemicals also trigger gene expression that leads to diseases. Avoidance is critical for good health. It is a matter of making conscious choices about the foods that are consumed.
Stress plays an important role in our health. But it is not only how we manage stress. Releasing negative feelings while focusing on positive thoughts is the most powerful practice of natural medicine that leads to well-being and happiness.

The following Tips Support These Traditional Naturopathic Healthcare Principles
  1. Eat colorful vegetables and fruits; avoid processed sugar, salt, potatoes, flours, or   
       hydrogenated oils.
  2.  Drink the purest water available.
  3.  Eat raw and lightly cooked seasonal foods so that you limit exposure to roasted, baked    
       and fried foods.
  4.  Use natural cleaners and glass containers so that you avoid plastics and harsh 
       Chemicals in the home and in food preparation.
  5.   Grow house plants that absorb toxins in the air.
  6.  Enjoy relaxing heat therapies such as baths, steam and saunas.
  7.  Eat organic and free-range foods when available.
  8.  Expand your mindfulness by daily spiritual practice of meditation and/or 
       contemplation.
  9.  Move your body; walk, don’t drive; take the stairs.
10.  Work on body mechanics by stretching and strengthening weak muscle groups.
11. Stay connected: strengthen relations with your family and friends.  Be active in your 
       community!