Did you know we have a nasal cycle? It can help you understand your brain better, determine when you should rest or work, and tell whether your body is functioning at its best.

The Nose

The nose filters the air we breathe, makes it moist, and brings it to body temperature.

The anatomy of both nostrils is the same, and no one would ever think that each nostril would serve different purposes. However we consider it perfectly normal that the different sides of our brains serve different purposes: we understand that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa. We acknowledge that each person has a dominant eye, a dominant hand, and one ear that is more sensitive than the other. So, it is logical to expect a difference between our two nostrils.

Around 80% of people experience a nasal cycle in the congestion of their nostrils, varying from 2-7 hours in length. Also, if you lie down on your side, you will notice that the nostril closest to the surface you are lying on becomes blocked while the other one clears up. The nose deserves more credit and importance than we give it.

The Nasal Cycle

Block one of your nostrils with your finger and breathe through your nose. Now do the same with the other side.

Which nostril had a stronger air flow? That’s the nostril that is currently dominant in your nasal cycle.

When your right nostril is dominant, the left side of your brain is functioning better. Your thinking, reasoning, and learning will be better at these times. Your metabolism and digestion will also be working faster. Things you should do when your right nostril is dominant:

• Reading
• Studying and/or teaching
• Giving speeches, talking in public
• Signing important documents
• Exercising

After you eat, it is a sign of good digestion that your right nostril becomes dominant.

When your left nostril is dominant, the right side of your brain is functioning better. Your creativity and inspiration will be stronger in this case. Have you ever had those times where the information won’t sink in no matter how many times you read it? That’s probably because your left nostril and right brain were dominant. Things you should do when your left nostril is dominant:

• Listening to music
• Meditating
• Creative writing
• Socialising and relaxing
• Drawing or other creative hobbies

It is very rare to have both of your nostrils in equal dominance for any length of time.

Balancing The Nasal Cycle

What’s great is that you can actually control your nasal cycle. For example, if you need your left brain activated so you can think, you’ll need your right nostril to be dominant. Lean to the left and your right nostril will clear naturally. You can even place your hand under your left armpit at the same time because there are certain pressure points that help clear the right nostril.

Sometimes you can even feel the shift between nostrils – especially if you have a blocked nose from a cold.

After eating, leaning to the left or even lying down on your left will aid digestion by making your right nostril dominant. It also makes use of gravity, so that the waste in your body can travel through the colon and encourage a healthy bowel movement. What’s more, lying on your left reduces acid reflux, improves circulation, encourages lymph node drainage, and encourages the movement of cerebrospinal fluid. Sleeping on your left is ideal for all of these reasons.

Our nasal cycle should rotate every few hours from left to right, but for some people one nostril always seems to be more dominant than the other. If our nostrils don’t balance regularly, it’s a sign of an imbalance in our systems. There are some very simple things we can do to restore balance:

• If your right nostril is more dominant, you may find that your mind and/or mind is overactive and you may have trouble sleeping. Fall asleep on your right side when you go to bed.
• If your left nostril is more dominant, you may find that you have trouble concentrating, making decisions, and your digestion may be sluggish. Fall asleep on your left side when you go to bed.

Alternate nostril breathing is also a great way to restore your natural nasal cycle.

The post The Nasal Cycle And Your Brain appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

Cerebrospinal fluid plays a vital role in our overall health and well-being. CSF flow can be regulated voluntarily to ensure a healthy brain system. One of these ways is through conscious breathing techniques like Pranayama.

What Is Cerebrospinal Fluid?

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear liquid produced by specialised cells in the brain. The brain produces about 500mL of CSF per day (25mL per hour), but there is only about 125-150mL of CSF in your body at any given time. This is because it is reabsorbed by the body continuously.

Cerebrospinal fluid is found in the membrane surrounding the brain, as well as in the cavities inside your brain and spinal cord (the ventricular system). Cerebrospinal fluid serves multiple purposes:

• Buoyancy – the average brain weighs roughly 1.5kG, but the net weight suspended in CSF is around 50G. This helps the brain maintain its density without damaging itself by its own weight.
• Protection – Cerebrospinal fluid is a shock absorber for the brain. It protects the brain tissue from damage if it is hit.
• Homeostasis – The dynamic balance of internal chemical and physical systems is regulated by CSF. It allows substances to pass between brain cells and the cells that release hormones into the blood (neuroendocrine cells). If homeostasis is disturbed, it can cause problems like dizziness or even damage to the nervous system.
• Clearing waste – Cerebrospinal fluid plays a vital role in the brain’s lymphatic system by removing waste products from the brain. The waste is diffused into CSF, moved from the brain, and reabsorbed (as CSF) by the bloodstream.

How Does CSF Flow Through The Spinal Cord?

Breathing moves CSF through the body thanks to the pressure in the veins of our chest. These veins on the chest vertebrae column (the vertebrae at the same level as your ribs) transmit pressure upwards, to the brain.

When you breathe, the chest rises and falls. This creates a change in pressure that flows upwards to the CSF around the brain. When you breathe in, chest pressure decreases and CSF flows down the spine. When you breathe out, chest pressure increases and CSF flows up the spine into the head.

This means breathing creates a rhythmic CSF flow up and down the spinal cord.

Studies have shown that the deeper or shallower we breathe, directly influences the movement of CSF through the brain. Deeper breathing encourages CSF further up into the brain. There has also been research to show that holding your breath increases CSF flow.

CSF and Health

The movement of CSF is really important to our health. CSF flow decreases with age, which means it can collect impurities and slowly create a toxic environment. This results in impaired brain function like fatigue, depression, cognitive decline, and is possibly linked with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The research on CSF flow and breathing supports the reported benefits of Pranayama.

What’s more, the activation of the sympathetic nervous system is linked to reduced CSF flow, while parasympathetic activation is associated with increased CSF flow. This goes to show just how effective SOMA breathing techniques are for brain health.

Optimise CSF Flow for Brain Health

This is all about enhancing your body’s natural functions and supporting the health of your brain and body, making it a vital part of achieving balance and wellness. Here are some of the most effective ways to achieve this flow of clean, healthy CSF fluid.

• Yoga – Yoga increases relaxation through conscious stretching, breathing, and mindfulness, promoting CSF circulation.
• Good posture – Correct posture results in optimal alignment of the head and spine, ensuring a proper CSF flow through the system.
• Meditation – Relaxing and focussing on the breath creates a rhythmic CSF flow through the body.
• Exercise – Exercise gets the lymphatic systems pumping, blood circulation going, and CSF flow increases and is more effective.

The post CSF Flow and Breathing – Cerebrospinal Fluid appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

The world is full of natural remedies that can treat physical conditions – plants with anti-inflammatory properties, roots that fight cancer, fermented foods that protect your gut. But some plant medicines carry an extra punch…

The first humans that came across psychedelic plant medicines might have experienced more than they bargained for! Eating some species of plants or fungi can induce a powerful psychedelic experience, sending the forager on a journey through completely trippy states of mind.

Psychedelic plant medicines have long been used for personal and spiritual growth – see EntheoNation’s plant medicine course for an extensive guide. Indigenous peoples all over the world have used psychedelic plant medicines as a core part of their healing practices, and many still do today.

Now, on the brink of a wave of psychedelic legalization, we can begin to understand the pharmacology of the ancient psychedelic plants that have been used for healing for thousands of years.

This article will explore four of the most popular psychedelic plant medicines in the world, and what their pharmacology can tell us about their potential to improve our lives.

What are Psychedelic Plant Medicines?

Psychedelic plants all produce a psychedelic “trip” once ingested. Most people experience changes in perception and thoughts; such as seeing bright colors and complex geometry, and feeling intense emotions or revisiting childhood memories.

Some psychedelic plants can just be eaten raw for their psychedelic effects to take hold… while others require precise preparation, such as mixture with other ingredients, to unleash their potential.

Of the many psychedelic plants that grow in the world, these are some of the most well known:

Ayahuasca

One of the most famous psychedelic plant medicines is ayahuasca. This is a brew created from the mixture of a number of different plants, but the most well-known version uses the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis leaf. The combination of these two plants produces a unique psychedelic experience, lasting several hours, and it is used for many healing purposes by Amazonian peoples.

The psychoactive component in P. viridis, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), is not normally active when you ingest it orally. However, the combination with B. caapi in a typical ayahuasca brew produces a unique pharmacology that prevents DMT being broken down by your stomach enzymes. This allows DMT to reach your brain and causes a psychedelic trip that can be used for mental healing.

Traditional ayahuasca use involves an experienced and highly trained shaman diagnosing your spiritual or physical ailments, and crafting a healing ceremony to address your problems. They might request you to follow a special diet involving abstinence from certain foods, sex, and digital media, in the days leading up to the ceremony.

During an ayahuasca ceremony, the shaman may use medicine music (icaros), work with spiritual energies, or simply reassure the participant to guide them through the experience and facilitate their healing.

Magic Mushrooms

Other plant medicines don’t require any mixture or preparation. Magic mushrooms (although technically a fungus, not a plant) are probably one of the most widespread psychedelic plant medicines in the world. You can find them growing on almost every continent, in damp wooded areas. They have been used by indigenous peoples for centuries.

Some evidence suggests that magic mushrooms were used by indigenous Australian peoples over 12,000 years ago. Aztec and Mayan art was heavily influenced by magic mushrooms, and priests used them in divination and healing. They are still used traditionally by many Mexican groups, and one unique species of psychedelic mushroom is an integral part of several branches of Siberian shamanism.

Magic mushrooms contain the psychoactive substances psilocybin and psilocin. There are over 200 species of magic mushrooms that contain these substances. These psychedelic mushrooms can be eaten fresh or dried, or brewed into tea, to induce an experience lasting a few hours.

Peyote and San Pedro

Peyote and San Pedro are two types of psychedelic cactus that have been used in healing ceremonies for thousands of years. They were among the first psychedelic plant medicines to be introduced to North America, and are still used in sacred healing practices today.

They both contain the psychedelic substance mescaline, and are usually prepared by boiling pieces of cactus in a tea. The cactus can also be eaten fresh.

The traditional use of these psychedelic cacti was thought to originate in a number of indigenous North American peoples, around Mexico and Texas. It has been used traditionally as a treatment for pain and physical ailments, but its ceremonial use has now evolved to focus on the treatment of addiction and spiritual issues.

San Pedro grows much faster than peyote, and as such people recommend using San Pedro over peyote due to sustainability concerns.

Salvia

Salvia divinorum, known colloquially as Salvia, is a plant that contains the world’s most potent naturally-occurring psychedelic. It has been grown by Mazatec shamans for countless generations, and relatively small doses hold great healing potential.

Salvia contains the psychedelic substance Salvinorin A, and only micrograms of it are required to have a psychedelic effect in people. It binds to only one type of receptor, which is very rare for natural psychedelic plants – and ingesting it results in a very unusual and disorienting experience.

Traditionally, the leaves of the Salvia plant are either chewed raw, or brewed into a tea. In contemporary western use, it is most commonly smoked in highly-concentrated extracts, producing an intense but very short psychedelic experience lasting only a few minutes.

Shamans use it to treat physical ailments, and consider it a route to connect with spirits or deities. Due to Christian colonial influences, one of its traditional names is Ska Maria Pastora, meaning “The leaves of [Saint] Mary the Shepherdess.”

How do psychedelic plant medicines work?

Psychedelics all cause a profound change in consciousness (when taken at a high enough dose). This change in consciousness, alongside their pharmacological properties, has been shown to be a potential treatment for conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety.

Different psychedelic plants work differently, but we’re starting to understand more about the root of their healing effects.

The Serotonin System

Ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, peyote and San Pedro all contain psychedelic chemicals known as “classic” psychedelics. They all work mainly through activation of serotonin receptors in the brain.

The increase in serotonin that these psychedelic plants can cause is thought to be the route of their effects on perception – such as visual hallucinations and changes in thoughts. Serotonin is also considered the main neurochemical route of treatments of depression, and that could be why these substances have so much antidepressant potential.

Both ayahuasca and magic mushrooms have been studied in extensive clinical trials showing that a single dose of these substances can have significant and lasting antidepressant effects in people suffering from severe depression.

Although peyote and San Pedro have not been studied as extensively, it’s likely they would have similar antidepressant effects. Their key psychedelic component, mescaline, also activates serotonin receptors in a very similar way to ayahuasca and magic mushrooms.

We don’t know why the activation of the serotonin system in the brain can fight depression – but most contemporary antidepressant medications also boost serotonin levels, suggesting that it’s an effective way to treat the condition.

The kappa opioid system

Salvia contains a unique psychedelic substance that activates only one very specific receptor in the brain, and its pharmacology suggests that it could be a powerful anti-addictive medicine.

Salvinorin A, the main psychoactive substance in Salvia, activates the kappa opioid receptor (KOR). Although this is an opioid receptor, it actually carries out a role you might not expect – it helps prevent addiction.

Studies have shown that if you activate the KOR in lab rats at the same time as giving them access to unlimited quantities of cocaine, the rats are less likely to show addictive behaviors.

These findings have given researchers hope that Salvia could help them develop an anti-addiction medication – one that could not only help people go through withdrawal, but also prevent addiction to highly dependent substances like cocaine or heroin.

Studies have also shown that Salvia could be an effective painkiller. Mice who are given Salvinorin A are less likely to experience discomfort when sitting on a steadily warming surface. The prospect of developing a non-addictive painkiller is very exciting for sufferers of chronic pain.

Scientists are attempting to develop chemical analogues of Salvia that could fight addiction or pain without causing you to trip!

The Mystical Experience

Although we’re learning more about the pharmacology of these healing plants, their unique effects on the mind sets them apart from other natural remedies. People describe having intense mystical experiences with these plants, that give them a fresh perspective on life. The intensity of the psychedelic experience has been directly linked to the healing benefits of these plant medicines – so there’s possibly more than just chemistry happening behind the scenes.

In studies on depression and tobacco addiction, where magic mushrooms have been used to effectively treat these health conditions, researchers found that the people who reported the most mystical experiences were also more likely to be healed.

A mystical experience is considered a state of mind that is very hard to describe – and involves a sense of realization or awakening, an encounter with some kind of universal truth or entity, and a sense of interconnectedness or timelessness. People often report mystical experiences giving them a fresh perspective on life, helping to give them new purpose or motivation to make positive changes.

So how can we make the mystical experience happen?

Unfortunately there’s no simple answer. We can’t directly link the mystical experience to pharmacology – some people have a mystical experience on very low doses of psychedelic plants, while others need very high doses! It can also arise spontaneously without the input of any substance whatsoever.

It seems as if the combination of psychedelic plants with holistic practices such as meditation, journaling, introspection, prayer, yoga or outdoor exercise is most likely to produce a mystical experience. Like the attainment of enlightenment through meditation, achieving a true mystical experience probably requires practice and patience.

How can you use psychedelic plant medicines?

There are many ways to use psychedelic medicines in your life – and you don’t even have to trip if you don’t want to.

Although the healing benefits of psychedelic plants have been discovered during high-dose experiences, it’s also possible to use tiny doses in your daily life to gain some of the positives too.

Additionally, there are a number of holistic practices you can use to amplify the benefits of a single psychedelic experience, potentially making one trip all you need to significantly change your life.

In the next part of this series, we will explain the easiest ways to use the healing benefits of psychedelic plant medicines while staying as safe as possible. Stay tuned!

Guest Post by Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith is a writer and biologist who has worked in the psychedelic community for several years. He writes about the scientific and cultural aspects of psychedelic plants for the educational platform EntheoNation.

The post The Pharmacology of Psychedelic Plant Medicines appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

As humans, there’s a lot we want from life. More money, a beautiful home, a better lifestyle, a promotion at work… But it all comes down to one thing: we want to be happy. Our pursuit of happiness is caught between two pillars of modern life: our desire to buy happiness, and our desire to fight against depression, stress and anxiety. The latest scientific studies are showing that there is a promising, effective new way to reach our happiness goals: engaging in activities, thoughts and behaviours that develop our feelings of gratitude.

Feeling Grateful Has a Physical Effect on the Structure of Your Brain

So, what are the facts? Research coming out of UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Centre is showing some exciting results that give us insight into how to achieve a happier life, and the answer is that it’s an internal journey rather than an external pursuit.

“Having an attitude of gratitude changes the molecular structure of the brain, keeps grey matter functioning and makes us healthier and happier”.

Not only are feelings of gratitude an emotional response, they’re a physical response too. One that trains your brain into transforming its physical structure as well as boosting mental and physical health. When you feel gratitude, research shows that “The central nervous system is affected. You are more peaceful, less reactive and less resistant”.

What Does this Mean for Mental Health Treatment and Self-Care?

Currently, there is a strong focus in the mental healthcare industry on traditional Western medicine. Specifically, treating mental health conditions with drugs, non-surgical treatments like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and psychological counselling. These treatments, other than the counselling, carry certain risks for patients. They can cause negative side effects ranging from drowsiness to nausea, to anxiety and suicidal thoughts. These are serious side effects, and patients can find themselves on multiple, costly prescriptions for the rest of their lives.

The issue of mental illness itself is serious and expensive one, costing the United Kingdom almost £35bn a year in treatment, lost productivity and social support. A study by Oxford Economics showed that around 181,600 people are prevented from working due to their mental health issues, and that mental health problems were the third most common reason for taking sick leave.

There is good reason to re-evaluate how we treat mental health and address the underlying factors of our hyper-materialistic society. This research may be key to addressing both these issues. Enhancing the way we care for patients with mental health issues, how we can work to protect ourselves more effectively from these conditions, and how we can achieve that all-important goal of happiness without making it all about money.

The great news is that this study isn’t the only one providing strong scientific support for the benefits of happiness. In the last decade, many studies from renowned universities and research centres around the world have demonstrated that practicing gratitude strengthens bonding and relationships, boosts physical wellness, strengthens psychological health, helps you sleep better, improves self-esteem and overall makes you more likely to feel happy and satisfied with your life and less likely to struggle with depression, stress and anxiety.

How to Practice Gratitude

Your brain has evolved and adapted over your lifetime to react certain ways and develop certain behaviours, so getting the full benefits of gratitude and rewiring your brain to be happier takes effort and patience – it’s all about retraining your brain and making those physical changes permanent.

Practicing gratitude is like practicing mindfulness and can take many forms, so you can explore different options to discover which ones you can include in your daily life. This may be:

• Writing letters of thanks to the loved ones in your life

• Taking the time each night to think of ten things you’re grateful for that occurred that day

• Practicing the cookie test by resisting impulse buys and rewarding yourself with something more special in the long term

• Keeping a journal and reflecting on each day

• Volunteering at a charitable organisation that resonates with you. Or volunteer somewhere that can benefit from your specific skills

• Expressing thanks to others when they’ve done a good job, at home or in the workplace

The post Change Your Brain with Gratitude appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

I’m always so shocked by the fact that in my seminars, speaking engagements, and courses I give all over the world, people seem to treat sex as some kind of afterthought in their relationship.

Whether it’s prudishness, shyness, or unfamiliarity with talking about it, so few people seem to grasp how very important a healthy sex life is not only for a loving relationship but for your own personal health and well-being, too. Indeed, if you want to have a happy relationship and life, then there is no better way than sex to help make that happen.

Why Is Sex So Powerful?

On a biological level, sex changes your brain chemistry and acts as a powerful antidepressant thanks to the rush of dopamine and oxytocin that orgasm brings. In addition, studies have shown that enjoyable, regular sex is known to build Natural Killer cells that fight cancer. Even when we’re way past the age where we want to have children, sex also offers an anti-aging effect. Our reptilian brains believe that if we’re still having sex, there might be a chance of a baby—so it keeps us young to look after it!

Orgasms improve circulation, provide lymphatic drainage, help your body to detoxify, improve digestion, improve mood, prevent disease, help to repair tissues, improve brain function, keep skin healthy, release endorphins into the body that flush out cortisol (the hormone that helps your body respond to stress or danger), boosts infection-fighting cells by up to 20 percent, and elevate pain thresholds (getting your body ready for childbirth) so things such as migraines decrease in intensity.

So you see, orgasms make you younger and healthier.

With all those wonderful health benefits—which are totally natural and free—you’d think happy couples would be having sex all the time, wouldn’t you? But anyone who has been in a long-term relationship knows that sustaining a robust sex life can be vexingly difficult. However, too many people accept that to be the case and simply give up on sex in exchange for a long-term partnership. And along with it, they give up all those wonderful health benefits I mentioned above.

Love Vs. Great Sex

What love needs to thrive is intimacy, absolute trust, safety, and certainty. This is what makes going through life with a supportive, long-term partner so great—you know they will be there for you.

However, great sex needs mystery, drama, thrill, surprise, suspense, the unknown, and even some risk. In fact, our bodies are known to become even more aroused—and our reproductive systems more fertile—when we have sex with someone new and unknown to us.

So the two seemingly cancel each other out, don’t they? If intimacy is the enemy of eroticism how are we supposed to sustain long-term relationships with good sex? The answer is simple: fantasy.

Fantasy: The Key To Your Perfect Romance?

People often blush when I say this, but I’ve seen so many couples reinvigorate their sex lives—and thus their entire relationships—by integrating fantasy in some way.

Indeed, even if you haven’t engaged in explicit fantasy, most couples admit that they often have better sex when they are in a hotel room or on holiday because the newness and novelty of the occasion makes them feel sexier. They have no chores, no kids, no place to be—and all of a sudden they feel like they want to have sex. Fantasy works in the same way, but you don’t have to spend money on going on holidays just to have sex!

Another reason people are sometimes resistant to fantasy is that they see it as akin to cheating—as though admitting that they may want to have sex with a fireman or a librarian is admitting that they want to have sex with someone who is not their partner. But it doesn’t have to be seen that way!

Fantasy is inherently exciting, and if you give each other permission to use your imagination and admit you have extramarital desires (everyone does), it can be a great way to sustain your sex life, together.

The fact of the matter is that people don’t often cheat because they are looking for a brand new person and life: men leaving their wives for a mistress is the exception, not the rule. They cheat because they are looking for a new experience. You can put that new experience into your relationship. If your partner’s fantasy is different than yours, you can make a pact to indulge each other’s desires and come from a place of respect, curiosity, acceptance, and exploration.

This is not about having a perfect body or looking amazing. In fact, the sexiest organ you have is your brain, and thankfully your brain cannot tell the difference between real and fantasy. If you can combine sexual novelty with your longtime partner, your relationship is much, much more likely to go the distance.

And once you love yourself unconditionally, and you love your partner, and you have a healthy and exciting sex life—then you will have achieved what so few people are able to. Your life will be all the richer for it.

Authored by Marisa Peer, the UK’s Number 1 Therapist, founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy, and author of the bestselling book, I Am Enough.

The post Fantasy: The Key To A Perfect Romance appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

Whilst helping people break through their problems, grow and self actualize, and live better, more fulfilled lives is a huge reason so many people choose a career as a hypnotherapist, money is also obviously a massive consideration for anyone when they’re choosing what they want to do with their lives.

After all, everyone needs to be comfortable, and you’re not going to be able to help anyone if you can’t afford to pay your bills, are you!

But don’t worry. As a profession, and approached correctly, hypnotherapy can be extremely lucrative, especially in ways that you might not have considered. Here’s why.

What does a hypnotherapist do?

First, it’s important to establish what a hypnotherapist does.

As a hypnotherapist, you’ll be inducing a hypnotic trance in your clients and helping them deal with the problems and issues they face. That list of problems is huge, and can cover things that might seem relatively mundane such as overcoming a fear of public speaking for an upcoming work even, all the way to crippling and destructive depression or addiction problems.

However, that’s just the physical, nuts and bolts aspect of the career.

What you actually do is let people overcome the barriers that hold them back from becoming the person they wish they can be.

That’s an incredibly valuable skill, and if you can actually help people, the amount of joy and freedom you’ll be bringing your clients is almost incalculable.

Ignoring that slightly hyperbolic statement, how much do hypnotherapists actually make? To answer this, we”ll be looking at the average wage in both the USA and the UK.

The national average wage for a hypnotherapist in the USA

According to the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists (AAPH,) the national average wage for hypnotherapy is $85 an hour, but this figure can fluctuate depending on where you are in the country, and how qualified you are. (1)

For example, on both coasts, in more urban states, you could be looking at hourly rates as high as $150, dropping to around $60 when you’re talking about more centralised states. This makes sense, especially considering the differing economies and costs of living each state can have.

The national average wage for a hypnotherapist in the UK

According to JobZoo, the wages of a hypnotherapist in the UK can vary wildly based on experience and length of practice, but vary between £50 and £300 per session. (2)

A newly registered hypnotherapist obviously earns more, and there are forms of treatment which pay much higher than others, but after a few years, apparent yearly salaries can excess £70,000.

How to earn more as a hypnotherapist

First things first, bear in mind that some forms of treatment are worth a whole lot more to you than others.

As an example, hypnotherapy sessions to stop clients smoking can be charged at double or more the usual rate. A lot of therapists actually base the costs of these types of sessions on how much money they’re going to save a client. And when you consider a smoking habit can cost someone thousands every single year for the rest of their lives…

Second, as with everything, what you can charge is based heavily on experience and qualifications.

The longer you’ve been working and the higher your experience level, the more you can comfortably charge because you’re going to be more comfortable in your role, confident of your skills and capable of dealing with any situation put in front of you.

When it comes to certifications, there are a few certification bodies to look out for. Generally, the National Council of Hypnotherapy (NCH) National Hypnotherapy Society or General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC) are what you should be looking for. These bodies are government certified so you know a teacher or training class certified by any of them is legitimate and effective.

What can a career in hypnotherapy lead to?

As hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy, it can be safely used alongside other forms of therapy to supplement and strengthen your practice. As you progress in your career, you might be inclined to certify in psychology or other forms of complementary therapy,

You should also consider other avenues of income. As examples, businesses will pay good money for anyone who can make their employees more effective, and hypnotherapy techniques for calmness and mindset can easily be adapted into a business setting. There’s also teaching to consider, as well as information products like books and video courses.

The most effective method to learn hypnotherapy

As we’ve discussed, when you’re looking for a hypnotherapy course, you should be looking for certain things. You’re probably perceptive enough that you’ve realised what most of these are, but here’s the list, condensed into a handy format:

• Accredited certification from a nationally recognised governing body like the NCH or GHSC. This is incredibly important as there’s no actual law against teaching uncertified hypnotherapy, so make sure that your teacher is legitimate before you begin.
• A syllabus that is wide reaching, but also goes deep into the mindset and effects of hypnosis. Hypnosis is a hugely influential subject that can be taken as far and as deep as you’d like to take it. After all, the more you understand the inner workings of the mind and why people act the way they do, as well as how our minds work and process problems, the better equipped you will be to help your clients with their lives and problems.
• If possible, your course should cover more than just hypnotherapy. As we’ve discussed, hypnotherapy is a fantastic tool, but it’s better when used alongside other complementary therapies.

In our opinion, there’s only one hypnotherapy teacher right now who offers all of this. That’s Marisa Peer.

Her revolutionary method of hypnotherapy, Rapid Transformational Therapy, is a full spectrum, wide reaching treatment practice created from all of the knowledge and experience of her 30 years of teaching and healing.

Fully certified, fully accredited and recognised by the highest teaching authorities, with support from Marisa herself, there is no single course out there that offers more or will turn you into a more effective hypnotist or therapist.

• http://aaph.org/industry/career_info/how-profitable-career-hypnotherapy
• http://www.jobzoo.co.uk/choosing_a_job/job_path/therapy/jobs/hypnotherapist/salary/

The post How Much Do Hypnotherapists Make? appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

“Being in love with yourself is a lifelong romance that never fades, tires or disappoints you.”

Marisa Peer, author

The paradox of relationships is this: If you date, marry, or live with someone who believes they are unloveable, it is very hard to have a healthy relationship or to love them back.

Bad relationships can take many, many forms but the people who stay in them tend to have something in common: They are afraid to end the relationship—no matter how bad it is—because they are terrified of not being loved outside of it.

It is such a tragedy to see someone wasting away in a bad relationship because they feel that no one else would love them if they leave. The truth is that a feeling of lovability cannot come from another person; it has to come from within. It is imperative to love yourself unconditionally.

If the idea of learning to love yourself unconditionally seems impossible to you, consider the fact that once upon a time, you already did love yourself unconditionally. When you were a baby, you clearly communicated your needs (by crying, mostly) and you happily accepted all the love and care that came your way because you instinctively knew you deserved it. You simply knew you were enough. It was only when you became older and learned otherwise that you started to tolerate being with someone that didn’t love you as you deserve to be loved.

Are We Really Unloveable?

So, how did this happen? How did we learn that we aren’t loveable? Usually, it comes from comparison, or as I like to call it—being loved with conditions. Our parents might have said to us: “Oh you’re so clever for getting those good grades, I love you for it” or, “I love you, you’re so handsome/pretty/helpful.” With these subtle statements, we learn that love is contingent on being clever, or funny, or attractive and so we stop believing that we can be loved just as we are.

Some of us had parents who threatened to withdraw love if we did not behave in a way that pleased them: “I won’t love you if you do that,” “You’re not loveable when you behave that way,” “I will leave if you misbehave.”

It’s important to remember that our survival as children is linked to our parents liking us, and if they appear not to we always believe it is our fault. Our young minds lack logic before the age of three and thus, we believe that if things are not happy at home, we are in the wrong and must change our own behaviour, rather than seeing the truth which is the parents are in the wrong and must change their behaviour. Small children must idealize adults because they innately know that their survival depends on adults caring for them. Thus, believing everything adults say, they then begin to adapt to try and please them.

When they hear these love-is-contingent kind of statements, they go from a state of “I am loveable,” to “Please love me”.

It’s a crucial, if subtle, shift. They then do whatever they can to ensure that their parents continue giving them the love they once effortlessly received. When it does not work they change their thinking to “You don’t love me and if you don’t love me no one else will”.

As clients unravel the long-held beliefs (untruths) that they were not loveable enough because their parents were always at work/because Dad left/Mum preferred the new husband/new baby, etc., they realise that they had added on another very unhelpful belief to the already damaging belief of being unloveable.

Another belief they added on was that “it will always be like this, it will be like this forever, for the rest of my life”. You see, the child can’t make it better and so they assume it must be their fault. Since they can’t fix it they will never be able to fix it and thus begins the damage that can last a lifetime, unless we find someone who can help us change this forever.

I think of my role as an RTT therapist as being like a detective and a dentist. The detective part gathers information, looks for clues, and works out what went wrong with my client and why. The dentist part extracts all the toxic beliefs and the poisonous old stuff (in the form of habits and behaviours) and leaves the client feeling happy, balanced, adjusted, and thriving with the knowledge that they are indeed loveable, they always have been and always will be. It’s a huge change and seeing the change in my clients gives me immense joy.

You Are Enough

As adults, a stunning number of people go searching for love and acceptance in a mindset of “Please love me,” instead of an unshakeable belief of “I’m loveable.” While a child might become a perfectionist or a class clown to ensure they stay “clever” or “funny” for their parents, as adults people tend to do whatever possible to get someone to love them—even if it’s self-destructive.

Maybe we become co-dependent, or we become a parent-like caretaker to our partner even though they’re an adult. Or perhaps we put our own careers and dreams on the back burner because our partner needs to feel more important and won’t help us raise children. These adaptations can take so many different forms, but the underlying theme is that we are not good enough to be loved on our own; we must earn it in some way. It also very often ends up with people being in unhappy relationships because they are living to please someone else rather than pleasing themselves.  

The number one way to take yourself from “Please love me,” back to “I’m loveable” and to love yourself unconditionally is to believe that you are enough.

If you are in a relationship right now that you’re struggling to make work, or you have been searching for love for ages and can’t seem to find the right person for you, it is very likely that your belief system around what you deserve could be the issue. Once you take the focus off your relationship with your other half and start to love yourself unconditionally you might just find that your relationships instantly improve. After all, the people in the happiest relationships are the people who are also happy on their own.

The Roles We Play

When we are dependent children we must belong. When we are not sure that we do belong, or that the people raising us love, value, and celebrate us just for being ourselves, we only have four ways we can behave in order to reassure ourselves that we matter and are indispensable. The four roles that we take on as children in order to convince ourselves that we are worthy of love and are significant are:

The Sick

This is so effective at gaining us attention, time, and nurturing that most people who take on this role never grow out of it and become life’s hypochondriacs. Always at the doctors or sharing their latest allergy or ailment and getting special treatment because of it. The child whose mother had to buy gluten-free foods or rub in eczema cream every night forms a belief: “I wasn’t sure you loved me but I can see I matter by the lengths you go to to keep me well.”

The Outstanding

The achiever meets their need to be indispensable by becoming outstanding at something. This can be academic or sports related. In tribes, the person who could spear an animal quicker or build a dwelling faster was always indispensable and that’s why children today act out these same needs. Unfortunately, the child that had to get straight-A grades to make a parent proud or win at everything just to get their attention grows into an adult who cannot give up this learnt behavior even though it causes them immense stress.

The Carer

This child learns to earn love, praise, and recognition by taking care of everyone’s needs above their own. They will look after their parents, look after other siblings, cook, clean, run errands, and do just about anything to make themselves indispensable to the group. As adults, they frequently become nurses, carers, and therapists. They have a belief that love must be earned, chased, and worked for and are often attracted to damaged, broken people who they work to repair only to find that person will leave them later.

The Rebel

The rebel is often the youngest child or a child of high achieving parents. Because the other three roles have usually been taken they take the only one left which is to be rebellious and difficult, in an effort to get noticed. If that doesn’t work they try to take the power away from authority figures and have the authority themselves. Long after they have left home the rebel still acts out a drive to be the centre of attention and their inability to move on from feeling unimportant in their childhood causes them tremendous stress and unhappiness.

When you understand the role you played or were assigned, you can free yourself from it, love yourself unconditionally, and take a different part as an adult in a happy, enriching relationship. My favourite expression, which I came to use after seeing this play out is this: “We play the only part we have ever known until that part becomes our own.”

My job is to show you a better, healthier part that you can play so that you can love yourself unconditionally and have your perfect relationship. You may have felt you had no choice but to play a certain role as a child, but as an adult you are free to give up that part and play the part of a loved and loveable adult.

Authored by Marisa Peer, the UK’s Number 1 Therapist, founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy, and author of the bestselling book, I Am Enough.

The post Love Yourself Unconditionally: The Key To A Perfect Romance appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

It’s a simple question: why does hypnosis work on some and not others?

There’s a small confession we need to make.

Even after several hundred years of study, and countless more years of practice, the truth is we still aren’t absolutely 100% certain how hypnosis actually works!

However, even though we don’t know exactly how hypnosis works, or why it affects some people more than others, as a scientifically quantifiable phenomenon, we know that it does exist, and because we know so much about it we can point precisely to what it does to people and understand it from there.

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is the word we use to describe a trancelike state of mind that people enter into, characterised by suggestibility, relaxed mind and body and heightened imagination and connection with the subconscious mind. (1)

Unlike other types of trance, someone undergoing hypnosis is awake and alert the entire time, and knows what’s going on around them. Hypnosis is sometimes described like a waking daydream, where you’re letting your mind wander, or be guided by another person, usually a counsellor. At the same time you examine the moving of your mind, see where it goes, how you think about certain things, with the ability to step in at any time.

In fact, there’s arguments that suggest that we enter into forms of hypnotic trance all the time. Milton Erickson, one of the most prominent hypnotists who ever lived, thought that, especially when we’re doing things that require sustained focus. If you’ve ever gone for a drive and arrived at your destination without really remembering the journey, you might have gone into a micro trance, and let your mind and body go through the motions.

How does hypnosis work as a therapy?

Hypnosis works by inducing a trance state in a person, which, as already discussed, leaves them relaxed and more freely able to examine their thoughts and habits from a place of calm, non-judgemental freedom.

As a therapy tool, this is invaluable. Especially when dredging up painful memories, it can be hard to stay objective or discuss things in a calm manner, especially if it’s something that causes a person considerable pain.

But the detached relaxation that comes with a hypnotic trance allows us to firstly look at how we feel almost from the outside, and second be guided to look at things in new ways that we otherwise might resist, if we weren’t so calm. 

Now that we understand what hypnosis is, let’s examine the aspects of a hypnotic trance, and how that affects us and those we hypnotise.

Suggestibility

Suggestibility as a trait means that when someone says something, you’re more likely to do it than you otherwise would be.

It’s this trait that makes stage hypnosis and all those TV shows so fun. The hypnotist takes his victim and suggests that, for example, they can’t see him. Then they act as if the hypnotist is completely invisible, to roars of laughter all round.

It’s this same trait that allows hypnosis to be used as such an effective and powerful tool for self change and growth.

A client who faces mental blocks in their day to day life, things they just can’t get past, like a crippling, paralysing fear of spiders, is far more likely to be able to deal with their phobia when in a hypnotic trance. Slowly, over time, they can use this trance state to become acclimated to their fears, working through the problem bit by bit until they’re free of what held them back!

Don’t worry though. Pretty much all existing research says that hypnotism doesn’t work on people who don’t want it to work, and can’t be used to make people do things they aren’t happy to do.

This is an important reason hypnotism might not work on your clients, but we’ll discuss that in more detail later in the article.

Relaxation and Lack of Inhibitions

Observing people in a hypnotic state, it’s obvious that they become far more relaxed than they otherwise would be.

Their body language changes completely, tension running from muscles, movements becoming slow and languid, breathing deep and relaxed.

The relaxation is also mental. A calm, almost serene mind state overtakes people who are hypnotised, almost like a day dream, like we mentioned before. Because of this, worries and concerns melt away, problems seem far smaller, and the day to day issues that we face just don’t seem as big.

This is excellent for your clients, because it means they might be able to face issues that are just too big otherwise, and relaxing is a huge part of inducing hypnosis. We’ll discuss a primary method, called progressive relaxation, later on.

Connection to The Subconscious

It’s common scientific knowledge that a lot of our thoughts go on without us being aware of them. That there’s a huge part of the brain that does its thing without our input, dictating how we live our lives without any conscious input from our rational minds.

So when we act, our subconscious is a huge part of that, bringing thoughts and memories to the fore. But because we’re busy living our lives, we don’t get the opportunity to sit back and think about how our minds work, and how our subconscious might be dictating the things that we do.

But when we go into a hypnotic trance, it calms our conscious mind, settles our thoughts, and allows us the freedom and space we need to assess our subconscious thoughts and our minds, examining thoughts as they arise and working out how and why we think the way we do.

Is Hypnosis Affected by Belief?

It is, and it isn’t. Whilst almost everyone can be hypnotised to some degree, and there are things that can affect your susceptibility to hypnosis, the science still isn’t 100% on what these things are or why they can have such a huge effect. (2)

What is clear is that someone believing they can be hypnotised certainly makes it easier to hypnotise them, and someone opposing the idea makes it more difficult.

It’s obvious, when you consider it. If you’re inducing a mindful trance into someone, and they’re actively resisting it by thinking ‘This isn’t going to work. Why isn’t it working…’ over and over again in their heads, they’re never going to be able to relax enough to let the trance take over.

This is a great thing to bear in mind when you’re discussing and preparing people for hypnosis.

It’s called pacing and leading. Ask them if they’re ready to be hypnotised, let them know that hypnosis has a good chance of working, and that they should approach it without judgement or thought, just to see what happens, and it has a much greater chance both of working and of being effective.

Can you hypnotise someone who doesn’t want to be?

Ignore anyone who ever says you can hypnotise people who don’t want to be hypnotised.

The answer is a clear and obvious; No.

Hypnotism only puts people into a light, waking trance. Whilst you might be more suggestible than at other times, it’s only that, suggestibility.

If I suggested you take a drink, you might do it, just because it might be a good idea. But suggesting you give me all your money is clearly not a good idea, and suggesting you do something stupid like drive off a cliff will never hold.

This is great knowledge, both for you and for anyone you might be treating. For you because now you know that you’re never going to inadvertently get your clients to do things that you don’t mean for them to do. For them because once they know this, they can relax and trust in you and your skills a whole lot more.

Why are some people more easily hypnotised than others?

Research in hypnosis has been going on for hundreds of years, but research from Stanford University might be able to finally identify how and why some people respond so much better to hypnosis than others. (3)

According to the research, there’s a link between hypnotic suggestibility and certain types of brain activity. Apparently you can predict whether someone is highly receptive to hypnosis, or might take a little more effort to relax into a trance, by how their brain looks under MRI scans.

But luckily for you and me, we don’t need to worry about this. All we need to know is that some people are just more receptive to hypnosis, so if a client takes a little longer than others to go into a trance, just relax with them, keep trying and perhaps try a different method.

Don’t fight resistance, use it

Resistance is energy. Fighting it gets you nowhere. Instead, you should use it. Instead of pushing against the resistance, push with it. (4)

An example of how this could work is a client thinking that hypnosis is silly. Saying it isn’t silly won’t get you very far. There’s already an idea entrenched in that persons head and arguing will only make it worse.

Instead, you go with it. Agree that it’s silly, but it’s worth a try, even if just for five minutes. Frame it as an experiment, or something that you’re doing for yourself, to see how they react.

You can always use resistance. Remember, it’s only resistance if you resist it. With nothing to push against, it’s just a thought, passing through their head.

Progressive relaxation

Progressive relaxation is a great technique for any client, not just those who might be struggling to fall into a hypnotic trance.

It takes a few minutes to go through, but it’s fun, and once done leads to massive relaxation, whether you end up hypnotised or not.

The method is simple. Slowly go through your body, tensing and then relaxing each part in turn.

A lot of the time, it’s suggested to start at the feet and work up, breathing slowly all the way. Either way, if you’ve got a few minutes one evening, it’s worth trying for yourself and see how it affects you.

Changing techniques

Remember what we said about resistance? How there can only be resistance if you push back against it?

Often, someone resisting hypnosis will still fall into a trance, if only you try a different angle of attack, so to speak.

There are so many different approaches, different methods of hypnotising someone, that getting fixated on one, determined that it must work, is only going to make things worse.

You’ll get frustrated, and picking up on that frustrated energy, the person you’re working with will be even less likely to fall into a trance.

That’s why we’d always recommend anyone thinking of training in hypnosis or hypnotherapy of any kind to make sure that they’re training in a method that gives them options.

In our opinion, the best training on the market right now is Rapid Transformational Therapy. Created by Marisa Peer, it combines everything she’s learned in her 30 years of transformative practice with current, up to date science and technology, so you’ll be getting the most effective toolbox for change imaginable.

If you’re interested, we’ve written more about it here. Just click the link to learn everything you need to know about the most powerful method of change available for people like you and me, right here and right now.

1. https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/hypnosis.htm
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotic_susceptibility
3. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20121005/Study-explains-why-some-people-are-easier-to-hypnotize-than-others.aspx
4. https://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/articles/uncommon-hypnosis/resistance-hypnosis.html

The post Why Does Hypnosis Work on Some and Not Others? appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

In this blog post, I will go through the importance of coffee in your daily routine. Trust me; you won’t feel guilty about drinking too much coffee after reading this!

Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages–right after water and tea.

Most people cannot function properly before they’ve had their first cup of coffee in the morning! We meet friends over coffee, have business meetings, and even go to a coffee shop on the first date.

Some people also like to work at a cafe while enjoying their favorite beverage!

Coffee is fantastic for your body and has many health benefits–it helps to increase your concentration, works as an antioxidant, has nootropic properties, etc. The benefits are endless!

But, only when it’s of high quality.

Drinking Coffee Has More Health Benefits Than You Might Think…

In this section of the blog post, I want to go through some of the health benefits of coffee that you might not know about.

Let’s get started.

It’s a Good Source of Antioxidants

Did you know that coffee has higher antioxidant activity than cocoa or tea?

Coffee doesn’t get its due recognition when it comes to antioxidants. In fact, scientists were able to find more than 1,000 antioxidants in coffee beans! It gets even better when more antioxidants develop when the coffee beans are roasted.

It Can Help You Have an Awesome Workout Session

If you like working out and living a healthy lifestyle, coffee is amazing for you!

Caffeine is one ingredient that most pre-workout formulas contain—along with loads of sugar which isn’t good for your health. Coffee can help you boost your performance at the gym or in the field while pumping your body with antioxidants.

A recent study has confirmed that as much as 500 mg of caffeine per se—which equals to about five cups of coffee, doesn’t dehydrate you.

So, drink up!

Coffee Boosts Your Cognitive Performance

If you go to school or work for long hours, coffee is something that you might need to survive!

One hundred milligrams of caffeine, or one cup of coffee, is more than enough to give your short-term memory a boost. In addition to that, coffee also helps keep you protected against cognitive decline.

In fact, in a Finnish study, researchers found that having three to five cups of coffee a day decreases your risk of developing Alzheimer’s and dementia later in life by 65%!

Coffee Helps You Live Longer

What if I told you that a cup of coffee could help you live longer?

In a study conducted by Veronica W. Setiawan published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that people who drink as little as one cup of coffee a day have a 12% lower risk of death from stroke, heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, diabetes, and kidney disease.

For people who like to have three cups of coffee a day, the risk was 18% lower!

Isn’t that amazing?

This would come as a surprise to people who think that coffee is bad for their health and are trying to cut back on their consumption.

Drinking coffee has often been associated with stunt growth, heartburn, stomach ulcers, heart disease, etc.

But, what most people fail to take into account is the fact that all the harmful side effects that they associate with coffee, in general, are side effects of drinking low-quality coffee.

Are You Drinking Low-Quality Coffee?

Do you get jitters after having some coffee?

Does coffee give you an upset stomach?

Do you experience headaches, brain fog, and energy crashes after drinking coffee?

If your answer to any of the questions was ‘yes’ then, I’m afraid, that you’ve been drinking some low-quality, chemical-laden coffee.

More than half of the adults in the United States drink coffee daily.

So, there is a lot of demand for coffee in the market. It is a product that sells like hotcakes!

Coffee manufacturers take advantage of this demand and bring out products doused with chemicals, made of substandard beans on the shelves.

Low-Quality Coffee Is Laden With Chemicals and Pesticides

If you’re consuming something that’s coated with chemicals and pesticides, you probably will develop serious diseases and conditions in time.

Most coffee companies on the market purchase their beans from places that have low environmental regulations so that they can make maximum profit.

The Coffee Might Be Mouldy

Coffee beans undergo a long journey before they make it to your cup. During storage and transportation, most coffee beans develop mold, thanks to the sub-optimal harvesting and transportation of the berry.

The Coffee is Often Charred

You might think that coffee companies throw away the moldy beans.

Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Instead, they char the coffee so that you can’t taste the chemicals or mold! The burnt taste of coffee that you’re probably used to by now is a sign of there being carcinogens in it!

The Coffee Has Lost Most of Its Nutrients By The Time It Reaches Your Cup

It only takes two weeks for the process of oxidation to begin. The oxygen in the air starts to react with the oils and other solubles in the coffee while sitting on the shelves of your local grocery store.

Since a pack of coffee stays on the shelves for an average of four months, by the time the bag of coffee reaches your pantry, most of its tastes and nutrients have been destroyed!

Organic Coffee Is Good for You!

I’ve gone into detail about the benefits of organic coffee in an earlier article. You can read it here.

Organic coffee isn’t sprayed with carcinogenic pesticides and chemicals. This means that the health benefits of drinking coffee are amplified when you choose organic coffee over the conventional one.

But, not all organic coffees on the market are the same.

Most organic coffee brands mass-produce their beans. This means that not only do the coffee beans don’t get the nutrients they need from the soil; they might also be defective and of low-quality beans.

In addition to that, most coffee beans also show signs of insect damage!

In Conclusion: The Importance of Coffee in Your Daily Routine

A cup of coffee a day keeps a lot of health problems at bay.

Coffee has a bad name in the health industry, thanks to all the low-quality coffee available on the market.

However, coffee has some serious health benefits for your body, so we can’t stress the importance of coffee in your daily routine enough! By just drinking one cup of coffee a day, you reduce your chances of getting life-threatening diseases and even increase your mortality!

But, keep in mind, to enjoy all of the benefits of coffee, you must get high-quality coffee such as Kion coffee, which is organic, contains double the antioxidants than your regular coffee, and is completely free of mold and mycotoxin.

Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments.

The post The Importance of Coffee in Your Daily Routine appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.

There are a wide variety of leaky gut supplements and foods that may help alleviate the symptoms. But first, let’s take a look at how leaky gut syndrome begins.

The main function of the digestive system is to break down food and absorb it into the body. In turn, you can use these foods and nutrients for energy and other processes throughout the body.

Normally this whole digestive process goes fairly smoothly. But in some cases, certain substances like medication or alcohol, or specific food types cause leakage. Essentially, this disrupts the normal functioning of your gut lining. It means toxins, bacteria, and other substances can easily enter the bloodstream of the body.

This is often referred to as a leaky gut. And when these substances enter the bloodstream, they can lead to widespread inflammation, fatigue, bloating, joint pain, and other adverse health reactions.

How Does Leaky Gut Syndrome Start?

What exactly causes leaky gut syndrome is a bit of a mystery. Although, researchers and doctors tend to agree that it most commonly arises from an autoimmune condition, such as celiac disease or type 1 diabetes. It’s thought that the intestinal lining becomes damaged causing increased permeability of the intestinal wall. Consequently, an array of substances pass through it, creating even more issues.

Experts also believe it may occur from chronic stress, smoking, a high alcohol consumption, processed foods, and other chemicals that throw the body into an imbalanced or stressed state. Inflammation is usually a critical marker in leaky gut syndrome, and anything that causes inflammation throughout the body has the potential to impact the gut as well.

So, how can you fix your leaky gut problem? Leaky gut supplements and foods may promote a healthier gut, reducing your leaky gut issues and symptoms.

Food & Supplements for a Healthier Gut

What should you eat? Are there specific leaky gut supplements you should try? While what works for one person may not work for the next, there are a variety of foods and supplements you can consume to try to relieve your leaky gut. Let’s dive in!

1. Probiotics

Eat your probiotics has been said enough times but… we’ll say it again. Eat your probiotics! Probiotics are frequently found in yogurts and kombucha. Yet, probiotics also can be found in supplement form.

The theory goes that probiotics help maintain gut bacteria. In other words, they help promote a healthy gut by balancing the good and bad bacteria that aid in digestion. Through this, they help regulate your digestion and reduce gas, bloating, and other digestive problems.

2. Glutamine

Glutamine is an essential amino acid. However, it also works to repair the intestinal wall and lining. So, you probably know where we’re going with this. By repairing the intestinal wall and lining, glutamine may help solve your leaky gut issues. And it may even help regain regular glutamine levels since stress actually depletes this amino acid in the body. Out of all the leaky gut supplements, this one is kind of a win-win. Try it out! See if it works for you.

3. Bone Broth

This is an easy one to start including in your diet. Need a base for your soup? Use bone broth! You can also choose to make your own as opposed to buying it. But the choice is entirely up to you.

Bone broth includes certain compounds that promote gut healing and reduce inflammation. It’s also rich in an abundant of other nutrients, so why not give it a try?

4. Enzyme Supplements

Yes, you can buy leaky gut supplements that contain enzymes. You can purchase these at your local pharmacy. Digestive enzymes, like protease, lactase, amylase, and lipase, help breakdown the food you eat. In turn, they help reduce inflammation in your gut. Try taking these supplements alongside either lunch or dinner. They may help!

5. Colostrum Supplements

If you’re a mom, you’ll know all about colostrum. Colostrum is essentially the first form of milk produced by the breasts. It provides essential nutrients to newborns. And research is starting to support colostrum in supplement form. But don’t worry – the kind of colostrum in supplements is derived from cows.

And colostrum supplements have an array of benefits. They reduce inflammation, support a healthy gut, improve your immune function, and contribute to strong bones, muscles, and other tissue. Basically, on top of healing your leaky gut problems, you also get benefits that optimize your health. Who wouldn’t want that?

If you’re unsure what kind of colostrum supplements you should try, go for colostrum powder supplement.

6. Licorice Root

Licorice root in supplement form may help maintain and support the intestinal lining. If nothing else is working, it’s worth a shot. But there are some precautions around taking this supplement in large quantities. It may cause high blood pressure or edema when taking in too high amounts.

7. Collagen Powder

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It’s found in almost every tissue. And like other leaky gut supplements, it can definitely help improve your gut health. It aids in the production of juices in the digestive tract that contributes to proper digestion. It also may help repair a damaged intestinal lining.

Are You Ready to Heal Your Leaky Gut Problems for Good?

Gut issues aren’t fun. If you’re experiencing a leaky gut, you may further choose to try our Leaky Gut Protocol. It’s a free course for anyone who wants to heal their gut problems. You may also choose to consume the above leaky gut supplements and food choices. Find your balance, and finally restore and heal your gut. It’s entirely worth it.

The post Leaky Gut Supplements to Heal Yourself Fast appeared first on The Renegade Pharmacist.