Our Top Three Formulas to Kick off the New Year!
Jhoane Robinson, Herbalist, Co-Founder Cedar Bear Naturales
Ring in the New Year with herbal formulas to uplift your mind, cleanse your body, and reset your metabolism. Prepare for a bright year ahead by nourishing yourself deeply from within. The start of a new year is an excellent time to take stock of habits and behavior patterns that no longer serve you. It is a time of renewal, when you may feel an opening to explore new habits and cultivate a healthier lifestyle.
To that end, we have put together a trio of formulas to support such changes. These formulas are strong enough to affect noticeable shifts but gentle enough to nurture and support the body for a smooth transition to better health.
The trio I chose, Energy and Stamina, Intestinal Cleanse, Slimmer Woman (or Slim Now) will all work together to improve your health for a wonderful year to come. I’ll dive into the formulas at the end of the blog, after a brief discussion on winter blues: what they are and how to shake ‘em!
The Solstice in December marked the shortest day, yet it is a long haul from now until the Summer Solstice and abundant light in June. This means we have many short, low light days ahead of us through the winter. For some, this can mean the blues move in. Gloomy, sad feelings and low energy.
Why Does the Sun Affect Our Mood?
While there is still much to be learned regarding the correlation of light to mood, there are a couple working theories that have been well studied.
One is sunlight’s effect on serotonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that positively regulates mood, promoting feelings of calm and happiness. Sunlight encourages production of serotonin in the body. When there are normal levels of serotonin in the body, mental health is generally more stable. Serotonin converts to melatonin, also a neurotransmitter, as the day turns to night. Melatonin promotes restful sleep. Restful sleep is also a major factor in promoting mental health.
During prolonged periods of low light, as we experience in the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere, serotonin levels can drop, melatonin can get out of whack, causing some to experience those nasty winter blues.
Serotonin and melatonin are both hormones that work within the body’s endocrine system. Another factor, or hormone, involved is vitamin D. Exposure to sunlight helps convert vitamin D to a usable form in the body and can also support mood regulation. It is not uncommon for vitamin D levels to drop during the winter, further affecting the endocrine system.
Another theory is that there is a photoreceptor in our eyes that contains a light sensitive protein called melanopsin. Until this discovery, it was believed that there were only two types of cells, rods and cones, that react to light hitting the retina. This third photoreceptor can facilitate light to reach mood-regulating areas of the brain, positively affecting mood and mental health.
HEALTH TIP: Support serotonin production during the darkest days by including these foods in your regular dietary rotation: eggs, salmon, cheese, pineapple, tofu, nuts and seeds, and turkey.
WELLNESS TIP: Take advantage of the light when it’s out. Take a midday walk, even if it is cloudy you will glean some of the sun’s serotonin and vitamin D boosting benefits.
What Else Can We Do to Support Our Mental Health During the Darkest Season?
On these short, cold days of winter it is easy to want to climb under the covers and eat all the comfort foods for the duration. It can become a cyclical pattern if we are not mindful of our own mental health needs.
There is a gut/brain connection, most recently referred to as the gut-brain-microbiota axis, that ultimately affects mood in the brain related to the health of the gut. It can also work the opposite way, in which feelings affect the gut, where feeling anxious may result in a stomachache for example.
WELLNESS TIP: Daily exercise releases endorphins, neurotransmitters that can enhance mood, and may help break up the low energy, gloomy winter doldrums. Just 20 minutes of low impact exercise per day can do wonders.
So, how do we support our gut health to support our mental health?
The great news here is that because the brain and the gut are intrinsically connected, supporting both at the same time is fairly straightforward. If you have excess weight to shed, it may very well disappear as a side effect of this process, too! A win-win-win!
Support mood through cleansing the gut, bringing beneficial bacteria back into balance and supporting the endocrine system.
HEALTH TIP: Promote beneficial bacteria in the gut by adding fermented foods to your daily routine, just a small serving goes a long way towards your health. Plain yogurt, raw sauerkraut, kim chi, and a variety of probiotic drinks such as kombucha are all good choices.
In addition, micronutrients like those found in Cedar Bear’s top 3 formulas for the new year can assist by nourishing, cleansing, and restoring health.
Remember, depending on your own personal needs, you may find working with a practitioner is helpful, and it is imperative to talk with your general health practitioner before attempting any sort of cleanse.
Cedar Bear’s Top 3 Formulas to Kick off the New Year!
Lift Your Spirits and Energy Levels with Cedar Bear’s Energy and Stamina!
Energy & Stamina supports stamina, endurance and energy for people who lead hard working, active lives who wish to keep themselves both more balanced and energized. Energy & Stamina helps strengthen and improve immune function and rejuvenate exhausted body systems with antioxidant, health balancing, and tissue supporting herbs.
These herbs work together to help reduce fatigue, slow the aging process, and improve mental function as they help build your endurance, energy and stamina. Energy & Stamina supports your endocrine system along with all other systems of your body so you have more get-up-and-go to get-up-and-go with!
Get Cleansing with Cedar Bear’s Intestinal Cleanse!
Many health issues such as lack of energy and fatigue, blue moods, difficulty with concentration, digestive distress, sleep difficulty, nervousness, restlessness, skin itchiness, sugar craving, food sensitivities, unexplained weight changes, and teeth grinding may be related to things we may have picked up somewhere, somehow.
Intestinal Cleanse has herbs that have been used for centuries to create an inhospitable environment for unwelcome intruders and can also help keep them from “setting up shop” in the first place.
Intestinal Cleanse can be used periodically as a protective measure. It has a gentle stimulating action that positively shifts the environment of the digestive system in such a way that allows
beneficial flora to flourish. For best results, take for 2-3 weeks at a time, take a 1 week break, then use again for 2 weeks.
Release the Holiday Excess with Cedar Bear’s Slimmer Woman or Slim Now!
Slimmer Woman is a true dietary supplement that, especially when it is used during a weight loss program, supports your metabolism and digestion, and helps moderate your appetite and reduce snack cravings. The herbs in Slimmer Woman all work together to help support healthy blood sugar balance and fluid dynamics and help flush your system and build healthy gut flora in your digestive system.
Being a very strong antioxidant formula and packed with herb-based nutrients, Slimmer Woman helps protect and build your energy levels and your overall health and well-being. It also helps soothe stress and calms your digestion and your nerves.
Slim Now! is a true dietary supplement that helps moderate appetite and reduce snack cravings. The herbs in Slim Now! all work together to help support healthy blood sugar balance and fluid dynamics and help flush your system and build healthy gut flora in your digestive system.
To support your body’s natural processes and work towards achieving your health and fitness goals more effectively, make sure your weight loss efforts include health supporting Slimmer Woman or Slim Now by Cedar Bear®!
NOTE: Our Women’s line is our newest, and much anticipated addition to our family of formulas. Slimmer Woman will be available for purchase at the end of this month!
ABOUT CEDAR BEAR’S 100% ALCOHOL-FREE TINCTRACTS®
Cedar Bear® has been a trusted herbal supplement manufacturer and seller for over three decades! Founded by L. Carl Robinson, MH (AHG) Formulary Clinical Herbalist & Jhoane Robinson, Herbalist and Writer, our focus has always been on supporting men and women’s health, kid’s health, and pet’s health through the most natural liquid herbal products made with the highest possible standards.
More than a TINCture, (no alcohol ever used) and much more than an exTRACT, and working better than either, Carl coined his revolutionary process the TincTract® process. From there, he began applying his training in phytopharmacology and biochemistry to formulate amazingly effective herbal remedies.
Cedar Bear’s TincTract® process makes herbs both bio-available and bio-utilizable, so every drop goes right to work supporting your health and well-being.
Even before FDA and cGMP standards were put in place, we were the first herbal supplement company to become Kosher Certified. We did so because of the high cleanliness standards Kosher Certification requires. We recently became Halal certified, the first in our industry for liquid herbal supplements!
At Cedar Bear®, all of our formulas are 100% alcohol free from field to bottle!
We source the highest quality raw herbs, purified water, and the highest grade of glycerin (Kosher and Halal certified, and GMO-Free) to formulate our concentrated, great tasting remedies. Nothing else!
As a small business with big capabilities, we’ve worked hard to always be true to our core values of Innovation, Integrity, being Inclusive and Impassioned in everything we do. In line with these core values, we keep the original small batch quality and effectiveness of our products as our company continues to grow.
Start the New Year off right, with Cedar Bear!
Contributing Author: Aubrey Loretta Connelly, MH, NC
(These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.)
