Happy Memorial Day: Interesting Facts and Life Changing Health Tips
4 Health tips and 4 interesting facts about Memorial Day. You're going to want to know these.
Today is Memorial Day and I want to say Thank You to all the brave men and women who sacrificed and gave their lives for our freedom. You will always be in our hearts and we are forever grateful.
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Now, let’s get to it.
4 Life Changing Health Tips
Just 1-2 alcoholic drinks can shut down fat burning for 12-36 hours. And anyone who drinks is most likely having more than one. So when you come to the gym, if you had one or more drinks the day before, you're not burning fat AND most likely not building muscle either. This is because alcohol disrupts muscle protein synthesis, impairs hydration (muscle is 75% water), and prevents absorption of essential nutrients. It dehydrates you, stunts muscle growth and repair and malnourishes you. Alcohol can be a major reason for plateauing, stagnation or even regression in your physical (and mental) health, strength and fitness goals.
Sunlight acts as a myostatin inhibitor. Myostatin is a protein that’s actually a negative regulator, meaning it prevents muscle growth and development. When you block myostatin you increase and accelerate muscle growth. The blocking of myostatin also prevents fat gain by allowing even excess calories to be used for muscle growth instead of being stored as body fat. It’s a miracle and it comes from the sun. Vitamin D is actually a pro-hormone (hormone precursor) and the vitamin D you generate from sunlight is far superior that what you can get from even a high quality vitamin D supplement. So try to make sure most of your vitamin D comes from natural sunlight without wearing sunscreen for at least 20-30 minutes per day. Preferably from morning, afternoon and evening sunlight to get the full spectrum of sunlight and to help set your circadian rhythm (sleep-wake cycle), sleep deeply and allow you to truly repair and regenerate during sleep. Sunlight and vitamin D is also crucial for bone health, skin health (collagen production and anti-bacterial), mental health and immunity.
In regards to the sunlight benefit, I do want to emphasize the avoidance of seed oils. How is this related? Seed oils in your bloodstream actually prevent you from getting the full benefit of sunlight and is one major reason we sunburn. It takes about 4-6 months to get a good amount of seed oils out of your system. I would recommend 80% to complete and absolute avoidance. 80% translates into avoiding them 6 out of 7 days a week. It can take up to two years to completely clear them from your system. until the 4-6 month mark of 80% to near complete avoidance, the 20-30 minute exposure rule without sunscreen is a good general rule to adhere to. Seed oils are prevalent in the vast majority of processed foods, fast food and almost all restaurants use them (start cooking and making meals at home and don’t purchase ingredients that contain seed oils when you do cook at home). Seed oils not only make you more susceptible to sunburn and prevent you from getting the full benefit of sunlight, but are also linked to obesity, diabetes, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. It’s the seed oils reacting to the sunlight that are actually the culprit for photoaging, sunburn and increased skin cancer risk. It’s not the sun itself.
“Dietary seed oils compromise safe sun exposure — One of the most overlooked risks of UV exposure is its interaction with linoleic acid (LA), the primary polyunsaturated fat (PUF) found in seed oils and processed foods. When UV radiation interacts with LA in the skin, it triggers inflammatory responses and DNA damage, increasing the risk of photoaging and skin cancer.”
“Limiting sun exposure is necessary if vegetable oils are still in your diet — People who consume high amounts of vegetable oils should be cautious with sun exposure, as their skin is more prone to oxidative stress and inflammation. A safer approach is to limit direct sun exposure to early morning or late afternoon until seed oils are eliminated from the diet for at least four to six months.”
“Full clearance of stored seed oils takes approximately two years — While the six- month mark allows for safer peak-hour sun exposure, complete clearance of oxidized seed oils from tissue takes closer to two years. Until then, cautious sun exposure remains important.”
-Dr. Joseph Mercola
Start limiting or eliminating your consumption now to set yourself up for health and success for years to come and reduce your risk of the aforementioned diseases. You will also be able to experience what natural sunlight can actually do for you when you can take advantage of more than just 20-30 minutes of natural God given sunlight daily. Start by avoiding the “hateful eight”. To make life easier, you can stick to just four oils for everything. Coconut oil, avocado oil and ghee for cooking, and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for pouring raw onto foods and salads. For cooking there’s a few more options such as grass-fed butter, macadamia oil and beef tallow. You can explore those if you want, but again, you can’t go wrong with the main four. Three for cooking and using raw and one (olive oil) for just using raw. There’s debate over whether olive oil is good for cooking or not. Make your life simple and avoid the debate. Just use it raw and use the other options for cooking and you’ll never have to worry about it.
Use the Yuka app. You’ll thank me (or hate me) later. I recommend to select foods with a 75 rating or higher. This takes the guesswork out of what's healthful and what's not if you're not familiar with or unsure of any ingredients on the label. Also, good general rules to go by is to shop the perimeter of the store and avoid what you don't recognize or can’t pronounce. Most of your whole food and produce is on the perimeter while most of your processed food is located in the aisles. Also, avoid any food that has an ingredient on the label that are artificial colors (e.g. red 40, blue 1, yellow 5) or already know to be harmful. Save your money and your health and only support companies that have your health and well-being in mind.
4 Interesting Memorial Day Facts
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and began to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. On May 30, 1868, people decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags. Even before that, another tradition began in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1866. Women decorating the graves of Confederate soldiers noticed neglected Union graves nearby. Moved by compassion, they placed flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, setting a precedent for honoring all fallen soldiers, regardless of their allegiance.
One surprising origin is a major celebration organized by formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865. After the Civil War, Black residents exhumed and properly buried over 250 Union soldiers who had been hastily buried by Confederates. They then held a massive ceremony with a crowd of 10,000 people, including singing, military marches, and a parade—making it one of the earliest and most significant Memorial Day observances.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Waterloo, New York, as the "birthplace" of Memorial Day, though around 25 towns, mainly in the South, also claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Memorial Day’s origins are debated, with at least 25 towns—mostly in the South—claiming to be the birthplace of this holiday. While Waterloo, New York, was officially declared the birthplace by Congress in 1966, many other communities, including Macon and Columbus, Georgia, and Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, have strong claims based on early local observances. This tangled history reflects the widespread and grassroots nature of the holiday’s beginnings.
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act signed on June 28, 1968 but not going into effect until January 1, 1971 moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May. This act actually moved several federal holidays to Mondays, not just Memorial Day. It moved Washington's Birthday (Presidents’ Day), Labor Day, and Columbus Day all to Mondays. This change aimed to create more three-day weekends for federal employees and to help with efficiency of government operations.