Your New Mindset for the New Year and New Decade

January 03 2020, by Catharine Arnston, 14 min reading time

The ball has dropped, and we’ve officially entered into a different decade! Have you set your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do yours have a tendency to be forgotten as soon as they're made? Don't feel bad-ours do too. You might start out with the very best of intentions but change is hard and if you don’t see immediate results you might give up completely. If that sounds all too familiar, continue reading because you’ve come to the right place to fix this!

What You’ll Learn

Algae can help you achieve a calmer, healthier mindset so you can embrace the new year!
Taking chlorella algae at bedtime can significantly improve the quality of your sleep- it has the highest concentration of tryptophan in any food.
Spirulina contains DHA, a fatty acid that is important for proper brain function and is responsible for sustained attention, planning, and problem-solving.

New Year + New Decade = New You!

The ball has dropped, and we’ve officially entered into a different decade! Have you set your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do yours have a tendency to be forgotten as soon as they’re made? Don’t feel bad-ours do too. You might start out with the very best of intentions but change is hard and if you don’t see immediate results you might give up completely. If that sounds all too familiar, continue reading because you’ve come to the right place to fix this!

Instead of thinking in terms of resolutions this year, think about the small steps you can take to improve the mind, body, and soul. The best way to set yourself up for success is to ensure your mind is in the right place and your body is functioning optimally. We are here to share with you some actionable tips that will help you start fresh, improve your mood and energy, and help you feel great moving into the new year!

Mental Reset

Let’s think about it for a minute… your brain is always “on.” It takes care of your breathing and your heartbeat, your senses, your emotions, your movements- it works hard around the clock, even while you’re sleeping. This means your brain requires a continuous supply of fuel. That “fuel” comes from the foods you eat and what’s in that fuel makes ALL the difference. Put simply, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain, your mood and ultimately your entire life <1>. High-quality nutrition (like our algae) is essential for feeding your brain and when your brain is healthy, it performs better, your anxiety is lower and everything functions better <1>. Today we will be talking all about brain health and how it’s the center of our wellbeing and will help center you and your mind for a new year reset.

woman meditating in city — Reset This Year With a New Mindset

Your Brain

Just like your gastrointestinal tract has a protective barrier, your brain has its own casing that protects it from toxins that might circulate in your body and bloodstream- it’s called the blood-brain barrier (BBB) <2>. In order for your brain to be protected, the first step is to make sure your BBB is strong and healthy. This protection is absolutely critical for optimal brain function and mental health <2>. This brain barrier acts as a gatekeeper and filter, allowing beneficial nutrients to cross over into your brain, and keeping unwanted molecules out <3>. But just like you can get a leaky gut, you can also get a leaky brain <4>.

Your brain needs things like glucose, amino acids, fat-soluble nutrients, and ketones to function properly, and all these essential nutrients get to your brain through semi-permeable blood vessels <5>. But when the blood-brain barrier is punctured, ruptured, or disrupted it can no longer protect the brain against things like heavy metals, toxins, molds, fungi, and chemicals produced by our toxic world and they wreak havoc on our brain <6>. Often, toxins still manage to get through, like acetaldehyde from alcohol (good thing we have chlorella algae to help with that)! Research has linked a compromised BBB with “brain fog” or cognitive dysfunction, chronic fatigue (all too familiar being post-holiday season), anxiety/depression, neurodegenerative diseases (dementia, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s), and other neurological conditions <6>. The good news is that if your blood-brain barrier has broken down, it can also be fixed! Here are some ways to protect and improve your brain function:

Feeding your Brain

Get Adequate Nutrients: Your blood-brain barrier requires specific nutrients to keep it functioning properly such as omega 3-fatty acids, b vitamins, magnesium, and vitamin k2 just to name a few <7>. But getting all these essential vitamins and minerals from your diet alone has become almost impossible since our soils are nutrient deprived and so is our food. That’s why algae tablets are the perfect solution. Algae is the most nutrient-dense food in the world, it includes all the nutrients that support brain health, it requires no cooking and travels easily! With over forty vitamins and minerals, algae is what we refer to as “efficient nutrition” <8>.

Get More Vitamin K2: You may not be very familiar with Vitamin K2 (and no it’s not the same as Vitamin K) and virtually everyone in the Western World is deficient in it. And when you don’t have enough Vitamin K2, your body stores calcium in soft tissue like your brain (and blood vessels). The calcium hardens which disrupts your brain (and body). You may be familiar with arteriosclerosis which is the hardening of your arteries and partly caused by excess calcium buildup. This calcium also interferes with brain function <9>. Vitamin K2 to the rescue <10>. Vitamin K2is moves calcium out of places where it shouldn’t be like your brain, blood vessels, organs and skin and into bones and teeth where it should be <11>. Recent research has even confirmed that Alzheimer’s may be partly due to calcifications in the brain <11>. But the problem is that there are only two foods in North America that contain natural Vitamin K2- grass-fed animal protein or algae! And while you can now purchase Vitamin K2 supplements, they contain a K2 that is different from the type of K2 that you get from food. Because here’s the tricky part- the only type of Vitamin K2 that your brain can absorb is called Vitamin K2 (MK-4) and this ONLY comes from food, not supplements. If you are vegan, keto or can’t buy grass-fed animal protein you may think you are out of luck. Not so! The good news is that chlorella algae contains the type of Vitamin K2 that your brain can absorb (MK-4). A daily serving of RECOVERYbits chlorella algae not only meets your daily requirement for Vitamin K2, but it is also the form that can be absorbed by both your brain and body. Even better, it is keto, vegan, pure, safe, toxin-free and contains all the other nutrients your brain needs. Help protect your brain from Alzheimer’s with the right form of Vitamin K2 <12>.

Eat More Plant-Based Protein: You may already know that protein optimizes brain function and maintains healthy brain regulation <13>. But did you know that with the right sources of protein, you can increase healing, combat illness, improve mental clarity, fight fatigue, boost memory, reduce inflammation and more<13>? When you nourish your brain with complete proteins like those found in algae, you feel your best. Did you know that spirulina algae has the highest concentration of protein in the world (3x the amount of steak) and all the protein is already in amino acid form so you absorb it instantly. Talk about brain food!

Consume Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that your body cannot produce itself, so need to get them from your diet <14> The brain contains more than 100 billion cells and omega-3 fatty acids are the building blocks of these cells <14>. These essential fatty acids are absolutely necessary for the normal functioning of your brain and nervous system. Additionally, omega-3s in your cell membranes aid neurotransmitter receptors which are brain chemicals that communicate information in your brain <15> and throughout your body <14>. Spirulina algae like ENERGYbits is a great source of essential fatty acids and unlike fish oil, there is no chance of oxidation that could cause more harm than good.

Get More Quality Sleep: Getting adequate sleep (7-8 hours a night) has one of the greatest influences on brain health. If you get less-than-adequate sleep, you are at risk for impairing your BBB function <16>. Melatonin helps you sleep, and tryptophan is the precursor to melatonin. You may have heard that the tryptophan in turkey is often what causes people to feel sleepy after a big Holiday Dinner. But did you know that algae has the highest concentration of tryptophan in the world <17>? Chlorella algae like RECOVERYbits even has five times more tryptophan than turkey! That’s one of the many reasons we recommend taking RECOVERYbits before heading to bed! Tryptophan helps normalize serotonin and other neurotransmitters and has even been found to reverse many symptoms of aging, including irritability, mood disorders, poor sleep, anxiety, and stress <18>. So let’s all get more zzzzz’s with chlorella algae!

Don’t forget about B Vitamins: The B vitamins support healthy brain chemistry and neurological activities <19>. Here’s a quick summary of how a few of them help your brain: Thiamine (B1) is required to produce neurotransmitters <19>; Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is necessary for the conversion of the amino acid tryptophan into serotonin – a neurotransmitter important for mood and sleep <19>; Vitamin B3 (niacin) is helpful for the synthesis of tryptophan and is important for memory and learning <19>; chronic deficiency of Niacin (B3) can lead to neurological disorders like dementia and disorientation <20>. But don’t worry about keeping all these B vitamins straight because our spirulina algae tablets ENERGYbits/BEAUTYbits are fully loaded with all the B vitamins you need to feed. So let them do the thinking and let them work for you!

Achieve a Calmer, Healthier Brain With Algae

Consume more Antioxidants: Systemic inflammation can damage the BBB. Recent research has found that inflammation can lead to a compromised blood-brain barrier, leading to serious health problems such as Alzheimer’s and other neurogenerative disorders <21> Along with avoiding inflammatory foods, adding antioxidant-rich foods to your diet can help reduce inflammation <22>. Some of the best antioxidant-rich foods are plant-based foods such as blueberries, dark leafy greens and yep, you guessed it- algae!

Reduce Radiation & Toxicity: Technology is a fundamental part of our lives (you wouldn’t be reading this without it), but unfortunately it also produces EMF pollution, which can be harmful to the blood-brain barrier <23> Let’s face it, we live in a toxic world, with pollutants all around us, even in our food. One of the ways you can protect and cleanse your body and brain is by introducing more chlorophyll-rich foods into your diet like leafy green vegetables. But if you truly want to increase your chlorophyll, chlorella algae is your answer. Chlorella algae has the highest concentration of chlorophyll in the world <24>. Even better, chlorella algae also has the unique ability to chelate (remove) metals of any kind including mercury and lead. Chlorella algae has even been used at disaster areas like Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Hiroshima to remove radiation and by biological dentists to remove mercury from amalgams so rest assured it can help you remove your toxins too, whatever their source <25>.

Boron: You probably don’t know much about boron but it is a mineral that has been proven to aid in overall cognitive performance <26> and sadly is one of the first minerals to be pulled out by glyphosate (which replaces it with damaging aluminum). But we have good news… boron is found in our spirulina algae so you can easily reboot your brain boron! Some of the research about boron is very exciting including a recent one where men and women were given boron at various mg dosages (ranging from 0.25mg to 3.25mg). After just 63 days brain function in the individuals who consumed 3.25mg had significantly improved <27> This study and others have shown the importance of boron for membrane function, manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, short-term and long-term memory <27>. I’ll have a double dose of boron, please!

Meditation: Meditation is a time-honored, proven method that soothes and restores the health of your brain. In addition to proper nutrition and sleep, meditation is the best way to relax and reboot your brain. And here’s the best part of it! You can do it anytime, anywhere and it’s backed by neuroscience and research. Meditation and brain tapping has been proven to help with stress, difficulty sleeping, low energy, and other lifestyle challenges. But if you are unsure where to start, there are lots of fantastic companies with tools to support you. One company we love and recommend is Brain Tap. Their solution allows you to choose a recorded meditation while using their headset that uses lights and sound to move your brain into a deeper brain wave state that calms and relaxes you. Another great company is CALM whose app can be downloaded so you can listen to any of their thousands of meditations where ever you are. And if you want to experience a more mystical type of meditation, check out the books, recordings, website or summits held by Dr. Joe Dispenza. All of these companies are experts in mediation so if you are unfamiliar with meditation or want to achieve new heights of inner peace (and who doesn’t want that?) take a leap of faith and find the one that works best for you. Sort of like algae.

WISHING YOU JOY AND PEACE

Well, there you have it! Our best suggestions on how to achieve a calmer, healthier brain so you can embrace the new decade as a new you! It’s always been said that you can’t buy happiness. We agree. That’s why we suggest aiming for joy and contentment. And that my friend can be best accomplished with healthy food, sleep, meditation and the magic of love.

Thanks for loving your body to bits!

Also, make sure to check out the recipe section of our blog for some fun ways to incorporate algae into your diet with recipes your whole family can enjoy!