Supplements I swear by
So, I’ve been moderately (okay more than that but for the sake of keeping cool…) obessed with Shut the Kale up on instagram.
This full time mama has inspired me like no other to simplify and take my health and well being into y own hands. She’s hilarious and so real btw.
After watching her stories feed for a few months, I decided I’d give some of these supplements a go. Some of them are for gut health (all about it!) stress management in the body, some of them are actually aphrodisiac and sexual health support. While I’m not trying to make a baby right now, I love the idea of prepping my body and also taking care of it in a whole new way. No longer where my kale smoothies going to do it. That and it’s winter time and I’m so not in the mood. I want lattes and tea.
I resonated with three things she takes daily. Gelatin (see blog post here for the beginning of my love affair), reishi (actual relaxation, hormonal balance), and ashwaghanda (systemic regulation, i don’t usually feel anything like reishi, but overall within the first week of taking it, i couldn’t stop smiling and laughing?).
A few years ago, my mom took me to this cafe that served super healthy and delicious food. I was super cranky from school and she’s like, just drink this hot chocolate, you’re a mess, it will help you feel better. SERIOUSLY. All the stress melted away and I felt like a normal human.
A few months ago I was visiting my mom and she has the best herb and tea collection, because we don’t discriminate when it comes to our health and well being. I found this awesome lavender honey tea by Yogi Teas and she had a dropper of reishi. I figured, this will totally help me chill out and get in the mood to sleep. My anxiety doesn’t keep me up at night with worried thoughts, it’s more like, if I go to bed I’m surrendering to the darkness. So, I need to make night time a slow wind down so maybe I trick myself into slumber.
The weird part is, I LOVE sleeping. I wonder why I hate going to bed. I digress.
Anyway, I’d been researching and looking in all my local health food stores for reishi, but I really wasn’t ready to shell out $30-70 for a supplement with 30 servings. That just felt silly.
One day when I was wandering around Staff of Life in Santa Cruz, I discovered individual packets of a reishi hot chocolate drink. I thought it would make an amazing addition to christmas gifts for my sister in law and my mama and some of my girlfriends. I bought some for me too, because YES. I saved them for christmas and new years, because that’s when I figured I’d want to relax. I stopped drinking a few years ago, so I’m always looking for fun drinks. In the summer it’s kombucha, but in the winter it’s freezing and we party outside so I thought, mmmm warm reishi hot chocolate. perfection!
The other thing i’m looking for is to boost my health. Kind of like in video games where you find potions or extra health.
Food is medicine after all, why should it just fill my belly, power and repair my muscles?
SO. Here is what I use on the daily.
In the AM as soon as I get up, after I brush my teeth, I drink this tea. With this Ashwagandha supplement in it. (read here for why this tea). I bought the dropper at Staff of Life in Santa Cruz because I love shopping locally and they have a huge selection and really knowledgeable staff.
In the afternoon or evening I will make either golden milk from scratch (powdered turmeric, ginger, cardamom, vanilla extract in milk of choice gently heated on the stove) or I will drink this reishi hot chocolate from four sigmatic. This particular hot chocolate was one of the ones I sampled and gifted and LOVED! If I don’t use the reishi mix, I’ll put this reishi dropper I got from Pharmaca.
To both of those drinks I will add a tablespoon of great lakes kosher beef gelatin for gut health and also for a little bit of substance because I don’t drink dairy milk. This has protein and all kinds of amino acids, not to mention it really helps the poop!
If I add the gelatin, I have to make sure to add it slowly, sprinkle and mix at the same time. I like to use this aerolatte thing my mom got me. It’s so genius, and the gelatin fluffs up so much!!!! It’s so glorious because I miss milk lattes.
As for sweeteners, that’s up to you. I rotate between stevia drops from trader joes, honey and maple syrup. Although I just read that stevia isn’t great for the kidneys, but TBH it takes me a year at least to get through the dropper, so I’m probably okay. We don’t realize though how fast things add up/build up in our bodies when we use them every day. EVERY DAY.
What’s your favorite drink? Do you like to add health bonuses to your food? Someday I’ll share about my green-not-mint ice cream. <3 Becca
