Nerves - Nervous System
Arteries, Veins - the Vascular System
They run through every organ system through the body. But they aren’t alone. There’s another secret system that we’re going to talk about today that works right alongside its nerve, artery, and vein colleagues above. 🕵️
But first, I want to take a minute to thank you for showing up this week and every week you have, to take a few minutes out of your day in pursuit of self-development, education, and empowering your future to be one that is both happier and healthier. I also want to encourage you to share this newsletter with a friend, colleague, or family member you know who would benefit from learning more and taking their own health into their own hands just a bit more.
All organ systems communicate with one another and interact back and forth to help us stay healthy from head to toe. If you look throughout the body, like just glancing down at your wrist, you’ll be able to see your veins, and you probably know about a few major arteries around your neck too. But, for the longest time, modern medicine ignored another system of the body, notably the lymphatic system – and I’ve been enamored with learning more about it for years, because it is so acutely connected to our immune function. Having several conditions of autoimmunity in my family and dozens of several close friends and collogues, I’ve grown more and more interested over the years.
As you yourself may already know, the lymphatic system is also often talked about with respect to cancer, as swollen lymph nodes can be one of the first warning signs of cancer, infection, and inflammation. Especially important for women it seems, the lymphatic system is what helps regulate, circulate, and get rid of potential pathogens and dead cells throughout the body. Some call it the clean up system, but I’d like to remember it for much more. This lymphoid system runs along the circulatory system just like we mentioned earlier with the nerves, veins, and arteries, but the lymph system is also very important for the immune system as well, just to reiterate. It works closely with the heart, the liver, the spleen, and other major organs too.
Now, while modern medicine didn’t fully appreciate the lymphatic system for a long time, the medicine healers of ancient old had some inner wisdom knowledge to help them understand that there is obviously something else going on inside the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine among other major natural healing modalities of ancient old described the lymph system in a different way, connecting it with analogies of nature, with terms like qi and elsewhere you can find this escribed as chi and ki in different parts of the world. They’re essentially calling it your vitality, part of your vital systems – suggesting that keeping the human feeling optimal and vital requires a high functioning qi, chi, ki system circulating throughout the body, like an energy force.
Now, connecting the lymph system back to where we are today, we understand it to be important for all the things we mentioned before including detoxification, regeneration, and more. Ways to support the lymphatic system (and therefore the immune system) are activities that are often thought to support what we call “lymphatic drainage” or promoting lymphatic circulation – things like sauna, exercise, jumping on a trampoline, hot baths, acupressure, massage, as well as specific foods, herbs and botanicals thought to help stimulate and support healthy circulation. 🌿🌿
Cook Smarts
Looking for some help with food prep, meal planning, or ever knowing what the heck to eat or how much you should buy? Maybe you’re interested in trying to improve your cooking game this season and taste new foods and flavors! Well, I want to share CookSmarts with you as I’ve been a long time fan of their work and recommend them to any person who’s interested in food, cooking, and making life easier when it comes to real, whole food nutrition and making mealtimes more important, especially for families.
One of my favorite resources they have helps make crafting culinary herbs and spices mixes together that match specific cuisines and cultural flavors around the globe. She teaches you how to make all the popular sauces and dressings from scratch too. They also do a wonderful job for their meal planning service, which offers a bunch of different customizable diet options too.
So, with this discount code here: you can check them out for yourself! Let me know what you think! The head chef and CEO, Jess Dang has lots of great advice over on her Instagram page as well. Check her out here: link and the CookSmartsInstagram page here: link She’s also built an online cooking course to help people get more comfortable and creative in the kitchen. It’s called Nourish and I have a special link to that too. You get the chance to try out 3 lessons for free here.
Offers:
14-day Free Trial - link here
Meal Planning Service – link here
Cooking Class Online Lessons – link here
Gift Card gifting options for the Holidays! – link here
This is what others have to say about it:
“I️ just signed up for year two. I️ have grown so much as a cook and my kids (six and almost three) now have such an adventurous palate thanks to Cook Smarts. I️ can’t express how great it has been.” - Jeff S.
Also, if you’re interested in some of my personal opinions about kids health and making mealtime easier for parents, I recently published this article all about 3 THINGS TO NEVER SAY TO YOUR KIDS! It caught quite some discussion on social media, and I’d love to know what you think if you want to! It might surprise you that one of the number of things I mention is NOT to suggest “you have to eat your veggies before you have dessert!”
Have you ever dealt with varicous veins, leg swelling, or stiffness in your feet after a long day standing in one place?
Exactly. You likely have, or know someone who has at least. Personally, it’s been a pretty common experience among my family members, ever since I can remember.
No bueno.
This would be a strong sign of potential problems with circulation or lymphatic drainage you might think too as the fluids of the body tend to get stuck towards the end of the circulatory pathways, such as the feet. This is also why foam rolling and using a lacrosse ball under your feet to work through the stiffened fascia of your tissues can be helpful as well. It all works together to support the proper and sufficient circulation back up to the core of the body.
Runners in fact will often rest with their feet pointed to the ceiling and their butt against the wall as they help stimulate (by using gravity to their advantage) fluid in circulation returning to the core of the body and being carried out by our waste excretion vacillators like the liver, kidneys, and immune system.
And not to overwhelm us with much more on this topic, I just wanted to send along a couple recent podcasts and books on the topic I’ve listened to if you’d like to learn more. As always, I’m wishing you well and wellness this weekend and every week you have to live. Enjoy your time, enjoy the season as it comes. I appreciate you! 💯💯
If you ever have any questions or comments you’d like me to address specifically, feel free to reach out. 💬💬
Featured on the Dr. Axe Show – Podcast link here
Book discussed: Lymph & Longevity: The Untapped Secret to Health – book link here
Featured on the Doctor’s Farmacy with Dr. Mark Hyman, joined by Dr. Oz – Podcast link here
Books discussed:
Lymph & Longevity: The Untapped Secret to Health – book link here
Yin Yang You: Biohacking with Ancient Codes – book link here
If you like to hang out online, come find me and say hello! 😁
· Instagram 📸 🌱 🌶️
· Twitter 🐦 🐥
· LinkedIn 👔 👨⚕️ 💼
· Medium Writing Blog 📝 ✍️ I write more in-depth, thoughtful discussion articles over here if you want to check it out and follow along with more ideas around health, personal growth and more.
· Facebook 😼📚 Community = Common goals working in Unity
· Youtube 🎥 💡
If you missed last week’s edition you can check it out here: