MUSCLEBLAZE

Hello Ziddis! Recently, social media is filled with fitness routines, tips and clickbait transformation journeys! One thing worth going down the rabbit hole is the rave about lymphatic drainage. Loads of influencers are swearing by it, showing before and after pictures, claiming it reduces puffiness and increases the glow on your skin. But is it another trend or something worth taking a shot at? Let us understand more about how the lymphatic drainage works and how it can support your lymph system naturally.

What Is Lymphatic Drainage?

Your body has a built-in detox system. This is called the lymphatic system. It is important for keeping you healthy, energised and immune. It consists of a network of vessels, nodes and organs that carry lymph to various parts of the body! Lymph is a clear fluid filled with white blood cells, which are responsible for fighting infection.

The lymphatic system helps us in various ways. Here’s how:

• It removes toxins and waste from our body
• It fights against infections
• Transports fats and fat-soluble vitamins to different parts of the body
• It helps in maintaining fluid balance in the body.

But unlike your heart that pumps the blood involuntarily, the lymphatic system relies on movements like muscle contractions and gentle stimulation to function. This is where the lymphatic drainage system comes into play. Lymphatic drainage is a manual or natural process that helps move the lymph fluids more efficiently through your system. This can include a special massage, certain exercises, breathing techniques or even body positioning.

How Does Lymphatic Drainage Massage Help?

A lymphatic drainage massage is not your typical deep tissue massage. It involves slow, rhythmic, and very light pressure self-massage aimed at improving and guiding the lymph flow while clearing blockages in the lymph vessels.

This is how lymphatic drainage massage can help you:

• Reduced swelling
• Reduced bloating
• Reduced water retention
• Glowing, fresh and radiant skin
• Improved circulation
• More oxygen and nutrients for your skin
• Detoxification
• Clearing waste and metabolic byproducts
• Making your body feel lighter and function better
• Better immunity
• Efficient transport of immune cells
• Activation of your parasympathetic nervous system
• Helps in unwinding and destressing.

This technique helps in post-surgery phases or after medical treatments to drain off the toxins from your body. Even as a general wellness ritual, it is very helpful and shows benefits.

How to Do Manual Lymphatic Drainage

Can you do the lymphatic drainage manually for yourself? Yes. It is designed for you to enjoy the benefits without spending loads of money on expensive spa appointments. You can try manual lymphatic drainage at home with these simple steps:

• Start with your neck first: Starting from the collarbones and the neck area, which has the highest concentration of lymph vessels, use gentle downward strokes towards the centre of your chest. Think of this motion as opening the gates before moving to other parts of your body.
• Focus on your arms: Now start with your fingertips and gently stroke upwards towards your armpits. Use flat hands and soft pressure to stimulate lymph flow.
• Let’s get to legs: Begin at the feet and move upwards towards your groin area. Keep the movement gentle and stroke in the direction towards the heart.
• Abdomen and belly: Use a clockwise, circular motion with both hands around your navel to stimulate abdominal lymph nodes. These help with improved digestion.
• Use the right pressure: Do not press too hard while massaging. The lymph vessels are located just beneath the skin, and so firm pressure can actually reduce the flow.

There are various tools to help you with lymphatic drainage. Here are some:

• Dry brushing before a shower
• Facial gua sha or rollers
• Foam rolling
• Deep breathing exercises.

These all support lymphatic movement by encouraging circulation and muscle activity.

Read Also: Best Workouts for Busy People: No Gym, No Problem

Takeaway

A little upgrade in flow can take you a long way. The buzz around lymphatic draining is not just a hype, but it is also not the quickest way to get your body’s healthy reaction. It is a practice to be performed every day, like brushing your teeth. Getting into the groove of draining your lymphatic system can benefit in metabolism and fitness. A healthy lymphatic system supports clear skin, better digestion, improved immunity and more energy.

The best part is you do not need any expensive tools, massages or gym memberships to bring about this change in your body. Yes, healthy food habits can be a great addition to lymphatic drainage, like including omega 3 capsules or vitamin supplements to support the healthy functioning of your body.

So, whether you’re looking to fight bloating or support immunity building, or simply feel more refreshed, a gentle lymphatic boost may be just what your body needs.

Hello Ziddis! You must have heard of the analogy that food is to the body what fuel is to a car. Imagine going about your day without food. That would be an awfully irritating and unproductive day, right? But it is not just the lack of food that can ruin your day. Even the wrong food can ruin your day. Wrong food at any time of the day can cause a post-eating slump, mid-evening yawns, brain fog, irritation, cravings and also migraine in many cases. All these signs indicate that your body is not receiving adequate nutrition. Going back to the analogy, food is not just fuel but also the oil, the information and the coolant for your body! So let us understand what eating for energy means and how you can stay fueled throughout the day with simple food choices that help you stay sharp, focused and active!

What Does Eating Well Mean?

Eating well is not all about dieting, portion control or bulking up on one nutrient. It is about balance and choices. Basis your goals for your body, the definition of eating well will change for you. The right kinds of foods don’t just nourish your body but also support steady energy release. You must have heard about spikes and crashes? A good diet includes the perfect mix of carbs, p[proteins, healthy fats, fibres, vitamins, minerals and also glucose, aka sugars. Depending on your needs, you can add control over the portion of each component.

Eating Well Means:

• Prioritizing whole foods
• Avoiding processed foods
• Having meals at regular intervals to avoid blood sugar crashes
• Staying hydrated
• Make sure your plate is colorful and diverse with natural foods.

Being intentional with your nutrition is a game-changer when it comes to eating well. Some habits that can have a bad effect on your body and energy levels are:

• Having coffee before any solid food
• Not drinking enough water
• Eating food to which you are intolerant
• Skipping meals
• Eating small, unhealthy snacks like biscuits instead of meals
• Avoiding fats completely
• Not checking the impact of sugar on your energy levels
• Not having enough protein or fibre.

Snacking can get you through a meeting without hunger pangs but will cause energy crashes bad enough for you to skip the day or spend it annoyed and hangry!

Impact of Healthy Food on Energy Levels

When you eat well, your energy levels are much better and stable. Fun fact: your energy levels are not dependent on all the components of your meal, but on their impact on your blood sugar levels. When you eat sugary or heavily processed foods, your blood sugar spikes and gives you an energy boost. Note that this boost is temporary and for short intervals, then comes the crash. The energy crash leaves you tired and irritable.

On the other hand, having healthy food such as complex carbs, proteins and healthy fats, or even pairing sugary food with more protein-heavy foods, can give you a more stable energy graph. This will release energy to your body in a gradual and sustained manner. Here’s how:

• Complex Carbs like oats, brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa or millets are digested slowly, which allows them to fuel you up for a longer duration
• Proteins help in the repair and wear and tear of tissues. It also keeps you fuller for longer and reduces your mindless snacking urge.
• Healthy fats are often misunderstood, but they support brain function and their slow-digesting property can help you go on with your day without for longer. You can also snack on healthy fats like nuts, avocado, seeds and more to keep your sugar cravings away.
• Fibre-rich food like leafy greens can help your gut health, also well as help in slowly releasing glucose into your bloodstream so that there are no unstable spikes and crashes in your blood sugar and energy levels.

Superfoods will become your best friends once you start prioritising healthy eating habits. Flax seeds, chia seeds or spirulina powder can boost your vitality. Micronutrients like vitamin complexes, iron, magnesium and all such can help convert food into energy.

Benefits of Healthy Snacks

Snacking often gets a bad reputation, but when you do it the right way, it can help you a lot. Here are some benefits of healthy snacks:

• Prevent energy crashes between meals
• Keep metabolism active
• Reduce overeating during meals
• Keeps you focused and alert
• Reduces cravings

Eating healthy snacks between meals can have a good impact on your body. Sometimes when you are stuck in back-to-back work, healthy snacks kept handy could prevent crashes! Think of healthy snacks are energy pitstops rather than indulgences.

Healthy Snacks to Power Your Day

Choosing the right healthy snacks for your busy days is very important. Healthy snacks have the power to make you feel great from within. Healthy snacks should feel like indulgences but act like an energy stabiliser. Here are a few snacking options that fuel you without making you feel sluggish:

• Nut Butter with Banana/Rice Cake: A combination of natural sugar, carbs, and healthy fats.
• Greek Yoghurt and Berries: Rich in protein and antioxidants.
• Roasted Chickpeas: Crunchy, high in fibre, and satiating.
• Hummus Salad: Gives you fibre and healthy fats.
• Trail Mix (without added sugar): Nuts, seeds, and dried fruits for a quick boost.
• Protein Bars: Especially those with clean ingredients and minimal sugar, like MuscleBlaze Fit Foods Protein Bars, for a portable, energy-sustaining option.
• Protein Oats: Fuels you well for your workout
• Fruits and Nuts: A great combination of natural sugar and fat for slow energy release.
• Coconut Water or Electrolyte Drinks: Especially on active days, to prevent fatigue from dehydration.

You can sip on protein shakes between meetings or keep a jar of nuts handy for long working hours!

Read Also: Meal Prepping: A Western Concept, or Something the Indian Diet Can Support?

Takeaway

Eating well does not mean eating less. It means eating what energises and nourishes you the best! Choosing the right kind of fuel for your body is extremely important. Eating well means choosing food that works with your body, not against it. Be intentional with your food choices, and this choice can help you stay fit, energised and focused.

Hello Ziddis! You might have heard of multivitamins as a good way to make up for any deficiencies. But is it necessary to have deficiencies to start with a multivitamin routine? How can you figure out how to choose a multivitamin? which one is right for you? How can it help you? All your questions will be answered in a bit, so keep reading!

Who Needs Multivitamins?

Not everyone needs a dose of multivitamins, but a lot of people can benefit from it. If you have a restrictive diet, food allergies or simply a hectic schedule that comes in the way of having a balanced meal consisting of all the nutrients your body needs, multivitamins can help fill up that nutritional gap. You will especially benefit from multivitamins if:

• You follow a vegan or vegetarian diet
• Are pregnant or breastfeeding (but consult your physician on which multivitamin would suit you best)
• Have a chronic health condition or nutrient malabsorption issue
• Are an athlete or have a physically active lifestyle

But, multivitamins are not a shortcut to health and nutrition. They only support your diet but not replace it.

How to Choose a Multivitamin

Various factors come into play when you need to choose the right formula for your multivitamin. Here is what you should consider:

• As a woman, you must look for iron and folic acid during your reproductive years. During or post menopause, you may not need extra iron.
• As a man, you must look out for vitamin D, B12 and zinc in your multivitamins.
• For children, choose age-specific chewables or gummies that meet the requirements of vitamins A, C and D.
• For senior citizens or people aged 50 and above, check for vitamins B12, D and calcium as absorption of nutrients decreases with age.
• For athletes or highly active individuals, formulas with higher doses of vitamin B-complex, magnesium and antioxidants are helpful to support energy levels, metabolism and recovery.

Consider your health goals before you commit to any multivitamin. Between your immunity, skin and hair health, energy levels and hormonal balance, what requires your attention and some extra help should be picked.

Multivitamin Dosage Guidelines

Multivitamins are very safe to use, but everything has some consumption limits and rules. By staying within the recommended daily allowance, or the RDA as seen on labels, one can make sure to use multivitamins in a safe and productive manner. Here are a few safe benchmarks:

• Vitamin D is to be taken not more than 600 to 800 IU for most adults
• Iron should be consumed in 8 to 18 mg via multivitamins, depending on gender and age
• Folic acid can be taken in a dose of 400 mcg for most adults and 600 mcg for pregnant women.
• Vitamin B12 should be restricted to 2.4 mcg generally, but older adults may require it slightly more.

Always check with your physician before starting any high-dose supplements or if you are pregnant/ breastfeeding.

Vegan Multivitamin Options

For those who follow a strictly plant-based diet, you can try multivitamins which include vitamin B12, iron, zinc, iodine, omega 3 and vitamin D. But how can you understand if what you have picked is vegan? Here’s the certification you should check for:

• Vegan Society Approved
• Certified Plant-Based
• FSSAI for Indian options
• USP or NSF certification for quality assurance

How to Read Multivitamin Labels

Labels can be overwhelming, but you need to focus only on a few key aspects to understand if what you are picking is worth the price and helpful or not. Here is what to look for in a label:

• % daily value or %DV to understand how much of the RDA is met. Aim for 100%DV of most vitamins and minerals
• Serving sizes should be checked since some must not be consumed in excess quantity
• Additives of fillers like artificial colours and sweeteners must be checked. If you find that, then keep it back on the shelf.
• Allergen declaration is important if you know what you are allergic to.
• Certifications like veg or vegan certification and quality and safety certifications must be checked.

Read Also: What’s Right for You? Multivitamin Tablets V/S Individual Supplements

Takeaway

Choosing the right multivitamin is not about picking the one with the most ingredients, but picking the one with ingredients that are necessary for you. Your age, gender, lifestyle and dietary habits determine what your body needs. So stop chasing ingredients and start looking for what those ingredients can do for you. Read labels well and also stick to safe doses.

Hello Ziddis! Have you ever tried using supplements? Supplements have taken over the pharmacy aisles and now appear on your social media feed. Supplements for immunity boosting are everywhere. But is the hype worth it or just a clever marketing trick? Let us understand how these immunity-boosting supplements can help you and if they are the real deal or a false promise.

Immune System Supplements

Our immune system is complex, and it is not a pill or powder that can make it bulletproof. Your lifestyle can. But by adding some immune system supplements like vitamins and minerals, you can make your immune system stronger. Here is how these elements in the immune system supplement can help:

• Vitamin C is the star of your immune system. While it does not prevent cough or cold, it can reduce the severity or the impact the symptoms have on your body.
• Vitamin D plays an important role in activating immune defences.
• Zinc supports immune cell development and inflammation control.
• Iron, Selenium and Copper, though needed in very small amounts, support immune pathways.

These nutrients, when packed up in one supplement or multivitamins, help regulate and strengthen the immune response. However, they are most effective when used to compensate for a deficiency.

Probiotics for Immune Health

Gut health and immunity go hand in hand. There are nearly 70 per cent of immune cells concentrated in the gut. This is the sight of probiotics’ work. Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when consumed in the right amount, help maintain the balance of good bacteria in your gut. Strains such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium lactis show potential in helping the body’s natural line of defence. Having probiotics regularly through supplements or fermented food like curd, kimchi, and kanji. Here is how it can help:

• Improve gut barrier function
• Reduce the intensity of any sickness
• Lower inflammation
• For people with PCOS or insulin resistance, where inflammation and gut imbalance are an issue, probiotics can help and not just for digestion but also for immune system fortification.

Supplements to Avoid for Immune Health

Not every bottle with the healthy branding is worth your money or safe for you. Some brands claim their immune boosters to be the best and most unique when they do more harm. Here are the red flags to watch out for:

Mega doses of vitamins- More vitamin dosage does not mean more impact. Your body requires vitamins in a certain amount, and going over and above can cause toxicity.

• Silver colloids- These can turn your skin bluish grey permanently.
• Unregulated herbal blends- These may clash with any other medication you might be taking for autoimmune or chronic issues
• High doses of antioxidant blends- These can actually suppress your immune signalling instead of enhancing it when taken in an excessive quantity.

Supplements you take must complement, not clash with, your body’s needs and natural processes. When in doubt, read labels, research them and talk to your healthcare professional before adding something to your routine and in your body.

Natural Immune Boosters

The best immune boosters are often not found in capsules but in your kitchen. Yes! Your daily herbs can benefit you a lot. Here are some:

• Turmeric: an excellent anti-inflammatory substance
• Ginger and garlic: superfoods known for centuries for their antimicrobial and immune supportive properties.
• Amla: A great source of Vitamin C boosts collagen synthesis and protects immune cells.
• Tulsi: It has adaptogenic and anti-microbial benefits that support immune health.
• Flaxseeds: Rich in omega-3s, they can help reduce inflammation and improve gut health.
• Ashwagandha: Great for mental and physical health.

And don’t forget lifestyle:

• 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep
• Stress management
• Move your body for 30 minutes, walk
• Hydration
• Stay consistent.

Read Also: Ashwagandha: The Ancient Herb for Modern Immunity

Takeaway

Supplements can support immunity, but they are not a shortcut. Pay attention to your lifestyle. A high dose of a healthy supplement does not mean it has more nutrients. Make sure you are consistent and disciplined. If you have any underlying issues, consult a physician to understand which supplement can help with your daily requirements and deficiencies! Stay strong by equipping your body with the right immunity supplement.