So, you’ve decided that you need to take a supplement. Maybe it was recommended by your doctor, or maybe you’re taking it in order to help you lose weight or gain muscle. Whatever the reason you want to make sure that you are taking them for the right reasons.

If you are on any kind of prescriptions medication you should talk to your doctor before you take any vitamins or supplements. There is always a chance that there could be an interaction issue with them. Once you’ve got the OK, here are some reasons to consider adding supplements to your diet.

When You Need A Boost

When you need a protein boost for building your muscles, supplements can help. Protein supplements are pretty popular with people who are working on building their muscles, even if they aren’t professional weight lifters.

You may want to invest in something with green tea for a natural energy boost and to help suppress your hunger. The more natural your energy or diet supplement, the better. Caffeine is also a pretty good ingredient for getting energy.

When Your Body Tells You Something

If you’re not getting enough sleep at night, you’re feeling fatigued thought the day, or maybe you’ve been having allergy issues, you may want to look into supplements that can help you naturally. It could be a vitamin deficiency that has you down.

Most people will notice when they are missing nutrients because they will feel differently, whether it’s that issue with sleeping or not having enough energy, or something else. If you feel off take some time to do a little research on deficiencies and what you may be able to take that can help.

When It’s Doctor Recommended

Your doctor might recommend a vitamin or supplement to you. If you are on a medication that could cause you body not to absorb certain nutrients it is important to up those nutrients to avoid a deficiency.

Your doctor may also make recommendations for different supplements if you are having health issues of some kind, like the inability to sleep. There are even supplements that can help people that suffer from anxiety and depression.

When You Can’t Eat Certain Foods

You may also want to consider taking a supplement if you have any kind of food allergy or food intolerance. You could be missing out on important nutrients. People with lactose intolerance may not be getting enough calcium or vitamin D, so a supplement is a must for bone health.

Another bone health issue that can affect people is missing K2, which comes from animal byproducts. People that eat a mostly vegetarian or a vegan diet may be missing this nutrient that helps with strong bones and heart health.

There are some well-known methods to staying healthy and living longer.  Keep away from cigarettes, and drink responsibly.  Remember to wear a seatbelt, and look both ways before crossing the road.  Eat lots of vegetables and exercise regularly, and do not use drugs.

These concepts are not foreign, but allow us to extend that knowledge to include a few more healthy living habits.  Take a look at what we deem some of the most important ways to live healthier and live longer.

Minimize bad habits.

Instead of merely preaching about drinking responsibly, how about just trying not to develop any bad habits in the first place.  It is not likely that a person will have NO bad habits, but try to keep them wrangled.  Most importantly, seek help if bad habits get out of control and begin affecting the quality of life.

Control stress levels.

Consistently high-stress levels are extremely hard on the body.  Stress overloads age the body more quickly than that of a carefree life.  Just take a look at every American presidents’ before and after pictures.  Stressful times in life are unavoidable, but there are still aspects of our lives that we can control to reduce overall stress levels.

Make time to sleep.

Sleep does a whole bunch of amazing things for the body.  Our bodies are like machines.  The human body is not designed to be run ragged without proper maintenance.  Sleep is time for restoration of the body’s resources.  The lack of sleep raises stress levels and cortisol concentrations in the body.  These two variables, alone, can cause a whole slew of health problems.

Exercise the brain.

Take advice from Winnie the Pooh, and think, think, think.  The brain is a muscle, and it needs exercise.  Play brain games, draw complete puzzles, and other things that keep the brain stimulated.  Alzheimer’s Disease is far too common and a tough journey for all those involved.

Nurture a few close relationships.

Nurture and maintain a few close relationships in life.  Comradery, friendship, emotional support, and many other things make relationships a vital part of living healthy.  More often than not, emotional health is directly linked to physical health.

Be centered, and spiritual.

Even if traditional religions are not something to be considered, maintaining a healthy level of spirituality is recommended.  Meditation, yoga, whatever gets the soul going, invest a portion of life to spirituality to remain more centered and hopeful.

Maintain an active lifestyle.

Keep it moving.  Objects in motion remain in motion… alternatively, something like that!  The point is, keeping busy helps to maintain the body’s circulation and mobility like a well-oiled machine.  A sedentary lifestyle is horrible on the body and will severely weaken a person’s longevity of life.

Avoid overexposure to the sun.
The sun’s rays are harsh on the body.  Always use sunscreen when spending time outside.  Overexposure to the sun can cause skin cancer to develop, among other things.  Be safe and cover your skin.  That does not rule out sunbathing, just be thoughtful about time spent in the sun.

As technology advances, there are all kinds of new gadgets and devices that make our lives easier.  From the kitchen to the shower.  Our smartphones alone have an app for just about everything.  Do you even own a calculator anyone?  Remember when you used to have to actually watch the news to know what was going on? Now it’s delivered straight to your phone immediately.

This new era of technology doesn’t only benefit you in terms of convenience.  Now you can actually improve the quality and quantity of your life with medical technology that you would never have dreamed about being possible to own once upon a time.  Take a look at some of the most impressive technology that you can own and use in the comfort of your own home.

Medical Alert Systems

It’s an extra comfort to know that if no one is around, senior citizens have the added protection of an alert system sending out the message that there is an emergency should there be one.  Purchasing a medical alert system can be one of the best things that you can purchase for yourself if you are in your older years, or for a family member who you want to make sure is safe.

There are a wide variety of brands with multiple features to choose from.  Generally, they are reasonably priced and the internet provides plenty of consumer reviews should you have any specific questions about which product is the best for you.

Heart Rate Monitors

Once upon a time you had to go to the pharmacy or the doctor to get your heart rate measured.  Or if you wanted to find out what your total calorie burn was for a workout, you had to put your hands over the sensors of the fancy treadmills at the gym.

Nowadays there are all kinds of heart rate monitors that you can carry around with you wherever you go.  These can be a fantastic addition to your fitness regimen and also an extra form of safety around if you have ever had concerns about your heart rate.

Temperature Monitor

It can be extremely stressful if someone you love has a high temperature.  During the nighttime, you can drive yourself crazy wondering if your child might be too hot or cold yet you hesitate waking them up to take their temperature.  Thermometers can be inconvenient and some even take minutes to show a result.
A temperature monitor attaches itself to the skin of the person you which to survey and gives a constant reading of their body temperature even when they sleep. This can be a huge relief to worried parents who want to make sure their little ones are ok during an illness with fever.

 Fighting is everything to me, it transformed my life and really gave me something to focus on. It gives you confidence with everyday life, in training I’m always being pushed and smashed by my team mates and coaches. As soon as you learn to deal with that. Life becomes easier, well for me anyway it did.

Jay Hopkins

DP: How did you start getting involved in Muay Thai? And what did you like of it?

JH: Hey guys cheers for the interview, really happy you asked… How did I start getting into Muay Thai. Erm, well, I’ve been competing Muay Thai for nearly six years now, my friend was in Canada in 2009 where BJJ and Muay Thai was massive so when he returned he persuaded me to give it a try , from there I joined a local gym in South London where I lived at the time and trained under UFC legend Nick Osipczak in mma originally and learned the basics of fighting properly and  never looked back I love absolutely everything about it, it appealed to me so much with all the respect that all fighters have for each other. There aren’t many sports out there that show the same respect. I eventually moved away from mma as I simply preferred stand up fighting toe 2 toe and went along the K1 and Muay Thai route permanently

DP: A lot of people started following MMA with UCF1 and 2. As a new fighter, what is your idea about the 90’s vale tudo challenges and the modern MMA?

JH: The older vale tudo fights are great to look back on and watch, they were a purer form then where most fighters relied on one discipline. But as it’s evolved like everything it’s become fantastic to watch, everyone now is so rounded so it makes things really exciting.

DP: Who is your inspirational fighter?

JH: There is a few fighters that really inspire me, the biggest now being the Notorious Buakaw, I haven’t just recently jumped on this guys band wagon too. I have been following him since his early days. The guy is unbelievable, has it all from the fighting skills to the mindset. I’m a big fan of Badr Hari too, I believe he is the best guy we have on the K1 scene at the moment

DP: What’s your training schedule?

JH: My training schedule used to be pretty normal for a full time athlete, I trained six days a week, at least twice a day some days even three or four. It involves a lot Muay Thai, weights and conditioning, running and sparring.

DP: What’s your favourite style while fighting?

JH: I’m happy standing punching, kneeing and kicking, im known as a pressure fighter as I don’t have the heaviest hands so I score well on my combos and kicks, I have never been knocked out and have been in with some monsters but just pressured them into cardio failure

DP: Can you tell us something about your latest matches?

JH: So the last few years have been amazing for me, back last year i fought at the 02 in K1 World Championships, took bronze that day but ended up fighting the eventual winner (Tim Louse) in the semi-finals. We had a war and it went the whole 3 rounds but I split my shin on his elbow and got TKO’ed. Tim was the North American Thai Champion so to fight against him was a great experience but was also credit to my striking coach Alex Costa, he is the best striker I know. Also throughout 2014 was massive, with 3 wins and 1 loss, what a great experience it was with all my coaches.

DP: I see you train with the UFC legend Jess liaudin and the Team Tieu crew.

Gymbox and Team Tieu in London and I’m really proud to be a member of the team. I believe we have one of the best competition teams in the UK right now. My coach is Alain Pozo, and what a coach he is!, I know I speak for all of the team when I tell you he is an inspiration to us. He fights everything, and to me its what you want from your coaches, you don’t want a pot bellied smoker giving instructions from the side. Alain lives the lifestyle with us all, diets to make weight does his conditioning and always puts it all on the line on in the ring

DP: Who would you like to fight abroad and where?

JH: I love Holland, I love to go to Mejiro gym out there and train kick boxing. It’s run by Andre Mannaart who is a legend of the sport. I get along with his son Roel well, who himself is a very good kick boxer. So always feel welcome. So yeah, to fight in Holland is a big goal of mine, or the United States, but I plan on concurring that continent after this one. Not really looking to fight anyone in particular anymore as ive pretty much retired, I’d love to train with Anderson Silva though just to see if I could hit him haha!

DP: What “fighting” means to you? Have you ever needed to use your fighting skills outside the mat/cage?

JH: Fighting is everything to me, it transformed my life and really gave me something to focus on. It gives you confidence with everyday life, in training I’m always being pushed and smashed by my team mates and coaches. As soon as you learn to deal with that. Life becomes easier, well for me anyway it did. Luckily I’ve never had to use what I have learnt outside of the competition. Which is probably luckier for them.

DP: What are your goals in the next future. Do you see yourself involved more in MMA or BJJ? Or both?

JH: My goals for the short term are just training kids. My grandfather was a professional boxer, midland champion who trained and lost to the infamous Randolph Turpin and has recently died from a brain haemorrhage all caused from boxing. I had an aneurism found at my last pre fight medical which caused a bit of a worry as one blow could be fatal for me now so my priorites have switched to family and business

I just want to help the children of today focus and compete in a sport they love, I also have a daughter and soon to be additional son or daughter whom I wish to start training from a young age a become a world champion.

DP: Please tell us something about yourself and your hobbies outside the ring…

JH: There isn’t too much to me if I’m honest, just a nice looking guy from a tiny village in Warwickshire… I was fortunate to land on my feet in many aspects of my life after leaving school with no qualification. I learned to focus my mind and follow a faith. I enjoy long walks on the beach and a bit of One Direction hahaha! No I’m pretty easy going trying to enjoy every possible moment I get. Hobbies outside the ring for me include most sports and just watching my daughter grow

DP: Many of our follower’s love combat sports. All of them love football. Are you into football James? What’s your team? If not, which other sports do you like? 

JH: Unfortunately, not, many men find it strange but it bores me. Talk to me about fights and fighters and we can talk for days. Other sports – erm nothing

DP: Anything else that you would like to add?

JH: A real big thank you guys on giving me the interview, it’s been a pleasure! Thank you to all my coaches and sparring partners at 9th legion training centre. A big thanks to family and friends for the on going support and to my sponsors, The Point Clinic who always make sure I’m physically ready to fight and to Opro with their fantastic custom made gumsields which keep my teeth in my head. Thanks to Okami Fight gear for all the training and fight equipment!

If you want to train get the Peak Performance Torquay on Sundays at 12pm

DP: Thanks James, wish you the best!

Ноw tо rаіsе уоur іrоn dеfісіеnсу аnаеmіа blооd lеvеls nаturаllу?This might be one of the questions you ask yourself regularly.

І lеаrnеd tо rаіsе mу іrоn dеfісіеnсу аnаеmіа blооd lеvеls nаturаllу, usіng mоlаssеs, bу trіаl аnd еrrоr. І hаd bееn sеvеrеlу аnаеmіс аll mу tееnаgе уеаrs, аnd trіеd аll thе Dr’s rесоmmеndаtіоns аnd аll thе dіffеrеnt dоsаgеs оf іrоn tаblеts аnd suррlеmеnts thrоugh thоsе уеаrs, but wаs stіll strugglіng tо kеер mу іrоn lеvеls uр. Іt wаsn’t untіl І wаs іn mу еаrlу twеntіеs аnd wоrkіng fоr а mеdісаl lаbоrаtоrу, hеlріng оut wіth thе wееklу blооd dоnоr sеssіоns, thаt І wаs аblе tо tеst fоr mуsеlf thе еffесtіvеnеss оf mоlаssеs оn mу іrоn dеfісіеnсу аnаеmіа blооd lеvеls.

Рrіоr tо usіng thіs rесоmmеndеd оrgаnіс mоlаssеs, whісh wе buу frоm оur lосаl hеаlth shор, І usеd tо tеst mу blооd lеvеls wееklу tо sее іf І соuld gіvе blооd, but mу іrоn lеvеls wеrе аlwауs tоо lоw, sоmеtіmеs bеlоw 100, аnd іn thоsе dауs оnе hаd tо hаvе а rеаdіng оf 125 оr аbоvе tо gіvе blооd. Аftеr stаrtіng thе mоlаssеs аt а dоsе оf 1-2 tеаsрооns а dау, mу blооd tеsts rеаd 140 rеgulаrlу. Тhіs wаs thе lеvеl thаt а lоt оf mеn’s blооd tеstеd аt. Тhе lіght-hеаdеdnеss аnd ехtrеmе ехhаustіоn bесаmе а thіng оf thе раst.

Іt sееms thеrе іs sоmе раrt tо mоlаssеs thаt hеlрs thе stоmасh аbsоrb fооds, аnd реорlе fіnd thеіr dіsроsіtіоn, skіn аnd hаіr аll vаstlу іmрrоvе аftеr tаkіng іt rеgulаrlу. Fоr thоsе whо dоn’t lіkе thе tаstе muсh, рut іt іn thе frіdgе аnd аs уоu tаkе thе соld mоlаssеs, thіnk ‘lіquоrісе’ аs уоu swаllоw аnd іt sееms sо muсh еаsіеr tо tаkе. Аltеrnаtіvеlу уоu саn blосk уоur nоsе аs уоu swаllоw, аs іt саn hеlр wіth gеttіng usеd tо thе tаstе. І рrеfеr іt аt rооm tеmреrаturе. Оur grаndсhіldrеn аll lіnе uр fоr thеіr dаіlу sрооnful, аs thеу lоvе іt sо muсh. Іt іs bеst tо оnlу tаkе thе аmоunt thаt hеlрs kеер uр рrореrlу fоrmеd bоwеl mоtіоns, аnd іf аnуоnе gеts thе trоts frоm іt, јust hаlf thе dоsе уоu аrе tаkіng, thеn wоrk уоur wау uр untіl уоu fіnd уоur іdеаl dоsе rаtе. Іf аnуоnе іs оn mеdісаtіоn fоr соnstіраtіоn, tаlk tо уоur Dr. аs уоu wіll fіnd уоu рrоbаblу wоn’t nееd sо muсh оf thе mеdісаtіоn whіlе оn mоlаssеs. Соnstіраtіоn wіll bе а thіng оf thе раst whіlе usіng mоlаssеs!

Моlаssеs аlsо hаs аmаzіng bеnеfіts nоt оnlу fоr реорlе but fоr аnіmаls tоо. Аftеr wе mаrrіеd, wе wеnt dаіrу-fаrmіng, аnd wе lеаrnеd оf thе bеnеfіts оf mоlаssеs оn dаіrу соws, аnd wе hаd а vеrу іntеrеstіng tеn-dау ехреrіmеnt оn а smаll hеrd оf sеmі wіld уоung bееf stосk. Wе wеrе lооkіng аftеr thеm whіlе thе оwnеr wаs оn hоlіdау, аnd аskеd hіm tо gеt sоmе mоlаssеs bеfоrе hе lеft, аs wе sаw hоw flіghtу thеу wеrе whеn wе fеd thеm. Wе роurеd thе соnсеntrаtе stосk mоlаssеs оvеr thеіr hау аnd sіlаgе fееd thе nіght bеfоrе fееdіng оut, fоr іt tо sоаk іn, аnd whеn thе оwnеr аrrіvеd hоmе hе mаrvеllеd tо sее thоsе sаmе stосk јust runnіng uр tо thе gаtе fоr fооd, аnd thе сhаngе іn thеіr dіsроsіtіоns wаs trulу аmаzіng, thеу wеrе саlm аnd trustіng wіth glоssу соаts.

Аnоthеr іntеrеstіng hеrd оf соws wе hаd dеаlіngs wіth, wеrе sо bаdlу hаndlеd, thеу wоuld kісk thе сuрs оff аnd wеrе sо nеrvоus thаt іt wаs а nіghtmаrе tо mіlk thеm, lеt аlоnе hеrd tеst thеm, whісh wаs mу husbаnd’s јоb аt thаt tіmе. Wе аskеd thе оwnеr іf hе wоuld bе wіllіng tо trу sоmе mоlаssеs, sо vеrу sсерtісаllу hе bоught sоmе, аnd рlасеd twо trоughs hаlf full оf іt, аlоng thе trасk thе соws wаlkеd аlоng tо gеt bасk tо thеіr раddосk. Тhе соws јust соuldn’t gеt еnоugh оf іt, еvеn dunkіng thеіr whоlе nоsе іntо іt, tо lісk оff оn thе wау bасk tо thе раddосk, аnd thе оwnеr wаs аmаzеd аt thе trаnsfоrmаtіоn оn еvеrу lеvеl іn thеіr соw’s hеаlth, thеіr tеmреrаmеnt, thеіr еаgеrnеss tо gо tо thе mіlkіng shеd, аnd thеіr соаt соndіtіоn. Іt wаs suсh а smаll іnvеstmеnt fоr suсh а mајоr сhаngе іn thеіr wеll-bеіng, nоt tо mеntіоn thе іnсrеаsеd рrоduсtіоn. То sау thе lеаst, thаt wаs оnе hарру fаrmеr!

Оur hеns аlsо bеnеfіt frоm mоlаssеs аs wе buу thеіr lауеr mеаl frоm thе lосаl ‘Gоldеn Grаіns’ hеrе іn Еdgесumbе, ΝΖ, аs thе оwnеr mіхеs undіlutеd ‘tор’ mоlаssеs іn wіth hіs hеn fооd. Dіlutеd mоlаssеs mау grоw mоuld, sо іt іs іmреrаtіvе tо usе іn іts соnсеntrаtеd fоrm. Тhе hеns thrіvе оn іt аnd thеіr ехсrеtіоn іs nоrmаl, nоt runnу. Тhеу аrе sо рlасіd аnd hарру wіth gооd еgg рrоduсtіоn.

Fоr thоsе whо lіkе tо gо оnе furthеr, mоlаssеs mау bе usеd аs а substіtutе swееtеnеr іn rесіреs, аnd mау bе usеd іn hоt аnd соld drіnks. Wе usе іt іnstеаd оf hоnеу оr sugаr іn оur brеаd mаkіng.