There is a nerve in your body that connects your brain directly to your heart, your lungs, and your gut. Scientists call it the vagus nerve. What it does when you worship will change how you think about praise. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the human body. It runs from the brainstem all the way down through the neck, chest, and abdomen. It is the primary pathway of what researchers call the parasympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for rest, recovery, digestion, and immune function. When the vagus nerve is activated, heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, inflammation decreases, and the body shifts from survival mode into restoration mode. Researchers have identified three primary activators of the vagus nerve. Deep, rhythmic breathing. Cold water exposure. Singing. Not listening to music. Singing. The act of producing sustained vocal tones activates the vagus nerve directly through the muscles of the throat and the vibration in the chest cavity. Psalm 100:1-2 says make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. The Hebrew word for joyful noise is rua, meaning to shout, to raise a battle cry, to produce a loud, sustained vocal sound. God did not design corporate worship as a warm-up for the sermon. He designed it as a full-body, neurologically active, physiologically restorative event that shifts your entire system from survival mode into the mode your body needs to heal, receive, and function at its highest level. When you lift your voice in genuine worship, you are not just expressing gratitude. You are activating a nerve God designed that tells every organ in your body it is safe to restore. Your voice was built to heal you. Use it. Dr. Zac Breckenridge

The COSMOS trial has given us one of the first randomized looks at whether a supplement can measurably slow biological aging. COSMOS itself assigned more than 21,000 older adults to a daily multivitamin, a cocoa extract, both, or neither; in a prespecified substudy of 958 of them, researchers tracked five DNA methylation clocks (epigenetic markers that estimate biological rather than chronological age) over two years. Writing in Nature Medicine, they reported that the multivitamin slowed two of the second-generation clocks: PCGrimAge advanced 0.11 years less per year than placebo, and PCPhenoAge 0.21 years less. Cocoa extract showed no effect on any of the five. On PCGrimAge, the benefit was concentrated in people who started out biologically older than their chronological age, which fits what I saw clinically, since the further you are from optimal the more room there is to move. The trial used a generic, off-the-shelf multivitamin built on synthetic nutrient forms. So imagine if they used a real food multivitamin?? The results would have been ever more amazing!

If you haven't seen the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Movie, you need to watch it as soon as possible! It is a 16 part series of documentaries highlighting why we are so sick as a nation and what we can do about it. It reinforces everything we do here at Mind and Body and contains SO much valuable information - I have to share it with everyone I know. Watch it and share with all of your friends and loved ones! https://mahamovie.com

Avocados Are Heart Healthy Eight preliminary clinical studies show that eating avocados helps support cardiovascular health. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2006 suggests that people who eat avocados have higher good HDL-cholesterol. They also have a lower risk of metabolic syndrome, and lower weight, BMI, and waist circumference. In the first clinical study of avocados in 1960, men who ate a half to one-and-a-half avocados a day did not raise their cholesterol levels. In fact, half the men reduced their cholesterol by 9-43%. And none of the subjects gained weight when they added the avocados to their regular diet. Since then at least six studies have suggested that adding avocados to the diet has a positive effect on blood lipids compared to a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet. As the Hass researchers point out, one avocado (about 136 g) is very similar in nutrient and phytochemical content to 1.5 ounces (42.5 g) of heart healthy tree nuts almonds, pistachios or walnuts) with less than half the calories. Nutrients that contribute to the avocado's heart benefits include the following: - Dietary Fiber. The carbohydrates in avocados consist of about 80% dietary fiber, comprised of 70% insoluble and 30% soluble fiber. - Low Sugar. Avocados contain very little sugar compared to other fruits. Their glycemic load is close to zero. The primary sugar in avocados is a unique seven-carbon compound called D-mannoheptulose. Half an avocado contains about two grams of the reduced form of this sugar (perseitol). But perseitol isn't counted as a sugar because it doesn't behave nutritionally like a sugar. Research suggests D-mannoheptulose may support blood glucose control and weight management. - Potassium. One avocado has about twice the potassium of a banana. Clinical studies suggest potassium may help control blood pressure. Avocados are also naturally very low in sodium. - Antioxidant Vitamins. Avocados contain significant levels of both vitamins C and E. Clinical research suggests a combination of vitamin C and E may slow the progression of atherosclerosis in people with high cholesterol.