My Supplement Protocol to Boost Immunity

Hello friends! I hope you are all staying sane amidst the craziness that is happening in our world right now! It’s crazy how the Coronavirus outbreak has encouraged everyone to re-think their priorities, their health, their finances, and so much more. I’ve gotten quite a few questions about what i’m doing to boost my immune system during this time and so I thought I would share my supplement routine today with you all.

*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor! This is what works for me and what I have chosen to take with the research that I’ve done. I’ve been taking this brand of vitamins for over five years now and I really believe in their efficacy.

ALSO: I want to add that my supplement protocol isn’t cheap. I truly believe that it’s a huge investment into my future by taking care of my health now. I spend money on my supplements, my skincare, and my diet. Those three things I am 100% okay investing into and spending my money on. This is truly what I use and love and so I hope this is helpful for you!

Okay so lets start with my daily multi-vitamin… I’ve been taking the Pro Vitality Pack from Neolife for 5+ years now. I took it throughout my pregnancy alongside a prenatal and I don’t miss a day without these! There are four different supplements in this pack for all different purposes but I’ve noticed a huge different in my energy, my immune system, and digestion since taking these! I don’t know all the science behind them but here is some more info…

On top of these four supplements I take daily, I also take the Stress Pack during seasons of stress, either physically or emotionally. The Stress Pack gives a specific dose of vitamins and minerals that your body uses up when under stress. I took these during my postpartum period and i’m taking them during this season of Coronavirus as well.

Lastly, I take a probiotic! I love this one and take it every morning.

Okay… now onto VIRUS PROTECTION!

On top of these supplements, I am doubling up on these four things, VITAMIN C, ZINC, RAW GARLIC, and ELDERBERRY SYRUP! I am taking extra doses of these three supplements daily and if in the case I do start to become ill, I will stop taking Elderberry Syrup and take a double dose of Vitamin C, Zinc, and Garlic.

Both Zinc and Garlic are known virus killers and a high quantity of vitamin C is imperative for a healthy immune system. I also get these three from Neolife (because I trust the brand) and I make my own Elderberry Syrup! If you can’t make your own syrup, I recommend ordering from HERE because there are no additives.

*NOTE ON GARLIC: I’ve tried multiple brands of garlic supplements and this is the only one i’ve found that doesn’t leave you with bad breath or a stomach ache.

OKAY CLIFF NOTES TIME…

That was a lot of info, right?! Don’t get overwhelmed! If the supplement world is totally new for you and you want to try any of these supplements, I would recommend simply starting with the Pro Vitality Pack! This will cover you for all your basic vitamin/supplement needs and it’s clinically proven to build up your immune system by 37% in 30 days. If you have the means to add in any other products, I totally recommend that you do, but if you take anything away from this, I would highly suggest taking Pro Vitality daily.

I hope all of this info was helpful for you! I’ve had my ‘membership’ with Neolife for years now so i’m not sure exactly how it works but I know you can purchase from my link and get full price or you can also sign up for a free membership and get a discount. I believe I get 20% off for being a free member. I do NOT have a business with Neolife, I think I just get referral discounts or something if you purchase through my link! I’m not sponsored by them, I truly just love their company and trust them! There are SO many supplement companies out there right now and this one has earned my trust and so i’ve just stuck with them!

Let me know if you have any questions at all and STAY WELL, my friends!

xo, Lo

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

With everything going on, it seems like boosting immunity is on everyone’s priority list. Elderberry has been proven to improve immune function and so many people swear by it. I’ve been taking elderberry syrup to boost the immune system for years now but recently I just started making my own and let me tell ya, it’s SO much more cost effective to make your own syrup!

I’m not going to give too much info on elderberries because i’m not a doctor and don’t know all of the science but feel free to Google them! Anything that helps boost the immune system though? I’m ALL about it.

Elderberries are hard to come by these days but I will link some down below if I can find some that are available!

Here’s how to make your own Elderberry Syrup:

Ingredients:

3 cups water

1/2 cup dried elderberries

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/3 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs grated fresh ginger

3/4 cup raw honey

How to:

-Add water, elderberries, clove, cinnamon, and ginger into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil

-Simmer on the stove for 1 hour

-Remove from heat and mash the berries with a potato masher or any other flat utensil

-Let cool to room temperature

-Once at room temperature add in the raw honey

-Store syrup in a 16 ounce jar with a air-tight lid (I use mason jars)

-Store in the fridge for up to a month!

I take 1 Tbs every day for maintenance and if i’m feeling under the weather I take 1 Tbs every three hours

Let me know if you have any other questions about Elderberries and if you make this!

20 Ways to Live Well in 2020

Think about 5 things you are grateful for immediately after you wake up

Drink lemon water first thing in the morning

Let go of toxic people no matter how close you have been to them in the past

Take a probiotic

Don’t lose sight of your goals

Make personal development a priority

Sign off social media for at least 24 hours once a week

less screen time, more time in books

protect your eyes and get yourself some blue-blocking glasses

Drink a smoothie for breakfast every morning

Get rid of one thing each day that no longer serves you

Start a meditation practice, and do it daily!

Reflect weekly on your goals and stay the course

Make time for your girlfriends

Drink that second glass of wine

Go off dairy for 30 days

Start a new hobby for no other reason than it brings you joy

Drink at least 1/2 a gallon of water each day- I love this bottle to track your progress

Spend time journaling

Move your body EVERY day

Bathing suit found here: https://rstyle.me/+rhBSJ0wbECYBAOb5njDGoA

The Everyday Salad

If you’ve been following along here for any length of time, you probably know that I preach ‘a smoothie a day promotes health to stay.’ Well, I’m still a believer in that philosophy but I’m also a huge believer in eating salad everyday too! The health benefits of salads are pretty much endless but I love them for a few key reasons:

1. They are a great source of fiber- Most Americans don’t consume nearly enough fiber and that can cause a ton of digestive issues. I’ve noticed that when I eat a salad daily, i’m more regular and my digestion is better throughout the day.

2. Raw vegetables provide a ton of nutrients- Cooked veggies are great but when heating fruits/veggies, you lose some of the nutrients. By eating raw veggies everyday, you are getting as much nutrients as possible.

3. Protects against heart disease- Studies show that eating at least 1-2 cups of leafy greens daily will help to protect against heart disease. The antioxidants and nutrients in salads just can’t be beat!

Here’s how I like to make my salads:

1. Greens- I like to use a mixture of spinach, mixed romaine, kale, and arugula!

2. Cooked Protein- my protein of choice for salads is either sautéed tofu or roasted chickpeas but you can definitely add a meat option in there as well. I like to include a cooked ingredient to my salad because it keeps the entire meal from being cold.

3. Healthy fat- nothing Beats 1/2 of an avocado in your salad! Thats my favorite way to incorporate a healthy fat but you can also use nuts/seeds.

4. Citrus- I love squeezing 1/2 of lemon into my homemade dressing for my daily salad.

5. Toppings- I love adding chopped carrots and cherry tomatoes to the top!

Obviously you can add whatever you would like to your salads but these are just my go-to’s. I try to keep these ingredients in hand at all times so I can whip up a yummy salad quickly and without much thought. I also make my own salad dressing weekly to keep costs down and to avoid all the additive in store-bought dressing. Here is my go-to recipe for salad dressing:

Everyday Salad Dressing

14 cup avocado or olive oil

1/4 cup water

1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 Tbs lemon juice

2 cloves raw garlic

salt & pepper to taste

I hope this inspires you to add more salads into your daily diet! I’d love to see what salads you create! If you make one, take a picture and tag me on insta @livewellwithlo !

Our Love Story

I thought it was about dang time to write out our love story! I get questions all the time about how long Danny and I have been together and how we met and so I thought I would just write it alllllll out. It’s pretty juicy if I do say so myself…

It all started on a lake at summer camp. We were going into our senior year of highschool when we met in the middle of Hume Lake. I was kayaking with my best friend, Gracie, and Danny was on paddle boards with his best friend. I knew the friend he was with and so we waved to each other out on the lake and met up! We ended up sitting out on our kayaks and paddle boards for a couple hours out on the lake just chatting about life and school and everything that was important to a 17 year old. I’m not exactly sure how, but I ended up sitting on Danny’s paddle board and he paddled me back to shore. (Truly, I can’t remember what happened to my kayak- HAHA!)

That was the start to a beautiful friendship. We spent every waking moment of the rest of camp together and once we got home, we hung out every single day for ten days straight. Danny intrigued me. He was so sweet and kind, yet I could tell there was so much to uncover. We came from the most opposite of families and up-bringings and had so much to learn from each other. All our friends thought we were into each other but, truly, it was just a friendship! Maybe there were some buried feelings towards each other from the beginning but we had both gotten out of long relationships that had messy endings and so dating was the last thing on our minds. Actually, during this time, Danny thought he would never date again, and often would tell me that he was convinced he would never marry. ha-ha.

Months passed, we got busy, and we stopped hanging out as much. I worked a lot and dated some other guys casually and Danny was busy and in football season. We had joked and made a pact that if we weren’t dating anyone, we would goto Danny’s Winter formal together, as friends. After the football season ended, we began hanging out more again, and then, my great grandma passed away. It’s kinda crazy looking back but my great grandma Winnie passing started it all for us…

Since Danny was my best friend, he was the first person I called when my grandma died. I was VERY close to my grandma. She raised me in a lot of ways and I had never experienced loss like that before. I was wrecked. When I told Danny, I expected for him to be my knight and shining armor and come running to my rescue to be there for me in my time of need. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Danny had never experienced loss before either and his 18 year old immature self didn’t know how to process it, never mind help me process it. He ended up ignoring me for two weeks! I was sooooo mad at him and I told everyone that we were DONE being friends. I couldn’t believe he would abandon me in my time of need!

Apparently during those two weeks, he was doing a lot of reflecting. He realized that we were starting to get really close and that scared him. He was still adamant about NOT dating and so he wasn’t sure what to do. He hung out with one of his best friends and his friend helped him realize that either two things were going to come out of our relationship: either we would start dating and see if we worked out good as a couple, or one of us would start dating someone else and our friendship would fade… When he told me what his friend had said a couple weeks later, I was still mad at him and so I replied, “Well, I guess we won’t be friends anymore then!”

After those two weeks of ignoring me, Danny asked me to come to his house. I reluctantly obliged and said “we have ALOT to talk about.” I was going to make sure he knew I was not happy with how he handled my grandma’s passing. When I pulled up to his house, I saw he had covered his garage in huge posters that said “Will You Goto Winter Formal With Me?” I stayed mad at him for about two seconds and the rest is history. I said yes to Winter Formal, and unbeknownst to me, I said yes to the rest of forever.

I’ll spare the nitty gritty details but a couple weeks later, we finally admitted that we had feelings for each other and we started dating.

The rest is history. From then on it was always “Danny and Lauren”. Things got serious pretty quickly. Since Danny was so set on NOT dating, it was a BIG deal that he was dating me. I knew he must really like me! He was so serious about not dating just to date and he told me that the next person he kissed would be the last one. It took him about five months after we starting dating to actually kiss me because of it!

We went to the same college and Danny was accepted into the ROTC program at Cal State Fullerton. Because of this, we knew that we had the next eight years of our lives planned out for us. We knew we would be in school for four years and then Danny would be active duty in the Army for four years. This is what led us to get married in college. My only perception of the military was war, deployment, and uncertainty. I thought that if we got married while we were college, we would have at least a year of ‘normalcy’ before we jumped into military life. Now that I look back on it, it was definitely MY idea to get married in college, Danny just loved me and was in the for ride! haha

Danny proposed at Hume Lake (where we met) the summer going into our Junior year of college. Here’s the video…

and four months after that we got married!! Here’s the video…

Wow- it’s crazy looking back on all of this and realizing that we’ve been married five years already! So much life has happened. I look back on these videos and realize how young we were. We knew NOTHING and yet were making such huge life decisions! It’s truly by God’s grace that we are here today with our beautiful baby girl and happier than ever. I’m so thankful.

If you have stuck around this long to read our love story- you deserve a prize! I hope you enjoyed getting a little glimpse into our life. <3

xo

Lo