Laura S. Conley

Energy

What is the Lymphatic System and Tips to Improve It

What is the Lymphatic System and Why You Should Care

Do you ever feel “puffy” or bloated? Struggle with chronic headaches, congestion or allergies?  Do you constantly feel fatigued or like you’re always fighting off a cold? These are all signs your lymphatic system may be struggling. So what exactly is your lymphatic system and what can you do to keep it healthy?

In a nutshell, the lymphatic system is your waste removal system + immune system architecture. It includes a network of 500-600 tiny lymph nodes, as well as tissues, organs and glands including your spleen, thymus, tonsils.

It’s deeply interconnected with your circulatory and digestive systems as well as muscles and fascia. Your blood and lymph complement each other – think about your circulatory system like the faucets in the house, and your lymphatic system like the drains. You can’t have one without the other, and both need to function well to avoid big messy problems.

Dysfunction or stagnation can lead to poor immunity, autoimmune disease, cancer, migraines and much more. 

Here are the top tips to keep your lymph flowing for optimal health and drainage.

  1. Drink water!  Keep things flowing by staying hydrated with clean pure water.
  2. Move your body.  Movement is the best way to keep things flowing through the tiny vessels which don’t have a pump to circulate fluid. Try to move as much as possible in all different ways, and yes; stretching count too.
  3. Avoid dairy. Dairy from cows milk causes the lymph to thicken and creates mucus like sludge which clogs up the system.  
  4. Reduce the chemical load on your body. By reducing the amount of chemicals and toxins in your body, you reduce the load on your lymphatic system to drain it all.  Think the less you put into and around your body (ie deodorant, cleaning products, fragrances, lotion, soaps, makeup etc.) the better.
  5. Make sure you’re going to the bathroom regularly.  The last part of lymph drainage is the elimination to finally get all these waste products out of your body.  Eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fiber can help ensure you are moving things through your digestive tract and eliminating lymph waste on time.

By taking care of your lymphatic system, you will notice more energy, and feel more vibrant everyday.  It also goes a long way in terms of disease prevention, so keep that lymph flowing!

 

Under Fueled Training – You May Not Realize You’re Doing It

During the days when I used to train and not fuel my body adequately looked like this….:
I would take an energy pill, drink, or gel when I was experiencing extremely low energy. Typically, that little boost would wear off and I would experience what I now know is a blood sugar crash.  At the time I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was I was getting very shaky and feeling extremely disconnected from myself. I would also frequently feel very lightheaded. I felt very weak and jittery inside.

Usually, I would have no idea what was causing these symptoms, and I would just tell myself “this has happened before—I just have to ride it out, and it will pass.” Once these symptoms passed, I would get re-connected and perform better than ever. But, during those 15 minutes (and sometimes up to an hour), it was extremely unsettling, and sometimes I would break out in cold sweats. At the time, I did not realize that I was in an extreme hypoglycemic state.

After my workouts I was usually so starved that I would not even be able to talk to anyone until I got food in my system. I was extremely irritable and angry. I would snap at people all the time. My close friends and family called me ‘Dark Laura’ when I got this way. Nobody realized (least of all, me) these mood swings were happening because my body thought it was actually starving to death.

Looking back now these symptoms all makes sense. I would not have fueled myself properly at all. Sometimes, I might have just had a sports gel or energy bar earlier in the day leading to that insulin spike and inevitable crash.

The first step for me to preventing this terrifying symptoms was to get off of sugar and carbohydrates completely. The transition took some time, but I slowly became fat adapted and no longer had those crazy bouts of hypoglycemia. Now, I am very happy to experience stable blood sugar and energy throughout the entire day. I never feel like I am starving. I also don’t feel like I’m going to kill somebody if I don’t get food in two minutes or less.

My message here is  to really be smart with your nutrition. Make sure you are giving the body the proper fuel and nutrients it needs to perform at the level you’re demanding. Once you get it dialed to the proper and adequate intake, you will be amazed how much better you feel and your mood will improve dramatically as well.