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Choline: The Super Nutrient for Boosting Brain, Heart, and Liver Health

Older couple smiling together at breakfast outside
Older couple smiling together at breakfast outside

Imagine unlocking a secret ingredient that powers up your brain, supports your heart, and keeps your liver in top shape. 

Often flying under the radar, choline is the unsung hero in the quest for optimal health, as it performs critical roles that keep your body and mind in peak condition. 

Choline is your go-to ally whether you’re aiming to boost your cognitive prowess, ensure your heart beats strong, or keep your liver clean. 

Let’s explore the wonders of choline together.

What is Choline?

Smiling elderly female patient holding pill and glass of water. Senior mature woman taking daily dose of prescribed meds against depression, mental disorders, flu, insomnia, pain. Elderly treatment

Choline is a nutrient that’s vital for many aspects of your health. 

It’s a building block that your body needs to perform a bunch of important tasks. Think of it as a helper that does a few critical jobs for your: 

• Brain

• Liver

• Heart

• Muscles

To help you visualize the effect of choline, imagine your body as a city with constant construction projects. 

Choline is like the building materials needed at the construction sites to build successful projects. 

Just like a city needs these materials to build and repair buildings, your body needs choline to build and maintain important parts of your body, especially your brain.

Choline helps throughout the body. Let’s take a look at all the places you’ll find benefits…

7 Benefits Choline Has On Your Health

Group of happy mature people laughing while enjoying in card game at the table.

If you don’t get enough choline, your body may experience a variety of issues because choline is involved in so many critical functions. When you get the ideal amount, choline works wonders for your body and mind. 

1. Helps your brain work better: Choline is like food for your brain. It helps with learning and remembering things, for a better mood, and controlling muscles.2 It’s important to keep your brain sharp as you get older, and choline can help.

2. Keeps your liver healthy: Choline helps stop fat from piling up in your liver, which can help your liver stay clean and work smoothly.

3. Boosts your metabolism: Choline is involved in how your body uses fats, which helps keep your metabolism going strong. This means your body can use food better and keep you feeling energetic.

4. Good for your heart: Choline helps manage certain fat levels in your blood, supporting a healthy heart.

5. Supports muscle movement: Choline is important for muscle control, making sure they can move and respond the way you want them to, which is crucial for everything from walking to lifting things.

6. Keeps cell walls strong: Choline helps build the walls of your cells, protecting and organizing cell contents properly. It’s like ensuring each cell has a strong house to live in.

7. Can make you feel happier: Choline, which is involved in making brain chemicals that control mood, might help improve your mood. 2 Research suggests that Choline helps you keep spirits high and maintain a balanced mood.

Your liver produces a small amount of choline, but not enough. Since your body doesn’t make sufficient choline for optimal health, eating foods rich in choline or taking choline supplements is a good way to ensure you’re getting enough.

9 Ways To Get Choline

cheese nuts eggs dairy

Choline can be found in a variety of foods, both animal and plant-based, as well as supplements. Here are 9 different sources that can help you meet your daily choline requirements:

1. Eggs: The yolk of an egg is particularly high in choline. One large egg can provide about 147 mg of choline, making eggs one of the best sources of this nutrient.

2. Meat: Various types of meat, including beef, pork, and chicken, contain good amounts of choline. For example, a 3-ounce serving of chicken breast provides about 72 mg of choline.

3. Fish: Fatty fish like salmon are good sources of choline. A 3-ounce serving of salmon can offer about 56 mg of choline.

4. Dairy: Milk, yogurt, and cheese contain choline in smaller amounts. For instance, a cup of milk has about 38 mg of choline.

5. Legumes: Certain legumes (beans), such as kidney beans and soybeans, are good plant-based sources of choline. A cup of cooked soybeans provides about 107 mg of choline.

6. Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds, especially peanuts and sunflower seeds, contain choline. A quarter cup of peanuts provides about 24 mg of choline.

7. Vegetables: Cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower are decent sources of choline. For example, a cup of cooked Brussels sprouts has about 63 mg of choline.

8. Whole grains: Quinoa, wheat germ, and brown rice provide small amounts of choline as well.

9. Dynamic Brain: With a blend of 40 brain health ingredients, including nootropics such as Huperzine A, Bacopa Extract, DHA, and Phosphatidylserine – Dynamic Brain is designed to support your brain’s cognitive ability.*

Unleash your brain’s full potential with Stonehenge Health’s Dynamic Brain, the ultimate cognitive support supplement designed to enhance memory, focus, and mental clarity.* 

Our carefully formulated blend of 40 powerful brain health ingredients, including choline and nootropics like Huperzine A, Bacopa Extract, DHA, and Phosphatidylserine, works synergistically to support optimal brain function and cognitive agility.* 

Whether you’re navigating the stressful demands of a hectic lifestyle, aiming to boost your productivity, or seeking to protect your brain health for years to come, Dynamic Brain offers a scientifically backed solution rich in choline and 39 other brain health ingredients.* 

Join the thousands of satisfied customers who have already experienced the transformative benefits of Dynamic Brain—a sharper, more focused mind is just a supplement away.*


Sources:
1. 1 – ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-Consumer/
2- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19656836/
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Craving quality sleep? Eat this, not that.

mature woman stretching and waking up from bed
mature woman stretching and waking up from bed

Do you ever lie awake at night, tossing and turning, without the faintest idea of why? 

Stress and anxiety are well-known sleep disrupters, but did you know the food you eat can increase the stress hormones in your body and mind? 

Foods can significantly influence your sleep quality due to their nutritional content and how they affect your body’s hormones and neurotransmitters. Some foods can promote relaxation and help you fall asleep more easily, while others can disrupt sleep patterns. 

Let’s take a closer look at some foods that are known to increase your chances of a good night’s sleep. 

8 Foods that help you sleep

Girl holds a paper plate with healthy food sitting on the floor. Home delivery food. Healthy eating concept.

Stock up on these eight types of food—most of which are both healthy and delicious—and incorporate them into your meal schedule if you’re looking to improve your sleep. 

1. Almonds and walnuts: These nuts contain melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, and magnesium, which may improve sleep quality by reducing inflammation and stress levels.

2. Turkey and chicken: High in tryptophan, an amino acid that increases the production of serotonin, which is your body’s natural “feel-good” chemical that helps regulate mood, anxiety, and happiness. The tryptophan is then converted to melatonin in the brain. Tryptophan is the reason you feel so sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner. 

3. Cherries and cherry juice: Another one of the few natural food sources of melatonin, which can help regulate sleep cycles.

4. Fatty fish (salmon, trout, mackerel): Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, which have been shown to increase serotonin production, supporting a healthy sleep cycle.

5. Milk and dairy products: Many of these foods contain tryptophan and calcium. Calcium helps the brain use the tryptophan to manufacture melatonin.

6. Kiwi: High in antioxidants and serotonin, which may help improve sleep onset, duration, and quality. Plus, they’re delicious and make a great healthy dessert. 

7. Bananas: Provide magnesium and potassium, which help relax muscles and nerves, and contain tryptophan.

8. Oats: A source of melatonin and complex carbohydrates, which can help more tryptophan get into the brain.

Do you notice anything in common among these foods? Tryptophan and melatonin are your best friends when you’re trying to fall asleep.

5 Foods that may disrupt sleep

Happy older woman drinking a mug of coffee on her couch

On the other hand, the food you eat can also affect your ability to fall and stay asleep. Here are five foods you should avoid. 

1. Caffeinated foods and beverages (coffee, tea, chocolate): No surprise here—caffeine can block sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain and increase adrenaline production. Your body needs roughly 10-12 hours to rid itself of the effects of caffeine fully, so plan accordingly. 

2. Spicy foods: These can cause heartburn or indigestion, making it harder to fall asleep. There are few things worse than a poor night’s sleep on top of stomach pain and indigestion.

3. High-fat and fried foods: Digesting these can be hard on the body and take longer to digest, potentially leading to discomfort and disrupted sleep.

4. High-sugar foods and heavy meals: Eating big or sugary meals too close to bedtime can lead to spikes in blood sugar, potentially causing wakefulness at night.

5. Alcohol: While it may help you fall asleep faster, alcohol reduces REM sleep, which is considered the most restorative phase of sleep. In other words, you’ll get a lot less value out of your sleep with alcohol in your system. 

Unfortunately, there’s yet another way food can disturb your sleep!

When is mealtime?

Middle age woman looking smartwatch standing at home

The timing of your meal can also affect your sleep.

It’s not just the types of foods you eat that can negatively affect your sleep quality and overall health—the timing of when you eat can also be a factor. 

If you’re looking for better sleep, here are two eating habits you should avoid:

1. Eating late at night

Hungry mature man near open fridge in kitchen at night

Eating late at night can shift your internal clock and disrupt the natural circadian rhythm (your internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle every 24 hours), making it harder to fall asleep at your usual time.

One reason is that late-night eating can affect the release of hormones like insulin and cortisol, which can influence one’s sleep-wake cycle. 

Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels can lead to increased urination during the night, disrupting sleep. Conversely, low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) can cause wakefulness or nightmares, also disrupting sleep.

Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone; increasing these levels before bedtime can increase stress. 

Additionally, eating close to bedtime can lead to discomfort and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), as lying down soon after eating can cause stomach acid to move up into the esophagus. GERD is a more severe form of heartburn.

2. Eating large meals before bed

woman overeating pizza sitting in bed late at night before bedtime unhealthy eating, lifestyle concept

Large or supersized meals can overload your digestive system, making it hard for you to fall asleep or causing you to wake up during the night.

And, of course, if those foods are heavy or rich, they may cause bloating, gas, and discomfort, disrupting your sleep.

Set yourself up for optimal sleep

Stonehenge Health Dynamic Mushrooms

There are a few things you can do via your nutrition to increase your chances for a good night’s sleep. 

First, aim to have your dinner at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime. Allowing space between your meal and bedtime gives enough time for digestion to occur and helps avoid discomfort or indigestion.

If you get a little hungry after dinner, opt for a light snack that won’t spike your blood sugar or cause digestion issues. Foods containing tryptophan, magnesium, or calcium (see the list above!) can promote sleep.

Eating your meals and snacks at consistent times every day can help regulate your body’s internal clock, improving your sleep cycle and overall health.

These actions all have one thing in common—they aim to reduce the stress inside your body. 

And there’s another thing you can do to help reduce stress…

Dynamic Mushrooms from Stonehenge Health is a powerful nootropic formulation designed to help support healthy cognitive function while also helping to support healthy stress response.* 

With a sophisticated blend of Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Chaga, Shiitake, and Maitake, Dynamic Mushrooms is your new secret weapon for taking control of your sleep.* 

Ready to explore the magical world of mushrooms?