Jenna’s Top 20 Amazon Items for Optimal Health & Wellness
Friends, this may in fact be the most fun I have ever had writing a blog post! I mean, c’mon – putting together a collection of the best things for health is ALL about experiencing more pleasure, less pain, and an overall better quality of life – are you with me!? In the beginning it took a little more thought and intention coming up with a list of the best things for health and well being, but after hours of digging through my shopping cart history, and also doing a little bit more shopping myself, I have come up with the ultimate list of things to have to life a healthier life!
After looking over this list of best items for health and wellness, I decided that it would be best to break it up into a five different categories: Immune Health, Yoga, Fitness, Mental Health, and Overall Wellness. So without further adew, here is this health expert’s list of the top 20 Amazon items for Optimal Health and Wellness!
Immune Health
Have you heard of this trendy new health superfood? Moringa is INCredible for your health! Why, you may ask, is moringa good for your health? Moringa contains active compounds called glucosinolates that are metabolized in the body into something called isothiocyanates, which are absolutely amazing for gut health and therefore your health as a whole. (1) You can read more about moringa in my article HERE!
2. Artemesia Annua
Unlike moringa powder, artemisia (also known as sweet Annie wormwood) probably won’t be trendy for another handful of years… But we are way ahead of the trends here my friends. 😉 This loose leaf tea (or if you’d prefer a tincture that you can just add to your water you can find it here: Herb Pharm Certified Organic Artemisia Annua (Sweet Annie) Liquid Extract is another INCredible way to boost your immune system. We know as a society that humans need to be getting their vitamins, antioxidants and things to “baby” our immune system, but sometimes we also gotta “work out our immune system” so that it can build itself bigger and stronger! This is exactly what artemisia can do.
3. Athletic Greens
I know, I know. A dietitian is actually recommending a greens powder? But hear me out first!! Normally I used to tell any and all of my clients, “Don’t waste your money on greens powder. You need to get your ‘greens’ from whole foods!” And while I still 100% believe and teach this philosophy, AG1 can do many different things than what you’d expect from a greens powder. This supplement is unique because it is not just greens! AG1 contains a collection of antioxidants, probiotics, and my favorite: adaptogens.
According to the Cleveland Clinic Adaptogens help your body respond to stress, anxiety, fatigue, and overall well-being! I personally feel a SIGNIFICANT difference when taking adaptogens when it comes to stress at my job, and can more easily get through my day without unhealthy amounts of stress as well as get to sleep more easily at night!
I am SUCH a sucker for this probiotic and I buy it religiously because it is a GAMECHANGER. I swear, 99% of the probiotics in the grocery store and online are pure snake oil – they are ineffective! Our own personal gut is as diverse as our fingerprint, so taking all of these ridiculous probiotics that contain 15 different random strains and expecting it to be “good for you” is kind of like throwing a dart at a dart board (blindfolded) and expecting it to land on the bulls-eye (let alone on the board itself!!). When it comes to probiotics, we need to be consuming microbes that have been heavily researched, well established and are shown to be effective at the job they are set out to do in our bodies.
Furthermore, this product is so superior because the probiotics are encapsulated (covered) with a layer of lipids, which help them survive getting through your stomach acid and into your gut still alive! Do you really think your unrefrigerated capsule probiotic from the store is also doing that for you? I would guess absolutely not!
5. Snap and Strain Pot Strainer
What a useful little kitchen gadget! I love functional food tools like this one! Now friends, there are plenty of other things you can use this for besides pasta (not that pasta is a bad thing…wink!) including rice noodles for your next batch of colorful spring rolls, lentils for that signature lentil curry you make (or are about to make!) and even for boiling veggies to make life easier! I highly recommend 😊
I’m trying to make your life simpler here. If you can do the work with buying those veggies and cutting them up (or just buying precut veggies when you can), then I’m here to give you the easiest, most hassel-free way to eat significantly healthier. There’s no dishes from cooking like there would be on the stove, and cooking veggies like this takes way less time than it would in the oven. I grill year round (and I live in Colorado!) so why not give this simple way to eat healthier a try?
Yoga
If you have ever been to a YIN YOGA class, you know all about how a dense rectangular pillow can change your practice and hence your life! Bolsters are great for those times where you have just put your body into some big, intense workouts and you need to recover, but getting into a deep stretch is just too much for the body. Actually, getting too deep into a stretch when the body is already inflamed can actually lead to more inflammation! That’s why bolsters are so great – they create an environment where the body can get into a healing posture without going too far!
8. Yoga Blocks
Along the same thought process of the bolster is our yoga blocks! But actually, yoga blocks can do so much more. If a yoga bolster helps you get into more gentle of a stretch, yoga blocks can actually do that as well as get you into a deeper stretch!! Many people think that yoga blocks are for beginners, but if you have ever taken a yoga teacher training course, you know that yoga blocks are actually used by MANY master yogis.
Personally as yoga teacher and surfer, I have been so grateful for my yoga blocks because they have allowed me to improve my lunge and better my popup when it comes to the waves! Many of our body anatomies actually need some assistance properly getting into yoga postures sometimes, so why not invest in something so affordable that can help so much?!
9. Yoga Strap
Part 3 of 3 of the yoga accessory trifecta is the yoga strap (the bolster and blocks being the other 2 of course) 😉 and for good reason! Ever get into a place where you just want to dig into that juicer, deeper stretch? Straps are great for this purpose! Whether you are trying to train your fingers to be able to touch your toes, or just reeeeally want to give those traps that extra love punch stretch, a yoga strap is great for bringing your body to new and greater levels of recovery!
10. Yoga Sticks Posture Corrector
Oh my gosh you guys, I just ordered this today and am SOOO excited! If you have a desk job like me, you know what I mean when I say that the computer hunch is a real thing. I want more than ever to have good posture and carry my body in a way that is confident, elegant and relaxed in doing so!! The good news is there is actually some literature that shows the efficacy of posture corrector tools, especially when paired with posture-strengthening exercises!
If you’re like me, you want to be warm and cozy whenever and wherever you are. And although this is the reason I love my grippy yoga socks so much, many people alternatively use these yoga socks because they can help to reduce slipping on your mat whenever you sweat! Many of the high-level yoga teachers that I know use these socks because they know how much it helps their practice to not have to worry about slipping and sliding around all the time. And while you may also consider buying a higher quality yoga mat ( such as this one: Liforme Original Yoga Mat ) having no slip yoga socks is a quick (and much cheaper) way to get the same job done!!
Fitness
12. Resistance Bands
So many people have their own opinions on these types of bands – I personally love them! I actually have this very same set (because who doesn’t love shades of pink??) and use them often. They are the one thing that has allowed me to feel and activate my glutes after years of sitting at my desk and messing my symmetry all up. Live and learn I guess!! I love that I can take these anywhere I go, including on the road and I can even use them in a hotel room, on the beach or even at the office!
13. This Really Epic Water Bottle
Ok, I gotta admit, I haven’t bit the bullet on this one yet… it’s just sitting in my shopping cart waiting for my implusive itch to buy it. (Lol!) But I mean, for anyone who is a notoriously bad water drinker and is trying to get better at drinking water – this sure does make it look like a lot more fun!! From what I understand about it, it has Bluetooth and tracks your water consumption on an app as you drink out of it. The color of the light even changes when you reach a new level of water consumption! It also is vacuum-sealed so your liquid stays cold (or hot) throughout the day for optimal drinking temperature! Fancy shmancey.
Oh my gosh, where do we even start with red light therapy!? Infrared light is so powerful because its mechanism is in stimulating the mitochondria of our cells including our muscle cells (3). Our mitochondria are the “engines” of our cells that drive them to repair damage and replicate into new cells! Because infrared light has been shown to speed up our mitochondrial engines, the idea is that red light also speeds up muscle tissue healing and therefore recovery!
Literature also suggests that infrared light may be beneficial to those with heart disease as it may increase the amount of nitric oxide in cardiovascular tissue, a compound that increases the elasticity of blood vessels and can lower blood pressure!! (4) You can read more about the health benefits of infrared light therapy here: (Infrared Therapy: Health Benefits and Risks)
Mental Health
15. A Grounding Mat
Okay, bear with me on this one because some may consider it to be a little “woo woo”… The idea behind a grounding mat is to simulate “an electrical connection between your body and the earth”. (Grounding Mats: Your Questions Answered) With the amount of bluetooth, wifi, radio waves, and all of the various other electromagnetic waves that we have introduced into our modern day society, these “non-ionizing radiations have been shown to produce biological effects to the body including heating, altering chemical reactions, and inducing electrical currents in tissues and cells” (5).
More research is still needed to clearly define the health outcomes of these radioactive wave exposures to our health, but there is plenty of research showing that “grounding” can produce positive health outcomes in humans. The World Health Organization, through its International EMF Project, is identifying research needs and co-ordinating a world-wide program of EMF studies to allow a better understanding of any health risk associated with EMF exposure. (Electromagnetic hypersensitivity)
Looking to improve your mental health but don’t have the time or money to commit to therapy? These 6 mental health workbooks are a SPECTACULAR way to do some self-work while learning how these extremely important mental health aspects affect us all. When we learn about how our mind works, we become mindful – this is when true healing and change can take place!
Meditation, yoga and exercise can do such wonderful things for us including bring us to our own epiphanies about these topics, but these workbooks do such a good job at just “spelling it out for us” in a way that other methods may not always do.
17. Portable Cold Plunge Bathtub
You may be thinking: “Is Jenna really serious about this one?” And the answer to your question is yes, absolutely I am!!! Believe it or not, cold plunges can be HUGE when talking about mental health. Exposing yourself to a controlled environment that simulates stress can actually train our minds and bodies to better tolerate and thrive in stressful situations in real life!!
What I love about this cold plunge tub is this: it is portable so you can take it anywhere – maybe you have some fun with friends at your next summer vacation home?! And also, if you don’t want to just jump into an ice-filled tub, you can somewhat control the temperature! I’ve read reviews of people actually putting this strait into their walk-in shower! Start cool (around 55 degrees Fahrenheit) and work your way into that icey exhilaration eventually!
Overall Wellness
18. Tongue Cleaner
No, this is not just for fresher breath! I still cannot believe the health benefits of something so simple!! To put it simply, tongue scraping helps to remove the toxins and pathogens that get into our mouth from everyday life, such as the imperfect foods that we eat, as well as by removing waste products from natural detox pathways in our body that end at the tongue!
One study found that tongue scraping was more effective than listerine strips in reducing one of the most common pathogens in our oral microbiome. (6) And while brushing our teeth and flossing are equally as important, it is clear that tongue scraping provides its own unique benefits. Did you know that it is the good bacteria in our mouth that help convert nitrates into nitric oxide!? Remember that THIS is the compound that helps with blood pressure and blood vessel flexibility!? It’s all related friends!!!
19. You are a Badass Talking Button
I couldn’t help myself!! I actually bought this button a long time ago and, true confession, it sits on my desk in my home office and I push it regularly. (Soo embarrassing I know!) But I gotta tell you, there are plenty of times in my everyday life that I need to be reminded of this. When I am faced with a task that I feel intimidated by, or even when I accomplish a task and just need to hear another voice acknowledge it, this silly ridiculous little button is a charm.
20. Back Stretcher
Growing up in a home with a parent as a chiropractor, we had some pretty fancy back stretchers in our home! While I don’t have anything like I did as a kid nowadays, something like this would do wonders for the many times that I wish I had something like it. Long-term spinal compression is such a common issue with the majority of Americans, and working for as long as I have with orthopedic patients, it is so clear that we need to be doing more things to protect (and prevent) our spine from things such as bulging and herniated discs and spinal fusion surgery. Plus, $18 to prevent spending thousands of dollars and years of back pain? Isn’t this an obvious buy for all of us?!
Well friends, there you have it. My top 20 Amazon items for optimal health and wellness. We went from supplements, to yoga, to fitness, to mental health and beyond. My hope in reading through this is that you have found some ideas for ways to live a healthier and happier life. May you never stop shopping for ways to live better!
Literature Citations
Fahey J., et al. The Diversity of Chemoprotective Glucosinolates in Moringaceae (Moringa spp.). Nature. 2018;8(7994):1-14.
Cole A., et al. Scapular Bracing and Alteration of Posture and Muscle Activity in Overhead Athletes With Poor Posture. Journal of Athletic Training. 2013;48(1):12-24.
Ryan T., Erickson M., Brizendine J., Young H., and McCully K. Noninvasive evaluation of skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity with near-infrared spectroscopy: correcting for blood volume changes. Journal of Applied Physiology.2012;113(1):175-183.
Yang Wang, Shanshan Shui and Xia Wang. Molecular Mechanism of Far-infrared Therapy and Its Applications in Biomedicine. Science & Technology Review 2014; 32:80–84. DOI: 10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2014.30.014.
Feyyaz O., Aysegul K. Electromagnetic Waves and Human Health. Electromagnetic Waves. 2011;DOI:10.5772/693.
George White, Mirna Armaleh; Tongue scrapping as a means of reducing oral mutans streptococci. J Clin Pediatr Dent 1 January 2005; 28 (2): 163–166. doi: https://doi.org/10.17796/jcpd.28.2.n18275821658263v