TriVita Weekly Wellness Reports

[BernardMaree]

Lose a Little Weight... Gain a Lot of Health Benefits

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

Setting and achieving worthwhile goals is the key to lasting happiness. Some goals seem so large that they must be comparable to eating an elephant – just too big to even know how to begin. Weight loss can be that challenging for many. Looking at the BMI chart and knowing how far you have to go can be discouraging. There is good news, though. Losing just a little can have profound health benefits.

How to eat an elephant

I want to make a suggestion that I have seen work countless times: If you are overweight or obese, set a goal to lose only 10% of your body weight. That’s all – just 10%. Meeting this goal will give you most of the health benefits and much of the energy you will need to improve your life substantially.

It is often said that weight loss is simple, just not easy. Many experts tout the “calories in – calories out” formula as if it were Holy Scripture. I first heard this as the prescription for weight loss when I was a teenager. Now, here I am well over 50 years of age and I still hear it almost daily. In those intervening decades we have experienced an explosion of obesity. So, merely repeating the same formula over and over is clearly not working!

What does work?

Purpose!

Purpose works because it ignites passion. Purpose defines the reason for effort – for example, the reason we want to lose weight – while passion translates that sense of purpose into motion. Granted, some people want weight loss for reasons that do not require much passion. Cosmetic weight loss may be one example and disease prevention may be another.

Purpose requires a plan and setting SMART goals:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely

Take that sense of purpose fueled by your passion and structure a plan that will help you accomplish your mission.

Purpose, passion, plan and mission are successful strategies when it comes to weight loss. We have seen this time and again. Now, this is not as simple as “calories in – calories out.” But it is easy. And it works with the way we function as human beings: with purpose!

Even a little helps. To reach your SMART goals you will likely need better health and more energy. Did you know that even modest amounts of weight loss can provide you with substantial improvements in vitality? Consider making it a SMART goals to lose 10% of your body weight. Losing just 10% of your body weight as fat can help improve your blood pressure, blood sugar, digestion and metabolism. You will have more energy, better self-esteem and a more optimistic view of life in general.

Remember, the elephant you are trying to eat, so to speak, is not weight loss itself. Trimming down gives you more energy to do the things that matter to you the most. Weight loss is a means to an end: a means to living a life of purpose. So, as a milestone on your goal toward a life of purpose, set a 10% reduction in weight as a SMART goals. Use a body composition scale to make sure that you are losing only fat, not lean tissue like muscles, bones and brain. You will need those as assets in your journey.

Our LEANOLOGY body-composition program was thoroughly reviewed in an Arizona State University study. Researchers found that with Leanology 100% of the weight loss came from fat – none from vital, energy-producing organs.

Maintain balance

So, do you know how to eat an elephant? The answer is still “one bite at a time,” only now we see that there must be a valid reason for eating the elephant in the first place! Don’t try to eat the elephant all at once and don’t try to do it alone. Purpose, passion, plan and mission are the stuff of life. Yet, life is about balance. As humans, we Love, we Play, we Work and we Worship. Our manner of life should reflect these priorities.

Take Control of Your Health

• Decide what you really, really want - Write it down
  
• Now, decide WHY you want it - Write it down
  
• List your SMART goals - Write them down
  
• Use the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness to structure your success
  
• Use the LEANOLOGY system to achieve a 10% reduction in body weight
  - Leanology Weight Loss Capsules
  - Leanology Nutritional Shakes
  - Leanology Appetite Control Chews

[BernardMaree]

Homocysteine, Genetics & Vitamins

Homocysteine (HCY) is a tool used by your body to modify protein. Specifically, homocysteine carves up the amino acid methionine into smaller amino acids. Each of these amino acids has important functions. The "leftovers" from this construction project are not thrown away. Instead, your body recombines the debris back into methionine again.

Methionine is the protein that serves as the foundation for all other proteins. It's like concrete: You can build a small cottage or a large skyscraper on the same concrete foundation. You can build brain cells, heart cells, bone cells, and healthy cells for your entire body on the protein methionine. Homocysteine is responsible for crafting that foundation. While homocysteine is an excellent tool for your body, too much of it can be fatal.

It's in the genes
There is a common gene defect among people in North America. It is called an MTHFR defect. It allows homocysteine to escape into the bloodstream and literally shred your arteries, causing a stroke; tangle your brain cells causing Alzheimer's disease; shatter your bones causing osteoporosis; and inflame your heart, causing a heart attack.

Another common genetic defect is MTHFD. It allows homocysteine to run amok inside your cells. This can lead to cell mutations and even cancer.

What an elegant, yet destructive element homocysteine can prove to be! How can we modify homocysteine and harness its constructive power while protecting against its destructive rampage?

The answer is found in Vital Amines.

A tale of two families
Vital Amines are active enzymes in your blood, organs, and even inside your cells. You may know them by their shortened name - vitamins! In the world of "B" vitamins there are two families:

1. The MTHFR family
   • B-12
   • Folic acid
   • B-6
   • Biotin
2. The MTHFD family
   • Riboflavin
   • B-1
   • Niacin
   • Pantothenic acid

Elevated homocysteine can be caused by genetics or poor nutrition. When a person has an active genetic defect they require intense nutrition to offset the imbalance caused by the gene mutation. Supplemental nutrition is very effective in most cases. TriVita's HCY Guard® was designed specifically for high HCY. One study on TriVita's HCY Guard found that HCY levels could be reduced by 35% in just 6 weeks!

Vital amines such as the Riboflavin family of B vitamins combine with antioxidants to help reduce the activity of cellular homocysteine. One study found that the specific antioxidant ECGC (the antioxidant found in green tea) stopped the trigger DNMT (an enzyme) from releasing homocysteine inside the cell. People consuming large amounts of ECGC have reduced DNMT and have fewer cases of cancer.

Riboflavin and ECGC are both found in Energy Now!®. In fact, just as TriVita's Sublingual B-12 and HCY Guard supplements contain the B-12 family of B vitamins, Energy Now! contains the complementary Riboflavin family of B vitamins. They work together to form a perfect B complex that helps your body reduce homocysteine.

Are you at risk?
Is there a way to tell if you have one of these common disease risks? Yes; one way is to have a genetic test performed. This is usually done by drawing enough blood to collect DNA and submitting this to one of only a few labs in North America that can perform genetic testing. A second way is to have your homocysteine levels tested. This can be performed by most medical laboratories. Ask your doctor to do this test with your annual physical.

Another indicator of elevated homocysteine is your own family tree. Does any "first-degree" relative (father, mother, brother, or sister) have any of the conditions attributed to homocysteine? If so, you likely have the gene defect. Does a "second-degree" relative (grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins) have any of the conditions attributed to homocysteine? If so, you may have the gene defect as well.

Did you know nutrient deficiencies can mimic a genetic defect by failing to provide the minimum amount of vital amines necessary to prevent elevated homocysteine? A poor diet, illness, pregnancy, aging, and stress can place you at risk for elevated HCY. Children and adults with asthma and irritable bowel syndrome are at high risk for elevated HCY.

Lowering your homocysteine
High HCY in your blood is linked to serious illness. Helping your body reduce high HCY may greatly reduce your risk for serious illness. These actions will also help:

• Eat fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants - 5 servings daily for children, 7 servings for women, and 9 servings for men.
• Reduce your stress load.
• Get at least 30 minutes of vigorous activity every day.
• Supplement your diet with nutrients such as TriVita's HCY Guard and Energy Now!.
• Defeat stress by nurturing your spirit with healthy relationships and a healthy sense of purpose.

Remember, genes are not fate; you have as much control over your genes (through nutrients and nurturing) as they have over you. Build a healthy foundation for your future by balancing your homocysteine.

Take Control of Your Health

Be sure to have your homocysteine levels tested if:

• You have a family history of:
  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Osteoporosis
  • Cancer
• You experience gastric disturbances, breathing difficulties, or kidney issues
• You are over 50
• You are pregnant
• You are experiencing high stress levels
• You eat a poor diet
• You don't exercise regularly

[BernardMaree]

Wellness from the Inside Out

The average person in North America lives about 77 years.

Imagine building a skyscraper that was 77 stories tall. How sound would it be at the top floor if a beam were mislaid in the foundation? Healthy aging means that we build a structure (us!) that is sound, habitable and healthy - right to the very top floor. This life-long building process begins at the foundation: our DNA.

How cells work
There may be trillions of cells in the human body. Cells are like tiny factories. Each one has a function and a product to produce. Our DNA orchestrates the production of tiny proteins that are made into enzymes, hormones and other products of the cell.

Under extreme circumstances the cell will alter its production of basic, life-sustaining proteins and produce whatever is necessary to meet a crisis. For example, when we are under stress our adrenal glands produce large amounts of adrenaline. They don?t normally produce much adrenaline; they usually produce mineral corticoids that help us build healthy bones. Under stress they change their function.

Under stress our cells stop producing the things that build us up (anabolism) and start producing things that tear us down (catabolism). Your body does this because the message of stress is that it must sacrifice healthy function - healthy aging - for a time to produce energy needed to ensure our safety. This is an acceptable trade if we are using the energy to get out of oncoming traffic! It is a poor way to deal with constant, chronic, daily stress.

The DNA is sensitive to signals of stress because it is designed to help us survive. We must be very careful of the physical, emotional and mental signals we send our cells. According to Candace Pert, Ph.D., author of the book, Molecules of Emotion every thought we think, every food we eat or drink, and every breath we take washes over our DNA as information. Our DNA responds by either building us up (anabolism) or tearing us down (catabolism) to sacrifice on the altar of chronic stress. Adaptogens carry information that helps our DNA select anabolism to build us up, even under extreme stress.

Building healthy cells
Healthy cells make healthy tissues. Healthy tissues of different types are collected together as organs. For example, your liver consists of many hundreds of different types of cells all collected together to make up your liver. Organs work within systems (for example, your digestive system, immune system, etc.). Systems combine to form a healthy, functioning body. Still, the basic unit of life is the cell and the basic "conductor" - orchestrating the function of the cell - is the DNA.

In order for our DNA to accomplish the task of building healthy cells we must provide the necessary nutrients every day. We have specific requirements for health: fats and proteins, carbohydrates and water, oxygen, minerals and vitamins, etc. If we are missing even a single nutrient at the critical moment it is needed, our cells will not be able to carry out their work of creating healthy proteins. Incomplete proteins are produced, cells become toxic and these become the focus for inflammation and disease.

We simply must provide our cells with the nutrients they need every day.

Toxic DNA
It is important to know that your DNA never produces disease. Instead, it produces proteins with the raw materials it has at that moment and in response to information it receives. That information comes in the form of nutrients and toxins from both inside and outside our body. Healthy application of the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness and daily healthy aging nutrients send positive (anabolic) messages to your DNA. Trauma, toxins, deficiencies and stress send negative (catabolic) messages to your DNA.

Trauma, toxins, deficiencies and stress damage your DNA and cause it to produce incomplete, toxic proteins. These proteins become the source of inflammation and disease. Many nutrients help repair the DNA. A special antioxidant polyphenol called ECGC found in green tea and concentrated in Energy Now!® takes the lead in antioxidant DNA repair. CoEnzyme Q-10 (CoQ-10) adds fuel to the repair process and works in concert with ECGC.

Conclusion
Like a healthy building, we need a solid foundation. The difference between our health and the health of a building is that our cells renew periodically; they are not fixed when manufactured. Therefore, we can correct any building errors by applying sound, healthy essentials. We can improve our health by building healthy cells at any age. We are literally one choice away from improving healthy cellular function: the choice to live the 10 Essentials.

Take Control of Your Health

• Make a strong commitment to being healthy
• Think positive thoughts
  • Give and receive love
  • Be forgiving
  • Practice gratitude
  • Develop acceptance
• Attend to your physical needs daily:
  • Breathe deeply
  • Drink pure water
  • Sleep peacefully
  • Eat nutritiously
  • Enjoy activity
• Develop your spirituality
• Take healthy aging supplements daily
• Add Adaptogen 10 Plus® to help combat stress
• Add Nopalea™ to help reduce inflammation
• Add Energy Now! and CoEnzyme Q-10 to help repair DNA

[BernardMaree]

Answers to Your Nopalea Questions

With a new product comes questions about why, when and how to use it. The more popular the product is, the more frequently the questions are repeated. In this Weekly Wellness Report I have attempted to answer some of the more common questions about this wonderful anti-inflammatory product.

How much sugar, salt and iron are in Nopalea?
Nopalea™ contains NO ADDED SUGAR. It is naturally sweet. Yet it is still low-calorie and low-carbohydrate. Interestingly, the calories and carbohydrates will change from batch to batch depending on the harvest. Nopalea is "wildcrafted," meaning that Nopalea is not cultivated, and no fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals of any kind are ever used - ever! It is harvested from the Sonoran Desert by natives just as it has been for thousands of years. Since it is not cultivated, the concentration of sugars and minerals in the plant change depending on how much rain we have that year. The label will accurately reflect the concentration of constituents for that harvest.

One challenge is that Nopalea is the first product of its kind. Therefore, no "standards" data existed before we created them. So, label changes happen because we created the testing standards to accurately measure the rare and powerful constituents of Nopalea.

Will Nopalea interfere with my medications?
Your physician and pharmacist know you best - ask them! We will say this: With over 200 papers published on the benefits of the Nopal cactus superfruit in human health, we have not found even one negative reaction or drug interaction. The only caution we discovered concerns the blood-thinner warfarin (Coumadin).

If you take warfarin you need to speak with your pharmacist. Nopalea is a fruit juice. In rare instances, people on warfarin will be restricted from consuming fruit juices for a short time while their medication stabilizes. Only your physician and pharmacist know if you should be restricted from fruit juices at this time, so ask them before you take it. But we have not found a single instance of drug interaction in the medical literature; Nopalea should be very safe.

How much Nopalea can I take in a day?
The label recommends one to three ounces daily. This is based on minimum amounts in otherwise healthy people. However, the greater the level of your inflammation, the more anti-inflammatory strategies you will need. That makes sense, doesn't it? You wouldn't want to quench a forest fire with a single bucket of water!

One Member was experiencing a flare-up of a rheumatoid disorder. She had taken many remedies - prescription and non-prescription - and had seen chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists. She had been in an unbroken cycle of pain for 18 months. She took additional ounces daily and broke the cycle of inflammation and pain in about three weeks. She continues to take it daily with no known adverse effects. And she is pain free.

In the early pilot trials of Nopalea we gave our test subjects 16 ounces daily. Not only did they not experience any known negative effects, their blood work universally improved.

Conclusion
So many of the maladies we suffer from today are related to inflammation. Nopalea contains Betalains; Betalains quench inflammation. Testimonials from around North America report amazing improvement in well-being with Nopalea. Science from around the world details the astounding health benefits from Betalains found in the Nopal cactus. Both scientific and empirical reports tell us that Nopalea is safe and effective in promoting wellness. Enjoy Nopalea often. I promise: we won't run out!

Take Control of Your Health

• Use Nopalea to help reduce inflammation and detoxify
• Practice the 10 Essentials each day
  • Breathe Deeply
  • Drink Water
  • Sleep Peacefully
  • Eat Nutritiously
  • Enjoy Activity
  • Give and Receive Love
  • Be Forgiving
  • Practice Gratitude
  • Develop Acceptance
  • Develop a Relationship with God
• Create a nutrient base with Healthy Aging supplements:
  • VitaDaily AM/PM™
  • Sublingual B-12
  • Vital C
  • OmegaPrime®

[swathi]

HI
Post your business ads for free using ********www.lockads*****

LockAds is about free classifieds . Here you will find ads for sale, purchase, rentals and services related to Homes, Cars, vehicles, Machines for sale and rent. Find Jobs, Business opportunities,Trading,Stocks, Electronic, Home Appliances, Education, Apartments for Rent, Travel, Hotels, Health & Beauty, and ,computers,mobiles phones and many more etc. Games,News,Astrology,Free online Radio.You can Discuss about any topic or Product in our Chat Forum for better Business.

[BernardMaree]

Death of a Generation

In medicine we get so used to dealing with statistics that we don't always remember that there are real people behind these facts. I recently quoted the statistic that children born today will not live as long or as well as their parents. Many of you could well be thinking, "That's my children or grandchildren you're talking about!"

Indeed, these are the children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews that belong to all of us. These are the people we love. How did we get this way? What does science tell us about the health of generation Y2K? How can we steer them into better health?

Generation lost
The health of the Y2K generation (those born in the New Millennium) is a direct "cause and effect" relationship of the health choices made in the previous 50 years. Since the end of World War II, North American and Western European diets have contained more fat, more sugar and fewer nutrients. At the same time, physical activity has declined and television viewing has increased. People are also getting less sunshine and less sleep - two elements critical for health!

The health consequences to our Y2K generation could be compared to planting a seed of "convenience" in the 1940s, nourishing the sapling with inactivity in the 1950s and 1960s, seeing the blossoms on the tree in the 1970s and 1980s (the rapid decline in our own health and the rapid increase in our waistlines), and bearing full fruit of a lost generation beginning in the 1990s until today.

How bad is it?
According to popular resources such as The National Post in Canada and esteemed scientific journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, there is a sharp decline of several years in expected longevity and a dramatic rise in disease risk - especially diseases associated with obesity (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes). It is pervasive across all social and economic groups; but of course, the disease rates increase for people in lower economic regions.

Just imagine: The health gains of the past 1,000 years are erased in one generation! It is comparable to a global recession where financial gains and wealth of a lifetime are wiped out in a matter of minutes.

Steer a new course
Imagine your health is like the voyage of a cruise ship. If that ship is the Titanic you immediately know that it may not have a happy ending. If the captain of the Titanic knew in advance the certainty of losing his ship, he would change his course. Our health and the health of our children, grandchildren and community are on the same dangerous path as the Titanic. Science and our own experience tell us that by staying on a particular course we will have a health catastrophe. However, by changing that course even a little we can have a successful journey for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.

Proper nutrition and nurturing can help us steer a healthier course. So, eat a balanced diet with healthy proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Select organic when possible - grow your own garden when possible. Take Healthy Aging nutrients every day (try replacing Sublingual B-12 with Super Sublingual B-12 if you often experience allergies, insomnia, indigestion or muscle aches). Get your sunshine and your sleep. Turn off the TV, go for a walk and take those Y2K kids with you!

Be an example and be an educator of the simple but profound health principles found in the 10 Essentials of Health and Wellness. Plant a seed of hope, knowledge and proper self-care in this generation, and we can be content knowing it will sprout, mature and bear healthy fruit for generations to come.

Take Control of Your Health

• Learn the [b]10 Essentials[/url]
• Take Healthy Aging supplements
• Become an example of health
• Become an educator in your family and community

[BernardMaree]

The Obesity/Stress Connection

I used to envision a chronic worrier as jittery, emaciated and gaunt. You know, the "Barney Fife" type. But now, I know that the person enduring unimaginable stress is more likely to be obese - even morbidly obese. This is a physiological reaction from the immune system and the process of homeostasis (the process that pulls us back together when stress is pulling us apart).

Worry is the stress that pulls us apart. However, worry goes beyond the mental and emotional process that causes distress. For example, did you know that your muscles also worry?

What is worry?
Worry is the process of anticipating events or outcomes that are possible but unknown. For example, we are all worried about our health and the health of loved ones. As long as no distressing symptoms occur, our level of worry is minimal. However, a new pain or ache, a lump or bump, a change that is not anticipated sends our "worrier" into overdrive.

The recent downturn in the world economy has created fertile soil as a new source of worry.

The process of worry is basically the same whether the concern is large or small, for ourselves or others we care about:

1. Our senses carry information to us from outside or inside our body. These are our five senses (touch, taste, sound, smell and sight) plus our intuition - the ability to "fill in the blanks" of the unknown based on our experience and intellect.
2. We project what may happen in the future and assess whether or not we have the resources needed to cope with anticipated outcomes.

Scientists have discovered that our muscles adhere to the same process: They project what may happen in the future based on past activity levels and assess whether or not they have the resources needed to cope. This is "muscle worry."

Worry is a survival mechanism because it allows us to forecast with some accuracy what resources we may soon need. We do this through our experience and intellect. With a bad experience or two in our history, we may also get into the habit of always predicting bad outcomes. This is called "catastrophic thinking" because we anticipate catastrophes from even normal, everyday events. So, a simple fever is bubonic plague and a skin rash must be Ebola virus!

To prepare for these awful events we may initiate the fight or flight response, releasing copious amounts of adrenaline. Or, based on past failures to cope, we may select an opposite response called learned helplessness, releasing immune-suppressing hormones and chemicals.

What is the obesity link?
Interestingly, worry has an effect on our appetite and metabolism. For example, when worry triggers the fight or flight stress response, our liver will dump enormous amounts of sugar into our bloodstream. Our pancreas will also secrete huge amounts of insulin into our system to carry that sugar into the muscles to fight-or-flee as a response to the emergency. In chronic worry we simply never get to use all that energy and the hormone cortisol stores it in the fat cells of our abdomen, etc. These fluctuations in metabolism will often create eating binges where we feel we can't get satisfied no matter how much we eat.

Both fight-or-flight and learned helplessness trigger your body (especially your muscles, your "muscle worry") to anticipate future energy use. So, the muscles and adipose (fat) tissues store energy as fat and the result is that you gain weight. Stress and worry all by themselves can create obesity - even if you eat a perfect diet!

What to do

• Recognizing the problem is always the first step. This is difficult because we live in a stressful world; there are real dangers requiring fight-or-flight responses. Also, people really do get sick with catastrophic illness, though not so many get bubonic plague or Ebola virus! It would be foolish to ignore danger signals and face real catastrophe. That said, the majority of the things we worry about never happen, do they? Train yourself to appraise situations correctly to reduce stress and worry (see the article "Think Therapy" below). Recognize that stress and worry elicit powerful hormones that need to be discharged. Exercise is the best way to get rid of these pesky hormones. And even three deep breaths can reduce the anxiety you feel when stressed.
• Nutrition plays a vital role in breaking the stress/worry/obesity connection. First, adaptogens interrupt the cycle of stress and allow us to face our challenges with renewed resources; we will be able to cope with more issues with the greater resources provided by adaptogens. Next, specific nutrients found in Leanology® capsules break the cortisol cycle and discourage our body from storing "worry" in our fat cells!

The day-to-day stresses we face will not end. And for the present, there will always be another world tragedy looming on the horizon, such as an economic downturn. Learn to appraise them without panicking. Build a bulwark against stress with adaptogens. Help break the cycle of cortisol with Leanology capsules. Learn and live the 10 Essentials for lifetime wellness!

Take Control of Your Health

• Take three deep breaths right now and feel the relief
• Practice deep breathing for 20 minutes before sleeping
• Learn to challenge your catastrophic thoughts
• Use adaptogens to fend off the effects of stress
• Use Leanology capsules to break the cortisol cycle
• Take Healthy Aging nutrients as a foundation for wellness

[BernardMaree]

Unexpected Sources of Infection

During the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century a typhoid epidemic was traced to Mary Mallon, a professional cook. "Typhoid Mary" infected many people with the bacteria that caused typhoid fever - a debilitating, often fatal infection. Mary never showed any symptoms of infection herself. However, many of the people who contacted her became seriously ill.

Today we face another source of infection from bacteria and viruses: our children and grandchildren. Our little Typhoid Marys and Johnnys bring us the gift of exposure to potential illness from all of their friends at school and in daycare. How does this actually happen and what can we do to protect ourselves as well as our young ones?

"Germ-o-phobia"
There is a medical condition called mysophobia which is the fear of germs. People with this disorder take extreme precautions to avoid touching anything that might be considered "dirty" or contaminated with germs. They have a relentless hand-washing procedure that rivals the sterile-field procedure used by surgeons.

Normally, germs and viruses are harmless and may even be beneficial in educating our immune systems. Some bacteria are even good for you, such as the probiotic, acidophilus. This is because "good" bacteria keep "bad" bacteria away and may even become part of a healthy immune system. However, children that grow up without exposure to normal bacteria called "soil-based organisms" or SBOs, have fewer defensive bacteria. That means pathogenic bacteria have a better chance to breed in them, potentially causing illness and spreading infection.

This effect is multiplied when children are kept in close quarters with other children and their germs. Further, their immature immune systems may allow them to become breeding grounds of infection without producing symptoms themselves. Limiting physical contact and washing our hands with soap and hot water becomes a rational defense strategy instead of a phobia.

The best defense...
There is an old saying: The best defense is a good offense. Being proactive in protecting ourselves and our family simply makes sense. How can we build a good defense against infection without becoming isolated? More important, how can we build healthy immunity and resistance in our children and grandchildren? Once again we can turn to Typhoid Mary for clues.

• First, isolating people with a fever is very important. Usually an infection is contagious when a person has a fever. When the fever breaks, transmissibility of the infection rapidly declines. (This is not true with H1N1 swine flu, which may continue to be contagious for up to 12 days.)
• Stay away from sick people if at all possible.
• Frequently wash your hands with hot soapy water and dry them thoroughly to help avoid viruses.
• Insulating yourself and educating your immune system with probiotics and Healthy Aging nutrients as well as emotional nurturing is critically important. After all, it is the health of your immune system that determines whether or not you will get sick. And the severity of the illness is dictated by the state of balance in immunity: symptoms become more severe as the immune system becomes more imbalanced.
• Finally, become a source of influence in advocating for healthier children. Both children and adults have fewer and less severe illnesses when they take care of themselves. For example, getting enough rest and eating properly will reduce the frequency, severity and duration of infections. Growing a garden may provide your loved ones with healthier food and also expose the gardeners to healthy probiotic SBOs at the same time.

Just imagine: Time in the garden may help provide your family with better food, stronger social connections and even immune protection from all those little Typhoid Marys and Johnnys. What a great way to defend yourself from this unexpected source of infection!

Take Control of Your Health

• Wash your hands with hot soapy water often
• Dry your hands thoroughly
• Isolate sick people for three days after a fever (12 days after H1N1 Swine Flu)
• Sleep between 7œ and 9 hours nightly
• Eat 5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables every day
• Educate your immune system with probiotics and Healthy Aging nutrients

[BernardMaree]

Important Health News - Protect Yourself from the Flu

About this time of year many people ask me what they can do to prevent the flu or minimize its impact. That has never seemed more relevant than today; so, I will address this with the best science we have available today. I say "today's best science" because we simply don't know everything we need to know about preventing and treating the flu. And we need to remember that not all that long ago "current science" said that the earth was flat and diseases were caused by evils spells or dead ancestors.

Many people never get the flu - no matter which strain we are talking about. Do you? When you get the flu, are your symptoms severe? Are there high-risk people living with you? Then your preference for or against preventive measures must take them into consideration. (What if you got it and survived but transmitted it to them and they died? How would you feel?) In any case, 35,000-40,000 people in North America die of the flu each year. It is estimated that this number will double with H1N1.

Flu protection
There are three pathways you need to focus on with flu protection - any variety:

1. Transmission
2. Infection
3. Inflammation

Inflammation
We will begin at the ending: Inflammation from the immune system that incapacitates - even kills - people when they have the flu. MOST IMPORTANT: The flu kills people not by transmission or by infection, but by an inflammatory immune system response called the "cytokine storm."

Our immune system is designed to neutralize and excrete any non-self protein it finds. That includes the influenza virus. The size of the immune response needs to be equivalent to the strength of the invader.

Think of this as a building on fire: small fires are extinguished by local fire fighters. Some fires are so big that fire fighters from other departments have to be called in to help. So, fires are designated as "one-alarm," "two-alarm," "three-alarm," and so on. At a certain point, our immune system pulls all of the alarms and immune system fractions from all over our body rush to put out the fire, so to speak. However, this is a case of fighting fire with fire. Cytokines are inflammatory. They kill viruses and bacteria by creating inflammation.

The cytokine storm is responsible for all of the symptoms we feel: fever, body aches, nausea, diarrhea, etc. It is also responsible for filling the lungs with mucous (pneumonia/pneumonitis) which is often the fatal trigger in influenza, SARS, Hanta virus, bubonic plague, etc.

To survive we must modulate the cytokine storm so that it does its job but doesn't overwork and kill us. We make it work smarter, not harder. So we don't use Vitamin C or Echinacea or anything that "boosts" the immune system. We use immune system modulators so we get exactly the right response. Quercetin (Betalains in Nopalea are quercetin bioflavonoids), green tea polyphenols (found in Energy Now!) and ginseng (Panax and Eleutherococcus found in Adaptogen 10 Plus) all balance the immune system and decrease the cytokine storm.

Infection
Prior to the cytokine storm is the infection stage of influenza. The virus infects the cell by matching a cell receptor called Hemagglutinin. Hemagglutinin (the "H" in H1N1) allows the virus to gain entry to the cell and mutate the cell DNA so it can breed an infection. It also allows the newly mutated DNA to be incorporated into surrounding cells and through cell lines. Hemagglutinin describes "infection" with the flu. Two powerful natural inhibitors of Hemagglutinin are green tea polyphenols and ginseng (Panax and Eleutherococcus) found in Super Sublingual B-12.

Transmission
Neuraminidase describes "transmission" of the flu where the virus disarms the immune system with an enzyme. This is the "N" in H1N1, H5N1. Neuraminidase inhibitors like Tamiflu limit the ability of the virus to transmit its DNA strands. Two strong natural Neuraminidase inhibitors are green tea polyphenols and quercetin (Betalains in Nopalea are quercetin bioflavonoids). It is likely that green tea polyphenols and quercetin will help your body do what it does best: resist infection. Think of them as the first line of defense to arm your immune system and prevent the flu virus from disarming it.


Share this news with a friend


Important...
With the recent shortage of flu vaccinations and for daily flu protection, remember to always stock up and use these TriVita products on a daily basis to maintain a strong and healthy immune system.

• Nopalea
• Energy Now!
• Adaptogen 10 Plus
• Super Sublingual B-12

By the way, the most common route of infection is touching your eyes with contaminated hands! Wash your hands frequently and dry your hands thoroughly to discourage infection. Also, the most common reason why people experience the runaway inflammation of a cytokine storm is poor sleep. Sleeping peacefully now becomes a matter of life and death!

Flat earth?
We don't know all there is to know about flu prevention and treatment. There are endless avenues and processes we simply have not explored. Imagine what we knew about viruses 50 years ago: Do you think we will know more in the next 50 years? Certainly so! Accepting that as truth we know one thing for sure: some people never get the flu.

How can we be one of them?

Primarily it is through vigorous application of the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness.

• Practice deep breathing to reduce your body's acidity and to reduce the impact of stress on your immune system.
• Drink plenty of pure water.
• Wash and thoroughly dry your hands often.
• Get plenty of early-morning sunshine.
• Sleep peacefully every night.
• Eat nutritiously and take the nutrients you need as a solid foundation for health.
• Play daily (enjoy activity) and surround yourself with healthy people you love.

These are the things that keep healthy people healthy and they can help you, too!


Take Control of Your Health

• Wash and dry your hands many times daily.
• Get your rest every night.
• Eat nutritiously and supplement appropriately.
• Avoid sick people for two weeks after they recover.

[network.specialist]

want to say at the outset that Fibromyalgia exists; it is a real disease. It is not a somatoform disorder (medical-speak for “all in your head”). There are many commonalities among the people who suffer from Fibromyalgia and the syndromes that accompany it (FMS). Also, there are related disorders that can be indistinguishable from FMS at times. Some of these disorders are Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and chemical sensitivity. I like to think of these disorders as the same one in a different manifestation. We often see this complexity in nature. For example, a tree looks different in spring than in fall; it looks different in summer than in winter. Yet, it’s the same tree.

FMS strikes our best, brightest, most productive people. It is found in a 3:2 ratio of women to men. It almost always attacks people with above-average IQs. It hits those that are goal-oriented, driven – even perfectionistic. They are often so accommodating that they delay their own satisfaction for the benefit of the social group.

Head trauma
Physically, almost all FMS sufferers have had head trauma. Even when an FMS patient cannot remember the trauma (such as birth trauma), a SPECT scan of the brain clearly shows the injury. Almost all FMS patients have an infection that triggers the downward spiral into the disease. This may be a herpes family of viruses (Epstein-Barr Virus, Cytomegalovirus, etc.) or parasitic infections (Lyme’s, toxoplasmosis). However, the immune system continues to fight the infection long after the microbe has been eliminated. Most of the FMS symptoms come from excessive immune system activity.

Sleep disorders
People with Fibromyalgia almost always have a sleep disorder. These tend to be “primary” sleep disorders caused by head trauma, stress, toxins, and nutrient deficiencies. In other FMS cases, the sleep disorder is “secondary,” caused by noise, a bad sleeping environment, or a sleep-disordered bed partner. In cases of secondary sleep disorders, FMS virtually disappears when the sleeping problem is resolved.

Human Growth Hormone is produced in deep, dreamless sleep (Delta sleep, stage 4). Since this is virtually absent in people with FMS, tissues are not repaired as quickly as they wear out. This causes premature aging, sarcopenia (muscle wasting), and chronic digestive problems.

Blood sugar problems
FMS patients often have difficulty balancing their blood sugar. This leads first to hypoglycemia, then to metabolic syndrome. With metabolic syndrome, thyroid and adrenal deficiencies are common. Extra amounts of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase are produced and both women and men can suffer hormone imbalances.

Tips to help manage FMS
Most people who suffer from FMS are nutrient depleted. Three nutrients are especially low in people with FMS – and no one will progress without high amounts of these three nutrients