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 The number of people who “resolved” to lose weight this year is uncountable. Clubs, gyms, authors of dieting books, manufacturers of diet pills and others must be salivating at the prospect of all the new customers.

If you have vowed to slim down, congratulations on you decision. You will feel better, live longer and, according to a mountain of studies, you may avoid the degenerative diseases that might plague you in later life.

You are faced with the daunting task . . . deciding how to go about it. Fad diets, excessive exercise and skipping meals will not work for long-term weight management. You will either get tired of the grind, the boring food, the constant hunger, the sore muscles, the inconvenience, the time away from home or work and you will give up.
Make this motto your motto: weight loss is a journey.
You didn’t gain your weight over night nor will you lose it overnight so, set reasonable objectives.

Trying to lose weight in the dead of winter is a fool’s mission.

Here’s something you need to consider: people are mammals – mammals hibernate, or slow down their metabolism considerably during the winter months to assure their survival during the cold, least abundant time of the year. They pack away fat for insulation and protection from starvation. In the spring, they “wake up” with higher metabolism and energy. Even though we live and work in buildings with central heating and shop at supermarkets with plenty of food – people are mammals – it is unlikely you will change wintertime mammalian metabolism.
Here’s what you can do until your body is released from winter’s grip:

• You do need to eat three balanced meals everyday to lose weight so, don’t skip any meals – especially eat a perfect breakfast. And, if you need “a little something” to eat, sprinkle a little cinnamon on an apple or pear for a tasty treat.
• Break the fast food lunch habit. Start a new habit – bring something from home.
• Break the comfort food habit. White flour products, like bread and pasta; starchy foods, like potatoes and rice; table sugar, sugary tropical juices and fruits, like mangos and pomegranates; milk and milk products provide too many calories and too little nutrition.
• Break the “What’s for diner habit.” Find different, more healthful recipes that will suit your pallet and start preparing them. By the time your metabolism rebounds, you will be ready to start burning away the winter fat with your new, but familiar, healthy meals.
• Make your plan of action for when winter releases its grip on your body. It should include moderate exercise – everyday. Walking after lunch, an evening stroll with your family or parking further away from your destination adds a good bit of opportunity to burn calories.
• Determine why you gained weight in the first place. It isn’t always what you think. Consider other possibilities for your weight gain before you assume you are suffering from gluttony.
• Choose a dietary supplement to support metabolism, appetite and cravings. Often, lingering mineral deficiencies can affect your success. The combination of a better diet and quality dietary supplements will pay dividends.

When winter has finally changed to spring, start your program. Be decisive, dedicated and disciplined.

Your motto should be: losing weight is a journey. It requires a commitment, dedication to your program and the discipline to maintain the choices you’ve made to achieve your objective. Healthy weight loss is in the range of 10 to 12 pounds each month. If you are particularly heavy, it might be more.

Finally, and most importantly, sustaining the changes that you have made to lose the weight will assure you a lifetime of living in your perfect body.

Would you like to know how healthy you are?

   Take the free health test.

What should I do to stay healthy?

What should I do if I’m not healthy?

What should I do if I am sick?

There is never a shortage of people willing to give you their opinions on the subject. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the many opinions on the topic of health.

My mechanic has a sign in his garage that says: Answers: $5.00 – Correct Answers: $50.00. We’ve all experienced the frustration of going back and forth with the same problem because the mechanic guessed wrong. On matters of auto repair, I want the correct answer because I want my car fixed right the 1st time.

Health is a knottier question.
Certainly, the old adage: “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is the best advice you will ever get for free.

What is an ounce of prevention?

•  Is an ounce of prevention frequent visits to a Physician for tests;
• is it some magic pill, potion, lotion or drink (natural or pharmaceutical);
•  is it a “special treatment”;
•  is it a handful of supplements everyday?

Here’s another opinion for you to consider - people are clinging to 5 myths that can, and are, getting them into the healthcare quagmire.

Have you ever wondered it there is a way to assess your state of health?   Try this questionnaire. There is another adage: “forewarned is forearmed.”

Fixing a car is easier than fixing your body. The car has a part that can be replaced – your body doesn’t. Your body has the ability to “fix” itself – if it has the right tools.

Editor’s Note:  this posting is part one of a 4 part analysis of the Evolution of Disease.   The information is enlightening, to say the least.   The table of content, at the bottom of this introduction, will take you to the rest of the discussion.  Enjoy the analysis, we did.

The Evolution of Disease

Everyone believes:

“Disease is never going to happen to me.” , but when it does:

• It seems like the condition happened to them overnight.
• There was absolutely nothing that they could have done to spare themselves.
• They feel like victims, completely without choice, with fear and the feelings of helplessness.

Disease is predictable, not inevitable nor final

These three characteristics are both a blessing and a trap.

• They are a blessing because the body can adapt to periods of poor nutrition, abnormal exercise and rest patterns and stress.
• They are a trap when it lulls you into the false sense of indestructibility.

Until recently, people believed each subsequent generation entering retirement years would be in better physical shape than the preceding generation.

In March 2007, a Health and Retirement Study research published by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA),
a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), revealed the disturbing trend of Americans in their early to mid-50s reporting poorer health, more pain, and more trouble doing every day physical tasks than their older peers reported when they were the same age in recent years.

Many of today’s common diseases didn’t even exist 40 years ago. While there have been remarkable advances in the Medical Arts with: more technology, more doctors, more specialties, more pharmaceutical drugs and more hospitals; we are the least healthy generation of Americans in history, and we are experiencing ever increasing rates of disease.

Modern society is so preoccupied and overwhelmed with every day activities that people have lost contact with what is the most important asset they possess – their health.

Have you ever thought about the miracle of the human body?

Or considered the way the body functions in perfect harmony – with lungs breathing, heart beating, senses sensing, muscles moving, healing and regenerating itself every 7 years? Few have the time to think about this until a problem develops.

Everyone believes:  “Disease is never going to happen to me.”  When it does, it seems like the condition happenedto them overnight and there was absolutely nothing that they could have done to spare themselves. They feel like victims, completely without choice, with fear and the feelings of helplessness.

The Human body is meant to function in a state of balance - NOT a constant state of distress.

Degenerative disease is like a thief in the night: it sneaks up on you to steal your most valuable asset – YOUR HEALTH.  It may take years to create a disease condition – but these poor choices and the consequential imbalances in the whole body allow disease to happen.

There are 4 phases of disease:

• Denial:  the belief that “Disease will never happen to me.” 
• Decline:  ignoring the inconveniences of “feeling off”.
• Deterioration:   searching for solutions for problems that have no answers.
• Disease:  the hapless state that has you asking: “Why me?”

Denial

The 1st phase, Denial, doesn’t require analysis because it is all attitude – the illusion of invencibility that gets all of us in trouble..

And, it is the easiest place to make the changes that help you avoid participating in the arduous march toward the avoidable final phase of the Evolution of Disease.

 There is one simple rule:  What you do occasionally won’t harm you, it is what you do everyday that helps you.    Good dietary habits, moderate lifestyle choices and rest, along with one or two easy to find supplements to fill the gap in your diet will help you avoid the evolution to disease.

Issues surrounding health are hot topics.  Every newscast, newspaper and magazine contains “vital information that you must know”.  Between the infomercials and radio talk shows, the typical American should be well informed and in control.  We decided to interview a fictional typical American.  Following, is the transcript of that interview. 

 Typical American asks:  “What do I need to do to feel better?”

Answer:  That is an easy question to answer.

 TA: “OK, big shot, what makes you such a know it all?”

Answer:  I don’t need to know it all, I just need to know one thing – what the typical American is eating.

 Everything, in the typical American diet, is backwards: red meat and other fatty foods take the forefront, while fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are pushed aside. In addition to fat and calories, the Western diet is loaded with salt, and sugar. If that weren’t bad enough, it’s critically short on dietary fiber and many nutrients.

 Add more than 170,000 fast-food restaurants and 3 million soft-drink vending machines spread across the country, huge doses of calories are never far away, and the picture is pretty clear.

 TA:  “That’s not me.  I have a healthy diet.”

Answer:  Sure you do.  The typical American diet consists of products, processed, preserved and packaged, that companies promote through media advertising and price.  The objective is to create brand recognition and consumer loyalty.  The fact that you are eating these products is simply a feature of the market segment in which these companies compete.  When you purchase canned food, frozen food, fast food or packaged meals, you are part of a market share created by packaging, advertising, price and perceived convenience.  So, save your breath because you are only kidding yourself.

 TA:  My fill in the blank (Grandfather, Grandmother) was 90 (something) before they died, so I’m not worried.

Answer:  The super market, preservatives and consumer-level refrigeration are all a post World War II phenomena.  So of course they live a long time. That generation ate food that was in season and didn’t have refrigeration, so they shopped frequently, because the food would spoil if the bought too much.

 Your grandparents either lived on a farm, eating the food grown in their garden, or purchased food from a local butcher, baker, fish monger, dairy and a fresh produce cart or market.  These vendors earned their living selling seasonal food, grown on their farms or by local producers with care and pride.  If their food wasn’t up to snuff – their customers knew it and told them so – they had a vested interested in quality and keeping their customers happy.  Those vendors didn’t rely on slogans – they delivered the goods or perished.

 TA:  Ok big shot, why are all the experts predicting I will longer than my parents?

Answer:  When will you ask a hard question?  You live in a safer world.  All you need to do is go to a museum and look at the tools and machinery your grandparents were using.  Then, take a tour of a cemetery.  Wars, accidents and infections killed people.

 Anti biotic medications, a safer world and work place are also part of the post World War II phenomena we talked about earlier.  In fact, those same experts you are quoting are predicting that you are raising the first generation that, in all probably, won’t live as long as you.  These same experts are noting that your generation will spend more money on “health care” and suffer longer than any preceding modern generation.  Why do you think your health insurance bill is going through the roof? 

Oh, by the way, have you looked into the newest advancement – long-term care – yet?

 TA:  That’s not funny!

Answer:  No, it isn’t, but it makes you think doesn’t it?

 TA:  So what, do you want me to buy your magic pill?

Answer:  Well, no.  That kind of thinking is just another trap.  What I want you to do is to pull your head out of the sand.  I want you to get it.

 The problem is the “wisdom of the day” is a shifting tide.  It changes every time you turn on the TV, read the paper or buy a new book.

 Some truths are ageless and will never change.  What you are consuming has a direct effect on your health which, of course, is no news to you.  And, if you were to say that when the Father of Modern Medicine, Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.),  made that statement, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”, there wasn’t the problem of preservatives; food dyes and chemicals that plague our modern diet – you would also be right.

 The things you do occasionally won’t harm you, it is what you do everyday that helps you.

 TA:  Stop confusing me with facts.  What do you want me to do?

Answer: 

• Take responsibility for you own wellbeing because you have the most to lose.
• Trust the source of the information you are getting.  Most of the reports you hear or read about some “new “ miracle are sensationalized.
• Familiarize yourself with dietary recommendations regarding what you should be eating to stay healthy.  I recommend two sources:  Harvard University School of Public Health and the University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Department. 
• Review your current diet to determine the changes that you can practically make in your dietary habits.  It is a fools mission to make big promises that you can’t or won’t be able to keep – so don’t.

 If you have done your homework, you will have a pretty good picture of what you are doing to yourself.

 If I were going through this process I would:

• Make the changes in my diet.  (Remember:  there is a direct correlation between the recommendations put forth by Harvard or the University of Michigan and the amount of supplements it will take to fill the gap in the diet.)
• Add supplement(s) to fill the gap between what I was eating and what I should be consuming to stay healthy.  At a minimum, I would compensate for the food preservatives and additives that pollute my body and interfere with digestion with a trace mineral supplement and an enzyme complex.
• Start slowly (unless I had neglected you diet for 5 years or more). 

 TA:  You still haven’t told me what to do.

Answer:  Watch out!  You’re falling into that trap – again.  This is your deal.

 But, I will tell you what I do.  First, I know that most fruits and vegetables are grown on farmland that is lacking in more than a few trace minerals.  I would take a trace mineral supplement and see how it goes.  I would expect to experience a difference in the 1^st week.  Since most of the food I eat is cooked – and, I know cooking damages or destroys the raw food enzymes my body uses to make all the other enzymes that make my body work – I take an enzyme complex supplement with every meal.  Also, I take a probiotic supplement, before bed, to keep my digestion in tip-top shape.

 I’m pretty careful about my diet so, my supplements cost about $2.00 a day.  I think that is a good investment. You investment is probably going to be different because you live your life differently than I.

 If you have done your homework, you can make decisions for yourself.  In the end, you must take control of managing your health or you will be forced to deal with the consequences.

 There is one final thing I want you to think about.

 Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting that something will change.

 The lesson is – it’s your life, it is your choice.  If you want to change the way things are, you must change the things you do.

Question:  When you think of minerals, what is the first thing that comes to mind – something you find in the earth or something in the food you are eating?

Answer:  Both or Neither.  If the minerals that are essential for your well being are not in the soil, it cannot be in the plants that are growing in it.

Minerals Are The Currency of Life

It’s impossible to underestimate the importance of minerals and trace minerals for the human body.

• Minerals are involved in virtually every function that sustains your life.
• Minerals are the catalysts for all the vitamins and other nutrients your body uses for developing and maintaining good health.
• Minerals help your body grow, develop, and stay healthy.
• The body uses minerals to perform an untold number of different functions — from building strong bones to transmitting nerve impulses.
• Some minerals are even used to make hormones or maintain a normal heartbeat.

The two kinds of minerals your body requires are: macro minerals and trace minerals.

• Macro means “large” in Greek.  Your body needs larger amounts of macro minerals than trace minerals.  The macro mineral group is made up of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and sulfur.  Researchers have established a Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for this classification of minerals.
• A trace of something means that there is only a little of it. Though your body needs trace minerals, it needs just a tiny bit of each one. Scientists aren’t even sure how much of these minerals you need each day.

 Your Body Needs Balanced Macro Minerals and Trace Minerals

Balance is important to all areas of nutrition.  It is critically important when it comes to minerals and trace minerals: There are 92 elements found in nature and an additional 22 theoretical and/or observed elements, all of which may play a role, know or undiscovered, in human health.  Keeping levels of minerals in balance in every tissue, fluid, cell and organ in the human body may be the key to maintaining efficient function that, by default, promotes health.

 In agriculture, for example, the role for trace mineral nutrients in maintaining the health and vitality of livestock, poultry and household pets is well documented and universally accepted.  Trace minerals are considered essential and are regularly added to their feed because much of the grazing pasture and cropland on which the hay and grain are grown is missing one or more these essential trace minerals.

 Mineral Deficiency is Common

Trace mineral deficiencies in humans occur more frequently than are generally recognized.  Deficiencies usually occur because one or more trace minerals may be lacking in the soil in which the food plant was grown.  Commercial farming practices and dietary choices, eating processed food and failing to consume 5 – 7 serving of vegetables everyday, are at the core of the deficiencies.  Chronic under-consumption of trace minerals is of greater concern than acute mineral deficiencies because the specific symptoms that are characteristic of a trace mineral deficiency aren’t profound or as well know.

 Macro and Trace Minerals Produce Balanced Electrolytes

The body is an intricate circuit board of electric charges and impulses.  Every second, of every day, your body relies on trace minerals to conduct and generate billions of tiny electrical impulses.  Without these impulses, not a single muscle, including your heart, would be able to function.  Your brain would not function and the cells would not be able to balance water pressure and absorb nutrients.

 In fact, many vital body processes depend on the movement of substances across cell membranes supported by trace minerals

• Most notably, when your body is lacking these essential trace mineral elements, it causes your body to misfire so you feel rundown and tired.
• They may also prevent and reduce injury from environmental pollutants,
• Trace minerals enhance the ability to work and learn.
• They can also protect the body from the effects of toxic minerals.
• It’s important to keep your body’s acid base balance because an acidic body is a breeding ground for disease.  Trace minerals also have the power to maintain and even promote the pH balance in your body.
• Trace minerals condition the body to more ready absorb other nutrients.
• Trace minerals have the capacity to help renew and energize your body’s entire electrical system to promote energy and generally feel better.
• Recent research indicates that minerals may play a significant role against a variety of degenerative diseases and conditions.

 The Power of Minerals and Trace Mineral Supplement

Estimates are that 90% of Americans suffer mineral imbalance or deficiency.  The chemical and electrical processes that are occurring within your body at every moment can only function correctly if the proper balance of macro and trace minerals is continually being supplied to your system.

 Balance is the Key

The fact that the macro and trace minerals are in proportion and balanced is the key. The intricate balance of every mineral and trace element is beneficial to the human body.

 If you are deficient in minerals, you will feel the difference quickly after taking a trace mineral supplement.  Once you have experienced a mineral balanced body, performing at optimum efficiency, you will make a habit of constantly replenishing your body with minerals and trace minerals either through consuming abundant quantities of vegetables grown in pristine soil or the use an ionic, colloidal trace mineral supplement.

How many differerent advertisements have you seen or heard that trumpet the marvels of a particular natural supplement; or listened to a well intentioned person extol the virtues of a newly discovered natural magic bullet that will fix what ails you?

This barrage of information is overwhelming.

1. People who are looking for ways to address health issues, cling to every word because is may offer a way out of their dilemma. 
2. Others, for the most part, try to ignore this drone of information.

Both of these choices are exactly the wrong thing to do.

Here’s why.  Please stick with me, this analogy is important.

When I began researching this article, I was also researching current nutritional recommendations for the care and feeding of my horses.  I’ve found that is far easier to keep them healthy than it is to pay my veterinarian.  Consequently,  I update my feeding program as new information becomes available.

You’re right, horses aren’t humans – but they are mammals, so please don’t stop reading yet.

To help you keep this into the proper perspective, it is important to know that farmers and ranchers don’t have health insurance on their animals, so most of them are proactive when it comes to keeping the animals in tip-top shape.  It is an issue of economics.

During my research, I came across the Purina Mills web-site www.omoleneuniversity.com.  Purina maintains an extensive research center to produce cost-effective feed to support the health and vitality of all sorts of mammals.

The Site Points Out:

Optimal health is achieved when the five factors that affect health are in balance.

• There are five basic things that a horse needs to stay fit and healthy:  energy, protein, vitamins, minerals and water.
• There are three conditions that affect the way the horse’s body works:  deficient, optimal, and toxic.  An imbalance of too little of one or more of the factors affecting health creates a deficiency; too much creates toxicity.
• The key to maintaining a healthy feeding program is mineral balance – both macro and trace minerals.

Before humans domesticated horses, they roamed freely on vast ranges.  They consumed a vast array of grass, plants and grains to provide the balance of nutrients to stay healthy.  Once horses were domesticated, there choices were limited to a confined pasture, hay and grain.  Purina strives to formulate their feed to fill the gap between what horses are eating now and what they should be consuming to stay fit and healthy.

Here’s the Point

Today, the human pasture is super markets and restaurants.  The choices are processed, preserved and packaged food and/or fast food.  The likelihood that the average person can achieve a balance diet is zero.  There is going to be a gap between what you are eating and what you should be consuming to stay healthy.

Just like the horses that Purina study, people need balanced sources energy, protein, vitamins, minerals and water to stay healthy, except human protein needs include both animal and plants.  And, just like horses, minerals are the key.

There is one other difference, too.  Thanks to thrifty, conscious owners and research like the studies carried out at facilities like the Purina center, horses are consuming a balanced diet; consequently, they aren’t prone to suffering the degenerative diseases that are plaguing people.

People are searching for and choosing bottles of this and that dietary supplement, purchasing some “talked about” supplements to target a complaint – when what people really need is a wider perspective. 

Ask yourself this:  “If there are magic bullets to supplement the diet, why are the people at Purina spending so much time and energy to balance the rations owners feed their horses?”  The answer is:  There aren’t any magic bullets!

Shouldn’t you treat yourself as well and horses and livestock are treated?

The steps are:

1. Get a perspective on what it takes to promote a healthy body.  Everyone needs know what it takes to be healthy.
2. Next develop a workable plan that includes lifestyle choices, dietary choices and exercise choices that you can reasonably expect to follow.
3. Analyze the difference between what you can do and what you should be doing in order to promote and maintain your health.
4. Fill the gaps in your program.

Health is the symptom of providing the nutrition you body needs

More and more people have discovered the benefits of using nutraceutical supplements to provide their bodies the nutrition it requires to flourish.  They are combinations of natural ingredients that scientific evidence or documented historical use have shown to be beneficial to human health.  Well-crafted nutraceutical supplements combine synergistic natural ingredients, in just the right amount, to help balance the diet.

Health is a journey – not a destination

There are still people who believe they can rely on their diet for all of the different nutrients to sustain a healthy body – there was a time when that may have been true—but not now.

For those of you who are eating a balances diet, keep it up!

But, know this:

• The fresh foods you are eating have been grown on the same cropland over and over again. These foods are likely lacking important trace minerals that have long since been depleted from the soil.
• Plus, the produce has been harvested early so they can reach the supermarket and sold to you before it spoils.

These two situations are creating the gap between what your body needs and the nutrient availability in your diet. And, when you cook this fresh food, you may be widening the gap even further because sustained temperatures of 108º affect the viability of food enzymes in your fresh food.

For the rest of us who aren’t eating the way should . . .

There is a direct correlation between your health and your diet.
You either are or will be paying the price for neglecting your diet. Hand to Mouth Disease affects everyone sooner or later. You won’t find this particular diagnosis anywhere, but you will find the symptoms described everywhere. They have names like: being overweight or obese, constipation, digestive disorders, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, joint disease, cancer and a whole host of complaints the are managed – not cured.

When you depend on packaged foods, you are also eating additives that:

• maintain the “appealing look” of the food,change the flavor, so it doesn’t taste like it came from a package,
• stop the contents from spoiling by interrupting any microbial action. When this preservative action continues along the digestive tract, it is likely that the friendly microbes in your intestinal tract, that are responsible for the conversion of food to nutrients, are impacted as well.

Another consideration is: food additives.

Regulators have deemed these individual chemicals Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).  However, we never eat these chemicals individually, they are part of a meal that usually consists of several different packaged foods containing different GRAS chemicals. There is limited information concerning the impact of combining these GRAS chemicals, but the possibility exists that combining the different GRAS chemicals may be creating altogether different substances than those that have been studied.

Refined grain (like white flour and white rice), peeled tubers (potatoes and other underground growing vegetables) and meat do not contain any fiber. Besides supporting timely elimination, fiber manages sugar, cholesterol, toxin accumulation and many other functions.

The Nutritionists at Harvard University suggest a minimum of 30 grams of dietary fiber, everyday. Breakfast cereal, a burger and fries and something quick for dinner doesn’t even come close. There are some studies that suggest the lack of fiber in the typical diet may be contributing to digestive distress, cholesterol issues, sugar issues and certain cancers.

One final thought. How many of you have experienced a fast? You know, where you can’t eat or drink anything for 8 to 12 hours. Can you remember how hungry and thirsty you were afterwards?

Your body experiences a fast everyday … you don’t think about it because you are sleeping. The thing is, your body is rebuilding, using energy from calories and the nutrients from you diet to repair your damaged and worn out tissue while you are sleeping. After this daily fast, your body needs water and more energy.

Hand to Mouth Disease is going to make you suffer before it kills you.
If that’s your objective – suffer mightily before you die – then keep doing what you are doing.

If not . . .

Start eating breakfast.
Whoever said: “Breakfast is your most important meal!” was right. The first glass of water is critical and you must eat breakfast to jump-start your body. Here is a great way feed you body after your over night fast.

Recipe for the Perfect Breakfast
Soak regular oatmeal in water over night in a covered pan.
Add applesauce to thin and sweeten the oats.
Add 1 tsp. of flax seed oil.
Sprinkle 1 to 2 tsp. of cinnamon on the oats.
Crumble 6 walnut halves on top of the oats.
If you must have a sweet flavor, use xylitol. It tastes like sugar, but it isn’t and it has been shown to help with dental cavities.

Start drinking water.
The Nutritionists at the University of Michigan have studied the value of gool ‘ol water. The formula is: divide your body weight by 2 to determine the number of ounces of water you need to hydrate your body and flush out the wastes. Liquids do not count. If you drink caffeinated drinks, add 2 ounces of water for each ounce of beverage.

Start losing weight.
Fad diets are a waste of time. Find a well-formulated weight management supplement to help with metabolism and cravings. Take them religiously until the reflection in the mirror corresponds to the image you have in your mind.

Start eating.
You should never be hungry. Eat more vegetables (all colors, raw, steamed and cooked to crunchy) that grow above the ground and less meat (about the size of a deck of cards would be perfect.)

Start snacking.
Eat an apple or pear (every color there is) between meals. When you heard: “An apple a day keeps the Doctor away.”, it was the truth.

Start taking supplements.
Even the AMA recommends taking a multi-vitamin everyday. Make sure it contains more than the RDI. That level isn’t enough to keep you healthy it is just enough to keep you not sick. And, while you’re at it, make sure it dissolves in you body. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to an 8 once glass of tepid water (the temperature of formula you would feed a baby.) If it dissolves in the glass, it will dissolve in your body. If not, you are wasting your money – find a multi-vitamin that is better.

I invest about $3.50 a day in supplements to help me stay healthy. I’m 62 years old, seldom sick, take no prescriptions, ride horses in an equestrian event called team penning and keep up with our grandchildren. I avoid the typical land mines – smoking and drinking to excess and I enjoy life. I plan to die healthy. Can you say the same?

Make of this what you will. We formulate and market dietary supplements. Our objective is simple: provide affordable, effective dietary supplements to help people achieve their personal objectives. Our supplements aren’t magic bullets . . . they aren’t secret potions . . . they are supplements to fill the gap between what you are eating and what you should be consuming to stay healthy.

Isn’t that enough?

NOTE: From time to time, we receive outside articles to consider for posting on our site. This is a terrific article. We hope you enjoy it. We would like to thank Richard Moyle, National Awareness Coordinator at the Mesothelioma Center for this informative article.

Good Nutrition Vital in Fighting Mesothelioma Cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute, at least 35 percent of all cancer cases are related to poor nutrition. Though mesothelioma is not a cancer that is related to poor nutrition, improving nutritional intake can help mesothelioma cancer patients fight the progressive disease.

The primary cause of mesothelioma is exposure to a naturally occurring mineral known as asbestos. The cancer develops in the mesothelial cells that make up the lining of the lungs, heart and abdomen. The symptoms of mesothelioma can take 20 to 50 years to become noticeable and it is typically diagnosed in its later stages. By this time, treatment options often become limited. But there are a number of beneficial foods that mesothelioma patients can use to enable their body to better fight the cancer.

Berries contain a whole host of important nutrients, including plenty of fiber and vitamin C. In fact, just one cup of strawberries has the same amount of vitamin C as one cup of orange juice, and all berries are great sources of this anti-oxidant and immune-strengthening vitamin. In addition to essential vitamins, berries are packed with several different types of cancer-fighting nutrients. In one study, extracts of six types of berries were tested for their ability to prevent the growth and spread of different types of cancer cells. Amazingly, each different type of berry was found to have an entirely unique combination of phytonutrients, and all six varieties of berry extract were able to kill cancer cells in the laboratory.

Dark green leafy vegetables are bursting with essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that provide important cancer-fighting benefits. Beta-carotene, Lutein, and Zeaxanthin are powerful antioxidants that help protect the body against all forms of cancer by destroying free radicals. These free radicals are highly reactive oxygen compounds that can damage and destroy the body’s cells. Cells that are damaged are more likely to become cancerous, and antioxidants play an extremely important role in ridding the body of these cancer-causing free radicals.

Flaxseed also contains a number of compounds that are believed to be of use in fighting cancer and other diseases including alpha-linolenic acid and lignans. Most of the evidence regarding the ability of flaxseed to fight cancer has been obtained via laboratory research, as well as some small patient trials. Laboratory-grown breast cancer cells that are treated with flaxseed lignans become less ‘sticky’ and mobile. This ‘stickiness’ is an important property of cancer cells that allow them to metastasize and spread within the body. Other laboratory studies have involved adding flaxseed supplements to the diets of rats with skin, breast, or prostate cancer. In some rats, flaxseed supplements have been able to reduce the rate of growth and spread of these cancers.

These are just a few of the many types of foods that are beneficial to those suffering from mesothelioma and many other types of cancer. Be sure to talk to your doctor to learn about more ways to decrease the risk of developing cancer. Positive changes in your diet and other areas of your life (such as your physical activity) will help prevent cancer. If you do develop this medical condition, at the very least, these changes will allow you to fight the cancer more readily.

Contributed by:
Richard Moyle
National Awareness Coordinator
Mesothelioma Center

Recently, I have been considering how to simplify what seems to be an enormous source of confusion – eating.  Clearly, most people successfully put food in their mouths everyday so, there is a question that begs to be asked:  “Why am I wasting my time thinking about such a stupid thing?”

Here are two questions for you to consider:

• If eating is so simple, why are there so many people who are overweight?
• Why are so many people experiencing declining health over time?

We know, for example, the biology of science, Senescence, is showing that your body is fully capable of rebuilding a perfect replica of itself, cell by cell, every 7 years.  By producing 300 billion cells every night that are programmed to die, it replaces all of the 750 trillion cells that make
up your body.

Every minute of everyday your body assembles and disassembling all sorts of:

Enzymes to:

• digest your food
• operate your body
• fire nerves
• fire metabolism
• repair and replace damaged tissue

Amino acids to produce:

• hormones to start and stop different functions
• neurotransmitters to operate your brain
• immune cells to protect your body
• blood and lymph cells to carry substances around the body
• repair and replace damaged cells and tissue
• and, there’s even more – suffice it to say – the scope is enormous!

Here’s the rub:
the only way your body can do any of this is if the food you are eating contains the “stuff” the body needs to accomplish the tasks.

This business of eating the food you “like” virtually guarantees that your body won’t get what it needs to rebuild a perfect replica of itself – let alone carry on all of its minute by minute activities that keep you focused, active and healthy.

There are two thresholds, energy and nutrition, that must be met or your body ceases to operate efficiently – the perfect replica starts to become less perfect.

Carbohydrates

Your body burns carbohydrates, fat and water to create energy. The main dietary source to energize your body is carbohydrates.

• If you eat too few, or the wrong kind, you will run out of energy before you run out of day.
• If you eat too many or you are eating the wrong kind – you will get fat.
• If you hit the threshold, you will breeze through the day.

The “wrong” ones are easy:  white flour products, vegetables that grow underground, sweet fruits, sugar and sugars that added to packaged food.

• If you cannotburn these simple carbohydrates within two hours your body will turnthem into fat.
• And, you willget hungry because you need energy again.

The best carbohydrates come from whole grains, vegetables that grow above ground and fleshy fruit.  The Harvard School of Public Health provides guidance to help you select the “right” carbohydrates.

Fat

Fat has been painted with too broad of a brush so, people avoid it at all costs – this is a big mistake!  Granted, there is a “wrong” kind that can turn into plaque and body fat if you eat too much of it.

But, the “right” kind is essential to your body – that’s why they are called essential fatty acids.  Essential fatty acids keep your heart and arteries flexible, fight inflammation and support metabolism.   Harvard, once
again, explains the details if you want more information.

Water

Research has shown that within 10 minutes of drinking a pint of water, the metabolism increases by as much as 30 percent.  Other drinks did not show the same effect.

If you drink too little water and you may be at risk for headaches, muscle cramps, dizziness, constipation and other nasty symptoms.

If you drink an adequate amount of water you gain some great benefits such as a clearer mind, more energy and even help your body metabolize body fat.  

The second threshold is nutrition.  The tissue of all plants and animals are made up from building blocks, called Amino Acids.  Your body disassembles the plant and animal tissue then reassembles their Amino Acids, along with minerals to produce your tissue.

Protein
Protein provides the building blocks your body uses to create all of its cells, tissue and fluids are amino acids – they come from protein.  The source for protein is plant and animal tissue.  If you eat too many of the wrong kinds you will plug up digestion, the heart, arteries and your brain.  If you eat too few, your body will start to gradually deteriorate.  If you hit the threshold, you will be blessed with perfect replacement cells that maintain an efficient, perfect body.

The “right ones are easy:  vegetables, fleshy fruit, fish, poultry and limited
meat from vertebrates (beef and pork).  The Harvard School of Public Health provides guidance concerning meat and plant protein.

Minerals

Particular minerals like calcium have received lots of attention, so, there isn’t much to say about it and the other minerals for which a recommended daily intake has been established.

BUT (and there is always a but), most authorities fall silent when it comes to an entire category of minerals called trace minerals.  Also known as electrolytes, this obscure collection of water-soluble minerals are, in fact, essential for your well being.  They are co-factors in virtually every activity of your body.

The assumption is: you will receive sufficient amounts of these important nutrients when you consume fruits and vegetables.

This assumption is wrong in two ways:

• most people do not consume enough vegetables and even if you do consume the recommended 9 servings of vegetables and fruit
• the soils, on which the plants are grown, have long-since been depleted of these elements due to commercial farming practices.

In fact, this is one area were you must rely on a dietary supplement to support your body’s requirements.  They are marketed as Colloidal Minerals and/or trace minerals, typically liquid and a must if you plan on staying healthy.

Water

Did you notice that water is in both thresholds?  Water is your body’s principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight.

Every system in your body depends on water.  Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells, plumbs your body to protect vital tissue and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Possibly the most important thing you can do for your body is to keep it hydrated.  The biggest mistake most people make is to believe beverages count toward hydrating the body.

Water is . . . water!  Beverages:  coffee, tea, soda and juice are liquid food.  So, don’t get caught in that trap.

Drink at least 8 – 8oz. glasses of water everyday – more if it is hot, cold or your are sick.   There is no substitute for water and it is free from your tap and, if you let the water sit overnight in an open container, all of the chlorine will dissipate.  Fresh, clean, free water.  What could be better? 

You make the choice then you will experience the consequences.

• Too many simple carbohydrates – you will get fat.
• Too much exercise – you will tear up your joints.
• Too few minerals – your body can’t work right.
• Too little protein – your body will deteriorate.
• Too little water – metabolism slows down, you will become a husk, plus your body can’t clean itself.

Let me make it simple:  today’s choices are tomorrow’s consequences.  Too many people, me included, have been sugar coating the facts for too long.

• If you are not healthy, you have bought your own trouble.
• If you are neglecting your body but not experiencing the signs of neglect now, you have agreed to a layaway plan to experience
  those same sign of neglect – later.

You are paying, every day, with the choices you are making about convenient, fast food and adhering to a false paradigm that there is some special person or some magic bullet that can fix what you are breaking.

• The special person who can change the consequences is YOU.
• The magic bullet is the “stuff” you are consuming – everyday.   

You can change the way things are by changing the things you are doing.  The arguments that it is too expensive or you don’t have the time won’t hold water.

You either make time for health or spend time being sick.  The latter is very expensive in both money and the quality of your life.

• Start with an action plan to meet the thresholds your body needs to stay healthy or get healthy.
• Assess what you are eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner – everyday -  to care for the needs of your body.
• Fill the gap in your diet with the best nutraceutical supplements you can buy.  Know this: the better you do with the foods you are eating – the fewer supplements it takes to fill the gap in your diet.
• Do your best.  It is not practical to expect to “eat right” everyday.  There is a principal in health that you can take to the bank:  It is not
  what you do occasionally that hurts, it is what you do everyday.
• Splurge once in a while.   After all, life is worth living.  But, get back on the wagon as quickly as possible. 
• Health is a journey.  You can choose to accept the fact that you are in charge of your own health or cling to the false hope that someone orsomething can fix what you have broken.

It’s Your Life – It’s Your Choice.

The human body is a self-defending, self-repairing, self-replicating vessel – virtually every cell of the 750 trillion cells in the body is replaced every seven years.

While you are sleeping, your body builds 300 billion cells every night just to keep up with the task.

If You’re Born Healthy, You Should Die Healthy

 
The study of aging, called Senescence, is revealing that every cell in the body must be replaced every 7 years over your lifetime.Discoveries surrounding aging report a phenomenon, called Apoptosis,
that determines, at the cellular level, when and how many times particular cells of the body are replaced.

Furthermore, DNA, the recipe for a perfect cell, assures that each regeneration of your body can be an exact duplicate of the original – without cellular degradation – if the ingredients called for in the cellular recipe are present.

The entire process happens automatically, it won’t stop until you die except, there is one chink in the process;  this magnificent, automatic process is totally dependant on what you choose to put in your mouth.

It All Depends on YOU

•  If the food you are consuming contains the minimum quantity of the basic cellular building blocks, called the threshold, the quality of all the cells produced that day are exact duplicates to the
  ones that are being replaced.  Your health will remain constant.
• If you consume more than the minimum quantity of the basic cellular building blocks you will benefit in two ways:  the quality of all the cells produced that day are exact duplicates to the ones that are being replaced and your body can save the difference for use when there is a deficiency.   Your health may improve.
• If the food that is being consumed falls below the threshold, it is deficient in basic cellular building blocks thus the quality of all the cells produced that day diminishes – the quality of cells and
  health degenerates.
• The speed at which health declines is proportional to the number of days, weeks or years that the body is forced to produce substandard cells.  That’s why it is called degenerative disease.

Ingest:  The balanced diet recommends the quantity and type of food your body needs to stay healthy, youthful and vibrant.   Meeting or exceeding these thresholds through diet or a combination of diet and dietary supplements pays you dividends – supporting your health, length of life and quality of life.   YOU control this process.

Digest:  The body uses  enzymes, caustic acid, neutralizing fluids and relies on friendly microbes to convert the food you eat into the nutrition your body requires to stay healthy, vibrant and youthful.

Assimilate:  Nutrients are delivered where they are needed over an arterial highway where they pass through the cellular membranes into the cells.  The old saying “You are what you eat.” should be “You are what you assimilate.”

Eliminate:  The body accumulates cellular wastes, toxins and undigested debrisover the course of the day.   The timely, efficient and complete elimination of waste, shortly after each meal, stops the
drowning on cellular waste, lessens the impact of environmental toxins, parasites and other infective organisms

 Sustain: The body depends on a minimum level of nutrients, called the threshold, to stay healthy.  If you stay at or above this threshold, you reduce the risk of experiencing chronic disease or declining health.

Mend: Millions of cells wear out each and every day; others are damaged through the process of living.  If you stay at or above this threshold, the body has all of the components it needs to renew itself at optimal levels keeping you healthy, vibrant and youthful.

Defend: The body is constantly under attack from the environment, microbes, parasites and other forces.  Staying at or above the threshold provides needed protection from the ravages of everyday living.

Energize: The body depends on fuel (glucose) and trace minerals from your diet for mental clarity, endurance and energy.
 

Experts and nutritionists agree: “There is a direct relationship between staying healthy and consuming 7 servings of colorful vegetables and fruits each day.”

Everyday, people choose to eat the food that contributes to their decline in health.  Fast, sweet and convenient are the dietary guidelines for the day.
People eat whatever they feel like eating—whenever they feel like it.

Children are developing the very same diseases as their parents because as children, they are putting their feet under the same dining table as their
parents. 

A great first step is to examine the habits that contribute to declining health and lead to sickness, then begin changing them.

Be honest! Could you do better if you tried?  Do the best you can.  And, don’t despair if you can’t eat everything you need to become and stay healthy.  Simply fill the gap in your diet with a well crafted nutraceutical supplement, system or program to address your particular need or the gap in your diet.

Remember, it is not what you do occasionally that damages your health, it is what you do everyday. Eat whole foods, drink clean water and use nutraceutical supplements to sustain your healthy body.

After all, who wants to die sick?