Tag: herbal supplements

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

OTC pain meds

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Gentle Reader,

The aftermath of my bike crash calls into question two of my closely held beliefs:  OTC pain meds are bad for you; keep moving, no matter what.  I was on the dunes path at Long Beach, WA with twelve Finneys of all ages.  Nothing like a little crowd around the beginning of the last section of trail to get a person off kilter and into the sand.  My recovery seemed fine while at the beach because I was icing and taking a lot of Shaklee Pain Relief Complex and doing nothing.  (My granddaughter reminds me that I split some wood with a heavy ax.) The pain worsened, keeping me awake at night.  Coughing hurt unbearably.  I went to my doctor.  Dr. Pepin knows I am not a willing patient.  He is working hard to play the role of a team member in my health care.  He makes a special effort to honor my preference for natural healing practices—acupuncture, massage, individual training and supplements.  He sent me for an x-ray.

When I got home, My Chart contained the message that I had broken the 9th rib on the left side, but only a hairline fracture.  In his notes, he suggested more icing and anti-inflammatories.  I decided to take Aleve.  I took another one 8 hours later.  I took a third 8 hours after that.  I iced off and on for the next 36 hours.  Everything improved.  The depression in the muscles beneath the broken lower back rib normalized.  The muscles on the opposite side calmed down to normal.  I slept soundly, happy that pain did not disturb me.  It seemed like a miracle.

What is so bad about NSAIDS? What do they do?  Why have I resisted taking them so consistently?

It turns out when taken for a brief time (2 – 10 days), anti-inflammatories calm down injured muscles allowing healing to take place.  The danger with these drugs appears when taken habitually over a long period of time to manage chronic pain.  The NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) intercept 2 enzymes called Cox 1 and Cox 2 that are involved with inflammation.  Inhibiting Cox 1 has the side effect of damaging the stomach lining, causing bleeding.  Advil, Motrin and Aleve are the most popular of these non-specific anti-inflammatories and regularly cause damage to the stomach lining when taken over a long period of time.

The risks from taking NSAIDS, besides internal bleeding, are most severe for people who have heart conditions.  People with stomach problems should avoid them.  For healthy people with no blood pressure or other heart issues, taking NSAIDS for a few days to bring down inflammation carries low risk and brings much relief.

I am satisfied that taking NSAIDS for a few days to help the immediate problem is a good thing for my body and does not put me at risk.

Now let me think out loud about my other closely held belief: Keep Moving under any and all circumstances.  This week I have not hiked, gone to yoga practice, worked out with my trainer or done much of anything. I did walk around Green Lake, a 3 miles meander on the flat, and twice I walked to the West Seattle Junction, down and up  a hill, repeated in the opposite direction, about 2 miles total.  Moving, yes; pain free, pretty much.  At least pain free around the injured area.  But after a dozen steps, chronic pain kicked in: hips, knees and lower back.  I found myself questioning the value of moving, especially since moving causes pain.

It turns out that Not moving is lethal.

Bone Loss

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, our bones require applied stress for them to grow. Bone stress sends a signal to the body to build bone density. If you don’t stress your bones by exercising, you can suffer from low bone density, which can turn into a case of osteoporosis. Also, if you never exercise and stretch your joints, your arthritic joints will stiffen over time and their adjoining tissues will weaken, causing more arthritis.

Muscle Loss

Your bones need stress exerted on them to grow, and so do your muscles. A muscle’s fibers need to tear for it to rebuild itself larger and stronger. So as you may already know from experience, if you don’t use your muscles, you “lose” them.

Increased Risk of Disease

Muscle loss caused by inactivity makes your metabolism slow down. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body converts food and drink into usable energy. If you have a slow metabolism, your body ends up storing a lot of the food and drink energy instead of using it to get your body moving. This storage leads to weight gain and puts you at a higher risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, depression and anxiety, according to Harvard School of Public Health.

Weaker Immune System

According to MayoClinic.com, without regular aerobic exercise, your immune system weakens. This makes it harder for your body to fight viruses such as the flu and the common cold. So if you never exercise, you’re likely to find yourself getting sick more often.

Keep Moving will remain my closely held belief.  Since the pain I experience when I move is chronic, caused by arthritis, I will continue to use Shaklee’s Pain Relief Complex.  Its herbal formula is a pain path inhibitor (Cox 2 and 5 Lox) but does not interfere with Cox 1.  Therefore there is no risk to the stomach or to the heart.

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

I promise I will.  Join me.

Betsy

Comments?  I love to hear them.

Thanks to Lindsay Haskell  of AZ who blogs about health, fitness, culture and fashion.

 

Arthritis, Be Well health tips

resveratrol for joints

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Gentle Reader,

There is so much I could share about this past weekend at my alma mater, Bryn Mawr College, just outside Philadelphia on the MainLine.  In keeping with the goal of this blog, I will single out arthritic joint issues and focus on possible remedies for joint pain.

Twenty-nine of my classmates came to celebrate our 55th reunion.  Everyone looked great:  not too many wrinkles, lovely hair, sparkling eyes.  But when it came time to walk up a few stairs, joints fail and pain ensues.  The cart is called to drive people where they need to go.  I’m wondering if the anti-aging product I’ve been taking for ten years has helped my joints so the same is not true for me.

Have you heard about Resveratrol?  It is the anti-oxidant found in red wine.  Shaklee started working on producing a pure tonic that combines the resveratrol and polyphenols found in the muscadine grade about ten years ago.  I have been taking my daily dose of this delicious liquid called Vivix since they made it available for sale.

There is no question that my body, like my class mates, suffers from the aging deterioration of cells that is normal for a 77 year old.  It appears we do not all age in the same way or at the same rate.  I have had severe osteo arthritis and spinal stenosis for years, probably brought about by factors such as stress, poor diet, and environmental toxins. I’ve worked hard on the diet part, but you cannot always eat perfectly, now can you.  These factors can weaken cells’ natural defenses, lower cell energy, damage DNA, and decrease cell performance. All of these can contribute to cellular aging.

Clinical Studies show Vivix® ingredients positively impact four key mechanisms of aging at the cellular level.

Shaklee scientists conducted a study to see if Vivix could defend against cell damage.

Cell Defense

 

Blunts Biological Stress
A clinical study published in The Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism showed that key ingredients in Vivix blocked a key marker of biological stress response after the consumption of a high-fat fast food breakfast totaling 930 calories.

The results were exciting, while the study had nothing to do with joints, it showed that Vivix protected cells from damage.  My joints were damaged long before Vivix came along.  Perhaps protection is less important than repair.  Let’s see what happened with repair.

 Cell Repair

DNA Protection & Repair
Laboratory studies show that key Vivix ingredients help protect against DNA damage, supporting DNA replication for healthy cell function.

Shown in laboratory studies, Vivix protects and repairs DNA, which is assaulted millions of times every day. These assaults can damage the cell’s DNA, creating a “typo” that may compromise cell function and longevity.

A recent visit with my sports medicine doctor revealed a smaller than average spinal passageway for the cord to pass through.  Like my father before me, my spinal cord has little wiggle room.  That is the result of inherited DNA.  The data suggest that DNA can be repaired by resveratrol.  I am convinced that my joint health has improved instead of worsened over the last ten years.  The recent MRI indicated improvement.

Could it be that resveratrol reduces joint pain?  This is certainly my experience.

To learn more about Vivix and the ingredients, studies and results, click here.

Vivix is expensive.  It may be worth it if you want to slow down aging at the cellular level.  It certainly seems to help with joint pain and there are only side benefits from drinking a swig from the bottle every day.   I would give the body 90 to 180 days before deciding Vivix has made no difference in your joint function.  It is possible you will feel a positive difference much sooner.  Your blood is all new in 90 days and the joints, because of lower blood flow, will take double that to show results.

There are other resveratrol products on the market, but none have the muscadine grape’s extra anti-oxidants which seems to enhance the punch provided by resveratrol.  In addition, purity of product makes a difference and Shaklee scientists have been able to produce a 95% pure tonic.  Less purity may result in loose bowels.  Get some and see what your results are.

Good luck and keep moving, as moving is always the best single antidote to painful joints.

Be well, Do well and Keep moving,

Betsy

206 406 5940

Scientific resources

What is memory?

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Just what is Memory anyway?

 

We use the word “memory” without understanding what it is. Our memory is a complex system that can dictate our day-to-day behavior.

How's your memory?
How’s your memory?

Memory can be defined in several ways, including:

  • the process by which the brain stores and remembers information.
  • remembered from the past.
  • the remembering of a deceased person as “in memory of.”
  • the length of time a person or event is remembered.
  • the part of a computer where data is stored and retrieved.

 

3 stages of memory:  Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval.

 

During the encoding process, we absorb information. The storage phase is when our memory creates a permanent record of the information. The retrieval process is when we remember or retrieve the stored information.

 

During the retrieval process, our brain sorts through 3 memory “data banks”…sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory. Sensory memory identifies and holds information for just a few seconds. When we look at something for just a second and can still remember details, this is our sensory memory in action. Short term memory allows us to recall items for anywhere from a few seconds up to one minute without rehearsing.

 

Most people can remember chunks of information that have approximately 4 to 5 components. An example of this is the way in which most people learn to remember a phone number. You simply break it into chunks that include the area code, then the next 3 numbers and then the final numbers. Long term memory is capable of storing information for long… almost unlimited… periods of time. If you remember those same phone numbers years later, they’ve migrated from short term memory to long term memory. Information that is repeated ends up in long term memory, allowing us to retrieve it automatically.

 

Tips to maintain memory function

 

Here are a few ways to keep your memory sharp:

 

  • Get enough sleep.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Have an active social life
  • Laugh… it activates the learning and creative centers of your brain.
  • Avoid stress… it destroys brain cells.
  • Exercise your brain… read, do crossword puzzles, keep a journal.

 

Keep Your Memory Sharp….with Shaklee supplements that can keep your brain functioning optimally:

 

  • B-Complex. For glucose oxidation, neuronal membrane functions, nerve impulse generation, the biosynthesis of several neurotransmitters, and the metabolism of fatty acids and amino acids in the brain.
  • Sustained Release Vita-C. is required for the enzymatic reaction that synthesizes the neurotransmitter norepinephrine from dopamine. Vitamin C may also be able to regenerate vitamin E, an important lipid-soluble antioxidant.
  • Vita-D . is known to be important for normal brain development and cognitive function in older adults.
  • Vitamin E has a key role in preventing oxidant-induced lipid destruction and is vital in maintaining the integrity of cell membranes.
  • Lecithinis a fatty compound found in all cells, but particularly in our nerves, glands and the brain. 40 % of our brain is lecithin. Lecithin dissolves cholesterol, and holds our cells together! It’s vital for the brain.
  • OsteoMatrix. Calcium ions are important intracellular signals that regulate a number of physiological processes, including neuronal gene expression, neuronal secretion of neurotransmitters into synapses, and synaptic plasticity.
  • Iron plus Vitamin C. is needed for development of oligodendro-cytes (the brain cells that produce myelin), and is a required cofactor for several en-zymes to synthesize neurotransmitters.
  • Zinc Complex. Zinc is present at high levels in the brain where it has catalytic, structural, and regulatory roles in cellular metabolism.
  • OmegaGuard. The nervous system has a great concentration of lipids (omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, phospholipids, triglycerides, and cholesterol). These lipids serve structural roles in cell membranes of the nervous system, and affect membrane fluidity, flexibility, permeability, and play important roles in vision and nervous system function.
  • Mental Acuity Plus is a Shaklee exclusive formula that contains ginkgo, bilberry, hawthorn, and B vitamins to enhance memory and decision making. It helps maintain normal metabolic activity in the brain and also lowers homocysteine levels. (Homocysteine is an amino acid and breakdown product of protein metabolism that, when present in high concentrations, has been linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Evidence suggests that people with elevated homocysteine levels have twice the normal risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.)
Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Gifts for arthritis

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Gentle Reader,

Who do you know who suffers from sore, painful knees, hips, fingers or shoulders?  You love this person who has arthritis and you are going to go shopping to buy them something for Christmas.  Why not combine a cozy lap blanket with an herbal pain reliever and a deep-tissue cream that could bring comfort as well as warmth?

I’m not a shopper so I was stunned Wed. night when a friend and I went to a movie in Seattle’s endless mall area with a big AMC.  We were thinking the parking would be easier.  Whoa! People are out shopping already—in droves and into the night.  In this blog, I’m inviting you to shop.  ‘Tis the season, right?

You might appreciate choosing gifts that bring better health to those you care about.  This is an invitation to shop for health.  Bring meaning to every purchase.

Have you watched Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff?  Take a minute to watch before piling up a mound and consider the necessity of each purchase and how it got to the store and what the received is going to do with that gift later.

I make an argument for buying a Shaklee product over something else because I believe in the company’s philosophy of living in harmony with nature in every aspect of their corporate life.  In the end, stuff is stuff, and all the great suggestions I have for you about things you can add to a Shaklee product to make a sweet, health enhancing gift still accumulates stuff.  It is tricky being a fierce environmentalist and a sales person of goods I love and buy myself.

So, having suggested you buy nothing this Christmas here goes my suggestions for what to buy for someone who has been complaining of arthritis.  After all, I know you and I are going to buy some stuff anyway.

Joint & Muscle Pain Relief Cream with a microwaveable comfort pillow.

Pain Relief Complex and Physique After Workout Recovery Drink with Peggy Cappy’s DVD “Easy Yoga for the Rest of Us” especially for arthritis.  Add a yoga mat to make this gift special.

Joint Health Complex and Peggy Cappy’s CD meditation for back health.   I listen to this CD nearly every night and I’m convinced her quiet words have helped heal the arthritis in my lower back.  You can add an orthopedic pillow.  This is the one I have used for the last 15 years and I love it.

I have a lo-o-o-ng list of healthy living gifts on my resource page www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com.

If you decide to do any of these suggestions, I’d love to hear about the results.  You can shop for the Shaklee part of the gift at www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com/shop.  Or you can click on the links above.

Have a great Thanksgiving, pain free and full of love.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Enjoy the list.  I hope you get some great ideas.  Let me know if you have questions.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements and weight loss

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Gentle Reader,

Can an arthritis sufferer who is also over weight benefit from Medicinal Herbs & Herbal Supplements?  Perhaps you are one of those people like a friend of mine.  She’s in her late 40s and has been unable to get to her ideal weight for her entire life.  She was a fat baby.  She has eaten the perfect diet:  low carbs, lean protein, plenty of fruits and vegetables and hardly any snack foods that most of us would consider OK for once-in-a-while treats.  She has developed aches and pains, those joint issues that come when a person exercises a lot (trying to get that weight down) and fears arthritis is creeping in.  She already takes medicinal herbs and herbal supplements made by Shaklee which help with pain relief.  I have described the benefit of Pain Relieve Complex in several previous posts.

In desperation, she consulted a physician who suggested the Atkins diet.  For the beginning months she ate nothing but protein and then slowed added carbohydrates in the form of raw vegetables, 25 grams a day, no more.  (One protein source she loves is Shaklee’s Instant Protein Soy Mix, a pure, non-GMO protein source with no carbohydrates at all.)  She began using the medicinal herbs and herbal supplement Glucose Regulation Complex.

Taken in the middle of a meal, the herbs in this Glucose Regulation Complex unlock the doors of the stubborn cells and allow the sugars to enter!  Voila!  And Halleluiah!  At last her body is using the glucose to energize her and the pounds are coming off.

Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements abound on the market today.  How do you decide where to buy them and from whom?  Let me suggest the following bench marks to consider.  If your product does not meet all these requirements, look further, or shop for the Shaklee product.  (If the Shaklee corporation makes the medicinal herb or herbal supplement you are looking for, you are in luck.  If not, ask these questions of the manufacturer before you buy.)

  • Does the company control the source material from which the medicinal herb or herbal supplement is created?
  • If not, does it inspect with a plant chromatography methods?  In other words, does the batch of raw material pass through a thorough inspection of all the properties to determine if there are contaminants, and if the plant material is what it supposed to be?
  • Has the company conducted double blind scientific testing to see if the medicinal herbs and herbal supplements manufactured by the company itself reached the blood stream in the human body and performed as predicted?  Was the study conducted well enough for a peer-review journal to publish the results?
  • Does the company provide a money back guarantee on the medicinal herb or herbal supplement so that if the customer does not get the results they are looking for, they get their money back?

If all these points cannot be answered in the affirmative, I would not recommend buying that medicinal herb or herbal supplement.

OK, then.  Are you one of those people who are ready to try a medicinal herb or herbal supplement to see if you can get your body to accept glucose into the cells?  If so, please take a look at Glucose Regulation Complex.  The active ingredients include

  • Chromium (as chromium polynicotinate)
  • Taurine
  • Alpha Lipoic Acid
  • Banaba Leaf Extract (Lagerstroemia speciosa) Standardized to contain 18% colosolic acid
  • Vanadium (as vanadium amino acid chelate)

Other ingredients include Magnesium (as magnesium oxide) and Zinc (as zinc gluconate)

These ingredients help the sugars you eat get into the cells where they belong.  End of sugar cravings!

With the loss of extra pounds, arthritis pain goes down and maybe even away.  Of course, I can’t predict your individual outcome, but what if Glucose Regulation Complex worked for you the way it has for my friend?  Why not give it a try?

The side benefits of Glucose Regulation Complex include lowering cholesterol.  The scientific information you will want to study is in this pdf.  I have put the document on the resources page of my blog www.grandmabetsybell.com/resources/.

Feel free to pass this post along to friends and family who struggle with weight loss.  This may provide the missing ingredient.

I’d love your comments so others can benefit from your wisdom.

Be well, Do well and keep moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

 

 

Be Well health tips, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Does a Blood Type Diet Work?

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Gentle Reader,

How do we know if a blood type diet works?  How do we know if vitamins work?  How do we evaluate health claims?I recently checked in on a new customer to see how her vitamin regimen was going.  We had talked at length about the value of the Shaklee supplements and the ease of the Vita strip in Vitalizer.  She had not reordered.

Her husband decided Vitalizer was too expensive and she should stick with the many bottles of individual supplements recommended by the local health food store.   My friend suffers from aches and pains as well as other health issues and is taking a goodly number of vitamins and herbs.

I thought of them when I read about a recent publication in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A group of Belgian scientists did a systematic search of the literature to see if there was any evidence to support the basic premise behind Eat Right 4 Your Type, published in 1997 by Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo.  This book has sold in the millions.   Perhaps you are among those who have bought, read and followed his recommendation based on your blood type.

Have you found it makes a difference?  Do you stick to it?

blood type diet

Dr Steve Chaney, Dr. Richard Brouse, Dr. Frank Painter, Dr. Bruce Miller are all students of the latest claims about diet and eating that promise life-changing results.  What each of these men study is the research behind the claims.  The question to ask of a blood type diet is whether it could be that simple, given that there is tremendous variation in the human genetic makeup?  Is a blood type related to the health outcomes of different diets?

Where is the evidence?  

Out of 1415 articles with blood type diet in the title, only one matched their criteria

  • Did the study start with human subjects grouped according to blood type?
  • Did the study have an intervention in which the subjects were required to adhere to a particular type of diet?
  • Did the study measure a health outcome of the dietary intervention?

You can read the study here, and the newsletter about it from Dr. Chaney here.  The one study that met the criteria was based on an entirely different way of typing blood.

The take-away from this discussion is the question of evidence.  Why follow a diet based on blood type without doing the same research you would do before buying a new car or paint for your house?  If you truly purchase and consume products based only on price, evidence may not sway you to search further.  If you purchase your products based on the recommendation of a trusted friend or professional, you may or may not be getting the best value.

I have not followed the blood type diet.  I started a Shaklee nutritional program and felt better in many surprising ways.  Then I called the company and asked for 2 clinical studies published in peer-review scientific journals.  My body told me I had taken a positive step with vitamins and a protein smoothie.  Now I wanted scientific evidence.  A thick packet arrived with the articles.  I knew how to read the studies and evaluate whether their set up, process and conclusions were valid.  Their studies follow the above criteria.

  • Group the subjects according to the criteria
  • Track the intervention
  • Measure the results

Whether it’s a blood type study, a pain relief study, a vitamin delivery system study, it must follow clean scientific protocal and the results must be accepted for what they are.  All of Shaklee’s products are tested in this way.  I trust them.  Don’t take my word for it.  Google Shaklee science yourself.

Finally, if your body doesn’t give you strong signals that a new regimen or product is effective for you, ask yourself if you have given it enough time and if you have been consistent in following the program.

There are a lot of fads in the health and wellness world.  Some of them may be harmless.  Others may harm.  If you are working to increase your mobility, lessen your pain level, or just want to prevent illness and have more energy, check the quality of the product.  Do your research.

Let me know what your criteria are when deciding what to eat and what vitamins to take?

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Watch out for the metal detectors!

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Gentle Reader,

His long legs and narrow hips will soon carry him back to the gym.  He will be back on the machines and lose the ‘love handles’ that have crept on from lack of exercise. The long process of identifying what caused the sciatica, the sharp pinching pain radiating down the leg, making his once strong stride impossible is over.  It took months to identify a worn out hip as the culprit.  He has a new one now.hip replacement

No more arthritis pain from that degenerated joint.  His bones were healthy enough at 70+ to give the surgeon something to work with.  Other joints–knee, shoulders, ankles–still hold.  No advanced osteoarthritis everywhere.

Rehabilitation takes time.  His spirit is good.  He hates hurting or talking about hurting, so he will use the special chair lifters, the raised toilet seat, and take the procautions he must take to avoid damage to the new joint as the supportive muscles and tissue and tendons readjust to the trauma of surgery.

This world traveler will soon set off the alarms in the airport again.  What joy.  What thanksgiving.

Here are some tricks to rapid healing that his doctor may not tell him.

1.  Lecithin is an oil that helps emulsify, make more liquid, substances that are sticky.  After an incision or any wound to the body, our own mechanisms for repair rush to the task of healing.  This healing process causes lots of swelling, too many repair cells for the space.  To help bring this swelling down quickly, an emulsifier makes the spent repair cells easy to slough off through the normal waste stream.  Several lecithin capsules a day, not just one or two.

Caution: not all lecithin is the same.  Granuals or huge jars of capsules can go rancid quickly like any oil exposed to the air and light.  I prefer a small jar with 180 capsules.  There should be no smell of rancidity.  A rancid fat causes more damage than you can imagine, so take care what you buy.

2.  Alfalfa.  This food for horses and cows is King of Vegetables and helps all systems in the body with its nutrients.  In this case when the hip joint and surrounding tissue need held, it is there to do the job. Here are a few of Alfalfa’s contributions to our body:

  • a great aid in digestion, aids in peptic ulcers, great diuretic and bowel regulator,
  • effective barrier against bacterial invasion, anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine.
  • Natural body deodorizer, helps support the natural ph of the blood .   
  • High in protein: 18.9% protein as compared to beef 16.5%; milk 3.3% and eggs 13.1%.
  •  Remember, muscles are composed of protein and the lack of it causes them to break down resulting in fatigue and weakness. 
  • After surgery, naturally replenishes joints and tissues with its healing properties.

How much Alfalfa?  Lots and lots.  It is like eating peas.  Take a big spoonful and wash the tablets down with your favorite smoothie.  Or make a hot tea.  Or chew them up.

Caution:  Not all Alfalfa is the same.  Often genetically modified, the brand I use exclusively is grown by a very picky company’s organic farmers in Antalope Valley.  The leaves are picked at sun-rise.  No stems are included in the tablets.  Open the bottle and take a whiff of the farm land where it grew.

If I had to pick only one supplement to take, it would be Alfalfa by Shaklee.  Dr. Shaklee felt the same way.

Happy healing to my friend, the best travel leader I have ever known. And Happy Travels.

Fondly,

Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com    206-933-1889

 

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Tips for women who have back pain because of osteoporosis

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Here they are:

Tip #1 Increase your vitamin D3   (more info about Vitamin D3 for bone density here)

Tip #2 Add weight bearing exercise to your routine

Tip #3 Eat more greens

Gentle Reader,

You have a sharp pain in your back and can’t remember that you lifted that bag of groceries 3 days ago even though you knew it was too heavy for you.  The pain subsides after a few weeks with the help of rest and some pain meds.    And then it happens again.

What’s going on?   You probably had a vertebral compression fracture, caused either by falling or by placing a load on outstretched arms such as raising a window or lifting a small child or a bag of groceries.  The front of the vertebrae collapse.  The spine is weakened by low bone density.  Our bodies can repair these hair line fractures on their own.  The trick is to lessen the chances of reoccurrence.

You go for your check up and they do a bone density test.  The dreaded report comes back. You have osteopenia.  They tell you that is probably why you’ve been having back pain.  This happened to me a few years ago.  My doctor immediately offered me drugs to increase the bone density.  I asked him to give me a couple years to change this picture and reverse the trend to osteoporosis.  The next bone density showed full blown osteoporosis.  I was very disappointed.  I’d been taking a good quality calcium for years.  Why hadn’t it protected me?  I was very physically active, walking all the time, skiing, working in the garden.  I pleaded again for more time and turned down the prescription.  It worked.  Here’s what I did.

#1 Increased Vitamin D3 to 6000 mg a day.  My blood test indicated a major increase was necessary.

#2 Stair climbing.  The advice was climb 200 steps every day while carrying 20 lbs.  I climbed 200 steps several times a week but didn’t carry any extra weight.

#3 Add minerals by eating lots more greens.  I eat 3 – 5 heads of greens (kale, chard, mustard greens, and collards) every week, usually steamed or in soups.  LacinatoKaleSpinach is good, too.  I also increased the supplement Alfalfa.

I was able to reverse the condition.  You can too.

I know you have done amazing things to turn osteoporosis around.  Let us know by leaving a comment.  If you found this helpful, pass it along.  And thanks,

Fondly, Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving

BetsyBell’s Health4u

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com

206 933 1889  1 888 283 2077

betsy@hihohealth.com

 

 

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Your friend said WHAT?

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Gentle Reader,

I don’t know about you, but the talk around me is about the latest aches and pain and what to do about it.  We’ve had foggy weather and below freezing temperatures out here in the Northwest.  One friend declared she couldn’t possibly so out because she might slip and fall.  Another friend wants to lose some weight but complains that she’s heard a lot of bad things about soy and can’t get into any soy smoothies.  Another friend’s husband is putting off getting his knees done by getting synovial fluid injections into his achy knees. Keep that arthritis at bay.  And still another friend’s husband ignored a bad cough for days until finally going to the doctor and ending up in the ICU for over a week with serious pneumonia.  One more friend who has player geezer

basket ball but is suffering from serious sciatica, shakes he head a 

head and says, “This cane will keep me going while the physical therapist fixes me up.”

I could go on and on.  You have similar stories.  We’re all trying our best to keep our bodies going for a few more months or years.

Where do you go for advice when you’ve got something that’s not working right?  Do you just stay indoors out of fear and trepidation?  We’re all over the web doing our research to see how other people are coping with our deal.  Who do you trust?  How do you judge the best solution?

When I first got introduced to the stuff I take 26 years ago, my problem was that I was running on nervous energy and every time I sat still for a few minutes, I fell asleep.  The product changed that.  So my body gave me a testimony.  Not content with physical data alone, I researched the company, ordered a couple of its peer-reviewed, published research articles and did a library search for back ground information.  (This was back in the days before the internet.)  All my due diligence confirmed my own experience.  I developed brand loyalty over the next couple years, the way people line up for the next Apple product.

I have never left my brain in the closet.  Company ownership changed several times and I researched each new team as if I were a complete outsider, you know, not going to other convinced sales people for their opinion.

Am I still influenced by my friends and family when they talk about their latest ache, their latest gadget, their latest restaurant?  Of course.  But I don’t leave my brain someplace else when deciding to follow their deal.  I hope you don’t either.

Before you go, my readers would enjoy hearing your discernment process.  Everyone evaluates with their own criteria.  What are yours?  Let us know.

If you’ve enjoyed this, pass it on.  Come on over to my face book page and hit the ‘like’ button.

Fondly, Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving

BetsyBell’s Health4u

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com

206 933 1889  1 888 283 2077

betsy@hihohealth.com

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Where’s the Nyquil?

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Gentle Readers, 

From the couch, handkerchiefs everywhere, head propped up I write to tell you the story of a person who used to get every cold bug that came along.  In the old days, I grabbed the Coricidin and then the Nyquil P.M. and then went whimpering to my doctor.  He gladly swabbed my throat and pronounced strep or bronchitis and prescribed an anti-biotic.  It happened roughly three times every year.  That’s a lot of antibiotics for a body to handle. 

Down in Mexico where I spent New Year’s (came home on the 10th of January), I felt a little sore throat coming on and that lethargy that seems to precede an illness.  For the past twenty six years I haven’t used the standard over-the-counter meds to ward off or treat a cold.  Starting on a food supplement program in 1985 moved me in a different direction.  My friend suggested heaps of vitamin C frequently, and garlic and a supplement called lecithin (less-i-thin).  They use it in salad dressings to keep the oil and water mixed together, emulsified.  It works the same way in the body, keeping gunk liquefied so it can leave in the waste stream.  Very helpful when you have buggers forming so fast you can’t cough them all up at once. 

What I figured out was the cold medicines suppress everything, drive the battle between my immune system’s response fighters and the germs, down, down, down into my chest.  The mass gets all sticky and gelatinous and won’t move.  Nyquil suppresses coughing (which can keep you awake).   The raging war between the good guys and the bad guys in your body gets all confined in a small space and the germs multiply and get all bacterial.  Then you’ve got something the doctor knows how to treat, so he writes a prescription. 

Is this familiar to anyone?

By the time I got home, I developed a full blown cold or maybe even the beginnings of the flu.  I certainly had achy joints and swollen lymph glands.  I got out the big guns.  Please bear with me and try not to freak out at the quantity of supplements I take when this situation develops.

4 – 6 Sustained Release C

3       Lecithin

3—4 Garlic

1       Immunity Formula I (a supplement blend of C, A, E and 3 of the B vitamins, plus zinc, copper and selenium suspended in rosemary oil so the water soluble (C and B) and the fat soluble (A and E) vitamins don’t degrade each other)

I took this handful of supplements every 2 – 3 hours I was awake, swallowing them down with a little drink of protein smoothie so my stomach could handle them.

I also drank Traditional Medicinals herbal teas Throat Coat and Breath Easy, usually stirring in a throat lozenge made of Echinacea, zinc, larch tree extract, elderberry and stevia, 3 at once.  Every time a coughing fit started, I popped a lozenge in my mouth.  When I awoke in the night coughing or to pee, I went to the kitchen and took the whole Marianne all over again. 

Happily the carcass of the Thanksgiving turkey was languishing in the freezer and there were carrots and celery and onion still in the frig.  The broth worked magic and I drank a couple quarts with a little cous cous boiled up in it. 

Results:  In one day the achy joints and lymph were normal.  In two more days, I was not coughing in the night.  By day four I was able to enjoy some regular food and was not needing the Bomb as we call it every 2 – 3 hours, just every 4 – 5 hours. 

Today I am healthy though a little puny from lack of exercise.

No antibiotics.  No OTC drugs. 

This is the same philosophy and process I use for dealing with other physical challenges like joint pain and arthritis.  Even though the x-ray shows severe osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis, gentle abs strengthening exercises, daily walking, eating lots of greens, and low sugar fruits and vegetables plus excellent protein, plus supplements keeps pain at bay. 

Is it easier to take the medications advertized on TV and recommended at the pharmacy?  Is it cheaper to take them?  Is the relief immediate?  YES to all these.  But what of the long term effects of drugs vs. high quality pure supplements?  Drugs have side effects.  Supplements made with extreme care for additives, purity of ingredients, and tested to make sure they actually get into the blood stream have side-benefits, not side-effects. 

Just a side note about Ester-C.  Apparently this little package which you dissolve in water and swallow, will boost the white cell production thus helping the immune system.  The study designed to verify this was done with 15 healthy men some of whom were smokers.  Each took the Ester-C product for a week and had an increase in the white cell count.  To read the study yourself, click here.  I just had to look this up because what I know about vitamin C is that it is water soluble and degrades immediately when exposed to light and air and water.  The tablets probably work better.  I found an online source for 1000 mg. sustained release Ester-C for $21 plus tax and shipping.  But I still have lots of questions.  Is their C ascorbic acid only?  What about the white stuff in the orange which turns out to be just as important?  What is used to slow down the release of C into the blood stream?  You want guar gum and nothing artificial separating the dosage delivery.  And the Sustained Release Vitamin C I take is 180 tablets for $21.00.  It’s made by Shaklee, a company I trust for its scientific research and the careful testing every step of the way from raw material, through processing to the finished product.

One more thought.  Not every stomach can handle that amount of supplements.  You noticed I do not take supplements on an empty stomach if I can help it.  If you want to follow this regimen, I’d be glad to guide you along the way.  By all means pay attention to your own body and pull back on the volume if you have a reaction to that much Vitamin C.  I am just happy I have this resource to use to ease the discomfort of a bad cold and to get over it quickly with no medications at all and so no side effects with their residual problems. 

I did not take a flu shot this season or any season.  Am I recommending against flu shots?  I’d be a fool to do that.  Use your own judgment. 

Before you go, leave a comment.  If you liked what you read, pass it on.

Fondly, Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving

BetsyBell’s Health4u

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com

206 933 1889  1 888 283 2077

betsy@hihohealth.com