mindworks Archives - GrandmaBetsyBell

Thanksgiving

Posted on November 27, 2014

Gentle Reader,

I sit here the night before Thanksgiving with multiple layers on, my nose cold and the backs of my ears feeling the cool air circulating in my living room, the temperature set at 65. The Roman shades are still up so I can enjoy the spectacular Christmas lighting I put up this year. The May pole is planted in the middle of the seven-circuit labyrinth that fills my front garden and hanging from its 15-foot tip are fourteen strands of multicolored LED lights. I am so proud of this accomplishment. It took several hours of mathematical figuring with the help of Google to find the circumference of a circle where the radius is 4 ft; and to determine the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle where the pole stands 15 ft. tall. I loved geometry but remember nothing. The three lengths of lights measured 66 ft each and, stretched end to end, I wanted them to hang in equal lengths with traveling distance between them around the edge of the circle on the ground. It was complicated. This seventy-seven year old brain figured it out and when the taped strands of lights rose skyward, their 14 lengths reached the ground evenly spaced around the pole. Must be the MindWorks at work.

These days leading up to Thanksgiving and the holidays are full of all the emotion that comes with a long to-do list and the hangover from holidays past. Yet somehow this year the Christmas letter is written and printed and ready for my grandson Jack to help me mail on Saturday. The special gift list for the holidays is updated and ready on my website. The version of the letter for family and friends not in my Shaklee family is printed and ready for mailing and labels for both sets are printed, stamps purchased and all will be done Saturday, using up the Christmas cards and envelopes I have stored over the years.

I have the Christmas event planned for the grandchildren: we will meet at the Experience Music Project for lunch and an afternoon of touring the exhibits, virtual music performing and good times at the Seattle center, maybe including a carousel ride. Why not? You never get too old for that. Even if these children are late middle school, high school and college aged.

Today I hiked with two stalwart friends who are as reluctant to give up the weekly wilderness as I am. It was a trip up the backside of Cougar Mt., one of the Issaquah Alps, near foothills of the jagged Cascade Range, a second growth forest of Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock and Red Cedar with big leaf maple and alder and plenty of thick sword fern and salal on the forest floor. The trails, developed over the years, are now maintained by the Greenway Mountain to Sound organization with the help of the Washington Trails organization. The hiker heading for Shy Bear Pass climbs to dramatic cliffs and past giant erratics (those mammoth boulders spewed around the region by the tumultuous volcanic and glacial periods eons ago).

My body keeps going and is getting stronger all the time, thanks to the guys at the Xgym. I feel lucky today. My cousin, Jack Bell, seven years my junior and far more diligent about his fitness than I, suffered a massive heart attack a week ago last Friday. He was in the gym at the time and experts performed CPR immediately. Ten days later, he is in a rehab facility near San Francisco where they will provide 5-7 hours a day of physical therapy to bring his fitness level back. This is the man who climbed Rainier for the Breast Cancer Fund and inspired me to climb Mt. Shasta a year later. He greeted me at the end of my climb with a silk prayer scarf from Tibet where he and his husband had gone. I greeted him at the end of his Rainier attempt with a big glass of Physique. It was a high wind, socked in, fog impeded ascent and he was in bad need of an after workout restoration. He has been up Kilimanjaro, Whitney and Aconcagua in Argentina, and others I have forgotten. He will climb mountains again.

Jack’s dad died of a heart attack. Jack will not die from this one. He has taken Shaklee vitamins for a long time. They probably help. His mother died of Alzheimer’s. He has been taking Vitalizer Gold and recently added MindWorks. This is a man who believes in prevention and the heart attack strikes him anyway. He will probably have a complete recovery because of those thoughtful and persistent prevention efforts.

We will all die. We do have some measure of influence on how and how soon.

I am off to my time-share in Mexico with my sister-in-law and two friends in their early 80s. The four of us will have a great time in the warm sweet smelling air, the fine-grained sand, the elegant accommodations and entertaining nightlife of the Gran Mayan Resort. We will shop for exquisite jewelry in the market and eat fish, guacamole (made fresh by me daily) and drink margaritas.

The deeply religious festival of the Virgin de Guadalupe will be our pre-Christmas advent preparation. Early December is a lovely time to be in Puerto Vallarta where Guadalupe is the patron saint. I have counted out my Shaklee supplements, my individual portions of Vivix, my 180 Smoothee mixtures for breakfast every day. I’ll be ready for whatever.

So much to be thankful for. Good health, good friends, loving family. I bid your prayers for all who struggle during this season when the airwaves perpetuate jollity and if you are not participating, you feel wrong somehow.

Be well, Do well and keep moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

fear-based medicine

Posted on November 7, 2014

Gentle Reader,

Do you wonder if we approach our health from the point of view of fear? Fear-based medicine seems to trump science. We are afraid of cancer, of sexual dysfunction, of diabetes, of heart disease, of arthritis and of Alzheimer’s or memory loss. I was just with a group of people last night when the person speaking forgot a name and a look of panic clouded his face. Everyone—all over 45–chorused “aging problem”. We all know someone whose spouse or parent “isn’t there” any more.

TV show and books write about common health practices such as fluoridating city water and vaccinating children and using Mercury in dental fillings as extremely dangerous and health threatening. Dr. Sears is one such author. Dr. Sardi’s radio talk show about the dangers of certain medical diagnoses and treatments is another. You can find a pundit to support any fear-based health question you may have. How are we to navigate all this intensity around health?

I tend to live in both camps, seeing my doctor for blood tests and other annual markers to help me decide what actions to take about osteoporosis, skin cancer possibilities, blood sugar, cholesterol and fat levels. I rarely take his advice about prescriptions that might help, but rather go to the alternative health and prevention side of the house for my next steps. I have to admit that given my family history, I get frightened when a pre-cancerous spot shows up in my scalp or on my face. I leave my annual physical triumphant when my blood tests reveal that taking the Shaklee Cholesterol Reduction Complex has lowered my cholesterol 17 points in one year.

Do supplement manufacturer’s research and produce new products in answer to fear based medicine? Do the Shaklee scientists study fearful health issues in order to fix the problem? In order to give us relief from our anxiety? Do I take all the supplements I take because I am afraid of ill health, of losing my agility, my thinking capacity, my resistance to developing cancer? Is supplementation part of fear-based medicine? I do not trust myself to eat a balanced, nutrient rich diet every meal of every day. I don’t trust the food I buy and cook to nourish me enough to prevent the diseases I am afraid of. To counter this fear, I take supplements I believe are organically sourced and designed to reach my cells.

Perhaps good health has become a religion, an answer to fear about the future. I just watched a few episodes of Dr. Phil, the TV host who is going to be talking about Shaklee’s new MindWorks on Nov. 17. The shows I watched portray him as intervening in people and family’s dysfunctional lives. I am curious as to how he will engage the 5 yrs of research Shaklee’s scientists have done to produce and test MindWorks. Will MindWorks be a life changer in the psychological realm? Tune in with me to find out. Monday, November 17^th.

I watched a few episodes of Dr. Oz, whose latest emphasis is on rapid weight loss. He has identified a number of foods that he believes are causing people to gain and retain extra pounds, foods that were extremely challenging for the successful “losers” to stop consuming in the first few days of their rapid weight loss diet. I would be interested to know if those dietary changes will be permanent. If they are, those dieters will lead healthy lives.

Just do a web search for health and wellness shows and you will find a channel devoted to the topic, the Discovery channel’s Health and Fitness program, and the announcement of three new healthy living channels. This latest addition claims to put our fascination with food into healthy actions which will make us healthier. We are all fascinated by our own health. There is money to be made marketing to this fascination.

Roger Barnet bought Shaklee to do well by doing good. Roger is an idealistic wealthy entrepreneur from New York City who bought Shaklee in 2004. His dream is to earn the Nobel Peace prize as the first business to satisfy the criteria of the committee. He does not seem to be motivated by fear, but by a desire to improve the health of poor people. The idea is that healthy people may be less desperate, less likely to fight for survival. He has not put that in writing anywhere that I have seen, but I’ve heard him talk about his vision of a world populated by healthy people being a peaceful world.

What is your motivation for eating the way you eat, or supplementing your diet, or working out? Are you at peace with the fact that no matter how much we work to ward off disease, something will take us down in the end? Unless we suffer accidental death, that is. We are trying to improve our health span to match our life span, hopefully not out of fear-based medicine—panic, but through making better choices every time we eat and move. I would be interested in your comments. Please share. If you are not on my blog list, sign up for the weekly post at the bottom of this page.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving, out of joy, not fear.

Betsy

206 933 1889

betsy@hihohealth.com

Resources

MindWorks Works

Posted on October 27, 2014

What is MindWorks™?
MindWorks contains key nutrients that have been shown in
three clinical studies and dozens of laboratory studies to improve
short-term mental sharpness and focus and help protect against
age-related mental decline.*

Scientific studies have shown the key ingredients in MindWorks
work in three ways:
• Immediate improvements in memory and focus*—3X better
than the control group**
• Protects against age-related mental decline*—a 30% reduction
in the rate of brain shrinkage, a common consequence of aging,
over two years‡
• Supports healthy circulation*—designed to help make key
nutrients available to the brain*

MindWorks is a revolutionary program that combines clinically
supported nutritional supplementation and brain-training
software to help your brain stay sharp and focused.*
What are the key ingredients in MindWorks?

MindWorks is an exclusive formula powered by the following
key ingredients:
Chardonnay grape seed extract—Only available to
Shaklee, MindWorks contains a unique Chardonnay grape
seed polyphenol blend created via a patent-pending water
extraction process that results in a 30X concentrate of specific
polyphenols.† These polyphenols have been shown in clinical
studies to be more bioavailable and impact healthy blood
vessel function.*

Guarana—We sourced a carefully selected guarana extract
that is prepared as described in several important clinical
studies of guarana—and our guarana extract has a naturally low
level of caffeine. Do not confuse our guarana extract with the
caffeine-spiked guaranas you may find in many energy drinks—
one serving of MindWorks contains less caffeine than a medium
cup of decaf coffee. Guarana has long been used traditionally by
Amazonian Indian tribes and has been shown to help improve
cognitive performance.*

B vitamins—The B vitamin combination in MindWorks was
shown to help protect against age-related mental decline in a
two-year clinical trial.‡

What is green coffee bean extract and why is it
used in MindWorks?

Research has identified specific polyphenols that have been
shown to protect neurons against oxidative stress, and influence
the levels of biochemical signals and growth factors that are
critical for the formation of new synapses. Green coffee bean
extract contains chlorogenic acid, a polyphenol, which has
been shown to provide this benefit. Green coffee bean extract is
less than 5% caffeine and does not make a significant caffeine
contribution to the MindWorks product.

Can I take more than 1 MindWorks tablet per day?

There is no known additional benefit in consuming more than
one tablet. In fact, the amounts of key nutrients in MindWorks
were chosen on the basis of their optimum response in clinical
trials and lab studies.

MindWorks
Think fast. stay sharp.
**At six hours versus control. †% by weight of monomeric flavanols compared to a fresh grape seed. ‡Based on a two-year study of 223 adults with mild cognitive impairment.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Would you like to do a one month trial of MindWorks and see what your results are? Shop at www.HiHoHealth.com. I noticed a difference in short term memory. You know, wondering why I went to the basement? I remembered, even though I was distracted by several others things along the way. What will you notice?

Do well, Be well, and Keep Moving! Betsy

shopping: www.HiHoHealth.com