What a disappointment for the mother.  The father who depended on his sons to help plant and harvest the crops, was equally devastated.  The father could not accept the verdict that was given, so he quickly saddled his horse and furiously rode three miles to the nearest doctors and brought back two who only confirmed what the midwife had said.

The small, shriveled infant seemed like only a sack of skin and bones.  The emotional mother asked if she could try to nurse the tiny child.  Perhaps it would bring her comfort, for just a small moment.   What harm would it be to let her?

The tiny infant suckled and soon fell into a deep sleep.  This went on for weeks, and turned into months with no signs of improvement.  The neighbor women came to care for the mother and child, only to leave shaking their heads wondering how long it would be before the tiny infant would leave this earthly life.

The child was named Forest C. Shaklee, and instead of crying and wiggling while he lay in his crib, he observed and he thought.  When all was quiet, with great concentration, he would gradually practice curling up his fingers on each of his hands, first one and then the other.

Forest began to grow.  Still being rather small for his age and not very healthy as to the standards of other children, his mother fed him healthy foods grown on the farm and Forest learned how to develop the muscles of his body.

He studied nature as he watched the changing of the seasons, the flight of the geese, and begin to understand there is a creative energy, a life force in nature.

Forest learned from his earliest childhood that nature provided what was needed for better health.  As a young man he chose to study drugless medicine.  He attended Palmer College of Chiropractic.

In 1915, he conducted a study of isolating nutrients from fruits and vegetables and developed one of the very first food supplements called Vitalized Minerals.

In 1956, Dr. Shaklee along with his two sons founded a company based on “Living In Harmony With Nature®” which was committed to developing products to improve the health of people and the planet.

Dr. Shaklee named his company Shaklee Products.  If he was going to provide products to the world, he would put his name on them indicating they were the very best nature and science could provide.  His name on the product was a sign of his honor and integrity.

Today, Shaklee is the # 1 Natural Nutrition Company in the U.S.  It stands for quality and integrity with over 55 years of environmental leadership and scientific innovation.

Recently I was asked, “What is a Shaklee?”  Answering that would take a book, but the short answer is this:  It’s about providing a healthier life for everyone and a better life for anyone.  It’s making life-time friends on conference calls, or sitting next to a total stranger in a meeting and becoming forever friends.  It’s sharing lunch or sitting around visiting with more total strangers at global conferences and so much more.

What is a Shaklee?   It’s a great life we want to share or “pay forward” to all who share a vision of people helping people, to help people.

Shaklee Independent Distributor

We are told to eat a balanced diet.  We try, but it is not always easy getting 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.  How are you doing?

Even when we can get all we should, the foods we eat containing the nutrients our cells need, just aren’t meeting our needs.  In fact, a 2004 study of 43 crops showed a decline in the nutrient content of up to 38% over the past 50 years.  It is now 2011, how much more of a decline has there been?

Your body cannot manufacture all the nutrients it needs on it own.  It needs your help.  Proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can prevent many major diseases 60-90% of the time!

Those major diseases are up.  In 10 years from 1999-2009, heart disease is up 9.3%, cancer 19.6%, and diabetes is up a whopping 34.5%!

Yet according to the American Heart Association, 80% of all heart disease in women is preventable with proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices.

The American Cancer Society reports that 60% of all cancer-related deaths can be prevented by improving lifestyle choices—being physically active, losing weight, stopping smoking, and getting proper nutrition.

Diabetes is the illness multiplier.  It contributes to more than 230,000 deaths very year.  A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that 90% of all type 2 diabetes is preventable with proper nutrition, achieving a healthy weight, and engaging in other healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Are you seeing a trend here? 

We are overfed and undernourished.  Our super busy lifestyles drive us to make compromises of convenience with regard to what we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat.  Many products that are marketed as “healthy” foods are filled with sugar, fat, and artificial ingredients.

Make an investment in yourself.  Proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can help prevent health issues in the future.

Shaklee believes that nature holds the answers to a long, healthy, and productive life.  In every exclusive formula, they harness the power of nature to help make you healthier.  Shaklee is dedicated to becoming the foremost experts in scientific research and formulation of the purest, most effective natural nutrition products on earth.

That means no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives—and only the best natural ingredients you can trust.

Shaklee test for over 350 contaminants, far beyond the 80 required by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), and conducts over 100,000 quality tests a year.

Choosing Shaklee is one of the best investments you can make for the trillions of cells that depend on you each and every day.  Watch this short video.

Shaklee Independent Distributor

And the Food Guide Pyramid is officially dead! In the future it will only be available to nutrition
educators.

The problem was almost nobody followed the Food Guide Pyramid plan. No more than 5% of Americans actually ate that way on a regular basis.

Less than 50% of what we ate in 2003 were sit down meals at home – the kind you might eat off of a plate.

The unfortunate truth is that more of the foods we eat at home are eaten out of a bag or box rather than from a plate.  However, not all is lost! If you are serious about improving your diet the new USDA web site (www.ChooseMyPlate.gov) is a great resource.

And if you are really, really serious about your health, using nutritional supplements is a must!

Here are six reasons to supplement your diet.

**We are nutritionally under-educated.  Even though most Americans can choose from a great abundance and variety of foods, lack of knowledge in selecting and preparing foods is a major cause of poor diets.

**Americans eat for taste, not nutrition.  Food habits are deeply established on memory, taste and other factors not related to nutrition.

**The price of poor dieting is high.  More and more of Americans are trying to look slim and trim, but 68% are overweight or obese. Obesity now costs over $270 Billion a year.

**Modern living affects the need for nutrients. We have little time to plan good meals and even less time to eat.

**Nutritional needs are as individual as fingerprints.  Many changing factors determine our need for certain nutrients: age, gender, occupation and environment are but a few.

Stop gambling with your health.  Your body is talking to you.  Learn what it is saying by reviewing your wellness profile HERE.

Independent Shaklee Distributor

We know nutritionally that the body under stress uses three times the normal amount of protein, four to 5 times more calcium, vitamin C is used in 12 minutes, zinc is lost in perspiration and B complex vitamins are used in 14 minutes.

Heart beats increase, blood thickens and forms clots, ulcers develop, blood pressure goes up, hormone levels go down, and the digestive process turns off. Muscle and bone are cannibalized to provide nutrients.

We cannot eat enough to provide the body with the nutrients it needs under stress.  In addition, the nutrients we need may not be in the food we eat. This is why we use nutritional supplements.  Shaklee is our nutritional choice.  No other company does the amount of R&D as Shaklee and Shaklee is the # 1 Natural Nutrition Company in the U.S.

Here are some Stress Busters you can use to help lower your stress levels:

Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning.  The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.

Do nothing which, after being done, leads you to tell a lie.

Plan ahead. Fill the gas tank when it gets to one-quarter full, buy stamps before you’re down to your last one, etc.

Relax your standards.  The world will not end if the grass doesn’t get mowed this weekend, if the sheets have to be changed on Sunday instead of Saturday, etc

Pollyanna-Power! For every one thing that goes wrong there are probably 10, 50 or 100 blessings.  Count them!

Blood-to-brain! Whenever possible get your feet higher than your head.  This helps blood flow to the brain increasing the feeling of well being.

When feeling stressed, most people tend to breathe in short, shallow breaths.  When you breathe like this, stale air is not expelled, oxidation of the tissues is incomplete, and muscle tension frequently results.

Add an ounce of love to everything you do.

Allow yourself time—everyday—for privacy, quiet, and introspection.

Have a forgiving view of events and people.  Accept the fact we live in an imperfect world.

Have an optimistic view of the world.  Believe most people are doing the best they can.

Shaklee Independent Distributor

Would you rub lye (potassium hydroxide) on a baby’s bottom, or apply to your face? 

Would you apply sodium hydroxide to a baby’s skin?  It causes 75% of all caustic injury to the esophagus of kids under 5 years old and can cause burns in tissues—eyes, skin, mouth and throat. 

What about brushing your teeth with it?

Would you spray Monoethanolamine (MEA) into the air of your home?  It is a very hazardous irritant to eyes and may produce severe irritation and tissue damage to eyes, mouth and respiratory tract. It is linked to Asthma.

Would you bathe a baby in formaldehyde or wash your body and hands with it?

Of course you wouldn’t, at least not intentionally.  Yet everyday in homes across America people are doing just that.

Today there are more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals.

Dr. Philip Landrigan, Professor of Community and Preventative Medicine at Mount SinaiSchool of Medicine, said less than 20% of the estimated chemicals manufactured in the past 50 years have been assessed for their neurotoxicity

Children, because of their size and more future years of life, have a higher risk of early and prolonged exposure to chemicals than adults.

The National Research Council (NRC), which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, conducted a study of 100 random chemicals. The study found that nearly 78 percent of these chemicals lacked even minimum toxicity standards.

Sources: U.S. EPA, New Chemicals Program; Landrigan, P.J., et al, (2006). The national children’s study: a 21-year prospective study of 100,000 American children. Pediatrics, 118(5), 2173-2186.

For specific products log on to: http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm a government website maintained by the Department of Human Services.

In 2008, Shaklee Corporation was awarded the Stevie for Best Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program by the American Business Awards and Shaklee’s Get Clean Basic H-2 and Dish Wash concentrates won the PTPA (Parent Tested Parent Approved) Media Inc. Seal of Approval.

In 2008 and 2009, Shaklee was named to the Top 20 Retail Partner List by the EPA Green Power Partnership.   The list goes on.

What does this mean to you?  You can be sure the Shaklee Products you use will not harm you, your family or the environment.

Want to learn more?  Go HERE

Shaklee Independent Distributor

Here are some key findings from the book “The Vitamin D Solution” by Dr. Michael F. Holick.   Dr. Holick is one of the leading vitamin D experts in the world.

He is a PhD who discovered and characterized the active form of vitamin D in the bloodstream and who has more recently shown the many cells in the body can make it.  He is also an MD who has been able to put his scientific discoveries to good use by relieving the suffering of many patients with undiagnosed vitamin D deficiencies.

In Chapter 1 of his book, he compares the life of a 10 year old girl growing up in the US with a 10 year old girl growing up at the equator assuming that sun
exposure was the only significant difference between the two.

“…the equatorial girl will be at least half as likely to get cancer during her lifetime as her northern counterpart. She will have an 80 percent reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes in the first 30 years of her life…”

“The northern girl, on the other hand, faces a host of increased health risks throughout her life, from breast and ovarian cancer to depression, obesity, type 2
diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.”

“If she complains of muscle weakness and wide-spread muscle and joint pain later in adulthood, her doctor will likely diagnose fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome when tests don’t turn up anything specific. The equatorial girl may never experience such debilitating aches or chronic pain…”

 In an interesting chapter of the book he discussed fibromyalgia as a possible symptom of vitamin D deficiency.

Fibromyalgia is the diagnosis often given to people who experience chronic pain (bone and muscle pain) and weakness with no apparent cause.

Dr. Holick reports that 40-60% of the patients who are referred to his office with symptoms of fibromyalgia are vitamin D deficient, and those patients who are
vitamin D deficient respond well to vitamin D supplementation.

Dr. Holick also referred to a study by Dr. Gregory Plotnikoff of the University of Minnesota that said 93% of children and adults who come to his emergency room with nonspecific muscle aches and pain were found to be vitamin D deficient. 

So, what is the bottom line if you or someone you know has fibromyalgia?

Do not think of vitamin D as a magic bullet. There are many other things involved in fibromyalgia, such as inflammation and possible autoimmune responses. Your holistic approaches to managing your disease should cover all the bases.

However, vitamin D supplements are cheap, easy to use and practically risk free (You would have to take huge amounts on a daily basis to develop vitamin D toxicity). If you are experiencing bone and muscle pain for no apparent reason, it would make good sense to add some vitamin D to your daily regimen.

If you want to discover “everything you ever wanted to learn about vitamin D” first hand, get the book. The publisher is Hudson Street Press.

Take the Vitamin D-ology quiz HERE to see if you are getting enough of this important nutrient.  Wait for the quiz to “pop” up.

Independent Shaklee Distributor

I was reading a short article the other day about blueberries in breads, muffins, and cereals, etc. It said they were not really blueberries, but man made. 

I looked at a box of raspberry muffin mix I had to see if the raspberries were real.  This is what they are: Raspberry nuggets made of dextrose, partially hydrogenated palm oil, sugar, corn flour, raspberry powder, natural flavor, citric acid, Red #40, and Blue #2.

Doesn’t that make you want to eat a big handful?

In 1969, our government allowed the entire industry of natural ingredients to shift to being chemically produced.  It was done though a proclamation.

This began to affect the food industry, the cleaning industry, the soft drink industry, the agricultural industry and every part of our lives. We started ingesting chemicals and our health started going down a slippery slope. 

Watch this VIDEO SPOOF…Real Blueberries, funny.

When it comes to your health, choose the real thing, not synthetic. 

Grace Anderson  Independent Shaklee Distributor

So it is always sad to see a company close its doors and leave thousands of people without an income.  

Now it has happened to EIRO Research, marketers of weight loss products, energy drinks and nutrition based skin care. 

EIRO Research closed their doors Jan. 19, 2011 leaving thousands of distributors without a company or an income.  Their web site said they had become unsustainable.

Two major players in the network marketing industry were with EIRO from the start-up and had the largest organization in EIRO when it closed. 

They went looking for a company for themselves and their down-line distributors. 

They interviewed 60 companies and choose Shaklee for its stability, company philosophy, scientific research, and its compensation plan. 

What a compliment to Shaklee, owner Roger Barnett, and the Shaklee compensation plan! 

Several years ago, Roger spent 5 years and millions of dollars looking for an investment opportunity and found Shaklee.  You can watch an interview with Roger HERE and learn why Shaklee was his choice.

If you are looking for extra income with a reputable company you can trust…we are looking for you.

Shaklee Independent Distributor

Thirty years later a dreadful amount of money is being spent on health issues related to being overweight.

What we call a “Health Care System” is not a health care system at all.  It is a disease management system.

In 1985, 10% of the population was obese.

In 1995, a whole new category emerged with 15-20% obese.

In 2000, another new category emerged with 20-25% obese and extremely overweight.

In 2004 the Surgeon General said that 65% of American adults, or 2 out of 3, were overweight to extremely overweight.  Alarm bells started going off.

Adults, and now children and teenagers are increasing their numbers at an alarming rate in being overweight.  In 2009 when the most recent stats came out, there is now another new category.

Thirty to 40 percent of the population is at risk to shorten their lifespan as a result of being obese.  The future looks grim with forty million to three-hundred million people being overweight to obese.

Trends as we go forward in the coming years do not look good.  Children born before 2000 will have a one out of three chance of developing diabetes.  They will be the first generation who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

CINCH offers hope for millions.  Losing weight can be as simple as it is difficult. With 50 years of nutrition research behind the products, the Cinch inch loss plan is designed to help break the yo-yo dieting cycle and get healthy for life.

Learn more HERE.

For two audio presentations, “Reducing Risk Factors For Diabetes,” under K&C CD’s and “Blood Sugar Management,” on the left hand side under “Latest Health Talks,”  go HERE. 

Shaklee Independent Distributor

I like to go to a Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In the Temple I feel peace and love.  I leave the cares of the world behind and think on things of eternity.  It brings me peace.

We travel to the Temple often.  The one closest to us is in Snowflake, AZ. about a two hour drive away.  After attending, we go to Eva’s, a favorite restaurant.  We love the Mexican cuisine. 

Then we visit family in the area.  Recently my 97 year old Dad moved into a care facility in Snowflake.  It is great having him closer to visit.  We also visit my sisters and our son’s family.  Grandkids are always a joy to be around.

On our last visit, our granddaughter modeled her dress for an upcoming Christmas formal.  She is growing up way too fast.  It seems like yesterday when she was an infant.  Where do the years go?

Here are the words to the hymn:  Text by Emma Lou Thayne.

Where can I turn for peace? 

Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole?

When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,

I draw myself a part, searching my soul?

Where, when my aching grows,

Where when I languish, where, in my need to know, where can I run?

Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?

Who, who can understand? He, only One.

He answers privately,

Reaches my reaching in my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.

Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.

Constant he is and kind, Love without end.