Grace’s Blog

Trillions of cells depend on you to feed them daily.  Billions of new ones are created every day.  They need high quality nutrition to keep them functioning properly.

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

The USDA Dietary Guidelines 2010 are just out (Yes, I know its 2011, but these are US government guidelines).

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

Stress…it’s the high-tension trigger that can set off a battery of health problems. Your system responds to emotional demands as it does to physical threats.

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

Thirty years ago the medical community was just beginning to understand the negative health consequences of being overweight.

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

Drinking enough water everyday can alleviate some of life’s annoying ailments.

Consider the following: 

In one University, 100% of the dieters were able to shut down midnight hunger pangs with one glass of water.

Do you suffer from daytime fatigue?  Lack of water is the # 1 trigger.

How about back and joint pain?  Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease the pain.

Is fuzzy thinking a problem?  A 2 % drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math and difficulty focusing on the computer screen.

Some real benefits of drinking 5 glasses of water daily are:  It decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45% and it can slash the risk of breast cancer by up to 79% and a person is less likely to develop bladder cancer by 50%.

Now that is something to drink to!

Watch this VIDEO about a NEW way to get clean water for pennies a day.

Shaklee Independent Distributor

Have you ever wished you could hear a Dr. or someone in the medical field talk about a problem you have a concern about?

Problems like Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Pain Management, Digestion, Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, Cancer, Healthy Heart, Baby & Children’s health……… to name a few.

Now, you can!  Login HERE, 24/7.  Then bookmark it for future reference.  

Listen to 31 presentations by a variety of speakers. View recorded webinars.

Let your friends know about this site.  More content will be added in the weeks ahead.  Video and audio presentations are available now.

 Happy Learning!

Shaklee Independent Distributor

A bushy, clover plant, widely cultivated as a forage and fodder crop, alfalfa is extremely high in protein, 18.9%. Compare that to beef – 16.5%, whole wheat – 13.8%, eggs – 13.1%, and milk – 3.3%. Furthermore, look at what alfalfa adds to your daily diet: vitamins C, B6, D, E, K, U, and betaine (a tissue salt), plus the minerals; calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sulfur and manganese; and alfalfa is very high in trace minerals.

What else does Alfalfa contain? Chlorophyll, nature’s richest source, a powerful body cleanser and detoxifier. Do you suffer from hay fever or allergies? Consider this: the chlorophyll in alfalfa is a natural healing substance and has helped many others just like you.

Who should consider taking alfalfa? From A to Z –just about everyone! Especially YOU if:

A – you ever had bad breath or body odor

B – you are slow to heal

C – you catch colds, the flu, or other infections easily

D – you suffer from fatigue

E – you have sore muscles

F – you are arthritic, have bursitis or rheumatism

G – you have chronic indigestion or ulcers

H – you experience irregular heartbeats

I – your blood clots too slowly

J – you have weak bones or are a post-menopausal woman

K – you retain too much fluid

L – you suffer from PMS

M – you have allergies or sinus troubles

N – you have weak kidneys or urinary tract infections

O – you have gout

P – you are asthmatic

Q – you are overweight

R – you are underweight

S – you are an athlete

T – your eyesight is deteriorating

U – you have prostate problems

V – you are anemic

W – you have high blood pressure

X – you have elevated cholesterol levels

Y - you have acne or other skin ailments

Z – you are a growing child or teenager

When people do not get results from supplements it is usually because they are not taking enough or they are not taking them consistently. We have found that most people will get dramatically improved results with a minimum of 20 Alfalfa per day. Ten Alfalfa tablets per meal is generally a good guideline. Just think of it as eating 10 peas on a plate.

Alfalfa was my Mother’s favorite product.  She would buy the large size (700 tablets) by the case.  She never wanted to be without it.  It helped with her allergies and her arthritis.

Independent Shaklee Distributor

Recently Good Morning America reported there are PCB’s in fish oil supplements, or omega-3 fatty acid supplements, and some suppliers of these supplements are being sued.

On March 2nd, 2010 the makers and sellers of fish oil supplements were sued by the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation in California for not telling consumers that their products contained toxic levels of PCBs.

Why is that important?  It’s important because PCB’s were outlawed decades ago.  Why? PCB’s can cause cancer.

The defendants include the world’s largest producer of omega-3 fish oil and some of the most well known and biggest sellers of fish oil supplements.

The “experts” on the show recommended you buy a fish oil with the least amount of PCB’s! No kidding.

Do you really want any PCB’s in your fish oil supplements?

Why not choose one with NO PCB’s?
 
Many of these fish-oil products also contain mercury as well.  

Get a little mercury poisoning as well.  No thank you!

It can be tempting to buy those low priced supplements seen on the shelves of your favorite drug or discount store.  Wow, the same stuff you’ve been paying more money for from your favorite supplement distributor. Why not save some money?

Do you really know what you are getting?

Your favorite supplement distributor  is a company that is trusted…a company that does clinical studies on their products and performs rigorous quality controls.

You know their products are pure, safe and effective…

BUT…

 ”After all, how bad can the lower priced supplement be?”

The answer is – pretty bad!

Many of the labels said the omega-3 supplement was treated to reduce or remove PCBs. As a consumer you were lead to believe they were safe!

The manufacturer probably didn’t test for PCBs and neither did the companies selling their omega-3 supplements to the consumer

Could it be they tested the products, knew they were contaminated with PCBs and sold them to the public anyway?  That would be even worse.

 So what can you do as a consumer? Here are my recommendations:

Get your supplements from an established company with a reputation for quality and integrity.  One that runs rigorous quality controls on their products and doesn’t trust the supplier to do the testing.

The company would also require pharmaceutical grade quality controls on their products. They would conduct clinical studies on their products and publish these studies in peer-reviewed medical journals.

What company would that be?  Shaklee Corporation. The product, the only one I know and trust, OmegaGuard® from Shaklee Corporation.

Shaklee Independent Distributor