Filed under: Shaklee, health, natural, nutrition, wellness | Tags: alfalfa, allergies, anti-histimine, asthma, cholesterol, detoxify, diuretic, gout, health, health by nature, herbal, herbal medicine, menopause, minerals, natural, nutrition, respiratory, Shaklee, supplements, urinary tract infections, UTI, vitamins, wellness
Nicknamed the “father of all foods”, alfalfa has been used as herbal medicine for over 1,500 years. A highly nutritive plant, its approximately 20 foot deep root system has the capacity to absorb minerals from deep within the soil.
In food form, alfalfa sprouts can be added to salads or sandwiches. Alfalfa also comes in supplement form, and people who supplement with alfalfa do so for a wide variety of health benefits. Alfalfa’s high manganese content has been shown to slighly lower blood sugar levels. To manage cholesterol levels, alfalfa can be beneficial because its fibers stick to cholesterol, preventing it from remaining in blood or collecting in blood vessels. It has been known to strengthen one’s immunity. Those suffering from asthma, allergies, or other respiratory conditions have found their symptoms improve or even clear up entirely through a regimen involving alfalfa, a natural anti-histimine. It can be a mild diuretic; alfalfa may relieve swelling and water retention, and aid in eliminating urinary tract infections. Because it mimics estrogen, some find it useful for menopausal symptoms.
Alfalfa has an impressive resume of nutritional content. It contains calcium, phosphorous, iron, magnesium, chlorophyll, bioflavonoids, trace minerals and vitamins. Its leaves and stems are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals as well.
Alfalfa also detoxifies. It balances and cleanses the blood, alkalizes and detoxifies the body. It can also relieve gout, a painful foot ailment from excess toxins.
Just about anyone can benefit from the use of an alfalfa supplement. Visit the Health By Nature store for ordering information.
Filed under: Shaklee, health, natural, nutrition, wellness | Tags: AMA, health, multiminerals, multivitamins, nutrition, Shaklee, supplements, vitamins, wellness
The short answer: everyone.
Years ago, the AMA’s position on multivitamin supplements was that a healthy diet would be enough to gain all the necessary vitamins and minerals. In 2002, that recommendation was reversed. Finally recognizing the health benefits from a good, quality supplement, the AMA now states that everyone, regardless of age or health status, should take a daily multivitamin. It’s been determined that even with the most ideal diet, we are not necessarily going to receive ALL the needed nutrients from our food. Our food itself has been experiencing a decline in nutritional value as well, due to farming techniques and environmental causes.
Be aware that not all supplements are created equal. Supplements are not regulated with stringent standards the way prescription drugs are. Many cheaper, drugstore supplements are not going to be effective due to potency, formulation, coating, and other factors. Our supplements undergo rigorous testing for purity, potency, and efficacy. Many hold multiple patents, and patented coatings that guarantee nutrients get delivered where they are supposed to, when they are supposed to. If a coating is dissolved too soon via stomach acid, the supplement may be rendered ineffective, which is the problem with many low quality supplements on the market.
Doctors and nurses are supplementing themselves, understanding that supplements play an important role in maintaining and improving health. In a recent study, 72% of physicians and 89% of nurses reported taking supplements. So why do only 68% of the rest of us do so?
Supplements from Shaklee, #1 natural nutrition company in the U.S. are 100% guaranteed, so there is no risk to try them. A Landmark Study conducted last year concluded that people who used multiple Shaklee supplements over a long period of time had markedly better health overall than both people who either used:
• no supplements or
• another brand of multivitamin/multimineral supplement
as measured by higher blood levels of key nutrients and more optimal levels of key health biomarkers.
To see the study in its entirety, go to http://www.nutritionj.com/content/6/1/30
To order supplements, visit www.shaklee.net/healthbynature
Filed under: Shaklee, green, health, kids, natural, wellness | Tags: asthma, Bill Moyers, chemicals, children, health, PBS, Shaklee, toxins, wellness
KIDS AND CHEMICALS, A SPECIAL PBS REPORT
BILL MOYERS TRACKS THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR
ANSWERS ABOUT HOW ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS AFFECT AMERICA’S CHILDREN
It is a medical mystery marked “urgent.” Across America growing numbers of children are suffering from asthma, childhood cancers like leukemia, as well as learning and behavioral disabilities. Scientists are searching for clues to the causes of these illnesses, and a growing body of research suggests that everyday environmental toxins-what kids eat, drink, and breathe-may put them at risk. Equipped with new technology and more sophisticated analysis, these scientists are asking compelling questions about the health risks to children growing up exposed to an ever-increasing number of untested chemicals in our environment.
Kids and Chemicals, a special edition of NOW with Bill Moyers that was broadcast on PBS, features medical investigators and health officials engaged in the latest research on links between childhood illness and environmental contamination. The program looks at families around the country who are coping with the consequences to their children of potentially toxic exposures.
“The disturbing increases in childhood illness in America cannot be ignored,” says Bill Moyers. “How does the exposure affect children’s health? The new research is studying how chemicals enter the human body, and posing questions that they could never ask before: Do chemicals affect children, babies and unborn fetuses more than adults? What factors increase toxicity, and how can we protect children from harm?” Kids and Chemicals’ producers Gail Ablow and Greg Henry go to Fallon, Nevada, a small desert town that has had 15 recorded cases of childhood leukemia in just five years. A l armed, Dr. Mary Guinan, who was one of Nevada’s top health officials, called in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the potential links between this childhood cancer and the environment. Could toxic substances in water, food, air, schools, homes or the ground in Fallon be responsible for this “cancer cluster”? If so, which chemicals? Without clear evidence of a specific cause, everything-from jet fuel emissions to pesticides to naturally occuring arsenic in the water-is suspect.
As Moyers and his team learn in Fallon, research on cancer clusters once focused mainly on gathering environmental samples because investigators simply didn’t have tools sensitive enough to measure which toxins had been absorbed into people. Dr. Richard Jackson, the director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains how his laboratories are using the latest instruments. His research scientists are using sophisticated blood and urine analysis to test for minute traces of toxins in the bodies of the sick children and their families in Fallon.
This work is part of a larger movement in children’s environmental health unfolding nationwide. Dr. Phillip Landrigan of
the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City works with scientists around the country to understand how kids are affected by exposure to chemicals. “Of the 3000 high production volume chemicals in use in this country today, only 43% have been even minimally tested,” he tells Moyers. “Only about 10% have been thoroughly tested to examine their potential effects on children’s health and development.”
Speaking with Landrigan, Moyers learns that children are potentially more vulnerable to chemicals than adults. “First of all they’re more heavily exposed pound for pound,” says Landrigan. “They eat more food, they drink more water, they breathe more air. Then, of course, kids play on the ground. They live low, they put their hands in their mouth and so they transfer more toxic chemicals into their body than we do.”
Traveling to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Moyers meets Dr. Linda Sheldon of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Exposure Research Lab. Sheldon demonstrates how her team of scientists is gathering evidence of exposure to everyday chemicals in nursery schools, homes and daycare centers.
In New York City, a groundbreaking study led by Dr. Frederica Perera at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, follows more than 500 expectant mothers. These women are wearing air quality monitors in backpacks to trap the environmental toxins they breathe. As their children are born and as they grow, Dr. Perera and her team will look for links between the chemicals that the mothers were exposed to while their babies were developing in the womb and asthma, cancer risk, and learning disabilities.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a biologist at Cornell University, joins Dr. Landrigan in asserting that exposure during pregnancy doesn’t, by itself, mean a child will get ill. What matters is the intensity of the exposure and when it occurs during fetal development. A chemical exposure occurring early in pregnancy might cause a miscarriage, argue the researchers. If it occurs later on, it might cause physical birth defects. Later still, it might damage brain cells. Scientists are trying to precisely identify these “windows of vulnerability.” Says Dr. Steingraber: “Maybe certain problems that we understand . . . as attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity, the inability to pay attention, aggressive and violent behaviors, might have their origins during those windows of vulnerability during pregnancy and these questions are just being asked. Data is just beginning to come in.” Dr. Perera’s team at Columbia is also studying the way that chemicals can actually bind to human DNA in the womb and cause a mu t ation called an “adduct.” Work by Dr. Perera has shown that the greater the number of adducts, the greater the risk for cancer. “And that’s the missing link in all of this,” says Dr. Steingraber. “That’s the link we’re beginning to fill in.”
To place the current studies in a public health policy context, Moyers revisits the firestorm over lead research; recalling the revolutionary work of Dr. Herbert Needleman, who correlated low-level lead exposure to lower IQ’s in children in 1979. Twelve years later, Needleman’s work was attacked by the lead industry as it tried to protect its economic stake in lead products. Ultimately, the validity of Dr. Needleman’s work was fully vindicated, and new public policy required unleaded gasoline and restrictions on lead paint. And many scientists believe that, as a result, children’s IQ scores have risen, on average, three points. Yet, as Moyers points out, lead remains the number one environmental threat to children’s health; many old houses and even many school buildings are still testing positive for lead today.
In Herculaneum, Missouri, lead contamination is a very current issue. The community is up in arms about the astonishingly high levels of lead to which their families have been exposed because the town’s primary industry, the Doe Run lead smelter, failed to comply with EPA standards. “Doe Run played a really good game,” Robyn Warden, a
mother, tells Moyers. “They told people everything was under control and we were safe. And people weren’t educated enough to know any different. It took people actually investigating lead to figure out that we were being lied to.”
Dr. Steingraber knows the importance of informed parenting. Even in a seemingly pristine environment in rural New York, she knows there are possibilities of risk. “Just because there are no smoke stacks visible around us, just because you live a long way from the source of these chemicals, doesn’t mean that natu r e won’t bring them to you in some way,” she says. A mother who breast feeds her infant son, Dr. Steingraber also realizes that she passes toxins directly to her baby every time she nurses. “No woman has uncontaminated breast milk on this planet,” she states. Dr. Steingraber tries to reduce her children’s exposure at home by using non-toxic products. “But we can’t shop our way out of our current situation,” she warns. “We still need to take action. It’s time that our public policy takes action to get our kids out of harm’s way.”
There are unknown answers to many questions. Moyers reports on a proposed new project called “The National Children’s Study,” which will track 100,000 children from the womb to age 18 if it receives full funding from Congress. This long-term study may provide the definitive answers necessary for new regulations and laws protecting children from exposure to toxins. “Without conclusive science,” Moyers says, “it is a constant fight to protect children’s health.”
Filed under: Shaklee, health, kids, natural, nutrition, wellness | Tags: allergies, asthma, bacteria, disease, eczema, hay fever, health, immune system, lactobacillus, milk allergies, probiotics, Shaklee, wellness
Good Bacteria May Help a Child’s Immune System
By Neil Osterweil
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Dr. Tonja Wynn Hampton
April 5, 2001 — A new Finnish study
Researchers say they seem to have cut in half a baby’s risk of developing allergic conditions early in life by giving a beneficial bacteria to expectant mothers and their newborns who were predisposed to eczema, hay fever, and asthma.
“Our new insight might provide an opportunity to devise strategies against allergy, the pandemic that affects almost half the population in more-developed countries,” write Marko Kalliomäki, MD, and colleagues in the April 7 issue of the medical journal The Lancet.
The researchers recruited near-term pregnant women who had a family history of allergic diseases — such as asthma, hay fever, or atopic eczema (a type of reactive skin rash) — into a clinical trial in which they and their infants would receive either placebo capsules or capsules containing a potentially beneficial type of bacteria called Lactobacillus GG.
Lactobacilli normally are found in the healthy gut in humans but may be missing or present only in reduced numbers in children born in developed countries, where attention to strict hygiene and smaller family sizes mean that infants are less likely to be exposed to the bacteria once common in the environment.
Some researchers speculate that alarming increases in allergies and asthma over the last few decades may be due to an overactive immune system in the first months of life — a result of children not having enough “good” bacteria like lactobacilli to keep the immune system in check. Such germs prevent the immune system from going into alarm mode when it detects an otherwise harmless intruder, such as pollen, dust, or a specific food, such as peanuts.
“Why is allergy becoming more of a problem? Everyone knows this; the incidence of asthma has gone up, the incidence of atopic eczema has gone up, it’s becoming a huge problem. The prevailing theory is that we’re too clean,” says Sherwood Gorbach, MD, professor of community health and medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, who was co-discoverer of Lactobacillus GG (the “G”s stand for Gorbach and Goldin).
Researchers have been investigating whether giving a mixture of “good” bacteria, known as probiotics, would prevent overactivity of the immature immune system.
“There’s been a series of studies [the Finnish group has] published over the last five or six years showing that infants taking probiotics have decreased milk allergies and they have fewer skin complications,” notes Barry Goldin, PhD, professor of family medicine and community health at Tufts University School of Medicine, Gorbach’s colleague, and the other “G” in GG, who reviewed the study for WebMD.
In the current study, Kalliomäki and colleagues gave women placebo capsules or capsules containing Lactobacillus GG to take from two to four weeks before their anticipated delivery dates. After birth, they either took the capsules themselves and passed the bacteria to their infants through breast milk, or gave their infants the bacteria diluted in water. The capsules were given until the infants were 6 months old. Researchers then followed the children until the age of 2 years and determined which had developed allergic diseases The researchers found that 46 of the 132 children who were enrolled in the study had atopic eczema at age 2; six of these children had all the signs of asthma, and one had evidence of hay fever.
Of the 46 children, 15 had received Lactobacillus GG capsules, and 31 had received placebo. In other words, kids who were given the probiotics were only half as likely to have common allergic diseases as those who received the placebo.
“These figures are remarkable and, if confirmed in other studies and applicable to other allergic diseases, probiotics would represent an important therapeutic advance,” writes Simon H Murch, MD, PhD, from the Center for Pediatric Gastroenterology at Royal Free and University College School of Medicine in London, in an editorial accompanying the Finnish study.
In an interview with WebMD, Murch notes, “most people in the field recognize that children today are getting very different infection exposures. I think most of the interest prior to this was in relation to infection exposures in an older age group. What this study suggests is that the very first exposure of the immune system may also be important.”
He cautions that more testing needs to be done and the safety of probiotics in infancy be confirmed before the idea of “allergy-proofing” infants with probiotics becomes routine.
Filed under: Shaklee, health, weight management, wellness | Tags: activity, aerobics, biking, cardio, exercise, health, heart, running, Shaklee, weight loss, wellness
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with over a half a million Americans dying every year because of it. Achieving a healthy weight, including making heart healthy food choices, is a great step toward reducing your risk of heart disease, but incorporating heart-smart physical activity into your daily routine is also essential. Being more physically active not only helps shed those unwanted pounds and inches but also can make your heart stronger. And a stronger heart is a more efficient heart. What do we mean by a more efficient heart? Well, a strong, conditioned heart can pump the same amount of blood in 50 beats as the heart of an inactive person in 75 beats. When the heart is strong it beats slower and can meet the body’s needs with less effort.
Heart-smart physical activity, also known as aerobic or “cardio” exercise, is the type of activity performed at moderate but increasing levels of intensity for an extended period of time. The word “aerobic” means “with oxygen” and refers to the use of oxygen by the body throughout the activity. Cardio exercises are aimed at increasing your heart rate and effectively burning calories. They also help strengthen your respiratory muscles improving your breathing as well as help tone muscles in all parts of the body, resulting in improved blood circulation and reduced blood pressure. Cardio exercises also increase the number of red blood cells in your body, which improves oxygen transport to all body tissues.
Looking for heart-smart activities that also burn a lot of calories? Here’s a list of five cardio exercises that burn a lot of calories in 30 minutes.
- Step aerobics – women especially love step aerobics. It not only burns up to 400 calories in 30 minutes, but also targets your legs, hips and butt muscles.
- Biking – whether you’re on a stationary bike at the gym or on your own bike outdoors, biking has the potential to burn anywhere from 250–500 calories in 30 minutes depending on resistance and speed.
- Swimming – a great form of cardio activity that works the entire body. If you swim using the breast stroke you can burn close to 400 calories in 30 minutes.
- Cross-country skiing – outdoor in the snow, or again using a cross country ski machine in the gym, is an excellent form of cardio exercise. You’ll work both your upper and lower body, and the average 145 lb. person can burn approximately 300 calories in 30 minutes.
- Running – All you need is a good pair of running shoes, and you’re ready to go! Burn up to 300 calories in 30 minutes.
Do your heart a favor and engage in some heart-smart physical activity. Choose activities you enjoy and try to exercise for 30 minutes most days of the week. If you need to, divide up the time into three 10-minute sessions instead of one 30-minute session and don’t forget to warm up and stretch before you get started. And lastly, if you have a pre-existing medical condition, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or joint and muscle problems, consult your doctor or other health care provider before starting an exercise program.
Filed under: Shaklee, health, nutrition, weight management, wellness | Tags: diet, fitness, goals, health, nutrition, plan, Shaklee, weight loss, weight management, wellness
It’s morning, and you step on the scale. The number you see is your reality of how unhealthy you’ve become. This number sticks with you from the moment you wake up in the morning until the moment you get back in bed to go to sleep. It’s also the number used to signify the beginning of your weight loss program. But, what you need to remember is, that number is not the most important way to weigh your weight loss success. Why? Because your body is made up of mostly water and body-water levels can fluctuate from day to day. The numbers you see on the scale can move up or down from day to day anywhere from 3 to 5 lbs. If you’ve stepped on the scale and have gained 3 to 5 lbs. in a day or two, there’s no way you’ve gained that weight from fat. It takes eating an extra 3500 calories more than your body needs to gain a pound of body fat.
So how do you measure your weight loss success? Well, the true measure of how well you are doing with your new eating and exercise program is the size of your body. Using your tape measure, measure the circumference of your waist, hips, arms, and thighs before you get started and then again every week or two thereafter. This is an excellent way to monitor a change in your body size. It is these numbers, the inches lost, that will keep you motivated when it seems like the scale won’t budge in the right direction.
Another way to measure success is to have your body fat percentage measured. A number of methods are available, from hydrostatic weighing to electrical impedance and skin fold calipers. Hydrostatic weighing is one of the most accurate ways to measure percent body fat, but it is often expensive and a bit invasive. It has to be done in a facility that has the equipment and requires that you to be submerged in a tank of water, a process that’s not for everyone. Bioelectric impedance is another method that’s available at some fitness centers. It’s noninvasive, but not quite as accurate as hydrostatic weighing. Another method, which is also available at many gyms and fitness centers, uses skin fold calipers. This method uses calipers to measure a pinch of skin at sites on the body. These measurements are then placed in a formula to estimated percent body fat. This method is not entirely accurate either; results can vary depending on how well trained the person taking the measurements is. If you choose this method make sure the person who initially measures you is the same person who conducts subsequent measures. Any of these methods can provide an initial estimate of body fat and more importantly, show positive changes over time.
And lastly, don’t forget to notice and acknowledge other measures of success: improvements in your energy level, performance, self esteem, the way your clothes fit, and many other benefits you’ll gain from a healthier lifestyle. Those benefits include improvements in health-risk factors and medical conditions, improved quality of life and mental outlook, healthier eating, and enjoyable physical activity.
So don’t forget to actively find ways to measure your success with your weight plan. It not only will help you stay on track with your healthier eating and increased physical activity goals, but will keep you motivated until you fit into your skinny jeans. Just remember, if the numbers on the scale aren’t moving in the right direction, it’s not a necessarily a reflection of how healthy you are or the progress you’ve made.
My weight management plan is clinically proven to be effective. It’s powered by leucine, a naturally-occuring amino acid that makes your body keep its muscle and burn the fat you don’t want. Other diets cause the body to go into *starvation mode* and store fat, which means muscle loss. We are so certain that you will succeed with this program that we have a 100% unconditional guarantee–if you don’t like them for any reasons, you can return them for your money back. What have you got to lose? Just fat!
For more information, visit my weight management site at www.cinchplan.com/healthbynature
While you’re there, be sure and click on *free analysis*. You can obtain your BMI (body mass index), which is a great indicator of how to set your weight loss goals.
