A Time to Reflect and Give Thanks

Last night I worked on my business newsletter that goes out to all of my clients and business leaders in my organization - I always include a section about the past month in the life of the Huber's - but to be honest, not too many exciting things happened during the month of November.  However, a lot happened during the year of 2011 as I reflected on the past year.  It's important to "look back" on the past and move forward with an even better attitude and plan of action and it's necessary to make changes in the present instead of repeating what didn't work in the past.  That's the only way to change your future! 

So, here's what reflecting and giving thanks means to me as told in my November 2011 Healthy Habits Newsletter. 

What an amazing, yet challenging year 2011 has been and, my goodness, there is so much to be thankful for in carrying out this adventure we call life!  Each day I remind myself that God put me on this earth with a purpose in His mind, and it’s my duty to carry that out for Him.  Knowing that this is true is comforting and puts life in perspective for me—it’s what encourages me to get out of bed each day, to be the mother that our little Brighton deserves, to be the good wife that Shawn married, to be the daughter that my parents raised, to be the sister that supports her sibling, to be the friend that stays in touch, to be the smile to a perfect stranger and to be the business owner that others trust and want to do business with month after month.  And, you know what?  I’ve realized that it really is just that simple.  One evening a couple of months back, I was watching an Oprah television show on her new OWN network, I think it was called “Oprah’s Master Class”, and she was speaking about a young man who passed away with his mother by his side holding his hand, and his final words were, “It was so simple.”  I’ve never forgotten those four little words and every time I’m afraid to pick up the phone to do a follow-up, or approach a new friend at the gym, or feel like I could have done more, or made the wrong decision, or got mad for a petty reason I remind myself that one day that will be me taking my last breath, holding someone’s hand saying, “It was so simple.”  I heard that message at the right time, at a time when I was experiencing so many changes— I was a new Mom to a baby girl, experiencing postpartum depression, a new business owner in an industry I knew nothing about, no longer a teacher in room 713, no boss to report to at 7:30 am, out of shape and couldn’t fit into any of my jeans. So, what’s a girl to do?  The answer is simple.  Just do it.  Do it with grace, gratitude, kindness, love, trust, laughter, confidence, class, and better than you did the day before.  On most days throughout the year we tend to forget to give thanks for all of our many blessings, so I challenge you to give thanks on Thanksgiving and every day thereafter to your family—no   matter how big or small, your pets—even when they do their business on the carpet, your friends—even when they don’t keep in touch, your job—even when you don’t get a raise, your home—even when it’s not our dream home, and your health which we should all be taking care of at all times.  Cheers to giving thanks!

Our Food Is Fast, Our Arteries Are Hard

Chick-Fil-A, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Bojangles.....These are some of our most favorite places to grab a quick bite and satisfy that greasy craving!  I have to admit, every once in a while I stop to grab a #1 at Chick-Fil-A and LOVE those waffle fries.  I watched a YouTube video today that took two healthy individuals, one man and the other a woman.  They ate a three course meal that included fired mac and cheese as the appetizer, a burger in a soft taco with fries, and a dessert with ice cream.  The total caloric intake was 3X more than what is recommended for an entire day and the saturated fat was 10X more than what is recommended for an entire day. 

Prior to eating the meal, an ultrasound was used to hear blood flow in their veins.  It sounded great, steady and strong.  Following the consumption of the meal, the same ultrasound was performed and the blood flow was moving at a rapid weight, they both felt tired, short of breath and sluggish.  The lasting negative affects of just one meal isn't too bad - it only lasted 6 hours, but eating a meal like this every week, or every day, or multiple times a day is what eventually takes a toll on the body. 

The daily recommended caloric intake is right around 2,000 calories.  The number of calories consumed by someone changing their lifestyle in an effort to lose weight would consume even less.

Here is a popular list of fast food items that you might be consuming.  Will you think twice now before biting into that big mac?

1.  Hardee's Double Bacon Cheese Thickburger= 1,300 calories
2.  Taco Bell Chicken Burrito Supreme, Pepsi, Nachos BellGrande = 1,300 
3.  Hardee's Double ThickBurger = 1,250 calories
4.  KFC ChickenBreast 380, Mac & Cheese 280, Potatoes w/ Gravy 120, Biscuit 190, Pepsi 180=  1,250 calories
5.  Burger King TRIPLE WHOPPER Sandwich With Cheese= 1,230 calories
6.  McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast (Large Size Biscuit) w/o Syrup & Margarine= 1,140
7.  McDonad's McValue French Fry & a Double Quarter Pounder w/cheese = 1,090 calories
8.  Burger King DOUBLE WHOPPER Sandwich with Cheese = 990
9.  Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter - Bacon= 980
10.  Subway 6" Steak and Cheese, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Pepsi = 932 Calories

LEADS TO....

What Do You Do All Day?

I get this question a lot, especially from family and friends:  What Do You Do All Day? Well, I must say, that it actually depends on the day.  Brighton is a GREAT sleeper and usually goes down around 7:30 pm and wakes up anywhere from 7:30 am - 9:00 am.  She gets the sleep gene from me:) I could sleep until noon and not think twice about it.  We eat breakfast in the morning as soon as she wakes up and that usually consists of eggs from one of our six backyard chickens, strawberries, blueberries, and a banana.  Yep, our little 18 pounder LOVES to eat!   Some of her other favorite foods are avocados, squash, zucchini, english muffins, pears, mango, apples, green beans, chicken with BBQ sauce, ground turkey, pasta noodles, and yogurt.  When she is given it she likes anything sweet and hotdogs, but these are ONLY special occasions like holidays or birthdays.  She also likes to drink from a straw out of a big girl cup.

Three days a week we take a Stroller Strides class together in SV with about ten other moms and their babies or young kids.  This is a great opportunity for Brighton to be around other kids and for me to have some adult talk with the other Moms.  Two days a week Brighton is with Tracey, her amazing baby sitter.  Sometimes I think Brighton believes Tracey is one of her grandmothers!  After Stroller Strides, Brighton goes down for about a 2 hour nap, followed by lunch, playtime, another 1 - 2 hour nap, a snack, more playtime, bath time, dinner time, low key Mommy and baby time, then to bed she goes. And in between a few dirty and wet diapers here and there. 

Brighton started walking at 11 months and is now on the verge of running, needless to say, she keeps me busy and we keep each other entertained.  She has five teeth and a moler is coming in on the right bottom side of her mouth.  We think this is causing her just a bit of pain, especially at night time.  She is a trooper though and has gone without any type of pain meds!  Just good ole fashioned bourbon.....just kidding!  She is so much fun and is becoming such a little girl.  Sometimes I wonder if we have a little diva on our hands!  She LOVES to listen to music and shake her little bootie at the coffee table.  Sometimes her form of dancing is bouncing in my or Shawn's lap.  Brighton has made a trip to the zoo and to the Museum of Life and Science lately and really soaked it all in. She loves the butterflies at the museum!  We let her do most of her own walking at the museum and for the first time she didn't need a stroller.  She has so much energy!!  We'll be taking her to her first NC State Fair in a couple of weeks. This was one of my most favorite trips every year!  Last year was the first year in probably 25 years that I had not been.  I can't wait to go back and take her with me this year.

This is what I do all day, I get to spend my entire day with my daughter.  I am so blessed to have seen her first tooth come in, watch her take her first step, hear her first word, witness the first time she learned how to roll over, fed her organic homemade food, and read her books in the middle of the day every day.  I never thought I wanted to have children until I married Shawn.  The strange twist to wanting a child was that Shawn was unable to have children, or so we thought!  That's a whole other story for another blog on another day.  

How do Shawn and I afford to have a stay at home parent you may wonder?  It's simple, I still have an income coming in!  After we had Brighton I took a semester leave of absence from teaching high school and was slated to return to my classroom mid January 2011.  In November, I decided that missing Brighton's firsts was not going to be an option for me so I set out to figure out how to extend my leave AND make an additional income.  I was already teaching online from home but we had been living on both of my teaching incomes for three years now, so I still needed to replace my other teaching income.  We started talking about the possibilities of working from home, but what could I do?  What would allow me to still help others, teach and educate others, allow me to have Brighton with me while doing so, and make enough money to do it?  We found our answer in Shaklee.  I don't even know how many hours and nights I spent researching this company, their value system, their products, and their amazingly incredible compensation plan.  I watched countless real life video stories of other couples just like Shawn and me who had made the decision to change their lives and the lives of others forever through the use of Shaklee products and the Shaklee opportunity.  

Without Shaklee, I would not be staying home with my beautiful daughter.  Without Shaklee, I would miss all of her firsts and would find out from a piece of paper that a daycare worker would hand me at 5:00 pm everyday.  Without Shaklee I wouldn't get to hang out in my pajamas half the day on some days.  Without Shaklee, I wouldn't get to meet the people I have met.  And, WITH Shaklee, I am able to earn a very significant part time income, I am able to share the amazing products with other people and witness their lives become pain free and full of energy, I am able to help other Moms stay at home with their babies, and I am able to help others reach their own DREAMS.

That's what I do all day - raise a child, help others get healthier, and coach others to run their own business and earn an income that will help them reach their goals in life!

Take a look at my inspiration!

Brighton at the Museum of Life and Science

Just chillin at the Carrboro Music Festival

Eating a lemon at Tyler's Taproom in Carrboro

Opening a few of her Birthday gifts!  Happy 1st Birthday!

Diving into her Birthday cake - seldom does she get sugar!

Hanging out with Daddy!

 

Lasagna for the first time - she couldn't get enough of it! 

Learning to feed herself!  Successful or not?

A new piano from Mommy and Daddy

Her first rocking "elephant"

Daily breakfast of Eggs from the chickens out back!  Look how YELLOW they are!

Five Easy Steps to a Healthier Home

Creating Healthy Environments for Children

Would you do whatever is necessary to prevent harm to your child?  Are you aware of the invisible risks that are difficult to identify and prevent?  Risks right in your own home and backyard?

What could be causing such a dramatic shift in children's health today?  Fifty years ago children weren't overwhelmingly afflicted with diseases like cancer, ADD/ADHD, obesity, diabetes, autism, asthma, or birth defects.  Perhaps a major difference between our current lifestyles and those of our parents and grandparents is the increased number of chemicals being used to develop products that are being used everyday in our homes and in our surrounding environment.  There are currently over 82,000 synthetic chemicals registered for use in the US, most of which did not exist more than 60 years ago.  Less than 20% of those chemicals have actually been tested for harmful side effects, but are still being used in the products that we purchase so often to paint our walls, clean our kitchen counters and bathrooms, clean our cars, wash our hair, and brush our teeth.  

Follow these 5 easy steps to creating a healthier, safer home:

1)  Avoid Pesticides:  Use non-toxic or least toxic pest remedies like using soapy water to kill ants or boiling water to kill weeds.  Prevent pests through good sanitation and food storage habits.

2)  Use Nontoxic Products:  Read labels and ask questions about what chemicals are in products you buy.  Try making your own cleaners.  Use fewer body care products and those made from plant-based ingredients.

3)  Clean Up Indoor Air:  Ventilate your home by opening windows.  Naturally cleanse air with indoor plants.  Vacuum regularly using HEPA filtered vacuum and dust often.

4)  Eat Healthy:  Start making food instead of buying prepared foods to reduce exposure to synthetic additives found in processed foods.  Eat a variety of fresh produce and whole grains.  Opt for organic when possible.

5)  Be Wise With Plastics:  Avoid using plastic in the microwave or with warm foods and beverages.  Avoid PVC/vinyl, Polystyrene/styrofoam, and polycarbonate/PC.  Choose safer plastics or opt for natural materials like glass, steel, wood, or cotton.

False Vitamin Comparisons

I have received several inquiries about the web site
http://www.multivitaminguide.org which has published a
rating of the top 100 multivitamins.

Some of your were a bit surprised by the comparisons
and have asked me whether they were valid.

I have seen many ratings of multivitamins over the
years. Most of them come from questionable sources and
have little or no validity.

So I reviewed this web site with a healthy skepticism.

The opening paragraphs sounded impressive. For example,
they said:

"The guide offers scientific comparison of 100
multivitamin brands, including popular supplements such
as Centrum, One-A-Day, Kirkland, Herbalife, Shaklee,
Nutrilite/Amway, Equate, Nature Made, NOW Foods,
Melaleuca, Puritan's Pride, TwinLab, and Walgreens."

"The information on this site is the result of over 6
years of scientific research and analysis. Each of the
reviewed multivitamins is evaluated against 14 key
parameters, such as potency, bioavailability, and
antioxidant strength."

"Then each supplement is assigned a score ranging from
0 to 10, which enables you to easily compare the
effectiveness of the different brands and helps you
determine for yourself what the best multivitamin to
take is."

While that sounded good I found it a bit unsettling
that their was no "About Us" page to identify the group
who was making these comparisons; no list of scientific
advisors; and no list of the published studies on which
they based their recommendations.

When I looked at their ratings I found it a bit curious
that Centrum, which most people consider the best of
the drug store brands, received a rating of 0.6 (99th
out of the 100 multivitamins rated).

In addition, several multivitamins that I considered to
be quite good received only mediocre ratings, while
multivitamins that I had mostly never heard of were
rated near the top.

I was really curious by this point at just how they had
arrived at these ratings.

So when I got to the bottom of the page I clicked on
the link "How were these vitamin reviews made" with
some anticipation.

Again, I was disappointed. There was no information on
how they assessed things like bioavailability or
toxicity (which were listed among their 14 comparison
criteria) and no list of scientific references.

It appears that their sole comparison criterion was a
list of what they considered to be the optimal doses of
each vitamin and mineral.

And when I reviewed that list it was pretty obvious why
there were no scientific references listed. There was
no sound scientific basis for the "optimal" dose list.

For example, their recommendation was for 7500 IU of
vitamin A. The DV recommendation for vitamin A is 5,000
IU, and most experts recommend that half of that come
from beta-carotene to avoid the risk of bone fractures
caused by high doses of vitamin A.

They recommended over 50 mg of vitamins B1, B2, niacin,
pantothenic acid and B6. That is up to a 33-fold excess
of DV recommendations.

There is no scientific rationale for such a huge excess
of B vitamins.

On the other hand their recommendations were
significantly below current DV recommendations for
other nutrients like vitamin D, biotin and iodine.

In summary their recommended "optimal doses" made no
scientific sense, and they provided no published
clinical studies supporting their recommendations.

In my opinion the entire comparison is bogus.

It is impossible to say who is behind this misleading
comparison, but when these types of comparisons have
surfaced in the past it usually turned out that they
were designed to make a particular product look good -
and the easiest way to do that is to make the
ingredient list of that product the standard against
which all others are compared.

I'll let you do your own research as to which product
that might be.

In the meantime it is important to remember that the
Internet is the electronic equivalent of the wild west.

Just because you see it on the web doesn't make it
true.

You need to view what you see online with a bit of
skepticism. Ask the hard questions. Look for the
scientific evidence.

Adapted from Dr. Stephen Chaney
Tips From the Professor

Business Trends - I loved this blog: I just had to share!

9 Business Trends That Aren't Going Away

Scott Ginsberg , NametagTV.com

July 26, 2011

Last time I was in Florida, I passed a woman on the beach wearing a shirt that read: “Pregnant is the new skinny.” While the shirt itself was pretty ridiculous, it inspired me to look around for other new trends and how they relate to business. Today we’re going to explore a collection of trends that are here to stay.

1. Inspire is the new motivate

You can’t motivate anybody to do anything; all you can do is inspire them to motivate themselves. Find out what fuels people. Then fill the tank.  

2. Join is the new buy

Estee Lauder once said, “Women don't buy brands, they join them.” When I first heard that quotation, my inner geography changed forever. And I eventually came to a conclusion that has yet to be disputed: Good brands are bought, great brands are joined. Otherwise, people are just giving you money. And I don't know about you, but I'm not just interested in making money; I want to make history. If you want your brand to last, it has to connect on visceral level, engage on a human level and unite with it on a personal level.

3. Judgment is the new access

When information is infinite, people don’t need information, they need people who can explain the information they’ve already found. The point is: curators aren’t just for museums. In an increasingly commoditized marketplace, service is the key differentiator. And if you can make your customers smarter by explaining the world to them, you win.  

4. Love is the new black

As long as you find the people who don’t deserve it and offer to them freely and fully when they least expect it. Like the Sofitel. When I arrived last month at their New York property, their system showed no record of my reservation. A bit annoyed, I ended up staying across the street at a competing hotel. No problem. But when I got my credit card statement, Sofitel still billed me. Later, after speaking with a Sofitel reservations manager, he decided to refund the charge immediately. The Sofitel earned a fan for life from a guest who never even stayed there. The Sofitel rewarded my mistake.

5. Naked is the new uniform

Wearing a nametag 24/7 is a risk. But it’s also good practice. Practice being vulnerable, that is. There is a connection between vulnerability, approachability and profitability. When you open yourself to the world, the world will opens its wallet to you. But only if you’re willing to strip away the superficialities and occupy your vulnerability.  

6. Offline is the new online

Watson the computer not only won Jeopardy, but was also the first to buzz in on 25 of 30 answers. Still, Watson did manage to answer one question wrong: the question about art. Lesson learned: Having access to 200 million pages of content still doesn’t mean you know how to feel. The heartbeat of the human experience is a function of emotion, not information. Face-to-face is making a comeback. And we can’t solely filter our lives through pixels. Not if we want those lives to matter.

7. Playful is the new professional

Retaining childlikeness makes you more approachable, more relaxing to be around and more relatable to all ages. That's what my nametag does.  From my handwritten nametag, to my trademark philosophy card, to my daily "fill in the blank" exercise, my goal is create simultaneous engagement and entertainment, both online and off. What does your brand do for people? And do those people care enough about your brand to take a moment, take a picture and make a memory? I hope so. Because you have to let people into the moment. Induce participation. And intuitively respond to the human thirst for connection.  

8. Transience is the new permanence

The Internet is forever. Every tiny moment now lasts forever. Better be careful what you publish. Dishonesty has a limited shelf life. According to a recent study from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 80 percent of divorce lawyers have reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating. Still, this problem isn’t the computer; the problem is the character of the person using it. People don’t get divorced because of Facebook; they get divorced because dishonesty is written all over their face. If you choose to live a dishonest life offline, there’s going to be a huge echo online. And your digital footprint will slip on the technological banana peel and destroy the things that matter most in your life.

9. Waiting is the new working

I love waiting in lines. I’ve accepted the reality that life is the line. There's nowhere to get to. There's no future. All you have is right now. And I don't know about you, but if I’m waiting, I’m writing. Even if only for 20 seconds at a time. You’d be amazed how easily a year of lines turns into a box of books. Instead of looking at your watch, huffing and puffing and trying to enlist the other people in line to join your pity party, make love to the present moment. Then take notes. Because if you don’t write it down, it never happened. But if you build portable creative environments for yourself, you can leverage every micromoment that presents itself. And I guarantee you’ll triple your output.  

The trends that have nothing to do with clothes are the ones that matter most. Keep these new fashions in the front of your mind. Stick yourself out there today.

Not a Fan of Cooking? Try a Simple Cinch Recipe!

Cooking always serves to be a messy and sometimes fatal endeavor, but it can be fun as well as healthy for the whole family.

If you know me, you know that I do not care to cook, have no interest in cooking, and quite frankly don't even know where to start!  For those few times that I do feel like providing a home cooked meal for my husband and daughter I hunt for a recipe with few ingredients, 30 minute or less prep time, and something that I already have most of the ingredients for on hand in my own kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago I was at my Mom's house picking up my daughter and asked her for a few simple recipes.  She immediately turned to her Cinch Inch Loss Plan recipes through Shaklee among the dozens of cook books she has in her home.  I quickly scanned the ingredient list - I had all but two of them!  I looked over the nutritional information - healthy, packed with protein, and enough calories to refuel my body from the day.  I thanked her, jumped in my Tahoe, raced to Harris Teeter without speeding, and bought a box of cornflakes and a bag of pecans.

I spend less than 15 minutes preparing the chicken, popped it in the oven and moved on to throwing a couple of ears of corn from my friend's garden on the grill and slicing up a juicy watermelon from the Farmers Market.

My husband was impressed and so was I!  When I cook a delicious meal all on my own, I feel like I just earned an A on a test!

From my family to yours, I hope that you will enjoy a delicious family meal!

INGREDIENTS:
1/4t   salt
1/4t   pepper
2lb    chicken breasts, skinless (4 oz each)
1/4c  honey
2T    dijon mustard
3/4t   paprika
1/8t   garlic powder
1 1/4c   crushed cornflakes
1/2c   chopped pecans
cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken; set aside.  Combine honey, mustard, paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl; stir well.  Combine cornflakes and pecans in a shallow dish; stir well.  Brush both sides of chicken with honey mixture; dredge in cornflake mixture.  Place chicken pieces on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Lighly coat chicken with cooking spray adn bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until done.

Makes 8 servings.
Calories:  294/serving

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING:
30g protein
23g carbohydrates
9g fat
315mg sodium
78mg cholesterol
2g fiber

Can What WE Eat Affect Our Kids??

By Dr. Stephen Chaney
Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill
Biochemistry Department
Also teaches Nutrition classes to Medical students

Most of us have been taught in high school and college that all genetic information resides in our DNA.

During conception, we picked up some DNA from our dad & some from our mom, and that DNA was what made us a unique individual.

We knew that environmental influences could affect our health personally, but never dreamed that the effects
of those environmental influences could be passed on to our kids.

But today we know that environmental influences can actually modify our DNA and that those modifications
can be passed on to our offspring - a process called epigenetics.

Which brings me to the question I posed today: "Can what we eat affect our kids?"

According to two articles that appeared this month in The FASEB Journal, the answer just might be yes!

Previous clinical studies had shown when mothers consumed high-fat, high-sugar diets during pregnancy,
their children were more likely to have a preference for high-fat, high-sugar foods - which would likely
predispose them to obesity latter in life.

But with humans, it is really difficult to sort out how much of that effect was caused by what the mom ate
during pregnancy and how much was caused by how the family ate as the kids were growing up.

So both of these studies were done in rodents.

In the first study (Ong & Muhlhausler, FASB J, 25: 2167-2179, 2011) female rats were maintain on either
standard rat chow or a "junk-food diet" high in fat and sugar during pregnancy and lactation. The weanling rats were then separated from their moms and exposed to a variety of foods and allowed to choose what they wanted to eat.

Both the male and female offspring of the "junk-food" moms showed a marked preference for high fat foods.

They also showed alterations in hormones of the opiod and dopaminergic central reward pathways that may have been pre-conditioned them to require higher intakes a fat to experience pleasure from eating.

In the second study (Jousse et al, FASEB J, doi: 10,1096/fj.11-181792) female mice were maintained on
either standard mice chow or a low-protein diet during pregnancy and lactation.

In this case the offspring of the low-protein fed moms had a lower body weight and less adiposity throughout
their life.

But what made this study particularly significant was that the investigators were able to show that the low-
protein diet in the moms resulted in a specific modification in the DNA of the leptin gene in their
offspring.

This DNA modification led to a greater expression of leptin following a meal in those offspring compared to
the offspring of the moms who consumed regular mice chow during pregnancy & lactation - which makes sense because leptin inhibits appetite.

Thus, this study not only shows that the diet of the moms influenced the eating behavior and body composition
of their offspring, but that this change in eating behavior was caused by a permanent modification of
their DNA.

So what is the bottom line for you?

In the first place, the science of epigenetics is relatively new and these particular studies were done
in rodents, not in humans. It will be many years before we will be able to make specific recommendations as to what your diet should be like during pregnancy and lactation if you wish to make beneficial modifications
to your baby's DNA.

In particular, I certainly do not mean to suggest that a low protein diet would be beneficial during pregnancy
& lactation. No responsible nutrition expert would make that recommendation.

However, I did want to make you aware that what you eat during pregnancy & lactation may influence the health of your children - not just at the time of their birth - but throughout their life, and that a "junk-food" diet
just may not be your best choice.

This is a new paradigm. Most prenatal nutrition advice is currently based on what it takes to have a healthy
baby - not on what it might take for your child to experience better health throughout their life.

What about your diet before conception - and what about guys?

Those studies have yet to be done, but I would not be surprised if we find out that what we eat affects our
DNA as well.

So, a good diet prior to conception is likely to be important too. And since both men and women contribute
DNA to our children this advice may apply to all of us.

Winning the War Against Cancer

Winning the War Against Cancer Begins with Your Personal Choices 

 

You can do a lot, right now, to significantly decrease your cancer risk. Even the conservative American Cancer Society states that one-third of cancer deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight. So making the following healthy lifestyle changes can go a very long way toward ending the failure-streak and becoming one less statistic in this war against cancer:

1. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure. This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. Ideally, monitor your vitamin D levels throughout the year.
2. Control your insulin levels by limiting your intake of processed foods and sugars/fructose as much as possible.
3. Get appropriate amounts of omega-3 fats.
4. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
5. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
6. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties. Remember that carb nutritional types may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than protein nutritional types.
7. Maintain an ideal body weight.
8. Get enough high-quality sleep.
9. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
10. Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.

Simplify Your Cleaning Products and Go Green!

Simplify Your Cleaning Products and Go Green!

I read a really great article today in the Boom! Magazine about cleaning out your current, more toxic cleaning products for safer alternatives - safer for you and for the planet.  Now that I've become more aware of products that are  harmful to the health of my family and our planet, I pay much closer attention to anything regarding going green!

So, how often do you clean your home?  The norm is probably once a week, right?  Now, what percentage of your time is spent indoors rather than out?  According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) we spend 90% of our ti me indoors rather than out.  Another interesting fact is that stay at home moms are 54% more likely to develop cancer than women who have jobs outside of the home.  The EPA conducted a study over a five year period and the results concluded that the concentration of 20 harmful chemicals was 200 times higher in our homes and offices than outdoors.

 How we keep our homes clean is extremely important to the our own health as well as to the health of our children, pets, and planet.  The question is, how do we know which cleaning products are safe and which are harmful?  Or, which claim to be safe, but really are not so?  Have you heard of the new term called "greenwashing"?  Greenwashing is a fairly recent term that refers to the marketing and branding of products as green or good for the environment, when the company has done nothing or very little to make their products better for you or the environment.  Beware of claims and marketing on the front of the product with words like "natural" or "organic".

Safe cleaning is not just better for the planet, avoiding harmful chemicals is critical to your health. The number of people with multiple chemical sensitivity is on the rise with one trigger thought to be very low-level chemical exposure. A myriad of information is available online and in bookstores to help you clean safely, and save you money in the process. Here are some basic steps to get you started.

Here are some basic tips to help you get started:
Step One: Look through your current products and make three piles. Pile one is for products that you use often and feel are safe to continue using. Pile two is for products you rarely use, or may be more dangerous. Store these products in a location away from your main living areas and out of reach for small hands. Pile three is for products to dispose of safely. Don’t pour chemicals down your sink, your toilet, or in your trash. Check your city’s public works website for what to do with unwanted chemicals. (See “How To Read Labels” below for help on ingredients to avoid.)

Step Two: Rethink your cleaning needs. No doubt you now want to buy some new products to replace those you’ve discarded. Remember to once again read the labels. You are looking for “Non-Toxic” and “Biodegradable.” In other words, you want products that are safe for you and safe for the planet. Even sponges can harbor chemicals. Look for natural cellulose sponges without triclosan or other antibacterial chemicals. Then pop them into the microwave or top rack of your dishwasher regularly to disinfect.

Step Three: Consider reducing or eliminating chemical cleaners and use commonly found products around your home. You can basically handle any cleaning task with lemons, salt, vinegar, baking soda, vegetable oil, essential oils (for fragrance), and even tea and tomato sauce.

How to read labels

Look on the back of the product for the ingredients. If a company is not transparent about their ingredients, that’s a red flag. Here’s a short list of what to avoid or use with care.

• The words: WARNING, DANGER, or POISON
• Ammonia
• Butyl glycol, ethylene glycol, monobutyl
• Chlorine Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite)
• Monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) triethanolamine (TEA) 
• Nonoxynol, octoxynol, nonylphenol, octylphenol, nonylphenol, ethoxylate
• Phenols
• Phosphates
• Phthalates,“Fragrance”
• Triclosan

The following is from Dr. Steve Chaney who established and teaches nutrition in the University North Carolina Medical School.

Beware of Cut Rate Vitamins!

Dr. Stephen Chaney, Ph.D.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is taking inexpensive vitamins. Mail-order vitamins offer fantastic “deals” and are worth just about what you pay for them.  NEVER buy these vitamins or supermarket/pharmacy brands without checking them out first.

Cut-rate products often contain addictive ingredients, food allergens, sugar, artificial food coloring and flavoring.  Many are coated with shellac, or contain potentially hazardous chemicals like cholorine.

Potency and purity can vary widely from pill to pill and bottle to bottle.  A study at Duke University examined 13 bottles of one popular supplement.  These samples showed they contained 60% or less of the amount of nutrients claimed on the label!

Another problem is freshness.  The FDA does not require expiration dates on supplement bottles so many companies don’t include them.  Calcium and some other nutrients can last for a year, while others, like vitamin B and C are unstable.

Shaklee performs up to 176 separate tests for purity, freshness, potency, and safety on the raw ingredients for a single product.  Products undergo as many as 262 separate quality assurance tests throughout the manufacturing process as well.  In addition, all product label claims have documented substantiation.

Cause in point, Shaklee stopped production of its Asian Ginseng, dispite the huge demand for the product, due to contaiminants like herbicides and pesticides found in raw ingredients after floods in China.  They will not resume production until they have a proven safe and pure source for the product.  Many brands at the supermarkets, health stores, and mail order companies are still selling Asian Ginseng! Scary, isn’t it?

Some things to look for in a multivitamin/mineral supplement:

• Biotin—an extremely important but expensive B Vitamin
• 100% of the DV for all B vitamins
• More than 100% of all the antioxidants Vitamins C & E
• Trace minerals—needed to fight oxidation, regulate blood sugar, and help build bones, critical for brain function and essential for growth and development.
• Fast Dissolving = better absoption (drop it in water; how long does it take to dissolve?)

Shaklee Vita Lea has been the best nutritional insurance you can buy for over 40 years. Vita Lea provides the most comprehensive, balanced supplementation available, with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.  Independent laboratory tests have showed the disintegration time of Shaklee vitamins at only 17 minutes, while some take hours!

Marathon Season - Training Nutrition

1.    Before, during, and after events, you should look to hydrate with cool liquids in small amounts, early and often.  Sports drinks can be especially helpful here but should first be tested in training before using in competition.

2.    Light meals like sandwiches, salads, and Shaklee Cinch Meal or Snack bars are best consumed 2-4 hours before exercise.  More rapidly absorbed liquid nutrition including Cinch Shakes, Meal Shakes, or similar food products may be consumed as little as 1 hour before an event depending on how quickly one digests certain foods and one's comfort level after eating. 

3.    Nutritional bars, gel type products, and rapidly digested foods such as bananas may be consumed in addition to fluids during events if the event lasts an hour or more.

4.    Post-event nutrition including protein, carbohydrate, and fluids should be consumed as soon as possible after exercise to maximize the energy restorage, muscle repair, and muscle rebuilding that occurs post exercise.  Physique has been proven to enhance the anabolic body building state and recovery post-exercise and is a key component of any natural sports nutrition program that requires daily or more than once-a-day training sessions. 

For over 30 years, elite athletes have trusted their health, well-being and athletic performance to smart training, sound dietary regimens, and nutritional counsel and products from Shaklee.   For example, since 1993, Shaklee has been providing NASA with a customized rehydration beverage for use by Space Shuttle astronauts. The U.S. Ski and U.S. Snowboarding teams, and other Shaklee-powered athletes, have won over 100 gold, silver, and bronze medals, including Billy Demong, first-ever US winner of a Nordic Combined event,  the 2010 Winter Games gold medal in Vancouver.

Producing high quality, safe, and efficacious products is a longstanding commitment and a key strategic priority.  To accomplish this, Shaklee sources the finest nutritional ingredients to create products that are free of artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors, or added preservatives.  Tens of thousands of quality control tests and quality audits are conducted to guarantee absolute identity, purity, and potency of ingredients.  Shaklee partners only with reputable ingredient suppliers and contract manufacturers and follows Good Manufacturing Practices to guarantee that what is listed on the label is exactly what’s in the bottle. 

To ensure safe use of Shaklee nutritional products by its athletes, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) International Prohibited List WADA is regularly monitored to ensure that all product ingredients do not include any WADA prohibited substances.  To this end, Shaklee does not formulate any nutritional product with substances listed on the 2011 WADA List (updated September 18, 2010).  

Shaklee also has a tradition of scientific research that includes over 100 published studies and abstracts in peer-reviewed scientific journals and many of these studies support their sports nutrition products. 

Megan Huber 

Shaklee Director

919-906-0753

hubershaklee@gmail.com