Fish oil Pregnancy, Kids, Adults: Omega 3 Fatty Acids are Better Health for Everyone

The benefits of fish oil for pregnancy, pure DHA for kids - associated with behavior and learning - and omega-3 fatty acids for heart or joint health for adults are now part of our lives and working well for people.

If you read about health, watch health segments on television or listen on the radio, you have heard about omega 3 fatty acids or fish oil. If not, be sure to click on the link below and hear what Dr. Oz has to say because he will 'catch you up'!

The television segment that Dr. Oz did on omega fatty acids was excellent. Most doctors talk about treating illness and disease, although lately more of them are talking about fish oil for building better health. I follow Dr. Oz because he really hits us hard with prevention and taking fish oil is something very good that we can do for ourselves.

I have heard for years about the omega-3 and omega-6 imbalance in our bodies. This is due to the foods that we eat and is important because it can also determine how we feel and the state of our health. Omega-6 fats contribute to inflammation that can result in anything from arthritis to heart disease and many other diseases.

Omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation in our bodies. Fish oil can make our joints feel better and a whole lot more. Dr. Oz says that we can't get too much Omega-3's and we don't need to worry about getting any more omega-6 fats because our food provides more than enough of those. We want our body's ratio to be no more than 2 to 1, omega-6 to omega-3 (1 to 1 is even better) and we will feel the difference.

The problem with getting enough omega-3 fatty acids every day is that most of us don't eat enough fish every day and other sources of food can increase our calories too much if we eat in excess. That would be true for walnuts. I love walnuts but my weight goals might be in trouble if I ate walnuts all day long!

In order to get a good supply of fish oil every day, most of us need to supplement. Fish oil when consumed in supplement form is something easy that we can do every day. Leave that bottle of fish oil out on your counter. Don't miss your daily serving and within a short time I would be surprised if you tell me anything other than you feel enough of a difference that you will stay faithful!

It is important to find a high quality fish oil brand because there are different grades of fish oil and the manufacturing process differs from brand to brand. Since food supplements are not regulated, it is essential to find a brand you trust and that uses pure, quality ingredients.

What you put in your body will determine what you get back in terms of health. Another issue is the odor. People have been turned off to supplements that leave a strong fish odor in your mouth. Finding a better source of fish oil is a solution to this problem as well.

EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids are well studied for helping reduce heart disease, helping retain normal blood pressure, and supporting healthy joint function, vision and brain.

Here is the link to the Dr. Oz show on omega fatty acids. You will open to the video of the first part. Under that video are links to the other 3 sections - there are 4 short videos. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Dr. Oz: Know Your Omega Fatty Acids

To learn more about a pharmaceutical grade fish oil, made with a proprietary distillation process that removes mercury, lead and other harmful compounds while keeping seven naturally occurring omega-3 fatty acids, visit: : Omega 3 Fatty Acids are Better Health for Everyone.

Free Leucine to Keep Your Muscle That Helps You Burn Fat and Lose Weight

It is a fact that most people do not stick to diets. We have good intentions but it is hard to stick to them. There are constantly new diets being introduced and we think the next new diet will be the one that 'will work'.

There is a problem with starting and stopping all these diets. When you stop the diet because it either isn't working for you or you can't be consistent with it, you go back to your normal level of calories consumed. In the meantime, you have lost muscle along with the fat you (hopefully) lost. Along with that lost muscle, you lost the ability to burn calories efficiently because muscle burns fat for all of us.

So now, when you start eating more again, the extra calories turn more easily into fat. The body now has even more fat than before - and less muscle than before. People who have gone on repeated diets are in a cycle of losing muscle and gaining and re-gaining fat.

A pound of fat burns only 2 calories per day. So if you are 20 lbs (of fat) overweight, and you multiply 2 by 20, you are only burning 40 calories per day. If that extra weight were muscle, it would burn 50 calories per pound and result in 1000 calories.

A person damages their metabolism with this kind of yo-yo dieting, making it almost impossible to lose weight.

Now that you understand more about the connection between muscle and weight loss, there is something that can help. Weight loss and weight management programs with amino acids called leucine help the body build and repair muscle tissue and burn fat!

Leucine is the amino acid that signals your body to preserve muscle during weight loss. We say that 'Cinch is Powered by Leucine' because it helps you keep your muscle so you lose your fat.

When you use a leucine powered weight loss/management program, you can actually keep 100% of your important muscle mass - a healthier option because it is your muscle that burns your fat and improves your metabolism. This means the weight you lose is all FAT!

Some athletes take leucine because it initiates protein synthesis in the muscles for muscle building. In weight loss, this muscle building counteracts muscle breakdown that happens when you eat fewer calories (when you are on a diet).

Consuming leucine can be as easy as having a protein shake every day for breakfast, and if you need to lose significant weight it can be two meals for you each day. Eating snack bars or meal bars with leucine in place of other foods that are higher in calories or don't have the nutrition you need when you are trying to cut calories and lose weight are easy options. Sipping on tea that gives you energy and helps you get from one meal to the next without snacking is a Cinch!

If you need to lose some weight and have been thinking about trying Shaklee products, we have a special gift for you that has never been offered!

New Shaklee members can get free Cinch products powered by Leucine during January, 2011.

Anyone who signs up as a new Member or Distributor (with a minimum $70 order) or as a new GOLD Ambassador with the purchase of a GOLD or Super GOLD Mission PAK will get a Cinch Sampler Pack at no additional cost.*

The Sampler Pack includes:
1 canister of Vanilla Cinch® Shake Mix (soy protein blend)
1 box of Cinch® Snack Bars, Peanut Butter Crunch flavor
1 box of Cinch® Energy Tea Mix, Pomegranate flavor
1 Cinch Program Guide
1 Cinch Pedometer - (while supplies last)
CinchWellness.com - three months of introductory membership. (You are not required to keep this membership. You will need to cancel the cinchwellness.com membership after the third month if you don't want charges to apply in fourth and subsequent months. You will still be a Shaklee member with a 15% discount on all future product orders.)
This is a $86.60 product value.

To become a Shaklee member, order products at www.HaveGoodHealth4Life.com and choose to become a Shaklee member once you checkout with a $70 qualifiying order. You will automatically get the Cinch Sampler Pack sent with your order.

*Limited-time offer, ends Jan. 31, 2011

Healthy Weight Loss One Way to Prevent Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that involves elevated glucose or blood sugar levels because there is not enough insulin production in the pancreas or there is insulin resistance in your body's cells. Diabetes is thought to be caused by obesity, possibly by an unhealthy diet. High blood sugar levels are damaging to your cells and can produce short and long term health problems.

Pre-diabetes is a condition where your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not so high as to be classified diabetic. If you are pre-diabetic you are at risk to develop type 2 diabetes (adult onset diabetes), heart disease and stroke. Being overweight and physically inactive are associated with both diabetes and pre-diabetes.

The good news is that both of these blood sugar conditions can be prevented. There has been extensive scientific research and studies to measure risk for diabetes and how prevention can affect the development of diabetes. When you lose weight and increase your physical activity level you can prevent or delay diabetes, and help your blood sugar levels return to normal range.

A large, three-year prevention study, the Diabetes Prevention Program, showed that losing 5 to 10% of participants' initial body weight reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 58%. For people aged 60 and over the reduction was even higher at 71%.

When you get to a healthy weight level you also have a better chance of preventing other illnesses and disease that are associated with being overweight or obese, such as arthritis, heart disease, stroke and cancer. In addition you will increase your energy levels and have a better quality of life.

To learn more about healthy weight loss, here is an audio presentation that offers some great information and hopefully some motivation for you if getting to a healthier weight has been a challenge:

Healthy Weight Loss

Information about individual natural nutrition and healthy weight management products can be reviewed at http://havegoodhealth4life.com.

The Importance of Vitamin D

Vitamin D doesn’t just build strong bones. It has many roles in your body.

Every cell in your body has its own DNA tracker that tells the cell how to respond to anything that might affect it. The activity of the tracker, a very important job in the body, is triggered by vitamin D.

This is why Vitamin D is important in many of the functions in your body, and affects a great number of various diseases and health conditions, including heart disease.

Vitamin D production in your body through sunlight exposure can affect these physiological systems that also help fight heart disease:

• increase in your body’s natural anti-inflammatory properties
• suppress vascular calcification
• inhibit of vascular smooth muscle growth

Depending on where you live, what time of the year it is, and your skin color—you may be among the many Americans who aren’t getting enough of this essential nutrient.

Scientists have proven through multiple research studies that if you optimize your vitamin D levels it can help maintain a healthy heart:

• Researchers have found that people with the lowest average vitamin D levels had a 124% bigger risk of dying from all causes and a 378% greater risk of dying from a heart problem.
• A study in Finland showed that when compared with the participants with the highest vitamin D, those with the lowest levels had a 25 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease or stroke. When only stroke was looked at, the lowest levels had twice the risk as those with the highest.
• When women take vitamin D supplements, they lower their risk of death from heart disease by one-third.

Being Vitamin D deficient leads to increased risks for heart disease – risks that could be avoided simply by optimizing vitamin D. If you can’t get enough Vitamin D in your diet or your doctor is telling you that you are low or deficient in Vitamin D, you may want to consider a natural supplement.

Vitamin-D3 is clinically proven to be the most potent form of vitamin D. You can take a vitamin D3 supplement in combination with your multi-vitamin or nutrition foundation program.

Learning About Our Brand..

Two common questions that I am asked are:

1) How is Shaklee different from other brands?

2) What is the history of Shaklee - the company?

Today I would like to share information to help answer those questions. The second question is answered in the link at the end of this post and is taken from a long-time member of the Shaklee field (a distributor familiar with the origins of the company).

But first, the Shaklee difference.

When I was first introduced to the company, I remember hearing that the science and research that this brand has always been committed to is a major factor that sets this company apart. And the quality of the products is so good that you EXPECT them to work - to give you the results that you seek.

That level of quality and integrity and science extends across all products of the brand - from anti-aging skin care to personal care products and green home cleaning products. The standards that are set have always been very high and distinguishes the brand in the market.

Products are not brought to market unless they can be proven to be effective and also scientifically proven to be beneficial. There has never been a product of the month or product of the year simply because it is popular at the time. Years of research and testing go into a product before it is released. This is, at times, to the frustration of all of us in the field who are anxious for a product like the recently new Vitamin D3 that distributors had requested for the past few years.

It's very interesting to attend a company event and talk with Shaklee scientists. They are great at explaining scientific information in ways that non-medical people like myself can understand. You learn about things like the unique delivery systems in the nutrition products - there are 4 delivery systems in Vitalizer alone - so that the nutrients break down in the part of the body where they can be absorbed best and work best.

When a new product is finally announced, there is a great deal of documentation that supports the science behind it. In a product manual there can be hundreds of pages of specifications to make sure the detailed instructions of how to make and test that product are always met. There are extensive quality checks on all materials before they are accepted from vendors and over 600 inspection tests of raw materials before they used to make products.

The manufacturing and processing controls exceed standards used by other companies and include rigorous testing throughout the development of products. Post-production testing ensures products are potent and fresh. The commitment to quality is evidenced by the 100% money-back guarantee that has been offered on all products since the company started.

After using the products for years, I can testify that the science, research, and quality that attracted me to this company in the first place keeps me a loyal user today. When you find something that WORKS, you stick with it!

We don't like to compare ourselves to other brands. Partly because of our philosophy of doing business by The Golden Rule which for us means not putting down another brand, and also because there aren't many brands that can be compared. Natural nutrition products cannot be compared to synthetic vitamins and supplements. And you can't compare a brand that does extensive scientific studies and testing of raw ingredients and finished products to companies that do not.

To me what matters a great deal is that the products WORK - they give me the results I want in building better health. I was told from the first day I was introduced to the brand that if the products don't work, you get your money back. There's no risk involved, only the benefits you can get when the products start working for you. This has been true for me and it's why I am a loyal user.

In a future post we will look at some unique stories about this brand.

Here is the link to the information about the history of the company: Shaklee History

Natural Ways to Lower Cholesterol

A report from The National Center for Health Statistics states that over 80 million adults in the U.S. have unhealthy cholesterol levels. That’s 1/3 of the American population. Many kids also have unhealthy cholesterol numbers.

If your cholesterol numbers are not in the healthy range you may be on medication to lower your bad cholesterol and improve your good cholesterol. If you aren't taking meds yet, you may be looking for natural ways to lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL.

Scientific research, including 80 studies over the past ten years, on plant sterols and stanols show that they can help people achieve healthy cholesterol numbers naturally.

We have known for a long time that cholesterol is a big risk factor in developing heart disease. It is important that you know ‘your numbers’ because there’s a lot you can do to impact having healthy total cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a waxy fat-like substance that occurs naturally in your body. It is an essential part of your cell membranes and used to both create and repair cells. Your body makes cholesterol and you get it from the foods you eat as well. You can control the cholesterol you eat if you stay away from foods that have unhealthy cholesterol.

In August, 2010, the Annals of Internal Medicine stated that people who have high cholesterol in their 20’s are more likely to have signs of heart disease by the time they reach their 40’s.

High cholesterol numbers are associated with high blood pressure, vision loss, Alzheimers disease and dementia. People with high cholesterol levels in their 40’s may have a higher risk of developing dementia.

These may be scary statistics but science, research and clinical studies have given us lifestyle choices that can help us build better health.

Diet is one area where you have control over healthy choices: cut down on high cholesterol foods like trans fats and saturated fats and increase lean meat, eat fish more often and consume foods with high fiber content (or at least eat more fiber overall each day. These actions will help your cholesterol levels.

Everyone should be getting some form of daily exercise. It is good for your overall health and even 30 minutes per day can help lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol numbers.

Plant sterols and stanols work in the body by preventing absorption of cholesterol that leads to heart disease. It would be hard to consume the amount of sterols and stanols by eating them in fruits, vegetables and grains in your daily diet. You need to take the 2000 mg daily that has been proven to positively impact your cholesterol levels in supplement form. It is a way to reduce cholesterol naturally, and without all of the calories you would be adding to your diet if you tried to get them from food.

2000 mg of sterols and stanols each day is available in a gluten-free supplement form. Results should be expected in 4 ot 6 weeks and you should have your doctor check your cholesterol levels after that time.

There are no significant side effects of supplement sterols and stanols. They are highly effective even if you are already on a heart healthy diet, and safe to use with statin drugs. Your doctor should monitor your blood levels of cholesterol since the dose of meds you take may need adjusted when natural cholesterol reducing sterols and stanols are also lowering your overall cholesterol numbers.

Lowering your cholesterol by 10% reduces your risk for heart disease. Clinical studies show that taking plant sterols as a natural way to lower cholesterol can help lower your overall cholesterol number 5 to 15%.

Click this link to listen to a comprehensive discussion about: CHOLESTEROL.

1000 IU Vitamin D & Your Healthy Heart

In this video Dr. Oz shows you a healthy heart and a diseased heart. Note how he mentions that all a sick heart can do is 'enlarge'. Dr. Oz teaches us ways to build good health and in this case that includes supplementing your daily diet with vitamin D.

If you listen to the end, you will see him recommend 1000 IU of Vitamin D every day for your heart health, and he states how vitamin D helps your calcium be absorbed where it is supposed to be absorbed in your body.

CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO

To learn more about a pharmaceutical grade vitamin D visit: 1000 IU Vitamin D.