So what can
we do? Well, the simple answer is drinking more pure water. However, in light of
the AP’s study, how can we be sure our drinking water is safe and pure? Many of
us have some sort of water filtration device in our homes or we choose to drink
bottled water. However, bottled water can cost up to $10/gallon. Of 103 brands
tested, 33% exceeded bacteria and contaminant guides, and these didn’t look for
pharmaceuticals. High elevation sources can be more harmful that low level
sources. Bottled water standards only have to match the standards set for tap
water in that geographic area. Finally, and this is a big one, most water
filtration systems that we have in our homes do not address the pharmaceutical
issue. Filters that screw on to your faucet, or the popular pitcher-type filters
are effective for larger particulates and odors; however, smaller elements pass
right through them. Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration systems can address this
problem, but they can cost thousands of dollars. Shaklee’s BestWater®
MTS2000®
series is an affordable, high-efficiency, filtration system that provides as
much protection as you can get from a point-of-use filter. You can read more
about this system at
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/82333.
It may be
virtually impossible to remove all of these foreign chemicals and
pharmaceuticals from our water, but avoiding unfiltered tap water is a good
start. Providing your body with the tools needed to metabolize and eliminate
these impurities is also an essential step. Maintaining a healthy lower
digestive tract, complete with all the required “good bacteria” is critical. Try
adding Optiflora®
(www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20639)
to your daily regime. This product will provide 500,000,000 live
Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus acidophilus directly to your
small intestine. These essential good bacteria are typically killed by
antibiotics and need to be replenished for a strong immune system. Our new
Vitalizerä (www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20246)
packs not only contain the essential nutrients you need daily, but also contain
the Optiflora. This system was designed upon the research of Dr. Gladys Block of
UC Berkley, and demonstrated that people using Shaklee supplements are healthier
than those who use other brands or do not use supplements at all. You can read
more about this in my September 2007 Forum article.
One last
thought. As you all know, your liver is responsible for eliminating toxins from
the body. Maintaining a healthy liver is also critical to minimizing the
negative impact of these toxins entering our body. Daily use of a product like
Liver DTX® (www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20616),
which helps maintain bile flow and has been shown in research to support the
body’s normal ability to make proteins that help regenerate liver cells can be
essential.
While
we may not be able to control everything in our world, our drinking water is far
too important to take for granted. Your health and the health of your family are
dependent upon adequate supplies of pure water, and your body’s’ ability to deal
with any impurities you ingest.
All
this writing is making me thirsty. Think I’ll get me a glass of BestWater®
right now.
Yours in
Good Health,
Cj
You can
contact me at
healthyone@gmail.com
The Shape of
Your Future
Fort
the past several months now we have been watching and listening to all the
different presidential candidates tell us why he/she would be the best person to
be our next president. Each candidate has been using all sorts of political
calisthenics to inspire us, to scare us, to motivate us, to encourage us and get
us to support his/her point of view and cast our votes for him/her. Since this
may be the most significant election any of us will ever see, I encourage each
of you to examine the issues and get out and vote for the candidate you feel
best represents your own best interests and opinions.
With
that said, I have also noticed the tremendous physical and emotional toll that
the campaign process is exerting on each of the candidates. The almost non-stop
travel, continuous speeches, never ending interviews, and other rigors of
campaigning leave these politicians drained, exhausted and vulnerable. The
candidate who manages to stay strong throughout this process will certainly have
the upper hand.
While
none of us will ever be subjected to these pressures, our own daily lives
provide us with more than enough stress, turmoil and other challenges that make
us feel the same strains as our candidates. How do they recover? How can we
recover from these daily challenges?
This
month I want to talk about the shape of our future – or, maybe I should say, our
shape in the future!
One
of the best ways for us to deal with these kinds of pressures is exercise.
However, just getting out there and walking, jogging, lifting weights or doing
some other kind of physical activity without a comprehensive plan may do more
harm than good. Our ability to recover from our workouts is even more important
that the workout itself.
There
are four key fitness focus areas we need to consider. Lets examine these and get
started on our new shape.
Fitness Focus
Area #1: Cellular performance and Function.
In his book “An Apple A Day. Is it Enough Today?” Dr. Ted Morter notes,
“Your body doesn’t care if you’re sick or healthy. It doesn’t plan for the
future. Your body doesn’t think, it doesn’t judge. It doesn’t know right from
wrong. It doesn’t care if you’re hurting or happy. All the body does is respond
to survive.” What Dr. Morter is saying is that, at a cellular level, your
body takes in nutrients, eliminates toxins and tries to ensure the survival of
each cell. It is our responsibility to ensure that we provide the essential
nutritional building blocks to allow our cells to function optimally. If we do,
then we are healthy, if we don’t, then we become sick and impact our longevity.
Our hectic lifestyles often don’t allow us the time or opportunity to eat
right.” That’s why it is so important to supplement our diets with a complete
regime like Vitalizerä
from Shaklee. You can read the clinical study that proves the superiority of
this daily plan at . If you want to start on this program today, go to
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20246.
Fitness Focus
Area #2: Fluid Hydration and Replacement.
Scott Higgins, Ph.D., team physiologist for the U.S. Ski Team says, “Dehydration
is the only illness that can kill a healthy man.” Whether you’re on the campaign
trail, doing your daily workout, or just coping with life, hydration is
critical. There are 3 problems associated with hydration: 1) Fluid replacement;
2) Electrolyte replacement; and 3) Energy replacement. While water is essential
it only addresses fluid replacement. Using a quality sports drink can provide
the rest. Here are some facts to consider when choosing your drink:
¨
Never rely of
thirst.
¨
Athletes can
lose 2 – 4 pints of fluid/hour.
¨
You must
replace all 6 electrolytes. (calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium and
phosphate).
¨
You need at
least 100 mg of sodium.
¨
You need from
20 – 28 grams of carbohydrates.
¨
Should have
some fructose.
¨
No sucrose,
artificial colors or flavors.
Since
60% of hydration assimilation occurs in the small intestine, it is essential to
maintain a Stomach Fluid Volume (SFV) of approximately 40%. That means that you
should have that much volume of fluids in your stomach at all times. The best
drink out there is Performanceäwhich
was created by Shaklee for NASA and has powered some of the world’s greatest
physical tests like the Deadalus Project, a human powered 74 mile flight across
the Aegean Sea, the equivalent of running 3 marathons back to back to back. For
more info on Performance go to
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20351.
Fitness Focus
Area #3: Recovery From Exercise.
Scott Higgins notes, “What you do in the first 20 minutes after exercise will
determine how well you’ll reap the benefits of your workout.” During exercise
muscles go into catabolism – they break down. Protein degradation is a primary
product of catabolism. The flip side is anabolism. You want to optimize the
anabolic process immediately post workout. Drinking a glass of Physiqueä
within 20 minutes after your workout (or a hard day on the campaign trail), and
again 2 hours later will provide you with all the necessary components to
effectively maximize your workout.
Physique:
¨
Is a healthy,
drug-free way to build lean muscle mass.
¨
Helps you
recover more quickly from your workout.
¨
Is designed
to stimulate your own natural anabolic bodybuilding process.
¨
Gives faster
energy return so you can maintain a more strenuous workout.
¨
Creates
OPTIMAL conditions for maximum muscle mass and strength development.
¨
More info on
Physique is available at
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20306
Fitness Focus
Area #4: Implementing a Daily Strategy. Well now, I’ve been harping on
planning for a couple of years now and this is no different. Use the S.M.A.R.T.
approach I’ve mentioned in numerous previous articles and add these points:
¨
Rather than prioritizing your schedule, schedule your priorities.
¨
Get
some aerobic activity at least 3 times each week.
¨
Get
some strength training at least twice each week.
¨
And
finally, like the Nikeä
ad says, “Just Do It!”
Ok
now, a quick recap: Get out and vote your conscience, get your daily exercise,
add Vitalizerä
to your daily routine, ensure you are properly hydrated with Performanceä,
provide yourself with optimal recovery with Physiqueä,
and create a plan and you’ll be sure not only to shape your future, but also to
control your future shape.
As
always, feel free to visit my web site at
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter or drop me a note with your questions.
Yours in Good
Health,
Cj
You can
contact me at
healthyone@gmail.com
For the Health
of Our Future
By
Chuck Jumpeter
Every
once in a while a story comes along that just grabs you and turns you inside
out. A story so powerful that you just can’t get it out of your head. This past
month, I was exposed to such a story. It’s a story about a 4-year old little
girl, Colette Chuda, who died in 1991 from Wilm’s tumor, a rare form of
non-hereditary
cancer.
When
Colette became sick at age 4, her parents Nancy and James did what all good
parents would do and fought to understand Colette’s illness and try to save
their daughters life. Unfortunately, the cancer won. It took 4 years after
Colette’s death, but in 1995 in a study published by the American Journal of
Epidemiology, the Chuda’s learned that maternal exposure to pesticides was most
likely a cause of the disease when the tumor was diagnosed 48 months after the
child’s birth. Colette was diagnosed when she was 4 years old, exactly 48 months
after she was born. You can read the Chuda’s full story at
www.healthychild.org.
The
study also noted that “the effects of pesticides could be mediated by mutations
in germ cells, by exposure of the fetus in utero, or by exposure after birth by
residues present in breast milk, in foods, in the home, or in the surrounding
environment.”
After
Colette’s death, Nancy and James Chuda embarked on a mission, through the
creation of Healthy Child Healthy World, to educate parents, teachers, childcare
professionals, and everyone else interested in creating healthier environments
for our children, and that’s what I want to discuss today.
In
conjunction with our company, Shaklee, Healthy Child Healthy World created a DVD
called “Creating Healthy Environments for Children.” Every teacher, every
day-care center, every PTA, everyone associated with children in any way should
see this video. You can purchase this video at
www.healthychild.org for $12. You can also contact me and we’ll get one to
you at cost plus S&H.
This
DVD identifies 5 easy steps for homes, child care centers and schools to take to
make their environments as safe as possible for our children. These are simple
approaches that we should all be using. However, before we look at these steps,
lets examine some startling statistics.
-
Over 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in products we use every day,
most of which did no exist 50 years ago.
-
There is no pre-market safety testing required under any federal law for
chemicals in cosmetics, toys, clothing, carpets, and construction materials.
-
Of
the 15,000 most commonly used chemicals more than 80% have not been tested
for health effects on children.
-
None have been tested for their health effects when they interact with one
another – and that’s the way we are exposed to them.
Dr.
Alan Greene, M.D., Stanford University School of Medicine tested “cord blood” of
newborn infants to determine what, if anything, babies were exposed to even
prior to birth and found an average of 200 industrial chemicals coursing through
these newborns even before they were born. These were things from the
environment that people never had to deal with in the past.
It
is difficult to say what impact this is having, however we do know that the
incidence of childhood diseases are on the rise.
-
The
incidence of cancer in children jumped 26% between 1975 and 1998
-
The
number of children in special education programs increased 191% from 1977 to
1994
-
Childhood asthma rates increased 100% between 1980 and 1995
While
these numbers might reflect a true increase in incidence, improved detection or
reporting, they still suggest a problem of epidemic proportion. Toxic exposure
deserves special attention because it is preventable.
Dr.
Phil Landrigan of New York’s Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Director, Center
for Children’s Health and the Environment, notes that pound for pound children
consume more food and water and are more highly exposed to toxins than adults.
The fact that children live lower, they play on the floor, put their fingers in
their mouths, exposes them to more chemicals. He further states that we need to
have more effective processes to get toxic chemicals off the market and replace
them with safer alternatives.
With
that as a background, let’s look at what we can do.
The Five
Easy Steps:
Step
1: Avoid using pesticides.
There are safer and equally effective products available. Do some on-line
research or ask for organic options at your local hardware store. Pesticides are
linked to Asthma, Cancer, Behavior problems, Learning disabilities and
Reproductive disorders.
Step
2: Clean safely.
The chemicals in conventional cleaning products can cause a wide range of health
problems including respiratory irritation, chemical burns, and increased risk of
cancer. Most childhood poisonings are the result of common household cleaners.
Eliminate clutter, keep dirt out and use safer cleaning products that are safe,
non-toxic, and hypoallergenic and contain no VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds).
Shaklee’s
GetClean™
product line is perfect. Visit
http://www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/getclean/index for more info.
Step
3: Help Children Breathe Easier.
Children and adults spend 90% of their time indoors, and on a typical cleaning
day, the levels of chemicals toxins in the air can be hundreds of times higher
than the outdoor air in the most polluted city. The US EPA states, “Indoor air
pollution is one of the top four health risks facing the nation.” Using the
least toxic chemicals, opening windows for 5 minutes a day, growing non-toxic
plants, and using a vacuum with a HEPA filter and changing the bag often all
help. Also, a high-quality air purifier like the AirSource 3000®
(www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/55102)
will help keep impurities from the air in your home.
Step
4: Provide Healthy Food.
You all know the importance of a balanced diet and it’s even more critical for
our children. Provide organically grown foods as much as possible. Look for low
fat dairy and meat products and make your meals from scratch as much as
possible. Most prepared foods have numerous chemicals added as colorings,
flavorings and preservatives. During the growing years, this is even more
critical. Finally, to ensure that all nutritional requirements are met daily,
give your children a premium quality food supplement daily. Visit
www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20007 for one such product.
Step
5: Use plastic products wisely.
Chemicals in plastics have been linked to cancers, birth defects, poor nervous
development and hormone disruption. These elements can leak out of damaged
plastic containers during food storage or preparation, especially in the
microwave. Minimize plastic exposure to hot, oily or fatty foods, or look for
bio-based forms of plastic manufactured from things like corn. If you must use
plastic, look for ones numbered 1, 2, 4, or 5. You can find these markings in
the triangular recyclable symbol.
Each
one of us has the power to change things. No one can do everything, but everyone
can do something. The steps are simple and the results will protect our
children, our most valuable resource. Following these simple steps will
certainly provide for the health of our future.
Yours
in Good Health,
Cj
You can
contact me at
healthyone@gmail.com
To New Beginnings
− and Successful
Endings
It may be hard to believe, but it’s 2008
already! It seems like just yesterday that I was trying to decide whether or not
to retire, and that Dennis had asked me to start writing these articles, and
those events are 2 and 3 years ago respectively. I guess it’s true what they
say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.”
To begin
2008, I want to use this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy, healthy
and prosperous new year. As we go through 2008 we’ll focus on many of the
current wellness issues that face all of us. I have several in mind for the
upcoming months; however, if there are specific topics that you would like
covered, please drop me a note and let me know and I’ll do my best to work them
into this forum.
Last July I used my “prowess” with a
ladder to take us through some information on bone health. From that article you
may have deduced that I consider myself a “do-it-yourselfer” and really enjoy
putting those finishing touches on our new house that will turn it into our
“home.”
Shortly
before Thanksgiving I began the task of finishing off my “man cave.” Any of you
who have read the Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus books by John Gray
know that we “guys” need this place to recharge our batteries once in a while.
Well, for me, that space will be our basement. So downstairs I went, clipboard
and graph paper in hand and began the arduous task of planning my cave. I know
what you’re thinking, but don’t worry. With any luck I won’t need a ladder for
this effort so I should be safe. Should be!
I sketched,
drew, measured, planned, listed materials and costs, and did all the other
things that were necessary in the planning stages of a major project. While this
next part may sound a little crazy to you, I actually planned this backwards. In
other words, I had a “vision” of what the finished basement would look like long
before pencil ever touched paper. With that vision in mind, the location for the
pool table, where to put the bathroom, the bar, the TV, etc., I could locate the
walls and map out the floor for studs, electrical fixtures, pipes, lights and
all the other components of my cave.
What I
notice as I am working on this project, is the sense of comfort that I am
enjoying. Certainly having a good plan eliminates much of the stress of a major
project. That goes a long way to recharging those batteries I mentioned a minute
ago and that’s what this is all about. A critical area of wellness is our own
emotional wellness.
For me,
working on these household projects gives me that sense of accomplishment, helps
relieve any stress I may be feeling and, as I finish each project, gives me the
satisfaction on knowing I did it. Starting the project brings joy, completing it
provides satisfaction.
It is
important for each of us to find our joy wherever it is. Whether you choose
projects around the house as I do, or if you enjoy getting involved in a
community affair, some sport or hobby, go for it! You’ll feel much better for
it.
This
relates to what most of us are going through right now. As we start the new year
most of us do something that often causes more frustration than satisfaction,
and that is we make New Years resolutions. I started last year by offering some
suggestions on how to plan for success with your resolutions using the S.M.A.R.T.
goal planning method. You may want to reread that article, too. However, this
year a couple of other thoughts come to mind.
Just last
week I was reading an article in our local paper that indicated that the most
common New Year’s Resolutions were: 1) Lose weight, 2) Improve health, and 3)
Make more money. No surprises there and who can disagree with those goals? I’ll
be willing to bet that if you actually made a few resolutions that at least one
of these was on your list in some form. What inspired me about those goals was
that in my business, I have the ability to help people achieve all 3 of them.
These goals
also prove that, as a society, we are all quite focused on those issues that
really matter to each of us. Recent survey data proves that 66% of our
population is overweight and that 30% of us are clinically obese. If you look at
the money being spent on health care, medications, doctors and hospital visits
it’s clear we are not a very healthy society. And who couldn’t use an extra $500
or $1000 in our paychecks each week? Yeah, we know what’s going on, what’s wrong
and what we need, we simply don’t know how or we don’t have a plan to fix it,
and that’s where I want to help to start 2008.
So that’s
what this month is all about. If you’d like to have a successful end to your
battle of the bulge or some of your wellness challenges, and a successful start
to a more financially independent lifestyle, just contact me and we’ll get you
started. Let me help you experience the joy of getting started on the road to a
new you and satisfaction of fulfilling your goals.
Here’s to
your new beginnings and successful endings.
You can
contact me at
healthyone@gmail.com
Yours In
Good Health,
Cj
Ask Chuck a Question
Oh Those Winter
Blues
By Chuck Jumpeter
Print out this
article (pdf file)
Wow!
The year 2007 is almost over. I guess it is true what they say, “Time flies when
you’re having fun!” And I certainly had a great time again this year writing The
Health Awareness Forum and sharing this information.
During
2007 we covered a variety of topics. Two of the more prominent topics were
prompted by national news stories and focused on green living and weight
management. In January and April we focused on creating a “green” environment,
how to reduce our individual carbon footprints, and how to promote our good
health by eliminating toxins from our homes. February and June identified ways
in which we can achieve and maintain a healthy body weight even though our
country is facing an obesity epidemic. Once again, in October, my experience
during a radio interview with Amy Morris of Federal News Radio caused us to
focus on how to plan for all those upcoming holidays and not ending up as little
“plumpkins” in 2008.
In
March we learned how to prevent colorectal cancer and in July, thanks to my
falling off a ladder, we learned how to strengthen our skeletal system.
September
brought us some stunning information concerning supplementation. In a
first-of-its-kind, landmark study, we found out that not all dietary supplements
are alike. Thanks to Dr. Gladys Block from The University of California at
Berkley, we learned that taking Shaklee supplements significantly improves our
health compared to other brands or doing nothing at all. (Of course, this is
something that I have been professing for 27 years now). Finally, in November we
learned a little something about taking personal responsibility and saying Thank
You.
I
would encourage all of you to review these articles (www.federaljobs.net/retire)
and begin to implement the suggestions they contain. It’s never to late to
improve your health.
As we end this year and get ready for 2008, I want to spend a little time on
something that many of us feel but don’t really understand and that is, the
winter blues!
Did you know that the winter blues actually has a clinical name? Well, it does.
Some 15 years ago, Norman Rosenthal, M.D. at the National Institute of Health,
identified this seasonal depression as “Seasonal Affective Disorder” or SAD for
short. For many, SAD can be a serious disabling illness, which prevents them
from functioning normally without treatment. For others, it is a milder
condition causing discomfort and is referred to as sub-syndromal SAD, or more
commonly – the winter blues.
It seems that some 6% of us suffer from SAD while nearly 20% suffer from the
winter blues. Some of the symptoms are:
¨
A desire to oversleep and difficulty staying awake; disturbed sleep and early
morning wakening.
¨
Feeling fatigue and inability to carry out a normal routine.
¨
A craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods usually resulting in weight gain.
¨
Feelings of misery, guilt and loss of self-esteem, sometimes hopelessness and
despair.
¨
Irritability, tension, and a desire to avoid social contact.
¨
A decreased interest in sex and physical contact.
¨
And in some sufferers, hypomania (over-activity) in spring and autumn.
The exact cause is not known, but geography plays a significant role. It seems
that SAD is less common in areas where there is heavy snow and nearly
non-existent in those living within 30°
of the equator.
For more severe cases of SAD, one should seek medical help and may require
antidepressants. However, antidepressants are a very controversial subject
between conventional and naturopathic doctors. The side effects of these drugs
have been shown to be quite serious, with significant risks to health, including
addiction, breast cancer, and suicide.
Nutritional support, physical exercise, as well as regular social contact with
friends can help overcome seasonal depression and feeling “blue” naturally.
Nutrients can provide the biochemical building blocks that help maintain a
healthy emotional balance.
Some of the nutrients which have been identified as helping depression, both
seasonal and otherwise, are the B-vitamins which produce definite chemical
reactions on the nerve endings, thus affecting the neurotransmitters and
creating a profound effect on mental and emotional stability. Dr. Joseph Hibbeln
of the National Institutes of Health has shown that insufficient levels of
Omega-3’s has a direct link to depression. In other recent studies, Vitamin D
has also been shown to have a positive effect on resolving depression. And,
finally, regular exercise is as good for your mind as it is for your body. It
need not be long or grueling – repetitive physical exercise of any sort has been
shown to stimulate the release of mood improving neurotransmitters.
With the exception of exercise (you have to get off the sofa and do this all by
yourself!) all of the nutrients I mentioned can be obtained by using our daily
Vitalizerä
strips (www.shaklee.net/jumpeter/product/20246).
No guesswork, no side effects and clinically proven to improve your health. You
are already sitting at your computer reading this, so why not click on the link
and get started today?
Well that’s it for 2007. Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very
healthy, joyous, and fulfilling holiday season and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Yours in Good Health,
Cj
Ask Chuck a Question
(Chuck's
Supplements & Helpful Products)
