Month: November 2013

Is it just me, or are food prices on the rise, and getting a little out of hand? How about you, have you noticed any increase in the cost of food lately?

In an effort to get a handle on this, I decided to do a little research. However, I must admit, this wasn’t something I thought about too much until I saw my friend’s emergency foods web site. I have seen prices go up little by little, but I never actually realized how much those small increments can add up. Have you?

I’ve been seeing, and reading, more and more articles (maybe I’m just a little more attentive now) about food prices. I mentioned one yesterday by the World Bank that said the prices are at “dangerous levels.” Today, I read an article posted on moneynews.com titled, Experts: No Limit for Soaring Food Prices.

According to that article, “Food prices rose 3.9 percent last month, the most since November 1974. Most of the increase was because harsh winter freezes in Florida, Texas and other Southern states, which damaged crops.”[1] This past winter is just another unforeseen disaster, like tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes that can cause the price of food to rise. It’s also the reason why we should have an emergency food supply.

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t have enough food in your house to last more than a week. What’s in your pantry and cupboards? Do you have enough food to feed your family if a disaster hits, or if you loose your job? What if the food prices get too high and you can’t afford quality nutritious food, what will you do?

Back in November 2010, Glenn Beck, while talking about the U.S. economic problems, said “food prices will rise 700% to 1000% or more in 2011.”[2] Is that the truth? Are we headed in that direction? Well, all you have to do is visit your local supermarket to see how much prices have gone up since last November. If you don’t remember what the cost of milk was back then, how about last month?

Whether you believe what Mr. Beck says or not, we are headed in the wrong direction when it comes to food prices, gasoline prices, and the unemployment rate. When unemployment hits, or gas prices get too high, you can still survive. But how long can you survive without food? I submit to you that food is the most important commodity you need. How’s your emergency food supply?

I’ve been to the store, and I’ve seen the prices go up. I believe we are headed for some tough time in the next few years. I believe that people will be begging for food. And I believe the store shelves will start to become less populated.

I’m not a prophet, or nay-sayer. However, to do believe what I was taught when I was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, and that would be the scout motto, “Be Prepared.” We cannot predict what lies ahead, but we can be prepared. Preparedness can even start with watching and tracking food prices. I believe that you will see a significant change, and maybe it will be that change that will get you to take action.

If you’re struggling to make ends meet, maybe it’s time to look into ways of making some extra money. I’ve found 2 companies that off great compensation plans, with great product lines, that may help you earn that extra cash. If you’d like to learn more how you can fight the high food costs, please contact me, or click on one of the links below to learn more.

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Resources:
[1] http://www.moneynews.com/Headline/Economy/2011/03/17/id/389743?s=al&promo_code=BE1B-1
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_VFGMnpKo

What Triggers Inflammation?

First off, we have to understand inflammation. So, we have to answer the question, what is inflammation? According to my research, “Inflammation is a process by which the body’s white blood cells and chemicals protect us from infection and foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses.” So what triggers inflammation, or  what are the triggers of inflammation? Form what I have found, there are four basic triggers; trauma, deficiency, stress, and toxins. We’ll take a look at each of the four basic triggers, and then look at how we can deal with inflammation.

When we mention the word “trauma”, the first thing that probably comes to mind is an accident which causes some sort of serious or critical bodily injury. Trauma is typically associated with pain and suffering as a direct result of that injury. Even though most inflammation causes pain and/or suffering, inflammation can be a good thing, because inflammation is a natural part of the healing process. As a matter of fact, “without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal.”

Our bodily cells are alive. They are called the “building block of life”, by many scientists. Cells are constantly changing, and they are directly affected by everything we do. They grow or change according to the foods we eat. Starving (deficiency) our cells of the proper vitamins, minerals, and nutrients causes our cells to become inefficient, even to the point where they break down. Thus deficiencies can and do happen, weakening the cells causing a chain reaction within our body, ultimately triggering inflammation.

Emotional stress can also cause inflammation. It’s been noted that in stressful situations our brain releases chemicals, stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), that trigger the release of many inflammatory processes.
Because of the widespread damage stress can cause, like inflammation, it’s important to know your own limit. However, how much stress is “too much” differs from person to person. Many individuals can roll with the punches, while others fall apart at the slightest sign of frustration.

Research points to the fact that we live in a toxic world, and that our bodies are swimming in toxins. Toxins are every where you turn. They are in every breath we take and the food that we eat. It’s been noted that some foods are contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals.

I’ve even read that foods that carry toxic compounds “can cause the body to hold on to extra pounds by starting an immune reaction that causes inflammation.” Toxins created inside and outside our bodies are seemingly unescapable, which leads us to believe that there is no escape from inflammation producing poison.

Our bodies are truly amazing as it can respond to trauma, deficiency, stress and toxins with inflammation. As mentioned, inflammation is the bodies natural healing process, but where it all goes wrong is with runaway (chronic) inflammation wherein the body can’t shut it down causing auto immune, and many other, diseases.

So how do we keep inflammation in check? Some suggest that we should learn to become a partner with our bodies. We need to watch for the signs that can trigger inflammation. We should also reduce basic nutrient deficiencies by eating healthier foods and taking quality supplements. One aggressive inflammation fighter is found in the nutrient called Betalains, an ingredient in some inflammation fighting supplements.

According to health experts, we need to walk, run, stretch, and become more active. Activity and/or exercise in any form keeps your mind alert, blood flowing, and muscles moving. We also need to ease our emotional stress and learn how to relax. Anything we can do to help fight off the triggers that cause inflammation will help us live longer and healthier lives.

Jeffrey Sloe
TriVita Independent Business Owner, 12871028
Visit My TriVita Business Site

The above information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

As the cold and flu season is upon us, it’s time to talk about its causes, and how we can protection our selves from having it effect our lives. Although it’s something we cannot control, I believe there are measures we can take to decrease the impact the flu may have on our bodies.

I for one have always suggested preventative medicine as being the best medicine, like taking vitamin C at the first signs of the change in weather, if you’re not taking it all year ’round. I’m also a huge proponent of a taking a daily multiple vitamin, something I have done ever since I could remember. I’m also a big advocate about the proper amount of sleep. The three items listed above, vitamin C, multiple vitamins, and sleep, I believe, can go a long way in protecting you from not only the flu, but other diseases as well.

Since I’m not a medical doctor or science professor, I’ll leave the explanation of the proper way to protect your self from the flu up to TriVita’s Chief Science Officer, Brazos Minshew.

Important Health News – Protect Yourself from the Flu
by Brazos Minshew, TriVita’s Chief Science Officer

About this time of year many people ask me what they can do to prevent the flu or minimize its impact. That has never seemed more relevant than today; so, I will address this with the best science we have available today. I say “today’s best science” because we simply don’t know everything we need to know about preventing and treating the flu. And we need to remember that not all that long ago “current science” said that the earth was flat and diseases were caused by evils spells or dead ancestors.

Many people never get the flu – no matter which strain we are talking about. Do you? When you get the flu, are your symptoms severe? Are there high-risk people living with you? Then your preference for or against preventive measures must take them into consideration. (What if you got it and survived but transmitted it to them and they died? How would you feel?) In any case, 35,000-40,000 people in North America die of the flu each year. It is estimated that this number will double with H1N1.

Flu protection

There are three pathways you need to focus on with flu protection – any variety:

• Transmission
• Infection
• Inflammation

Inflammation

We will begin at the ending: Inflammation from the immune system that incapacitates – even kills – people when they have the flu. MOST IMPORTANT: The flu kills people not by transmission or by infection, but by an inflammatory immune system response called the “cytokine storm.”

Our immune system is designed to neutralize and excrete any non-self protein it finds. That includes the influenza virus. The size of the immune response needs to be equivalent to the strength of the invader.

Think of this as a building on fire: small fires are extinguished by local fire fighters. Some fires are so big that fire fighters from other departments have to be called in to help. So, fires are designated as “one-alarm,” “two-alarm,” “three-alarm,” and so on. At a certain point, our immune system pulls all of the alarms and immune system fractions from all over our body rush to put out the fire, so to speak. However, this is a case of fighting fire with fire. Cytokines are inflammatory. They kill viruses and bacteria by creating inflammation.

The cytokine storm is responsible for all of the symptoms we feel: fever, body aches, nausea, diarrhea, etc. It is also responsible for filling the lungs with mucous (pneumonia/pneumonitis) which is often the fatal trigger in influenza, SARS, Hanta virus, bubonic plague, etc.

To survive we must modulate the cytokine storm so that it does its job but doesn’t overwork and kill us. We make it work smarter, not harder. So we don’t use Vitamin C or Echinacea or anything that “boosts” the immune system. We use immune system modulators so we get exactly the right response. Quercetin, green tea polyphenols and ginseng (Panax and Eleutherococcus) all help balance the body’s immune system and decrease the cytokine storm.

Infection

Prior to the cytokine storm is the infection stage of influenza. The virus infects the cell by matching a cell receptor called Hemagglutinin. Hemagglutinin (the “H” in H1N1) allows the virus to gain entry to the cell and mutate the cell DNA so it can breed an infection. It also allows the newly mutated DNA to be incorporated into surrounding cells and through cell lines. Hemagglutinin describes “infection” with the flu. Two powerful natural bulwarks of Hemagglutinin are green tea polyphenols and ginseng (Panax and Eleutherococcus) found in some B-12 supplements.

Transmission

Neuraminidase describes “transmission” of the flu where the virus disarms the immune system with an enzyme. This is the “N” in H1N1, H5N1. Neuraminidase inhibitors like Tamiflu limit the ability of the virus to transmit its DNA strands. Two strong natural Neuraminidase protectors are green tea polyphenols and quercetin. It is likely that green tea polyphenols and quercetin will help your body do what it does best: resist infection. Think of them as the first line of defense to arm your immune system and help protect against the flu virus from disarming it. *** End of Article ***

If inflammation and the flu are related, to me, preventative medicine makes more sense, and if vitamin C and/or multiple vitamins, can do one-half of what has been scientifically proven, I believe many people will be protected from the flu, not to mention living healthier and more active lives.

The flu can be extremely dangerous to your health. However, I believe, like so many others, that inflammation may even be more dangerous, because it is related, or the leading cause of so many diseases. And if we can continue to fight inflammation I believe we can all live longer and healthier lives.

Find all of the great supplements listed in the article above by going to My TriVita Business Site.

Jeffrey Sloe
TriVita Independent Business Owner, 12871028
Visit My TriVita Business Site

The above information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.