About Betsy Bell

2013Betsy skiingI blew out a disc in my lower back doing something stupid–lifting a heavy box from the back seat of a 2 door car.  You know what writhing in pain is?  I did not until then.  My massage therapist got me comfortable in bed and able to get to the car.  My chiropractor got me to a the top sports doc for the Husky foot ball team.  He said my bones were too bad to operate.  I’d better get my muscles strong or plan on a wheel chair in a few short years.  I was only 52 and had a lot of hiking, back packing, skiing, dancing left to do in my remaining years.

I was on a mission.  I found some products that helped me with muscle soreness, stamina, stress, weight stability, and energy.  I spent 6 months with a Feldenkrais practitioner who taught my small muscles to move in ways that brought me back to toodler-age ease.  I studied with a private pilates instructor who taught me to increase my core strength.

When I had another set of MRI x-rays taken in 2004, the same sports doctor said, “Betsy, if I didn’t know you, I’d think you should be in a wheel chair.  Your bones are bad.”

Today at 77, I cross country ski, I dance, I walk and do stairs in my West Seattle neighborhood everyday.  In the fall, summer and spring, I hike miles climbing high.

Some of us need all the help we can get from the natural food and supplement world.  I am one of those people.  A lot of my buddies don’t take all the supplements I do.  They don’t seem to need them.  I’m just glad I found a company whose products give me stamina and good health.  I love them and want to share my good fortune with anyone who has the same situation:  troubling health conditions and a desire to learn how diet and supplements can make a difference.

If you want to know stuff like where I was born and went to school, read on….

I was born in NY City, moved around a lot during WWII at the end of which my family     moved to Oklahoma where I spent the formative junior and high school years.  I attended

Bryn Mawr College, graduated in 1959 and took a master degree in Spanish Literature in 1963. I taught Spanish at the college level during the years my husband and I lived in Lawrence, KS.  During those years I also gave birth to our four daughters.  The Spanish language career came to an end when the family moved to Seattle in 1969.

I spent the next several years floundering around taking several positions that were fun, challenging and earned me just enough money to make a contribution to the family.  None of them satisfied me.  I landed in this direct selling business because of my health.

I have to tell you up front that I am not a dietician or a nutritionist.  What I have to share comes out of a resolve I made as I went into the operating room to have a cancerous breast removed at the age of 34 when my four little girls were 4, 6, 8 and 10. In fact the mastectomy happened on my oldest daughter’s 10th birthday way back in 1971.  I have ranted, read, researched whatever I could get my hands on to understand, to find reasons that made sense for being diagnosed with cancer at such a young age.  I am convinced that, in spite of genetic variants and family health histories, many of us can shape our present and future health.

Fifteen years after losing my breast and making lots of dietary and fitness changes, I was still not a well person. I suffered from head aches, frequent sinus infections, colds that developed into strep or bronchitis.  My hair was thinning.  I didn’t sleep well but fell asleep any time I sat down for longer than 30 minutes — including concerts, plays and lectures I really wanted to hear.

Then one day I met a woman who introduced me to the Shaklee company and its products for the home and for the body, designed as close to nature as scientifically possible.  I earned an A+ from her when she questioned my diet and exercise routine.  “Maybe”, she suggested, “I wasn’t getting enough nutrition and needed to supplement.”  What a concept. I started on Shaklee’s basic program and my health improved dramatically in a month’s time.

She showed me how by sharing these amazing benefits with my friends, I could get out of a job I hated and into the freedom from illness and from financial worry that I longed for.  My Shaklee business is the best retirement business I can imagine.  It would have been perfect if I had found it when I was eager to re-enter the work force as my youngest daughter entered kindergarten. I was searching for a way to engage my creativity, my passion for healing our planet, and my love of teaching and helping people get what they want out of life.  Shaklee’s Dream Plan would have been perfect for me then.  It was another 15 years before I found it.  It could be perfect for you right now. To see how the Shaklee business works, click here.

If you are looking for better health the natural way, and/or a way to contribute to the health of the planet and the wealth of your family, you’ve landed in the right place.

I have out lived two husbands, have an active life engaging with fifteen of my grandchildren and their parents as often as possible.  I love taking trips with my grandchildren when each turns twelve. We have traveled to such exotic places as the Amazon jungle, the Galapagos, Mexico City, Ireland, Paris, Montreal and Quebec, Washington DC, the Florida Everglades and Cape Canaveral, Scotland and London, New York City and Phoenix for the Mariner’s Spring Training. I recently hiked the Engadine Valley in the southeast part of Switzerland covering 50 miles in 6 days.  My hiking companions were two other gals who turned 75 along with me this year (2012) and an 83 year old friend.  This spring I’ll travel to New York City with a granddaughter. I have two more grandchildren with whom to plan and travel in the next three years.

I also play the flute and am an active social justice leader in the community and Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral.  I am a writer working on my memoirs, an avid gardener, hiker, skier and walker.  Shaklee has made this life style possible and given me the health to enjoy it.  I invite you to join me and reap the all the benefits you dream about.

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