Category Archives: Be Well health tips

Betsy’s Boosts for wellness

Gifts for health

Gift Ideas for a Healthy Life

Here is a suggestion list of beautiful ways to remember someone’s birthday, anniversary, special achievement or goal with a simple gift for a healthy life.  Your friends and family will know how much you care when you give one of these gifts for health.

TO SLIP IN WITH A CARD

*180 Pomegranate Tea Stick(s) with a Girardelli Chocolate Square with a little note to “enjoy this gift of energy” and to “remember to enjoy all antioxidants all year-long.”

*Energy Chew(s) with a little note to “enjoy the energizing treat of Olympians.”

*180 Drink Mix Packet with a little note “a gift of healthy fast food this busy season.”

 

FOR GUYS

*Performance Sports Drink (Orange or Lemon-Lime), 180 Snack Barsand Joint & Muscle Pain Cream along with a sports bottle, football, soccer ball, a signed ball or signed photograph.

*180 Snack Crisps (Sea Salt or Barbecue or both) in a basket circled with ribbon along with some movies or a subscription to NetFlix, etc.

*Basic-H2 with a sponge in a bucket filled with car magazines.  Add Scour Off Paste for the tires and tough spots.

*ENFUSELLE Sun Screen, Performance Sports Drink (Orange or Lemon-Lime), and ENERGY CHEWS with golf stuff, ball, gym bag, etc.

*180 Meal Bars with brochures for hiking trails, bike routes, fishing holes, etc.

 

FOR GALS

*ENFUSELLE Anti-Aging Skin Care collection with a lighted makeup mirror.

*Cocoa Meal Shake or 180 Chocolate Shake Mix Canister or Packets for healthy hot chocolate snacks along with a warm hat, scarf, and gloves.

*Herbal Blend Multi-Purpose Cream with some nice slippers and/or cute designer sox.  Include a note about how the cream soothes sore tootsies year round.  You can even refrigerate it to cool feet in summer.

*MB Cleansing Bar and Hand & Body Lotion wrapped with a pretty ceramic soap dish and colorful bath accessories.

*ENFUSELLE Infusing Mineral Masque and Skin Polisher with a silky robe, one in each pocket.

*ENFUSELLE C+E Repair in a chic black matte cosmetic clutch with a designer mirror.

*ENFUSELLE AM Repair with a beautiful scarf in a gold organza bag.

 

FOR NEIGHBORS, COWORKERS

*Cocoa Energizing Soy Protein with the recipe for cocoa soy-peanut butter “energy balls” and a festive container full of them.  Or Instant Protein with a container of fruit or chocolate dessert bars made with it and the recipes.

*Travel Bag filled with ENFUSELLE Products along with travel magazines and/or a video of a fun destination.

*Chewable C and/or ENERGY CHEWS in a beautiful candy dish wrapped with a big bow.

*Instant Protein Soy Mix with pumpkin bread or cranberry/orange bread you’ve made, using it as an ingredient, along with the recipe.

*180 Tea with a cute teapot and tea cozy or 180 Cafe latte with cool coffee mugs.

 

STOCKING STUFFERS

*MB Cleansing Bar sewn into satin material and decorated as a drawer sachet, or wrapped in a pretty handkerchief tied with a velvet ribbon.

*Joint & Muscle Pain Cream with a tag wishing them many nights of perfect sleep!

*Toffee & Chocolate Crunch Snack Bar wrapped with a ribbon.

 

FOR YOUNG PARENTS AND KIDS

*Basic-H2 Organic Super Cleaning Wipes and Germ Off Wipes with some fun tub toys, or a set of baby clothes, blanket, etc.  (Include info why these products are safer for baby and the whole family.)

germicidal wipes
germicidal wipes

*MIGHTY SMART “Smart Candy” with books and fun pens for a grade schooler.

*Vita-Lea, Meal Shake and a SHAKLEE Shaker with a fun wake-up alarm clock.

 

FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS

*180 Snack Bars wrapped in a see-through colorful net and tied with ribbon

*ENFUSELLE Shower Gel, ENFUSELLE Hand & Body Lotion, and Bath Sponge in a pretty shower caddy or with a set of monogrammed towels.

*Basic-H2 Sample rolled in the sheet called “How to Use This Little Bottle of Basic-H2,” tied at each end with festive ribbon with a card that says, “My gift to you is a gift to the Earth, too!  Enjoy!”

*Chewy Apple Cinnamon Bars with some polished apples in a festive box or basket.

 

FOR MOM, GRANDMOM, AUNTS

*Joint & Muscle Pain Relief Cream with a microwaveable comfort pillow.

*180 Tea with a cookbook of decadent gluten-free desserts.

*ENFUSELLE Firming Serum with a pretty scarf, or jewelry, or designer shades.

*180 Snack Crisps (Sea Salt or Barbecue or both) in a basket circled with ribbon along with gourmet soup makings and a cookbook.

*Get Clean Pitcher (possibly with a year’s supply of filters) with a set of fashionable drinking glasses, ice trays, fresh lemons.

*CorEnergy and B-Complex with boxes of various kinds of teas and a mug.

*Instant Protein Soy Mix with recipes for fish batter, muffins, etc.

*Instant Protein Soy Mix with recipes and colorful baking pans and utensils.

*Menopause Balance Complex with a box of chocolates.

 

FOR DAD, GRANDDAD, UNCLES

*A bottle of VIVIX with a bow and a nice calendar with a message about having a “youthful” year.

*Vitalizer with a picture of the kids or grandkids or great grandkids.  And add ENERGY CHEWS with a gift of gym membership.

*Herbal Blend Multi-Purpose Cream with some nice slippers.  Include a note about how the cream soothes sore tootsies year round–refrigerate it to cool in summer.

*NUTRIFERON with ear muffs and HAND & BODY LOTION.

 

UNIQUE GIFTS

*Stress Relief Complex with tickets to something fun for “stress relief” or add VITALIZER with a map and a shaving kit or cosmetic bag for traveling.

*EZGEST and Stomach Soothing Complex with a coupon for a supply of ice cream for someone who usually can’t eat it…or with a coupon for dinner out at a restaurant known for 4 Alarm chili, or Mexican food, or spicy Indian cuisine, etc.

*SHAKLEE Sun Screen SPF 30 with sun hat, ball cap, sunglasses, or picnic basket.

*180 Turnaround Kit or Lean & Healthy Kit to start the new year right, along with a funky calendar, and a coupon for a shopping spree for clothes in 90 days.

*Orange and Lemon-Lime Performance Drink Canisters with a walking audio like Dr. Weil’s.  (Remember that mixing the two flavors gives you a tropical flavor!)

*Ultra Moisturizing Shea Butter Cream with gift of a massage.

*Fresh Laundry Concentrate Soft Fabric Concentrate with some luxurious towels.

*Performance with gardening things like a hat, cotton gloves, and/or kneeling pad.  You could add Joint & Muscle Pain Cream, and Basic-H2 as a safe bug repellant, an invisible glove, as fertilizer, and more.

*PHYSIQUE Recovery Drink and Joint Health Complex with a jump rope or exercise DVD for someone making new year resolutions.

*ProSanté Hair Care System with a really nice brush and hair things, along with info about how hair will stop falling out.

*SHAKLEE First Aid Kit or SHAKLEE “Non-Medicine” Cabinet in a pretty basket. Choose any combination of the following…or the Packages below.

 

FROM THE ALPHABETICAL TABLES BELOW, CREATE:

 A COLDS & FLU PACKAGE (about $239) Alfalfa, Defend & Resist, Extra Vita-Lea without Iron, Garlic, GERM OFF Wipes, Liqui-Lea, Optiflora Pro-biotic, Performance Lemon Lime, Performance Orange, Vita-C Chewable, Vita-C Tablet, Vitamin D3, Zinc.

Alfalfa Complex
Defend & Resist
Extra Vita-Lea without Iron
EZGest
Garlic
Gentle Sleep Complex
GERM OFF Wipes
Herb-Lax
Joint & Muscle Pain Relief Cream
Vita Lea Plus Iron
Multi-Purpose Cream
Nutriferon
OPTIFLORA Pre- and Pro-biotic
Pain Relief Complex
Performance Lemon/Lime
Performance Orange
PHYSIQUE
Stomach Soothing Complex
Vita-C Chewable
Vita-C Tablet
Vitamin D3
Zinc

AN ACHEY BREAKY EMERGENCY PACKAGE (about $265) EZGest, Gentle Sleep Complex, GERM OFF Wipes, Herb-Lax, Joint & Muscle Pain Cream, Joint Health Complex, Multi-Purpose Cream, Pain Relief Complex, Performance Lemon Lime, Performance Orange, PHYSIQUE, Stomach Soothing Complex, Vitamin D3, Zinc.

Feel good about the gift you give when you give a gift for health.

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Digestion: Key to health

Gentle Reader,

Here we are in a New Year.  I hear murmuring around me about changes in eating, in exercise, in work habits.  People everywhere seek balance in their lives, which seem to be uncontrollably hectic.  We interrupt ourselves and forget what we hoped to accomplish in the next hour.  There is no peace.

This time of year solutions abound.  Your favorite person on Facebook asks everyone to comment on their resolutions and past successes.  The radio and TV, pod casts and news articles have the answer if you would just listen, please.  Of course, I am going to recommend a better diet, one with supplements.  Ha! It just could be that digestion is the key to health.

Years ago I learned a very important lesson that relaxed my need to save the world all by myself.  Food, diet and nutrition are one small part of the total health picture. A wise woman, Angela Arriens, lectured on the 8 common threads across all cultures that lead to a health filled life.  As a cross-cultural anthropologist, she knew what she was talking about from years of research.

It turns out that our diet per se is only one/eighth of the picture.  Other factors–exercise, spiritual practice, friends and relationships, music and color (art), and deep rest are the aspects I remember to this day, 24 years after hearing her speak.  What a relief to know what a small part I might play in advising someone’s health picture.  My supplement program is not the key ingredient to a healthy life, just one aspect.

Having said that, I want to suggest that digestion is a key to health, one of the most important aspects of nourishing our bodies.  We can eat whole foods and never contaminate our bodies with junk food, but if we don’t have a functional digestive system, we may still miss the nutrients we need.  If you struggle with acid reflux or bloating and gas after eating, perhaps your digestive system needs some fine-tuning.  If you suffer from arthritis, joint pain, or are developing spinal stenosis and osteoporosis, it could be that your nutrients are not doing their job in the body.

Goal of Digestion

Take whole foods and turn them into energy and nutrients to allow the body to function, grow, and repair itself. When we swallow food we have chewed in the mouth, the esophagus carries the mass to the stomach.  The first potential problem is the esophageal sphincter, or trap door that opens to let the slurry of food pass into the relaxed upper stomach.   If the food is well-chewed, broken down evenly, the weight will easily open the trap door and the mass will pass into the stomach, letting the sphincter close behind it.

Chew your food well to aid this process.

Problems occur when we swallow chunks of food and the sphincter explodes open to let the material pass.  Gas results.  Flow back of acid results.  In time, the sphincter wears out and doesn’t close firmly or quickly.

In the stomach, an acid excretion further breaks down the food into the nutrients that can be absorbed by the tiny cilla in the small intestine.  The stomach must be acidic to do this job or food continues down the digestive track un-dissolved and its nutrients are not absorbed.

When people feel discomfort from the escaping acidity up the esophagus into the mouth, called heart burn or acid reflux, the go-to remedy is an antacid.  This might give a feeling of relief but the nutrients that need to be broken down into their absorbable components remain unavailable to our system.  Antacids neutralize the acid the stomach provides to break down food.

Ideally, the stomach breaks down proteins.  When this is not functioning as designed, a better intervention is to increase the stomach acid by drinking warm water and lemon juice first thing in the morning.  Not coffee.  And chew, chew, chew until the slurry that drops to the esophageal sphincter gently pushes the trap door open.

If there are foods that are hard for you to digest like dairy or refined carbohydrates (cookies, crackers, breads, cakes), the cruciferous foods—broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or legumes—beans, you might need digestive enzymes to hit the stomach first thing before a meal to help break those things down.  (This is where Shaklee’s EzGest comes in handy,  Take one before each meal.)

Most of us do not feel the peristalsis—muscle action of the small intestine as the slurry passes on down.  When functioning normally, the digestive acids in the intestines break down starches, proteins and carbohydrates.  Nutrients are absorbed into the body all along this passage as they become dissolved.  Certain vitamins like the 8 different B vitamins become absorbed in specific areas of the intestines whether the B’s come from foods or supplements.  When not functioning normally, we feel gas and bloating moving down the intestinal track, often producing pain and even severe discomfort.

Finally, the pancreas introduces pancreatic acid to break down starches, fats and protein and the liver produces bile acid to further break down fats.

Alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream from the stomach.  (Eating grapes and other high sugar content foods seems to have the same quick absorption rate for me, but I know there has to be some breakdown beyond the stomach acids.  Still the same rush alcohol brings happens with these high sugar foods.)

The most common drugs prescribed by the medical profession and purchased over the counter are meant to correct mal-functions in this digestive process.  They often eliminate the discomfort that occurs when the acids do not stay where they belong but they weaken  natural digestion.  It is possible to return your digestive system to a drug-free, comfortable state.  It takes changing your eating habits.  Since digestion is the key to health, you’ll be glad you did.

These supplements help:

Ez-Gest digestive enzymes

Optiflora pre- and probiotics  for maintaining a healthy digestive balance  Healthy bacteria

Herb Lax for constipation and blood cleansing  Healthy colon

Fiber Advantage Bars, and Fiber Tablets  Promote colon health and regularity

Changing your digestive process may be the key to losing weight along with the other benefits.  Many of us take on the goal of getting to our healthy weight by summer time.  The Shaklee 180 Turnaround is an excellent program to help you on your way.  It could be that dealing with the digestive issues will make all the difference.

Remember, just losing 10 pounds will ease up on those aching joints, the arthritis in your knees, hips and feet.  Could better digestion help?  Didn’t we say that digestion is the key to health?

Let us know your solutions to the struggles you have with digestion.

Be well, do well and Keep Moving,

Love,

Betsy

Betsy Bell’s Health4u

206 933 1889

betsy@hihohealth.com

 

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Vitamins are no damn good. Is it true?

Gentle Reader,

Even on the beach in Nuevo Vallarta, news filtered down that, once again, some gurus warn us that vitamins are no damn good.  How does that news make you feel?  Like a fool for spending all that money on worthless pills?  Here you have been trying to avoid the chronic diseases of life-style so many Americans develop in their late 50s and 60s, and you are told that multi you have been taking will not do the job.  My vitamins should protect me from cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or else.  Is it true?  Absolutely.  Otherwise why would I be taking all these pills?

Dr. Jamie McManus, medical director at Shaklee, asks us to take the 30,000 mile high view.  Vitamins are meant to supplement a diet that does not provide optimal nutrition.  They are not intended to substitute for a healthy diet rich in vegetables, lean protein and fresh fruit. Ninety-seven percent of us do not get adequate nutrition every day.  Vitamin supplements help bridge that gap.

So what do these three studies in the Annals of Internal Medicine say about preventing chronic disease?

Perhaps we should be begin by questioning the premise of the studies: that multivitamins can prevent chronic disease.  Do you believe you take your vitamins for that express purpose and leave everything else to chance?

Dr. McManus says “Prevention of any disease is a multi-factorial process that has to include diet, weight management, and lifestyle. To expect to see disease prevention accomplished by virtue of taking a daily multivitamin is a flawed premise. So, why are these large-scale (and very expensive) studies undertaken? It is simply the model of research that scientists and physicians understand – studying a single drug to determine what effect it may have on a single disease. Studying nutrition is far more complex.

These studies were conducted the way scientists study specific drugs.  Let us question that approach.

While a drug has a primary effect (usually something positive), they also have a myriad of side effects (which are usually negative and even life threatening). Every year pharmaceuticals are removed from the market because of these serious side effects. A study published in JAMA in 1998 showed that as many as 125,000 Americans die each year of properly prescribed pharmaceuticals – wow! When was the last time a vitamin was removed from the market?

Have you ever played around with stopping your vitamin intake for a week or so and then going back to them?  Could you tell the difference in how you felt with and without the supplementary nutrition?

Vitamins and minerals all have multiple positive functional roles to play in our bodies – which is why so many Americans pop a multi each day. People simply feel better when they take a multi because they are filling in those all too common nutrition gaps.

All three of these studies showed that multivitamins have an excellent safety profile. Well, of course they do! The only “potential harm” that continues to be mentioned every time we have a study such as this published is the slight increased risk of lung cancer in smokers who took beta carotene. My response to that is – smokers: stop smoking!

Let me quickly summarize these studies. The largest one is another report from the Physician Health Study – previous publications of data from this large government funded study did show an association of reduced cancer associated with multivitamin usage.

The next study looked at cognitive decline in physicians – who are at the upper end of the intelligence scale and pretty well nourished. Showing a significant change in cognitive decline in this population is going to take some intervention beyond a multi – as this population is most likely doing lots of the right things to protect their brain function.  

In other words, the presence or absence of a multivitamin can not be the deciding factor in declining brain function.

The third study tried to show that higher doses of specific vitamins decrease the likelihood of a second heart attack in folks who have already had a heart attack. Hmmm. Maybe we should look at weight reduction, cholesterol, blood pressure lowering, and blood sugar management as opposed to putting the burden of prevention of a second heart attack in someone with heart disease on vitamins!

I have been recommending a multivitamin (and beyond) to my patients, and consumers in general, for my entire 30 years as a physician – and nothing in these studies changes my mind. The statistics on inadequacies in our American diet are clear – most everyone is deficient in multiple nutrients. Here at Shaklee, we have the Landmark Study, published in the journal Nutrition in 2007 that showed a nice correlation of better health with multiple supplement usage, starting with a multivitamin. We have over 100 published studies that validate the connection of nutrition and health. I urge you to continue taking your Shaklee supplements – but also, to remember the importance of eating healthfully, avoiding fast foods, and getting to a healthy weight on your journey to better health.  Dr Jamie McManus.

I couldn’t agree more.  The turnaround to Vitamins are no damn good could be vitamins are good.  Another could be my vitamins are not supposed to prevent cancer, heart disease or diabetes.  I prevent these diseases as best I can through my life-style choices.  My vitamins help.  I may develop these diseases anyway, no matter what I do to avoid them.  What is more true for you?

I wish you good health and happy consumption of the healthiest diet you can muster in any given day, supplemented by the vitamins that fill in the gaps.  I wish you success in finding your healthy weight, your top level of fitness, your most peaceful spiritual happiness, satisfying work and family relations.  If you have questions about a supplement and diet program to help you achieve these prevention goals, I’d be honored to help.  The New Year is upon us.  A good time to begin.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

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Alternative cures

Are you a seeker of cures?  Alternative cures?

I have a friend who is a seeker of alternative cures.  She has studied the back story of her blood and skin and their reaction to the environment and foods.  She knows she has a bad reaction to anything with sulfur in it.  A doctor had prescribed a medicine with a form of sulfur.  An over-the-counter supplement someone recommended had a form of sulfur in it.  Both gave her the negative reaction she feared.  It turns out nature’s bounty is full of plants with sulfur.  However, some forms are benign while others are active.  This girl knows these things and as I read the label of a product she was interested it, we both discovered the Shaklee scientists had included a form that was not active or harmful.

Even as I open the document with the ingredients, she lets out a happy sigh, “Thats perfect.  I think I’ll try some.”  She is rattling everything in the kitchen as we speak.  I can picture the lake with all its homes and docks out side her sweeping picture windows, a mist rising off the still water.  She is probably putting away the groceries, unpacking one cloth bag after another.

My friend is beautiful, a cosmotologist with a tiny waist and perfect features.  She is a mother of grown teenagers and she has taken great care to raise her children on an organic diet, helping them recognize the consequences to their health of poor eating .  Her own mother raised her on Shaklee supplements.  She remembers rebelling against “so many pills”.  For year she didn’t take any vitamins, but her yearning for knowledge led her to seek alternative products and procedures.  She has taken lots of Shaklee over the years, cycled away from “so many pills,” again and just recently came back.  The search for pure products, ones made from the part of the plant that will react well in the body brings her back again and again to Shaklee.

I am so happy to have found a product line with a solid scientific foundation. Products that work every time. Products that are safe. Products that are cost effective.  My task is never to argue or persuade, only to present information that is true and reliable.  You decide.

If you are the sort of person who seeks to both prevent illness and to heal yourself with alternative cures, I’d love to explore the possibilities with you.  Results vary and not every vitamin or herbal supplement works for every person the same way, just like in medicine.  Let’s talk.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

 

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Gifts for arthritis

Gentle Reader,

Who do you know who suffers from sore, painful knees, hips, fingers or shoulders?  You love this person who has arthritis and you are going to go shopping to buy them something for Christmas.  Why not combine a cozy lap blanket with an herbal pain reliever and a deep-tissue cream that could bring comfort as well as warmth?

I’m not a shopper so I was stunned Wed. night when a friend and I went to a movie in Seattle’s endless mall area with a big AMC.  We were thinking the parking would be easier.  Whoa! People are out shopping already—in droves and into the night.  In this blog, I’m inviting you to shop.  ‘Tis the season, right?

You might appreciate choosing gifts that bring better health to those you care about.  This is an invitation to shop for health.  Bring meaning to every purchase.

Have you watched Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff?  Take a minute to watch before piling up a mound and consider the necessity of each purchase and how it got to the store and what the received is going to do with that gift later.

I make an argument for buying a Shaklee product over something else because I believe in the company’s philosophy of living in harmony with nature in every aspect of their corporate life.  In the end, stuff is stuff, and all the great suggestions I have for you about things you can add to a Shaklee product to make a sweet, health enhancing gift still accumulates stuff.  It is tricky being a fierce environmentalist and a sales person of goods I love and buy myself.

So, having suggested you buy nothing this Christmas here goes my suggestions for what to buy for someone who has been complaining of arthritis.  After all, I know you and I are going to buy some stuff anyway.

Joint & Muscle Pain Relief Cream with a microwaveable comfort pillow.

Pain Relief Complex and Physique After Workout Recovery Drink with Peggy Cappy’s DVD “Easy Yoga for the Rest of Us” especially for arthritis.  Add a yoga mat to make this gift special.

Joint Health Complex and Peggy Cappy’s CD meditation for back health.   I listen to this CD nearly every night and I’m convinced her quiet words have helped heal the arthritis in my lower back.  You can add an orthopedic pillow.  This is the one I have used for the last 15 years and I love it.

I have a lo-o-o-ng list of healthy living gifts on my resource page www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com.

If you decide to do any of these suggestions, I’d love to hear about the results.  You can shop for the Shaklee part of the gift at www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com/shop.  Or you can click on the links above.

Have a great Thanksgiving, pain free and full of love.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Enjoy the list.  I hope you get some great ideas.  Let me know if you have questions.

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Speaking of feet: blisters

Dear Gentle Reader,

In my last post, I talked about the pain of plantars faciitis along with some suggestions as to how to alleviate that debilitating pain. Today, I want to address the care of your feet, i.e. blisters and how to heal and prevent them.

Last Wed. Betty and I hiked 11 miles along Rattlesnake Ridge, overlooking North Bend, WA., a trail 45 minutes from Seattle. It is a through-hike requiring two cars.  We chose the long uphill route dropping to the Ledge and thence to the lake below.  Rattlesnake

People fall to their death from the Rattlesnake Ridge ledge
People fall to their death from the Rattlesnake Ridge ledge

ledge is infamous because so many unprepared people can easily get up there–it is only 1 1/2 miles, and every year one or two fall off to their death below.

View from Rattlesnake ledge
View from Rattlesnake ledge

In spite of arthritis, chronic pain, aching joints–hips, knees, ankles–, you still want to go walking.  Your feet must have the best possible support.  For me, this has been a huge challenge because I have bunions which require double wide men’s shoes.  At one point I developed a metatarsal neuroma or  Morton’s neuroma .  I mentioned Dr. Huppin’s Foot and Ankle clinic last week.  He knew exactly what modifications to make to the orthotic inserts to take the pressure off the 2nd toe and spread weight over all the toes.

He and his partner, Dr. Hale, publish a guide to shoes that helps a person choose the most stable shoe.  They even consider and recommend a flip flop!  Here’s the link where you can sign up for their recommended shoe list and guide lines on how to choose a shoe that will keep your foot stable.

On the Rattlesnake Ridge hike, I make a huge mistake.  I ignore a hot spot between my big toe and the 2nd toe, a place where I have rubbed countless blisters.  By the time I get home late that night, after another event, I can hardly walk.

I’d like to share what to do to avoid that suffering.  Blisters are serious business.  I knew a woman who ignored a blister her ski boot rubbed.  It developed septicemia and she died before they could airlift her to a hospital.

Women on Wed.hike to Red Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail
Women on Wed.hike to Red Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail

In my pack I carry a tape made by a German company.  The product is called Hansaplast and is not available in the US, only Canada and Mexico in North America.  But of course anywhere in Europe you can purchase rolls of this magical thin, easy-to-tear-with-your-fingers tape.  If I’m not going to Europe, I ask a traveling friend to buy it for me.  Usually I put a piece of this tape on the areas of my feet most likely to blister in my hiking boots before I begin the hike.  Usually, if I feel a hot spot, the way I did when we hiked out of Commonwealth Basin up the Pacific Crest Trail toward Red Pass, I stop on the trail and take off my boots and sox and put the tape on, thus preventing a blister.  But on Rattlesnake Ridge, I ignored everything I usually do.

The blister kept me awake all night. In the morning I punctured it, cleaned it carefully and put Second Skin on it.  This is the second thing to tell you about blisters.  Second Skin is a must for your pack first aide kit.  Don’t leave home without it.  You leave the second skin on for 5 days and by that time the blister is completely healed.  I hiked again yesterday, 8 miles on Tiger Mt. with quite an elevation gain.  Before going, I used the Hansaplast and a pair of liner sock.No blisters or sore feet.

One more suggestion for protecting your feet and legs: walk with hiking sticks and use them to lift your body up and lower it down on the steep bits of trail.  Your upper body gets a work out and your legs and feet have less stress.  We spent much of our time on Tiger a little bit lost.  I was glad we were 5 and that my smart phone GPS could locate us, but nothing helped poor signage.  We are determined to master the maze of wilderness trails on this complicated mountain, a foot hill of the Cascade Range, blessedly protected by forward looking environmentalists.  Known as the Issaquah Alps, Tiger and Cougar and Squak mountains form a corridor of wilderness in an otherwise densely developed exurban Seattle.

More than anything, keep moving, Gentle Reader, keep moving.

Before you go, what is your foot sore story and how have you kept sore feet from keeping you in your chair? Let us hear from you.

Be well, Do well and keep moving

Betsy

206-933-1889

 

 

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Making foot pain go away

Gentle Reader,

How many of you have suffered from chronic foot pain? You’ve been to the doctor, the chiropractor, the massage therapist – and nothing seems to help for very long.  Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. In today’s GrandmaBetsyBell/blog post Julie tells you a very simple technique you can use at home to experience dramatic pain relief.  Thanks for Dr. Steve Chaney for this information.
If you find value here, please forward this email to a friend.

You Can Make Your Foot Pain Go Away       —    Heal Your Plantar Fasciitis Naturally

Author: Julie Donnelly

Just a couple of weeks ago I taught you how to make your hip pain go away. Today’s topic is foot pain. And, yes, you can make your foot pain go away as well. But, let’s start at the beginning.

How Does Foot Pain Get Started?

You feel it coming on gradually. Maybe your lower leg aches a bit, but you’re busy so you ignore it. After a while every time you take a step you feel a burning that spreads along the entire lower leg and into your arch. Still you ignore it.  But it doesn’t go away, in fact, it gets worse.

You Can Make Your Foot Pain Go Away
Oh, my aching feet. Make the pain go away!

 

[I’ve had foot pain many times over my life time of hiking and walking several miles at a time on the city streets.  The most recent was a few weeks before setting off for Switzerland to hike 50 miles in the Engadine Valley.  At the first slight twinge, I went to my podiatrist for an adjustment to my orthotics and avoided misery on the 6 day hike, or worse, cancellation.]

Now your arch just doesn’t feel “right.”  Then it starts to hurt, but not every time you put pressure on your foot. Again, you ignore it until finally you are experiencing foot pain all the time.   Then eventually you can’t ignore it any more, it’s like a knife being jabbed into your arch. Now it’s not just hurting when you run or drive your car, your foot hurts with every step.

Almost every day you do something that causes you to lift the front of your foot while your heel is still resting on the floor. For most people it comes from straining your lower leg muscles when you are driving a car, especially if you drive often. It is even more evident if you are doing any type of city driving because you are off and on the gas and break constantly, repetitively straining all of your lower leg muscles. You just know that your foot hurts and it’s affecting your life.  You must find a solution!

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

You’ve been told you have plantar fasciitis, and you may have been told you need expensive orthotics.  Perhaps you’ve even tried them and while they worked for a short time, eventually the pain returned and then it started to hurt worse.  Now you’re told you need to replace the orthotics, but you’ve come to realize that isn’t the answer.  And it’s not the answer. The orthotics are focusing on the symptom, but totally ignoring the source of the problem.

[Julie has some great advice in this article, and, in my experience, orthotics can make a difference.  It depends on the doctor.  Mine is an auto mechanic with his attention and expertise directed to the foot. If you are the Seattle area, I suggest you see him http://www.footankle.com/ Drs. Huppin and Hale.  Dr. Huppin has terrible bedside manner, but I got his full attention and he worked with my plantar fasciitis and a metatarsal swelling over time to get the orthotics adjusted to address the root problem.  Find a doctor who is not just putting an band aid under your sore feet.]

The good news is that you can heal your plantar fasciitis naturally. Most people, including too many medical professionals, don’t realize that foot pain is frequently coming from outside the foot. The muscles of your lower leg actually are there to move your ankle and foot, not to move your lower leg (that comes from your upper leg).

The reason is simple. First let’s use an analogy that I use all the time because it’s so perfect to explain how muscles work to move a joint.  If you pull your hair at the end, it hurts at your scalp. You don’t need to massage your scalp, you don’t need to take pain medications to stop the tension in your head, and you certainly don’t need brain surgery, you just need to stop pulling your hair!  Now substitute the muscle for your hand, the tendon for your hair, and the joint for your scalp.

Muscles originate in one place, they merge into a tendon that crosses over a joint, and then the tendon inserts into a point on the other side of the joint.  When the muscle pulls, the tendon tightens and the joint moves, but if the muscle is tight it will continue pulling on the joint even when you don’t want it to move.  In the case of the lower leg muscles and the foot, the muscles are pulling your foot up from the ground, but you are pressing it down and causing the tendons to put a strain on the insertion points, which in this case are all in your arch.

How the Muscles Get Strained

Every time you take a step you are using all of the muscles of your lower leg. As you work you contract these muscles every time you step on the pedal. Lifting the front of your foot up you are using your tibialis anterior and then you press down on the pedal you are using your calf muscles. If you walk a lot, or you are a runner, you are causing a repetitive strain on the same muscle fibers. Also, while driving your car your foot is picked up in the front to go from the gas to the brake, again straining the same muscles. You do this over and over until you have strained the muscle fibers.  Eventually the fibers shorten due to a phenomenon called muscle memory.

Muscle memory will hold your muscles in the shortened position even when you don’t need them contracted. This puts pressure on the insertion point, in this case, the arch.

The Result is Arch Pain

The two primary muscles that cause arch pain are the tibialis anterior and the peroneals.  They originate at the top of the lower leg, merge into tendons where your ankle begins to slim, and then insert into the bottom of your foot.

The tibialis anterior goes along the outside of your shin bone, crosses over the front of your ankle and then inserts into your arch.  When it contracts normally you lift up the inside of your foot so you are resting on the outside of your foot.

The peroneals originate at the top/outside of your lower leg, run down the leg and merge into a tendon that goes behind  the outside of your ankle and inserts in two places; the outside of your foot, and under your arch to the inside of your foot. When it contracts normally you pull up the outside of your foot so you are resting on your big toe.

An Easy Treatment that Works

The goal with this Julstro self-treatment is to force the toxins out of the muscle fibers, drawing in blood to nourish the muscles.  As the blood fills the muscle, the fibers lengthen and the strain is removed from the arch.

Begin by treating the tibialis anterior on the front of your leg.

Foot_Pain_1
natural healing for plantar fasciitis

#1 – kneel on the floor and put a ball just outside of your shin bone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foot_Pain_2
using a tennis ball to relieve the foot pain of plantar fasciitis

#2 – Move your leg forward so the ball rolls along the outside of your shin bone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then treat the peroneals on the outside of your lower leg, sit on the floor with the leg you are treating bent and resting on the floor. Put the ball on the outside of your leg (so it is actually on the floor and your leg is on top of it) and then press the outside of your leg into the ball.  Move your leg so the ball starts to roll down the outside of your lower leg.  Your intention is to do the same as you did for the tibialis anterior (above)
Or, sit on the floor or a bed and position your leg as shown in picture #3. While using either a dowel or a length of PVC pipe, slide the pipe from just above your ankle bone to just below your knee joint.

Foot_Pain_3
Use a dowel to relieve foot pain caused by plantar fasciitis

#3 – Using a dowel or piece of PVC pipe, put pressure on the outside of your leg and slide along the peroneals muscle from your knee to above your ankle bone.

The treatments will feel sore but that’s because you’re forcing H+ ions through the muscle fibers, and acid burns. But, it’s better to have the toxins out of the muscles and fill the fibers with blood, plus the lymphatic system will pick up the toxins and eliminate them from your body.

 

 

[Supplements that help are Alfalfa and Lecithin.  Alfalfa tablets—eat them like peas, a teaspoonful at a time—moves blood, infusing the hard-to-reach area with nourishment and acting as a diuretic, flushing the region.  Lecithin is nature’s emulsifier.  You find soy lecithin in many tablets and other products.  The task lecithin performs is liquefying sticky material so it can flush through the lymph system.]

There are several other treatments that work to eliminate arch pain and plantar fasciitis, but I’ve found these to be the most productive, and they may be all that is necessary to eliminate the problem completely.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

You Might Also Like

Blog post : Making Hip Pain Go Away

Again, my thanks to Dr. Steven Chaney for his research and leadership in the field of alternative approaches to health issues.  If you would like to be on Dr. Chaney’s mailing list, go here to sign up for his weekly Health Tips from the Professor.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

Leave a comment or email me!  I love to hear your solution to the problems presented in this blog.

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Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements and weight loss

Gentle Reader,

Can an arthritis sufferer who is also over weight benefit from Medicinal Herbs & Herbal Supplements?  Perhaps you are one of those people like a friend of mine.  She’s in her late 40s and has been unable to get to her ideal weight for her entire life.  She was a fat baby.  She has eaten the perfect diet:  low carbs, lean protein, plenty of fruits and vegetables and hardly any snack foods that most of us would consider OK for once-in-a-while treats.  She has developed aches and pains, those joint issues that come when a person exercises a lot (trying to get that weight down) and fears arthritis is creeping in.  She already takes medicinal herbs and herbal supplements made by Shaklee which help with pain relief.  I have described the benefit of Pain Relieve Complex in several previous posts.

In desperation, she consulted a physician who suggested the Atkins diet.  For the beginning months she ate nothing but protein and then slowed added carbohydrates in the form of raw vegetables, 25 grams a day, no more.  (One protein source she loves is Shaklee’s Instant Protein Soy Mix, a pure, non-GMO protein source with no carbohydrates at all.)  She began using the medicinal herbs and herbal supplement Glucose Regulation Complex.

Taken in the middle of a meal, the herbs in this Glucose Regulation Complex unlock the doors of the stubborn cells and allow the sugars to enter!  Voila!  And Halleluiah!  At last her body is using the glucose to energize her and the pounds are coming off.

Medicinal herbs and herbal supplements abound on the market today.  How do you decide where to buy them and from whom?  Let me suggest the following bench marks to consider.  If your product does not meet all these requirements, look further, or shop for the Shaklee product.  (If the Shaklee corporation makes the medicinal herb or herbal supplement you are looking for, you are in luck.  If not, ask these questions of the manufacturer before you buy.)

  • Does the company control the source material from which the medicinal herb or herbal supplement is created?
  • If not, does it inspect with a plant chromatography methods?  In other words, does the batch of raw material pass through a thorough inspection of all the properties to determine if there are contaminants, and if the plant material is what it supposed to be?
  • Has the company conducted double blind scientific testing to see if the medicinal herbs and herbal supplements manufactured by the company itself reached the blood stream in the human body and performed as predicted?  Was the study conducted well enough for a peer-review journal to publish the results?
  • Does the company provide a money back guarantee on the medicinal herb or herbal supplement so that if the customer does not get the results they are looking for, they get their money back?

If all these points cannot be answered in the affirmative, I would not recommend buying that medicinal herb or herbal supplement.

OK, then.  Are you one of those people who are ready to try a medicinal herb or herbal supplement to see if you can get your body to accept glucose into the cells?  If so, please take a look at Glucose Regulation Complex.  The active ingredients include

  • Chromium (as chromium polynicotinate)
  • Taurine
  • Alpha Lipoic Acid
  • Banaba Leaf Extract (Lagerstroemia speciosa) Standardized to contain 18% colosolic acid
  • Vanadium (as vanadium amino acid chelate)

Other ingredients include Magnesium (as magnesium oxide) and Zinc (as zinc gluconate)

These ingredients help the sugars you eat get into the cells where they belong.  End of sugar cravings!

With the loss of extra pounds, arthritis pain goes down and maybe even away.  Of course, I can’t predict your individual outcome, but what if Glucose Regulation Complex worked for you the way it has for my friend?  Why not give it a try?

The side benefits of Glucose Regulation Complex include lowering cholesterol.  The scientific information you will want to study is in this pdf.  I have put the document on the resources page of my blog www.grandmabetsybell.com/resources/.

Feel free to pass this post along to friends and family who struggle with weight loss.  This may provide the missing ingredient.

I’d love your comments so others can benefit from your wisdom.

Be well, Do well and keep moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

 

 

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How important is organic?

Gentle Reader,

A new customer is determined to make changes in her habits so she is supporting better health for the future.  She worries about the high cost of eating organic.  Not every fruit and vegetable is equally laden with pesticides and herbicides.  When you are working toward an organic diet, you can expect your food bill to go up.  You expect that.  But is there a way to move gradually to organic.  

Why bother  going organic?  For the arthritis sufferer, the joints are susceptible to toxins that come into our body in processed and fresh non-organic foods.  The joints have poor blood flow so it is harder to flush these toxins.  If your arthritis is crippling, painful and keeps you from exercising, the build up of toxins in the joints can cause inflammation and be difficult to alleviate.  By all means, keep walking, keep moving those joints if at all possible to get a flow into them which will flush toxins out.

For the rest of us, pesticides are not a good thing.  They create stress on the immune system and could even cause cancer.  The toxic chemicals coming along for the ride on our fresh fruits and vegetables are especially harmful to children whose bodies are small and can not handle the stress.

I share this web site which includes two videos for your consideration.

  • Not all fruits and vegetables are bad for us.
  • The harmful effect is greater on children and adults with compromised health.
  • Stick to foods that can be peeled:  watermelon, cantelope, pinapple, corn, and peel the non-organic apples, potatoes, peaches.
  • Avoid the dirty dozen.   You’ll find them on the web site above where you can down load the infomation and carry it in your purse when you shop.  

Here is more good information for you http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/dirty-dozen-foods-list-2013_n_3132788.html

Another way to get past the cost (and check carefully, sometimes the price difference isn’t that great.) is to prepare half an apple for the kids.  Quarter them and that way they will have the great benefit of the organic fruit without the pesticides.  Serve less.  Make the organic item go farther.

Good luck with this change.  You will be amazed at how wonderful the organic produce tastes.  Treat yourself.  Have fruit for dessert and forget the ice cream.  Yummy.

Be well, Do well, and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

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Moving and Shaking

Gentle Reader,

These beautiful fall days have many of us moving and shaking.  Great time for working in the garden, chasing our soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, football, field hockey playing school children and perhaps you are among the older adults who play geezer basketball and master’s tennis.   My favorite thing to do in the fall is hunt chanterelles.  Eight of us hikers recently had a successful day.  We were lifting legs, stooping, reaching, climbing steeply through giant sword fern, around old stumps, over huge fallen fir and cedar trees.  This is exercise.  Well rewarded.

So many chanterelles!
So many chanterelles!

I am having such a consuming time writing the story of my courtship with my first husband that I haven’t been taking time to workout at home.  Perhaps some of you over 65 have found Silver Sneakers, the Medicare Program that encourages Active Older Adults (AOA) to remain flexible and independent.  I tried my first class this last week. When I saw all the chairs set out, I thought this class would be way too easy.  Not at all.  The chairs were for balance when standing behind them on one foot.  They also gave us a platform for 80 repetitions of getting up and down out, standing—sitting, standing—sitting.  We used weights and bands for increasing upper body strength.  What fun to be in a room full of smiling  gray haired men and women having a great time.

On Friday mornings I go to an AOA salsa dancing class, led by a gorgeous, slim older woman who can lead the rumba, salsa, cha-cha-cha, and mambo to Cuban and Brazilian music.  We trill our tongues, clap the flamenco and sweat.  Fabulous.

I brought 3 new hens home from my grandson’s birthday celebration on his family’s farm an hour north of Seattle and these young ladies are not being welcomed into the established coop of 3 Rhode Island Reds.  They flew over my 6 foot fencing and scattered into the neighborhood.  Picture this old lady trying to corner a frightened chicken and having to climb a rockery with a blanket in my hand.  We did lose one little black hen, which broke my heart.  They are not settled yet.  I’m pleased that I have the energy and stamina and flexibility to chase chickens.  Take those classes.  Life in the suburbs! You may have to use all that strength moving and shaking in some unexpected ways.

A little Araucana is not accepted by the Rhode Island Reds.
A little Araucana is not accepted by the Rhode Island Reds.

How about you?  What classes are you taking to keep fit?  Let us know.  While you are responding, “like” my fan page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/betsybellshealth4u

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving (and Shaking)

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.grandmabetsybell.com/blog/

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