Category Archives: Be Well health tips

Betsy’s Boosts for wellness

Sooth chapped hands

Hand sanitizer that moisturizes
Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer 99% effective against viruses.

Have your hands become raw, cracked, red? That hand sanitizer! There are so many on the market and the supply is pretty good now that the various supply chains and manufacturers have pulled themselves together. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a sanitizer that you know is effective? That you know will not hurt your skin with repeated use?
Shaklee to the rescue. The company has just introduced an Earth Friendly, Always Safe, Always Works, Always Pure Get Clean Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer that does everything you want:
Kills 99.99% of germs* [Effective at eliminating 99.99% of many common harmful germs and bacteria in as little as 30 seconds.]
An antibacterial hand gel with plant-based moisturizers so your skin stays soft and protected. This fragrance-free, alcohol-based gel kills germs and bacteria and sanitizes your hands without drying them out. Formulated with plant-based moisturizers so your skin stays soft and protected. No rinsing or drying with towels needed. Safe for the whole family.

Does Get Clean® Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer kill COVID-19?

It has not been tested on COVID-19. Get Clean® Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer has been shown to kill 99.99% of many harmful germs and bacteria including: E. Coli, Salmonella, Staph, Candida, A. Niger. It can help protect your health by eliminating germs and bacteria that are commonly found in public places.

Is Get Clean® Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer approved by the CDC?

No. Get Clean® Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer exceeds the CDC’s recommendations for percent alcohol content in hand sanitizer. It has not been directly approved by the CDC but aligns with or exceeds all agency recommendations for alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
Germs are everywhere! They can get onto hands and items we touch during daily activities and make you sick. Cleaning hands at key times with soap and water or hand sanitizer is one of the most important steps you can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to those around you.

There are important differences between washing hands with soap and water and cleaning them with hand sanitizer.
For example, alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t kill ALL types of germs, such as a stomach bug called norovirus, some parasites, and Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea. Hand sanitizers also may not remove harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and heavy metals like lead.

Handwashing reduces the amounts of all types of germs, pesticides, and metals on hands. Knowing when to clean your hands and which method to use will give you the best chance of preventing sickness.

Soap and Water

• Before, during, and preparing food
• Before eating food
• Before and after caring for someone who is sick
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• After using the bathroom, changing diapers, or cleaning up a child who has used the bathroom
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After touching an animal, animal food or treats, animal cages, or animal waste
• After touching garbage
• If your hands are visibly dirty or greasy

Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer

• Before and after visiting a friend or a loved one in a hospital or nursing home, unless the person is sick with Clostridium difficile
(if so, use soap and water to wash hands).

• If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, and wash with soap and water as soon as you can.*

Do NOT use hand sanitizer if your hands are visibly dirty or greasy: for example, after gardening, playing outdoors, or after fishing or camping (unless a handwashing station is not available). Wash your hands with soap and water instead [Thanks to the CDC for this information.]

Buy up to three bottles of Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer today. Be sure to place your order at https://us.shaklee.com if you are a registered member. If you are not a member, please use my personal website: www.HiHoHealth.com, typed into the URL bar at the top of your screen or on your phone. And thank you for taking good care of yourself and all the people you might meet during your day.

___________________________________________

From the heart..

Last time I wrote to you, I was feeling grateful for “The Pause.” Today I am embarrassed by my privileged position in this difficult time of Pandemic. While I enjoy a spacious garden, the comfort of working from home, a steady income, excellent health and little damage to my personal well-being, countless others are at risk, getting sick and dying. Still others are unable to earn a living, losing their homes, going hungry. Three times as many people of color suffer than us white people. We, even those of us whose lives are peaceful, cannot deny our social contract is not working. I write to you as a Shaklee distributor whose business has increased because of the virus. I am grateful. I am also deeply saddened by the inequity. I hope and pray that we, as a nation, can find a new way forward that lifts all people. It is going to take some work. I pray that as you read this, you and your loved ones are healthy and able to pay your bills. Be well. Do well. Keep moving, Betsy

Betsy Bell’s Health4u, 4455 51st Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116        206 409 5940         betsy@hihohealth.com

 

 

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Staying home could weaken your immune system

In the words of my trainer, staying home can mess up your immune system. When we are ready to mingle again, how resistant will our systems be? PJ Glassey of Xgym asks if we remember when Quarantines were only for sick people? I was once quarantined because I had the mumps. I remember the dark front bedroom and my mother creeping in to take my temperature and feed me soup. I was six years old. We have seldom quarantined healthy people.

We could end up on the other side of this quarantine period claiming it saved us all and

had we not done this unprecedented lockdown, millions upon millions of people would have died, and the virus would have continued to wreak havoc on the world for decades to come.

The other extreme side will say the lockdown had absolutely no effect on the infection or death rates and, in fact, the countries and states who didn’t close down proved that point by fairing as well or better than those who did.

Then there will be lots of people in the middle, adjusting toward one side or the other, based on what they believe to be true and then repeating that narrative based on their ingrained biases and agendas.

The bottom line is no one will really know. No one will be able to prove anything because no one can see into the future or even guess what might have been if things were done differently. PJ Glassey

Either way the lockdown will have negative effects on our immune systems and may cause increased infection rates if we don’t recognize what is going on and do something about it.

Here are some ideas about how to strengthen your immune system so you don’t catch every little cold, flu, bacteria, and other bugs the minute we are all mingling again.

First, let’s be clear that everyone gets sick, and there’s no way to avoid every bug….

The strength of anyone’s immune system lies mostly in their gut flora balance and diversity. In fact, over 70% of you’re immune system strength is directly attributable to the health and status of your gut flora.

Those little internal buggers protect you from the outside buggers in a myriad of ways, ranging from killing off those bad bugs themselves to communicating with your other lines of defenses in your body to help kill them there.

The best way to have an optimized gut flora is to feed them with the right nutrients and tools to be as healthy, balanced, and diverse as possible. If you help them, they are able to help you.

When you eat real, organic food, your gut flora thrives on the fiber (soluble and insoluble), vitamins, and minerals. Real (and especially organic) food is the best source for all this.

Non-organic food often has pesticides, fertilizers, and genetically modified components that kill off your good gut microbes, throwing off the balance, and slashing the diversity. Additionally, some respected scientists are finding the Coronavirus mechanism involves an “unmasking” of environmental toxins such as glyphosate, found in many non-organic foods, drastically amplifying its toxic effects inside the body on a cellular level, exacerbating the complications related to Coronavirus.

There’s something even worse than non-organic food though. Guess what that is? Yep – processed food. If you are eating most of your food out of bags and boxes, you’re decimating your gut flora and your immune system.

It just so happens that’s what most people are eating now in this lockdown, so they are setting themselves up to catch lots of nasty bugs when they get back out of their homes.

Another huge way we get and maintain a strong immune system is through constant exposure to microbes. When we are consistently coming into contact with viruses and bacteria, we are building and strengthening our immune system. We do this by shaking hands (and sharing microbes), playing in the dirt, hugging people, kissing, talking and laughing within 6 feet of each other, etc. – everything we are avoiding right now – so that’s another way we are decimating our immune system and setting it up for failure.

We are also acting like OCD people with all the incessant handwashing, hand sanitizers, spraying, wiping, disinfecting every surface, masks, gloves, and more, all contributing to preventing the natural and healthy exposure of the TRILLIONS of microbes we need to be in contact with, in order to try to avoid the ONE bug we are so fearful of right now.

If that worked, then clean-freak OCD people wouldn’t get sick more frequently than their “dirtier” friends but they do. They get sick way more often, in fact, because they are so focused on staying clean and sterile, they don’t get the exposure necessary for proper immunity. This, of course, feeds their OCD, which makes them try to be even cleaner, which then perpetuates the problem, sometimes resulting in the “Howard Huges syndrome,” along with Munchausen, and more.

When we are cooped up inside and out of the sunshine, we rapidly become deficient in Vitamin D, which drastically weakens our immune system. Some health and medical experts even believe Vitamin D should be reclassified as a hormone because it’s so much more powerful than other vitamins – especially with its effect on our immune health.

Since we are inside, out of the sun, and moving much less than we usually do, our hydration habits are also most likely suffering, as our thirst mechanisms are sending us fewer signals. Viruses and bacteria LOVE a dry host and HATE hydrated hosts because those people are stronger, more energetic, have healthier organs, happier gut flora, and the list goes on and on. PJ Glassey

During the lockdown, we are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing to build and maintain a healthy immune system to be ready to come out of this and resume our lives.

Here are PJ’s top 7 suggestions, based on what he has learned about the human body as a biohacker and health researcher over the last 34 years:

1.) Drink 2-4 quarts of clean, filtered water per day. Here’s a “ballpark” way to figure out how much you should have: Take your body weight in pounds, divide that by two, and drink that many ounces each day, spread throughout the day as much as possible. This general formula works great for people who weigh between 100 and 250 lbs. but some may need a bit more or less depending on climate, habits, activity, sweating rate, etc.

2.) Eat organic real food, prepared in your own kitchen, with your own hands.

3.) Stay away from processed food, artificial ingredients, and especially sugar because that can really hurt your internal buggers. If your food has a label on it, treat that as a warning label, and the longer it is, the more urgent the warning!

4.) Exercise! This can be through the X Gym online training, the X Gym app, running, biking, hiking, dancing (learn a new move on TicTok), or anything else that gets you breathing hard. [Join Free Form Dance Dance on Saturday morning 10:30 – 12. zoom to a curated set list virtually dancing with several dozen people. It’s a hoot.]

5.) Get out in the sun and/or take a vitamin D3 supplement.

6.) Eat fermented foods like kimchi, or sauerkraut, or kefir, or all of those, as I do. These foods are packed with probiotics – another word for the “good buggers” I’m been talking about and will help balance and populate your gut flora. [Shaklee’s Optiflora does a great job.]

7.) Get outside and roll in the grass, plant some stuff with your bare hands, play with some earthworms, walk on the beach in your bare feet, dig in the sand with your hands, etc., and then rub your face with those grimy hands!

How is your score on doing these 7 things? Begin adding one after the other over the next few days/weeks to get ready. Hopefully, you have not put on 19 covid pounds during this stay-at-home order. Shaklee can help you there with a 7-Day cleanse to kick start better eating anytime you are ready.

Our current “quarantine quandary,” as PJ calls it, is more than just weight gain. It’s going to get way worse if people don’t become aware of the current immune-depressing world we are moving around in. Personally I know a lot of people who are gardening and walking and getting up close and personal with their “quarantine pod” of friends and family and so are not overly depressing their immune system. If you see yourself in the situation PJ describes, take steps. You’ll be glad you did.

Be well, do well, and keep moving!

Betsy

 

Betsy Bell’s Health4U

206 409 5940

betsy@hihohealth.com

www.HiHoHealth.com  my Shaklee shopping page

 

 

 

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Guide to 7-Day Cleanse

Your success is my goal. If you want to detox your gut and liver now to prepare for the holidays–Fast now to Feast later–, hit the Shop button on my menu bar and download the 28 page Guide to a successful 7-Day Cleanse. You must open the www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com website to download your Guide.

Buy the 7-Day Cleanse packet from my Shaklee website. www.HiHoHealth.com

While you are waiting for the delivery of the product, you can follow the guidelines for preparing your body, shopping for the ingredients (there is a LIST!), and read the recipes that will fill you up and nourish you for the 7 days of the cleanse.

You will not go hungry if you follow the guide.

Eat every two hours. There are plenty of suggested recipes and foods you can take to work whatever your daily schedule. Whether you are a teacher in a classroom, a secretary behind a busy phone console, a doctor seeing patients every few minutes or a person with a full volunteer and friendship life, this will work for you. I have done the groundwork for you. Use your PayPal account (or sign in as a guest) to buy the downloadable Guide for $12.50. I am here to answer your questions by text or phone. 206 409 5940.

To read more about the products in the 7-Day Cleanse packet, go to previous posts: Can the Liver be healed?

I am so excited to bring this Guide to you. I believe in your success and am here to support you. I can’t wait to hear your results!

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving, Betsy

206-409-5940

Betsy@hihohealth.com

Short videos on each Cleanse product found at www.fb.com/betsybellshealth4u

Live FaceBook health tips 8:30 Pacific time every Thursday morning at www.fb.com/betsybellshealth4u

Watch, like, and share.

 

 

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Can the liver be healed?

Dear One,

I’ve been thinking about the liver–yours and mine. Before I get into how to repair a damaged liver, I’d like to explore a question that plagues me.

Why is it so hard to change our eating and exercise habits with the goal of improving our health? The goal is so real, so tangible, so every-day-in-the-morning first thing and again at night, the self-skewering we do to ourselves, remembering the impulse to leave the chair and go for a walk or do a few crunches, remembering the three extra bits of Halloween candy we know we shouldn’t have eaten. We vow to wake up the next day and do better.

What helps some people stop the things they don’t want to do and take up the things they want to do and keep it up on both counts, faithfully, until the new behaviors stick? I have thought about this for years. I have marveled at my own change in eating habits from a past of sneaking a whole pound of chocolate into my basket and eating the whole thing on the way home from the grocery store, a pound of milk chocolate, no less. What solidified the change?

For me, it was getting too sleepy in a lecture I wanted to hear to stay awake and take in the information I craved. I drew the connection between heavy sugar-laden food minutes before the lecture started and falling into a food coma.

When the feeling of sluggish brain connected with the food, my resolve to change became stronger than my craving for sweet, filling comfort food. My analytical mind went to work to figure out how to find other comforts, to plan ahead so hunger was satisfied in other ways. It took focused effort, hourly check-ins, listening to motivational tapes where the voice had me imagine myself running the beach in a bathing suit, attractive and strong, using present tense verbs as if it were true already.

It’s a long story which I have told before.

Several people signed up to do the Prove-It Challenge. One person had success and began to connect the way her joints felt with what she was eating. The 7 Day Cleanse made a big difference. When she tried some of her old foods, the pain came back. A real break-through. She found the recipes on the Shaklee website helpful and made delicious smoothies and salads. But it was hard to find the resources she wanted.

I decided to gather all the 7-Day-Cleanse recipes together and create a shopping list so that it would be easy to go to the grocery store and bring home everything you need for all the meals for a whole week. It took many hours to put this packet together. I am ready to share it with anyone who wants to do the 7-Day-Cleanse.

My goal is to help you be successful with your goal. These tools and your commitment will make a difference in your outcome. Hit the SHOP tab in the menu bar if this is for you. There you will find a fully supported 7-Day Cleanse. It is a downloadable Guide with a shopping list, recipes and tips and tools for a successful cleanse just in time for the holidays. Only $12.50.

 

Liver DTX
Can we help make our liLiver cleansever function better? You bet we can.

Milk Thistle (seed used in DTX)

One of the Shaklee supplements in the 7-Day-Cleanse is one I have relied on for years. Its ingredients come up right out of Mother Earth including extracts of a couple of very helpful mushrooms: Reishi (detoxifying and anti-cancer) and Schizandra (liver support, anti-inflammatory, and boosts cognitive function). However, the main ingredient of Liver DTX is Milk Thistle Seed Extract. Milk thistle has been used to heal the liver since ancient times. Don’t confuse milk thistle with mildweed, the beautiful flower that attracts the Monarch butterfly and other insects!

Here is Shaklee’s description of Liver DTX: “Your liver is the first line of defense against toxins. Liver DTX contains milk thistle seed extract standardized to contain 80% silymarin, which is shown in laboratory studies to protect liver cells from toxic substances & oxidative stress. Plus, silymarin’s antioxidant properties help maintain liver cell integrity.

Liver DTX also includes dandelion, turmeric, & artichoke, designed to help maintain healthy bile flow & aid in the liver’s natural detoxification process.

Given the toxins we are all subjected to in our air, water and food, I am grateful for this support from Shaklee. If you suspect your liver is over-loaded, get some today. Item code 20616.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving (in more ways than one:-)  Betsy

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Prove it once and for all

Seriously, Dear One, If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, or this is the first one you are seeing AND if you want better health for the long haul but just can’t seem to get the program under way OR keep the current program going more than a few weeks, READ ON…

You are invited to take the Challenge and Prove to yourself that switching to the Shaklee basic program can re-set your body on a health-giving path.  Thirty days to feeling better or your money back.

What is the Prove It Challenge?

A box with 2 canisters of protein powder (your choice) and Vitalizer strips. Strip and Shake.

Get ready by taking a week to cleanse with the 7-Day Cleanse,

and then begin the simple Strip and Shake 7 day cleansefor thirty days.

If you don’t feel better at the end of those 30 days, you get your money back.

Just $159. The Prove-it Challenge box comes with a shaker.

Our scientists have proven this works by taking blood from long term Shaklee users of multiple supplements and compared their health with the health of others who took a multivitamin for twenty to fourty years or a third group who took no supplements at all. The study was conducted by the University of California’s School of Public Health in Berkeley, no strings attached. The researchers were astounded. They’s never seen such healthy blood on all measures of health from lower triclyerides and incidents of diabetes and homocystine levels to an attitude of “I feel great.” Unusual from a group of people ranging in age from 50 on up. Not typical.

Our Prove-It plan represents those products taken over 20 – 40 years by these older adults. You can have the same results.

Order today and join me in a major re-set.

Order # 85926 Free shipping, free membership if you are new. $159

Ready, Set, GO

Be well, Do well and Keeping Moving!

Betsy

PS I’ll support you every step of the way with recipes, pep talks and milestone markings.

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the Krebs cycle: who cares?

Dear Ones,

I’ve been unpacking the challenges we face when we try to change our lifestyle. We want to achieve certain health goals. What prevents us from making those changes?

It isn’t easy. I talk about these challenges is on www.fb.com/betsybellshealth4u live steam at 8:30 Thursdays, Pacific time. In case you are not a FaceBook person, here are the first two videos unpacking challenges to life-style changes.

In the first live stream, I talk about my own struggle with sudden weight gain and the ineffective, in fact, detrimental steps I took to get the weight off. A good friend is approaching sixty and complaining of aches and pains, higher cholesterole and persistent belly fat. He called me to see if I had a pill for any of that. Here’s what I had to say.

To better understand how our cells metabolise the food we eat, I gave this short talk on the Krebs cycle, the process by which the food we eat is used to produce energy.

In plain English the process involves the interaction of the food that we consume and the biochemical processes within the body. These interactions produce energy that our body uses to do its work. The Krebs cycle is at the center of the many processes at work in the cell.

Knowing how this cycle works, we can change our diet, and change our behavior or activity to maximize results. The Krebs cycle is closely tied to our diet, and is directly involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats and its conversion to energy. Understanding what is going on in the body may help you with your eating and exercise –lifestyle–decisions, and help you to better control your body metabolism.

Focus on the 3 major sources of substrates or fuel molecules, carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Here we go:

What is the Kreb’s Cycle?

*This is the biochemical hub of the cell.

*It is thru this cycle that energy precursors are converted into ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), which is the then processed to produce the energy that the body utilizes.

*This pathway is the final common pathway for the oxidation of fuel molecules, namely – amino acids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates.

*These molecules undergo processing and enter the cycle in the form of acetyl-coenzyme A.
Normally during aerobic conditions (or states wherein oxygen is available for utilization by the body), the body converts carbohydrates into glucose which is processed to form acetyl-CoA.

*The Krebs cycle allows the harvesting of high-energy electrons from fuels that we take in.

*The Krebs cycle forms the first stage of the cellular level of respiration. In this process, acetyl-CoA, coming from multiple sources (glucose, fat, and protein metabolism) is processed to produce ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is the primary resource of most energy consuming processes in the body.

*The Krebs cycle is closely related to other metabolic cycles and can explain how we utilize energy substrates we derived from our diet.

*Fatty acids and amino acids can both be converted to materials that the cells utilize as sources of energy.

*Most of the time, the body utilizes glucose, but in specific conditions, the body turns to other sources.

*Fatty acids, coming from fat, are shuttled into the metabolic pathways, and conditions that have high energy requirements tap into fat stores in the body for extra energy to perform the exercises or movements we want to complete at that time. Using fat energy is much faster than our typical glucose utilization.

This is good news. It is through this mechanism that we burn off the excess fat in our body. However fat did not create the excess fat in your body in the first place. It’s far more likely that excess sugar in your diet contributed to your fat gain. This is because your liver can’t keep up with all that sugar and eventually turns to storing it as fat as a means to deal with it.

Have you been eating low- fat, no-fat, processed foods, with loads of added sugar (so they taste good) for years to lose weight and had little or no success? These foods are the real culprits as to why you are fat. They have next to no nutritional value. All calories are no created equal. If that were the case you could eat 200 calories from sugar and 200 cals from protein and you’d get the same result. The problem being, you DO NOT get the same result.

The Metabolic Pathways Involving The Krebs Cycle

Glucose plays a major role in the generation of energy via the Krebs cycle. Other materials may be used to produce energy: fatty acids and amino acids. Fatty acids come from fat, and amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Though they all end up in a common path in the Krebs cycle, they are being processed by different mechanisms in the body.

Glucose metabolism undergoes processing by way of glycolysis. The end product — pyruvate is converted to Acetyl-CoA, that then goes into the Krebs cycle. Fatty acids are broken down via Beta-oxidation,which forms acyl-CoA, and is then processed into Acetyl-CoA.

Amino acids follow a different process. Protein is broken down and later on forms amino acids, which undergo transamination. In their new form, these amino acids are storaged as fat or glycogen, are made into new protein in the body, or are oxidized for energy.

The body utilizes these different pathways to provide you with adequate energy for every scenario and state possible. Knowing about these pathways and states helps us tailor our diet and physical activity to maximize our health benefits.

Exercise and Energy Metabolism

Now, under normal conditions, wherein we don’t exercise, and are just doing normal daily activities, we utilize materials coming from the metabolism of glucose from our diet. Anything in excess is converted into energy stores. Anything we eat that is beyond our energy requirement is stored by the body in different forms, primarily fa. That fat will remain as such until our body enters a state of high energy requirement (e.g. increased physical activity).

We limit the intake of glucose or carbohydrates to an amount that matches our caloric requirement, hence preventing the accumulation of fat stores. Also pay attention to the sugar you are getting daily.

Pay attention to the balance between carbohydrates (fresh fruits and vegetables or processed goodies), fat (dairy of all kinds and fatty meats, sausage, lunch meat, cheese) and protein (animal protein or plant protein which can get tricky). It all becomes glucose eventually.

Know how our body utilizes glucose for energy and how it turns to stored fats as extra sources of energy when we exercise. Then change the process through changing the fuel. Exercise uses our fat stores for extra energy, resulting in weight loss and less fat in the body.

I hope this is helpful and makes sense. Don’t try to memorize this. There is no quiz. Just use the information so that when you are putting something in your mouth you take note: will this bite become glucose quickly leaving the roll around my middle just where it is? Or will this bite require work to produce energy and therefore reach for to burn fat? Munch a carrot. Eat nuts. Have a bowl of rice and beans. Calories are not all the same. Keep the amount of calories equal to the energy required for your day’s activities.

Questions?

Above all, be well, do well and keep moving,

Betsy

And if you want to get a good start toward a new lifestyle, take advantage of the Shaklee Cleanse package. If you follow it to the letter, you will see results. If you’re like me and grow faint without protein, order a cannister of one of Shaklee’s sugar free shake mixes and add just a little to keep you on your feet during this week of vegetables and fruits.

www.HiHoHealth.com My Shaklee shopping site.

 

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Protein and Muscle Mass

From the heart….
There seems to be a gulf between elderly people with good, strong muscles and those whose muscles have wasted away, even when they are visiting the gym and working out several times a week. A friend who is in his nineties called to see if I could suggest something to help him rebuild muscle mass as his gym workouts don’t seem to be enough. In the same week, I received an email from my trainer, PJ Glassey, which rather embarrassed me. I’ve decided to reproduce our exchange for you because I have such a heart-felt passion for what PJ has helped me achieve in my old age.

The idea of building muscle strength is not new for me. When my oldest daughter became pregnant for my first grandchild, I was fifty-seven. I wanted to be able to carry an eight pound baby around without hurting my back, shoulders or arms. I began lifting weights. For me, weight training has always been about daily living functions and the ability to keep doing them.

After a recent workout session: I had a hard workout over Skype today [4/28/2019] with trainer and owner of the Xgym method, PJ Glassey. After we were done, he sent me this email:

Hi Betsy,
I just gotta say how proud I am of you and the incredible strength you’ve produced. Your lunge switch squats are better than 70% of the X Gymers -regardless of age! Your mental strength is better than probably 90% of the X Gymers because you never offload.
You totally rock and even border on superhuman. You should do the wall sit contest at your [60th college] reunion, but have someone else suggest it (and judge form) because when you win, it would make you look like you conned everyone. Hahaha! 😂
Thanks,
PJ Glassey, CSCS
Founder, X Gym xgym.com

My response: Ah, shucks. I’m embarrassed by your comments. I just love being able to carry a full basket of wet laundry up the basement stairs and hang it out to dry, to haul the lawn mower around the yard, to lift my set of stainless steel pots from a lower cupboard to the counter, and to twist the frozen lid off my Ninja food processor, plus go for a 6 mile hike with my 50 year old daughters and not cause them to slow their pace too much. Xgym makes all that possible. I’m grateful, and not necessarily superhuman, just a lover of an active life. my brand and motto: Be well, Do well and Keep Moving. Love ya and all your fabulous trainers. You and Shaklee! Betsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PJ took these pictures of me during a recent training. Pushups and bicep curls. I’ve still got skin that sags just like every other 80 year old!

So, what is going on here?

Protein

You can’t generalize from a sample of two people, both over 80 and both working out, but I will offer some macro observations.

Protein is a major factor in retaining and building muscle mass at any age, but particularly in our older years. Most older adults do not eat as much protein as they did when they were younger. We don’t have the appetite for it; it’s harder to digest; lean organic meat, poultry, and line caught fish are expensive grocery items and we may not include them in our budget.

Nothing happens in the body without protein. We have to have it every day for growth, repair, and maintenance of all body tissues. Protein makes enzymes – the stuff we have to have for every single thing that happens in the body. Protein keeps our fluid and electrolyte balance where it needs to be.

Without protein, we have no Energy. Protein fights off disease and heals wounds.

Our body makes protein’s amino acids, except for nine essential ones. These nine are not stored in the body. No new body tissue can be built without it.

Protein Sources

Not all protein is equal: fish, lean meat, poultry and soy have all nine of the essential amino acids and do all the things I mentioned.

If you rely on a low meat/poultry/fish diet or are vegetarian by eating nuts, grains, beans for your protein sources (none of these sources have all nine essential amino acids), you would be wise to study up on the combinations you need in a 24 hour period to get those 9 essential amino acids into your body. It can be tricky. Incomplete balance of the missing 9 could leave you depleted in certain important ways. We all know the classic beans and rice protein diet, a combination that creates a synergistic balance of  all nine of the needed amino acids.

To prove my point, I will share a study conducted by Dr. Richard Brouse at his clinic in Clackamas, Oregon.
January 2003
Re: Shaklee Physique and the Elderly

As you know, the nutritional needs of mature individuals is unique. Digestion, muscle mass and hormonal regulation tends to decrease. Body fat and blood cholesterol levels tend to increase. Cardiovascular efficiency, blood sugar regulation and energy levels tend to decrease.
This observation seems to be related to the aging process and made us ask the question “What factor seems to have the greatest effect on aging?”

After several years of recommending Physique to 210 elderly patients (men and women between 65 and 84) at this clinic we noticed some amazing results that we would like to share with you.

*1) 72% of people over 65 years of age who began using Physique daily had an increase in energy and
* more muscle mass after 6 months.
*2) Sugar regulation in those who had been hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic returned to normal in 56% of the cases within 3 months after starting daily use of Physique.
*3) 60% of all elderly patients following our recommended exercises had less muscle and joint symptoms within 3 months after daily use of Physique.

These findings can only suggest that Shaklee Physique is a very useful addition to the nutritional program of the elderly population who are physically active and taking positive steps to maintain their health. When maximizing the diet and regularly supplementing, significant benefits can be gained by the elderly using Physique. We are very excited about these findings and hope that mature people and not just young people will take advantage of this outstanding product.

Richard Brouse, M.A., D.C, DACBN, CCN

Physique is a whey protein based product. Since this study, Shaklee has a line of soy and other plant protein with and without added sugars (the protein powders without sugar are sweetened with stevia). These protein powders when mixed as smoothies have the same result as Physique.

I personally get most of my protein from plant based powders made by Shaklee, often having more than one serving a day, completing my meal with a huge bowl of salad or steamed vegetables. I believe my highly digestible 60 grams of protein per day (1/2 gram for every pound of body weight) is the cause of my well-developed muscles.

Be sure to pass this information along either in this form or via my facebook video at

. Your friend will thank you. And if you’d like to get the monthly posts from www.grandmabetsybell.com, fill in the form below.

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,  Betsy

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Betsy Bell’s Health4U

4455 51st Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116

206 933 1889 12/7 Voice mail

 

 

 

 

 

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Lower your blood pressure naturally

My friend called urgently asking for just one pill to take care of her increasing blood pressure. Her doctor had doubled her medication and she didn’t like that. She doesn’t like taking pills and only learned to swallow medication at age 75! She chews her Shaklee Vita Lea and  Calcium Magnesium. I shook my head. She could try Shaklee Blood Pressure tablets made from spinach, beet, quercitin and magnesium. I have successfully lowered my blood pressure (it was high normal). On the bottle it says “for people with healthy blood pressure”. In other words, it is an herbal recommendation for someone who is trending upward in blood pressure or has a family history of elevated blood pressure. Shaklee herbals and vitamins are not medication. They are prevention.

My next question was about her day. What was she doing in the evenings, watching the news? “oh, yes, we watch a couple hours of news every night and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Forget the news, why don’t you?”

“But I’ll miss something.”

“There is no emergency. Someone will tell you the important new thing. .. . Look outside into your garden. Beautiful, isn’t it? Spring blossoms and seedlings sprouting. All is well in your corner of the planet in this moment, right?”

I recommended meditation. It helps me. Perhaps it would help you, Dear Reader. My preferred meditation leader is Tara Brach, a Zen Bhuddist teacher in Bethesda, MD whose meditations and teachings are available wherever you get your pod casts. www.tarabrach.com to sign up.

How low should blood pressure go? A recent article in the NY Times indicates that the number has changed over time: Successive guidelines have since decreased the recommended threshold for what constitutes high blood pressure, from 160/95 millimeters of mercury in 1973, to 140/90 in 1997, to 130/80 in 2017. The article urges caution about trying to get your blood pressure lower than 130/80. In fact, the author suggests that the diastolic blood pressure (the second number, which is the pressure as the heart relaxes) might be healthier at 85. Low blood pressure can have negative effects like dizziness: Lightheadedness, particularly lightheadedness that occurs upon standing, is the cardinal symptom of low blood pressure. At its extreme, lightheadedness may result in fainting. Fainting may be a sign that blood pressure is dangerously low and requires prompt medical attention. Other possible symptoms of low blood pressure include nausea, fatigue and blurry vision.

My friend had a blood pressure taking machine and was told to take her pressure every day. Now, I’m not a doctor, but wouldn’t worrying about your blood pressure so much that you went to your machine to test it drive it up?

Chill, everyone, chill.

Be well, Do Well and For Heaven’s sake, Keep Moving. It could be the best answer there is.

Betsy

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Hand exercises for arthritis

For all you golfers, tennis players and key boarders whose fingers work hard on your devices all day long, here are some moves that will help strengthen your hands. You may even avoid carpal tunnel pain or alleviate arthritis in your thumbs as I have been able to do. My thanks to Viola Brumbaugh teacher at wise-orchid.com Tai Chi and Qi Gong studio for her helpful lessons. Let me know how this works for you. Feel free to share. https://www.facebook.com/BetsyBellsHealth4U/videos/2118373711609508/

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving, Betsy

https://www.facebook.com/BetsyBellsHealth4U/videos/2118373711609508/

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Eat organic, lower cancer risk 25%?

Eat Organic: Lower cancer risk by 25%        (From the heart and travel news below)

Items pictured must be organically raised to have desired anti-cancer effect.

Dear One,

Is it true? If it is, what would you do about it? Spend the money? Lobby for policy change to increase government support for organic food production? Or ignore the data?

Rachel and Charles Benbrook just published an article in the PCC March 2019 newsletter bringing the findings of a sophisticated, large-scale study of French citizens published in the prestigious scientific journal, JAMA Internal Medicine in late 2018. The study involved 68,000 people with the average age of 44, two-thirds were women. The demographics and controls for reporting accuracy, life style, family, physical activity and medical history were top quality. Nothing shoddy or questionable about this study. They followed the subjects from 2004 – 2014 and recorded first incidence of cancer in 1,340 of the subjects. Then the participants were divided into four groups or quartiles ranging from highest organic food sources to lowest. They applied standard methods to control for the impact of known cancer risk factors such as smoking, family history and income. They they looked at whether high organic food intake was associated with differences in cancer incidence, compared to low intakes of organic food.
The quartile with the highest organic food intake score had a 25% lower overall risk of developing cancer, compared to the low intake quartile. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma rate was a dramatic 86% lower and post menopausal breast cancer rate, 34% lower in the top organic eating group.

Wow.

Given these findings, would you change your grocery spending to improve your chances of not developing cancer?

Is it worth it to buy organic?

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1971 when I was thirty-four years old. There wasn’t much in the way of cancer prevention science available, but I did start to read that old Bible, Prevention Magazine first published in 1950 by J.I. Rodale. I read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and learned about the harm of pesticides. Carson died before my diagnosis.

Carson’s ideas contrasted with the bulletins from the USDA. Department of Agriculture that guided my brothers and me in our 4-H chicken and dairy cow raising activities in the early 50s. Growth hormones for pullets, anti-biotics in the daily diet, de-worming and anti-biotics shots for the heifers were recommended. We did it all. My little brother, age 11, drained a vial of growth hormones himself, thinking if it would help the chickens get bigger faster, it might help him!

A diagnosis of cancer at such a young age sent me searching for an answer to Why? Rachel Carson, plus the little book, Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe, convinced me that my diet and lots of medication for sinus infections throughout my childhood contributed to a weakened immune system. Lappe’s book featured simple rules for a healthy diet and hundreds of meat-free recipes. Its mix of recipes and analysis inspired a radical faith in the ability to combine personal therapy with political activism. I was on a crusade to prevent further cancer in myself and others.

This French research study puts me back on my crusading horse, not that I ever got off. Since my own cancer diagnosis, my youngest daughter, now in her fifty-second year, has had two instances of cancer: melynoma at age thirty-four and breast at age forty-three. Kaiser, her medical care provider, did a genetic study and found that both she and I are missing a gene—P53—whose job in the body is to repair the damage caused by free radicals.

I am grateful I chose to supplement my diet with Shaklee’s organically sourced, additive free vitamins and protein powders. My daughter has chosen a radical vegetarian diet, eating mountains of fresh, mostly organic, vegetables, grains, and fruits to protect herself from further cancers. So far both of us remain cancer-free.

We are motivated to take serious care to prevent cancer. Neither one of us had to have chemotherapy as surgery took care of removing the cancer. Not so with my husbands. Consider the cost of having cancer when you hesitate to spend the money on organic foods. I had months of co-pay bills owed for my husband’s cancer treatment after he died. Those were hard checks to write.

The cost of cancer

What about you who have not been struck by this disease of malfunctioning cellular activity? Would data like that presented in the local Seattle food coop inspire you to change? Prevention, unless motivated by some bad health experience is hard to do for many. In a market economy, the only way to increase the production and availability of organic foods is by consumer consumption. Washington state is already No. 2 in the nation for organic farm gate sales. You can help remove pesticides from our foods by buying organic.

Share this information with your relatives and friends who live where there is less access to organic produce. Let’s not wait for the government to support a cancer reducing food production. Let the market speak for better health.

To read the original French study go to www.pccmarkets.com/r/5040.

Why supplement along with an organic diet?

Look back over your past weeks’ worth of food consumption. Did you prepare fresh, organic food at every meal or dine in a restaurant the serves organic foods? I certainly didn’t. I’m often rushing to the next event with a smoothie in my hand. That smoothie is made with organic fruit and vegetables and Shaklee’s organic protein powder. I also ate out a couple of times and have no idea the source of the food.

For anyone wanting a prevention insurance policy, choose a complete program of Shaklee’s supplements. Vitalizer or Life strip have a couple multivitamins (Vita Lea), a B/C blend that slow releases in your body, and fish oil and fat soluble anti-oxidants. Most people will add a probiotic (Optiflora is guaranteed to deliver live friendly bacteria to your gut.) It comes in the Vitalizer already.

 

Special Health Solutions:

There are several special solutions for eye health, bone and joint health, heart health, pain management, immune support all of which do the job of prevention. Look at the Shaklee product guide first before fillings your doctor’s prescription for supplements for these special needs. Sure, they might be more expensive and not covered by your health insurance, but we’re talking about guaranteed results here and a manufacturer you can trust to use organic sources and add nothing synthetic. If you are currently on a regimen to protect your eyes, check the Shaklee website or call me. I managed to put off cataract surgery for 5 years by using a double dose of Carotomax every day. A few of my customers do check in before they fill their prescription for supplements. Use me as a resource.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.  Read on for news from the heart and travel plans in March

www.HiHohealth.com  my personal Shakee shopping website.

From the Heart….. 

I’ve been back in school since January and feel out of touch with you, my dear customer and friend. Open Borders, my first memoir, is getting a lot of play at libraries, book stores and small gatherings. People tell me they love the story and learn a lot about the Cold War. My next book is a novel and the class I’m taking is helping with character development. Please forgive me if you have wondered why I haven’t been in touch. My Shaklee business is a primary income source for me and teaching about prevention through lifestyle practices of good nutrition, exercise and nourishing relationship remains a top priority. Don’t be a stranger. Be in touch. I love to hear what your health concerns are and if my long-time study and practice can benefit you in any way.

I’ll be on vacation from March 15 – 29 so if you pick up product from my front porch, be sure to call me before the 15th so we can make delivery arrangements. I will be plugged in and online while I am away.

If you haven’t checked in at 8:30 on Thursdays, I have been demonstrating different Shaklee products at www.facebook.com/betsybellshealth4U, a live stream video. So far, I’ve done all the YOUTH products, the Get Clean kitchen and laundry products and a demo of my favorite smoothie with kale, carrot, celery, beet, and blackberries plus soy milk (made from Shaklee’s Soy Protein Drink Mix) and Vanilla Life shake mix, soy. The shake mix comes in plant-based protein if you are not keen on soy.

Tune in, like my event and share with your friends and family. It’s amateur for sure, but lots of fun. See you there. You can always watch it later by looking for my facebook page.

Be well, Do well and Keep moving,

Betsy

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