TriVita and Your Health

Many people are alive today because of antibiotics. And the lives of many people have been improved by the use of antibiotic medication. However, it is also important to understand that even appropriate use of antibiotics can damage your body.

Here are some steps you can take to repair your system following antibiotic use and how taking a prebiotic/probiotic supplement with each meal may help reduce the likelihood of future infections.

Weed, seed & feed

To improve any terrain it is often necessary to remove weeds and unwanted plants. The same is true in the human terrain: In extreme cases we may need to remove certain pathogenic (disease-producing) bacteria from our system in order to establish a baseline upon which to build a healthy immune system.

Once “weeds” in the form of disease-producing bacteria, parasites, yeasts and other microbes have been removed, the system needs to be “re-seeded” with probiotics. Probiotics are any of the 300 to 400 different bacteria that live inside us and promote health. Many of these have names you will recognize such as Lactobaccilus acidophilus.

Fermented foods carry many good bacteria with known health benefits. To encourage these health-producing bacteria to colonize (settle down and raise a family) they need to be fed regularly. Good bacteria thrive on healthy fiber and starches called prebiotics. A prebiotic is anything that supports the healthy growth of good bacteria. Examples of common foods rich in prebiotic fibers include okra, parsnips and artichokes.

Critical steps
People who vigorously apply the 10 Essentials have a reduced risk of infection. However, those who live an imbalanced life are more at risk or prone to infection; they are said to be in the “pool of susceptibility.” That is, they are susceptible to infection. To take oneself out of the pool of susceptibility we need to follow some simple steps:

1. Breathe deeply 20 minutes daily
2. Drink pure water: ½ your body weight in ounces
3. Sleep peacefully 7 ½ to 9 hours each night
4. Eat nutritious food: 5, 7 or 9 servings of fruit and vegetables daily
5. Enjoy activity for at least 30 minutes most days of the week
6. Cultivate healthy emotional and spiritual relationships
7. Seize your sense of purpose – your many purposes in life

If you are recovering from antibiotic use you may add prebiotic fiber and probiotic bacteria such as those found in Digestive Complex.

Caution needed

There is a dark side to antibiotic use: resistant strains of bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria develop when antibiotics are over-used or improperly used. Antibiotic-resistant microbes colonize and serve as reservoirs of disease. Antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, pneumonia and meningitis epidemics have killed thousands of people and threaten to kill millions more in the coming decades.

Dr. Jim Wilde, chief investigator of the misuse of antibiotics for the National Institutes of Health in concert with the Centers for Disease Control, states that many antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. This is because our own immune system can respond adequately to kill the infection and restore balance.

So, take yourself out of the pool of susceptibility by vigorously applying the 10 Essentials, eating foods rich in prebiotic fibers and taking probiotics as necessary.

Technorati Tags: antibiotics, digestive complex, Healthy Aging, Nopalea, nutritional supplements, prebiotic, probiotic, TriVita

You’ve heard that the best defense is a good offense. This is especially true when it comes to your immune system. By practicing healthy lifestyle habits and reducing our exposure to infection (offense), we can better help protect against illness (defense) and that’s one way of looking at it when considering how to boost your immune system.

What determines if you get sick or not?
Louis Pasteur and Antoine Bechamp – physicians 150 years ago – were keenly aware of the same things you and I experience every year: during the cold and flu season, some people get sick and some people don’t. Pasteur spent his life looking for what makes sick people sick. Bechamp spent his career looking for what keeps healthy people healthy – and how we can be like them! They settled their argument with the discovery that illness visits people with poor habits much more frequently than those who care for their health.

It turns out that microbes prefer to wreak their havoc on people with compromised immune systems. Simple things can compromise our immune system, including:

* An imbalanced diet
* Alcohol and caffeine consumption
* An argument with someone you love

Just as Pasteur and Bechamp discovered more than a century ago, our health revolves around a healthy lifestyle more than the virulence of a microbe and that’s important to keep in mind when considering how to boost your immune system.

Help protect against illness
The phrase that describes our vulnerability or resistance to disease is “biological terrain.” The terrain or landscape of our health is made up of our genetics, our environment and, most importantly, our lifestyle. Vigorous application of the 10 Essentials yields the healthiest, most disease-resistant terrain. Skipping even one of these principles will change your terrain and leave you vulnerable to infection.

* A base of healthy nutrients
Establishing a base of healthy nutrients can provide us with a very resilient terrain. The more dense the base is, the more disease-resistant our terrain will be and that is just 1 way of how to boost your immune system. Taking a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement every day is an excellent start. Almost all physicians recommend an Omega-3 supplement as well. If your terrain is being remodeled by stress, you may need adaptogens to help you cope while remaining disease-resistant. Indeed, the long-term studies of adaptogens in Russia clearly demonstrated that these plants help you resist infections and speed healing.

* Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a favorite for protecting against and even treating virus infections and another consideration on how to boost your immune system. Russell Jaffe, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health, recommends a loading dose of Vitamin C: one teaspoon of Vitamin C crystals every 15 minutes until you “flush.” By this, he means a complete bowel evacuation. After the flush, he recommends a daily serving of Vitamin C (for one month) that is equivalent to 75% of the amount it took you to flush. This should really improve your terrain!

* Echinacea
Echinacea is used in a similar way. Significant medical research from Germany suggests that an hourly dose of Echinacea will help reduce symptoms and may help shorten the duration of a virus infection. Taking a gram of Echinacea every hour for three days may even “abort” an infection that has already begun. Continue taking Echinacea three times daily for up to two weeks afterward to protect against a relapse.

Reduce your exposure
Here are some great recommendations for reducing your exposure to infection:

* Wash your hands
First, the largest contributor to infection is unwashed hands. Washing your hands with soap every few hours will reduce the chance for pathogens to gain access to your system. You should also make sure they are completely dry. Then, use the disposable towel to open the door out of the washroom. Many ugly microbes lurk on door handles – usually from people who have not properly washed and dried their hands.

* Clean surfaces
Next, disinfect surfaces that are shared by many people. For instance, public telephones bring you within kissing distance of hundreds or even thousands of people. Who knows what their hygiene habits were? In a typical day we may be exposed to germs from as many as 150 countries or more!

* Reduce stress
Reduce stress. Stress decreases the effectiveness of your immune system. Your immune system may begin to overreact or not react in time to stop an infection when you are under stress. The source of the stress really does not matter. For instance, job stress and an injury may seem like entirely different stresses to your mind but they are treated exactly the same way by your body.

Remember, building up your terrain and reducing your exposure are keys to a great offense… which will help improve your defense!

Take Control of Your Health

* Aggressively apply the 10 Essentials

* Take a “base” of nutrients:

o A multiple vitamin and mineral supplement
o An Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
o A stress-specific antioxidant supplement
o Vitamin C

* Reduce your exposure

o Wash your hands every few hours and dry thoroughly
o Disinfect common area surfaces

To find out more about TriVita’s products, go here or if you’d like to find out how you can earn an additional stream of income, call me on 856-264-7802.

Es Riggins
Independent TriVita Affiliate Member #13160615

Technorati Tags: echinacea, health, healthy nutrients, immune system, vitamin c

Swine Flu Linked to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America

This is the headline from the Daily Mail newspaper in the UK. Unsettling to say the least. The nerve disease that is linked to the swine flu inoculation is none other than Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal. The warning letter, from the Health Protection Agency, was sent to 600 neurologists alerting them that they must be on the akert for an increase in incidents of this serious brain disorder.

It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:

• More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
• 500 cases of GBS were detected
• The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times
• The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear
• The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected.

My question is, “Is the cure worse than the disease?”

I for one won’t be getting a swine flu shot and I will plead the case that no one in my family gets one either.i

It may be wise to read the entire article in The Daily Mail

Better safe than sorry.

Es Riggins

Technorati Tags: Swine Flu, swine flu side effects