The great thing about Americans, is that we embrace a new idea, or a new product with gusto. We have a bad habit of overdoing things. Eventually, we get to some kind of balance, but it’s quite a ride! We do it with food, fashion, philosophies, educational trends – you name it!

Enter soy protein. Have you ever wondered why such a heavily studied food source is so controversial? Soy is a godsend for vegetarians – it has all nine amino acids needed for protein metabolism. It is an excellent substitute for dairy allergic people. And for those who want to increase
their protein, but not increase the meat in their diet soy provides an easily digestible choice. Yet others contend that it is actually dangerous and harmful to human health. Why?

In order to better comprehend the great soy debate, understand how the scientific community works. If something is found to be good, then the next question is: can it be bad? If so, how bad? Grant money is not awarded to prove what we do know, but what is still unknown and controversial. A research scientist doesn’t advance her career confirming old data. Those that fund studies are often
looking for marketing angles. That, in and of itself is not wrong, it’s part of how money for studies is generated. Before reporter or consumer jumps to conclusions based on a study or even a couple of studies, know the background of the study and its source.

It’s also important to know, that research looks only at a single mechanism at a time. It takes numerous studies to complete a picture. Waiting 15 years for a scientific question to be answered is too long for the content hungry 24/7 news industry.

I personally believe that part of the “Soy is evil” mentality that has sporadically shown up on blogs and websites since around 2000, is the proverbial pendulum swing. As the soy benefits were being discovered, consumer demand for soy increased, and so soy went into everything! Textured vegetable protein, a heavily processed form of soy, went into a number of processed foods, even fish sticks, as a way to increase profit margins. That was clearly excessive use of soy. One’s whole diet should not
be soy centric. It is bad for any diet to be focused on a particular food source or food group. That is just common sense.

A recent search of Pub Med showed 1,861 studies on soy protein alone. Some were looking for carcinogenic effects. Some used synthetic soy compounds, which is not the same natural soy molecules. Some used mice in the studies, and -surprise! Mice are not humans, and only 10% of mice studies can be directly related to humans. Hard to sensationalize the truth, isn’t it?

But the majority of studies have clearly shown that soy is beneficial as a natural hormone replacement for women, to increase bone density, build healthy cells, create a balanced lipid (cholesterol) profile, brain development, and anti-cancer and cancer prevention properties.

Shaklee published a Landmark study on its supplement users, and I know many of the study subjects and they are heavy soy protein consumers. Shaklee was an early adopter of soy and in fact, created the first soy protein isolate in 1970. Guess what?

Shaklee customers have been safely using Shaklee soy protein for 40 years. If there were any toxicity issues, it would have shown up in this population, and been revealed in the four studies Shaklee conducted on soy protein use in humans (not mice).

Some of the complaints about soy include:

1) it was an industrial crop
2) the phytoestrogens (plant-based estrogens) are harmful, and may stimulate feminizing characteristics in boys
3) it is acidic, and throws the body out of balance

Here are some quick answers:

1) Peanuts were an industrial crop too, as were rape seeds which is a canola oil source.  Corn is a heavily used industrial crop.  That food sources also have commercial value beyond nutrition shows the incredible power of plants, not that they are necessarily  “poison”!

2) Phytoestrogens are 100 times weaker than human hormones. They compete for the estrogen receptors in both men and women. This helps the body with a natural hormone balance and explains why women in Japan and other Asian nations with heavy soy diets do not experience the menopausal symptoms Western women do. Any extra phyotestrogens are easily metabolized by the body and excreted.

3) Soy is acidic. That’s why the preparation of the soy product is important, and why textured vegetable protein and other heavily processed soy foods should be avoided. Soy should be blended with calcium for that very reason. All Shaklee soy proteins are blended with calcium for balance.

I strongly recommend that if you want to incorporate soy into your diet that you use Shaklee soy products, and fermented products like miso, or tofu. Our family uses soy milk heavily since we are dairy allergic, with no ill effects. We avoid textured vegetable protein, soy cereal, and unnecessary soy substitutes.

For more information on Shaklee Soy: Click here

Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Are Liquid Vitamins Better than Vitamin Pills?

Absorbing nutrients from vitamins is an important issue.  If vitamins don’t get absorbed, you wasted your money.  When I started in the wellness industry 12 years ago, we spent a great deal of time on the absorption issue. Except for pharmaceuticals, the law doesn’t require tablets to dissolve  in order to be sold.  That means your vitamin tablet was not tested most of the time.

Liquid vitamins are popular because many people just don’t like swallowing pills. Chewable tablets don’t often taste good, and it can be  difficult to teach children how to swallow pills. (Some tips here).

Doing some searches for independent information on liquid vitamins was extremely difficult.  98% of the references were by distributors of liquid vitamins. ( The Shaklee Corporation does make a liquid vitamin called Liqui-lea.)  I did find a good article by Dan Ho.  Consumer’s Reports had a little info, but they tend to be negative on supplementation anyway, and do not distinguish between synthetic and natural supplements.

Because the average person doesn’t have a good understanding of the digestion process, it’s very easy to sell the idea of liquid vitamins.  Nutrients are absorbed in your small intestine, not in your stomach.  The purpose of your stomach is to begin the process of breaking down your food.  The rest of the breakdown happens in the small intestine. Your liver, gall bladder, pancreas all supply hormones, enzymes, etc to the small intestine, to complete the process.  There your body extracts the nutrients, makes other vitamins, assembles the protein chain, and it is absorbed through the tiny, finger-like villi.  There is a belief that liquids somehow break down in your stomach more easily. People think that liquid vitamins have somehow “saved a step” in the digestion process. Yet even water must be digested- ever experience water sloshing around in an empty stomach?

Vitamin manufacturers, many of whom do NOT do any clinical testing or third party verification of their products are looking for a competitive edge.  If they can play into popular myth that liquid vitamins are
more easily absorbed, without providing proof, then they do it.

Some vitamins are water soluble.  That means that any nutrient suspended in liquid – like vitamin C, will be completely worthless, because it will break down completely in the bottle before you swallow it. Did the manufacturer takes steps to ensure that the vitamins and minerals in the liquid supplement are stable?  That
they don’t interact in the bottle? What about molecular structure?  Your body requires that certain nutrients come in specific forms – despite what a marketer will tell you.

From Keith Anderson of the Shaklee Corporation:

“There are a few issues with liquid vitamins. Let us start by confirming that liquid vitamins have no absorption advantages over tableted or gel encapsulated supplements. And, yes, water soluble vitamins are unstable and lose potency very quickly in a liquid medium.

Once ingested, nutrients have to be separated from their carriers via the body’s natural chelation process and reunited with the appropriate enzymes and proteins within the body to be redistributed to where they are needed. The body doesn’t care if these nutrients come via liquid or tablet…the chelation
process is necessary with either form.

Another issue of major importance is that nutrients are absorbed through receptors present in various locations along the digestive tract. This is why the time release feature of the SMART delivery system utilized in Vitalizer is so important in maximizing nutrient absorption. Ideally, you do not want vitamins to all be released at the same time in one nutrient dump into the stomach, where certain nutrients are diminished by the acid environment”.

Bottom line- ask to see the clinical studies and third part verification of any brand that you are taking.  Ask for absorption and bioavailability studies.  Learn a little about how your body works yourself, and you will be well prepared in shopping for supplements.

On this page you will find numerous “how to” posts.  Got a question, tip or an idea for a “how to”?  Email me me at karen@gohealthygo.com.

How to teach your child (or yourself) how to swallow tablets

The are often supplements that your children need, like Omegas or B-complex but that don’t come in kid-friendly forms. Teaching your younger child how to swallow tablet becomes a necessity.  I’m very picky about the supplements I use, and frankly, most of the supplements for children are not well tested.  My children are highly allergic and several are ADD, so in order to increase their nutrition, I end up giving my children appropriate amounts of my adult vitamins and minerals.  Many of my clients do this as well. This is why I use only Shaklee brand supplements because I can trust their quality, potency and safety.  This is what I do for my family, and is not medical advice.

Learning how to swallow supplements and medicines doesn’t come easy to everyone.  Often people are afraid to swallow a pill because they may bite it (natural reflex), and experience an awful taste.  Some are afraid that the table will get caught in their throat. The throat of a child over 2 years of age is approx 3/4″ in diameter.  It’s even bigger in an adult!  There is plenty of room for swallowing tablets. I don’t think anyone will be swallowing tablets that are 1/4 ” big!

Another reason people get tense and their throat constricts when they try to swallow tablets is a lack of calcium.  We have found that increasing someone’s calcium intake to the recommended daily amount
(RDA) usually helps relax the throat and swallowing tablets becomes easy. We use chewable calcium for this. (Yes, chewable calcium is very chalky.  Learn to swallow tablets)!

I tell my clients and children who have trouble swallowing to visualize the tablets going down their throat the way a small toy would quickly go over a waterfall.

Mom can use her own judgment, but it’s difficult to teach a child  younger than 5 years old how to swallow. I’m talking here about healthy children without developmental delays.

Start by getting some Mini M&Ms. Your child will swallow these without fear. No one is “afraid” of candy! Then cut the vitamin tablet or medicine into mini- M&M sizes. Use a tablet cutter. You can get these for under $5 at any pharmacy. Have your child swallow cut tablet.  Be calm and natural.  Most swallowing issues are fear-based not based on physiology.

In many cases, you can put the cut tablet in the bottom of a juice glass with a small amount of juice, milk, or water.  Some of the larger fun straws that are given as party favors are great for this. Don’t use the curly straws- everything will get stuck!  Put a straw over the cut up tablet piece, suck the juice through a straw and Voila!  The tablet is swallowed.  This works for adults too. Don’t do this with a quickly dissolving tablet!

Why can’t more come in a liquid, powder or chewable form?  Some vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants just naturally have a bad taste.  Quality manufacturers don’t want alot of additives in their supplements to make things taste better.  Tableting supplements is more efficient way to get the appropriate quantity delivered.

In other cases, the vitamin will not remain stable in solution and it will degrade.

Powdered supplements may settle in the canister, and the manufacturer cannot guarantee that dosage in each serving.

Swallowing tablets allows your child to expand into more targeted supplements, and makes it much easier to follow a program.  Teach your children how to do it.  Got a tip related to swallowing?  Share it in the comment section.

The Shaklee Corporation makes a line of excellent nutritional products for children.   They also have some powered and liquid supplements.  You can learn more about children’s products here. Got a question?  Don’t
have a Shaklee distributor?  Please feel free to contact me.

There are basic principles to living well, and living longer  that are the foundation of every book, article, magazine and podcast on wellness.  Information doubles every 5 years. It takes about 10 years for something to become accepted in the mainstream.  Science discusses everything in a microcosm, and you’re just trying to raise a family and do the best you can.  The result for many people is confusion.  Good news!  The basic principals of health are unchanged.  They have been verified by science numerous times.  There are reliable proven ways to optimize your health and longevity without living a lifestyle dominated by “don’ts”.

Here are a few basic concepts that you can follow to stay sane, young and healthy for as long as possible. They’ll even help you maintain a healthy weight without ruling your life with calorie counting.

1) Hydrate. Drink half your body weight of purified water daily.  A 150 pound person needs 75 ounces or 8 1/2  cups of water daily.  Water. Not tea, juice, or energy drinks.  Proper hydration with water can increase your metabolism by 30%.  Any water purification system you buy should be certified by  NSF the National Sanitation Foundation. It’s a non-profit organization with strict standards for it’s Seal of Approval.

2) Eat simple, clean and colorful foods. Eat a variety of foods and cuisines. Eat as close to nature possible. Avoid processed food.  That eliminates 80% of the grocery store. Lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Your preference should be for raw fruits and veggies first, then frozen, then canned. As much as possible,  eat clean food- organic and free of pesticides and additives.  (Sure, the 3 second rule for food dropped on the floor counts).

3) Muscle = metabolism and longevity.  Exercise. Variety matters here too.  Weight training, dancing,  play games like tennis. Sweat at least 20 minutes. The lower your BMI,(less than 24.9) the better you are preventing disease and maintaining a healthy  weight.  Weight training does double duty for building muscle mass and bone density.  No time for exercise?  Every day you exercise and sweat for 20 minutes you add THREE DAYS to your life and prevent sarcopenia.  Sarcopenia is muscle loss due to aging.  Exercise creates more time for you.  Chasing toddlers while carrying bags of groceries is exercise in my book.

4) Avoid foreign substances in your body like tobacco, alcohol, over the counter, and prescription drugs. Avoid food additives, chemicals and definitely avoid artificial sweeteners.  Foreign substances pollute your body, lower your metabolism and often initiate diseases like cancer. Use non-toxic cleaners, as you absorb residue from laundry, personal care and cleaning products into your body.

In our family, the simple act of changing brands to Shaklee changed our lives. Shaklee is so careful with their manufacturing and quality control practices, that they’ve never had a product recall in 52 years.  Their research is so thorough and picky, that they never use ingredients with even a hint of controversy.  And they test every raw ingredient in every batch of every product for over 350 pesticides in a 50 year database.  I let Shaklee worry about it, and I just live my life and use their stuff.

5) Choose fat wisely.  Good fat is great.  Bad fat is evil.  Make your diet 25% good fat like virgin olive oil,
coconut oil, nut oils. 25% fat might mean 40-60 grams/day.   You need good fat to make the good cholesterol that your body uses to make all of your hormones and neurotransmitters (brain chemicals)!  Your body metabolizes vegetable fat more easily than animal fat.  Avoid fats from animal fat whenever possible.  Fat stores toxins, therefore animal and fish fat store toxins.   Avoid toxins whenever possible.  (See rule #4)

6) Kill Stress because stress kills. The more stressed you are the less time that you feel you have.  But since stress shortens your life span considerably, you increase the amount of time you have by managing your stress. Multitasking actually reduces productivity! Tackle stress by reducing multitasking, limit technology, go outdoors in the sunshine more and just sit.  If you’re stressed out by your job, click here for more time freedom.  A home business can do wonders to beat stress and increase income!

7) BREATHE deep relaxing breaths. Our breathing is shallow when we are stressed.  Oxygen is precious to
your body. Use non-toxic cleaners in your home and work space to lower indoor air pollution. Choose natural products, carpets and fabrics for your living environment whenever possible to reduce outgassing.  Open windows on breezy days.  Breathe clean air. There are many good  quality air purifiers on the market.  Look for one that is verified by a 3rd party.

8 ) Sleep. It’s amazing that we need to be reminded to do something so natural.  Chronic sleep deprivation,
less than 6 hours/night can lead to mental illness, increase in  car and workplace accidents, lower your
immunity, increase the toxin load in your system, and make you an unpleasant person to be with.  Sleep
at least 8 hours.   Get at least 2 of those hours in before midnight.  You will be more productive with
more sleep.  Avoid alcohol.  Cocktails can disrupt your sleep.  If you have difficulty falling asleep try
taking calcium regularly throughout the day to relax muscles.  I like Valerian and a natural anti-stress
product for those nights when my mind starts running 100 miles hour when I hit the pillow.

Sleep allows your body to detox and repair.  Dreaming is a type of detox for your subconscious.

9) Play. Relax, have fun, socialize with people you enjoy. Infants and children who don’t  play or aren’t touched actually stop growing, and lose IQ. Adults too, lose function and health when we don’t play and relax. Laughing releases pain killing endorphins.  Even God rested on the Seventh Day of Creation. Take the hint.

10) Keep learning and living. Research shows that those who keep learning and using their  minds tend to keep it. A positive mindset has a good bio-chemical influence on your immune system.  People who are active and involved live longer than passive, or negative people who are isolated.

11) Take good vitamins. The value of supplementation has been proven in thousands of studies.  You don’t have to be a mad scientist with a hundred bottles on your kitchen counter to enjoy the long term benefits of supplementation.  A good supplement program consists of  those things that build and protect cells: Vitamins, minerals, protein, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. Use a reputable company who’s products have been proven in  third party studies.  If you’re not sure, ask the company for studies where it’s product  was the subject of the study, and published in peer review journals.  That’s the Gold Standard.

These steps may seem too simple to be valuable. They work and will help you prevent disease and enjoy your life.  For more in-depth tips on maintaining a healthy weight, get my free report, 11 ways to boost your Metabolism without Drugs or Spending a Dime.

Is anybody talking about this?

Health care is one of the primary issues in the 2008 presidential election.  The more the stock market goes haywire, the more people are frightened and want the government to step in.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care there are over 47 million Americans who are uninsured. Some of that is by choice – people who opted-out of their employer’s program because of the cost. Many of those are in the middle class. As insurance costs rise, employers cut back.  The cry for Uncle Sam to do something grows louder.

I’m not convinced that the government is the answer to anything. Why are we talking about the government spending MORE tax dollars on health care for disease management, instead of talking about the importance of individual responsibility for managing their own health?

Let’s take a look at some facts.  In October 2007, Nutrition Journal published a Landmark Study co-authored by the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA and the Shaklee Corporation, that showed a marked reduction of major disease risk by those who used Shaklee supplements.  The Dietary Supplement Information Bureau (DSIB) has published other studies with similar results. Nutritionists, holistic health practitioners and even some traditionally trained (allopathic) health care professionals,  have been saying for YEARS that our disease rates are a result of our choices.

Here are just a few:

• Approximately 70% of all cancer is preventable.  It doesn’t “just happen”.
• High blood pressure can be managed naturally
• Heart attack and heart disease is 100% diet and lifestyle related
• Type 2 diabetes is a result of lifestyle and diet, genetics plays a very small role
• Alzheimer’s can be prevented with diet, lifestyle and supplementation
• Allergies can be managed with supplementation and lifestyle changes
• ADD and ADHD can often be managed without drugs
• Asthma is often a function of environment, e.g toxic chemicals in the home, and thus can be managed with lifestyle changes.
• Depression and anxiety can be managed naturally in a many cases
• Diseases brought on by obesity can be avoided completely by diet and lifestyle changes
• Osteoporosis is a function of childhood nutrition, calcium intake and exercise.  It is preventable.
• Many physicians consider stress a major factor in all diseases
• Obesity is considered a disease and is completely preventable

What about diseases brought on by smoking, drug use and excessive alcohol use and multiple sex partners? Should those of us that don’t do those things pay for the choices of those who do?  Those are all optional behaviors!

Our family has chosen to invest about $1,000 dollars a month in our supplementation, fitness and food choices to prevent disease, improve the quality of our health, and extend our lives.   My family is highly allergic I have 35 recognized allergies, each of my children have over 20.  Yet none of us are on any maintenance drugs for our allergies and several of us have few symptoms.  We achieved this through our choice of supplements, using non-toxic cleaners, water and air purification.  When we started our wellness lifestyle each of us had a minimum of 3 maintenance prescriptions for our allergies and related conditions.  Our health care costs and prescription drug use have been radically reduced.

As a wellness educator and longevity coach, I have seen first hand, people drastically reduce their prescription drug use or eliminate it all together with natural approaches improving their quality of life, and eliminating many of their former medical costs. It can be done.

Of course there are those things that do require medical intervention, accidents and injuries, and other circumstances beyond our control.  There are people who, despite their best efforts still become chronically ill. I am not talking about the exceptions. There should be some form of medical insurance that is affordable as well, insurance.   But to talk about health care reform, without making the conversation central to individual choices in their lifestyle is absurd.

Is there any candidate running for office out there that has the guts and the integrity to say that many health care issues are not the government’s job, but the job of individuals?

Some resources for you:

National Coalition for Health Care: www.nchc.org
Human Events -  www.humanevents.com – search for related articles “Health Care Reform”
Fight Chronic Disease.org – www.fightchronicdisease.org/
Committee for Economic Development – www.ced.org
Supplementation and healthcare costs: www.supplementinfo.org
Landmark Dietary Supplement Study – www.landmarkstudy.com

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About the Author: Karen Miner Hurd is a certified Wellness Educator.  Her focus includes Longevity Coaching- helping people extend their lives with simple practical steps. She is passionate about the potential people have to control their health futures.  Karen offers individualized coaching and wellness profiles. She has partnered with the Shaklee Corporation for over 12 years  as an Independent Distributor.  Karen can be reached by email: karen@gohealthygo.com.  Follow her on Twitter.com/karenminerhurd, on Pownce as Longevity Coach.  Join her community on Facebook – http://profile.to/karenminerhurd.