Author: joy

Is Your Calcium Supplement Deadly?

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Here we have more helpful comments on the latest calcium studies – this is from Monte Kline at the Pacific Health Center in Oregon…one of my resources for honest information for many years.

Calcium supplementation has really been pushed for many years now, with conventional medicine typically recommending as much as 1500 mg of supplemental calcium per day.  Such recommendations usually do not indicate a preferred source of calcium, nor the necessity of including other synergistic minerals.  Now, a 2010 study involving over 8000 people suggests that taking over 500 mg/day of the wrong kind of calcium — limestone (dolomite, calcium carbonate), oyster shell, bone meal — increases the risk of heart attack by 27% (details available at:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/30/calcium-supplement-on-heart-attack.aspx?e_cid=20120130_DNL_art_1)

For many years I have told clients and seminar audiences that our bodies were not made to eat rocks, though the calcium supplements most often used by Americans are just that — calcium carbonate.  For this reason we have always told our clients to only use chelated minerals, that is, minerals that are bonded with an amino acid to make it more like the minerals found in food.  Chelated minerals are identified on labels with names including:  amino acid chelate, citrate, aspartate, orotate, malate, et. al.

The other big error with mineral supplementation concerns calcium only supplements.  My counsel is never take a calcium only mineral supplement.   Our bones aren’t just made of calcium, but rather of many minerals and trace minerals, all of which are fundamental to bone health.  This is especially true of magnesium, which has a tandem relationship with calcium — increasing calcium levels create relative magnesium deficiencies and vice-versa.  Magnesium is probably the most significant nutrient for cardiovascular health in general and for preventing heart attacks in particular.  Thus, it’s no big surprise that the people in this study who were taking “calcium only” supplements had increased heart attack incidence.  Robert Thompson, M.D., in his book, The Calcium Lie, echoes this sentiment, noting that bone is composed of at least a dozen minerals. He states that exclusively focusing on calcium may not only worsen bone density, but also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, gallstones, arthritis, obesity, thyroid disorders, and type 2 diabetes.

Besides magnesium, other minerals that are key to bone density are boron, vanadium, silicon, and strontium.  Consequently, a multi-mineral from chelated sources is what we have always recommended at Pacific Health Center.   As always, our individualized LSA testing will best indicate the most compatible chelated mineral supplement for your body, but even without testing, be sure to you’re using a good chelated multi-mineral such as our Mineral Complex, Osteogenesis, Multi-Minerals, Spectramin Chelate, Mega Min, etc.  Your questions and comments are always welcome.

– Monte Kline, Clinical Nutritionist

www.pacifichealthcenter.com

Article at: http://www.pacifichealthcenter.com/blog/?p=644

Breast Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke – A Deadly Side Effect of Calcium Supplements?

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Thirty years ago, I was taught that not all calcium was created equal – that has not changed.  There is solid research that proves that unprotected calcium molecules are crystallizing in the small intestine, causing an absorption/solubility problem and generating free radical activity.

Not good.

The information below will lead you to some of the latest about calcium supplementation.  Don’t know who is right – but this I know:  All your supplements need to be usable, in balance with other nutrients and as close to God’s design as possible.  Trust me, that narrows the choices.

Story at-a-glance – from www.mercola.com

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/30/calcium-supplement-on-heart-attack.aspx

  • Taking elemental calcium supplements (with or without vitamin D) in amounts of 500 mg or more may actually increase your relative risk of heart attack by up to 27 percent, and may even increase your risk of stroke
  • Taking the wrong type of calcium and in isolation, without complementary nutrients like magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K, which help keep your body in balance, can have adverse effects, such as calcium building up in coronary arteries and causing heart attacks
  • Osteoporosis, as defined by DXA bone screenings using the T-score, are highly misleading, because they compare your bone density to a 25-year old (and not your age group) as the standard of normality. Bone density and bone strength are two different things, and having highly dense bones may increase your risk of breast cancer as a woman by 300% or more.
  • Evidence that supplementing with calcium safely prevents fractures is lacking, but plentiful research suggests calcium deposits are major contributors and even causative factors in many health conditions
  • In order for calcium to do your body good, it must be in a biologically appropriate form and balanced out with vitamins D and K and other important trace minerals, as part of a total nutritional plan

Here is more with stroke studies – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/15/is-your-calcium-supplement-a-heart-attack-or-stroke-waiting-to-happen.aspx

Controversial: You Don’t Get Flabby from Overeating Calories and Not Exercising

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A new study by nutrition researchers found that nearly 20 percent of restaurant dishes have at least 100 more calories than what the restaurant states on their website. Underestimated foods came from a number of chains, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, Olive Garden, Boston Market and Outback Steakhouse. One dish, a side order of chips and salsa at On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, had more than 1,000 calories more than it was supposed to.

According to CNN:

“Some foods with the biggest discrepancies were lower-calorie items such as salads, which dieters would be more likely to choose. For example, the Tufts lab analysis showed the classic blue cheese wedge side salad at Outback Steakhouse contained 1,035 calories — 659 calories more than what would be expected based on what was on the restaurant’s website.”

Read about:

  • The Major Flaw that Makes Calorie Counting almost Worthless for Weight Loss
  • The American Diet – A Recipe for Diaster
  • Why Counting Calories Doesn’t Work

And more at – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/13/many-restaurants-underestimate-calories-in-their-dishes.aspx?np=true

Choices Matter!

Toxins Under Your Kitchen Sink

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From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels Tuesday, August 30, 2011

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you’ve probably been getting the sense that our bodies are under assault in the modern world. We ingest toxins in the form of refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, and other additives in our food. Some toxins are present in our environment, in the form of air and water pollution. And some can be found right in our homes, under our kitchen sinks and in our bathroom cabinets. Conventional cleaning products are full of toxic chemicals — in fact, most incidents of poisoning occur in the home and involve items like cleaning supplies. Chemical cleaners pump harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, which we then breathe in. The worst offenders are drain, oven, and toilet bowl cleaners and products containing chlorine and ammonia. (Get this: Chlorine and ammonia combine to produce chloramine, which was used as a chemical weapon in World War I.) Instead of chemical cleaners, stick with products made from 100 percent natural ingredients to clean your house; they’re just as effective and they’re cheap too! Here are a few useful cleaners you probably already have in your pantry or bathroom cabinet:

Baking soda can be used to deodorize your fridge, freezer, and carpets, to clean cutlery, and to scrub toilets and tubs.

Lemon juice is a great substitute for bleach.

White vinegar mixed with water can be used to clean floors, windows, and mirrors. To clean kitchen surfaces, spray them first with pure white vinegar, then with hydrogen peroxide, and wipe the surfaces clean. Be sure to keep the vinegar and peroxide in two separate spray bottles — mixing them before you spray can create a hazardous concentration of the germ-killing acid formed when the two products are combined.

Joy’s Thoughts:

This is a soap box I have been on for twenty years.  One of my volunteer jobs is to teach a workshop called Is Your Home a Healthy Home? and it’s about toxins under the sink.

Julian’s recommendations are on target, but there are a few problems: freshness, performance and convenience of using those products for cleaning.  Our busy life styles do not take to freshly mixing up home remedies each time we clean.  Fortunately, there are convenient healthier choices all around.  Some of the big corporates, who want a piece of the “go-green” pie, have done a good job of providing safer for you cleaning products alongside their traditional toxic ones on the store shelf.  The higher price and the poor performance of them is only going to be tolerated by those truly committed to safer choices, however.

But keep looking – the need for those choices is growing.  Where I shop, their customer base has grown tremendously in the last few (economically stressful) years.  They have figured out how to do better working, safer for you products for less money than what is on the store shelf.  With the growing need for healthier choices – other companies are going to be working on doing that – surely.

Choices matter! More at www.joyboudreau.com.

If You’re Tired, You are Probably Lacking This

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Major symptoms of dehydration: thirst, dry skin, dark colored urine and fatigue.

During most of August, fatigue like I have not felt in 20 years was a daily deal.  A friend of mine mentioned having the same, and shared how drinking more water fixed the problem.  Yep, in the name of busyness I was drinking less over all…outside more, and I don’t keep the house very cool.

Now to decide which water I should be drinking…sigh. Read the article and tell me what version you are using.

How Drinking Pure Water Can Improve Every Facet of Your Health

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/21/how-drinking-spring-or-filtered-water-can-improve-your-health.aspx

Cell phones in the basket with Lead, Exhaust and Choloroform?

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My cellphone notification noises are often in the “All Alerts Off” because I forget to turn them back on after leaving a church service or a meeting.  With this announcement from the World Health Organization – maybe I will leave them off. 

Cell Phone Use as Much a Cancer Risk as Lead, Engine Exhaust and Chloroform
Wednesday, 01 June 2011

© 2011 – MyBestHealthPortal

Choices Matter!

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Preventing cancer needs more attention.  My money, time and energy would rather be spent in prevention education versus the treatment recommendations that are not based on superior science and with yukky results.

According to an article I read recently (link below),  three advancements in cancer prevention that have not been accepted by conventional medicine are:

1. Radically reduce your sugar intake.

2. Vitamin D

3. Exercise

And what else would those three prevent?

And (also mentioned in the article)…Additional lifestyle guidelines that will help protect you against cancer include:

  • Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega 3 fats. 

Joy note: Remember quality counts.

  • Eat according to your nutritional type (www.mercola.com/nt)
  •  Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short circuiting that can activate cancer genes.  Even the CDC state that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions.  It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed.  (How to Resolve 7 Deadly Stresses – www.iblp.org/store – click on Health)
  • Maintain an ideal body weight.
  • Get enough high-quality sleep.
  • Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.  (www.joyboudreau.MyEBookPage.com)
  • Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.
  • Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.

Do your homework – if you go to this complete article, (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/24/american-cancer-society–more-interested-in-wealth-than-health.aspx) – you will see many resources to help you decide if choices matter or not.

Get out in the sun, don’t get out in the sun, get out in the sun, don’t get out in the sun…

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Seems as if highest paid supermodel Gisele Bundchen “Infuriated Cancer Experts” when she called sunscreen “poison.”  She refuses to use sunscreen on herself or her family due to the chemicals in most of them; she also spoke out against baby infant formula full of sugar and often soy.

So is Gisele Bundchen Right?

Probably.  In the name of making another dollar – the big name companies make all kinds of harsh chemical compromises because those chemicals are less expensive, and if you think that if it is on the store shelf it is safe – you need to request my free ebook at: http://joyboudreau.myebookpage.com/

Fortunately, balance fixes a lot of things.  We are learning the benefits of Vitamin D; learning that the sun is the best place to get that Vitamin D; learning that too much of any good thing causes problems, and that we can make healthier product choices – even in sunscreens.

Here is the entire article giving you the ins and outs of this sun and sunscreen and skin cancer issue at Dr. Mercola’s site: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/22/new-study-shows-many-sunscreens-are-accelerating-not-preventing-cancer.aspx

And if you do read the article – share the information with my loves-to-lay-in-the-sun  husband, Greg, will you? Sigh.

Are you getting too much sleep?

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From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

If you sleep 10 hours a night, you might face some of the same hormonal risks as those who sleep too little. A recent Canadian study found that people who sleep fewer than seven hours or more than nine hours weigh an average of four more pounds (and had wider waists) than people who sleep eight hours every night. Researchers believe that having too much or too little sleep interferes with your ability to control your appetite, because it simultaneously increases hunger hormone ghrelin while it decreases satisfaction hormone leptin.

Want to be sure you are getting all the benefits of a good night sleep? Get your rest! Shoot for a consistent eight hours of sleep and stick with the same bed time and wake-up time each day — even on the weekends!