So, what is available to help me out?

The marketplace is loaded with stuff to give us energy.  Stop into any convenience store near you and check them out.  But before you make a choice to purchase, consider what that product is actually doing inside your body.  Is it safe?  Is it worth it?

According to statistics published by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in November 2011, emergency room visits associated with energy drinks has increased dramatically.  From 1,128 ER visits reported in 2005, the number has climbed to 13,114 ER visits associated with Energy Drinks.  Read the report.

By reading product labels, I find that most energy drinks have high sugar and caffeine content.  This is concerning because there are health impacts of both of these ingredients on all people, not just Baby Boomers.

• Adding sugar to your diet may not be the best decision for you. Obesity and Type II Diabetes are directly related to sugar in the diet.
• Caffeine in large doses can be dangerous, not just stimulating!  If you have, or are at risk for high blood pressure (hypertention), you need to manage your intake of caffeine or risk serious consequences.

Our lives are stressed to the max!  Why choose to consume a product that increases stress on your body when there are safe, effective, alternate choices?   Here is a link to an excellent wellness product that fits the need to beat mental fatigue and perform at your best! Check out TruBoost.

There are three major things you can control that will make a difference in reducing the risk of developing Osteoporosis. They are diet, exercise, and taking a calcium supplement.

• Eating a balanced diet is good.  People who eat right tend to feel better!  Ask yourself, is the food I eat providing the nutrients (including vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals) I need on a daily basis?  What if I fueled up with “High Test” rather than “Regular”?

• Getting exercise actually strengthens your bones!  Your body is designed to take care of itself.  If you need muscle to perform, you develop muscles like a body builder.  This is true for your bones.  If you use them, your body will deliver the nutrients and support to maintain them!  Get walking and stretching today.

• Take a calcium supplement with Vitamin D.  Calcium is critical to your heart and muscles as well as strong bones.  Calcium is stored by your body in bones.  If you need more calcium, your bones give it up so your muscles can continue working.  We all  benefit from a daily dose of 1200mg of calcium.

Check out a brand I recommend for getting “High Test” fuel and a great Calcium Supplement,  OsteoMegaCare.

Here is a pretty complete listing of the known risk factors for developing osteoporosis.

* female gender
* Caucasian or Asian race
* thin and small body frames
* family history of osteoporosis (for example, having a mother with an osteoporotic hip fracture doubles your risk of hip fracture)
* personal history of fracture as an adult
* cigarette smoking
* excessive alcohol consumption
* lack of exercise
* diet low in calcium
* poor nutrition and poor general health
*  malabsorption (nutrients in the bowels are not properly absorbed)
* low estrogen levels
* chemotherapy
* loss of the menstrual period (amenorrhea)
* chronic inflammation
* immobility, such as after a stroke or any condition that interferes with walking
* hyperthyroidism (excessive thyroid hormone)
* hyperparathyroidism (excessive parathyroid hormone production causes too much calcium to be removed from the bone)
* vitamin D deficiency (vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium)
* certain medications can cause osteoporosis such as long-term use of heparin (a blood thinner), antiseizure medications phenytoin (Dilantin) and phenobarbital, and long-term use of oral corticosteroids (such as prednisone)

That is another reason why I love the industry of network marketing.  NO RESUME REQUIRED!!!!!  All that is really required is the desire to create your own destiny.  No professional clothes to go buy, no interviews with sweaty palms and no waiting by the mailbox anticipating the thank you for applying, but…letter.  If you have the ability to dream big and live and to live into what’s possible you are accepted.  Don’t misunderstand me, not everyone likes that kind of business model or wants it.  There are many people who want to be an employee, want the same paycheck every Friday probably because they see that as “safe”.  To those people, I wish them well. But for the rest of us who want more…..network marketing is THE perfect business model.  Not all network companies are created equal but I am convinced that there is a company for everyone.  Due diligence is the key here.  Speaking of that, there is a great CD available called, “Retire Rich-The 1099 Way” created by Paul Devlin, a top earner in network marketing.  In his CD, he goes over what to look for in a network marketing company and how to choose one.  Listening to it gives you the points to consider while doing your due diligence.

Email me or call me and I will be happy to send you the CD as a complimentary gift….After listening to it, you will definitely have the courage to throw away that resume!!!!

Most liquids for children come with a plastic cup or some form of spoon or dropper.  These are marked, or calibrated, so you can see how much to give, if your eyes are that good.  In a study* recently published, it was found that over 50% of measured doses by parents for kids are not accurate! That means the measured amount was 20% more or 20% less than amount indicated.  This study only compared dosed given from the cups, spoons, and droppers that came with the products. Almost 30% of the time, the dose measured was at least 1/3 to much or too little!  I wonder how accurate the dosing is for the spoons you have in your kitchen.

We don’t know why people have a problem measuring the right amount of a liquid, but the good news is you can do something about it.  The next time you are at the pharmacy, ask for a dosing spoon, or a dropper.  You never know when you may need one.  Plastic cups should be avoided if possible because 7 out of 10 times the amount parents measured is not accurate.

*Source: Yin HS, Mendelsohn AL, Wolf MS, et al

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164:181-186

Here’s a little know fact that is having a major impact on our health. The soils in the United States are DEPLETED of nutrients. This info comes from the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil. It reported that soil depletion is a worldwide epidemic with the United States topping the chart with 85% of its soil depleted. You would think that with all the modern technology available to farmers, this would not be a problem. The technology is the main reason the soils are depleted. The crops are planted over and over again with high volume and high productivity as the goal. Very little nutrients are put back into the soil, and the ones that are returned are simply to reach that goal. Nutrition of the plant is not a consideration. So, if the nutrients are not in the soil, guess what, they are not in the plants either!!!!

Americans are the most overfed society and yet we are the most malnourished. We are eating empty foods, void of trace minerals that existed in abundance 100 years ago. So, the broccoli looks just like the broccoli my grandfather ate on his farm in rural Kansas, but it is hugely different. To get the same amount of trace minerals that my grandpa got in one serving, I would have to eat a whole wheelbarrow full!!! I like broccoli just fine, but a wheelbarrow full would probably give me a really bad case of gas!!!!

Linus Pauling, a two time Nobel Prize winner for his work on vitamin C said, “Every ailment, every sickness and every disease can be traced back to an organic trace mineral deficiency.”  It is no surprise to me that our society is seeing diseases that did not exist 100 years ago. Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, ADD, ADHD, just to name a few were not around back then. We used to refer to Diabetes and Adult onset and Child Onset. Now, children are getting “Adult onset” as early as 5! So sad!

But don’t panic! We can get the nutrients and trace minerals, just not from the land….The Ocean! The Japanese have taught us about the ocean and what a huge nutritious salad bar it is. Japan has little land to farm on and they learned centuries ago to use the ocean as a resource for their food. They eat lots of sea vegetables that are nutrient dense. The oceans are chocked full of trace minerals. Sea vegetables obtain their nutrients through their leaves, not their roots like their land locked cousins. The benefit to the Japanese people is their disease rate is dramatically lower that the Americans. There are over 100,000 Japanese over 100 years old living healthy productive lives!!! Studies show that when Japanese move to the US and adopt a typical American diet, their disease rate does increase.

Wow!!!! Sea Vegetables gives us what is missing in our American diet. Who knew?????

I am going to assume that Joey will be one of my greatest teachers. As of this writing he is just under 3 months old and already I have learned so much from him. He has taught me that I can have him overnight and my usual complaints that go along with everyday life…disappear. I have learned what it is to stare at somebody so tiny and wonder how he can have 4 adults running like chickens with their heads cut off every time he cries, or makes a cute baby noise. This is unconditional love. It doesn’t matter how many times I changed his diaper in an hour….it just doesn’t matter. What matters is his tiny new life and I wonder what he will think of it as he becomes an adult.

A Legacy. Joey has caused me to think about legacy and what that will look like. He came into our lives and now we have him forever as he has us. With those thoughts, I get present to what do I want Joey to know, to remember, to be. What will he remember of me? What difference did I make for him and others in the world? Wow, pretty heavy stuff coming from an 11 week old!!!! There is a saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will arrive. Thanks Joey for arriving. I guess the student is ready. Now, I gotta go change a diaper!

Granny, the student, would love to hear what legacy are you creating? What difference are you making in the world?

So, in my last post I introduced you to how I got here. What I learned from that journey is so amazing. We were going about our lives, not really having a plan. We were working 80 hr weeks at our retail businesses and sometimes we could pay the bills, and sometimes we couldn’t. I did love the antique business but it was very physical. Loading an 18 ft truck in below 0 weather or 99% humidity was starting to wear on me. It was still fun but not so much as when the economy was busting. One day I turned to Bob at our antique shop and said, “This isn’t fun anymore”. He agreed but we just went on as usual, after all, we had a GIANT loan to pay off. Life was status quo.

One day a friend of mine told me about her home based business and asked if I might be interested in it as well. I wasn’t looking for anything, I was already working 80 hour weeks. But being curious what my friend was up to, I took a look at what she was doing. While she was sharing with me, a HUGE light bulb went on. There was actually another way to earn income. A way that was part time and the rest was history. I started my own home based business and what I got is that what lights me up is to make a REAL difference for people. Being an antique dealer made a small difference for people. Now I can make a GIGANTIC difference for people.

So, now, I work in my jammies when I want, (we call that the bunny slipper commute) and the community of people I work with are extraordinary. Not that my retail customers weren’t extraordinary but some were real buggers!

A book I would like to recommend is the “The Go Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It is a short novel type book on how helping other people is the true fulfillment of life. Out of that commitment to help others, we will get what we want, hands down. Treat yourself to that book….You can thank me later!

I would love to know your thoughts on helping others and how that has affected your life. Go ahead, leave a comment, it’s not THAT scary!

This is silly, this is fun, I’m too old for this, people might laugh, all of that is running in the background and yet I continue to type. I guess what keeps me typing is somewhere I feel that my journey of 54 years has something to offer that others might benefit from. My husband, Bob of 32 years and I have certainly had a roller coaster ride complete with moments of sheer joy and moments of throwing up.

First of all, I know my birth certificate says I am 54, but there’s no way! I think there has been a mistake. I feel like I am just starting to grow up…so I must be closer to 30. I know every older person says this but with ME it’s different. LOL!

Bob and I are high school sweethearts and when we graduated college we had it all figured out. With Bob just out of Pharmacy School, and a brand new baby we headed out to the world to live our dream. The year was 1980, was that a long time ago???? Looking back, we didn’t really have a dream….We just did what we thought we were supposed to do.

And we did “IT” pretty well. I guess “IT” was successfully raising 2 kids in the foothill suburbs of Denver Colorado while Bob was climbing that corporate ladder. I had fun being a soccer mom, Girl Scout Leader, and playing tennis while working 1 day a week at my Mom’s antique shop. Boy, I had it pretty good! Unknown to me was how time was slipping away. Tick Tock.

Ordinarily happy. Blind and Blissful. That is how I would describe those years. Good, but not particularly fulfilling. When my parents announced that they were retiring and offered me their antique shop, things did get exciting! I bought the inventory from them and boom, I was in business as an official antique dealer. Working with my Mom side by side prior to her retirement was oodles of fun, Thanks Mom! What I found out is that I really really loved the business of antiques and interiors and I was pretty good at it. We traveled the country in our 18 ft delivery truck picking up junk and fixing it up, selling for a small profit and doing it all over again. My little shop was quite well known in the state of Colorado as well as the antique show we put on in the summer. Kids grew up, left for college, came home, left for college, came home.

March of 2003, Colorado had a little known blizzard. 7 feet of snow fell in 3 days on our little antique shop and collapsed 2 of the 3 buildings we were in. Denver actually got 3 ft, news worthy for sure but it also coincided with the bombing of Afghanistan and was pushed to the back pages. Our county wouldn’t allow us to rebuild the out buildings as they were “grandfathered” in according to the building codes. To continue doing the business I loved we had to start over and rebuild with a whole new building. 2003 was not the best time to look for huge loans but we managed to secure one and the rest is history. We opened our Victorian style 12,000 sq ft building in 2004 and it was glorious!!! Hundreds of people showed up for the grand opening. What we didn’t know at that time where the economy was headed. In 2 short years, we lost the whole venture. A combination of the economy, back to back blizzards the week of Christmas and road construction made for the perfect storm and we lost it all. (This would be one of those throw up moments I talked about earlier) We lost the family farm….

Forward to 2006, severely financially challenged and barely surviving. As you will recall that year was not a good year to be looking for a job. Now, in 2010, it still isn’t. What I didn’t know is that there is life after all that. A very sweet life. A life I could never have imagined. That 7 ft blizzard was the best thing to happen to us, I was just too young and dumb to know. (remember, I am only 30ish)

So, reinvention, here I come!!!!! More next time on what that looks like.

I would like to invite you leave your comments… Especially on how I did on my first blog!