Inner Peace and Forgiveness

Lately, I’ve been thinking about quality of life. Natural health practitioners believe they achieve a better quality of life. I, for one, maintain that because of the state of my health, my quality of life is better than it would have been otherwise. I support that conclusion by comparing my health to that of friends and family my age or younger and because of the success I’ve had treating various personal conditions throughout the last 12 years.

But I want to focus on other factors that influence quality of life. At this time, I have identified four key factors that affect it:

• physical and mental health,
• financial health (or freedom or security),
• time freedom, and
• inner peace.

Today, I want to focus on inner peace. I believe that inner peace is a result of the state of our walk with God. God is forgiving and wants us to also be forgiving. Yet I have found forgiving some people to be hard.

So I read with interest a book entitled, “The Forgiveness Habit” by Jo Ann Rotermund. The author claims that “forgiveness is not:

• a sign of weakness, ignorance, or low self-esteem,
• forgetting the past and putting yourself at risk again,
• repressing your anger and pretending you haven’t been hurt, or
• refusing to hold people accountable for their behavior.

“Forgiveness is something you do for yourself, not for anyone else….When you forgive, you actually set yourself free….Forgiveness clears emotional toxins from your body and boosts your immune system.”

Rotermund “spent her life being a victim until 2001, when her study of forgiveness helped heal her past and bring personal power, freedom, and joy into everything she does.”

I personally know Jo Ann. She is part of my networking group in Houston. I have tremendous respect for the research and thought she put into this book. Reading it exposed me to the reasons why forgiveness can be so hard.

If you struggle with forgiveness, if grudges encumber you, if you want to be set free, get the book and study it. Jo Ann’s website is www.TheForgivenessHabit.org. You can order the book there or from Amazon.

Hearing loss caused by free radicals?

Although health news in the media and the press are predominantly medically-oriented, I occasionally run across an article of interest from a natural health perspective.

So an article in the August 22, 2015, Wall Street Journal about a drug trial to reduce hearing loss caught my attention. According to the article, “researchers believe excessive noise causes the body to produce large numbers of highly reactive molecules (free radicals) that can harm tissues such as the hair cells of the inner ear.” The proposed drug is an antioxidant (d-methionine).

Of course, antioxidants neutralize free radicals, so if free radicals are a cause of hearing loss, then an antioxidant should be effective.

But why do we need a drug with all its side-effects? There are many natural antioxidants already available on the market, and they have no side effects!

Do free radicals cause hearing loss? This is the first I’ve heard that proposed, but it certainly is plausible. Free radicals are believed to be a major cause of aging, and hearing loss is typically associated with aging. So there’s one more reason to take an effective antioxidant.

I take several antioxidants, but I consider the best to be Microhydrin Plus™ from RBC Life. 

Free radicals are created constantly within the body. And free radicals are highly reactive, looking for a site to capture an electron from another molecule. So when a free radical is created the most effective protection is to have an antioxidant nearby to provide that electron.

The antioxidant should be both water soluble and fat soluble. And the antioxidant should not become a free radical itself when it gives up an electron. Microhydrin Plus™ meets those specs. I take it at least twice a day to be sure it is available when a free radical appears.

Disease or Disorder? The difference is important!

What is the difference between “disease” and “disorder”? 

Some people say they are used interchangeably. But if there is no difference, why have two terms?

To me, a disorder is a condition in which the body does not function the way it was designed to function. A disease is the state in which the body is suffering from the effects of an invading organism—a virus, bacteria, fungus, parasite, etc. The distinction between these two terms has become blurred.

The body is designed to heal itself. If the body is not healing itself, the way it was designed to work, that is a “disorder”. Probably the two most common disorders are immune system disorders and genetic disorders.

Immune system disorders 

If the immune system is malfunctioning, the body may experience any or all of the following possible results:

• The immune system will attack healthy tissue (over-active immune system leading to auto-immune disorders),
• The immune system will over-react to benign particles (over-active immune system leading to allergies and sensitivities),
• The immune system will not destroy an invading organism (under-active immune system leading to frequent and prolonged diseases),  
• The immune system will not identify and destroy cancer cells (under-active immune system leading to cancer).

Auto-immune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, lupus, asthma, are the most common. Auto-immune disorders fall into the category of over-active immune systems.   

What to do about an immune system disorder? 

The medical community has a drug for any and all of these conditions.

A drug may help the body fight an invading organism. That is certainly an appropriate application for a drug.

But the cause of an immune system disorder is not a missing drug. A drug may relieve pain and discomfort, but it does not address the cause of the disorder.

The mostly likely cause of an immune system disorder is a deficiency of one or more nutrients that leads to the malfunctioning of the immune system. One of the most common missing nutrients is polysaccharides, which are critical to having a properly-functioning immune system.

Personally, I believe that many of our nation’s immune disorders could be resolved with proper nutrition, consequently resulting in a check on the nation’s sky-rocketing medical costs.

Do you have an interest in cancer?

I feel led to address cancer

Not because I have an answer. But because I believe that I have an understanding about cancer that could benefit my readers. My understanding has developed over 12 years of digging into the topic. I’ve attended sessions devoted to cancer, read dozens of books and articles, watched numerous webinars, and talked with medical researchers and natural health practitioners.

We all have cancer cells within our bodies at all times. Why do these cells progress to the level of “cancer” in some people and not in others? According to current statistics, one of every two men and one of every three women will get cancer during their lifetime.

The financial incentive not to get cancer is huge

A recent Wall Street Journal article (“Doctors Object to High Cancer Drug Prices,” July 25, 2015) reported on over 100 oncologists calling for new controls on soaring patient costs in the U.S. An editorial published in the Mayo Clinic medical journal reports that “the out-of-pocket costs are bankrupting many just as they’re fighting a deadly illness….About 10% to 20% of cancer patients don’t take their treatment as prescribed” the doctors say. “The average cost of new cancer drugs was more than $100,000 per year in 2012. Memorial Sloan Kettering forecasts that the annual costs could approach $300,000 per patient per year.”

It is much easier, and much less expensive, to reduce the chances of getting cancer than it is to fight cancer once it has developed in the body.

I will never get cancer

I strongly believe that I, personally, will never develop an internal “cancer.” I say “internal” because I once had skin cancer on my scalp, but I don’t have it anymore.

My confidence is based on

•  the insights I’ve developed into the probable causes of cancer,
•  the actions I take based on the above, and
•  the apparent absence of cancer among a large number of associates and customers who actively consume key nutritional supplements.

I’ve put together a talk about reducing the risks of getting cancer. It has been well received by those who have heard it.   

This is the first in a series of blogs that will focus on cancer and how to reduce your chances of getting it. I hope you will find them helpful.

How quickly are you aging?

“Investments in your health in middle age will have payoffs in old age.”

“What happens to us at the end of life has its roots many years prior.”

Those are key messages from “Calculate the Speed of Aging,” an article in the July 14, 2015, issue of the Wall Street Journal. The article further proclaims that the investments “should be in diet and exercise.”

Hooray for the Wall Street Journal! Of course, the messages are not from the writer of the article, but are quotes from researchers on aging from various institutions.

“Intervention to reverse or delay the march toward age-related diseases must be scheduled while people are still young,” is a quote, referenced by the article, from a study published on-line last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study strived to identify key factors that affect biological aging, which the researchers define as “the declining integrity of multiple systems.” (Aging experts say that, as yet, there is no standard clinical measure of biological age.)

The findings are from a study of 954 men and women of the same age. The objective was to calculate the individual aging rates by comparing various measurements of their health at ages 26, 32, and 38. The data came from a study being conducted in Dunedin, New Zealand, of a group of young people all born in 1972 or 1973.

The research team chose a set of 18 biomarkers that “tracked the function of organs such as the liver and kidneys, the immune and metabolism systems and dental health, among other measures.”

“Participants who showed accelerated aging in the biomarker tests also performed worse on other tests typically given to elderly people to gauge aging,” tests such as balance, coordination, grip strength, and cognitive abilities.

I give talks on aging. What I advocate is consistent with this research. But what I advocate is much more basic. It’s this:

·        The state of your health depends on the state of your functioning cells.
·        The body’s cells are constantly being damaged and the body is constantly repairing, replenishing, or replacing the damaged cells.
·        If your body is functioning optimally, your body will repair, replenish, or replace all malfunctioning cells.
·        Biological aging begins when the repair rate can no longer keep pace with the damage rate. 
·        Biological aging progresses as the percentage of malfunctioning cells gets larger.

To delay aging, our job is to reduce the rate of cellular damage and support the rate of cellular repair.

My talks are about what you can do to reduce the damage and to support the repair.

Diet, exercise, and lifestyle are critical. So are nutritional supplements.

Nutritional supplements can be highly effective in helping the body both reduce the rate of damage and support the repair rate. They are especially important as we get older, when the body’s ability to repair itself is in decline.

But I digress into topics that take hours to cover.

Here are a couple blogs that may interest you:

·        What is aging?
·        What causes aging?

A broad-spectrum physical fitness program

Physical fitness is one of the key ingredients of natural health. And it’s more than strength and stamina. It also involves flexibility and balance.

This fall, our church will be hosting a low impact fitness program led by our friend, Wanda Pearson. She calls the program 7.0 Fitness. Her program embodies all four, and more.

Balancing exercises

Matthew 12:33 says that a tree is known by its fruit. You must have a healthy tree to bear good fruit. An unhealthy tree bears poor fruit. This program strives to help people bear good fruit.

The human body is one of God’s marvelous creations. It is designed to operate continuously, every second of every day, for over 100 years. It is designed to heal itself. When we consume harmful foods or beverages, it will flush out the toxins.

The body will adapt to the conditions that we expose it to. If we demand strength, it will build strong muscles and bones. If we demand flexibility, it will develop flexible joints. If we demand stamina, it will develop endurance. If we don’t demand any of these, it will become soft, inflexible, and feeble… and aches and pains will set in.

Stretching Exercise

Individual goals of the fitness program are:

·        Improve muscle tone
·        Increase strength
·        Increase joint flexibility and range of motion
·        Improve balance

It is a low-impact program for people of all ages, including those with special needs, chronic illness, limited strength or mobility, and those recovering from surgery. No running. No heavy weights. No pushing the body to its limits.

More balance exercises

The program emphasizes:

• Repetitive exercises with light weights that gradually build strength. 
• Stretching that increases joint flexibility and range of motion and improves balance.
• Breathing exercises that deliver life-giving oxygen to the core of our bodies.
•  Keeping the body slightly alkaline, the ideal condition for the body’s cells.

The program is rounded out with prayer and scripture, wellness education, and fellowship.

Dottie and I have been active in this program for six months. Dottie, who can easily go into a migraine, claims that the neck stretching exercises have eased her neck and shoulder stress. Personally, I have much better flexibility and muscle tone.

To find out more about this program, send an e-mail to Earl@EarlLynnKemper.com.

Insomnia--another tip

My wife’s insomnia seems to be persistent. She’s used both Spirulina and Stem-Kine, separately and together, as recommended in a previous blog. Until recently, they have been effective. But the insomnia has returned, in spite of taking both. 

One of our team members, Shonye Talor, who owns RenewU4Life, a natural health studio here in Houston, suggested that Dottie take Protivity an hour before bedtime. Protivity is RBC’s amino acid supplement. Shonye claimed that it would help and it did!

Protivity is a LARGE tablet, and the label recommends taking five tablets a day.

Dottie tried one tablet the first night and she slept better. So she gradually increased the amount until she takes the labeled amount. She now sleeps soundly and throughout the night. Thank you, Shonye!

Dottie still takes the Spirulina and Stem-Kine at bedtime in addition to the Protivity.

But the size of the Protivity tablet is a problem for her, so I now pulverize the Protivity in a blender. I do about a third of a bottle at a time, because the Protivity turns into a very fine powder. (Covering the lid of the blender with a dish towel traps any powder that escapes around the lid.)  A little less than a tablespoonful is equivalent to five tablets.

Dottie mixes the powder in water. It dissolves slowly and much stirring is needed.

As a side note, I have added Protivity tablets to smoothies. They blend in easily and have hardly any effect on the taste. It’s a great way to include free-form amino acids in your diet.

Mosquito bites

We are well into Houston’s worst season—summer.

I used to think of summer as the best season of the year. But that was when we lived in New York, Michigan, Delaware, or Nebraska.

In Houston, summer brings hot, humid days and warm, humid nights. The warm nights bother me most. I prefer to sleep with cool, fresh air coming in through open windows. Not in the summer. A typical summer night may cool down to 75 degrees by early morning, with humidity in the 90 percent range. Not what I consider refreshing sleeping conditions. So we sleep with our air conditioner on and our thermostat turned down.

And mosquitos. Mosquitos thrive in our warm, humid days and nights. They attack any person who dares to come near the shrubs and bushes in our backyard.

Since I mow my own yard, aggressive mosquitos create a problem for me.

You see, as a natural health advocate, I really despise applying anything toxic on my skin. Do you realize that 60 percent of what you apply to your skin gets into your bloodstream? That’s why skin patches are effective for drugs.

So I do not use toxic mosquito repellent. We have discovered a non-toxic, natural product, called CedarCide,  manufactured right here in Spring, Texas, that repels mosquitos. When the mosquitos are especially aggressive, I apply CedarCide to my exposed skin and all thin clothing, like a tee shirt.   

But sometimes I don’t apply enough, and I still get bitten. There have been times that I have had over a dozen bites by the time I finished the lawn.

So after I’ve showered, I coat the bites with Aloe Gelee, a pure aloe vera gel from RBC Life. In half an hour, the itching is gone.

Not everyone will have the same results with mosquito bites that I have, but I believe that Aloe Gele̷e is worth having around. Aloe vera is well recognized for its ability to help the body heal burns and minor wounds. Me? I use it for all kinds of insect bites. And insects thrive in Houston in the summer.

Lest I leave you with an impression that I hate Houston, put that to rest. Summer is Houston’s worst season in my book. I love the other three seasons. For at least half the year, we have no insects and the weather is delightful. We get plenty of rain to support lush natural vegetation. And our flowering shrubs, trees, and bushes offer a beautiful array of color throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

We’ve lived here 38 years and have no plans to leave.

A natural approach to sinus problems

Last night before bed, Dottie and I were cooling down the house to nighttime temperatures. We sleep better when the house is cool, so lowering the thermostat is one of our routines before bed.

With the cool draft on my bald head, I had to clear my throat.

That’s not unusual. I clear my throat many times a day. It’s just normal for me.

But last night was different. I was clearing my throat more frequently than normal. A lot more frequently.

I’ve learned to pay attention to signals from my body. Phlegm in the throat is often a sign of sinus drainage. It’s one of those things that sneak up on a person. You don’t notice it at first. In fact, it’s easy to overlook if it’s not too bad. But if you don’t deal with it, you will develop chest congestion that can put you down for days.

So I did what any natural health advocate would do. I took a slug of Vitamin C.

Did you know that Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine? Well, it is. How much you need to be effective depends on your condition and the type of Vitamin C that you take. I strongly recommend a buffered and esterified Vitamin C, not ascorbic acid.  Your body can utilize it far better.

Last night, I took 2500 mg before bed. At 2:00 am, I still had throat irritation, so I took another 2500 mg. Ditto at 4:00 am. Once again at 6:00 am. Throughout the night, I gave my body 10,000 mg of Vitamin C, but this morning, my sinus drainage has stopped and I’m back to normal.

I can tell you from experience, had I not done that, I would have chest congestion, a condition that would hinder me for weeks.

June is a little late for sinus problems in Houston. Normally, they appear in March and April.

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that complaining about their sinus problems creates a bond among people. Perhaps they get some value from that.

Frankly, I prefer to be healthy.

Guidelines for Weight Management

If you want to make a long-term change to your body, 

you have a make a long-term change in your lifestyle.

1.    The body is comprised of water, bone, lean cells, and fat cells. The objective of a weight management program should be to reduce fat content without destroying lean tissue.

2.    Nutrition is critical.

·        The body requires adequate nutrition to function properly.

·        If it does not get adequate nutrition from the foods you eat, it will scavenge it from lean tissue in the body.

·        People who “go on a diet” may lose weight, but more than half of that weight is typically lean tissue. And when they resume a normal eating pattern, the body will rebuild its store of fat cells first, leading to higher body fat than before starting the diet.

3.    Calories are important.

·        Your long-term body weight can be approximated by your daily caloric intake divided by 15. For example, if you eat an average of 3000 calories per day, your body weight will tend to be 200 pounds. If you eat an average of 1500 calories per day, your body weight will tend to be 100 pounds.

·        If you are an active athlete, you will need to consume more calories to reach a similar weight.

·        If you are inactive, you will need to consume fewer calories.

4.    Cravings are a sign that the body is missing one or more nutrients.

·        Cravingsfor sweets and chips are typically signs of a deficiency of polysaccharides.

5.    Everything you consume has a caloric content and a nutritional content.

·        A goal should be to eat foods that have a higher nutritional content and a lower caloric content.

·        Eating foods that have been sweetened with zero or low calorie artificial sweeteners is not recommended.

·        A good surrogate for caloric content is glycemic load. An alternative is glycemic index.  

6.    Eat nutritionally-rich foods that have a low glycemic index.

·        These tend to be complex carbohydrates—typically green vegetables

·        Take phytonutrient supplements

·        Eat raw vegetables. Cooking reduces the nutritional content and destroys the enzymes within the vegetables.

·        Not all vegetables are low glycemic.

·        Stay away from foods labelled “low fat.” They are high in sugar content or salt content.

7.    Exercise

·        To burn fat, you must get a minimum of 20 continuous minutes a day of aerobic/cardiovascular exercise in your target heart rate five days a week.

·        Wear a heart rate monitor to keep your heart rate within your target range

·        Your target heart rate is 50-75% of your maximum heart rate, which is 220 minus your age.

8.    Keep the pH of your body within a range of 6.5 to 7.5. A urine pH of 6.4 or lower will inhibit the ability to lose weight.

9.    Do not snack between meals.

10. Do not eat anything between the evening meal and bedtime.

11. If you must snack, eat only high protein snacks.

Night-time cramps

Ever get cramps in the night? The kind that forces you to jump out of bed to deal with them? I do.  

Mine first started about 20 years ago. Particularly memorable was a night when Dottie and I were visiting her step-mother in Grand Island, NY. In the middle of the night, my feet cramped up.

They were the kind of cramp that points the toes upward and the foot downward.

In both my feet, the cramps were painful and demanded immediate attention. I jumped out of bed and stood up to break the cramps. But they didn’t break.

Don’t ever try to stand on your tippy toes when you’re half asleep. You can’t do it.

Well, I just toppled backward, landed on my behind and crashed into the bedroom wall.

Now, Dottie is a light sleeper, but this would have awakened the dead. She bolted upright from her sleep, completely befuddled. I scrambled to my feet determined to try again.

You know, when cramps are really hard, it takes a bit of time to loosen them. The little time I had to balance on my tippy toes was not enough and I again landed on my bottom and crashed into the wall.

Obviously alarmed, Dottie was shouting, “Earl, what’s going on??!!” Of course, my focus was on those cramps, not having a night-time conversation with my wife.

After two failures, I learned that leaning on the bed while putting weight on my feet was the solution. I’ve used that approach successfully many times since then.

The next morning, Dottie’s step-mother confided that she was grateful we were there because of strange noises she heard during the night.

Over the years since then, I’ve learned a better way to deal with cramps.

Cramps are almost always caused by dehydration or a mineral deficiency, or both.

Now, when I get a middle-of-the-night cramp, I take some water along with one or two capsules of Microhydrin. Microhydrin is rich in minerals and helps the body absorb water. Within 1-2 minutes the cramp is gone and I can complete my night’s sleep without any more cramps. And Dottie can sleep in peace.

Cravings are signs of a nutritional deficiency

Cravings are signs of a nutritional deficiency.

One of the most common cravings is for foods that contain sugar or are high glycemic—chocolate, chips, desserts, or fruits.

These cravings may be brought on by low blood sugar levels, but most of the time, they are signs of a deficiency of functional polysaccharides.

Functional polysaccharides are sugars that are used by the body for roles other than a source of energy. Mannose, commonly found in the aloe vera plant, is one of them. Aloe vera is highly regarded for its healing properties, and mannose is key to aloe’s healing abilities.

One of the vital roles of functional polysaccharides is facilitating effective cell-to-cell communication which is critical to an effective immune system. Symptoms of a malfunctioning immune system are allergies, frequent and lingering infections, and auto immune disorders like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, COPD, fibromyalgia, and many more.

So a craving for sweets may be a sign of a deficiency of functional polysaccharides. If you also have symptoms of a malfunctioning immune system, you almost assuredly are deficient in functional polysaccharides.

Where can you get functional polysaccharides? In nature, they are found in fruits and vegetables which have been vine-ripened. The polysaccharides develop in the last few days of ripening on the vine. Vine-ripening is critical. Unfortunately, most of the fruits and vegetables in our grocery stores have been picked before the polysaccharides develop so the produce does not spoil during shipment. As a result, our food supply is woefully deficient in functional polysaccharides!

What are the consequences of long-term deficiencies of functional polysaccharides? How about an increase in allergies, viral and bacterial infections, and auto-immune disorders? And, of course, an increase in cravings for sweet snacks and high glycemic foods like chips and desserts.

So if you can’t get the polysaccharides from foods, what options are available? The best single option in my opinion is a nutritional supplement called VitAloe® from RBC Life. It’s a mild-tasting powder that delivers a broad spectrum of the functional polysaccharides to deal with all potential polysaccharide deficiencies.  

High cholesterol: A problem or a signal?

How important is controlling cholesterol levels?

At an annual physical more than a decade ago, my doctor noted that people with my LDL cholesterol levels were having heart attacks. He suggested that I start taking a statin drug. I opted to investigate alternatives and I’m glad I did.

The medical community has millions of people on statin drugs to manage cholesterol levels in the blood. But is high cholesterol really the problem or is it a symptom of one or more other problems? 

Cholesterol has several functions within the body. One is to be the “patching plaster” for tissue damage in the blood vessels. Blood vessels will get tiny tears in them. Rather than suffer an on-going loss of blood, the body patches the tear with oxidized cholesterol (plaque) until the damage can be repaired. Of course, plaque buildup will force the heart to pump harder, creating high blood pressure. Too much plaque accumulating in one place can lead to a heart attack. But is the problem due to the cholesterol or the tear in the blood vessel? Would it be more effective to focus on the reason for the tear in the blood vessel?

High cholesterol is also associated with chronic stress. Cholesterol is an essential component of hormone production. Hormones are critical to the body’s normal performance. For example, high stress levels raise adrenaline and cortisol levels in the body. Adrenaline and cortisol are both hormones. So chronic stress requires higher levels of cholesterol, and indeed, elevated levels of cholesterol are associated with chronic stress. Would it be more effective to focus on managing stress rather than limiting cholesterol levels?

Statin drugs reduce the liver’s production of cholesterol. Did you know they also reduce the liver’s production of CoQ10? Both cholesterol and CoQ10 are produced in the same reaction. Deficiency of CoQ10 will lead to weak and sore muscles. Of course, the heart is the most important muscle in the body and a deficiency of CoQ10 will likely lead to heart problems.

Me? I address the reason for high cholesterol levels instead of taking a drug. I never did take a statin drug and my cholesterol levels have been fine.

Are you doing anything to reduce your risk of getting cancer?

Most people I know are not.

Cancer is something they hope they will not get, but they have no program to reduce their chances of getting it.

So if someone shared with you how to minimize your chances of getting cancer, would you be interested?

I believe that my chances of getting cancer are low. I follow a plan that I expect will significantly reduce my risk of getting cancer.

Click here to access a short slide presentation of the plan I follow and the reasons behind it. It’s entitled “Cancer: Reduce your chances of getting it!”

Does your immune system need fixing?

Many of today’s health problems can be resolved by fixing the immune system.

How can you tell if your immune system needs fixing?

Do you have allergies? Allergies are an early warning sign. Allergies are simply the immune system attacking benign foreign matter that it identifies as dangerous to the body.

One of the roles of the immune system is to protect the body from harmful invaders such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other organisms. Its mechanism involves identifying harmful invaders and then either destroying them or expelling them from the body. Allergies are the immune system’s efforts to expel substances that are not harmful to the body, but the immune system acts as if they are. The response is coughing, sinus problems, and watering eyes.

If you have allergies or sinus problems, recognize them for what they are—a warning sign that your immune system is overactive. If you don’t fix your immune system when the first signs appear, more serious problems will begin to appear. What are they? Read on.

Do you have one or more autoimmune disorders? Rheumatoid arthritis? Type 2 diabetes? COPD? Fibromyalgia? Multiple Sclerosis?  Over 80 autoimmune disorders have been defined. Autoimmune disorders are the immune system attacking healthy parts of the body, causing tissue damage and inflammation. Eliminating autoimmune disorders would reduce the nation’s health care expenses by a huge amount. Fixing malfunctioning immune systems would dramatically reduce the incidence of autoimmune disorders.

Are you subject to frequent colds or bacterial infections? When you get them, are you slow to get over them? These are signs of an underactive immune system.

You know what else is a sign? Cancer. A properly working immune system will destroy cancer cells before they become a health problem. We all have cancer cells within our bodies. I’ve seen estimates of as many as 90,000 cells at any one time. But an effective immune system eliminates them before they become a problem to our health.

Our nation is suffering from an epidemic of faulty immune systems. Look at the evidence: Allergies are common. Autoimmune disorders are common and becoming more so. And cancer is also common. All were rare 60 years ago.

Sixty years ago, I was 14 years old. I remember only one case of cancer in my parents’ families, both of which were very large. I can’t remember any among my friends or the friends of my parents. I had one friend who had allergies. No one else. I remember thinking of him as fragile. Some of my parents’ friends had arthritis or diabetes, but it was more like one person in thirty among the senior population. Arthritis and diabetes were a problem only with “older” people.  “Autoimmune disorder” was not yet a recognized condition.

What is the cause of this epidemic of faulty immune systems? The immune system is faulty not because it is missing a drug. Would you believe that a nutritional deficiency is the cause? The missing nutrients are those that develop in fruits and vegetables when they are allowed to ripen on the vine, the nutrients that make them taste sweet—polysaccharides. Harvesting fruits and vegetables while they are still green is common, a practice driven primarily to accommodate shipping the produce to distant markets. Produce harvested green are missing these important polysaccharides.

About a dozen polysaccharides play critical roles in the immune system. When they are not available in sufficient quantities, the immune system begins to falter. It may be overactive or it may be underactive. Both conditions can be corrected by providing the body with the missing polysaccharides.

How can you provide your body the nutrients it needs? Eating more fruits and vegetables isn’t the solution. The nutrients you need are no longer in the fruits and vegetables from your grocery store, no matter how many you eat.  The simple answer is to take supplements that provide a broad range of polysaccharides.

I highly recommend VitAloe and Immune 360 from RBC Life. My wife, Dottie, and I take both of them and recommend them to all our friends. The scientists who discovered the importance of polysaccharides in the 1980’s worked for the founder of RBC Life. They were studying the properties of aloe vera when they isolated polysaccharides from the plant and identified them as the key ingredients of aloe vera that give the plant its healing properties.   

Dottie and I have been taking polysaccharide supplements for 13 years. We have no more allergies. We rarely get sick and when we do, we recover quickly. We have no chronic disorder. Dottie takes only Synthroid and T3 for a hypothyroid condition.  I take no drugs, neither prescription nor over-the-counter.

We invite you to join us on our journey to better health.

Are you acidic?

Are you acidic?

Almost everyone over 40 years old is. That’s about the age when the body’s first line of defense against acidity (buffering) becomes depleted.

Obviously, the stomach and the upper intestinal tract should be acidic. That’s critical for proper digestion.

But the rest of the body works best in a neutral to slightly alkaline condition. An acidic environment in these areas reduces oxygen and water to the cells.

Are you susceptible to infections? Low oxygen and water levels are conditions favorable to viruses, bad bacteria, and the development of cancer cells. Frequent and prolonged infections may be signs that the body is acidic.

The body has a backup system to counteract acidity. It dissolves bones. Ignoring acid buildup in the body will lead to weak bones—osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Our lifestyle creates acidic conditions. Most of our foods are acidic to the body. With few exceptions, everything but vegetables is acidic. Most of the liquids we drink are acidic. Sodas are highly acidic. So is coffee. Exercise and physical labor generates lactic acid, the source of the aches and soreness we feel after hard labor and exercise.

Take me, for example. I drink a couple mugs of coffee in the morning. (I call it my starter fluid.) I love cheeses. And even though my wife and I eat a lot of raw vegetables, I still enjoy occasional meats. And sugar. I sweeten my coffee with honey. We almost always have something sweet after our evening meal. We usually eat a piece of dark chocolate.

So I fight acidity every day! We bias our foods toward vegetables. For breakfast, we have what I call a scrambled omelet. We’ve been doing that for over eight years and we have yet to tire of it. We dice low glycemic vegetables, sauté them in coconut oil, grapeseed oil, and water, add some favorite spices and seasalt, and then scramble eggs into them. For lunch, we usually eat raw vegetables with peanut butter, hummus, or cream cheese. For dinner, we may have a salad along with some kind of protein.

We also take alkaline nutritional supplements. Our favorites are spirulina, phyto powders, and Microhydrin.

How can you tell if you are acidic? Check your urine with a pH strip. We do it several times a week. If you’re just starting to fight acidity, test yourself at least once a day. Your pH will vary throughout the day, so you may want to test several times a day.

You can also test your saliva, but a urine test gives you a truer indication of the pH of your organs.

Where can you buy pH strips? A good health food store will carry them. If not, you can purchase them online. 

Insomnia

Insomnia? Not me! I can fall asleep on command. Well, almost. I’m asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. I can fall asleep during TV commercials. Or listening to people blather on about insignificant things.

My wife? That’s different. She sometimes would read in bed for hours before falling asleep. Or I’d discover her reading in the middle of the night because she couldn’t go back to sleep.

But that’s in the past. We’ve discovered how to change that.

A friend of ours who happens to be a naturopathic doctor informed us that people who have trouble going to sleep are often deficient in minerals, and people who have trouble staying asleep are low in B vitamins. Another problem could be low blood sugar. Guess what? Spirulina is rich in minerals and B vitamins. And, of course, it will also raise low blood sugar levels.

So  my wife started taking Spirulina at bedtime and her insomnia was gone, that is, almost gone. Sometimes she still struggled.

That is, until one of our customers, a nurse who had sleep problems all her life, said that she sleeps like a baby when she takes Stem-Kine at bedtime.

Of course, Dottie tried it immediately and IT WORKED! Now Dottie rarely reads in bed. She takes Spirulina and Stem-Kine at bedtime and goes to sleep almost as fast as I do, and she sleeps through the night.   

We told this to a lady who claimed that she could never sleep more than four hours a night. She tried the Stem-Kine at bedtime and called us elated with the news that she now gets a full night’s sleep!

I have no idea why Stem-Kine works. I suppose there can be any number of reasons for insomnia. But I know at least two natural supplements that can help. 

Are you concerned about out-living your money?

A friend of mine who sells insurance asks people who have reached retirement age what their greatest concern is. The most common answer: outliving their money.

I can relate to that. I’m 74. My wife, Dottie, is 70. We have modest savings and monthly income. Medicare is our health insurance.

Our goals are to be physically, mentally, and financially independent until we die.

So what are the prospects for people our age?

Living expenses go down. Housing, food, entertainment, automobile, clothing, and family expenses are all less.

Health-related expenses go up. It’s the stage of life when sickness and disorders are common. Medical expenses are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy for people in retirement.

And unless you’re personally very wealthy, you, too, can be a victim.

The most feared problem is cancer.

According to Dr. Suni Pai, the total cost for treating cancer from Stage I through Stage IV ranges from $320,000 to $1.4 million per patient. That’s for the first occurrence. If the patient survives, there is a 50% to 80% chance of recurrence within five years. Even the best insurance requires a copay of 10 to 20 percent.

That would bankrupt us. I suspect we’re the norm, not the exception.

So what is the chance of getting cancer? The most common claims are that one of every two males will get cancer during their lifetime. For females, it’s one of every three. That’s 50% for men, 33% for women. For a married couple, that’s an 83% chance that one of them will get cancer during their lifetimes.

My wife and I have never had cancer. For us to remain physically and financially independent, not getting cancer is critical.

I am personally confident that we will not get cancer. In my 12 years of researching natural health, I am convinced that we know enough about cancer to drive the chance of getting it to near zero.

But to do that requires adjusting one’s lifestyle, including taking nutritional supplements.  And their costs are not covered by insurance. That becomes an issue for people who are concerned about outliving their money.

So we’re faced with a choice. Do we spend money now to stay physically independent, or not spend money and risk getting cancer? We choose to spend the money. Without taking action, the risk of getting cancer is too high and the costs are too great.

Our decision is easier because we believe that God will provide for our needs. Good stewardship requires us to take care of our bodies. How can we do otherwise?