Live Life Like Your Life Depends On It
Recently, I posed a question on the last day of class to my nursing students. After teaching all quarter about each organ system and its diseases, I asked them to name the things that were important to life. They came up with four things they felt were important ingredients for life. They were (1) proper nutrition, (2) pure water, (3) reduction of pollution and last, but not least, (4) lifestyle. So let us look at each of these essential things and how they play such an important role in our lives and life.
Proper Nutrition
I often speak that 60 plus years ago when my mother was pregnant with me, she could obtain the necessary vitamin A and Folic acid from eating just two peaches a day. If she were alive and pregnant today, she would have to eat about 53 of the same peaches to get the same amount of these two essential vitamins (essential because the body cannot make any vitamins – we have to ingest them). Fifty to sixty years ago, our nutrition was so different than it is today. In the Kansas City area during the fall and winter months, the average fruit or vegetable travels about 1365 miles from harvest to our tables. This means that if the produce is picked when it’s ripe (when all of the nutrients are present), it would be rotten by time it comes to Kansas City. So it’s picked when it’s “green” or not ripe and artificially ripened on the way here or in the back of the grocery store. SO THE NUTRIENTS WE EXPECT ARE NOT THERE. But you say I eat “organic” fruit and vegetables because they are more nutritious. That’s true if they are picked when they are ripe. The same scenario is present as the non-organic produce I first talked about. The big difference in organic versus non-organic is that there are no pesticides used on organic produce.
A great deal of the foods we eat now, compared to what our parents or grandparents ate, is processed or fast-food. This means the nutrition is down about 90% from what our parents or grandparents consumed. So there is a nutritional deficit in our daily intake. What I mean is that our bodies have a daily nutritional need and we are not supplying it to our bodies. But you say “I’m taking a vitamin, so I’m Okay.” Most vitamins/minerals on the market are synthetic. What I mean by that is that they are not the same as you would get if you ate something nutritious. These vitamins are placed in pills with binders and fillers and do not dissolve in our bodies. So these nutritional supplements pass through our bodies with little of them absorbed. In fact, some of them pass through our GI systems with the name of the vitamin still intact!
Are There Vitamin and Mineral Supplements That Actually Get Absorbed?
In all of my research, I’ve only found two that do. Both manufacturers are involved in direct sales. One has a corporate leadership that is unethical. The other has a number of products to reduce this nutritional deficit and the products are excellent (see Optimals by ARIIX).
Pure Water
You’re saying to yourself “What is he talking about? We live in the United States and our water is just fine!” Your thinking is not complete. Of course our water is better than most countries, but is it really pure and safe? Seventy percent of the world’s population drink or cook their food in the same water they defecate into. No 
further processing is done before the water is reused. But that doesn’t happen in the US, right? I bet you didn’t know that one-fifth of the population in the United States drinks contaminated water. In fact, most Municipal Water Supplies (MWS) only remove the fecal material from our used water and add chlorine or chlorine plus chloramine into it to disinfect it. But chlorine and chloramine are not safe. Numerous studies have shown that this chemicals react with organic materials left in the water after they are “filtered” to cause organic substances that are not safe to ingest. These substances have been shown to cause numerous problems including cancer. In addition, a number of these MWS add fluoride into their water supplies and fluoride has been shown to cause brain damage in small children and some of the fastest growing cancers in humans. I bet you didn’t know that anything else in the waste water like birth control pills or antibiotics or high blood pressure medicines or chemotherapy drugs are not removed from your MWS water.
I know there are some of you out there who are now thinking “I can get around that by just drinking bottled water.” I bet you didn’t know that at least 40% of the bottled waters in this country come from our tap water without any additional treatment. This includes the two most popular brands produced by the major soda companies. In fact, most bottled water is not as regulated as our MWS sourced water and you now know that water isn’t as safe as you were told. Analysis of bottled waters show the same contaminants as those from the municipal water supplies, but now there are the added chemicals from the plastic water bottles themselves. Some of these chemicals are xenoestrogens. This means our bodies think they are actually the female sex hormone, estrogen and react to it the same way our bodies would if it were true estrogen. Just think of the effects of these female sex hormones on our men! Is it any wonder our birth rate has been declining and it’s becoming more difficult for couples to conceive. And then, what do we do with the empty bottles? In 2007 – 2008, the entire weight of the human race was dumped into our water supply or landfills. Today in 2012, it happens every day!
But you say “I’ll just buy one of the filters I can attach to my faucet that contains charcoal so I can get pure water.” Most filters on the market only remove the discussing taste of the water and still leave most of the contaminants and bacteria behind. So is there a good filter system out there? In April, 2010, ARIIX introduced a new, patented technology filter containing zeolite, charcoal and a Microspear shield to remove harmful chemicals, pharmaceuticals and contaminants and to kill bacteria, protozoa and viruses. This filter will process 50 gallons of water before it needs to be replace. That saves about 368 empty plastic water bottles from going to the landfill at a fraction of the cost to just buy the bottled water. A complete review of the Puritii Water Filtration System can be found here.
Pollution
I grew up in Los Angeles, so I think this qualifies me as an expect on pollution. But air pollution is just part of the equation. Our homes have about 70 times more pollution from chemicals in the carpets, detergents, cleaners and other chemicals than the air we breathe. In addition, there are those of us that want to remain young or at least delay 
aging, so we slather on “beauty products” that actually give us a greater risk for cancer or changes in our bodies. Most beauty products, including makeup and deodorants contain preservatives called parabens. These have been shown to act like those xenoestrogens we talked about earlier. The body reacts to them as if the parabens were actually estrogen. A recent study showed in a group of 80 women who underwent double mastectomies for breast cancer, 165 of 166 biopsy samples had parabens in them with the outer area of the left breast having the greatest concentration of parabens. This makes sense since most women are right-handed and apply the deodorant heavier with their right hands. Make sure your beauty products, soaps, detergents, etc. do not contain any of the 11 dangerous chemicals we all take for granted as being safe. For more information and a list of these 11 ingredients, please visit the Infinite Youth Skincare website.
The image on the right shows the number of dangerous chemicals we are exposed to each time we use the basic beauty or skincare products. Read the labels carefully. You can find a few products out there that are not harmful to us.
Lifestyle
As my students would agree, it doesn’t make sense to try and do the first three important things in life if you don’t change your lifestyle. Thirty percent of our population is obese and we spend approximately $30 Billion on weight loss each year. Most “fad” diets fail within the first two years. Diabetes, due to obesity (insulin resistance) is growing. Children are now getting “adult diabetes” at a young age. So here are a few suggestions to change our lifestyles:
- Lose weight if you need to (Slenderiix/Xceler8)
- Exercise often – even it it is only brisk walking 3 or 4 times a week
- Drink alcohol in moderation (excessive alcohol can cause cancer)
- Stop smoking – all studies show a direct correlation with smoking and cancer
- Try to reduce your stress level – increased stress causes us to make more cortisol (a steroid) which tends to put weight on us
- Optimize your vitamin D3 level as this vitamin has been shown to directly or indirectly affect about 3000 of our genes. Ask your health care professional to order a vitamin D3 level at your next appointment
And of course, don’t forget to:
- Eat nutritiously and supplement appropriately
- Drink pure water
- And avoid the pollutions