Tag Archives: healthy nutrition

Google Trends Tell a Story

Google Trends is a great tool for understanding what people are searching for online. Using the Explore feature you can find out what has interested people online for the past few years by each keyword. This gives us tremendous insight into what people have been spending time online looking for over a period of time.

Diet and Weight Loss

Check out the chart below and you can see that at the start of each year people want to know more about how to diet and lose weight as well as general nutrition. But then as the New Year’s resolutions fade the number of times people check these topics out online goes down. But even at the lowest point – during the holiday season – there is still tremendous online activity for individuals wanting to know more about getting into shape.

It is a bit of a surprise when you see where people live who are doing this online research. The chart below shows that the states with the most interest are in the South. These Americans are also reported to live the states with the highest level of adult obesity but at least they want to know more about how to remedy that situation. Alabama leads the way.

Vitamins, Supplements and Disease

Searching for vitamins and supplements is very popular online. Americans are also interested in learning more about the top preventable causes of death in this country: diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. As diabetes becomes more and more common it leads the way in the volume of search activity.

What People Want

When you ask people what they want the top answers are usually more money, additional free time, the opportunity to travel, maybe a new car, and always continued good health. Check out the chart below to show that people are searching for all of these things online. Time is at the top of the list and it continues to grow faster than the other searches. No one ever has too much free time. It may be a bit surprising that with all of the discussion of the new health care laws, online interest in health hasn’t increased over time and may actually be going down. Travel is at the bottom of the list and that may be due to the tough economic times over the past few years.

Business Opportunity

Are people doing more online research to seek out new business opportunities? It doesn’t look that way. The financial crash of a few years back seems to have slowed down American’s interest in new business ventures and home based businesses. MLM (multi-level marketing) does lead the group as people may be searching for programs that will work for them to earn money. The internet is a great place to check out the many programs and learn which ones are for real.

Google Trends can also show us what parts of the country are more interested in new business opportunities. It seems that the South and the West have the most interested Americans. And Nevada is the top state in this group.

Healthy Homes

The chart below shows that people are definitely interested in having a healthy home. They are researching natural and safe cleaning products. Many people have stories of how the health of their family – and children in particular – have improved as they have started to move away from many household chemical and started to use more natural products.

Shaklee

Of course we also wanted to see if people have been searching for Shaklee products online. The chart below shows a sharp increase just in the past few months in Google searching for Shaklee.

If this type of information interests you click on any of the links to Google Trends under each chart. You can then start learning more about what people are searching for online and it will tell you a story.

Shaklee 180

How Much Weight Would You Like to Lose Before Summer?

Shaklee 180

Shaklee 180 Are You Ready?

Summer is coming up.  Sooner than we think.  And I am like a lot of people – I would feel a better if I was a few pounds lighter when it shows up.

I like summer because it is bright and sunny.  And while no one is going to be seeing me at the beach in Speedos, I want to be wearing cargo pants and a t-shirt and not have to think that it would be nice to be thinner.  So now is the time to make the commitment – start now and over the next few weeks I can lose that extra weight.

My goal is to lose 20 pounds before the 4th of July.

I know I can do it.   It just takes the effort and the right program.

What about you?  How much weight would you like to lose before summer?  Be honest and realistic and public  Post your goal in the comments below to let everyone know.  Of course we won’t report on your progress but you can come back and update us as you work towards that summer goal.

Click here to learn more on our Shaklee 180 web site.

Good luck and get started today!

Another Sports Nutrition Success Story as promised

This is the promised email and photo from the 26 year old son of Connie McFarren, a wonderful first level of mine. I have known Brandon since he was born and he has been a faithful consumer of Shaklee nutrition his whole young life.

Grandma Causey!

I am still using Physique and Performance with all of my training. I just competed in Ironman Florida this past November in Panama City. Ironman is a 140.6 mile triathlon ~ 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile (marathon) run. I trained all year for this event and it went off without a hitch. I completed the race in 11:58:07. My goal was 12 hours – so I finished right under my goal. Physique and Performance were KEY to my regimen. I used Performance out on the course – not only during all of my training, but also during the race itself. I used Physique after my long 5 hour bike rides on Saturday mornings – as well as the “shorter” workouts during the week. Jennifer ( his wife) and I are continuing to use our Vitalizer strips (faithfully) – though she seemed to get through her last batch faster than I did :-).

Love, Brandon

PS: In an older email I just found this note:. “I can certainly provide a testimonial from when I took Physique in high school during football season. I used it every morning after our weightlifting class and loved it.” Gotta love that young man!!! Linda

Tips From The Professor: An Apple A Day Keeps The Blues Away

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Last week I shared with you a study suggesting that junk food makes you sad.

So you might be asking: “Does that mean that healthy foods can make you glad?”

According to one recent study (Br J Health Psychol, Jan 24, 2013, doi:

10.1111/bjhp.12021) the answer may be yes.

A team from the University of Otago in New Zealand enrolled 281 young adults (average age = 20) in a study that looked at the effect of diet on their mood. Each day for 21 consecutive days they recorded their mood and what foods they ate using an online questionnaire.

In particular, they reported the number of servings of fresh fruit and vegetables and of several unhealthy foods such as biscuits or cookies, potato chips or French fries and cakes or muffins.

The investigators correlated the foods eaten with the moods reported by the participants on the same day, and again on the day after those foods were eaten. The results were pretty impressive.

On the days when people ate more fruits and vegetables they reported feeling calmer, happier and more energetic than they did on other days (p = .002 – anything less than .05 is considered a statistically significant difference). And the good effects of fruit and vegetable consumption carried over to the next day as well (p < .001).

While I paraphrased the “apple a day” quote to introduce this topic, one apple won’t quite do it.

According to this study it takes about 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables to positively affect mood.

Of course, any good scientist will tell you that correlations do not prove cause and effect. It could be that when people are “down in the dumps” they just naturally reach for junk foods rather than fruits and vegetables.

However, since there is no downside to consuming fruits and vegetables, I feel fully comfortable recommending more fruits and vegetables in our diets.

If their health benefits aren’t enough to motivate you, maybe the possibility of improving your mood will!

There are some things we just can’t control. We can’t do anything about the cold, dark days of winter. And to paraphrase those country songs, we can’t keep our girl and dog from running off. Life happens to all of us.

But, if we want to keep our mood where it should be, we can always reach for those fresh fruits and vegetables.

To Your Health!

Dr. Stephen G Chaney

P.S. Now Available For Immediate Shipping: The “180 Lifestyle Program” – a comprehensive lifestyle change program that you can use to support all of the 180 Turnaround customers that you will be working with as your 180 parties start getting results. Visit http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com to grab this valuable new tools to support your 180 business. While you are there, you can also check out the many benefits that you will receive when you sign up for my VIP program.

Dr. Stephen G Chaney

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

 

Tips From The Professor: Can Foods Make You Blue?

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The standard American diet (S.A.D.) is high in processed foods, fat (especially saturated and trans fats), refined grains, simple sugars, salt and calories. As I’ve said before, almost anything would be better.

You probably already know that the S.A.D. leads to obesity and a whole host of diseases – including heart disease, cancer and diabetes – just to name a few.

But did you know that the S.A.D. could make you sad?

That statement is based on a study by Akbaralay et al (British Journal of Psychiatry, 195: 408-413, 2009) in which they looked at the dietary patterns and mental health outcomes of 3486 participants in the Whitehall II Prospective Study.

In case you didn’t know it, Whitehall is the central district in London where most of the British government offices are located.

So the 3486 participants in this study were bureaucrats. They were middle aged (average age 55.6 years old) office staff (74% men, 26% women) who spent most of their day sitting and really didn’t like their jobs very much.

(I made up the part about not liking their jobs, but you get the picture.)

At the beginning of the study the participants were given a 127 item food frequency quiz to fill out.

Interestingly enough, the food preferences of the participants in this study clustered neatly into two groups.

The diets of the processed foods groups predominantly consisted of sweetened desserts, chocolates, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains and high fat dairy products.

In contrast, the diets of the whole foods group consisted mostly of vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains.

Five years later the study participants were analyzed for depression using a

20 item standardized depression scale.

The results were pretty eye-catching. The processed food group was 58% more likely to suffer from depression than the whole food group! And this was after correction for age, gender, weight, marital status, education, employment grade, physical activity, smoking and diseases (high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke).

The reasons for this astounding correlation between diet and depression are not clear.

The authors speculated that the diets of the whole food group were likely higher in antioxidants, folic acid and omega-3 fatty acids than the diets of the processed food group – and studies have suggested that each of these nutrients may protect against depression.

The authors also suggested that it might be an indirect effect. Diets that are high in saturated fats and refined grains and low in omega-3 fatty acids increase inflammation, and studies have suggested that inflammation can lead to depression.

The thing for you to remember is that, while we don’t know the exact mechanism, it is pretty clear that a processed food diet can lead to the blues down the road.

And, as the authors pointed out, the processed food diet in this study is pretty close to what most Americans are eating. So it is safe to say that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) can make you sad!

So keep your spirits up with a healthy diet.

To Your Health!

Dr. Stephen G Chaney

P.S. Now Available For Order: The “180 Lifestyle Program” – comprehensive lifestyle change program that you can use to support all of the 180 Turnaround customers that you will be working with as your 180 parties start getting results. Visit http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com to grab this valuable new tools to support your 180 business. While you are there, you can also check out the many benefits that you will receive when you sign up for my VIP program.

 

Dr. Steve Chaney, Alzheimers, Dementia and B Vitamins

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Dr. Steve Chaney

B Vitamins, Dementia & Alzheimers

Dr. Chaney is an active cancer researcher and Professor of Bio-Chemistry and Nutrition at UNC Medical Schoool.

“As we age there is perhaps nothing more frightening than the thought of losing our mind.

We can cope with lots of physical infirmities, but it is our memories and our cognition that make us who we are.

So what can we do to keep our mind in tip top shape as we age?

I’m going to start by talking about the importance of one B vitamin, folic acid, in maintaining our mental acuity as we age.

But, good health is seldom determined by one nutrient alone, so I’m going to end this discussion by
describing a holistic approach for reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Two recent articles have emphasized the importance of folic acid in preventing cognitive decline.

The first was a cross-sectional study of folate status and cognitive function in 1,033 non-demented older patients, ages 60-90 (de Lau et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 86: 728-734, 2007). The researchers measured blood levels of folic acid and did extensive cognitive tests on the subjects.

The results were fairly clear-cut. Those people with the highest levels of folic acid were the least likely to suffer from loss of cognitive function or psychomotor speed (reaction time).

But, cross-sectional studies are not the gold-standard placebo controlled clinical trial, which is why the second study is so important.

In this study, 818 middle aged subjects (ages 55-70) with normal vitamin B12 levels (the importance of this will become apparent in a minute) were given either 800 ug of folic acid or a placebo daily and followed for 3 years (Durga et al, Lancet, 369: 208-216, 2007).

At the end of 3 years, the subjects receiving the folic acid supplement did significantly better than the placebo group on several measures of cognitive function.

So you might be thinking that you should rush right out and buy a folic acid supplement.

Not so fast. You need to hear the rest of the story.

Vitamin B12 is also essential for cognitive function, and, with consumption of red meat declining, many older Americans are becoming deficient in B12.

B12 deficiency has two symptoms:

The first to appear is anemia. It is what usually brings the patient to their doctors office, and at this stage the B12 deficiency is easily reversible.

However, if the B12 deficiency is left untreated, the patient will eventually develop dementia that is not reversible.

The problem is that folate supplementation can mask the early, easily reversible, symptoms of B12 deficiency.

So that brings us to the third clinical study (Morris et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 85: 193-200, 2007).

This study was a cross-sectional study looking at vitamin B12 status, folic acid status and cognitive function. When they looked at those subjects in the study with low vitamin B12 status, the ones who also had high blood folate levels actually faired poorer on cognitive tests than those with low blood folate levels.

So now you’re probably thinking that you should rush out and buy a B complex supplement providing both folic acid and vitamin B12.

Wrong again!

Some older Americans develop an inability to produce something called intrinsic factor that is required for the rapid absorption of vitamin B12 in the intestine. Those people cannot get enough vitamin B12 from their food, and for them a standard vitamin B12 supplement is of little use. Knowing this, you might now feel that there is no effective way to make absolutely sure that you are getting enough B vitamins to reduce the risk of cognitive decline.

But, you’d be wrong again.

There is a second, intrinsic factor-independent pathway for absorbing vitamin B12 that is present throughout the entire length of the digestive tract.

So what you want to look for is a sustained release B complex that releases its B12 a little bit at a time throughout the digestive tract.

And since not all companies make their supplements according to pharmaceutical standards, you would want to make sure that this sustained release B complex had been shown in a clinical trial to deliver at least as much B12 to the blood stream as an immediate release B complex in individuals with normal levels of intrinsic factor.

Finally, now that you know what to look for in a B complex supplement, let me remind you that mental acuity is not just dependent on two B vitamins.

Recent studies have shown that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, maintaining ideal body weight and exercising regularly all help us to keep our brains functioning as they should as we age.

A holistic approach to health is always best.

To Your Health!

Dr. Stephen G Chantey

P.S. The Sustained Release B + C in Shaklee’s Vitalizer continuously releases small amounts of the B vitamins and Vitamin C during the 12 hours that it takes to pass through the small intestine.

Clinical studies have shown that his results in up to a 200% increase in blood levels of some B Vitamins and that blood levels of Vitamin B12 are equal to or greater than the same amount of B12 in the immediate release B-Complex Supplement.

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Healthy Nutrition

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“Your are what you eat” is a well used line. But it is also true. In a time of record levels of obesity in American it is important that we understand what we eat impacts how we feel.

Healthy nutrition means that we eat what is good for us. Of course we know that we need to limit the number of calories we eat every day – that is the most important factor in healthy weight management. But it is just as important that we understand what it is that we are eating.

What kinds of nutrients are important for our health? There are several that are found to be helpful, including:

  1. Antioxidants
  2. Vitamins and Vitamin Supplements
  3. Anti Aging Supplements
  4. Vitamins and supplements for bone health, liver health, blood sugar, prostrate, and even the digestive system
  5. Immune Support Supplements

These nutritional supplements are well known to help each of live a healthier life. But of course I am not a medical expert and this advice is only to give you more information and ideas on how to live a better life. You should check out more information to see what is right for you. You can do that by checking out Healthy Nutrition on my Shaklee Independent Distributor site.

You can also learn more about all of the Healthy Nutrition products available. Shaklee researches each and every one of the products they offer and have been in business for over 50 years now. So they know as much as anyone about what works.

Get started today. Learn more about how to live a healthier live.

Good luck in your quest for healthier living.

Introduction

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I am an Independent Shaklee Distributor based in Southern California.

Shaklee is a company that is in all of the right businesses for our time:

  1. Health and Wellness

 

  • Living Green

 

 

  • Healthy Beauty

 

 

  • Nutrition

 

 

  • Home Based Businesses

 

 

Shaklee has been in business for over 50 years – since 1956. Their selling program of selling directly to their customers through Independent Distributors is a proven model that works. Instead of paying for wholesalers, retailer, and advertising, the profits go directly to the Distributor building their busines.

Is Shaklee a pyramid scheme?

First, Shaklee products are great to use, to live a health life and to live in a green environment. I know this because I have personally been using Shaklee products for almost 20 years now myself and can tell the difference.

Secondly, you don’t have to develop your own business in order to purchase their products. If you want to just be a consumer – and we encourage you to try out the products for yourself – you can join as a Member and receive the Member Discount of 15% on all of your purchases.

Third, if you do want to buuild a business you can choose how it will work best for you. There are many Distributors who want to earn a few extra dollars each month and know that the extra $300 or $500 or even $1,000 each month can make a difference in their lives.

Fourth, on the other hand if you want to build a large, profitable, and successful business, Shaklee gives you the products and the tools to make it happen. I know some of the top Distributors in the company and they enjoy an incredible lifestyle because of their work over the past 30 years to build their business. So I know it can happen.

Lastly, it all depends on how much work you want to do. As with most things in life, there is not such thing as a free lunch. If you work hard with Shaklee, you can earn the rewards. One story that made it clear to me was hearing from one successful Distributor that she was giving herself a $20,000 a year raise each and evrey year by building her Shaklee business. Just think of asking for that raise at your regular job!

If you want to know more, check out our Shaklee site.

We invite you to get started today and let us know of any questions that you might have. We are here to help!

Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog.

–Tom