Little-known causes of depression

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one out of every 10 Americans suffers from depression, and the World Health Organization (WHO) states 350 million people worldwide have the condition.

Although there are some who are helped by antidepressants, there are a whole lot of others that continue to suffer.

There’s a very good reason for that.

Because depression is not a “one size fits all” illness!

There are many different causes, triggers and underlying factors behind depression—a low serotonin level is just a drop in the bucket and certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. 

Here are five little-known underlying factors behind depression and ways that you can help turn things around if you suspect they may be affecting you!

Depression factor #1: Inflammation
Inflammation is fast emerging as an underlying factor behind depression, and heaven knows we Americans are an inflamed society.

Certain substances that suggest the presence of inflammation such as cytokines in your blood and inflammatory messengers like C-reactive protein, Interleukin-1, Interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha are now suggested to be included as part of an overall depression workup.

Depression factor #2: Lacking sleep
Regularly lacking sleep has been shown to exacerbate or worsen depression symptoms, as well as decrease your tolerance to pain.

Depression factor #3: Vitamin D deficiency
The number of conditions associated with low vitamin D levels continues to grow, and you can add depression on to the list.

Studies have shown that people with low vitamin D levels are more prone to depression. 

Depression factor #4: Low levels of vitamins B3, B6 and B12
These three B vitamins are essential to proper mental health, and without them your brain can actually produce chemicals that make you feel out of your mind.  Lacking in these vital nutrients can lead to a whole series of disturbing symptoms including:

• Feeling unreal or disconnected
• Hearing your own thoughts
• Anxiety and inner tension
• Suspicious of people
• Inability to think straight
• Frequent mood swings
• Seeing or hearing things abnormally
• Having delusions or illusions

Depression factor #5: Gut flora imbalances
You may not realize this, but your gut produces the majority of the serotonin in your body…so if it’s unhealthy and not able to do its job, that can definitely darken your mood.

Unfortunately, many Americans have diets that are high in processed foods and refined carbs, plus we take antibiotics and acid reducers by the truckload—and ALL of these can seriously impair your friendly gut flora, creating an environment that favors harmful pathogens and keeps your gut from working optimally.

So it should be no surprise 10 percent of us also report being depressed.

Turn it around!

To help address all of the possible factors that may be behind your depression (and start feeling a whole lot better too!), here are some measures you can try:

Reduce inflammation with Nature’s anti-inflammatory
Omega-3 essential fatty acids are Nature’s anti-inflammatory, and they also happen to be absolutely ESSENTIAL for normal brain functioning.

That’s why a high quality Omega-3 fish oil formula like VitalMega-3 can make such a difference in your physical and mental health.

VitalMega-3 delivers 1,200 mg of Omega-3s in every daily two-capsule serving, including 600 mg of EPA and 400 mg of DHA—the two fatty acids that are especially important to your brain.

Get rested
If you want any chance of having sound mental (and physical) health, you must get decent sleep on a regular basis. 

Aim to get seven to nine hours a night.

Get tested (your vitamin D level that is)
Your doctor can do a simple test to see if your vitamin D levels are low. 
If your vitamin D level is shown to be low, supplementation with a top-quality formula like Vitamin D-K Factor can make a huge difference. 

Get your Bs
Hydroxaden 2.5 B12 spray can help make sure you’re getting the crucial B vitamins you need for strong mental functioning.

Hydroxaden 2.5 is a sublingual spray that provides a helpful dose of B12, plus its mental health teammates vitamins B3 and B6, as well as riboflavin (vitamin B2).

Help balance your gut flora 
When it comes to encouraging a healthy gut flora balance, although fermented foods can be very helpful, probiotic supplementation is your ticket to making sure that your population of friendly inhabitants is where it needs to be.

And Super Shield probiotic formula is just the supplement that’s up to this important challenge. 
Super Shield’s 13 strains of helpful bacteria help to repopulate your supply of friendly bacteria, fight off and crowd out dangerous pathogens, help encourage better digestion, boost your immune system functioning…

And help create a healthy gut environment that makes serotonin like it’s supposed to!
 
If you’ve been suffering from depression and medication doesn’t seem to be helping, don’t despair! 
Take a look at all the depression factors that may be affecting you and do what you can to turn them around and start feeling better.

A sneaky cause of common health issues

If you went to the doctor and reported having trouble sleeping, you’d probably walk out with a prescription for sleeping pills.

Or if you mentioned feeling very anxious or emotional, you may get an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug.

And if you complained about getting one bug after another, antibiotics would most assuredly be in your future.

But sadly, there is a common underlying cause for ALL of these health issues (and many more) that NONE of the prescription drugs in the world can touch—as a matter of fact, in many cases they make things worse.

I’m talking about hormonal imbalances.

The ultimate power

When people hear the word hormones, images of menopausal women with hot flashes frequently come to mind.
But that’s just a drop in the hormone bucket!

There have actually been over 200 hormones identified so far, and they control pretty much ALL of your body’s processes.  For example:

• Your digestion takes place because hormones trigger your digestive organs to secrete enzymes.
• Your metabolism is hopefully up and running (or so I would assume if you’re reading this) because your thyroid is cranking out hormones that affect every single cell in your body.
• Your ability to deal with an emergency situation is dependent on hormones secreted by your adrenal glands.
• If you do not suffer from diabetes that’s because your pancreas is secreting adequate insulin.
• And if you sleep like a baby at night it’s because your pineal gland is making sure you have enough melatonin.

Why are our hormones so messed up?

Now more than any other time in our existence, people are suffering from hormonal imbalances, and at younger ages too.  Instead of affecting people in their 50s and 60s we’re seeing them in our 20s and 30s.

There are many factors that can cause hormonal imbalances and they can include:

• Chemicals like BPAs, BHC, PCBs, etc. that are abundant in our environment
• Hormones injected into the animals raised for our food supply, which in turn make their way into your body
• All forms of stress—physical, mental, external and internal—contribute to hormonal imbalances, and ours is a very stressed-out society
• Prescription drugs—especially antibiotics, birth control pills and statins
• Liver malfunction—because the liver is responsible for clearing old worn-out hormones from your body, as well as manufacturing cholesterol to make your reproductive hormones

But the most prevalent cause of endocrine disruption is something that is very common is our society today…
Poor digestion!

Here’s how:

How poor digestion leads to messed-up hormones
When most people think of poor digestion, they think heartburn, gas, bloating and constipation.
That’s true, but there’s much more going on behind the scenes.

When your digestion isn’t going along so well, your system’s ability to assimilate and absorb nutrients from your foods is greatly impaired.  Since your body needs nutrients to make hormones, inadequate digestion can cause hormonal imbalances!

In addition, poor digestion can result in chronic constipation, which in turn can mean that old hormones your body is trying to eliminate with your bowel movements instead can be reabsorbed into circulation, creating imbalances and hyperstimulation.

Plus poor digestion creates an intestinal environment that favors harmful bacteria.  This can eventually cause the gut wall to become leaky and allow the passage of even more old hormones as well as microbes and food particles into the bloodstream.  This stirs up inflammation and puts even more stress on the liver to filter everything out.

Good digestion is where it’s at!
Good digestion is important for SO many reasons—and now you can add supporting healthy hormone levels on to the list!

To help keep your digestion in tip-top shape it’s a matter of what you eat and giving your body the help it needs.
The Great Taste No Pain and Great Taste No Gluten health systems can guide you on making healthy choices and pairing the right foods together for improved digestion.  Plus each system has a recipe section jam-packed with delicious, easy recipes that you will love.

Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula can help bring your intestinal environment into a more optimal balance by repopulating your supply of friendly, helpful bacteria.  Not only can this help ease constipation and encourage more regular bowel movements, but it can also support strong immune function too!

And Digestizol Max digestive enzyme formula can help pinch-hit where your body may be running low in its ability to produce adequate enzymes.  This especially applies to the elderly, people who have taken acid reducers, junk food junkies and people who have had GI surgery (especially gallbladder removal).
 
Sound digestion is the key to better overall health—and that includes proper hormone levels.

Do all you can to encourage better digestion and reap the benefits from head to toe!

A water balloon for weight loss?

Testing is currently underway to assess the potential of a device called “Elipse” as a viable method to lose weight…and it’s not necessarily for the faint of heart.

Elipse is a balloon that's crammed inside a typical-sized medication capsule which is attached to a tiny catheter. 

Once it’s swallowed and reaches the stomach, the capsule dissolves and releases the balloon. Then the balloon gets pumped up with distilled water through the catheter.  When the balloon is full, the catheter is pulled out through the mouth.

What results is a grapefruit-sized (about 19 ounces) water balloon that fills the stomach and significantly reduces the amount of food someone can eat before feeling full.

After four months, the balloon automatically deflates, at which point it makes its way through the intestinal tract and is eliminated when Nature calls.

Success!  Or maybe not

By dramatically reducing their intake of food, people that use Elipse (once it’s approved by the FDA) will most assuredly lose weight. 

Taking in less food always means your body must begin to rely on its own fat reserves and hence you lose weight.

But the same can be said for any diet that significantly reduces intake! 

And the real issue is: What happens once the citrus fruit-sized water balloon is no longer a part of your gullet?

You guessed it—all of a sudden you have more room again in your stomach and don’t get full as fast anymore.

Watch the tide roll in.

Now, the developers of Elipse are optimistic that people will learn portion control during the four months that the balloon is taking up residence in their stomach, and these newly formed habits will continue once it goes on its merry way.

Well, all I can say is while this new “stomach shrinking” method has not been approved yet, I have yet in my health career to see a single case of bariatric surgery where the person successfully kept ALL the weight off, so I can’t imagine this being dramatically different.

What’s wrong?

The glaring boo-boo here is this: 

You can follow a severely restrictive diet, you can have your stomach stapled, you can inflate a gastric water balloon or even swallow an old sock to fill up your stomach if you’re so inclined, but none of that changes the fact that losing weight and keeping it off is not simply a matter of portion control!

And that’s why these weight loss measures are merely temporary at best.

Losing weight and keeping it off are instead a function of these three factors:

1. What you eat
2. How efficient your digestion is
3. How much you move

What you eat is arguably far more imperative than portion control and here’s why:  When you concentrate on real, whole foods like vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs and healthy fats (like butter and olive oil) your body gets properly nourished and you stay satisfied longer—which greatly reduces your chances of overeating, binging or snacking.  Plus whole foods are inherently lower in calories than processed foods, so you naturally reduce calorie intake without deprivation or starving yourself!

Efficient digestion is a must.  If your body can’t properly assimilate and absorb nutrients from your foods and/or eliminate wastes due to poor digestion, forget it.  There’s no way you’ll be able to lose weight since you’ll be constantly hungry (due to poor nutrition) and constantly constipated (due to inefficient breakdown of your foods).  So if your digestion is not going along so well and/or you find yourself relying on acid reducers, you can help turn that around by:

• Making your meals simpler and easier for your system to tackle—and the Great Taste No Pain health system can show you exactly what to do. It’s easy—it just involves a few simple changes to how your structure your meals and can make a world of difference in how your body accomplishes digestion. 
• Giving your body digestive enzyme support if needed with Digestizol Max enzyme formula. People most in need of digestive enzyme supplements include the elderly, people who use acid reducers, people who have had gallbladder surgery or people who have had a long history of a junk food diet.

Moving on a regular basis is essential too.  Regular physical activity helps to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat, both of which are crucial to weight loss and management.  Plus you’ll also be decreasing your risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, back pain and even depression!  Get your doctor’s nod of approval, get some sneakers and get going!

Losing weight and keeping it off doesn’t have to be rocket science and it certainly doesn’t require water balloons. 

Eat the right foods, keep digestion humming and break a sweat on a regular basis and I’m sure you’ll love the results!

Nutrients that lower cholesterol

Currently over one out of four people in the US between the ages of 40 and 75 takes statins, so cholesterol appears to be a concern for about 30 million people.

Plus guidelines developed by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have expanded the parameters for statin treatment, thereby potentially raising that number to one out of two.

Although the AMA and ACC are very vocal about the fact that cardiac events such as heart attack or stroke may be prevented in some people, what we’re not hearing about is the fact that statins are NOT safe.

In fact, they’re quite the opposite.

Click through to see just how deadly statins can be, and learn about how to use the power of nutrients to keep your cholesterol level healthy.

Nutrients that lower cholesterol
Currently about 30 million people in the US between the ages of 40 and 75 take statins, so I think it’s safe to say we have a cholesterol issue going on.

Plus guidelines developed by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have expanded the parameters for statin treatment, thereby potentially jacking that number up to 56 million people on cholesterol-lowering medications.

Although the guideline authors are optimistic that the additional statin use may (but not necessarily will) help prevent cardiac events such as heart attack or stroke in some people, what is not being trumpeted in the vast flurry of cholesterol-lowering excitement is the fact that statins are NOT safe!

In fact, they can be deadly.

Statins are not safe
It continues to boggle my mind when I read articles quoting respected cardiologists that profess that statins are safe.

Here are excerpts from the package insert for Crestor with highlighting that I added and my comments in parenthesis (you can see the entire document at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/021366s016lbl.pdf ):

5.1 Skeletal Muscle Effects
Cases of myopathy and rhabdomyolysis with acute renal failure (potentially fatal kidney failure) secondary to myoglobinuria have been reported with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, including CRESTOR.

5.2 Liver Enzyme Abnormalities and Monitoring
It is recommended that liver enzyme tests be performed before and at 12 weeks following both the initiation of therapy and any elevation of dose, and periodically (e.g., semiannually) thereafter. Increases in serum transaminases [AST (SGOT) or ALT (SGPT)] (abnormal liver function) have been reported with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, including CRESTOR.

6 ADVERSE REACTIONS
The most common adverse reactions that led to treatment discontinuation were:

• Myalgia (muscle pain)
• abdominal pain
• nausea
• headache
• asthenia (abnormal physical weakness)

Other adverse reactions reported in clinical studies were abdominal pain, dizziness, hypersensitivity (including rash, pruritus, urticaria, and angioedema) and pancreatitis (potentially fatal inflammation of the pancreas); thyroid function abnormalities.

Tell me, does that sound “safe” to you?

Naturally help lower cholesterol
Thankfully there are other ways to help lower serum cholesterol that don’t subject you to possible fatal kidney, liver or pancreas failure, or thyroid problems.

It’s all about relying on the farmer and not the pharmacist…

Engaging the power of nutrients!

Here are some superstar nutrients that have been proven to help promote healthy cholesterol levels:

• Niacin (vitamin B3): Niacin has been shown to help both lower total cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
• Vitamin C:  Studies have shown that vitamin C can help lower total cholesterol as well as triglyceride levels and platelet adhesiveness, and at the same time increase HDL cholesterol.
• Selenium: Selenium is an impressive antioxidant which has been shown to prevent atherosclerosis. It works best when combined with vitamin E, another potent antioxidant.
• Zinc: A recent study conducted at the Univeristy of Colombo has shown that zinc supplementation significantly reduced total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
• Chromium: Although it’s just a trace mineral, chromium has shined as a nutreint that impressively lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol.

And the good news is ALL of these cholesterol-lowering nutrients are in Super Core multi-vitamin formula! 
So in addition to a healthy diet, you can make sure you have all nutrient bases covered (and help keep your cholesterol level healthy!) with Super Core.

But wait—there’s one more!
We can’t forget one of the most important cholesterol-controlling nutrients…

Omega-3 essential fatty acids!

When you have a deficiency of anti-inflammatory Omega-3 EFAs combined with too many inflammation-stirring Omega-6 EFAs (like most people with a typical modern diet do), you're encouraging inflammation, pain and disease, as well as not being able to eliminate old worn-out cholesterol as well as you should.

But when you bring the balance closer to the ideal 3:1 range of Omega-6 to Omega-3, they can act in harmony to keep inflammation low in your body (including your arteries!) and help you get rid of excess cholesterol.

VitalMega-3 is a top-quality fish oil formula that can help you achieve this optimal balance.

Based on recent studies, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported decreases in cholesterol of up to 20 percent in just 10 days by boosting Omega-3 EFA's through diet and supplementation!
 
Remember, when it comes to helping your body work like it should (including producing healthy amounts of cholesterol and efficiently eliminating old, worn-out cholesterol) nothing beats the power of nutrients!

Another frightening danger of antibiotics

The medical and scientific communities are becoming increasingly aware that although antibiotics have saved lives, they also have a very dark side.

Many studies have shown that long-term antibiotic use can disrupt your friendly gut flora to the point where your immune functioning is impaired.  This makes you more susceptible to infections for which more antibiotics are prescribed, therefore creating a vicious cycle of chronic infection. 

They’ve also been implicated as a cause behind Crohn’s disease due to the inflammation they stir up in the intestinal tract and the confusion of the immune system.

Plus now we’re seeing the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which sadly, has been fatal in many cases.  Nature is smart and always evolving, and so far, bacteria have found a way around every single antibiotic we’ve come up with.

Especially dangerous are Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), which causes life-threatening diarrhea, Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), which causes bloodstream infections that prove fatal in almost 50 percent of cases, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae that cause gonorrhea.

Houston, we have a problem

Up until recently, the focus has been on long-term or prophylictic use of antibiotics as being the primary problem, with the belief that the gut can recover sufficiently from individual short-term rounds of treatment.

But a recent study has changed all that.

According to research published in mBio, one single course of antibiotics is potentially strong enough to disrupt your protective gut flora for UP TO A YEAR!

But that’s not all.

Because the researchers observed that in addition to obliterating your friendly little protectors, antibiotics were also found to enrich and support genes that are associated with antibiotic resistance.

So it’s a deadly double-edged sword.

Fight the battle—and WIN!

The best way you can help minimize your chances of antibiotic-related problems (including the potentially fatal effects of antibiotic-resistant infections!) is to support and nurture the illness protection provided by Mother Nature.

Otherwise known as your IMMUNE SYSTEM.

Start with your diet:

Limit sugars and refined carbs, as these feed the unfriendly inhabitants in your gut which can eventually overcome your army of good guys. 

Make sure you get plenty of whole foods, especially fresh vegetables and healthy fats like real butter, olive oil and avocado. 

Try to choose organic meat and milk, as animals raised on conventional farms are injected with antibiotics (to make them grow faster), which in turn make their way into your body.

Put the power of supplementation to work for you:

Our Immune Boost bundle of products is as good as it gets! 

Immune Boost Bundle is a carefully selected group of top-quality immune-enhancing and supporting products that includes three of the most crucial supplements for proper immune health—Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula, Hydroxaden 2.5 Vitamin B12 spray, and Vitamin D-K Factor.

Reduce stress:

Stress actually causes changes to your gut microbiome making it less able to defend against harmful infections and viruses…so it’s crucial to do all you can to reduce stress in your life. 

Regular exercise is extremely helpful.  You can also try deep breathing, yoga, meditation, prayer, workshops and massage therapy.  Even adopting a pet has been shown to help—so visit your local animal shelter if this is right for you.

Get enough sleep: 

Studies have shown that even one night of poor sleep can depress your immune functioning by up to 30 percent.

If you have trouble sleeping, try going to bed and getting up at the same time each day.  Don’t watch the news or other upsetting images before retiring.  Take a warm bath and sip chamomile tea.  

Placing lavender essential oil on or near your pillow can help.  Melatonin or tryptophan supplements have been shown to help too.

The best way to avoid antibiotic dangers is to not need them in the first place. 

Do all you can to support your precious immune system and help decrease your chances of relying on antibiotics (or many other drugs for that matter)!

How losing your gallbladder destroys weight loss

Each year in the US about half a million cholecystectomies (gallbladder removals) are done, making it one of the most common surgeries performed.

But contrary to what you might have been told, it’s not “no big deal” if you lose your gallbladder! 

Not only can losing your gallbladder permanently mess up your digestion and overall health, but it can also make losing weight next to impossible!

Click through to see just exactly how important your gallbladder is, why you should hang on to yours, or what to do if you’ve already lost it.

How losing your gallbladder destroys weight loss
Your gallbladder is arguably your most under-appreciated organ and the general thinking in the medical community even up until recently has been that you really don’t need it.

Well, that’s far from true. 

Being without this pear-shaped organ has significant consequences—and that includes sabotaging your weight loss efforts!

Here’s why:

A winning team 
Your gallbladder lies just below your liver, and together they work as teammates.

About a quart of bile is secreted each day by your liver and gets stored in the gallbladder.  While the gallbladder is holding the bile, it absorbs excess water out of it, making it more concentrated and stronger—to the tune of five to 18 times more concentrated!

Then when you eat a meal, the gallbladder contracts and releases bile into the upper part of your small intestine (the duodenum). 

The bile works to emulsify the fat, cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K in your food, and then your pancreatic lipases (fat enzymes) finish the job.

Then the bile gets absorbed through the intestinal wall and sent back to your liver to be recycled.

When trouble starts to brew
The most common form of gallbladder trouble is gallstones, and currently about one in five Americans over 65 has them.

But even though they’re common, they don’t just POOF come out of nowhere.

Instead they're created--by you.

Gallstones are most commonly the result of excess cholesterol in your bile and/or toxin buildup, which can be caused or worsened by a stressed liver, eating too many unhealthy fats (especially trans-fats) and refined carbs, and acid waste buildup from poor digestion.

So in other words, gallstones are simply a result of things going awry in your body and an unhealthy diet, and taking out your gallbladder doesn't change one iota of that.

As a matter of fact, things can get even worse. 

Life after your gallbladder
Once your gallbladder goes to gallbladder heaven, it’s more difficult for your body to digest fats. This can cause burping, gas and bloating after eating.

You’re also likely to be deficient in essential fatty acids and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. This can in turn impair your brain function and your body’s ability to make hormones as well as compromise the integrity of your cell walls.

Lacking vitamins A, D, E and K can also hamper your immune functioning, impact bone health, and affect your cardiovascular and nervous system health.

In addition, you’re also more susceptible to chronic inflammation without the protection of anti-inflammatory fatty acids.  Inflammation is a driving force behind most chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease and arthritis.

Weight loss sabotage
Being without your gallbladder can impact your ability to lose weight too.

When your fat digestion decreases dramatically, your body goes into starvation mode.  This causes your body to hang on to the fat it has (which unfortunately may be your spare tire or muffin top) to conserve it for future use. 

You in turn become frustrated at that scale number refusing to budge, so you might adopt a low-fat diet—but that only makes the situation worse by plunging you further into starvation mode!

The problem might be your liver
Sometimes gallbladder issues are not true gallbladder problems at all, but are indicators of poor bile output by the liver.

Here are some common symptoms of low bile output:

• Constipation
• Small, hard, difficult to pass stools
• Gray, shiny, soft stools
• Pain in the right side under the rib cage
• Dry, flaky skin and/or dry, brittle hair
• Indigestion

Give them some TLC
Although surgery is unavoidable at times, fortunately, there is SO much you can do to help keep your gallbladder and liver healthy and working like they should:

1-Get tested
A study published in The Lancet found that about half of the people with gallstones had low levels of hydrochloric acid (HCl).  Your doctor can test your level of HCl with either a Heidelberg capsule test or SmartPill test.

A liver function profile can be helpful to see if there’s a problem with your liver. 

Also, investigate food sensitivities.  Studies have shown an association between food sensitivities and gallbladder disease.  

2-Eat your way to healthy organs
This is crucial.  NOTHING can undo the domino-like, health-wrecking effects of a poor diet.

Be sure to concentrate on fruits, vegetable, meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and healthy fats.  At the same time, limit refined carbs (like bread, pasta, sweets and soda) and avoid trans-fats at all cost.

3-Exercise
Studies show that as many as 34 percent of cases of gallstone disease in men could be prevented by increasing exercise to 30 minutes, five times per week.

Get your doctor’s OK and get moving.

4-Flush out your liver 
Every morning drink a large glass of room temperature water to which a squeeze of fresh lemon juice has been added. 

This will help flush out your liver and it will appreciate the cleansing boost.

5-Give your body enzyme support
Taking a digestive enzyme formula like Digestizol Max can be very useful in supporting the gallbladder, or helpful if you've already had surgery and are having difficulty digesting fats as a result.

Digestizol Max contains an effective blend of 15 natural, plant-derived enzymes that help your body break down all kinds of foods (fats included!) and help keep digestion more smooth and efficient.
 
Remember, nothing Nature gives us is by accident, and that includes your gallbladder.

Do all you can to keep it and all your organs healthy for years to come!

Sherry Brescia’s Top 10 Holiday Survival Tips

Support your immune system with Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula.  This is the time of year when we are working long hours, have numerous commitments, are under stress and might not be eating the way we should—all of which can take their toll on your immune system.

Get enough sleep!  Seven to nine hours is what most people need.  If you’re having trouble sleeping try having a snack of leftover turkey or sip chamomile tea at night.  Tryptophan or melatonin supplements can help too.

Help your digestion along with Digestizol Max digestive enzyme formula.  Let’s face it—the holidays are when we indulge the most, and chances are excellent your body might need a little help here and there in the digestion department.  Let Digestizol Max assist your body through your holiday dietary indiscretions!

Remember to exercise.  I know you’ve got a lot going on, but now is not the time to skimp on your workouts.  Christmas will most assuredly arrive even if you don’t bake that last batch of cookies—do your workout instead.

Keep the booze under control.  There’s nothing wrong with having some “holiday cheer” but don’t overindulge.  And if you do happen to have too much, please, please let someone else drive you home.

Learn to say no.  You don’t have to accept every invitation that comes your way or participate in every committee or event.  Learn to say no when your plate is already full—otherwise you’ll cause yourself stress, which opens you up to getting sick!

Learn to say yes.  When you’re stressed and overworked, if someone at work or home is offering their help, say yes!  You don’t have to be Superwoman or Superman and do everything yourself.

Incorporate healthy options into your holiday menus.  Include a crudité platter, fresh shrimp, or guacamole in your party appetizer lineup.  And for a lighter alternative to heavy mashed potatoes, try mashed cauliflower!  Cook cauliflower until tender and mash with butter and seasoning just like you would potatoes.

Take time to remember those less fortunate than you.  You don’t have to do a lot to make a big difference in someone’s life.  There are food pantries, clothing collections, toy drives and all kinds of ways to spread the true spirit of the holiday season.

Be thankful.  Whatever your religious beliefs are or aren’t, remember to be thankful for your life, your health, your loved ones and the freedoms that you enjoy for which so many people gave their lives.

Have a blessed holiday season.

Don't forget that our 15% Cyber Week Sale is Still on!

A very special tribute

Today I am not going to write about health conditions, diet or nutrients.

I’m not even going to tell you to exercise!

Instead today I would simply like to pay tribute to a very special lady.

My Mom passed away at 5:45 am EST today.  And I have truly lost my best friend.

Mom, thank you for all the lessons.  You were the best mother anyone could ever wish for, and I am proud to be your daughter.  

Rest in peace and I will see you again someday.