Study: Thin women have different gut bacteria

Here’s a funny cartoon to start your day off with a laugh:

Ah yes, women and weight loss. It seems like so many of us are constantly fighting to take off that extra five, ten, twenty or more.

That’s not to say that men don’t have their battles of the bulge as well, but women are far and away the ones that more often pursue special diets and weight loss aids.

And if there’s one thing that women wanting to lose weight have come to realize it’s that life’s not fair. Because some women seem to drop weight easily and keep it off, while others are on a perpetual diet and that scale number seems forever frozen in time.

If you’re in the latter of those two camps, know this: There are some sneaky factors that may be causing your “fat adherence” that you might not have thought of.

But the good news is once you know about these behind-the-scenes scale tippers, you can in turn do something about them…

And very likely start to see those pounds slide off!

Here are the “Four fat-friendly foes” and how you can help fight back at each.

Fat-friendly foe #1: Having a S-L-O-W metabolism
Metabolism collectively refers to ALL of the chemical processes that occur in your body, with the concern here being the part of metabolism that determines how your body produces and uses energy.

Because of course, this is a big factor in determining your girth and your level of energy (or lack thereof) during the day.

But the good news here is even if your metabolism happens to be on the slow side, there are ways you can help rev it up.

Number one is exercise. Exercise raises your metabolic rate both during your workout AND for several hours afterwards!

So get your doctor’s OK and get moving.

It’s also important to make sure your Vitamin B12 level is healthy. B12 is an important player in your metabolism that generates your body's energy (ATP) from fats and sugars—so when you’re low in it (and statistics show that as many as one in four people are), your metabolism can be sluggish as a result!

Food sources of B12 include beef, herring, mackerel, eggs, milk, cheese, clams, sardines, salmon, crabmeat and oysters.

And if you’re looking to go the route of supplementation, Hydroxaden 2.5 is your ticket.

Hydroxaden 2.5 is a convenient vitamin B12 spray that gives you the 2.5 mg of B12 (in the form of hydroxocobalamin) that is suggested by many nutrition experts. Just five quick sprays under your tongue each day is all it takes.

Fat-friendly foe #2: Having a underactive thyroid
Nowhere in heaven or on earth is there a more effective killer of your weight loss efforts than an under-active thyroid.

Your thyroid stimulates your cell metabolism and regulates your metabolic rate—and when it’s sluggish, so is your metabolism and hence your ability to create energy and burn calories.

You can diet until the cows come home, but if your thyroid is low, I promise you, that scale number will not budge.

If this sounds like you and/or you haven’t had your thyroid tested in a while, it’s best to see your doctor and get checked out. But be sure to ask him or her to do a TRH Challenge test instead of the typical TSH test. The TRH Challenge test is a far more accurate and sensitive test to detect low functioning thyroid.

If your doctor is not familiar with the TRH test, many labs (including Quest Diagnostics) offer it. The CPT code is 83519.

Fat-friendly foe #3: Medications
Although medications are sometimes necessary, the fact remains that they all have side effects—and one of the frequent side effects of medications is weight gain.

Here are 13 common medications that can cause you to pack on the pounds:

• Paxil
• Depakote
• Prozac
• Remeron
• Zyprexa
• Deltasone/prednisone
• Thorazine
• Elavil
• Allegra
• Diabinese
• Insulin
• Tenormin
• Birth control pills

If you are on any of these medications, talk to your doctor about safer alternatives, reducing your dose or maybe exploring natural options. For example, Omega-3 essential fatty acids (fish oil capsules) have been shown to be very helpful with high blood pressure, depression and inflammation.

And if you need a good fish oil formula, our very own VitalMega-3 is as good as it gets!

Fat-friendly foe #4: Having the wrong gut bacteria
Yes, you read that right—your ability (or inability) to take off pounds just might be a result of the bacteria you have residing in your intestinal tract.

According to a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition by a team of researchers headed by Université Laval Professor Angelo Tremblay, it appears the intestinal flora of obese individuals differs from that of thin people—especially as far as women are concerned.

In the study, Tremblay and his team set out to determine if the consumption of probiotics could help restore the balance of the intestinal microbes in favor of helpful bacteria species that promote a healthy weight.

The researchers recruited 125 overweight men and women, all of whom underwent a 12-week weight-loss diet, followed by a 12-week period aimed at maintaining body weight. Throughout the entire study, half the participants took probiotic supplements from the Lactobacillus rhamnosus family, while the other half received a placebo.

After the 12-week diet period, although the men didn't show much of a difference between the two groups, researchers noted an average weight loss of 4.4 kg (9.7 pounds) in the women in the probiotic group as compared to 2.6 kg (5.7 pounds) in the placebo group.

In addition, after the 12-week maintenance period, the weight of the women in the placebo group remained stable but the probiotic group had continued to lose weight, for a total of 5.2 kg (11.5 pounds) per person!

So in other words, women taking the probiotics lost twice as much weight over the 24-week period of the study!

Plus probiotics can help create a healthier intestinal environment which can mean less gas and bloating, better digestion and improved nutrient absorption—all of which are important to weight loss.

If you’d like to embrace the power of probiotics, then Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula is just what you need.

Super Shield contains Lactobacillus rhamnosus—the bacteria species that was used in the study I quoted above—plus 12 other potent, top quality strains that each have their own unique contribution in how they help ease digestion and enhance your overall health.

Now don’t forget about your diet too!
Even if some of the things I've mentioned up above may be issues in slowing your weight loss, that doesn't mean you can just throw your diet to the wind.

If you want to lose the weight once and for all and eventually maintain a healthy bodyweight when you get there, you must have a diet of real nutritious foods and healthy digestion.

It’s not optional, my friend.

But the good news is, when you use Great Taste No Pain it is easy and tastes delicious!

Great Taste No Pain shows you how to structure easier to digest meals made from REAL, nutritious foods that taste positively fantastic!

When you eat combinations of real foods that can be broken down more efficiently by your stomach and intestines, your body can more easily get the nutrients it needs, you’ll feel fuller longer (and will be less likely to overeat or binge) and you will likely get fewer tummy troubles!

And the dishes in the recipe book are the bomb! You'll be shocked and delighted at how delicious and enjoyable eating for great health can be.

Note: If you've got gluten challenges, I've got you covered too. Great Taste No Gluten is for you instead.

Losing weight can always be a challenge.

But when you address some of the possible factors that may be working against you, and put the power of the right diet to work for you, you can’t go wrong!

And when you do take those pounds off once and for all, please write to me and tell me about your success.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

6 Tips to prevent against chronic disease

As much as I would love to say otherwise, the rates of chronic disease in the United States (and many other countries in the world) are downright frightening.

When it becomes the norm and not the exception to have a disease, to be on several medications and/or to be overweight or obese, I’d say that’s pretty scary.

Although we’ve had a lot of help creating our sickly existence with things like toxins in our environment, our increased reliance on processed and fast foods, our more sedentary lifestyles, our heavy dependence on medications to create “chemical health” and our steadily rising stress levels, there is also another factor behind our chronic disease explosion that most people aren’t even aware of.

So if they don’t know about, heaven knows they don’t know enough to do anything about it!

What I’m referring to is the inner workings of your lymphatic system.

That’s right.

If you don’t have a properly functioning lymphatic system, it is not a question of IF but merely when will you get sick—seriously sick.

Let’s take a look at why that is so, and we’ll start by seeing all of the lymphatic “players” and all they do for you.

Your internal cleaning crew
Your lymphatic system functions like your circulatory system, and it works in partnership with your circulatory system, but instead of blood the main fluid here is lymph.

Lymph is actually derived from your blood and blood plasma—it’s a clear-to-white liquid made up of white blood cells, nutrients and a fluid called chyle. (Chyle is a milky fluid created in your intestines during your digestion of fats and contains rich levels of fat and proteins.)

Here’s what happens:
When you digest fats, chyle is formed and is absorbed into your bloodstream. In addition, nutrients from all your other foods also join in and get into your blood.

Your blood moves through all your blood vessels—first your bigger main arteries, then as it branches out farther the blood eventually reaches your tiny capillaries.

Then lymph from your blood drips out of the ends of the capillaries. From there the lymph gets to work washing your cells with moisture and delivering nutrients to all your cells.

At the same time your lymph also mops up waste-loaded fluids from around your cells and then heads to your lymph vessels. Then your lymph vessels start pumping this “dirty mop water” away from your cells. Most people don’t know this, but you have just as many lymph vessels and capillaries as you have blood vessels and capillaries!

Then the “dirty mop water” eventually reaches one of your lymph nodes. The lymph nodes proceed to filter out the wastes (plus any viruses, harmful bacteria or even cancer cells that might have been picked up along the way) and destroy them.

(Note that when there are a LOT of toxins in your lymph, sometimes the lymph nodes get overwhelmed and swell up. That’s when many people say they have “swollen glands” but they’re really swollen lymph nodes.)

Once the filtering is done, then the “clean” lymph flows back into your bloodstream to rejoin your blood and start its work all over again.

So as you can see, if this cycle isn’t working right, you may be susceptible to a number of serious health problems including:

1. Lacking nutrients/deficiency diseases
2. Cancer
3. Low energy 
4. Repeated viruses or infections
5. Fluid swelling in your limbs or other areas of the body (edema)

The other partnership—your immune system

Your lymphatic system also works in close partnership with your immune system, and the main players here (in addition to your lymph nodes) are your bone marrow, your thymus gland and your spleen.

Your bone marrow is where the vast majority of your immune cells are produced from specialized cells called stem cells.

Once the immune cells are produced, they travel to your thymus gland. There they mature and are assigned a specific role to protect you. Then they answer their “call to duty” and move to the specific area of your body that they’re guarding.

The thymus also produces hormones which help to trigger immune responses when you need them, such as when you ingest a dangerous pathogen or get bitten by a bug.

Your spleen also plays a role in your immune health by producing immune cells. It also helps filter and cleanse your blood and it acts as a storage site for additional blood which may be needed if you ever lose a significant amount of blood all at once (such as with a serious injury).

So without these players working like they should, you run the risk of having weak immune functioning and are more susceptible to viruses, infections and diseases of all kinds.

Take care of YOUR lymphatic system!
Now that you know all that your underappreciated lymphatic system does for you, it’s vital to take care of YOURS so it can continue to take care of YOU!

Here are six effective ways to make sure your lymphatic system is working in tip-top shape to cleanse and protect you:

1- Get regular exercise
Unlike your circulatory system which has your heart to pump blood through your body, your lymphatic system doesn’t have a similar pump to move lymph around.

So YOU have be the pump—by engaging in regular exercise!

That’s right—in addition to all of exercise’s other impressive health benefits, it also helps keep the lymph flowing through your body so it can do all of its important work.

No more excuses. Pick an activity, get your doc’s OK (especially if your latest form of exercise has been limited to 12 oz. curls) and GET MOVING.

2- Drink enough water
Water is essential for having proper blood levels and helping to flush wastes out of your cells (so your lymphatic system can pick them up and get rid of them all).

Eight 8-oz. glasses a day should be your minimum.

A good way to tell if you're drinking enough water is to look at your urine. If it's dark yellow and opaque at any time other than first thing in the morning, you likely need more water.

3- Eat for better lymphatic system health
A great way to help your lymphatic system in its role of cleaning your body is to create less garbage to begin with!

That means ditching the processed foods and fast foods and instead having a diet of real foods—especially good choices for lymphatic health are leafy greens, citrus fruits and healthy fats (especially nuts, seeds and avocado).

Plus having better digestion helps more wastes and toxins to be eliminated in the digestive process, so they never even reach your cells and tax your lymphatic system to have to clean them out!

The Great Taste No Pain health system can help you achieve this important goal.

Great Taste No Pain teaches you the few simple principles of food combining--pairing foods together to help encourage smooth digestion and improved nutrient absorption.

Not only can this help encourage more regular bowel movements, but it can also help curb other digestive problems like acid reflux, gas and bloating.

Note that if you’re gluten sensitive, Great Taste No Gluten is for you instead:

4- Give those immune cells a good home
Although your lymphatic system’s bone marrow and spleen produce most of your immune cells, the vast majority of those cells (about 70 percent) take up residence in your GUT.

So it’s crucial to make sure that you provide a healthy gut environment to house these life-saving protectors—and the key to that is having a healthy intestinal flora balance!

Having a good diet certainly helps this cause, but for many people (especially people who are constipated a lot, people who eat a lot of refined carbs and people who use antacids or antibiotics) it's many times not enough.

That's why supplementation with a multi-strain probiotic formula like Super Shield is such a good idea for so many.

Super Shield contains a variety of 13 robust probiotic strains (including both the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species) that will comfortably line your gut wall and help make it less porous, help protect you from toxins and keep your digestion in tip-top shape so you can eliminate harmful substances before they try to eliminate YOU!

5- Practice deep breathing
In addition to exercise, proper movement of air through your lungs also helps move and pump fluid through the lymphatic system while providing it with fresh oxygen. Here’s how you can accomplish this:

1. Get comfortable in any position (sitting or lying down) and put your hands on your chest and stomach.
2. Focus on breathing from your abdomen instead of your chest. 
3. Breathe in through your nose, hold the breath for a few seconds and then exhale through your mouth. The time it takes to exhale should be about twice what it is to inhale. 
4. Try to do four 8-breath cycles one to three times every day.  Not only will deep breathing give your lymphatic system a boost, but it’s a great way to de-stress too, and stress is certainly another factor behind our chronic disease explosion!

6- Consider possible iodine deficiency
Most people associate iodine deficiency with thyroid goiter, but it can also cause congestion of the lymphatic system. Iodine helps protect you from the toxic environment we live in (with radiation and other pollutants), and supports your lymphatic system at a cellular level.

And even though iodized salt is a good source of iodine, not all of the table salt sold in the US is iodized, plus many people are avoiding salt like the plague because of high blood pressure concerns. So deficiency is more common than you might think. Current estimates show that at least one out of every seven women in the US has some degree of deficiency.

If you suspect you may be deficient, ask your doctor to do a test.

And if you want some (non-salt) sources of iodine to incorporate into your diet, fish and shellfish are your best bets.

Congratulations! You are now an expert in your lymphatic system and hopefully have an appreciation for how it is keeping you healthy and, well, alive.

Do all you can to keep it strong and efficient so it can help keep YOU going well into your golden years.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

A leading cause of autoimmune disease and more

I think it's pretty safe to say that when something is leaking, it's rarely a good thing.

For example, leaky roofs can lead to spongy walls, damaged ceilings and electrical hazards, leaky refrigerators, toilets or dishwashers can mean you'll be buying a new floor soon and if you’re in a boat that’s leaking, well, it’s time to start swimming.

But there's another kind of leak that is a little more quiet and sneaky, yet it can cause a tornado of damaging effects to your health.

I'm talking about a leaky gut wall.

Here's the scoop on this leak that you'll want to plug up as soon as possible if you've got it:

The gallant gut
Technically your entire digestive system can be considered your "gut," but most commonly the gut is referring to your intestinal tract.

Now, to understand what leaky gut is and how it can be so destructive, it's important to have an appreciation for what I call your "gallant gut."

Your gut is SO much more than just the path your food follows as it is being digested.

It houses almost 3/4ths of your immune system.

It has its own nervous system and innate intelligence. That's why your gut is called your "second brain." If the nerves between your gut and brain were ever severed, your gut could continue to function on its own.

And your health from head to toe (as well as your LIFE) depends on its ability to efficiently eliminate wastes, absorb essential nutrients and protect you from external dangers.

Cheesecloth or spaghetti strainer?
When it's healthy, your gut wall can be compared to a piece of cheesecloth.

It has teeny tiny spaces between the cells in its lining that are just big enough to let properly broken down molecules of food through, so they can get into your bloodstream to nourish you.

But it's also woven tightly enough to securely contain foods that are NOT properly broken down, as well as toxins that you may have ingested, dangerous bacteria and viruses.

These "invaders" are "jailed" in your cheesecloth gut until they can be escorted away with your bowel movements.

This is a perfect system designed by Nature to keep you nourished and protect you from sickness and danger.

Unless your gut wall starts to resemble a spaghetti strainer, that is.

That's when the trouble starts.

The land of the leaky
When the spaces between your intestinal cells instead start to act more like a spaghetti strainer, not only do toxins and viruses have a green light to enter your bloodstream, but food particles that are WAY too big to be used for nourishment can get in there too.

When this happens, the immune cells in your bloodstream sound the alarm bell because these too-large food particles (called circulating immune complexes) are seen as a harmful invader.

Then your immune system reacts by launching an attack against this perceived nemesis and in the process a lot of inflammation is created.

At the same time your immune system produces antibodies against this new "adversary" so it can recognize it quickly if it dares to enter again.

So, for example, if some too-big egg molecules get into your bloodstream, you may eventually find yourself getting sick from eggs and not being able to eat them anymore.

I've just described the creation of a food sensitivity.

This is why you might notice that a certain food all of a sudden makes you sick, yet you might have never had a problem with it in the past.

But it kinda looks like an egg!
This misguided immune reaction doesn’t stop with foods suddenly not agreeing with you. Let’s take a look further down the road continuing with my egg example above.

Once your immune system creates these new antibodies for things like big egg molecules, the antibodies cruise through your bloodstream on the alert, watching for more eggs.

But they're not always the sharpest pencils in the box.

Because they might see an innocent part of your body, such as knee cartilage, and mistake it for an egg antigen.

At that point it can attack the antigen on the knee cartilage and create an inflammatory reaction in your knee!

If this goes on long-term, it can trigger arthritis in the knee or any other body part or joint.

Then every time you eat eggs not only might you get diarrhea, facial swelling, cramping, hives and vomiting from the egg itself, but your knees can start hurting within 48 hours too!

Any part of your body is fair game for this mixed-up antibody attack.

For example, if it takes place in your lungs instead, you could develop asthma.

Over time, this is how many an autoimmune condition is born, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Graves’ disease, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis and MS.

Whew! I'm pooped too!
At the same time the too-big eggs are gliding through your bloodstream, as I mentioned above, toxins also have an open door to come on in.

This puts your liver under tremendous stress to perform its detox work and filter them all out...and eventually it might not be able to keep up.

At that point, the un-detoxified chemicals can back up in your brain and cause dizziness and the inability to think straight (otherwise known as "brain fog.").

Your liver can also begin storing toxins in your fat cells--much like the way you put boxes of stuff in your garage, cellar or closet to deal with at a later time.

If your liver has time later, it can deal with the stored toxins; however, with a leaky gut, there's usually a consistent barrage of newly arriving toxins, so your liver never gets a chance to play catch-up.

So it's no surprise that leaky gut is associated with liver diseases such as cirrhosis.

The many faces of a leaky gut
Since your bloodstream happens to go everywhere in your body, this means that poorly digested food and dangerous toxins and pathogens can cause you virtually unlimited forms of misery from head to toe.

In addition to the conditions I mentioned above, here is a more complete listing of health issues that are commonly associated with a leaky gut wall:

• Acne
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Autism
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Celiac disease
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Crohn's disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Eczema
• Graves’ disease (overactive thyroid)
• Hashimoto’s disease (underactive thyroid)
• Hives
• Intestinal infections
• IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
• Malnutrition
• Multiple sclerosis
• Pancreatic insufficiency
• Psoriasis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Schizophrenia
• Scleroderma
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Ulcerative colitis

If you have been diagnosed with any of those conditions, chances are excellent that you may have a leaky gut issue.

The pot's simmering
Now it is possible that your gut may be leaky yet it might not have led to a full-blown disease yet.

But that doesn't mean that the pot isn't simmering and that nothing's going on in your gut wall.

Here is a list of vague symptoms that are commonly seen with a leaky gut but are typically blamed on something else:

• Abdominal pain
• Anxiety; nervousness
• Asthma
• Bloating; gas
• Chronic joint or muscle pain
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Fevers
• Low immune function
• Mood swings
• Recurrent infections
• Shortness of breath

If you have any of the above symptoms and they can't otherwise be explained and/or you consistently need medication to alleviate them, you too may be leaky.

How do I spring a leak?
Unfortunately, there are a good many factors around us that cause or worsen a leaky gut wall...so it's pretty easy to get.

Some of the common causes of a leaky gut wall include:

• Chronic stress
• Environmental contaminants (including unfiltered tap water)
• Gastrointestinal disease and use of antacids/acid reducers
• Excessive alcohol or caffeine intake
• Non-treated exposure to bacteria, parasites and yeast
• Use of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), steroids, birth control pills or antibiotics.

But far and away, the biggest cause of leaky gut is OUR TYPICAL DIETS.

The role of your diet in the development of leaky gut is actually threefold:

#1- Destruction of protective gut flora
First of all, many people eat boatloads of refined carbs and drink soda by the gallon, both of which cause a sugar tidal wave in your body.

This sugar is food for the harmful bacteria in your gut, so they are nourished and begin to overcome your friendly protective flora.

The harmful bacteria are then free to "eat away" at your intestinal lining, weakening it and making it leaky.

#2- Poor digestion
The typical diet of fast or processed food and smorgasbord-type meals that most people have can be next to impossible for your system to properly break down.

As a result, your intestines can get flooded with too-large food molecules (like the eggs I described above) that can bump up against the wall of your intestine, eventually bullying their way through.

#3- Low fiber
Our average processed and fast food diets are also grossly lacking in fiber, which lengthens your bowel transit time--meaning the length of time it takes for food to go from one end of you to the other.

With wastes hanging around too long in your intestinal tract, the harmful bacteria in them can flourish and weaken and irritate your gut wall.

Plug that leak now!
As you can see, the health of your gut goes way beyond just preventing gas and having a daily bowel movement!

Having a nice, strong "cheesecloth-like" gut wall can help you make tremendous strides toward preventing a variety of sickness and inflammation from head to toe.

And even if you are already suffering from health conditions that are caused or worsened by a leaky gut, you can many times help improve or even in some cases REVERSE those conditions and get back on the road to health!

The best part of all is helping to strengthen your gut wall and make it less porous is actually pretty easy!

It just involves two very simple steps:

Structure your meals so that your body can more easily break them down.
The Great Taste No Pain health system will teach you exactly how to do this.

Great Taste No Pain will show you the few easy food-pairing principles you'll need to remember to make all your meals easier for your body to digest, and give you suggestions to plan meals around all of your favorite foods--including meats, poultry, fish, pastas, grains and more.

More efficient digestion means food particles that are "just the right size" when they pass through your intestinal wall, so your immune system can see them and says, "Oh, yes. That's just food—I can leave it alone.”

Better digestion also encourages more regular BMs and a healthier bowel transit time--and less chance for harmful bacteria to fester.

Note: If you have Celiac disease or are gluten sensitive, Great Taste No Gluten is for you instead:

Ensure your intestinal flora is properly balanced.
The friendly bacteria in your system help to keep the gut wall non-porous, as well as assisting with digestion and keeping harmful bacteria under control.

The ideal flora balance is having at least 85% beneficial bacteria and no more than 15% harmful.

The problem is most people are walking around with the complete OPPOSITE of what they should have! This is not only due to poor digestion, but also environmental toxins, medications, stress and lack of sleep—factors which affect most all of us at one time or another.

So it's a great idea for many people to give your gut a helping hand with a quality probiotic supplement like Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula.

Super Shield contains strong, effective strains of 13 friendly bacteria that are robust and ready to take their place in your system. They can help fend off the bad guys, encourage smooth digestion, support your immune system and help promote a nice strong gut wall.

Many healthcare professionals are recommending probiotic supplements to their patients, especially to help counteract the gut side effects of antibiotics that they prescribe—and now you know why that is so.

A nice strong gut wall can make all the difference in the world to your health.

See for yourself what it can do for you.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

Promising answers for chronic fatigue

I think it’s safe to say that most of us have had days where we felt like we were "the walking dead" and could barely keep our eyes open.

Whether it was because of a cold or flu, not sleeping enough the night before, a long plane ride or doing something physically exhausting, most people have felt fatigued now and then.

But there’s a whole other type of fatigue that about half a million people in the United States are dealing with—a fatigue that is constant, severe and affects their everyday functioning.

Otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Let's look at this mysterious debilitating condition, see what may be behind it and explore ways to help overcome it if you've got it.

Chronic fatigue--more than just yawning
Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by frequent bouts of incapacitating, flat-on-your-back fatigue and extreme exhaustion.

In addition to fatigue, other symptoms can include:

• Loss of memory or concentration
• Sore throat
• Muscle and joint pain
• Headaches 
• Feeling exhausted even after a full night's sleep
• Depression

In addition, since the symptoms can often be debilitating, frequent absences from work or school are common too.

Note that CFS also has several aliases—including CFIDS (chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome); myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME); chronic Epstein-Barr virus (CEBV) and “yuppie flu.”

How will I know?
Diagnosing CFS can be tricky because there’s not a simple lab test that a doctor can do.

By definition, people with CFS have been extremely tired for at least six months with no obvious reason. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established the following criteria for diagnosing CFIDS:

1) Your fatigue is not eliminated by rest and it substantially reduces your ability to function normally.
2) You have suffered from at least four of the following symptoms for the last six months: 

• Loss in ability to concentrate or short-term memory function
• Sore throat
• Swollen and tender lymph nodes
• Muscle pain
• Multiple-joint pain without swelling or redness
• Headaches of a new type, pattern or severity
• Sleep disturbances
• Exercise-related fatigue that lasts more than 24 hours

So what's the deal?
CFS is largely a mystery to the medical community because there's not one distinct cause that has been clearly pinpointed.

So that means treatment is aimed at symptomatic relief--typically antidepressants and sleeping pills.

But considering the potential dangers of these medications and their growing list of side effects, it's no wonder that many people may feel even WORSE under treatment--not better!

However, the ray of hope here is that there are certain factors which have been shown to go hand in hand with CFS that are unmistakable.

In addition, there are other conditions that can "masquerade" as or be mistakenly diagnosed as CFS.

And once you know about these other factors and conditions and do something about them, you can take giant steps toward prevention of this nasty condition or help feel better if you're battling it.

Here are seven things to consider--see how many may be affecting you:

(1) The health of your immune system
CFS is frequently seen along with or immediately following a viral infection. The Epstein-Barr virus and the human herpes virus 6 have been common suspects.

So it only follows that the stronger your immune system is overall, the better able it will be to fight infections and viruses of all kinds.

(2) Gluten intolerance
Gluten intolerance can wear many "hats" and one way it can manifest itself inside of you is to mimic chronic fatigue syndrome.

(3) Dysbiosis and/or Leaky gut
People with CFIDS almost always have dysbiosis (harmful bacterial overgrowth) and many have leaky gut.

In addition, candidiasis (Candida overgrowth) is another common visitor in people with chronic fatigue.

(4) Chronic stress
People who have chronic fatigue syndrome also sometimes experience abnormal blood levels of stress hormones produced in the adrenal glands.

(5) Hypothyroidism
One of the classic symptoms of hypothyroidism (low functioning thyroid) is extreme fatigue.

(6) Vitamin B12 deficiency
Vitamin B12 is a necessary player in your body's ability to generate energy from the fats and carbohydrates that you ingest.

So when you are low in this nutrient, you can suffer serious fatigue as a result.

(7) Common medications
This one's a biggie.

Chronic fatigue can also be the result of these 9 commonly prescribed medications:

1- Blood pressure drugs like lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) and furosemide (Lasix)
Blood pressure drugs can depress the entire nervous system and deplete your body of the vitamins and nutrients it needs to produce energy--which can be a major trigger of chronic fatigue.

2- Statins
Statins can inhibit muscle growth and the production of energy in your cells, and over time this can manifest as chronic fatigue.

3- Benzodiazepines (anxiety medications)
These drugs work by sedating or hypnotizing patients in order to treat conditions like anxiety, depression, insomnia and severe muscle spasms.

What that means is people taking them may be walking around in a constant state of drowsiness which can worsen as their tolerance for the drugs increases and they have to take higher and higher doses.

4- Proton pump inhibitors like lansoprazole (Prevacid) and omeprazole (Prilosec)
PPIs can deplete magnesium stores from your body. And magnesium deficiency can lead to a whole slew of severe illnesses, including extreme weakness and fatigue.

5- Antihistamines like loratadine (Claritin) and cetirizine (Zyrtec)
These histamine blockers often induce tiredness and drowsiness in people taking them, which over time can worsen and develop into chronic fatigue.

6- Antipsychotics like aripiprazole (Abilify) and risperidone (Risperdal)
These are the harshest of the harsh--drugs that are used to treat serious conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

In addition to being powerful depressants, they can induce extreme fatigue and overall weakness in many patients.

7- Antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft)
Antidepressants work by inhibiting the normal function of your brain neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine. This can also interrupt other bodily hormone levels, which in turn can lead to chronic fatigue.

8- Antibiotics
In addition to obliterating your friendly gut flora (where 70% of your immune system resides), antibiotics also often cause extreme fatigue and tiredness.

9- Diuretics
These are often prescribed instead of, or in addition to, high blood pressure drugs for people with elevated blood pressure.

But in addition to drawing out excess water from the body, they also tend to draw out necessary electrolytes like sodium, potassium and chloride as well, which can lead to severe mineral deficiencies.

And it is these deficiencies that can bring about chronic fatigue, as your body struggles to produce enough energy due to a lack of proper nutrients.

Take control and stop the fatigue before it stops YOU!
If you saw yourself in any of the factors I mentioned above, then it's time to take control of what may be causing fatigue in you.

And do something about it.

Here are some very effective strategies to help fight what may be causing occasional or chronic fatigue for you:

Intestinal flora balance and immune strength

When it comes to having a strong, resilient gut wall and pampering your immune system, in addition to having a healthy diet of real foods that nourish your friendly flora (especially vegetables and fruits), supplementation with a quality probiotic product can be extremely helpful.

And Super Shield multi-strain probiotic formula is your ticket here.

Super Shield's 13 strains of potent, top-shelf probiotic bacteria strains are up to the challenge, ready to line your intestinal wall, help beef up your supply of beneficial bacteria, keep harmful bacteria in check, and also help keep your BMs more regular too!

Gluten got your goat?
If you suspect gluten may be a challenge for you the easiest way to tell is to eliminate it from your diet. You'll see a difference soon enough.

And if you have a KNOWN gluten challenge, well, it's time to do what you need to do.

Now if eliminating gluten from your life seems like a daunting task, no worries. Because Great Taste No Gluten will guide you all the way.

Great Taste No Gluten teaches you the many "faces" of gluten intolerance and gives you easy guides on eliminating gluten from your life for good.

Plus you'll get a collection of scrumptious recipes that will make you love every delicious gluten free bite of your new eating lifestyle!

And as an added bonus, Great Taste No Gluten also guides you in how to construct meals that are not only gluten free but are also easier for your body to digest.

So that can lead to fewer tummy troubles and more regular BMs!

De-stress
If you find you’re frequently or constantly stressed, it’s time to do something about it.

One of the best ways to de-stress is to get regular exercise—plus exercise also boosts your energy level too, so it’s a win-win!

There are a lot of great stress-relieving measures and programs out there too. Pick the ones that are right for you and bring that stress level down.

Get tested for thyroid problems
The key here is to get thoroughly tested.

You see, when assessing someone for thyroid problems, many doctors will typically do just one test--a TSH test.

But know this: The TSH does NOT always detect a thyroid challenge. That means many people with undiagnosed thyroid problems continue to suffer!

A better approach is to have a thorough battery of tests including:

• TSH
• Total T4
• Free T4, T3
• Thyroid peroxidase antibody
• Thyroid binding globulin
• TRH challenge test

Boost your B12
Vitamin B12 a very common deficiency--especially with vegetarians, people who use antacids, people who have had gastric surgery and the elderly.

Your doctor can do a simple test to see if you're low in B12. If you are and changes to your diet aren't enough, supplementation may be wise. But beware—because B12’s absorption in the GI tract may be inconsistent—especially if you are low in stomach acid or your system can’t produce the intrinsic factor needed for proper B12 absorption.

But Hydroxaden 2.5 can help with these challenges.

Hydroxaden 2.5 is a convenient vitamin B12 spray that gives you the 2.5 mg of B12 (in the form of hydroxocobalamin) suggested by many nutrition experts. Just five quick sprays under your tongue each day is all it takes.

And since it’s absorbed through the mucus membranes in your mouth, stomach acid and intrinsic factor deficiencies are not an issue.

Medication mayhem
Last but not least, if you're on any of the fatigue-inducing medications I listed above, I encourage you to talk to your doctor about safer or natural alternatives.

And get this--if you change your diet to make it healthier and more easily digested like I explain in the Great Taste No Pain system chances are good you may eventually help improve the underlying problem and hence not need those medications anymore (and can talk to your doctor about weaning off of them!).

Or at least maybe you and your doctor can discuss reducing your dose or using milder alternatives that don’t make you so fatigued!

All it takes is just a few simple modifications to what foods you pair together, and of course incorporating more of the good stuff (meats, vegetables, fresh fruits and whole grains) into your meals.

Chronic fatigue continues to be a health nightmare and remains very much a mystery.

But once you look at what may be causing or contributing to any level of fatigue in YOU, then you can make a tremendous difference in how you feel!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

How to shrink your waistline fast

I don’t think I’ll be shocking you out of your chair today if I say that we are literally in a crisis in this country in terms of the average person’s bodyweight.

When it’s the exception (and not the norm) to be at a healthy body weight, yes, I think that qualifies as a crisis. Two out of three of us are carrying around excess baggage and half of those are outright obese.

And even though lately our average Body Mass Index (BMI) has stabilized, that’s not necessarily cause for celebration—because our waistlines are still growing!

Let’s talk about what your BMI does and doesn’t say about you, why our mid-sections continue to get wider, and how you can do your part to prevent this crisis from jeopardizing your health.

The evolution of the BMI
Back in the early 80's when I worked for a health insurance company, we used standardized tables that showed weight ranges for various heights for men and women.

There were color-coded sections for underweight, normal weight and overweight, and obesity was defined as being 150 percent of your normal bodyweight.

That may have been OK for insurance underwriting purposes, but in reality there was room for a big swing in each of the weight levels. Someone could fall within the range of "normal weight," but still look like they invented the Dunkin’ Donuts diet.

Current weight guidelines provide a more "specialized" look at a person’s build by first of all redefining overweight and obesity.

Overweight means have excess WEIGHT for your height, whereas obesity refers to an abundance of body FAT.

And the Body Mass Index (BMI) takes a closer, more defined look at someone's specific height and weight as an indicator of whether they just are carrying some excess baggage or are truly obese.

So what's your BMI and what does it mean?
Although there are formulas to manually compute your BMI, here is a handy BMI calculator that accepts both standard and metric measures:

- http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm

Most medical organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) use the following criteria to assess bodyweight based on the BMI:

•  < 18.5 = underweight
• 18.5 - 24.9 = normal weight
• 25.0 - 29.9 = overweight
• 30 or more = obese

But even this system is not foolproof because certain people (especially weight lifters and bodybuilders) may have a large percentage of muscle which can drive up their weight (because muscle weighs more than fat) and as a result, they may have a BMI that classifies them as overweight when that’s not truly the case.

What can give a far more accurate picture of your build is your Percent Body Fat (the percentage of total body fat compared to body weight) and the Visceral Fat Level (the estimated amount of fat surrounding the internal organs in your abdomen)—aka your belly fat.

Since fat (and not necessarily total weight) is really the true health issue here, the Percent Body Fat (PBF) and Visceral Fat Level will let you know where you stand, while at the same time you won’t be “penalized” for having a good amount of lean muscle mass.

Specialized machines like the InBody can measure PBF and Visceral Fat—you can find this machine in some doctors’ offices or health clubs.

If you can’t locate a machine, you can estimate both measures at home.

Here is a calculation tool for PBF that comes pretty close—just be sure to have a tape measure handy:

- http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator

As far as visceral fat goes, measure your natural waist (where you “crease” when you bend to the side) and your hips (at their fullest point) and divide the waist number by the hip number. Any result greater than 1.0 for a man or .85 for a woman suggests excess visceral fat.

So for example, if you’re a woman and your waist is 27 inches and your hips at their fullest point are 35 inches, your visceral fat ratio is 27/35 or .77, which is in the acceptable range.

The latest trend—BMIs are stable but our waists are still growing
A recent study has shown that, although our average BMIs are relatively stable, our waistlines continue to grow!

In 1999 the average waistline in the US was 37.6 inches—now as of 2012 (when the latest data were collected) we’ve expanded to 38.8 inches!

And if you take a look around, it’s clear to see that those numbers haven’t come down in the last two and a half years.

Since BMIs haven’t been going up, then what is happening is that a growing percentage of people are accumulating more visceral (belly) fat than ever before!

And this is not good, my friend.

Having excess belly fat can increase your risk of heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and kidney disease, and even increase your risk of dementia!

The researchers in the study largely attributed this belly fat barrage to our lifestyles…in other words, too little exercise, too many refined carbs, poor sleep habits, high stress levels and our increasing reliance on medications (many of which have weight gain as a side effect).

An aging population is another factor, because we tend to lose muscle and gain fat as we age.

Shrink YOUR waistline!
The glimmer of hope here is that, even though we truly are in a crisis state with our average body weight and our amounts of belly fat, there is a whole lot of things you can do to shrink down your waistline and stack the deck in your favor to help keep excess fat-related diseases far away from you.

Here are four very effective steps you can take:

Step 1- Move it
There’s no way around it—if you want a chance at a healthy body weight and to minimize your risk of all kinds of diseases, you simply MUST move….more than just from the couch to the refrigerator and back.

You don’t have to get fancy and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Even brisk walking in your neighborhood can be extremely effective and most everyone can do that.

Get your doctor’s approval and get moving.

And I bet you’ll see your waistline shrink very soon!

Step 2- Avoid refined carbs
Refined carbs are a leading factor behind not only our growing waistlines but also our ever-increasing rates of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer!

So the more you can avoid refined foods in general and instead rely on nutritious REAL foods (like fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, whole grains, good fats, dairy and legumes), the greater your chances of living the rest of your days free of pain and disease.

I can guide you with this important goal with Great Taste No Pain.

The Great Taste No Pain health system gives you step by step guides and meal ideas that help you to automatically limit refined carbs and processed foods, while eating real foods that are loaded with nutrients and disease-fighting antioxidants.

Now don't worry about eating rabbit food or bland foods! The dishes in the recipe book portion of the system are SO delicious, you'll swear they can't possibly be good for you!

Now, if you've got a gluten issue, Great Taste No Gluten is for you instead.

You'll get all the smart meal planning guidance as in Great Taste No Pain, plus guides to recognizing and avoiding gluten and a collection of mouth-watering gluten free recipes.

Step 3- Get enough Omega-3 essential fatty acids
Studies have shown that people who maintain a rich supply of Omega-3 EFAs have lower blood triglyceride (fat) levels and remain free of cardiovascular disease and other degenerative conditions far longer than those with lower Omega-3 levels.

That means a greater likelihood of feeling GREAT well into your golden years!

But unfortunately, our typical refined food diets are grossly lacking in these vital nutrients. And although they are found in abundance in fish, the average person doesn’t eat fish seven days a week.

That’s why supplementing with a fish oil blend like VitalMega-3 can be so helpful for SO many people!

The recommended 2 gel caps a day dosage give you 2,000 mg of pure medical-grade fish oil, including 1,200 mg of Omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Step 4- De-stress
Most people don’t realize this, but chronic stress can add to your expanding waistline!

You see, stress makes your body produce the hormone cortisol, which can deplete lean muscle and make your body hold on to fat in the belly region. It also enlarges your fat cells, allowing them to store more fat!

Regular exercise like I mentioned in number 1 above is a great way to de-stress.

Also you can try counseling, therapy, yoga, meditation, deep breathing, acupuncture, massage therapy, hobbies, visualization, Tai chi, aromatherapy, biofeedback and hypnosis.

Even adopting a pet has been shown to help! So pay a visit to your local animal shelter if you decide this is right for you.

Congratulations!

You are now an expert in what the BMI really means, you have some tools to better assess your body weight, and most importantly, you now know four ways to help keep our current body fat crisis (and all its health dangers) far away from you.

So face the music and do what you need to do now.

You’ll be so glad you did.

And I’ll be so happy for YOU.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

A sneaky trigger for colitis and obesity

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of today’s newsletter, here are a couple junk food jokes to start your day with a little chuckle:

Most kids’ breakfast cereals have over 50 percent of their calories as sugar. The good news is that the box is high in fiber.

**********
Wife to husband: “You need to start eating healthier!”

Husband to wife: “Baloney! I just had surf and turf for dinner last night!”

Wife to husband: “No you didn’t. You had a Filet-o-Fish and a Big Mac.”
**********
Now on to today’s topic:

Although you can probably tell that I like to talk about a variety of health-related subjects, if there is one pearl of wisdom that I hope my writings have imparted upon you, it’s this:

The farther you stray from Nature with your diet, the more harmful it is to your body.

And with that statement I’m referring to PROCESSED FOODS.

Let’s take a closer look at processed foods and see exactly what venturing far away from what Mother Nature provides has done to us:

Processed food facts
The food industry routinely uses about 2,000 different food additives in their processed creations, but the total number of available additives has been estimated at nearly 8,000!

These include (synthetic) vitamins, minerals, emulsifiers, buffers, artificial flavorings and colorings, taste enhancers, thickeners and enormous amounts of the two biggies--salt and sugar.

The average American eats about 150 pounds of food additives each YEAR!

This is broken down as follows:

• 130 pounds of sugar, most of which is in the form of high fructose corn syrup--the worst form of sugar on the planet which harms your liver, makes you fat and is usually made from GMO corn (aka “Franken-corn”) to boot
• 10-15 pounds of salt which can drive up your blood pressure
• 5-10 pounds of “other stuff” including synthetic vitamins, artificial flavors, preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners (which are neurotoxins), trans-fats (which give you heart disease) and colored dyes (which have been linked to cancer)

Some people in the world don't even consume 150 pounds of FOOD in a year--and yet the average American eats that much in chemicals alone.

The hefty price we pay
The price we pay from ingesting 150 pounds of chemicals each year is very high indeed—and continues to grow.

Contrary to what you may think, chemicals in processed foods don’t just sail innocently through your GI tract and hop on the wagon of your next bowel movement.

Far from it. Instead, since your body doesn't have a way to deal with these chemicals and it cannot metabolize them, they actually have to be processed by your system like a poison—this first of all taxes your liver immensely (which is your primary organ of detox).

We’re starting to see this manifesting as a rise in NAFLD-non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Studies have shown that NAFLD currently affects about one out of ten children and at least one out of five adults in the United States—more than double what it was just 20 years ago--and is largely the result of our consumption of junk food and soda.

The wrath of chemicals also applies to your intestinal tract.

For example, a recent study of mice conducted at Georgia State University has shown that emulsifiers (which are added to processed foods to create texture and extend shelf life), can alter the gut bacteria composition and induce intestinal inflammation that can promote the development of inflammatory bowel disease (like colitis and Crohn’s) and metabolic syndrome.

The two emulsifiers studied (polysorbate-80 and carboxymethylcellulose) increased the secretion of pro inflammatory messengers, which in turn increased the permeability of the gut. These symptoms, along with the upset microbiome composition, are both markers of chronic inflammatory diseases like colitis.

Polysorbate-80 is commonly used in these foods:

• Shortening
• Chewing gum
• Ice Cream
• Gelatin
• Condiments

It’s also a common ingredient in many medications and vaccines (including flu shots).

Carboxymethylcellulose is found in foods such as ice cream, salad dressings, cheese, icing, toppings, gelatin, infant/baby formula, candy, cottage cheese and cream cheese spread.

In addition to possibly increasing your risk of inflammatory intestinal conditions, upsetting your gut flora balance is also a great way to hamper your immune system functioning, since 70 percent of your immune system happens to live there.

But that’s not all. Because these chemicals can also be absorbed into your bloodstream from the intestinal tract (especially if you’re constipated a lot and they have an opportunity to hang around for a while). Then they can accumulate in your blood (robbing it of oxygen), invade your major organs and tissues (and affect their functioning) and help make you toxic, sick and overweight.

So, my friend, the truth is our bodies were designed to consume what Nature provides--REAL foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, good fats and lean meats, poultry and fish. That's what our bodies depend on for nourishment, proper digestion, elimination of wastes and maintaining a healthy flora balance.

Mother knows best (Mother Nature, that is)
If you want to help your body to remain disease-free, be at a healthy weight and increase your chances of living a long life, you MUST eat real (not processed) foods. They are what your body needs and your body knows the difference!

Now, eating real foods is not as hard or boring as it sounds.

It just takes a bit of common sense and a little effort on your part.

But you do have to know what to do.

Never fear, because this is where I can help you with the Great Taste No Pain health system.

Note: if you’re gluten sensitive, Great Taste No Gluten is for you instead.

The recipe sections in both systems feature many scrumptious dishes made from real food ingredients that taste FAR better than any packaged stuff you can buy!

And the instructions that come with both systems show you the few simple principles you'll need to know to make real food meals that can digest much easier. This can help keep any acid and toxins in your system to a minimum and help enhance nutrient absorption.

What that can lead to is fewer digestive issues (like heartburn, gas, bloating and constipation), as well as easily losing some excess weight!

It also can mean having a LOT more energy and a cleaner you on the inside, so you're a less attractive home for diseases and tumors to flourish to begin with.

Help your body recover too!
If you've been a processed food fan for a while (come on, fess up here) chances are excellent that you may have some serious gut flora imbalance going on.

You see, processed foods (especially the added sugar) become nourishment for the harmful bacteria in your gut, so they can thrive and overcome your beneficial bacteria.

Not only can this worsen gas, bloating and constipation, but your immune system functioning may also be greatly hampered like I mentioned earlier.

In addition to a healthy diet of real which can nourish your friendly flora, probiotic supplementation can help you achieve this important goal.

Super Shield's 13 strains of friendly bacteria are up to the task, ready to line your intestinal walls, keep the "bad guys" in check, help keep your BMs more regular and beef up your immune system.

It’s up to you
It’s all up to you, my friend.

Now is the time for you to take the bull by the horns and do what you can to help create better health from within...by embracing the power of real foods provided by Nature.

Never fear because I know you can do it.

It's easier than you think and I will help guide you every step of the way!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

Will this be the end of antibiotics?

For the last 60 years or so, we’ve been increasingly relying on the fact that there’s always “a pill for every ill” and if we happen to feel not-so-great, relief is just a tablet away.

Got a headache? Pop some aspirin or ibuprofen!

Chest on fire with heartburn? Put out the flames with antacids or acid reducers.

Constipated? A laxative will take care of that fast.

Feeling down? An antidepressant can help turn that around.

Unfortunately, this way of thinking has come back to bite us you-know-where, with many of the medications ultimately creating far more problems than they solve.

And nowhere is this truer than with antibiotics!

Here’s why:

The antibiotic cascade—too much of a good thing
Antibiotics were “born” when Sir Alexander Fleming discovered back in 1928 that the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum.

They became a part of mainstream medicine in the early 1950’s, and truly seemed to be the “wonder drug,” wiping out all kinds of infections and causing few or no side effects.

But then somewhere along the way we started to become careless with them and the cascade started.

People began requesting them more often and they began to be prescribed in increasing numbers--even when the particular illness in question was actually VIRAL and not an infection.

At that time, the common thought process was that if the illness WAS an infection, giving the antibiotics would be a good "head start" on treatment...and if not, no biggie. They won't do any harm.

Well, as we would later find out, that’s not true.

Far from it.

In addition, antibiotics also began to be prescribed prophylactically (on a preventative basis) to help prevent and control conditions like ear infections, sinus infections and even acne.

That further darkened our fate, as we would soon see.

But the cascade continued far beyond our doctors’ offices…because antibiotics began showing up in our food supply—specifically in meat and milk.

As a matter of fact, agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the US! 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to livestock in the US every year for purposes other than treating disease!

That’s right. Instead antibiotics are given to cows to make them grow bigger faster. And the residue from those antibiotics ends up in the meat and milk from the animals, and hence on your table and in your body.

The dark price of antibiotic cascade
Antibiotics work by destroying dangerous infection-causing bacteria in your system.

But unfortunately, they’re not the sharpest pencils in the box…because while they’re on their killing spree, they also kill your body’s beneficial bacteria too.

And that happens to be where 70 percent of your immune system resides.

Now you may ask, “Well, won’t my friendly flora just grow back after I’m done with the medication?”

Not necessarily.

You see, when antibiotics wipe out a good portion of your intestinal good guys, this gives any dangerous microbes inside of you the “upper hand.” At that point the bad guys can overpower your struggling good guys, beating them out for nourishment and space along your intestinal wall.

The result of that is that you can get sick again. And AGAIN. And A-G-A-I-N!

That’s why some people (maybe even you?) are on repeated courses of antibiotics but can’t seem to get better.

Plus this flora-killing action has also been implicated as a cause of Crohn’s disease. Scientists have observed a parallel rise between cases of Crohn’s and the number of antibiotic prescriptions being written over the last several decades.

But that’s not all.

The price of antibiotic cascade gets worse because now we’re faced with…

The rise of the Superbugs

One thing that we’ve failed to acknowledge throughout our antibiotic cascade is that bacteria are extremely intelligent.

As such, they can change and evolve and become resistant to the action of antibiotics!

Up until recently, we’ve poo-poo’d that problem away by creating STRONGER antibiotics.

The problem is, we’re losing the race. Bacteria are evolving faster than we are and causing deadly infections that even our most potent powerhouse antibiotics can’t even touch!

Thus far, Nature has found a way around every antibiotic we’ve come up with, and we’re quickly running out of answers.

And there’s a dear price to pay.

According to the “Antibiotic Resistance Threat Report” published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two million adults and children in the US become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 of them die as a direct result.

Plus even more die from secondary complications.

Fight the battle—and WIN!
The glimmer of hope in this scary world of antibiotic overuse and Superbugs is that you CAN fight the battle against dangerous infections and illnesses and WIN!

How?

By relying on and nurturing the illness protection provided by Mother Nature, my friend.

Otherwise known as your IMMUNE SYSTEM.

Here’s how:

1- Supplement with a high-quality multi-strain probiotic formula
In order to maximize your chances of having a proper flora balance and a sharp functioning immune system, it's important to supplement with a probiotic formula that contains both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species.

You see, Lactobacillus bacteria live in your small intestine, while Bifidobacterium strains hang out in your colon.

So to take a probiotic formula that has just one or the other is selling a portion of your intestinal tract short!

Super Shield probiotic formula and its 13 strains of top-shelf friendly bacteria can help you keep your intestinal flora where it needs to be--from one end to the other!

Super Shield contains a variety of well-studied Lactobacillus AND Bifidobacterium strains, as well as a prebiotic fiber called FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides) which is nourishment for those good guys.

2- Have a diet of real foods, with preferably organic meat and milk
You can swallow probiotic supplements by the boatload, but if your diet is loaded with fast or processed foods, refined carbs and soda, you are cutting your own throat and counteracting the helpful action of the supplements.

There's no getting around it--in order to have any degree of healthy intestinal flora, you MUST get the nutrients your body (and especially your gut) so desperately need from REAL foods.

And note that when buying real foods, it’s important to go organic whenever you can—especially to avoid antibiotic-tainted meat and milk!

Plus it’s also crucial to have efficient digestion in order to ABSORB those vital nutrients from your foods and eliminate wastes loaded with harmful bacteria.

And if all that sounds about as exciting to you as watching paint dry, not to worry.

I can help you achieve both of those goals (and love every bite of what you're eating) with the Great Taste No Pain system

or if you're gluten-challenged, Great Taste No Gluten.

Both Great Taste No Pain and Great Taste No Gluten show you what foods to eat (and what foods to pair together) to help keep digestion smooth and nutrient absorption high.

Plus they're loaded with delicious ideas featuring probiotic-nourishing real foods that you'll absolutely LOVE--there are no bland or boring dishes in my recipe books!

3- Eat probiotic-rich foods too
There are a number of delicious foods that have probiotics right in them!

They include the following:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Black tea, oolong tea
• Buttermilk
• Cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Dark chocolate (Go easy on this one, though. Remember it also has sugar—which can have the exact opposite effect and nourish the harmful bacteria in your gut.)
• Fermented vegetables
• Kefir
• Kimchi
• Kombucha
• Lassi
• Miso
• Olives
• Pickles (brine-cured--not vinegar)
• Red wine
• Sauerkraut
• Sourdough breads
• Tempeh
• Yogurt

Plus polyphenols found in green tea, red wine, apples, onions and chocolate and the herb Panax ginseng (which is available at health food and supplement stores) also promote the growth of friendly flora!

4- Stress management
Chronic stress can damage the friendly flora in your gut too (and hence weaken your immune system). That’s why you seem to get sick during periods of high stress—your body can’t fight off illnesses as well.

If you find you’re frequently or constantly stressed, it’s time to do something about it. The following have been shown to be extremely helpful:

• Don’t over-commit yourself. Learn to say no when your plate is already full, and make some “me-time” for yourself, even if it’s just a warm bath for 20 minutes.
• If your job causes you stress and it doesn’t seem like it can or will get any better, consider looking for another job.
• See a skilled therapist or counselor. Note I used the word “skilled”—if you’ve been seeing a therapist and they’re either not helping you or all they want to do is push drugs on you and rush you out the door, find another.
• Exercise! Exercise is one of the cheapest and most effective forms of stress reduction. Find an exercise buddy to keep you motivated and keep it fun. Be sure to get your doctor’s nod of approval, especially if you haven’t exercised lately.
• Reach into your inner spiritual side. Deep breathing, meditation, prayer and yoga are all VERY effective stress reducers.

Although the ineffectiveness of antibiotics and the resulting rise of the Superbugs can be a very scary reality that we face, remember you are NOT defenseless against them.

Because the more you concentrate on nourishing your body and strengthening the natural protection of your immune system, the better your overall health can be and the less you will have to worry about illness finding a home in YOU!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.

Watch out for the 6 biggest diet bloopers

I love to talk to people at conferences and seminars, especially on an individual basis once my group presentation is done.

I've been told I’m very approachable, and judging by the subjects that people feel comfortable enough discussing with me, I have to agree.

Believe me, I've heard it all—I've had people give me detailed descriptions of the sound, pitch and duration of their flatulence, ask me how to tell if they have hemorrhoids (I had to be creative on that one, but it involved a hand mirror) and ask me if I felt burping 25 times a day was OK.

I once had a woman that described her feces in such detail that I’m surprised she didn't give it a name.

But seriously, one theme that comes out repeatedly time and again when I talk to people is:

There’s so much conflicting information out there about what you should and shouldn't eat that people don’t know what to do!

So true.

And the biggest problem over and above the inconsistency here is that many of the allegedly “healthy” dietary suggestions are not only NOT healthy, but they can actually do more harm than good!

Here’s what I mean—let’s take a look at…

The 6 Biggest Diet Bloopers
Here are the six biggest sources of dietary mis-information that have not only not made Americans any healthier, but they've added to our rates of chronic disease and our widening backsides.

Blooper #1: Replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats to help prevent heart disease
Please get this through your head right now: Your body must have saturated fats.

Saturated fats are needed by your body to protect your nerve cells, produce hormones, keep your cell membranes healthy, help your body assimilate the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and help your brain and nervous system with transmitting nerve impulses.

And get this--the fat that surrounds your heart and that your heart draws upon in times of stress is...

Saturated fat!

The truth is the average person needs about 30% of their daily calories to come from fats, and about one-third of those should be saturated fats.

Good sources of saturated fats include fats from animal sources (meat, butter, lard, suet, milk, eggs and cheese)--preferably organic, as well as avocados.

What you SHOULD avoid at all cost are trans-fats. They are the fats that will guarantee a trip to the cardiologist for you.

Blooper #2: Having a low-cholesterol diet is a good way to help reduce blood cholesterol levels
Contrary to what most people think, only 25 percent or less of the cholesterol in your body is from your food--your liver and most of your other cells produce the vast majority (at least 75 percent) of it.

And of the cholesterol that you do eat, your body only absorbs about half of it.

The true relationship between your diet and cholesterol level lies in the impact of your LIVER.

You see, your diet has a HUGE impact on the health of your liver and its ability to effectively carry out its many functions—including making proper amounts of cholesterol AND getting rid of old, worn-out cholesterol from your body.

Plus your digestion is key here too--because when you have poor digestion and/or chronic constipation, old cholesterol that your liver is trying to get rid of can instead get reabsorbed through the intestinal wall back into circulation…and that can lead to trouble with too much cholesterol!

And lastly, the health of your arteries plays a role here too. When you have little injuries and inflammation festering in your blood vessels, that triggers your liver to summon cholesterol to the scene as a healing salve.

Chronic inflammation in your blood vessels is frequently caused by high glucose levels resulting from a large intake of refined carbs. Refined carbs turn to sugar upon digestion, and sugar is a very irritating substance—especially to your inner arterial walls.

So if you’re really worried about cholesterol, ditch the refined carbs.

Blooper #3: Artificial sweeteners are good choices
I can't tell you how many times I have seen a very overweight or obese person drinking Diet Coke.

See anything wrong with that picture?

The fact is, the aspartame (aka Equal or NutraSweet) used in sugar-free foods may have zero calories, but your body isn't fooled.

When it gets a tease of a "sweet" taste, it expects calories to follow.

And when this doesn't occur that leads to distortions in your biochemistry that actually lead to weight GAIN as well as increase your cravings for sweets.

Plus you really have to know how aspartame is created to understand why it’s not only not good for you but can be downright dangerous.

Aspartame is made by combining the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine—but that doesn't mean it’s safe and natural.

The phenylalanine has been synthetically modified to bond with methyl (which is a derivative of methane—the main ingredient in natural gas)—this provides most of the sweetness. But the chemical bond between the phenylalanine and the methyl is very weak, which makes it easy for the methyl group to break away and form methanol (aka wood alcohol).

Methanol is a colorless, flammable liquid which is used as the basis for such products as antifreeze, fuel and solvents.

This problem is compounded by the fact that we humans are not biologically equipped to break down and metabolize methanol into its harmless derivative formic acid.

So instead, it can travel through your blood vessels and cause a variety of symptoms including but not limited to:

• Headaches
• Ear buzzing
• Dizziness; vertigo
• Nausea
• GI problems
• Weakness
• Memory lapses
• Numbness
• Shooting pains in the extremities
• Behavioral disturbances
• Neuritis (nerve pain)
• Vision problems including blurred vision, retinal damage and even blindness

Plus the methanol can get into your brain and be converted to formaldehyde—which is used primarily in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant, in the automobile industry to make transmissions, car doors and brakes, and by your local mortician as an embalming fluid.

And by the way, it’s also extremely damaging to your brain and can also cause cancer, retinal damage and birth defects.

Blooper #4: Whole grains are always good for you
Although they are more nutritious than highly refined grains (like white bread and pasta), whole grains are still starches which are converted to sugar upon digestion and can not only contribute to weight gain and insulin resistance, but also put you in trouble for arterial inflammation like I mentioned in #2 above.

Although an occasional plate of whole-grain pasta or soup with whole grain bread is fine, the best go-to choices for carbohydrates are vegetables and legumes.

Blooper #5: Fish is a better choice than red meat
First of all, like I mentioned above, saturated fats in moderation are needed by your body—and by moderation I mean things like butter on your toast or vegetables or a 4-ounce serving of beef (preferably organic).

Now, although fish can be very good for you, much depends on what kind you’re choosing.

Farm-raised fish are given antibiotics to stave off diseases that result from horribly crowded conditions and are also treated with pesticides to combat sea lice. And whatever is in the fish becomes a part of YOU when you eat them.

Plus research has found that farmed fish has fewer usable Omega-3 EFAs than wild-caught fish and a high concentration of Omega-6 EFAs. So it can contribute to an inflammation-causing imbalance of Omega-6: Omega-3 essential fatty acids.

But there’s more—farmed fish has also been found to have a 20 percent lower protein content than wild-caught fish.

In addition, studies by the Environmental Working Group have found that cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exist in farm-raised salmon at 16 times the rate of wild salmon.

There’s no room for interpretation on this one: If you want fish, buy only fresh wild-caught varieties.

Blooper #6: A low-salt diet always helps with high blood pressure
It’s a well-known fact that a high sodium diet can lead to increased water and blood volume and drive up blood pressure. However, this is not consistently true for 100 percent of the population, and appears to be more of an issue with individuals who are considered salt sensitive.

And just as much of a hypertension concern is too little potassium—in other words, a sodium/potassium imbalance.

Sodium and potassium work together as a team in the “sodium-potassium pump” which creates electrical charges in the cells that are the driving force behind your muscles, organs and bodily functions. These electrical charges also regulate calcium levels in your cells.

But when this “pump” is not working properly (due to too little potassium), that results in elevated calcium levels in your cells, which in turn cause the smooth muscle cells in your arteries to contract, thereby driving up your blood pressure.

So most certainly, ditch processed foods (which are the leading cause of excess sodium in most people’s diets) but at the same time, don’t forget about potassium. Dietary sources of potassium include: Greens, spinach, winter squashes, cantaloupe, Brussels sprouts, green beans, tomatoes, broccoli and carrots.

Now for the flip side: Advice you CAN trust!

Real straightforward diet advice
Now that you know the six biggest diet bloopers, let’s take a look at some REAL, sensible diet advice.

If you really want to help reduce your risk of disease, and achieve and maintain a healthy body-weight, here are three effective strategies that can help enhance your level of health from head to toe:

1- Eat real (not processed) foods & encourage good digestion
Having a diet of real (not processed) foods is the single biggest bang for your buck when it comes to great health.

First of all, when your diet is comprised mainly of real foods, the trans-fats and sodium found in processed foods become a non-issue for you.

Secondly, you'll be getting good sources of crucial antioxidants to help fight any existing health-destroying free radicals you may have cruising around.

You'll also get natural sources of crucial nutrients which can help fight and prevent disease and deficiencies, as well as strengthen your precious immune system!

And when you have a healthy diet and good digestion, this helps minimize waste accumulation in your blood, which cuts off a major source of inflammation!

The Great Taste No Pain system will show you exactly what to do, step by simple step.

Great Taste No Pain teaches you the simple principles of smart food pairing which can help improve your digestion and reduce accumulation of acid wastes.

Plus, it explains the difference between good carbs and bad, the truth about all kinds of fats, and the importance of maintaining a healthy acid-alkaline balance.

And you'll get loads of delicious suggestions for enjoying scrumptious real foods which will soon become your family's favorites.

Now, if you’ve got gluten challenges, I’ve got a program for you too—Great Taste No Gluten.

You’ll get the same smart food pairing advice as in Great Taste No Pain, plus guides for living a gluten free lifestyle and a collection of fantastic gluten free recipes.

2- Balance your intestinal flora
The friendly flora in your gut helps your body digest starches and fibers and keeps your gut wall healthy--both of which are essential for proper nutrient absorption and feelings of satiety.

Plus they make up about 70% of your immune system to boot!

Problem is, people who have had a typical diet of fast food, boxed creations, soda and lots of sugary refined carbs have fed the harmful bacteria in their guts while the good guys starve...and are likely looking at a serious imbalance as a result.

And even if you've had a fairly decent diet, other factors like medication use (especially antacids and antibiotics), stress and lack of sleep can make your gut flora topsy-turvy.

In addition to eating nourishing foods that feed your friendly flora, the best way to help restore a proper flora balance is with probiotic supplementation.

And Super Shield's 13 strains of potent beneficial bacteria are up to the challenge!

Super Shield's army of good guys is ready and waiting to take their place along your gut wall, helping to crowd out harmful bacteria, helping to digest your foods AND helping to make sure you absorb precious nutrients your body needs!

3- Get enough of Nature's anti-inflammatory--Omega-3 EFAs
Omega-3 essential fatty acids have shown to be an important tool to help enhance health in these four ways:

1. They've been medically PROVEN to help lower blood pressure. Studies show that daily fish oil supplementation alone can lower your systolic (the top number) pressure by five points or more and your diastolic (the bottom number) pressure by three points or more!
2. Omega-3 EFAs have anti-inflammatory properties, which may help counteract any inflammation you might have building up in your arteries and joints.
3. They also help keep clots from forming by reducing the stickiness in your platelets and curbing the production of the fibrinogens which are part of clogged arteries.
4. Your brain's neurons (the cells that transmit messages) are extremely rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, especially Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). 

Problem is, our food supply doesn't contain a fraction of the Omega-3 EFAs that it used to (thanks to our heavy reliance on processed foods, vegetable oils and grain-fed animals).

So one of the best ways to help prevent heart problems is to take a very high-quality fish oil formula like VitalMega-3.

The suggested 2-capsule daily serving packs a healthy 1,200 mg. of EPA, DHA and other Omega-3 fatty acids, which more than satisfies the levels recommended by many experts for heart and overall health.

Congratulations!

You are now an expert in the real truth behind The 6 Biggest Diet Bloopers as well as some very effective ways you can use diet and supplementation to help create a healthier you!

And if you do see me at a conference and still want to talk about bathroom habits, that’s OK with me too.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: Always be sure to let your doctor or healthcare provider know what supplements you are taking.