Where did time go

Well the years have gone by with not a post on my blog for a long time, and that is something I will work on. I have been through many life changes including the death of a beloved aunt, my pets illness, a diagnosis of Alzheimers in my Father, and as they say...life happenings. So, with that in mind I will catch you up with things and then we will get back to why I began this blog, to share what I can about health, nutrition and beauty as we age.
First, as I said above, I watch a father dying of alzheimers and say to those out there who are caring for loved ones with this miserable disease, my heart goes out to you, for this is a disease that truly in my opinion, is worse on those watching it, for it is heartwrenching to see it rob our loved ones of all ability to function. No wonder the Dr. said that the caretakers often die before the afflicted person. Very hard indeed. More about what I feel about this disease and what those of us can do for ourselves in another post. Then there was the diagnosis of diabetes in my dearest pet and love, a sweet 7 pound Yorkie dog named Jacob. I have fought this battle with him over a year now, and that means I learned to blood test, take diabetic blood glucose curves,understand fasting numbers and doses of insulin. I know when and how a hypoglycemic incident would present itself and what to do about it. I also know he will go blind, and it is race now to keep his sugar at the best possible level to stave off that blindness. So, those things along with the attitude of ...not many people find my blog anyway...which I hope someday changes...well those things just kept me from posting. I promised myself today that will change. I have lots to say about the health, nutrition and aging fields, possibly more now than ever for I like everyone else, am getting up there. More than that fact, is that with the added years come experience, and the observation that what one thinks is right to do or possibly feels right to do, just may be an answer or at least worth the try. Now at 62, feeling great and hoping I stay this way and (have to throw this in here)... KNOWING how to stay this way.... which is indeed a choice we make daily is not always easy, but the other outcome if we make the bad choices is not an option for me. Look around you, and you will see what I mean. Dis-ease is everywhere. I hope to share much more with you. Till then, Norma Jean

Goodbye Cardio

Watching TV recently I was thrilled hearing the news about getting off the cardio whirlwind of the past and finally realizing that real weight loss and health is largely dependant on resistance muscle training. Make no mistake, we need to walk with all the benefits of deep breathing and movement for the lymphatic system, but nothing will preserve our bone and muscle, even reverse the aging process, as well as doing resistance training. Whether it is using resistance bands or a set of barbells, we must realize the importance of this type of exercise, especially as we age for we loose muscle mass when older.

I have engaged in muscle building and training for years now but have seen myself fall off the wagon on occasion. When this did happen, weight crept on and my health deteriorated. Never did I run for the treadmill for I knew better. What I did do was get control of myself and run for the barbells instead. They never disappointed me. Finally, finally, one can, with no guilt, say goodbye to the endless hours on the treadmill. Glad I never fell into that trap.

Norma Jean

Another useless drug

The news on the drug Vytorin today will disappoint many that look for a quick fix for a problem instead of trying to rectify it with a change in lifestyle. It is too hard for most today to walk away from the American way of eating processed and fat laden foods and sedentary lifestyle that affects the heart. Instead, they want the magic pill.

Well here it is. One more time we are given the go ahead for a drug that does not do as it should, and in fact in this case, makes plaque buildup within the arteries even worse. Isn't that great? With the news today, I am glad I sprinkle lecithin granules over my foods, eat 80% live enzyme rich food, and get an amount of exercise in throughout my day. I am grateful for my extremely low cholesterol (126) and very low triglycerides (34) and know that I will never have to worry about these cholesterol/heart drugs,.... but then I work at it.

Norma Jean

Old vs.Young

As I watched the election returns last night and observed the speeches I could not help but notice that one more time it gets down to young and old, in looks and in how one is perceived. Listening to the speeches at the podium I not only noticed the past as the "old" in Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright standing behind Hillary Clinton, I felt the past, and it all reminded me of what was. Watching Obama speak with his young family and surrounded by youth and "beautiful people" behind him reminded me of the "new" or young, and the future.

I do not mean to belittle this important race from a viewpoint of young or old, beautiful or dowdy and I have no political agenda here, but again a picture is worth a thousand words or maybe in this case a few thousand votes. What is coming through loud and clear is this, the old and dowdy that talk about the past, surround themselves WITH the past and do not move toward the future will in fact, be left in the past. As I remember the past as "the good old days"... I often think that those good old days maybe were not so good after all.

And in a world where youth and beauty sell, it will always be important that if one is not young, be sure to keep your ideas and your image as youthfull as possible, not just in a presidential race but for that job, or a promotion or in fact for just about anything ...sad as that may be, it is the truth.
Norma Jean

New Diet Guidelines

Here is a link to the new pyramid recommendation for our aging population, specifically those over 70 yrs old.


Notice that there are more foods that contain live digestive enzymes, those being the fruits and vegetables and with good reason. These foods are the antioxidants that contribute to health and contain the nutrients that feed the cells and fuel the body. More importantly these foods are live and enzyme rich. As we age the body's digestive enzymes are depleted and these live foods contain their own enzymes helping to aid in digestion. This is why eating a salad with a meal will often help in the digestive process due to the live enzyme rich greens. "Live" foods, will become the next big push toward healthy eating.

However I feel we need to go one step further as the body is older and the organs of digestion are not working as efficiently as in our youth. Because of this,these foods will have a harder time digesting even when following this new recommendation. Consider the liver is only working to 1/4 of the capacity it once was. In fact some of these organs are diseased themselves, making their job very difficult. The digestive system is responsible for our health and reliant on what we place in it so it can preform as best it can. So beyond following this new pyramid, what can one do to help this entire system preform all its necessary functions for cellular health?

Combine foods that will digest easily.

There are many books about digestion and "foods that fight" each other and I highly recommend reading some of them. Eating like this is not the American way of life because our meals are complex, filled with too many different foods.

Eating foods that are having an easy time digesting allows the digestive organs to easily derive the nutrients from the foods and then get on with the task of repairing THEMSELVES so they can better take care of us. Think of how one feels after a Thanksgiving meal. Those organs are having a terrible time digesting that meal and we feel it as fatigue, bloat and indigestion. And we see it as cellulite and weight gain!

Try it sometime and follow a few of the rules of digestion. I have an 80/20 rule. 80%of the time I do what is right for my health. The other 20% of the time, I break a few rules for it is not what we do 20% that harms us but what we do 80% of the time likely will. One more thing. That 20% time that I break the rules for easy diestion I will take a couple capsules of digestive enzymes.

Eating healthy will not matter if a system sends out putrified, toxic poison into the body due to faulty digestion! Maybe we will hear about this next...they have it half right!

Norma Jean, N.D.

Colloidal Silver

When I heard the news reports about a man who took colloidal silver for a skin condition and turned blue, I immediately felt a sense of despair over the set back that natural health would take with this news. Apparently this man has a skin condition and in one report he took the silver internally as well applying it topically to the skin. Colloidal silver will not cause such a reaction if one is taking it correctly. Research is the key. Too large a particle size of silver and possible contaminants in the product are probably what went wrong here. The body will rid itself of the silver along with the bacteria if used correctly. In fact colloidal silver was once the antibiotic of choice before prescriptive antibiotics came onto the scene.

Silver was used long ago as a preservative for keeping bacteria from spoiling foods and to this day the medical establishment knows its value in treatment of burns. As with anything, research and then research again, instead of fearing this wonderful natural antibiotic for ridding bacteria out of the body safely.

In our home colloidal silver is used during a crisis of sore throat or colds, used on cuts, used for just about anything that ails us including intestinal distress, because it is safe. I use the silver only during crisis and back off. I am acutely aware of symptoms in my family and in my animals (yes it can be used for pets) and I do not let a crisis get out of hand. No one would be able to convince me differently about this wonderful natural health remedy...not even the "blue man."

Obesity in the News

I recently told a friend of mine that I felt one day obesity would be the major cause of all other diseases and now we hear this statistic... that by mid century there will be more people dying of obesity that cancers. Now our children, one in three obese, will have a life expectancy that will decline by approximately 4.5 years.

What I do not understand is why the so called experts did not see this trend accelerating over the years and do something long before this. Who ever thought up the idea of sugary drinks in school vending machines. Never mind the chemical sodas, I do not believe it is even good to put juice in those machines. Juices are simple sugars without the benefit of the nutrition from the whole fruit and cause a rise in blood sugar. Eaten as part of a meal fine but alone, not in my opinion. In fact I drink very little juice unless I make it myself...I eat the whole fruit. Milk has its own host of problems with hormones and antibiotics that are in the dairy feed and make their way into the bodies of our children causing a host of problems. The body needs water. Water bathes every cell carrying nutrients in and toxins out. Fill those vending machines with water. Sure what kid will drink that you say? Well taught the outcome for them later in life they just may. Besides that sugar rush and subsequent drop, does little to help a child's concentration.

I cannot believe how the children have gotten to this state in this country. Could it be the parents that themselves grew up during the time of fast foods and knew little about nutrition? Could it be the era of mom moving away from cooking and into the world of having to contribute to the family income? By adopting a life that is so hurried the food companies have only accommodated our needs. We want faster everything. Processed foods are processed. Processed by man so we do not have to. Potatoes are boxed so that we do not have to cook them. There are sugar laden and fiber stripped cereals, so we do not have to slow cook the whole grains.

I find it funny, no sad that many people today struggle to feed a family yet do not realize the unbelievable amount of money that is spent on packaged foods. The next time you grocery shop look at the cost of a box of cereal and compare that to buying oat groats or whole grain oatmeal. Why not cook up a pot of that at night and put in the refrigerator to be spooned into bowls in the morning? Talk about a rib sticking breakfast to last the children throughout the morning studies in school. If people bought as close to nature as possible they would save money. In fact the grocery bill would be reduced by more than half. I stopped paying for the packaging and processing of foods long ago and in the end became healthier.........there in lies a big part of the answer to the obesity problem today. Eat whole foods. Besides the body knows what to do with those, not the chemicals, sugars and trans fats in processed foods. The body stores those as fat in our bodies and toxic poisons in our tissues. And they wonder why we have such a problem. More deaths by mid century of obesity than cancer. Obesity will be the number one cause of all other major lifestyle diseases...I am convinced that we will hear this one day...absolutely convinced.

Norma Jean