Balancing your gut flora

I spoke recently on a national health teleconference about a new product in our range which is a powerful probiotic. This is newly available in Australia. I heard some wonderful testimonies from Mums on the call getting results with their children (from colic to constipation) and an older gentleman getting relief from his diverticulitis.

How do probiotics help your health? Here are some key points to be aware of:

• 80% of your immune system is located in your digestive system
• 500 species of bacteria live inside you
• Digestive system bacteria are referred to as "good" and "bad" - in balance there should be 85% good and 15% bad
• About one hundred trillion bacteria live inside you — more than TEN TIMES the number of cells you have in your entire body.
• The term probiotics comes from the Greek word “for life” (so consider the implications of "antibiotics” after hearing that!)

The processed foods so inherent in most diets can upset the balance of bacteria, as can other lifestyle factors and drugs such as antibiotics.

If you would like more information on how to improve your digestive health and get great results like our other customers, get in touch today and we'd love to help you. We can help you feel better and enjoy your life more!

How precious is your life?

“Tell me, what is it you
plan to do
With your one wild and
precious life?”

- Mary Oliver: “The Summer Day”

A superb approach to business

Sometimes it feels like I lead a double life - 3 days a week I work at the local University in Grants Management (for Research) and as much as I can the rest of the time I devote myself to championing the cause for preventative health measures. Today I came across a speech written by an engineer which I thought expouses principles appropriate to both areas of my life and liked it so much I thought I'd post it.

The speech comes from Dr Chris Nicol’s 2007 Warren Centre Innovation Lecture where he challenged the audience to think innovatively about what sorts of future engineering “magic” would make the difference. Here are his key points on winning the innovation game:

1. Identify your customers (internal and external) and make sure they are satisfied with your products and services
2. Have the courage to hire people who are better than you
3. Train and task individuals so that they are self motivated to drive their own performance
4. Motivate the team to a central cause
5. You cannot have loyal customers without loyal employees. Go a step further and be grateful for them: Every day, my employees would say good bye to their loved ones and come to the office to spend a significant amount of their day with me. For this, I was grateful
6. Spouses are called “significant other” for a reason. When someone is travelling, or on a conference call at midnight, there is usually a spouse who is feeling under-appreciated. Extend the notion of “team” to include them
7. Positioning. It is better to be different than it is to be better
8. Continually change - and self-inject change – especially when it feels like it is not needed. “When you are green you grow, when you are ripe you rot.” Opportunity lies on the boundary of order and chaos. Too much of either and growth is diminished. Complacency will kill you.
9. At the end of the day, when you have done your best - await the results in peace (incredibly difficult to do). It takes self-discipline - but worrying about stuff benefits no-one and probably makes you ill.

It is lovely to come across these words of a highly principled man. I can only wish him long, happy and healthy days. At the Health Highway we strive to offer excellence to our customers. If we can help you to feel healthy and be happy, get in touch!

Safer alternative for head lice treatment

I've blogged before about non-toxic solutions for keeping your kids healthy and thought I'd say some more on the Head Lice issue.

For years we have been hearing from other parents that since they changed to the brand of shampoo and conditioner recommended by the Health Highway they have never had an incidence of head lice or had to worry about their kids getting head lice. And the product is safer, cheaper and more effective than the supermarket brand they had previously been using. How good is that?

So I was amazed to come across an article today which states "the US economic burden of head lice is up to $240 million per year for pharmacotherapy alone, and up to $1 billion per year for combined direct and indirect costs". They also state "Head lice, within the past 20 years, have developed resistance to nearly all first-line pharmacotherapy in the United States" and go on to suggest which chemical treatment should now be used, with the usual disclaimers about potentially harmful side effects and who should avoid contact with the chemicals.

(Some Australian articles are available from James Cook University)

The Health Highway always advocates prevention over cure. Whenever I find an article like this, I think "I rest my case!". If you are concerned about Head Lice and are looking for safe, natural alternatives which keep your kids safe, contact me for more information.

Designer Medical ID bracelets

As kids in the 70's my brother and I both wore one of those metal "medic alert" bracelets - his for sulfur/ penicillin allergy and mine for asthma. They were very unattractive, but essentially life saving - especially in his case.

Luckily for kids (and adults) needing to declare medical ID issues these days there are trendier options available. Check out "The In Thing" website for a range of stylish Medical ID jewellery designs.

At the Health Highway, we help you feel better so you can enjoy your life more. And look great while you're at it! Fab!

More on plastics

Something on phthalates caught my eye and it led me to another new site I hadn't discovered on plastics. It looks like a great site to explore on many issues around going green and saving the planet, its called mindfully.org. Check it out!

Paul Goettlich has put together a wonderful resource on plastics and why we should be concerned about their impact on our health.

Studies on phthalates have shown that they affect hormonal activity and even in low level doses may have long lasting, multi-generational effects. Yet they are used in toys, shower curtains, vinyl floors, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and even medical equipment. For a great introduction and heaps of "precautionary" principles about protecting your health, see his article About Phthaletes.

Wishing you a happy, healthy day. If we can help you with this information please contact us at the Health Highway. All of our products are phthalate free.

Are plastics harming your health?

Plastics seem to be getting a lot of press lately. I've come across a few articles and will blog on this again. I recently noticed one on baby bottles, which is close to my heart with a little one of my own. There are so many types of plastics, are any of them safe? Which are the most harmful? How can you tell?

The Daily Green, a consumer's guide to the green revolution, has an article explaining what the recycling symbols on plastic mean - click on the symbol to find out!

Another aspect of this debate which interests me is how the plastics in containers react with product (like shampoo) that is stored in them and can cause potentially harmful chemical reactions. The Health Highway endorses a full range of household and personal care products that are housed in containers using safe plastics which are fully recyclable. We love to keep you safe, so ask about your options today. We help people feel better so they can enjoy their life more!

Poor Health Literacy reported in Australia

A recent article published by the University of Queensland's Healthy Communities Research Centre caught my eye today:

A survey recently conducted by the Centre indicates that "more than 500,000 Queenslanders, between the ages of 15 and 74, would report their health as less than "good". Of these, more than 350,000 people would not have basic health knowledge and skills to support their own health... This suggests that two out of every three people in this age bracket aren't able to easily carry out health-enhancing measures following a professional health consultation."

The article goes on to say that“our effectiveness to manage health promotion and disease prevention depends on, to a large extent, people having the skills to change their behaviour for better health." The study was conducted to test "health literacy" on the basis that people need a basic range of skills relating to understanding and managing their health to interact effectively with health professionals and to stay well.

Its an interesting report if you want to read more and to me underpins the importance of my educational campaign!

One of the main goals of the Health Highway is to give people accessible, affordable health information to enhance their health naturally. How? By educating about safe product choices, explaining the benefits using world-class nutritional supplements and learning about the long term protection of preventative health measures. We help people feel better so they can enjoy their life more. Can we help you?

Importance of Antioxidants

I spoke on a conference call tonight about a great new probiotic on the market which I will convert to a blog post soon. I took these notes from one of the other speakers who covered the importance of Antioxidants. I hope you find this useful!

Free radicals cause cellular damage to the body and are thought to be the primary factor in the cause of disease and conditions such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and so on. How bad are free radicals? Scientists have proven that the biological potential of a human cell is 120 years. To live up to our biological potential we must eliminate toxic invaders which destroy our health.

Our bodies are naturally equipped to produce enzymes which fight free radicals but because of chemical poisoning, depletion, overwork and stress on the land, our produce no longer provides our bodies with the nutrients it needs to create its own free radical scavengers.

It is estimated that the average person has to eliminate two heaped teaspoons of
particulate matter including dust, pollen, tar, acid, smoke, bacteria, rubber,
carbon, metals and many other particles every day

The booklet The Great Grape and Fine Pine Antioxidant Extracts by Tonita d'Raye provides an excellent summary of the issues and provides information about the "Super heroes" of antioxidants, OPCs (grape seed and pine bark). These are truly our best defence against free radical attack. They are 50 x more potent than Vitamin E and 20 x more than Vitamin C.
OPCs can also cross the blood brain barrier, providing direct protection to the brain and central nervous system as well.

The Health Highway can provide you with a super enriched supplement formulated as a powerful free radical scavenger which includes the OPCs together with Tumeric, Ginko Biloba and other nourishing ingredients. It is especially formulated to work while the body is active.

We also have a night time product formulated to work while the body is resting. It contains quite a few extra beneficial ingredients and is a tremendous rejenerative technology.

Therapeutic benefits include improved circulation, beautiful skin, heart protection, alergy relief and improved brain function.

I recently heard about an elderly lady who is a diabetic on blood thinning medication. Her eye-sight was fading and she was unable to watch TV anymore. Taking 1 supplement per day, her eyesight improved. She had also lost feeling in her feet for quite some time, but found when taking this product, she had sensation in her feet again.

Antioxidants are important at any age. The Lancet studied the use of antioxidants in subjects over a 1 year period. Those taking the antioxidants suffered from half as many cold, flu and other infectious diseases compared with control groups given a placebo. Those who did get sick, recovered twice as fast (reported in Dr Kenneth Cooper's Antioxidant revolution).

Heading into the cold and flu season in Australia - would you like to beat the odds this winter? Contact us today, we'd love to help you at the Health Highway. Come on and fast track your success.

Men in Danger (2)

Neils Skakkebaek was the Danish researcher featured in a recent SBS documentary called Men in Danger, which I blogged on earlier in the week. Here is a post on some of his work, focusing on specific studies he has done featured in the documentary that aired Sunday night. Neils' work and that of other researchers is around Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS) which covers research in the areas of Testicular cancer, poor semen quality and genital defects.

In conducting my search on his work, I discovered that Neils was interviewed by Australia's Radio National back in 1999 on Testicular Cancer, Male Infertility. At that time, they had a less specific data on the decline in sperm count and quality than was presented in the recent SBS documentary after nearly another decade of study. It is impressive how much data they have accumulated and published on over that timeframe. Back in the '90's, he was joint author on a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives Supplement 7 (Estrogens in the Environment) called Declining Semen Quality and Increasing Incidence of Testicular Cancer: Is there a common cause?

His more recent work can be found by searching Google Scholar for Neils Skakkerbaek, restricting results to 2005 - 2007. These are some of the papers I found that were discussed in the recent SBS documentary:

• From mother to child: Investigation of prenatal and postnatal exposure to persistent bioaccumulating toxicants using breast milk and placenta biomonitoring
• Role of Environmental Factors in the Timing of Puberty
• Flame Retardants in Placenta and Breast Milk and Cryptorchidism in Newborn Boys
• Urinary excretion of phthalates and paraben after repeated whole-body topical application in humans
• Adverse trends in male reproductive health: we may have reached a crucial ‘tipping point’

The good news is that there are safe products available which can protect you and your family from these risks. If you know anyone planning on becoming pregnant, warn them of these issues! We can help you with information on safe products, just contact us at the Health Highway and we will do everything we can to help.

What amount constitutes concern?

I received an email today from a blog reader in South Africa asking about the quantity of artificial sweeteners in consumable products and what level is considered to be a concern? He'd seen my blog post on Aspartame, but was asking about artificial sweeteners in general.

Andy, I'm going to defer to the experts on this one. Phillip Day, a brilliant reporter and health researcher, includes a chapter called "The sweetest poison: the lethality of sweeteners" in his book Food for Thought: fabulous food that won't kill you. I love Phillip Day's style. Straight down the line, fabulous sense of humour but always that whack between the eyes of startling reality about the dangers of modern western lifestyle. He writes:

When it comes to identifying the most common poison we willingly use against ourselves, an amazing feat resulting in millions of deaths worldwide every year, there really is no contest...but seeing as we are in the mood for some truth, lets take a hard look at the "s" word [sucrose] and also its partners in crime, the "sweeteners" aspartame and saccharin. Are you nervous about shattering some highly refined illusions?

He goes on to warn of the health dangers in consuming sucrose ("refined sugar"), including:

• excess insulin secretion
• mood changes and behavioural upsets
• spiky, chaotic patterns of blood sugar levels potentially leading to type 2 diabetes
• oxidisation and free-radical generation leading to cell death
• accelerated aging
• leaching of minerals, especially copper (potentially leading to aneurism and stroke) and calcium (potentially leading to osteoporosis)
• accumulation of fat
• lethargy
• abnormal blood pressure
• depletion of Vitamin C and B vitamins
• cellulite
• heightened PMS symptoms
• ADD and ADHD
• varicose veins
• rotting teeth (a dentist recently confirmed to a close friend of mine that this is due to calcium depletion as the body tries to re-alkalize itself)
  
• increased risk of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate and rectum, colon and biliary tract
• increased risk of Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis and exaccerbation of multiple sclerosis

He also mentions links with Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's.

All refined sugars are parasitic. They have no accompanying vitamins and minerals of their own and no nutritive value.

He provides references to health articles on the potential dangers of Saccharin, around which there is debate about its risk as a carcinogen in humans.

The main concerns he raises around Aspartame relate to its neurological effects: "According to researcher Alex Constantine in his essay entitled Sweet Poison, aspartame may account for up t 75% of the adverse food reactions reported to the US FDA due primarily to its reported ability to affect neurological processes in humans."

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology declares "It is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants and children. The existence of evidence for potential endocrine responses... would also suggest a neuroendocrine link" (and goes on to suggest that it should be avoided by women of childbearing age and individuals with affective disorders).

So "how much is safe"? The consumer has the ultimate choice to make on this issue. Scientists and researchers have real concerns about these products and their material is readily available.

You can still choose to consume something scientifically proven to be harmful to humans if you wish to, but it may be prudent to research more widely on these issues if they concern you. Food additives are always a case of "buyer beware". A basic principle of good health and longevity is to halt the influx of toxins into the body, detoxify your body regularly and consume food which will foster a slightly alkaline internal environment for the body to thrive.

At the Health Highway, we recommend maintaining a good alkaline balance in the body and can provide information on a range of supplements which will help you restore that balance. We have a vitamin supplement for children which is especially helpful in metabolising sugars and restoring balance, with proven results for ADD / ADHD sufferers. Another standard product in the range is a wholefood supplement containing green, yellow and red vegetables, fruit and berry extracts, potent herbs, marine greens and cereal grasses. This product helps reduce waste in the gastrointestinal tract, support normal body function, alkalize the body and supply antioxidants.

Contact us at the Health Highway if we can help you on these issues.