Heart

#2 Corona Virus 101

Liz James · March 11, 2020 ·

Post #2 Corona Virus 101…. The Facts… let’s unpack them, shall we?

👉Fact #1:
NOTHING is secure about the statistics being presented…. NOTHING.
Current stats as of Friday 3/6/2020…….
101,714 confirmed cases and 3,461 deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of March 06, 2020, 18:05 GMT….. remembering that this doesn’t even include mild cases that haven’t been tested or were tested with a false negative. If the rational person were to factor in the false negatives AND the mild cases that aren’t even tested at all…… the conservative estimate of deaths vs illness would be <0.1%, with most of those deaths having primary serious health issues already. (more on this in a later post).

👉 Fact #2: Corona Virus….. A cousin of the common cold virus with a ground zero in Wuhan China….. although strong evidence suggests that contrary to popular news coverage, this particular virus likely originated in a high security lab at the University of North Carolina several years ago. As is common practice, scientists from another part of the world (Wuhan, China in this case) bought into the research, and took some of the findings back home with them. #thingsthatmakeyougohmmmmmm
Additionally, this particular virus has, within its DNA, the written chimera (ie: a grafting) of an RNA snip of one of the HIV retroviruses…. something that is impossible to achieve in nature. Again,….. #thingsthatmakeyougohmmmmmm
This does NOT mean someone can get HIV from this virus… (so don’t go there mentally), but it does indicate manmade tampering and a “gain in functionality” which means the virus transmits more easily than the traditional common cold virus.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: This is a multibillion dollar business (if not trillion)…. Approximately 20 companies are vying for the right to make a vaccine….. whomever “wins” will make billions of $$$

👉Fact #3: Don’t compare to 1918 spanish flu or any other historical plague like event…. They were all Pre antibiotics, pre- better hospital care and most importantly…. before we had better hygiene practices.

👉Fact #4 251,000 deaths per year due to errors in medical care, 3rd only to heart disease and cancer…. WHY are we not talking more about THESE things? THIS topic should warrant pandemic alarm…. and all we hear are 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗.

👉Fact #5 National Institutes of Health’s infectious disease chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said, “The mortality rate (of Covid 19) looks like 2% to 3% but could be much lower if many mild cases or infections with no symptoms are going undetected.” SARS proved fatal in about 10% of cases. The flu’s mortality rate is only 0.1% btw this year.

👉 Fact #6 Pollution (external and therefore internal) and the role it plays in disease and immune support…China has among the world’s most dangerous air pollution… Ya’ll…. have you noticed that even when there isn’t a pandemic virus in China, many citizens still wear face masks?

👉Fact #7 Smokers…. China, and some of the newer harder hit countries are still heavy smokers. In China, an estimated 354 MILLION people still smoke regularly. #healthhabitsmatter

👉Fact #8 the Germ vs Host Theory
I can’t take credit for this well written piece…. but it hits a homerun in truth and it’s THE reason I implement toxin free living suggestions in my health coaching. Either you are or you are not living this way. There really isn’t much of a gray area here.
“The big difference between the two is this: If your garbage piles up in your home for weeks or years, you will invite pests, rats, cockroaches, mice, ants…all sorts of unfavorables to your home. The Germ Theory states we need to continually bring something in to kill the pests, while the host theory states, “Hey, how about we take out the garbage?”

Dr. Julian Baldor, a surgeon, in a speech before the Florida League of Human Progress, talked about Dr. Bechamp as one of the greatest scientists of all time. He said, “Dr. Bechamp proved that our bodies become hosts to a germ only after chemical and mechanical changes have damaged our system and that as long as our bodies and tissues retain a high vitality and resistance, a germ, infection or disease will not make progress. Furthermore, the disease organism will not survive after its entrance into a healthy organism. For example, we see flies on a manure pile, and other parasites also. Some of these parasites may be dangerous and capable of producing disease under favorable circumstances. If, however, we remove the pile of manure, the parasites disappear at the same time. Which do you think is the more intelligent: To fight disease by swatting flies or removing the pile of manure?”
Pasteur was better connected, more well-spoken, and wealthier than Bechamp. When it came down to it, these proved to his advantage when their two scientific papers went up against each other. Pasteur won out, paving the way for the Germ Theory to gain in popularity. Bechamp fell into disfavor and his books listed on the Index of Librorum Prohibitorum (the index of books prohibited by the Catholic Church).”

👉Fact #9 …5G – What in the world? What does faster stronger cell phone reception have to do with the virus? This topic is for another post another day…. but understand this…. regular exposure to 5G very much has MUCH to do with how easily people contract a virus or bacteria. Wuhan was one of the first countries to roll out 5G and they have over 10,000 cell phone towers in their city. The citizens of the city simply cannot get out from under that radio frequency…. that frequency affects us at a cellular level. This (in addition to the pollution/toxin load) is VERY important to keep in consideration. #unplugregularly

…..more to come friends. Stay tuned.😘

xoxo ~ liz

#aintskeeredandyoushouldntbeeither
#knowbetterdobetter
#yourtoxinloadmattersnowandforever
#ThanksYL

Guilty or Innocent? Weighing in on Cholesterol

Liz James · March 4, 2019 ·

Cholesterol has been heavy on my heart for the last month… haha! No pun intended there… my cholesterol is actually fine….. but I tend to root for the the misunderstood and the underdog when given a choice. (That’s probably why our farm tends to be a haven for rescue dogs and cats…. but I digress!)

Did you know that approximately 80% of people with acute cornary syndrome….(ie: reduced blood flow to the heart… often leading to heart attack) have NORMAL cholesterol values? What’s up with that?

Cholesterol is one of those underdogs. Bless its sticky little heart….. it’s given a bad rap more so than nearly any other body produced compound. What would we do without cholesterol? That’s a good question…. I’m not entirely sure any of us would be around to discuss it if we lacked it in our bodies! It is a major component of cell membranes and is a necessary building block for hormones, fat soluble vitamin D, and bile salts (aiding in the digestion of fats and fat soluble nutrients). Cholesterol is also extremely important to the function of our nervous system. Without it, we’d be bumbling malfunctioning idiots….especially considering that our brains are roughly comprised of 50% cholesterol. So why all the hate?

Our bodies are efficient producers of cholesterol…. producing about 80% of what is in our bodies (the other 20% comes from dietary sources). Cholesterol should not be confused with Triglycerides (perhaps the real bad boys), or the obscure thug that likes to hang on to its buddy LDL….. lipoprotein(a).

Unpacking Cholesterol: The cholesterol in our vascular system is a mixed bag of good and bad. HDL (the good guys) has the job of bouncer…. and it escorts out the shadier gang members, LDL, from our bloodstream. LDL comes in a variety of sizes…. and the smaller sizes (subunits 3 & 4) are really bad news. The bigger ones (subunits 1 &2) are fluffier and are actually pretty helpful. Because they (subunits 3&4) are small, they can easily work their way into the lining of our arteries where the bouncer (HDL) can’t reach them. In a whopping 20% of the population (1 in 5) there is something called Lipoprotein(a) that makes LDL ‘extra sticky’….. if you carry this genetic characteristic, it is best to know about it early on in life, as it dramatically increases your risk for clogged arteries and blood clots leading to strokes and heart attacks. It is a serious health risk, and frankly…. should be tested for at least once in everyone’s life.
While managing total cholesterol with careful eating habits (avoid processed and ‘fast’ foods) is important, …. the real culprits we should be monitoring are inflammation, triglycerides, and lipoprotein(a).

Triglycerides are produced predominately by the liver. When we eat, the body stores any excess calories as triglycerides in our fat cells. It is particularly fond of doing this with carbs. Later…. between meals…. hormones will signal a need for more energy, and those triglycerides will be released. Herein lies the rub tho….. if you eat more than you exert energy, triglycerides begin building up and you end up with hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), and THAT my friends, is cause for alarm. Even if someone has verified genetic HTG, management can be achieved with responsible ownership of the vessel you reside in:

Daily physical activity
Conscious consuming of healthy fats… avoiding processed foods and other sources of “bad fats”
no smoking
Optimizing body weight
Limit processed sugar intake to no more than the equivalent of 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. (The average North American consumes about 200gms or 48 teaspoons of processed sugar in their diet daily)
Work towards optimal triglyceride lab values of <100 and a triglyceride to HDL ratio of 1:1 to 2:1.

Lipoprotein(a) is no joke. 73 million people in the USA are estimated to be living with this ‘sticky’ situation. It is extremely dangerous because the molecule itself is so small, sticky, and it difficult to manage. What makes it even more dangerous is this: most insurance companies refuse to pay for the test that determines if you have it….. and many doctors don’t even mention the test to patients because insurance doesn’t pay. I have not been able to wrap my brain around the logic of NOT paying for a potentially life saving test…. but there you have it. It’s just one more reason to take charge of your own health and ask for the test and pay for it out of pocket, ESPECIALLY if you have family history of heart disease. Nothing….. no vacation, no daily coffee, no new phone…. should be more valuable to you than knowing this information about yourself. Once you know, you have the power to act…. and that can change the trajectory of your life. If you do carry this genetic trait, you will want to have your children tested. They need to learn healthy habits early in life. It’s never too young to become a CEO of oneself!

IF you have inherited lipoprotein(a), you’ll want to pay very close attention to what you CAN do, because it’s time to take your health seriously. Some people do not get a warning, and find themselves diagnosed at the same time their mortality is realized. Lp(a) requires close attention and monitoring. Tools to help in management include:

Daily baby aspirin
High quality Omega3 fish oil…. lots of it… has been found to lower Lp(a)LDL by approximately 10%. (Poor quality Omega 3’s become oxidized and can actually do more damage than taking nothing at all. Know your supplement company…not just their name, but how they do business. This is especially important with Omega 3’s.) Omegagize3 from Young Living!
High doses of Niacin (1-3 gms/day) … the flushing kind (ex: Slo-Niacin)… have been found to lower Lp(a)LDL by up to 30%
Maintain a fasting blood glucose of <100
Vitamin C @ 3000mg/day
L-lysine, L-proline & L-carnitine in high doses (L-carnitine helps make lp(a) less sticky)
Test for and maintain hs-CRP (high sensitivity c reactive protein) at <1. This measures inflammation in the body and high levels are a risk factor for heart attack.
Control blood pressure ideally at 120/70.
Consistent exercise
Abstain from smoking
Get (regularly) an Advanced Lipid Panel every 6 months w/ the following goals:

LDL< 60
Triglycerides < 60
LDL particle # < 700

I realize this has been kind of a heavy post. I’m sorry about that. It’s a heavy topic tho. Most people (even healthcare professionals) don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what causes the real problems in our vascular system. Hopefully, you can see that cholesterol itself is not the real monster….. it’s actually pretty awesome stuff. Too much of a good thing is bad tho…. no matter what it is. Although I only barely touched on inflammation in this post, it’s HUGELY important to this topic too. Sticky Lp(a)LDL is especially fond of a chronically inflamed vascular system.

It is my hope and blessing that this helps someone better manage their own health, and to prompt personal responsibility one’s own health. I am not a doctor. Information here is for recommendation purposes only, and not intended to substitute for specific medical advice. Please do use this information as a starting point for your own research, and use as discussion points with your personal healthcare provider.

Love and hugs, Liz

Goin’ Down the Gopher Hole

Liz James · February 26, 2019 ·

Have you ever begun researching or looking for information on something, and it leads to more research ad infinitum? Well, that has happened to me over the course of the last six weeks. It’s all good stuff and I’m super excited to begin sharing it with you all, but first I have to get it unpacked properly from my brain. I love learning and uncovering new information…. it makes my heart go pitter patter, even if it does at some point begin to give me blurry vision and in need of a map as I return from the warren of learning I’m being steeped in.

The gopher hole (yes, I know the cuties above are actually prairie dogs!) I went down began with a simple question that had been ping ponging about in my brain for several months. I am a holistically minded pharmacist as you may well know, and I LOVE to help people realize feasible ways prevent dis-ease, restore function, and become optimally healthy. In a word: Not just surviving, but thriving!

There ARE times when medication is necessary and Western medicine needs to work its magic thru intervention, but really….. this needs to be reserved for emergent care, when holistic measures have failed, or when genetics simply deal us a challenging hand.

Unfortunately, we have become an immediate gratification society, and the ‘grab and go’ healthcare system has capitalized on that. It’s much easier to take a pill for a symptom than it is to identify the root cause and work towards fixing what’s actually ‘broken’…..but taking a pill (or having an elective surgery) will ALWAYS have a consequence, and frequently, it may have more than one consequence. Often, the consequence will simply replace the original symptom (dysfunction), but occasionally, it can open a can of worms that was bigger than the first problem. I’ve seen this scenario happen too many times to count in my career.

“We” (ie: our current worldview) tend to discount risk versus immediate benefit in lieu of the desire for an immediate ‘fix’. When the immediate need is resolved, the focus of our attention is removed from the problem (or dysfunction)…. we’ve moved on to the next thing. Meanwhile, the risk may have slowly and quietly slipped thru the cracked door, and we fail to notice the correlation….. benign neglect, innocent ignorance of our own bodies, willingly handing over the ‘care and feeding of us’ to a Third Party who has little or no vested interest in our optimal health….. regardless of the reason(s)….. secondary dysfunction has crept in on padded feet.

Here is but one example:
Statins are one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States for high cholesterol. Nearly 30% of adults over 40 are on them. Impressive stat for Big Pharma, right?

But let’s go over another set of stats on the statins. Statins work by blocking a VIP enzyme called HMG-CoA. When this enzyme is blocked…. it blocks the production of cholesterol, but it also blocks the production of a nutrient called CoQ10. (Blocking the production of cholesterol is a post unto itself, that I will tackle next week and unpack for you…. cholesterol has been demonized when in actuality, it is an absolutely vital component to our well being)CoQ10 is critically important, and it can be supplemented to offset potential problems. Unfortunately, in my experience, most doctors never tell their patients this when they hand them a statin prescription. The doctor ‘might’ tell them to let them know if they have unusual soreness or cramping in their legs (a warning sign of something called rhabdomyolysis). This is a common ‘side effect’ of statin use…. but the reality is that it’s a sign of a secondary deficiency that crept thru the door that statin use opened. Other signs of CoQ10 deficiency include:

cardiac arrhythmia or palpitations, which could land you on medication. (Low CoQ10 is found in nearly all patients with heart failure. Read into that what you will…..)
depression or memory loss (meds for this too)
fatigue (you may live with this, or begin self medicating with caffeine or other stimulants)
Impotence or decreased libido (ugh!)
High blood sugar (setting you up for diabetes OR making your current diabetic state harder to manage or regulate….. don’t even get me started!)In 2014, the American Diabetes Association actually made the recommendation that all adults over the age of 40 take statins. (I’ll speak more to this when I write that cholesterol post)

Does this worry you? It should. And this is but one class of medications that causes a deficiency of CoQ10.

Now, I’m not a doctor, and please….. do not take my words (or anyone’s words) as gospel. I am all about self study and whole truth… which is not always easy to come by in the healthcare industry. (Remember, there are billions of dollars at stake here.) I encourage all of you to become the best advocate of you that you can be. Nobody knows you better than you, right? Self study can be a little confusing if you aren’t used to it. Talk to your healthcare provider. Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions….. and above all, be armed with knowledge that you yourself have found. Do not be afraid to shake the dust off your shoes and move on if your doctor doesn’t take full consideration of your concerns.

If this post has rattled your cage a little, so be it. That is my job as a pharmacist…. to point out some things that are important for a body to stay healthy, and it’s your choice whether to keep your head in the sand or be on the lookout for danger. We (pharmacists) are trained to counsel on side effects, but we need to be taking it a step further …..counseling on the causes of those side effects as well as potential ways to mitigate them, and to teach our tribe how to not just avoid deficiency, but to have optimal health in the process.

This is but one of the reasons I believe proper supplementation is so absolutely critical to living well, but especially if you are one of the millions who are on (and may need to remain on) a medication. Because statin use is also now being linked to probable Vitamin D deficiency, I recommend both MindWise and OmegaGize3 as being stellar products in the supplement industry… for everyone. Don’t wait for a deficiency to actually happen. It’s much harder to fix than it is to prevent, right?

If these products are new to you, I encourage you to learn more about Young Living and why I’ve chosen them as my supplement company of choice. You can learn more about the company and how to receive discounted pricing by returning to my home page, or if you’d like to chat, please reach out to me. That’s why I’m here.

Be well, and have a glorious day!
Hugs and Love, Liz

this Might Just Be Your Missing Puzzle Piece

Liz James · February 11, 2017 ·

Our bodies. We are a mega city of cells that never sleep and never vacation: 24/7/365. Our cells are shift workers, simultaneously creating and destroying depending on our body’s needs. That makes me tired…. just thinking about how hard our bodies work around the clock!

Just like any mega city employees, our cells need adequate and proper tools to do their jobs and keep things running smoothly. Without proper tools, production and destruction may become delayed or dysfunctional, and for a mega city, that can result in a real crisis.

Enter Young Living’s product Sulfurzyme. In my opinion, this is one of the most important powerhouse products that YL offers us. It is one of the supplements Charlie and I use daily to support our bones, ligaments, and joint health. We both have had some significant “wear and tear” on our farm weary bodies and this product helps us function at our best. (and no….neither one of us walks with even a limp). After doing a little research, I came to realize it supports a whole lot more than just our musculo-skeletal system, and now covet this product even more than I already did.

You see, the mineral sulfur is critically important to our body’s function. Unfortunately, roughly 75% of the US population is deficient. It hasn’t always been this way….current farming practices (ie: stressing soil by not rotating crops, soil overuse, artificial fertilizer use, herbicide use etc) that have evolved since the early 70’s have robbed our food supply of many minerals, and sulfur is no exception. Organic sulfur comes from the plants we eat, and also from the animal proteins we eat (unless vegan). In its most elemental form it is called MSM (methylsulfonylmethane).

MSM is utilized by our bodies to create 2 of the 20 essential amino acids we need in order that we may live and thrive: methionine and cysteine. Amino acids are necessary building blocks required to create protein. Aside from water, protein is the most plentiful substance within our bodies.

Adequate availability of both these amino acids and bioavailable sulfur are known to play a large role in:

Breaking down fat (especially in the liver and arteries)
DNA/RNA synthesis
Detoxifying harmful accumulations of lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic within our bodies
Supporting muscle strength and tone
Aids in the production of collagen and provides elasticity in the skin
Supporting hair, skin, and nail health
Facilitating cellular energy production
Facilitating carbohydrate metabolism, especially important for those with insulin production issues
Glutathione production: The principal function is waste disposal in our cells, but it’s also known to promote good eye health. Nearly every type of eye disease has the hallmark characteristic of low glutathione levels. (Coincidentally, our levels tend to drop naturally as we age)
Glucosamine production: the building block for ligaments, tendons, joint lubrication, digestive and respiratory membranes, heart valves, eyes, nails, skin and bone. It gives cartilage strength, structure, and resiliency.
Facilitating normal digestion and bowel movements/ helping to neutralize sour stomach.
Alleviating discomfort from bone & joint pain, muscle soreness

When MSM is combined with a diet rich in Vitamin C….. well, this is when some additional magic happens. There is a synergistic effect between the two, and our cells and body tissue becomes more flexible and more permeable, making the above list happen to a greater degree.

Sulfurzyme is a deceptively simple product, containing just MSM and dried Wolfberries. However, the wolfberries are a powerhouse in their own right (to be discussed another day) and in addition to vitamin C, also contain minerals and coenzymes that further support sulfur metabolism. Taking this combination is much more powerful than simply consuming MSM alone, and the effects of MSM appear to be magnified.

There is no way I can feasibly condense “how” and “why” MSM works as it does in this article. If you’d like to dig deeper on this subject, I’d encourage you to read The MSM Miracle by Earl Mindell, RPh/PhD. It is a small book that would be well worth your time!

** Side note: do not confuse Sulfur with Sulfa (as in the drug class). Nobody is allergic to Sulfur in its elemental form. In fact, if we were to be completely without sulfur, we simply would not exist. So, yes, even if you have a sulfa allergy, you can still take elemental sulfur. **

If you’d like to learn more about Sulfurzyme or Young Living’s other products, please contact me. You (and your body!) won’t be disappointed.

Enjoy your day!
Liz

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