December 2011
Spotlight: Fitness for Healthy Aging

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Use It or Lose It: Time to Get Moving!
• Need Motivation? Sign Up With Go4Life
• Research News: Exercise and Health
• Video Spotlight: How to Live to Be 100+
• The Nutri-Health Blog
• Nutri-Zen

Use It or Lose It: Time to Get Moving!

Physical activity is a great way for older adults to gain substantial health benefits. At this point in our lives, it's not just about looking good (although that's a worthy intention!) – it's about the ability to maintain our independence and capacity for enjoyment.

And yet, it's shocking how few older folks engage in regular physical activity, despite the proven health benefits:

• Only about 30 percent of people aged 45-64 say they engage in regular
  leisure-time physical activity.
• Even fewer – 25 percent – of those ages 65–74 say they do.
• And while experts say people age 85 and older can benefit from exercise,
  only 11 percent of that age group report being active.

Most people think of exercise as weight-loss related. And it is. But it's also one of the best "medicines" you can take, and if your exercise includes a brisk walk or some simple weight bearing exercises like push-ups, etc., it's free, too!

Physical inactivity is one of the strongest predictors of the diseases of aging. Exercise reduces osteoporosis, falls and hip fractures, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and cognitive issues. It reduces depression. It helps guarantee independence. And, it can give you more confidence.

Where to Begin?

So, let’s get started. If you are wondering how to make physical activity a routine habit, here’s the key: Choose activities and exercises that are fun, motivate you, and keep you interested.

Are you a “Dancing with the Stars” fan? Sign up for a tango class! Love the outdoors? Find a lovely park or other area with nice views and make this the place for “you time” every day, whether it’s walking, t’ai chi, bicycling or yoga. Addicted to music? Take your iPod along for a walk. Animal lover? Use your walking time to bond with your dog. Don’t have a pooch of your own? Borrow a neighbor’s!

If you can stick with an exercise routine or physical activity for at least six months, it’s a good sign that you’re on your way to making physical activity a regular habit. But if there’s any hope of making this a reality, you need to start out by being realistic.

Choose activities that:

• You enjoy
• You can easily fit into your schedule
• You can do safely and correctly
• Are affordable
• Include friends or family if possible

Keep a positive attitude and don’t beat yourself up if you sit out a session now and then. Set realistic goals, regularly check your progress, and celebrate your accomplishments. Doing so will help keep you on track.

Keep track of your progress. The best way to stay motivated is to measure and celebrate your successes. Keep an activity journal. Get an inexpensive pedometer (they cost as little as $5) and keep track of your steps, increasing the number each day until you get to 10,000. Use the Internet as a resource – you’ll find tons of useful sites that offer forms you can print out. Be sure to update your exercise plan as you progress.

Enlist a partner! Having an exercise buddy can be a fun way to achieve your goals. Many people say they keep active, even on days when it isn’t so easy, because they know someone else is counting on them.

Focus on your wellness goals. Keep in mind the wonderful benefits of regular exercise and physical activity:

• Greater ease performing daily tasks
• More energy to do the things you enjoy
• Improved health
• Better outlook on life.

Need Motivation? Sign Up With Go4Life

Go4Life is a program geared to baby boomers and older adults, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). It's designed to help older adults fit exercise and physical activity into their daily lives.

The NIA says the Go4Life initiative was born after some older adults contacted the Institute for guidance on kinds of exercises to do, indicating interest in becoming more active.

Motivating older adults to become physically active for the first time, return to exercise after a break in their routines, or build more exercise and physical activity into weekly routines are the essential elements of Go4Life.

Go4Life offers exercises, motivational tips, and free resources to help you get ready, start exercising, and keep going. The Go4Life campaign includes an evidence-based exercise guide in both English and Spanish, an exercise video, an interactive website, and a national outreach campaign.

It's a worthy initiative. But whether you take part in this program or not, there are ample reasons to DO something. Start slow. Be patient. But get moving and stay with it!

Want to take advantage of Go4Life's free print guides, DVDs and web-based information? Sign up at http://go4life.niapublications.org/

Research News: Exercise and Health

More Exercise Results in Healthier Eating

Source: UPI

People who exercise also start to eat better and as a result their brain may change, U.S. researchers suggest.

Miguel Alonso, a researcher at Harvard University in Boston, said data from epidemiological studies suggest tendencies toward a healthy diet and the right amount of physical exercise often come hand in hand, and an increase in physical activity is usually linked to a parallel improvement in diet quality.

"Understanding the interaction between exercise and a healthy diet could improve preventative and therapeutic measures against obesity by strengthening current approaches and treatments," Alonso said in a statement. "Physical exercise seems to encourage a healthy diet. In fact, when exercise is added to a weight-loss diet, treatment of obesity is more successful and the diet is adhered to in the long run."

How Exercise Benefits the Brain

Source: New York Times

To learn more about how exercise affects the brain, scientists in Ireland asked a group of sedentary male college students to take part in a memory test followed by strenuous exercise.

First, the young men watched a rapid-fire lineup of photos with the faces and names of strangers. After a break, they tried to recall the names they had just seen as the photos again zipped across a computer screen.

Afterward, half of the students rode a stationary bicycle, at an increasingly strenuous pace, until they were exhausted. The others sat quietly for 30 minutes. Then both groups took the brain-teaser test again.

The exercised volunteers performed significantly better on the memory test than they had on their first try, while the volunteers who had rested did not improve.

Meanwhile, blood samples taken throughout the experiment offered a biological explanation for the boost in memory among the exercisers. Immediately after the strenuous activity, the cyclists had significantly higher levels of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is known to promote the health of nerve cells. The men who had sat quietly showed no comparable change in BDNF levels.

Video Spotlight

How to Live to Be 100+

To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and his team study the world's "Blue Zones," communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. In this video, the National Geographic writer and explorer shares the nine common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100. (20 mins.)

The Nutri-Health Blog

Here are some recent posts:

Attention Men: 4 Ways to Boost Testosterone Naturally

9 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Does Your Doctor Recommend Supplements?

Nutri-Zen

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.  – Henry David Thoreau

November 2011
Spotlight: Healthy Holidays

All of us at Nutri-Health Supplements would like to express our sincere thanks for your business throughout this year. We value your trust and hope to continue to earn your loyalty with premium products and excellent customer service.

Best wishes for a joyful and healthful holiday season and a peaceful, abundant New Year!

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Holidays, Happiness ... and Your Health
• 5 Smart Choices for Your Holiday Plate
• New Product: Nutri-Bears D3 Gummies
• Video: The Best Gift I Ever Survived
• Nutri-Zen

Holidays, Happiness … and Your Health

by Nancy Maneely - Natural Health Writer

“Happy Holidays!”

Have you ever thought about the pure grammatical construction of that simple phrase? Analyze the sentence and what it means is: I am wishing (hoping, expecting ... or even possibly ordering?) you to maintain a state of unrelenting happiness throughout the approximately six weeks from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. 

Whoa ... now that’s a tall order!

No, I’m not a Scrooge. I enjoy the holidays as much as most people do. But as I’ve gotten older I feel an increasing urge to defy the “Holiday Police” – that cultural force which seems to insist that anyone who doesn’t cheerfully roll with the relentless tinseled glory of the season as defined by retailers, advertisers and the media, is pitiable and/or abnormal.

I love the gifting part of the season, especially as it pertains to children. Not for the world would I trade the memories of Christmas mornings spent with my kids amid piles of colorful wrappings and ribbons. And when I come home from work on a chilly winter day, I look forward to sitting down with the mail and a cup of cocoa, anticipating Hallmark greetings from far-flung friends.

And yet ...

How dispiriting to see glittery Santa-and-snowmen displays in stores – alongside the Halloween candy. How wearying it is to be subjected to the same jingly-jangly TV ads for what seems a thousand repetitions – even before the Thanksgiving dishes have been cleared. And how, I wonder, did we get to a place where consumer items such as $500 cell phones somehow have become intricately tied to the concept of holiday giving?

The problem is that getting sucked into the insane vortex of the “modern American holiday season” can leave us stressed out, exhausted, depleted ... and ultimately, sick. Which is a shame, because celebrating the holidays for all the right reasons can positively impact our health!

Celebrate with Meaning

In recent years it’s gratifying to discover that more of us are choosing to drop out of the consumer-driven holiday nuttiness and carve out new interpretations and traditions for the season. We’re doing it in a thousand large and small ways that speak to us on a personal, meaningful level – choosing handmade gifts, forgoing long-distance holiday travel, opting for a vegan Thanksgiving meal, or simply refusing to stand in line at the midnight “doorbuster” sales.

After all, think about the origin of winter holidays … This was a season to gather indoors, for feasting and fellowship. It was a time to re-establish community ties in preparation for the coldest, darkest time of year when our survival would depend upon the strength of such ties. Holidays were all about warmth, peace, fellowship, celebration and abundance. And so they should be today!

Here are some holiday traditions that are making a well-deserved comeback in thoughtful new ways:

• Community – Science has discovered that people with social and family ties are generally healthier than the “lone-wolf” types. Are people healthier because they’re more social (and therefore happier)? Or are healthier (and therefore happier) people naturally more social? However it works, a lot of us are making it happen.  Block parties, meet-ups, happy hours, support groups, social networking – these days we’re connecting more than ever.
• Seasonal Foods – There’s a new appreciation of fresh local, seasonal foods which may be attributed partly to newly publicized health benefits and partly to the economy (local foods often are easier on the budget). “Locavore” is a hip thing to be these days!
• Generosity – Again, it’s partly due to the current state of the economy, but during the holidays we tend to consider the less fortunate among us.  In recent years we’ve seen a wonderful emerging trend of donated goods charged as “admission” to special events and parties. From local soup kitchens to organizations providing gifts to our troops overseas, there is no shortage of worthy causes ... and the numbers indicate we’re opening our hearts and pocketbooks more than ever.
• Gratitude – Happiness experts (yes, there are such people!) say gratitude is the optimal emotional state with ties to physical and mental health. Yes, those of us with an “attitude of gratitude” tend to have the inside track on well-being. Oprah, along with many wildly popular self-help gurus, constantly remind us it’s important to say “thanks” every day.
• Spiritual Observances – A lot of us (and the older we get, the more this is true) are finding comfort in our church traditions, or just feeling the need to spend more time and energy as spiritual seekers. The winter holidays with their strong metaphoric association of “a light in the darkness” appeals very strongly to this spiritual side of our nature. It’s good to know that the mind-body-spirit connection is supported by clinical evidence – people with spiritual leanings enjoy better health than their down-to-earth counterparts.
• Simple Delights – Many people are choosing new giving traditions: gift exchanges, hand-crafted or home-baked gifts. When it comes to parties, informal potlucks mean less stress on the host. Popular magazines like Living Simple tout after-dinner family walks or parlor games on Thanksgiving Day as no-cost rituals that practically guarantee warm holiday memories for years to come.

How far we’ve come from the ancestral gatherings in frosty, torch-lit caves ... to the gift-wrapped 4G phone under the blinking lights of an artificial tree! Yet somehow, more of us are discovering that place of joy and comfort in between – and (thankfully!) giving new meaning to the term “happy holidays.”

5 Smart Choices for Your Holiday Plate

1. Sweet Potatoes – Contain Vitamin A as beta-carotene, more than any other fruit or vegetable ... plus, a unique combination of heart healthy nutrients: potassium, fiber, and Vitamin C.
2. Cranberries – High in overall antioxidant capacity per gram. One cup contains up to 18% of the recommended Daily Value of fiber, 20% manganese and 18% Vitamin C.
3. Pumpkin  – Packs a healthy dose of Vitamin A as beta-carotene, as well as the eye-healthy phytochemicals lutein and zeaxanthin.
4. Tangerines and Apples – Add some to your salad! They contain pectin, a soluble fiber that helps you feel fuller and may protect your heart by supporting healthy blood cholesterol levels.
5. Red Wine – Polyphenols, specifically the antioxidant resveratrol, support heart health. If you drink alcohol, health experts recommend limiting yourself to moderate levels (a glass or two a day).

Source: Healthy Happy Life

New Product Spotlight

Nutri-Bears™ Grown-Up D3 Gummies

Just in time for the holidays, these healthful little bears cloaked in festive colors will bring sunshine into your life – the sunshine vitamin, that is!

These delicious gummies come in a variety of flavors and each one packs a powerful 1,000 IU – that’s 250% of the recommended Daily Value of Vitamin D.

Nutri-Bears™ provide Vitamin D in the form of cholecalciferol (D3), which promotes calcium absorption in the gut and helps maintain adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations needed for bone health. Together with calcium, Vitamin D helps protect bone strength in older adults.

Vitamin D also helps support:

• Cellular health
• Cardiovascular health
• Neuromuscular function
• Immune system response
• Healthy mood

Obtaining sufficient Vitamin D from sunlight and natural food sources alone can be difficult, which is why health-care practitioners often recommend daily supplementation.

The Nutri-Health Blog

Have you visited our blog recently? You’ll find a wealth of information from cutting-edge health research news, to inspirational first-person stories, to delicious and healthful recipes to ... well, come check us out and see for yourself!

Here are some recent posts:

Top 10 Best & Worst Foods for Weight Management

Chained to your desk job? Not good.

An Online Resource for ‘Wellness Warriors’

Video Spotlight

The Best Gift I Ever Survived

Stacey Kramer, a brand marketing strategist, offers a moving, personal, 3-minute parable that shows how an unwanted experience – frightening, traumatic, costly – can turn out to be a priceless gift.

View it here.

Nutri-Zen

"No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place." - Zen Saying

October 2011
Spotlight: Stress

In this issue:

• 10 Easy Tips for Managing Everyday Stress
• Health Quiz: Do You Suffer from Job Stress?
• Nutri-Health Reaches Out to People, Animals in Need
• New Product: BG-Cor Advanced Heart Health
• Video: Tips for Healthy Aging
• Nutri-Zen

10 Easy Tips for Managing Everyday Stress

from the Nutri-Health Blog

Life can be rough.

I’ll bet even Brad Pitt has his "off” days, when things really get under his skin. One of the kids spills his milk all over the dog ... Angelina nags about the chores ... paparazzi pester him at Starbucks.

Some of us have more pressing concerns, such as whether the rumors of pending layoffs at work are true, or what to do about a parent with Alzheimer’s.

Whatever your situation, managing your day-to-day stress can be the key to well-being.  The American Psychological Association estimates that 75-90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems.

Not all stress is harmful. In fact, some kinds of stress are what give you life’s natural “highs” and put the spice in an otherwise dull existence.

• Eustress is the type of stress that is fun and exciting, and keeps us vital (e.g. skiing down a slope or racing to meet a deadline).
• Acute Stress is a very short-term type of stress that can either be positive (eustress) or more distressing (what we normally think of when we think of “stress”); this is the type of stress we most often encounter in day-to-day life (e.g. skiing down said slope or dealing with road rage).
• Episodic Acute Stress is where acute stress seems to run rampant and be a way of life, creating a life of relative chaos (e.g. the type of stress that coined the terms “drama queen” and “absent-minded professor”’).
• Chronic Stress is the type of stress that seems never-ending and inescapable, like the stress of a bad marriage or an extremely taxing job (this type of stress can lead to burnout).

When stress is frequent, prolonged, or chronic, it can do harm to the body, mind and spirit. The result can be physical or mental illness, or social dysfunction.

Common Effects of Stress*

No doubt life can be quite stressful for Brad and Angelina. But they are likely to have 24/7 access to nannies, masseuses and personal trainers to help them work through the stressful times and get the endorphins flowing again. The rest of us, for the most part, need to come up with more budget (and time) efficient methods.

Here are 10 quick and easy tips for managing daily stress:

1. Take a break and BREATHE. When you feel stressed, chances are you’re breathing short, shallow breaths from your chest. Stop and take conscious “belly breaths.” Breathe deeply and slowly and be sure that your belly, not your chest, is moving with each inhale-exhale. You’ll be surprised at how quickly this helps you feel more relaxed.
2. Listen to music. It has charms to soothe the savage breast.
3. Pet the dog. You’ll lower your blood pressure and circulate some feel-good hormones throughout your system.
4. Walk in the sunshine. Leave your arms exposed if weather permits. Most of us can use an extra shot of Vitamin D, which is known to support mood health. And an exercise break – even a quick walk around the block – will clear out the mental cobwebs and give you an energy boost.
5. Eat an orange. There’s something about citrus fruit that just plain makes you feel good. It’s pretty, it smells heavenly, and it tastes great! And, it’s packed with Vitamin C which helps to lower stress hormones like cortisol. Plus, it helps support your immune system.
6. Clear out the clutter. Being surrounded by clutter can be dispiriting ... it can feel like a metaphor for your life! Taking a few hours to sorting through the stuff can give you a real sense of accomplishment and brighten your mood. Short on cash? Here’s a great excuse to plan a yard sale and make a few extra bucks.
7. Get your hands dirty. If you have a garden, lucky you! Nothing refreshes the mind like digging in the earth. But even those of us with just a patio or windowsill can grow a kitchen herb garden or cultivate mood-elevating houseplants.
8. Stretch. If you have a cat, you’ll notice them doing languorous stretches several times a day. How do you think they stay flexible enough to jump up on the counter with such apparent ease? Stretching helps improve circulation and blood/oxygen flow to the brain.
9. Aromatherapy. What scents bring you the most pleasure: Chocolate? Mix up some cocoa. A jasmine bush? Visit a local botanical garden. Fresh-cut grass? Get outside and mow the lawn! (Or, just add a few drops of an essential oil to distilled water in a spray bottle.)
10. Say “Thank You.” No matter how gloomy things appear today, there are things in your life to be grateful for. Think about it.

*Source: American Psychological Association's "Stress in America" report, 2010

Health Quiz

Do You Suffer from Job Stress?

Numerous studies show that job stress is far and away the major source of stress for American adults and that it has escalated progressively over the past few decades. An increased level of job stress is characterized by the perception of having little control but lots of demands.

Excessive job stress has been associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders. In New York, Los Angeles and other municipalities, the relationship between job stress and heart attacks is so well acknowledged, that any police officer who suffers a coronary event on or off the job is assumed to have a work-related injury and is compensated accordingly (including a heart attack sustained while fishing on vacation or gambling in Las Vegas!).

Job stress is also costly, with an annual price tag for U.S. businesses of over $300 billion annually due to increased absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, medical, legal and insurance expenses and Workers' Compensation payments.

You can learn more about your own job stress level by answering the following questions:

How Much Job Stress Do You Have?

Add up the replies to each question for your TOTAL JOB STRESS SCORE

If you score between 10-30, you handle stress on your job well.

If you score between 40-60, you handle stress moderately well.

If you score between 70-100, you’re encountering problems that need to be addressed and resolved. Start by talking with your health-care provider.

Source: American Institute of Stress

Company News

Nutri-Health Reaches Out to People, Animals in Need

Nutri-Health Supplements has donated nearly $225,000 worth of natural products this year in support of organizations that benefit people and animals in need, including Nourish America, SPCA and local animal shelters.

The largest recipient of Nutri-Health support is Nourish America, an organization that provides daily essential nutrition in the form of food and supplements to impoverished American children, families, pregnant moms, and seniors. Nutri-Health has provided a variety of premium all-natural supplement formulas that target digestive health, vision health, memory, healthy sleep and cardiovascular health.

Animals in need have also benefitted from the support of Nutri-Health, with both the Prince George's Feral Friends SPCA and Bastrop County Animal Control & Shelter receiving hundreds of bottles of specially designed pet-health formulas, including probiotics and colostrum.

“Nutri-Health Supplements is committed first and foremost to developing products to enhance the health and well-being of our customers,” said Tom Callahan, Nutri-Health vice president. “This means supporting our communities. As a company we contribute products, an