Flu or cold???

So you are felling lousy, is it a cold or is it the flu? They are similar, but there differences that make it easy to distinguish.

Most colds do not cause a fever, and headaches are very rare. The general body weakness and lethargy is not usually present. What can be very common is a stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat with mild to heavy coughing. You may also experience sinus blockage or congestion, and ear aches are also very common.

With the flu, a fever of up to 104 degrees is characteristic and can last for days at a time. Body aches and headaches are often quite harsh and overall weakness and exhaustion are extreme and make you want to do nothing. Some of the other differences between the two are sneezing, stuffy nose and sore throats only occur sometimes with the flu, where tightness of the chest and congestion can becomes severe as infection sets in. As the flu progresses, bronchitis and pneumonia can be life threatening, especially in young children and the elderly.

Although a common cold can seem to be a tragedy at the time we have it, a cold is much milder and you can generally function with your daily routine, where the flu can keep you down for the count for days and weeks and a month to recover.

Both are best prevented by keeping the immune system as strong as possible. We know we can not live in a bubble and that germs are everywhere, and you have them coming at you at the speed of light, so as much prevention as possible is the best way to proceed.

I wrote a five day prevention blog a month or so back on flu prevention, you might want to jump into the archives for a refresher course. Basically these few steps can make the difference between an upright winter, and one where you are flat on you back more than once fighting the bug crud.

Take a strong timed released multiple vitamin every day, add in some extra timed released Vitamin C, 2000 mg to 3000 mg daily. Pick up a quality Colloidal silver, I like the Graces brand, take a half a teaspoon daily as a preventive antibiotic, and get the nasal spray to use if you are always in smoke or heavy germ filled environments. Did you know that by using Colloidal silver, both ways, you prevent most germs from being able to penetrate your body. Most of us get sick from touching germs and touching our mouths, or breathing in the germs through our nose or mouth, so keeping a slow steady preventive layer helps to bounce off the germs.

Next, pick up an herbal internal formula called Body Well, it has all of the natural herbal antibiotic formula herbs, and most people that have been on it for the last fifteen years, would never ever be without it. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water, and get as much quality sleep as possible.

That's it, a few simple things to keep you healthy during the weather change. The rest is up to you, do not stress, dress warm, and eat the best that you can. We need to remember that many people are in the same rooms with the same sick people and they never get sick and you always do, the difference may be that they always do the prevention routine, and you do not, so no time better than the present.

Holiday nuttiness

Do you feel a little extra edgy this time of year? Let's face it the holidays may bring out the beautifulness of our homes and trees and the act of cooking and gift giving, but sometimes it brings out our ugly stressed out side too.

So many people push themselves so hard during the season to make everything right, and perfect, and making sure all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted that they literally run themselves in the ground. A simple way to get through this time of year is to make lists and prioritize, and remember you can only do what you do and what you can afford. Guilt makes people do ridiculous things in December and brings on the feeling that whatever they do it may not be enough.

I am sure we have just completely forgot what the holidays are really about and have created this illusion in our mind that rather than a time of love, happiness and friends and family, it is all about the mighty dollar and shopping. I guess it could be a little of the latter but get a grip, the world will not come to an end if you forget someone on your list or that you do not go overboard. I know many people that travel during the holidays every couple of years, they leave, they do not shop, no tree, no decorations and believe it or not, they have a great holiday and they do not sweat a thing while they are gone.

So when you get overwhelmed, stand back and take a good look at how ridiculous we are this time of year and how utterly crazy we allow ourselves to be. Take some extra B- Complex everyday for this stress you have allowed yourself to create, double your intake of nightly calcium, because you know all that extra walking at the malls makes your legs sore, and read yesterday's blog on better sleep to shut yourself down. You can also carry some Kava with you for those edgy afternoons when you find yourself stalking the person that took the last laughing Elmo doll and you are plotting a way to get it from them.

Finally, chill, enjoy the holidays, and be thankful for all the great things in your life, and make decisions about the bad stuff so you can change them and make them as good as everything else.

Sweet dreams

Today's question is one that is asked of me often, and I feel that it needs to be discussed. Dear Jeff, is it normal for me to wake up in the morning more tired than I went to sleep, it happens whether I sleep for four hours or ten hours?

Obviously the answer is no, it is not normal or correct or right for you to feel this way after going through a rebuilding, and recharging sleep phase. The reason most people feel like this when they get up is almost always stress, and non quality sleep due to stress.

If you are one of those people that has a hard time shutting down your head, and you actually work, dwell, and stress while you are sleeping,it is no wonder you feel like this when you get up. Sleep time is meant to completely relax, recharge and repair the stress and wear and tear we put on our bodies when we are up and awake. For most people, sleep and rest does the trick and they wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go. But a large percentage of people are actually more tired than when they went to sleep. Many people seek out their Physicians for medication, and I must say, many of these medications have been lifesavers for so many troubled relaxers and non constructive sleepers.

If you are in this category, before you run to the Doctor, remember there are wonderful over the counter remedies that may work very well for you, and if they do not, you still have the alternative to try the pharmaceutical products.

If you prefer a light dose try the herb Passion flower, or Chamomile, both of these are very mild, and produce no groggy next day hangover. The next level would be Valarian root or Kava, although stronger, most mornings are clear of cloudiness in the head. One step above these we would look to herbal combinations or products that contain many of these herbs all together in a synergistic blend like Sleepeze, a well formulated combination. Some people do better to have a blend when a singular herb does not do the trick on it's own.

The next step up would be a product like 5HTP or Tryptophan, which is available again. These can, for some people cause a little next day grogginess, but the trade off is a great nights sleep, and both are also use for mild anxiety and very mild depression symptoms as well. The strongest singular product may just be Melatonion, and for many has been a lifesaver, the tradeoff is sometimes very strong and colorful dreams, and many times a morning cloudy hangover that can last a short while in the morning. All of which is worth it for those people that are now able to get the rest and sleep they needed so badly.

So as you can see your choices are vast and varied, but the end result is a good nights sleep. So happy dreams, and good bye to going through the motions of sleep every night.And remember, the natural alternative may be all you need without ever having to venture to the pharmaceutical counter.

Fresh or frozen???

I am often asked about the best way to buy and eat vegetables.To me, the best way would be to grow them in organic soils using no pesticides or chemicals and pick them fresh off the vine and cook them in your own kitchen, or eat them raw.

Well, that is a perfect scenario in a perfect world. Most people do not even come close to their five to six servings of fresh vegetables every day, most people, if they could would count catsup and lettuce on a burger as two servings, and actually mean it!

Even if you are eating your vegetables every day, unless they are organically grown, and you are buying them on a regular grocery store shelf, the chances of getting much in the form of nutrition is very small. Most of our vegetable supply is picked about half way through the ripening cycle, shipped, trucked or flown to holding warehouses where they sit idle until they are needed and then they are fully ripened with gases that actually force ripening, but add nothing to the actual nutrition of the food. We have to remember that when vegetables are growing in an ideal situation, they are allowed to fully ripen on the vine, or in the ground so to make sure they have all the nutrition they are meant to have. When they are picked so soon into the ripening cycle, the actual vitamins and minerals do not get a chance to develop into the food.

Also, there was a time when farmers and agriculturalists would rotate crops from year to year, because different vegetables and fruits use different nutrients from the soils, and this would make sure that food crops would not strip the soils two grow seasons in a row. This also provided that every year you would get as much as you possibly could from your crop, and the nutrition would always be there.

Today everything is farmed and shipped, and unless it is organic, you know that pesticides and preservatives are as common as the water they use to make them grow. If you have ever been to large health food store that carries organic produce, you will be amazed at how different it looks from say the normal stock on a regular grocery store shelf. Organic produce is sometimes different shapes, and may even look very imperfect, sometimes smaller and all of this because harmful preservatives and pesticides were not used.

Have you ever noticed that when you go to a regular grocery store that all the apples look the same, and all the vegetables are huge like they were made in a mold.The fact is bigger and redder and riper does not mean more nutrition. Sometimes the smaller organic tomato has more nutrition that one three times it size grown abroad and ripened with gas and picked a third of the way through it's growth cycle.

If you cannot do organic or the availability is not there, get fresh frozen. This will at least let you know that the vegetables had to be vine ripened to be quick frozen, Sometimes I think that frozen, for most parts of the country would be best. Shelf life is better, nutrition is more complete, and in many instances price is a plus as well.

So there really is no reason for you not to get your veggies, just work them into the diet. But remember, eat the good stuff and do not waste your time on going through the motions with food that gives you nothing nutritionally back in return.

Happy and healthy fingernails

Have you seen what women spend on treating their fingernails lately? I am sure if you have or have worn acrylic nails, the price is quite expensive, but because your nails do eventually grow underneath, maintenance is a continuous thing that need be addressed.

When I complement women on their nails, almost everyone is appreciative because of the time, the patience, the smell of the chemicals, you also have to drive to the salon, make an appointment, and do this all on a monthly or bi monthly basis. Although many women will say without their nails being done, and manicured, it is like they are only half dressed.

Underneath those beautiful acrylic nails and after years and years of chemicals and fills, your real nails have been most likely ruined beyond belief. I think this why it is easier to keep them, because the time period of unsightliness during a reconstructive growth cycle could take many many months. Most women do not want to have their hands exposed for inspection and ridicule by others while they are growing back their own nails.

Sometimes though, yeast and fungus and bacteria get under the nails and due to infection you may have to remove them, or the cost for whatever reason gets to be too much to bare. If this is a situation you are in, relief may be as close as your health food nutrition store.

The following is a set of tips to grow beautiful long healthy and strong nails, and believe it or not, faster than you would think possible.

First of all increase your protein intake in your diet, as protein feeds and nourishes the nails. Pick up some Knox unflavored gelatin and put a packet in some juice or yogurt, EVERY single morning. Next, pick up some Calcium and Magnesium, preferably in a chelated form, and take them at night, or the Mezotrace minerals and again nighttime is best for absorption. Pick up a formula called Beautiful Nails by Great Earth, it is loaded with nutrients for helping to nourish and feed the nail bed and strengthen the nails, actually it will help weak damaged hair as well! The next step is important, add Flax seed oil to your diet, a deficiency in fatty acids also affects the nails and hair and skin.

Just these few steps will change the look, feel and strength of your nails. I wish I could wave a wand and say the ugly phase will not be there at all, but I cannot. You could try doing all of this for a month before you remove the nails, and you will have jump on the growth phase.

Believe me, your nails, although beautiful and always noticed by just about everyone, will breathe a literal sigh of relief for the first time in a very long time, plus we really do not need the extra chemicals just to get to the beauty.

Perspective and appreciation

Funny thing weather, two weeks ago it was forty degrees during the day, and here we are into December and it will be in the mid sixties today.

I think we are more motivated to do things when the weather is better, I know for a fact that bad inclimate weather makes us irritable, bored, cranky, depressed, and some times where we even put off important things that need to be done. Maybe we just use it for an excuse, but lets face it, anything to get out of doing errands, yard work and that stuff to do list.

One more thing about good weather is we feel better, it is like we have more positive endorphins and everything seems to be flowing in the right direction. An example would be if I was talking to someone about changing a bad habit or starting a diet or doing a cleanse, on certain days they would be more agreeable because they feel better and like the way they feel and want to do everything to continue to feel great. On a bad day, lousy weather, stressed out and cranky and in a bad mood, although the individual knows all these things, they do not have the get up and go to see past it. We sometimes get so submerged in the negative and sometimes by things we have no control over that it seems impossible to see past it and remember how wonderful you can feel, and how active and positive we used to be.

So my answer to this is that we stay focused on our nutrition all of the time, never break from it. This way it is with us during good times, bad times, stressed out times, bad work days, through happy and sad times, you know, always. It is like an insurance policy, we hate paying the premium, but when somebody fooling around with their cell phone and not paying attention slams into us, at that point we are ever so glad we have it.

I deal with people that are only getting into nutrition because they are falling apart at the seams, and you know, that is great, always better late than never, as many health situations can be reversed. But, if we are ahead of the eight ball, so to say, many of those huge bumps in the road of life and health may just only be a slight glitch or mole hill size bump.

This is why nutrition is known as preventive health, although sometimes it is only used because of a health situation, because prevention is our best defense.So when we are down and depressed, and not motivated, we need to remember that all will pass and good times are around the corner, and we need to jump on the good times and do everything we can do to make them last as long as possible. If this means doing all the right things, we should do them, and if it means giving up some of the bad stuff, so be it, because we need to remember what we felt like inbetween the good health times.

I wonder if the reason we are not always happy, and financially secure, and healthy and in a great mood all of the time is because we would expect it, get used to it and not appreciate it. Maybe those bumps in the road, and shaky health times come our way to make us smell the roses, and APPRECIATE, the good things so we will never take them for granted.

Did you ever notice how on top of the world you were when you have a day when every single thing goes right? You get up, your clothes look great, you feel wonderful, your breakfast tastes incredible, no traffic on the way to work, all green lights,you get your favorite parking space. Then as the day progresses all of your projects are done with rave reviews, lunch is incredible, you find a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of your jacket you were not expecting, the ride home is wonderful and smooth, you get a letter from an old friend, your relationship is in full bloom, a romantic evening and you end a simply perfect day. The next day it is bad from the minute your feet hit the floor. This is why we always need to be prepared mentally, physically and most of all NUTRITIONALLY.

I always remember how great the little things are and when I have a whole day of them.I think we all need to deal with two words daily: perspective and appreciation, they are more similar and more important that you think.

Magical Forest in Las Vegas

Tonight I am volunteering at the Opportunity Village Magical Forest , which benefits the school program for Opportunity Village. For information you can go online and look up Opportunity Village.

I will have a more lengthily discussion tomorrow, but tonight I am needed all evening there.

The picture above is myself and my Mom Pat, who has been a volunteer and an integral part of their program for over twenty years. If you live in Las Vegas try to come out and support this wonderful cause sometime between now and the end of the holiday season.

For even more fun, pull up their Santa Clause run this Saturday!!
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Thank you