Be Healthy for a Happy Summer!

By Donald Payne

Hello again, dear reader. We had a very unusual spring in the North State. Tornadoes, record-breaking low temperatures (on several days), a lot of rain and snow—so much so that I don’t think it's completely correct to chalk it up to “La Niña” or “El Niño.” What does ring more true to me would be that the earthquakes across the globe, volcanic eruptions, and ensuing shift in the Earth's axis may have affected the ocean tides and wind patterns slightly, maybe just enough to slightly alter our natural weather patterns.

My normal training is to see a connectedness between events rather than that they are isolated occurrences, just as I immediately assume that if you have some mental, emotional trauma in your life, then it automatically has a “physical” effect too. So wouldn’t it be foolish to “assume” that all of our geological events, including a slight “earth axis shift,” would not also affect something as simple as our natural weather patterns?

Let us pray for the safety of our human population and the protection of our beloved America as well as the strength and courage to be able to change with the demands of the time.

This summer I will be attending the Natural Products Association Convention in Las Vegas, a three-day convention discovering new products and getting good deals on the old products. It is always a great place to meet owners and managers of companies and to get a feel for the quality and sincerity of each company that we deal with. Some of those meetings in Las Vegas have led me to form friendships with people I otherwise never would have met.

I remember meeting the owners of Bluebonnet Vitamin Company and being impressed as to what down-to-earth people they are. Their idea is to make the best-quality product and to support all those health-food stores that choose their products with education and great deals, as well as to support the health food industry, from which they received the Natural Products Association’s President’s Award for outstanding service to the industry. Also, Bluebonnet was the first to market the cellular active CoEnzyme Q10 Ubiquinol softgels in the United States. Ubiquinol, it turns out, is up to eight times more bioavailable than any other CoEnzyme Q10 and is up to 40 percent more effective in slowing down the aging process. Because of its greater absorption and longer-lasting effects, a person can use half the dosage and still get double the effects of ordinary CoEnzyme Q10 preparations.

Leave it to a company such as Bluebonnet to have the vision to see the benefits and pay the extra money to make it available to all people in the United States. The health food industry named Bluebonnet’s Ubiquinol as "The Best Supplement in Heart Health” in 2009.

At S&S Produce we carry a lot of Bluebonnet supplements because of their quality and because of the company's commitment to bringing the best in natural healing to the consumer.

Barlean’s Organic Oil Company is another company whose reps I regularly see at the Las Vegas convention. Barlean’s organic flax oils are by far the best-tasting flaxseed oils I have ever tried and because they taste so good you can use them in anything, such as a smoothie or just straight out of the bottle. Barlean’s flax oils are lignan rich, which means they are rich in the lignan that contains omega-3 and the great things associated with all the omega-3 fatty acids. Barlean’s Greens are a great addition to any summer smoothie. If you give Barlean’s Greens to the kids you can be sure they will get complete nutrition for at least one meal. Barlean’s also makes the best and strongest olive-leaf extract I have ever tasted. Barlean’s Olive Leaf Extract acts as a natural antibacterial agent, it's antiviral, and it also kills many yeast strains and additional opportunistic fungi that produce canditoxin—that is, toxins given off by Candida albicans and other microtoxins that may contribute to the collective symptoms of chronic fatigue and immune dysfunctional syndromes. For all of these invading pathogens try Barlean’s Olive Leaf Extract.

I have seen that the learning experience at the Las Vegas convention is associated with the social experience. How? Well, as we meet the owners, managers, and sales representatives from the companies we can visit and talk about products in a casual manner. It always gives me the time to think of the more difficult questions about processing practices and quality of raw materials, and to be able to see the owners’ facial expressions as they answer questions. One can tell if they are sincere about quality or not—especially with my background in Oriental medicine observation practices. Plus, gut instinct. Some of those great learning experiences have been with groups of educators and sales representatives from Source Naturals/Planetary Herbals—vitamins and herbs companies. Tom Dadant is Source Naturals' national educator and every year I get to see Tom and have great talks about products and about life. Source Naturals has always been so progressive about creating new state-of-the-art formulas. I use Source Naturals' N-Acetyl-Cysteine every day. It really helps my lungs and allergy symptoms, plus I know it helps produce an enzyme called glutathione in my liver, which helps me detoxify as well as protect me from degenerative illness and fatigue. Source Naturals is the sister company to the famous Planetary Herbals line of supplements. We love the Planetary Herbals women’s supplements, two in particular. Dong Quai Women’s Tonifier is based on a hundreds-of-years-old formula that is used primarily as a nourishing tonic for women. Used more as a regulator for women’s menses cycle, it is never used during menses (Dong Quai will usually increase the menses flow). And Dong Quai Women’s Treasure is normally used when there is cramping and irregularity. These tonics are so helpful for so many women.

Another company’s products I am excited about is New Chapter, which just received the prestigious Varro E. Tyler Phytomedicinal Research Award. New Chapter received this award because of its commitment to research and to using clinical trials for the efficacy of its products, including work that supports its Wholemega (omega-3,5,6,7,8, and 9), Zyflamend (anti-inflammatory), and Prostate 5LX (for benign prostate hypertrophy). By the way, this award is named after the late Professor Varro E. Tyler, PhD, former dean of the College of Pharmacy and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at Purdue University.

My new favorite New Chapter product are its organic vitamin and mineral formulas, which are created through a whole-food fermentation process. This process effectively coenzymates the B-vitamins, making them ready to be used by the blood, 100 percent! It is amazingly digestible and all organic. No wonder New Chapter again and again wins awards in our industry for excellence. Please try New Chapter’s Every Man or Every Woman multiples, probably the best multiple you will ever buy. S&S Produce has worked out a deal with the company so we always have them at a sale price! I hope you like them.

Another aspect of working with the natural-product industry companies is that we are exposed to companies and people who are very aggressive about going green. That is, to not use so much of our Earth’s natural resources to produce their products and not to pollute the planet in the process of manufacturing. It is sometimes called leaving a smaller “carbon footprint” on the planet while doing business. One of the most aggressive companies we deal with in that area is Country Life Vitamin Company. Even the product order forms we use to order our products are made from “New Leaf Paper,” 100 percent postconsumer waste fiber saving three fully grown trees, 1,493 gallons of water, and not creating 310 pounds of carbon greenhouse gases each year. These are all important to all of us because when we look to Earth changes, we would like to be sure that we are not contributing to the decline of our air and water.

Meanwhile, with all of Country Life Vitamin Company’s conscientiousness it makes amazing supplements for us. Country Life’s Omega Mood contains 1,000 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid EPA, which has been shown to dramatically affect mood. In one small clinical trial, patients taking Prozac for depression began taking 1,000 mg of EPA and after a few weeks the patients were able to reduce their medications by half!! Also, saturated fat in some fish oil capsules often actually competes with omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) for absorption, therefore not allowing you to absorb all of your omega-3s, which is what you are paying for in the first place. In Country Life’s Omega Mood there is zero saturated fat so you absorb all of the omega-3. We have had great success with this product for people with some mild mood disorders and they get great cardiovascular and cholesterol support at the same time.

Country Life’s Maxi Hair is the most complete supplement I have ever seen for the scalp and hair. It has been so successful through word of mouth that we have a difficult time keeping it in stock. Also, among Country Life’s Bio Chem line of supplements, that is, supplements that are more condition specific, it makes Glycemic Factors, which is what I normally recommend for high blood glucose to normalize and bring down blood sugar. Type II adult onset diabetes is at epidemic proportions in the United States. Mostly, I attribute this to fast food, soda pop, sugar, genetically engineered foods, high fructose corn syrup hidden in so many processed foods, stress, and inactive lifestyles. Second, the Environmental Protection Agency says we eat, breathe, and drink 7,800 highly toxic chemicals in our food, air, and water every day—whether you like it, or know it, or not. (One more note: More than half of the population is on drugs! Prescription and recreational! Is anyone really clearly dealing with reality as it is?) Anyway, with type II diabetes, we need to begin to repair insulin receptor sites on many of the trillions of cells that are not able to use it properly (i.e., insulin resistance) and increase the metabolism of blood glucose. For that I would encourage Country Life’s Glycemic Factors and Country Life’s Alpha Lipoic Acid. Usually, in a couple of days to a couple of weeks it begins to help stabilize and lower blood glucose. At that point, that person can go to his or her doctor and work to begin lowering his or her medication if possible—how nice!

Thanks to these wonderful companies for providing us with products to augment our blood and our lives and helping us to adapt better to these amazing changing times.

Prayers for you all this wonderful summer and happy birthday, America, on July 4th!

Donald Payne

S&S Produce