Most of our adult lives are focused on working, saving and investing as much money as possible for our family’s future.

But not nearly enough emphasis is placed on creating and maintaining our health. And when you think about – what good is accumulating financial wealth, if we’re not healthy enough to enjoy our lives?

It makes no sense at all, yet this has been the case for millions of people in the Western world for a very long time. Perhaps you can relate?

Today, more than ever before in our history, people are waking up and taking back control of their health and wellbeing. 

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me!”

That’s one of my personal sayings, and it applies to my health as well. I prefer to take good care of my body, so my body can take care of me.

As we all know – those of us who have lived long enough – we can mistreat (or neglect) our bodies while we’re young, without paying the piper. But sooner or later, the effects will start to show up, if we don’t do something different.

Little by little, imperceptible at first, we may start to notice how we get a little more agitated than we used to. Or our minds don’t seem as sharp as they once were. And if you have grandkids, I’ll bet your energy levels are not as high as when your children were young, right?

I remember my mother saying, “I’m glad the Good Lord gave me my children when I was young… because I sure don’t have the energy to do it now!” She said that on numerous occasions, as she watched me running around with my two, young sons like the Energizer Bunny.

Now that I have grandchildren of my own, I have a much better appreciation of what she meant. Life is such a great teacher, isn’t it? So we grow, we learn, and then we adapt. And when we know better, we do better.

Because I know that health is wealth, what can I do to take better care of my body? What can I give it, so I can live a long, happy and vibrant life? I put an emphasis on ‘vibrant’ because I don’t want to just live longer… I want to live healthy, while living much longer. I bet you feel the same way too!

We’re fortunate today to have so many amazing advancements in health care. We’ve come a long way and have experienced so many breakthroughs in science and medical technology.

While we’ve made great strides, there are still some very worrisome challenges to overcome. Challenges that often prevent us from living the joyful, healthy lives that we all want and deserve. The kind of health that
I believe is our birthright.

As we look at these challenges, there are some very positive things happening that you’ll want to know about. Knowledge is power—but only when we DO something with that knowledge.

I want to share some information about the culprit behind many chronic diseases that continue to plague so many people… chronic inflammation.

Chronic Inflammation and What YOU Can Do About It

First, let’s distinguish between ‘acute’ inflammation and ‘chronic’ inflammation. Acute inflammation is what happens when you cut your finger or get stung by a bee – or when bacteria gets into your system some other way.

What happens? Well, first you feel the pain, swelling, and redness. This is the intelligence of your body, rushing in to attack any foreign invaders. They will be quickly neutralized, and you’ll feel better very soon.

But what about inflammation that your immune system fails to eliminate quickly and, instead, morphs into a condition that can last for many months – or even years?

This is called chronic inflammation. It’s when your white blood cells attack nearby healthy tissues and organs (looking for the bad guys), which sets up a chronic inflammatory process. 

Left unchecked, this inflammatory process plays a central role in some of the most challenging diseases of our time, according to a Harvard Medical School Guide, Understanding Inflammation:

• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Alzheimer’s

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What Does Science Say About Chronic Inflammation?

Scientists suggest many factors contribute to chronic inflammation, including genetics, exposure to environmental toxins, and lifestyle factors.

There’s not much you can do about your genes. And it’s an ongoing challenge to avoid toxins, like polluted air, heavy metals, and pesticides… even though we do our best.

We can, however, make some lifestyle changes that are just common sense. We can make sure we eat healthy fats, instead of the unhealthy ones. We can avoid processed foods. We can exercise. And we can (and must) get plenty of sleep, so our body can restore itself.

Our body is an amazing vehicle, but it does require some TLC to run efficiently.

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “You are what you eat.” I feel there’s a lot of truth to that — and the British Journal of Nutrition agrees. In their May 2016 edition, they summarized a number of studies, supporting the notion that dietary polyphenols may lower inflammation in the body.

Which foods are high in polyphenols, you may ask? They include:

• Onions
• Red grapes
• Green tea 
• Coffee
• Turmeric
• Cherries
• Plums
• Dark, leafy green vegetables (spinach, kale, collard greens)

And the Harvard Medical School Guide, Understanding Inflammation, suggests a few specific foods that provide healthy doses of omega-3 fatty acids, which have LONG been shown to reduce inflammation:

• Olive oil
• Flaxseed oil
• Fatty fish (salmon, sardines, and mackerel)

Now, this is amazing because omega-3s can cross the blood-brain barrier, so they may even help lower inflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease and reduce the risk of stroke.

More Ways to Combat Chronic Inflammation

In addition to eating all the healthy foods we can, we can help our body by avoiding the bad stuff. Leave off the sodas, refined carbs, and processed foods as much as possible. Exercise regularly, manage your body weight (obesity is a risk factor for inflammation). Also, don’t smoke. And by all means… get enough sleep! You’ll also want to see your doctor and dentist for regular check-ups. Good oral health is mandatory to prevent inflammation. (See page 13 in the Harvard guide on inflammation.) If you don’t have one, just call us, and ask how to get yours. There’s a test you need to ask your doctor to run for you. Chances are s/he won’t offer it, but you can be assertive and ask for it. It’s very inexpensive and may reflect the level of inflammation in your body. What test, you ask?

CRP Blood Test for Heart Disease

C-reactive protein (CRP) test has been recognized in recent decades, as a potential measure of risk for heart disease. Scientists believe that atherosclerosis is the result of the process of damage, repair, and inflammation in the linings of the arteries.

Early detection is key to knowing what’s going on inside our bodies.

Even though tests for cholesterol provide a lot of useful information – about HALF of heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol numbers!

Several studies have shown that, among people with normal cholesterol numbers, those with increased CRP levels have a “several-fold” higher risk for heart problems.

Additional research has shown CRP to be a BETTER predictor of cardiovascular events than other inflammatory markers. These cardiac events include heart attacks, strokes, bypass surgery, and angioplasty. (See the Harvard guide for more details.)

Inflammation is no joke. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks chronic diseases as the greatest threat to human health. And the prevalence of diseases associated with chronic inflammation is anticipated to increase persistently for the next 30 years in the United States.

Time to Reclaim Responsibility for Your Health

Our natural state is health. It is our birthright. But our lifestyle choices, environmental toxins, and stresses of modern life ALL conspire to rob us of a vibrant, healthy and joyful life.

It’s time to reclaim yours. Time to put more emphasis on creating health than creating financial wealth… because health is wealth!

At TriVita, our commitment is to help you enjoy a healthy physical, emotional and spiritual life. 

• We want to help you take care of your body because you only get one. 
• We want to inspire you toward positive emotions that play a huge part in your health. 
• We want to encourage you to live a life with meaning and purpose, as you attune to your Spiritual nature.

We’ve created a product that many people are finding helpful to combat the effects of chronic inflammation – Nopalea. Check it out, and see what you think. We’re just a phone call away, if you have any questions.

It’s our honor to serve you. 

Never in modern-day history have we had the opportunity to evaluate our way of life as we have in the past few weeks with the impact and mandatory directives coming with the world pandemic!

And the question we have all had to seriously grapple with is; “What matters most in life?” 

It is so insightful as the question truly reveals how we identify with our values, behaviors, habits and even addictions we may not have even realized. I have many friends who love sports. Some have come to find out it’s more than loving sports, they are addicted to sports! The loss of current sporting events has rocked their world!

Just sixty days ago our political views divided and separated us from the very essence of what matters most. We divided, argued, debated, resented and yes some angrily caused physical and emotional damage to one another because of different views!

But something is beginning to happen in this shocking and most challenging time. Our difference of opinions, beliefs, and positions is becoming secondary to a cause of something bigger than ourselves and is actually allowing us to reconsider living for what matters most!

We hear it repeatedly; what matters most is our health, safety and the care for all, especially for those most vulnerable. We have even put our economy second to this priority. Prior to the Coronavirus, I repeatedly have seen those aged and vulnerable disregarded and disrespected. Only, the answer to the question of; “Are you living for what matters most?” could lead us to these extreme measures we are seeing today. Our governments in both the USA and Canada are shutting down what most everyone considered to be what mattered most in their lives; their jobs, sports, dining, drinking, events, travel and many other aspects of our way of life. 

My point here is not to determine, debate or question the why, what or how of these mandates, but to raise the question to each of us; can we learn and better identify living for what matters most? This could potentially be the greatest pivot point in modern-day history for; “living for what matters most!”

Prior to “stay at home” government mandates, we were too busy for family time. Not enough time to bring the family together for family meals. Too tired to spend quality time with family members from the hectic lifestyle we have chosen! No time to pray together, to play together and just be together!

If there was ever a time to evaluate what matters most in our lives, it is today. And it’s not a debate of right or wrong, it is the reconsideration of priorities to what matters most in life.

In the scriptures of 1 Corinthians 13 it says; “Though I have faith so I could remove mountains, though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abide, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.”

It is my prayer and hope that during this time of isolation, stay at home, and social distancing, it is spent in a time of reflection and decision making of living for what matters most. We have three pathways of choice; to be indifferent, to restore indulgence, or to seek the influence of living for what matters most in life! 

I am so passionate about wellness because there was a time I lived my life without it!

The misery index rises fast without wellness. There is nothing like living life with the joy of wellness. That is why I started Trivita and the Trivita Clinic of Integrative Medicine. I want people to experience the joy of greater wellness.   

The joy of living with wellness is also a much better motivator than the fear of dying!!

In his book The Spectrum by Dean Ornish, M.D., he writes, “When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate, and have love in your life, your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you think more clearly, have more energy, and need less sleep. Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and can even begin to reverse heart disease. Your sexual organs will receive more blood flow so you will feel more potent.”

If you want those benefits in your life, I have good news…you can have them! You won’t hear this from your average primary care doctor or your physician specialist. They are trained and reimbursed (paid) to treat disease through prescriptions, procedures, and surgeries. I am not anti-medical or pharmacy, nor do I not credit any of the amazing medical advances. However, SELFCARE yields the greatest benefits of living with the joy of wellness. 

Significant research conducted by major institutions are now validating, you can live with greater wellness from making better lifestyle choices. You can reverse chronic inflammatory-related diseases and conditions. You are not a victim of your genes! But you are the exclusive recipient of your lifestyle choices, whether promoting the joy of wellness or the misery of disease!   

Chronic inflammatory conditions can be reversed with simple consistent lifestyle choices and awareness is your first step to healing. 

You are God wired for wellness!

God created us with the systems and organs to optimize the joy of living with wellness. We are fearfully and wonderfully created! Ps. 139:14. And science is now validating you can live with greater wellness by making better lifestyle choices. Poor lifestyle choices can literally turn on genes that promote illness! And of the opposite, good lifestyle choices can turn on your genes to promote wellness! It is all in the choices we choose to make. 

I like to find simple but profound principles. If it is simple, I can do it consistently. If it is difficult, then it is likely that there are already too many daily distractions to add complex activities into the day. Think of just two ways that your lifestyle choices will give you the greater joy of living with wellness. Nutrients and nurturing YOU! Just two! 

Nutrients are the chemical compounds found in food that are used by the body to function properly. Protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Understanding these nutrients will help optimize how your body functions. Knowing the difference between good fats and bad fats, complex carbs or refined carbs makes a huge difference in your dietary choices. The more you move towards whole foods, pasture-raised meats, and wild-caught fish the healthier the nutrients. Eat nutrient-dense, not calorie-dense foods.

Other aspects of caring for the body fall into nurturing behavior such as sleep, water, breathing, exercise, gratitude, forgiveness, love, meditation, and prayer, all promote nurturing of whole-person wellness!

The awesome you…designed by God to live well and with purpose! Once you begin to embrace these two simple filters in your choices of the day, you will find you are moving towards greater wellness. It is not about deprivation or misery of doing things you don’t like to do. It is a mindset of what nourishes and nurtures your whole-person wellness.

This is not a cure mindset…thank God for every cure that comes from science, but with a world inflamed with chronic inflammatory conditions, the World Health Organization says; chronic inflammatory disease is the now the greatest health risk to all of humanity! 

Heart disease is the number one killer and yet it is preventable and reversible for 90% of all people with just using the filter of nutrient and nurturing activities that support the heart. Dr. Ornish validated in a clinical study that patients waiting for a heart transplant who made certain diet and lifestyle modifications, within just a year, no longer needed the transplant! And on the financial aspect were able to avoid an unnecessary expenditure of 250-500,000 dollars per patient!

Just a little bit of daily exercise will help lower cholesterol, improve blood pressure and heart function. With more blood flow, you can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, increase bone density and improve your balance reducing the risk of falls and fractures in older adults. With just a little bit of effort, you can improve energy levels, sleep, mood and the list goes on and on!  It’s simply lifestyle choices promoting the joy of living with wellness!  

Harvard Medical School experts proclaim, you can conqueror and control chronic inflammation!(1)

World-renowned Dean Ornish M.D. proclaims in his book The Spectrum that heart disease is preventable and reversible. Dr. Dale Bredesen, author of The End of Alzheimer’s, created the first program to prevent and reverse cognitive decline through nutrients and nurturing.

Don’t believe the lie that if pharmacy has not come up with a drug, the condition or disease is not treatable or reversible. Scientific research is now proving lifestyle choices can create greater wellness.

There are two other choices that make a huge difference in the joy of living with wellness. The choice of theism or atheism. If you choose theism that there is a God, then you are loved, you have a purpose, you were created to be His Temple here on earth, to do good deeds so others may glorify your God in heaven.   

Wellness is the foundation for your good works and for the joy of living!

In the past I would say; pursue wellness with passion, but today, may you pursue it joyfully!

If you are interested in reading more on the power of lifestyle choices, I recommend; The Spectrum by Dean Ornish, M.D.

Referrence:

Understanding Inflammation, Harvard Health Publishing 978-61401-234-4

Oven Roasted Kale Chips

Prep and cook time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

• 1 bunch kale (the curly-leaf variety works best for this recipe)
• 1/8 cup avocado oil or coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon good quality salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of 1-2 seasonings of your choice:
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Nutritional yeast flakes 
• Garlic powder
• Red chili flakes
• Curry powder
• Italian herbs

Place a large, shallow roasting pan or sheet pan in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.

Rinse kale, and dry completely. Remove stems, and cut into pieces approximately 3 inches wide. In a large bowl, use your hands to combine
the kale with the next 3 ingredients, plus seasonings. Season to taste, coating kale evenly.

When the oven is up to temperature, carefully put the kale into the hot pan, spreading it out into one layer. It will sizzle. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes and then gently stir or turn the leaves. Continue roasting another 5-7 minutes until kale is crisp and dry, but not too brown. Some leaves may be chewy instead of crisp. Serve immediately.

Wild Salmon with Rosemary Garlic Paste

Prep and cook time:  20 minutes
Serves 6

• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or coarse kosher salt 
• 4 teaspoons avocado oil
• 6 wild-caught salmon fillets, 4-6 ounces each

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine chopped rosemary and the next 4 ingredients in mortar and crush with pestle or blend in mini processor until coarse paste forms. Mix in oil. Rinse the salmon, pat dry with a paper towel, and place on a baking sheet.  Rub the mixture over the top of the fish. Position rack in center of oven. Roast the salmon until an instant-read thermometer reaches 130 degrees. Place on a platter and serve.

Your diet doesn’t just affect your waistline, it is also critical to how you feel and function. Eating the wrong kinds of food, such as processed carbs and meats, fried foods and sweets, may lead to excess body weight, avoidable diseases and poor mental health.

A growing body of research suggests that poor nutrition may contribute to the high prevalence of mental disorders. Nearly one in four Americans experience a mental illness each year. Furthermore, the CDC estimates 7 million of the nation’s 39 million adults aged 65 years and older are affected by depression

According to researchers at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada, consuming fast food and baked goods are linked to depression. The study tracked the lifestyle and diets of 12,000 volunteers over a six-year period and found that those who regularly consumed fast food, compared to those who eat little or none at all, are 51 percent more likely to develop depression. Furthermore, the more you eat, the experience your risk.

The study also found that participants who ate the most fast food and commercial baked goods were more likely to have overall poor diets. Poor dietary habits include eating less fruit, vegetables, fish, olive oil and nuts. This group was also more likely to smoke and work more than 45 hours per week. These types of lifestyle choices are key contributors to the development and progression of other chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

How Food Affects the Brain

It’s commonly understood that processed foods are unhealthy. But to break the habit of reaching for these comfort and convenience meals, it’s important to know why they are so bad.

Over the last century, the western diet has changed dramatically. Intake of omega-3 fatty acid has decreased whereas consumption of trans fatty acids, linoleic acid and saturated fat has increased. Eating large amounts of trans fats can damage neurons and interfere with neuronal firing which can have a damaging effect on brain health.

This unhealthy diet also disrupts the neurotransmitters which are responsible for feelings of well-being and happiness. When you eat, the reward center of your brain activates and releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter, which your brain interprets as pleasure. This system is designed to seek out behaviors that make you feel good. When you eat junk food, your brain releases a tremendous amount of dopamine which can lead to craving (and consuming) excess amounts of sweet and fatty foods.

Your brain requires a constant supply of fuel. This fuel comes from the foods you eat, and your diet makes all the difference in how well your brain performs. What you eat directly affects the overall function and structure of your brain. This is incredibly powerful news! It means that by eating high-quality foods rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, you can protect your brain. Alternatively, if you regularly consume unhealthy fats, processed carbohydrates and meats and foods high in sugar you are depriving your brain of the nutrients it needs and robbing yourself of the vitality you deserve. 

Keeping Your Brain Healthy

Occasionally indulging in a sweet dessert or a lunch on-the-go likely won’t damage your brain. However, regularly including them in your diet can pose serious health risks. Instead, fill your plate with fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, like olive oil and omega-3s found in salmon, nuts and seeds. Limit alcohol intake and avoid processed carbohydrates and refined sugars. 

If you have been living on a convenience diet, consider having your physician check for possible nutrient deficiencies and supplement where necessary while cleaning up your diet.

References:

1 https://www.cdc.gov/aging/pdf/cib_mental_health.pdf
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21835082
3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805706/