Features of Whole Food, Nutrient Dense Concentrated Alive Vitamins

Which Vitamins to Buy?

When it comes to choosing which vitamins to take, it is pretty confusing out there. Our first choice is where we buy our vitamins. We can go to the drug store, the health food store, buying clubs like Costco or through direct sales/internet where they are delivered to our homes. After we make that choice, there are dozens of the same type of vitamins to choose from. What criteria should we use? Most people think price. But when it comes to quality, the price is not the standard to go by.

Most people do not realize that there are three main ways of manufacturing vitamins on the market. So to the untrained eye, these vitamins all look the same except for the price point. So here are some pointers to help you choose more wisely.

Typically if you are shopping in a drug store or some buying clubs, you are going to find the synthetic type (test tube type) of vitamins.

Features of Synthetic Vitamins:

• Use man-made, inorganic substances, chemically derived, often petroleum-based products.
• Often contain sugar & unnatural flavours, colours, fillers, binders, preservatives, sweeteners
• Chemical, high-heat or high-pressure processing destroys active ingredients & enzymes
• Very poor dissolve-ability
• Very poor bio-availability
• Do not build long-term health
• May act as a stimulant (temporarily feel ‘better’)
• May have negative side effects in some people
• Unrecognized by body, not found in nature, ‘unnatural’ to self
• When vitamins are made synthetically, it costs very little and that is passed along to the consumer. But when you think about it, are you really saving money when the money you just spent is not being utilized in your body? To me that is a waste of money.

If you are shopping in a typical health food store and some direct sales companies, you are going to find natural isolates using the extraction method.

Features of Extracted Vitamins:

• Isolated nutrient; no co-factors present; poorly balanced formula
• ‘Natural’ sourced – only a small portion must be natural, according to government labeling regulations
• May contain questionable fillers, binders, etc.
• Processing methods questionable; active ingredients & enzymes often destroyed
• Often poor dissolve-ability
• Often poor to fair bio-availability
• Better than synthetics, but do not build true long-term health
• Portions recognizable by the body but have to steal co-factors from your body for true absorption; so gives to you and steals from you.
• When you are buying the extracted version, it is a toss-up whether you are getting ahead or not as it depends on how much your body needs to “spend” in order to get the extracted vitamin metabolized. So the potential for losing money is there if your body does not have adequate stores of nutrients to help with the processing of the extracted version.

If you are shopping for some direct sales companies or getting your vitamins from a practitioner of some kind, then you are probably getting whole food, nutrient dense concentrates.

Features of Whole Food, Nutrient Dense Concentrates (Alive Vitamins):

• Nature’s balance; high potency; nature’s co-factors present
• High quality, pure, organically sourced raw materials
• Low heat or no heat, low-pressure processing ensures active ingredients and high enzymatic activity
• No harsh binders, fillers
• No refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colours, flavours
• Ideal, effective dissolve-ability, available when & where needed
• Ideal, effective bio-availability, easily utilized by cells
• Body recognizes as ‘belonging to self’ or ‘natural’, highly usable
• Builds long-term health by supporting body’s innate wisdom

When you compare whole food concentrates with real food, you see that you save money while being nourished. For example, one of my Vitamin C tablets costs me 22 cents and it is equal to my buying 7 and a half oranges. My body feels the difference when I nourish it properly which is my biggest saving. Since the food values have decreased due to food becoming a business and the soils being depleted, my body loves the whole food nutrient dense concentrates to supplement what I am missing from my diet.

Bottom line; when it comes to choosing your vitamins, you get what you pay for. If you are interested in exploring this further, I have a list of scientific questions that will help you confirm whether or not you are getting your money’s worth when buying vitamins. Contact me by emailing Charlene@CharleneDay.com and I will send you this list.

I’d love to hear from you or answer any questions.

To your good health!

Charlene Day

Breakthrough Leadership

“Breakthroughs happen when limiting thoughts and behaviors are challenged.” Fabienne Fredrickson

I was recently at a Brian Biro Breakthrough Leadership event in Atlanta. Brian took us through an experiential process to become better leaders and break through any limitations. His one-of-a-kind presentation ignited the energy and true leadership potential in everybody there.

All of us there were looking for a fresh, new and exciting vision of leadership. His program Breakthrough Leadership taught every participant how to shape the future, energize the team, build effective relationships, drive results, and model personal excellence, integrity, and accountability.

It was powerful and challenged us to breakthrough to a new level of leadership.

The Breakthrough Leadership principles we learned from several speakers that day were:

• Shape the future
• Commit to your purpose
• Energize and engage your team – ignite “E” Power in your team (Energy)
• Build people and build teams with powerful essentials – recognition, acknowledgment, and appreciation
• Deliver results
• Model personal responsibility, integrity and humility
• Be fully present, which is the key to building people, trust, and balance
• Become a master of questions
• Decide you will control your mind
• Decide to change yourself and what kind of person you want to be
• Learn how to manage every situation with positivity
• Accept the responsibility of leadership, think big
• Avoid traps like procrastination
• Be grateful
• Embrace that we must give the activity levels necessary for success
• Create a plan and simply go

Brian gave us some vision keys. Feel free to add them to your existing affirmations.

1. What I focus on is what I create.
2. I am a truly positive Pygmalion.
3. I live with abundant E-power.
4. I am a world class buddy thanker.
5. I am fully present.
6. I am a master asker.
7. I am a full out breakthrough team player.
8. I make a genuine difference and impact others.

So what I personally took away from the event is the reminder to be present every day and every moment. It is a challenge with all the distractions that we are faced with daily. So every reminder is good. I was reminded we create our future and to keep our eyes on our goals daily. Again, it is so easy to get distracted with current reality and take our eyes off the prize. I also am going to step up my game around my energy as I have been letting limiting thoughts take over and eroding my energy levels. On that note, I am going to remain conscious of my thoughts and watch for any that are not serving me this year. I am choosing for this to be a breakthrough year in my business as I attract and coach more leaders to break through anything that is holding them back.

Here’s to your success!

Charlene

Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin,” and has many wonderful benefits. There are two forms of Vitamin D: Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3. Both offer benefits, yet only D3 is more readily absorbed and utilized by the human body while D2 is more than 50 times more toxic than D3.

Vitamin D is obtained naturally from two sources: sunlight and dietary consumption.  Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the form of Vitamin D produced in the skin and consumed in the diet. Vitamin D3, is the most biologically active form of Vitamin D found in humans and animals. When sunlight hits the skin, it converts cholesterol into an active form of Vitamin D3. This form is involved in a multitude of biological processes and is crucial for promoting calcium absorption in the bones.

What we currently know about the many roles and benefits of Vitamin D may still be the tip of the iceberg, but we know enough to state with confidence that D deficiency is a major contributor to our current epidemic of chronic diseases.  For instance the winter flu season may be the result of our reduced exposure to sunlight and resulting lack of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency is a factor in all of the following conditions: chronic infections, tiredness, psoriasis, sweaty head, chronic kidney disease, crankiness, muscle weakness, reduced endurance, chronic pain, bone pain, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, depression, diabetes, inflammation, musculoskeletal disorders, neurological problems, autoimmune diseases, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren’s Syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, metabolic syndrome, migraine headaches, cervical dysplasia, thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease, Grave’s disease, osteoporosis, mental depression, polycystic ovary syndrome, epilepsy, the management of Type 2 diabetes, women’s health issues, and the prevention of cancer and Type 1 diabetes. Vitamin D appears to modulate neurotransmitter/neurologic and immune function as well. Vitamin D may even reduce the severity and frequency of infectious diseases, for instance constant respiratory problems in children.

Vitamin D deficiency is epidemic in the developed world, particularly among people of color, people in the northern hemispheres (because the sunlight is too weak) and people over 50. Vitamin D requirements are highly individual, and the amount that your body needs may depend on numerous factors, including the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis.

Additionally, we now know the previously defined upper limit for safe intake of Vitamin D was set far too low, and the physiologic requirement is significantly higher than previously believed. While many nutrition scientists advise that adults take 5000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily, others suggest up to 10,000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily is safe for most adults. Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation is 35 IUs of Vitamin D per pound of body weight. The only way to know for sure though is to get your blood level tested.

Food is not a significant source of Vitamin D. For instance, I don’t recommend orange juice, breakfast cereals or milk that is fortified with Vitamin D. They’re not appropriate foods and most use Vitamin D2 that is not very biologically active.

Vitamin D supplements are often the best source for many people suffering from Vitamin D insufficiency. It’s easy and removes the guesswork. While most Vitamin D supplements offer Vitamin D3, check to make sure that it isn’t Vitamin D2. Shaklee Vita D3 is derived from lamb’s wool and found to be the purest and safest of all natural sources. Make sure to choose a company that manufactures their supplements according to pharmaceutical standards.

To your sunny health!

Charlene

Entrepreneurial Leadership – Are you Ready for the 1% Club?

What does it take to be a great entrepreneurial leader?

First of all your background doesn’t matter, your family rank or status won’t help you. Race, creed, age, color or gender doesn’t give you an advantage either. Neither does your education, the degrees that you’ve accumulated or even your past resume. This is a whole other kind of development. One you can’t learn in school and you probably didn’t learn by watching those around you.

Listening to Darren Daily, I was inspired to write up this list.

To be a great entrepreneurial leader means:

• not being afraid of risk, to step forward, to be counted and accountable.
• being an achiever who needs to take back control.
• owning up to your responsibility and deciding to invent your fate.
• having bold visions and audacious goals.
• being a striver, always pushing for more.
• having relentless drive and courage, persistently and consistently taking obsessive action.
• not believing in luck, making your own luck.
• setting your own sail, ignoring the herd, charting your own course.
• not being subject to circumstance, bound by fate or resolved to the status quo.
• stepping out in front to break new ground, navigating the uncharted waters, and adventuring into places most have not been, and will never see or experience.
• being a change maker, pushing the human race forward.
• fighting for progress, fighting the good fight for our collective future.
• maybe being labeled as a misfit, a rebel, or a troublemaker.
• seeing things and most importantly doing things differently.
• being crazy, hard working believers, others call insane, maybe even nuts.
• having the ability to get people on board and add to the vision.
• being flexible, adaptable, open to feedback, and the ability to learn.
• seeking to break rules of conformity and shake the status quo by the shoulders.
• not being happy with ‘’good enough’’, good enough is not good enough.
• being willing to do the hard, arduous work of forging your own character, challenging every choice, daily.
• defying your nature and the automatic habits of your currently installed imprinting.

This is challenging and most won’t do the hard work necessary long enough to succeed. Those who do, become that one percent, the entrepreneurial leaders of tomorrow. Are you up for the challenge?

To your success,

Charlene

Benefits of Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin. These vitamins need to be ingested daily to keep up adequate amounts.  Humans are unable to synthesize Vitamin C so it is essential to add it to the diet on a daily basis. Vitamin C chemically decomposes during the cooking of food and prolonged storage so it is important to add it as a supplement. Vitamin C is essential to a healthy diet as well as being a highly effective antioxidant.

The richest natural sources are fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C is the most widely taken nutritional supplement and is available as tablets, capsules, drink mixes, in multi-vitamin formulations, in multiple antioxidant formulations, and as a crystalline powder. Timed release versions are available, (I recommend the sustained version) as are formulations containing bioflavonoids such as quercetin, hesperidin, and rutin. I recommend a more natural complete version of Vitamin C where the bioflavonoids are not removed so, therefore, don’t need to be added back in. Brands differ in quality and in the ability of vitamins to be absorbed by the body. Do your homework.

Vitamin C is an important antioxidant and has been shown to regenerate other antioxidants within the body, including vitamin E. In addition to its biosynthetic and antioxidant functions, Vitamin C plays an important role in the immune function of leukocytes (white blood cells) and improves the absorption of iron.

The benefits of Vitamin C are that it acts as an electron donor for eight different enzymes. Three enzymes are used to synthesize collagen an essential component of connective tissue. Vitamin C is essential to the development and maintenance of scar tissue, blood vessels, and cartilage playing a vital role in wound healing. Two enzymes are necessary for the synthesis of carnitine which is essential for the transport of fatty acids into mitochondria for ATP generation. The remaining three enzymes participate in the biosynthesis of neurotransmitters. During biosynthesis Vitamin C acts as a reducing agent, donating electrons and preventing oxidation.

Vitamin C is also involved in protein metabolism. Vitamin C is needed for adrenal glands, pituitary gland, brain. thymus, spleen, lung, testicle, lymph nodes, liver, thyroid, small intestinal mucosa, leukocytes, pancreas, kidney, and salivary glands, corpus luteum, and retina.

Vitamin C benefits by helping to repair and regenerate tissues, protect against cardiovascular disease, aid in the absorption of iron, prevent scurvy, and decrease total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides. Research indicates that Vitamin C may help protect against a variety of cancers by combating free radicals  and has been used as a cancer treatment. Supplemental Vitamin C may also lessen the duration and symptoms of a common cold, help delay or prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and support healthy immune function. Vitamin C studies show that it can lengthen lifespan, and help with decreasing chronic diseases.

Deficiency symptoms include fatigue, muscle weakness, joint and muscle aches, bleeding gums, and leg rashes. Prolonged deficiency can cause scurvy, a now rare but potentially severe illness. People who are smokers and also people who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at risk of not having enough Vitamin C.  Also people with limited food variety, or malabsorption, certain chronic diseases, and infants fed evaporated or boiled milk will need to add extra Vitamin C.

Recommendation: Add Vitamin C daily and feel the difference in your health with the benefits of Vitamin C.

To your good health.

Charlene