Vitamins: This Study Ended the Debate

You might think that if you eat a reasonable diet, you’ll get all the vitamins you need, or at least most of them. Unfortunately, that’s not true. And the evidence is clear.

A groundbreaking study surprised a lot of people.

Two Harvard researchers, Drs. Robert Fletcher and Kathleen Fairfield, performed a landmark review of nearly 40 years of scientific evidence on nutritional supplements. Their study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Their findings are why most doctors now recommend daily vitamins.

They found that the current North American diet is not sufficient enough to support health and well-being. Especially in the face of

1. stress
2. the challenges of aging and
3. a food supply that’s nutritionally depleted. In their words:

“Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of vitamins (below standard), even well above those causing deficiency syndromes, are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. A large portion of the general population is apparently at increased risk for this reason. Vitamins help prevent the usual diseases we deal with every day…”

So should you take vitamins?

It seems like a good idea to at least take a high quality daily multivitamin-mineral formula. Look for a pharmaceutical grade professional product, because you want to make sure that the nutrients actually get into your cells.

Many commercial vitamins are commodity grade and they are lacking purity, potency and bioavailability.

Stress, Anxiety and Depression: This is Why They’re Close Cousins

Did you know that stress, anxiety and depression are close cousins. It’s no surprise. Studies show that a stress chemical/hormone called Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) triggers both anxiety and depression.

Here’s what happens.

YOUR FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE

We’re hard wired for a survival response, called the “Fight or Flight Response”, also known as the “Stress Response.” This response played an important role in keeping your ancestors alive for many thousands of years. Here’s how.

Picture this: If you and I were sitting down 25,000 years ago talking about stress and suddenly a saber-toothed tiger approached us thinking we were her lunch—our Fight or Flight response would automatically trigger. Our “Stress Faucet” would turn on fast. Stress chemicals, also known as stress hormones, would then pour into our blood to prepare us to run or to fight for our lives.

The anxiety and depression causing chemical, Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH), sets this whole process in motion by signaling our master gland that we are at survival.

Keep in mind that this “Fight or Flight Response” is designed for short term use only. And so if you and I survived, our Stress Faucets would shut down before too long and things would return to normal.

HERE’S THE PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL

But we have a problem today that our ancestors did not. Our Stress Faucet doesn’t shut down like it’s supposed to. In fact our hard wiring is now obsolete. It was designed for conditions that no longer exist. Our lives today are so complex that this response triggers too often, in error. Because our mind and body are an interdependent unit—(the mindbody), what we think and feel affects our body.

It goes like this: a part of our brain mistakes our fear, anxiety and worry for actual physical danger and it triggers the Fight or Flight Response—in error. As a result our Stress Faucet turns on too often and stays on to long. Stress hormones then seep into our blood and tissues where they linger, instead of flushing away.

CRH is one of them. Today stress hormones never seem to stop flowing or leave.

As Drs. Chrousos and Gold, two Senior National Institute of Health Scientists put it,

“Stress hormones continue to wash through the system in high levels, never leaving….and so the stress response that once gave ancient people the speed and endurance to escape life-threatening dangers runs constantly in many modern people and never shuts down. Persistent, unremitting stress leads to a variety of serious health problems.”

Among these problems are frequent anxiety and depression. CRH has a powerful impact on your thoughts and feelings

When you are anxious or depressed, the chances are good that CRH is driving it. Studies even show that when a person experiencing depression has CRH removed from their blood—their depression goes away. That shows just how powerful a role CRH plays in feelings of depression.

So when you are really stressed out, don’t feel there’s something wrong with you if you get the blues or if you get anxious. They come with the territory.

When you learn how to deal with stress effectively, your Stress Faucet won’t leak and your CRH levels will go down. And so will your anxiety and depression.

Would you like to try a proven solution to the problem of stress and stress hormones such as CRH?

Our easy to use and learn 6 stress busting methods and strategies in our Fast Acting Stress Relief Pack (the Pack) will help you deal with stress quickly. You will be able to shut your Stress Faucet off and wash CRH out of your blood and tissues. And feel a whole lot better as a result.

And you can be sure of great value. The Fast Acting Stress Relief Pack includes all of the following:

1. 6 proven fast acting stress relief methods tested over a 27 year period with many hundreds of people
2. a 29 page crystal clear User’s Guide, along with instructional audios
3. “The Little Black Book of Stress Relief Secrets”
4. The book will give you the real skinny on stress, including what you need to do about it and how, so you can deal with stress whenever you need to
5. A 3 page Stress Facts Summary for easy and quick reference

And know that when you choose the Pack, you have no risk. If for any reason you are not satisfied, just let us know within one year and we’ll refund your purchase price. No questions asked.

To get CRH and other dangerous stress chemicals out of your blood and tissues, CLICK HERE.

Financial Stress at the Pizza Parlor

Elena is a chef owner of a local pizza parlor. I went in yesterday to pick up a pizza and she looked weary and out of sorts. She asked how I was doing and then she said:

” 2008 has been a rough year for me, very rough.” “All I do is work more and more to pay higher and higher bills every month.” “I’m worried, I hope 2009 will be a better year.”

A voice inside me said: “me too.” It has been a tough year for a lot of people. We’re working more, worrying more, paying more–and we’re sleeping less and enjoying life less. Not good.

What surprised me about Elana was that she was so down. And she looked drained, like she hadn’t had a good nights sleep for awhile. But she’s usually full of energy and very upbeat with a glowing smile for everyone who comes in. This time, however, Elena looked really stressed out.

Just like Elena, you might be feeling the crush of financial stress. No wonder. Just buying gas, shopping for groceries and paying monthly bills can make anyone without a trust fund feel shaky and uncertain.

What makes matters feel worse still is that the world’s financial crisis can make us feel as if we’re on the brink of ruin, especially when the media keep screaming all the bad news details at us—day after day.

STRESS CHEMICALS POUR INTO YOUR BODY

Elena’s getting worn down by daily financial stress. When you worry a lot about money, a part of your brain gets stirred up because money represents survival, and so it triggers the “Fight or Flight Response”, an ancient survival response that’s wired into your body. This wiring is obsolete. It’s meant for a simpler time, a time that’s long gone.

When you are anxious about finances, a part of your brain can easily mistake your worry for life- threatening danger. This mistake triggers the release of powerful stress chemicals into your body, chemicals that prepare you to fight or flee. As if you were facing a life or death struggle with a saber-toothed tiger 20,000 years ago. A part of your brain mistakes your worry about money and finances for actual financial disaster. Not good.

Stress chemicals are powerful hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. When they get into your blood and tissues and linger there, they can do a job on you. Not only will they make you look and feel tired and wired, they will damage your body, make you anxious and depressed and age you prematurely.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO NOW ABOUT FINANCIAL STRESS

So if you are under financial stress, don’t panic or worry excessively. Instead, develop an action plan based on your actual situation, a plan that will empower you to feel in control. Seek help doing so–from reliable sources.

Don’t stay isolated and lonely. And don’t blame yourself. Instead, offer yourself friendship, compassion and generosity. This too shall pass. Make sure to avoid the urge to overspend on travel, meals and clothes so as to deny and avoid your financial worries. Because the aftermath of these “spending urges” will leave you more in debt and so more stressed and more depressed.

Try this instead: Create a spending budget and stick to your plan—no impulse spending. Live within the constraints of a clear budget. You may not like it, but it will lower your stress levels— because it will leave you feeling in control and that will lift your burden.

DO THIS FOR FAST STRESS RELIEF

Try the following deep breathing practice whenever your being dragged out to sea by financial worry:

1. Take three deep diaphragmatic breaths, breaths coming into and going out from an area just below your breastbone.

2. On the out breath–just let it go. Don’t walk the breath out–just release it. If you’re alone–sigh on the out breath, Aaahhhhhh.

3. At the end of the out breath is a relaxed state, it’s calm and clear. Tune yourself to that state as best as possible. It will help free you from catastrophic worry and from getting too wound up.

Be observant. Stay alert. When you notice yourself in unproductive worry about financial stress—just pull the plug on what you’re thinking and feeling and take the three deep breaths.

Think of it as a way of waking yourself from a daytime nightmare. And then don’t follow the thoughts when they return. This takes practice—but it’s a great method. It will help keep your Stress Faucet turned off.

Work Stress: An Epidemic is Destroying Lives