Our Blog
September 23, 2023
Don’t Fall for It!
Not this fall.
Today, September 23, is the fall equinox for 2023 when days and nights are of equal length. It can be anywhere between September 21 to September 24 in any given year based on astronomical calculations.
Equinoxes occur at exactly the same time around the world. Technically, while much of the U.S. experiences the fall equinox on September 23, it is actually 11:50 PM on September 22 on the West Coast. That’s if you are splitting hairs.
Regardless of how we define the date, do we really feel it’s fall today? If we focus on the United States, in some sense, it depends on where we live.
For decades, the beginning of the school year, typically right after Labor Day, signified the beginning of fall. But now school starts in August for most of the country, and in some places, as early as late July.
So what are our markers now?
In the South, it’s the first kickoff. Football = Fall. Football typically starts at the end of August.
In the Northeast, fall begins when the foliage begins to turn, as early as mid-September in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.
In the Midwest, it’s when the bugs go crazy.
But it’s not as scary as you might imagine if you are not from there.
Pinhead-sized green aphids sense when the first frost is coming to kill them off. One late September evening, you’ll experience thousands of these little creatures clinging to window screens and flying into unprotected open mouths.
They’re said to enhance the flavor of a drive-thru McDonalds hamburger on that one special night.
In the Northwest, it’s the day after Labor Day every year, when a weeklong rainstorm almost always abruptly ends the usual dry and pleasant summer. Summer = Independence Day to Labor Day.
But for most of California, summer sticks around for a while.
The best month of the year in San Francisco is October. No fog, warm weather, clear blue skies.
Same for Los Angeles and San Diego. Hot, dry, sunny weather, which briefly peaks in the afternoon as the days begin to shorten, leaving idyllic mornings and evenings.
Ron, a Midwest transplant, recalls sitting in the parking lot at Santa Anita Racetrack during his first fall in California sometime near the end of October, watching a spectacular sunset as he was waiting to exit the lot, wondering if summer-like weather would ever end.
(Yes, there was major traffic. Those were the days when going to the racetrack on a weekend meant coping with 50,000-60,000 other handicappers mostly exiting the lot at the same time.)
Ron’s ultimate conclusion on the end of his first California summer: Thanksgiving. Put the Christmas Tree up. Summer’s finally over.
So what’s the point?
Don’t fall for poor diet and no exercise. The odds would be up you could be experiencing your last fall.
Our Immune System
There are so many reasons our immune systems need shoring up: school has started, the fall equinox has arrived, and when summer ends, whenever that is, we’ll begin to spend more time inside than outside, so continuing to build a healthy immune system just makes sense.
JP+ can help. Did you know that JP+ capsules have been the subject of four different studies on immunity conducted on four different populations: healthcare professionals with direct patient contact, young law school students, an elderly population, and athletic men? The combined results of these studies show that Juice Plus+ capsules support the normal function of the immune system and support upper respiratory health. Watch the video below to hear from Manfred Lamprecht, Ph.D., the JP+ Director of Clinical Research.
Back to School Special!
To celebrate the back-to-school season, JP+ has a delicious offer for you. By using our Healthy Starts program, you can gift JP+ to a loved one between the ages of 4 and 25 – free of charge! This is a simple and affordable answer to getting good nutrition into young bodies.
In addition, thru the end of September, when you begin Healthy Starts, you can receive 15 single-serve sachets of Complete by JP+ for FREE! Contact me to start today!
Fast, Healthy Breakfast
Would you like an easy, no-cook convenient breakfast to get you and your children’s day off to a healthy start? Try making Mason Jar Oatmeal.
Make it in individual mason jars for the perfect serving size and an easy grab-and-go breakfast straight from the fridge (it’s eaten cold).
Mason Jar Oatmeal is high in protein, calcium & fiber; and low in fat & sugar.
For another fast, convenient, and nutritious breakfast idea, remember our JP+ Complete Smoothies are always in season!
Making Time for Exercise & Self-Care This Fall – Tips from Bemer
August 30, 2023
A Co=Op Changed My Life
No, not coop, co-op.
So what is a co-op?
In Ron’s case, we are talking about a purchasing co-op, a form of
co-op very popular in the Depression, where people join together through paid memberships to allow for the purchase of goods at fair prices and for members to receive part of the co-op earnings back as participation dividends.
In Ron’s case the co-op we are talking about is Recreational Equipment Inc. or REI as many of us know it today.
REI started back in 1938 in Seattle when avid outdoor enthusiasts Mary and Lloyd Anderson couldn’t find good ice axes at a fair price.
Mary discovered she could purchase at far better prices by translating German outdoors catalogs and then purchasing by mail directly from Germany.
The Andersons recruited 21 outdoors friends to form the Recreational Equipment, Inc Co-Op run for many years out of their house in West Seattle. The initial members paid $1 for a lifetime membership, were able to get great deals on their outdoor equipment needs and got part of the profits back based on the volume of their purchases.
Over the ensuing decades, their business grew to fill a warehouse building on the edge of downtown Seattle. By 1960, there were 20,000 members. By 1970, close to 200,000 members, with the warehouse and a downtown storefront.
Enter Ron, a southern Illinois flatlander who arrived in Seattle to attend graduate school at the University of Washington in the early 1970s, and whose only outdoor experience was walking five miles from his grandma’s to home on surface streets to qualify for a Boy Scout merit badge.
On an early reconnaissance of downtown Seattle, he spotted Recreational Equipment on the second floor of one of the retail buildings and climbed the steps up. The second floor held the REI store and an office of The Mountaineers, the preeminent outdoors club in the Northwest.
On that fateful Saturday afternoon, he purchased an REI membership and signed up with the Mountaineers for a hike in the local mountains the next day.
After that, life changed. Ron lost his flatlander moniker and incorporated recreational exercise into his lifestyle. REI continued to grow from 200,000 members based in one city to 23 million members and 181 destination stores in 42 states and internationally today.
Good nutrition is the foundation of a healthy lifestyle.
Regular exercise, recreational or purposeful, is a necessary complement for optimal health (unless it’s skydiving).
Good nutrition + regular exercise = best chance for an extended satisfying life.
10 Parts of Fruits and Veggies You Didn’t Know You Could Eat!
Plant-based diets have many health benefits and tend to be better for the planet compared with diets that are heavy on meat, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But there is one area where produce lovers could take a tip from carnivores: reducing food waste.
An astonishing 30 to 40 percent of the nation’s food supply goes to waste, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If you think about it, there are plenty of perfectly good produce parts we hack off and throw out for no good reason. (With Juice Plus+, we use all of the fruit or vegetable, so there is minimal waste)
Healthy Snacking
Looking for healthy snacks that you can throw in your gym bag, beach bag or car? Look no further than our Juice Plus+ Bars, single-serving Complete and Chewables!
Summer Recipes
Get the Most Out of Your Exercise with Bemer Microcirculation
The REI Co-Op got Ron started. In recent years, the Bemer came along.
Good nutrition + regular exercise + Bemer microcirculation = improved overall wellbeing and better sleep.
July 29, 2023
Orange County’s Own Yellowstone
Watch Yellowstone? We have our own Yellowstone here in Orange County under the current name Rancho Mission Viejo. Originally called the Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, the ranch stretched from Oceanside all the way to the plains under Saddleback Mountain, over 200,000 acres in all. Current ranch patriarch, Tony Moiso, poses above.
Founded in 1841 in a land grant from the Mexican government, the ranch was an enormous financial and cultural enterprise for 200 years. The picture above shows ranch activities in the early 20th Century.
Then World War II came, and Uncle Sam took over the San Diego portion of the ranch, leaving about 52,000 acres in Orange County.
The original ranch house and grounds, now part of Camp Pendleton HQ, housed the camp commander and his family all the way through 2010, whereupon it was turned into a museum with tours to the public.
As Los Angeles grew into an ever-larger metropolis, there was pressure for housing in South Orange County.
Rancho Mission Viejo turned to land development and successively opened the communities of Mission Viejo (1966), Rancho Santa Margarita (1986), Las Flores (1995), Ladera Ranch (1999), and Rancho Mission Viejo (2013) with a total population today of just under 200,000.
Donna’s first career job after college and moving to South Orange County from Kansas was as Executive Assistant with the Rancho Mission Viejo Company, as work on the planned 55,000-population Rancho Santa Margarita community began. See her and her cohorts above.
And what a job that was. Worked out of a ranch house in San Juan Capistrano with extended office wings emanating from a vaulted grand room with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace. (Jealous, John Dutton?)
Casual dress, parties practically every week in the grand room, Fridays off (way ahead of their time).
Planning for community events such as the RSM Rodeo and the El Vaeje de Portola (The Journey of California Explorer Portola) where each spring to this day a large contingent of community leaders trail ride 30 miles round trip for charity from downtown San Juan Capistrano to a remote ranch camp for drinking and carousing.
Teaching the electric glide.
Donna still reminisces about that being the best job she ever had.
Ron bemoans the multiple pairs of retired cowgirl boots taking up a considerable portion of their shared closet.
The ranch has always been more than a cattle ranch. Here’s Donna with her dad picking oranges on the ranch when she worked there.
As the final planned community, Rancho Mission Viejo, continues to build out in the south end of the ranch not far from San Diego County, we are witnessing the pioneering of a new land development movement, agrihood.
Housing is being built on mesas, not surrounded by golf courses or lakes, but by working farms. There are 17,000 acres of open space in the community, which includes the largest citrus orchards in Orange County. Orange, lemon and avocado orchards mix with cattle and permeate the open space.
So what does it all mean in terms of health? Better to be a ranch hand in South Orange County than Montana. You can add fruit to your carnivorous diet, and wait a little longer to ride off into the sunset.
In with the New
Donna’s mom, Bonnie (on the left above) continues her daily sessions on the Bemer Essential Pro, as she has done daily for the past seven years.
The young man (on the right above) is using the new Bemer Evo introduced a few weeks ago on July 10.
Bonnie’s still good with her Bemer Essential Pro, a reliable device built to last.
The new replacement Bemer Evo offers everything the Bemer Essential Pro offers, plus a plug-in providing medical grade LED skin therapy.
The B-body, B-pad and B-spot continue to provide microcirculation therapy for inside the body, and now the skin therapy plug-in supports your skin deep health.
Click on the link below to learn more about the new Bemer Evo.
LINK TO MORE ABOUT NEW BEMER EVO
Into The Wild Blue Yonder
By Natalie Rizzo, TODAY show
Berry lovers, rejoice! The summer season packs store shelves with juicy berries of all varieties. One of the fan favorites? Blueberries, which are bursting with sweetness and packed with nutrients.
One cup (or handful) of blueberries is a good source of fiber and contains vitamin C, K, manganese and polyphenols, or beneficial plant compounds.
P.S. Our Juice Plus+ Berry blend is full of blueberries!
Why Eating More Plants Is The Key to Health
We all want to be healthy, but what does true health mean? Oftentimes, people think it’s about their weight, the way they look, counting calories, dieting, and restriction. But true health is really about feeling your best. Ask yourself: Do you have the energy to do what you want to do in life?
Type 2 Diabetes Remission
More good reasons to eat more plants: growing evidence supports the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet, which includes reduced blood pressure, lower cholesterol, improved heart health, and diabetes outcomes.
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, following a lifestyle intervention that involved adopting a whole-food, plant-predominant diet, patients showed potential to achieve type 2 diabetes remission.
Red, White and Blue Salad
Giada De Laurentiis says: I love a salad that’s loaded up with goodies, and this one definitely fits the bill! With lightly pickled cucumbers, grapes, blueberries, pistachios and gorgonzola cheese, it’s got a ton of amazing flavor going on.
June 22, 2023
Donut!
As many of you know, June 2 was National Donut Day. If you look closely, you can see us in line that morning at the local Krispy Kreme for our FREE donut.
While sweetened breads of all sorts have been around since ancient times, the donut is an American invention.
From where did it come?
Its origins were about the time of the American revolution, when Dutch settlers to New York brought recipes for fried “olykoeks,” or oily cakes….no holes, just a round ball.
The oily cakes had widespread popularity, but when did they evolve into donuts?
Fast forward to 1847. Merchant ships at the time included derivations of oily cakes as part of the typical sailor diet because they were easy to store, cook and eat.
Hanson Gregory, a ship captain on a merchant ship based out of Quincy Massachusetts, all of 16-years-old at the time, depended on his mother, Elizabeth, to supply the food to be stored for a journey.
To help ward off scurvy and colds, Elizabeth mixed hazelnuts and walnuts into the pastry dough and created the name “doughnut” to describe it. And Hanson, finding the doughnut cooked unevenly after being pulled from the ship’s galley bins, tried creating a hole in the middle of the “doughnut” with a round hole punch, which did the trick. The doughnut with a hole in the middle was born.
There is a Hanson Gregory Day every June in Quincy to commemorate his contribution to American cuisine.
Let’s move along to New York City 1920. Adolf Levitt, a Russian immigrant, opened up a donut shop in Harlem. The theaters near his donut shop clamored for him to make more donuts to satisfy the demand for his donuts in their concessions.
Up to that time, donuts were fried in a pan. Adolf used his mechanical skills to invent the first donut making machine. Years ahead of his time, he machine-cooked his donuts in an open store window, and crowds watched enraptured outside.
Adolf went on to sell an unheard-of-for-the-time $25 million in donut making machines around the U.S., and the donut was on its way to being an institution.
Which brings us to the late 70’s and Ted Ngoy, who would come to be known as the Donut King.
Ted came to Orange County CA as a refugee from Cambodia, gained employment at a local Winchell’s Donut, learned the trade and then started his own donut shop run by him and his family.
With the support of the U.S. government, over a period of years, Ted sponsored many Cambodian refugees fleeing from the Khmer Rouge regime there, bought donut shops and leased them to his sponsored families. By the mid- to late-eighties, Ted owned 57 donut shops up and down California.
He and his family moved into a beautiful $7 million mansion on Lake Mission Viejo. Unfortunately, someone else lives there now.
Ted was drawn like a lightning bug to Las Vegas, and the story goes every time he went to Vegas, another donut shop was sold. He ended up sleeping on a friend’s mobile home porch before returning penniless to Cambodia.
His story is told in a 2020 film named “The Donut King” currently available on streaming.
Ted left a lasting donut legacy before and since his return to Cambodia.
As a distributor of donut shop supplies to the shops he owned and numerous others in the California Cambodian refugee population, he sourced for cost-effectiveness. He discovered pink boxes were a few cents cheaper than white boxes. Ultimately because of him, the pink box is the trademark donut box in California.
Perfect for the California drive-time culture, Ted helped build the highest concentration of independently operated donut shops in the U.S. With a donut shop as close as your nearest strip mall, and with 95% of these shops currently run by people of Cambodian descent, Ted made Southern California the donut consumption capital of America.
Have your heart set on a donut now? Consume your fair share of donuts over the course of the year? If so, you may be a candidate to bridge the gap with some whole food nutrition.
Juice Plus+ Versus a Pretender
An inferior product to Juice Plus+ by the name of Balance of Nature has been advertised recently on late-night TV and in social media.
Be forewarned. It is more expensive than Juice Plus+ and is inferior in quality. Click the link below for comparisons.
LINK TO DETAILED PRODUCT COMPARISONS
Closeout Sale on the Bemer Pro Device
Snapshot of Donna’s mom, Bonnie, using the Bemer microcirculation device the other day. Bonnie has been using the Bemer daily for the last 6+ years. We wake her up and she periodically exclaims “I’m STILL alive.” We tell her we’re doing our best to keep her that way.
There is a new model of Bemer coming out in July. To clear inventory for the new model, Bemer is offering the current Pro Essentials model for $3,990 from $5,990, a $2,000 (30%) savings while supplies last.
Check the link below for sale details. The Pro Essentials is the current top-of-the-line model.
LINK TO BEMER PRO ESSENTIALS SALE
A Corny Joke
What did the lettuce say to the celery?
Quit stalking me!
May 30, 2023
A Tall Order
We went to Scottsdale earlier this month for a vacation week near our son, Hunter, who currently works there.
Right down the street from our resort, on the busiest intersection in town, was a park with a magnificent spire, beautiful by day, stunning at night.
Upon inquiry, we learned this 125-foot spire is a replica of the spire Scottsdale’s favorite son architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, had proposed for a new 20-story Arizona State Capitol Building in 1957.
Frank Lloyd Wright, of course, was the preeminent American architect of the first half of the 20th Century.
And he was both self-confident and an innovator, like when he proposed a 500-story skyscraper for downtown Chicago in 1956.
Fortunately or unfortunately, then Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and municipal leaders attending Mr. Wright’s large ballroom presentation, with a 25-foot tower replica in the middle of the room, were delighted with the proposal until the cost on their dime was revealed at the end.
And he was both self-confident and an innovator, like when he proposed a 500-story skyscraper for downtown Chicago in 1956.
Fortunately or unfortunately, then Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and municipal leaders attending Mr. Wright’s large ballroom presentation, with a 25-foot tower replica in the middle of the room, were delighted with the proposal until the cost on their dime was revealed at the end.
CLICK HERE FOR A SNAPSHOT OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S PERSONALITY
Frank Lloyd Wright had a challenging personality, akin some of the most well-known in today’s times.
He bullied his architectural students into gratis greenhouse tending, allowing for fresh fruits and vegetables farm-to-table on his compounds.
As a result, he ate well, and had no need to “bridge the gap” with whole food supplements right up to his death at the ripe old mid-20th Century age of 91.
It’s All About Ron’s Teeth
One Sunday afternoon back last August we went to the movies to see Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train”. Before the very first murder in the movie, Ron bit into popcorn, and from maybe a single kernel (who knows for sure) imploded the same upper molar tooth on each side of his mouth.
Having only had crown dental work in the past, he was venturing into new territory when he was told he would need implants.
Oh, well. TV commercials promised you could replace all your teeth in a day. How challenging could it be?
If you’ve had implants, you know better. It’s a year-plus of extractions, waiting three months for each tooth, sinus uplift surgery, waiting three months, surgically installing the metal rods, waiting three months, and finally getting the implants capped.
At each step in the process, Ron’s dental surgeon was impressed at the speed and quality of the healing, way beyond his normal expectations, especially for someone at Medicare age.
Ron’s unorthodox home treatment regimen in support of healing?
Strapping the Bemer microcirculation pad over his mouth for 16 minutes a day.
Tower Garden Trauma
It’s been an unusual winter in Southern California this year.
Just saw a surfer up in Malibu bemoaning on a news interview how it’s been three months of crappy weather and he was waiting for a better day.
We planted our Tower Garden six weeks later than usual this spring, and as you can see from the image above, still not much to show for.
At least the bougainvilleas are looking good.
The worst part was, by waiting until after April 1 to order our seedings from a mail order vendor, the most efficient way to acquire hydroponic seedlings, we got trapped by the newly enforced California law disallowing the mailing of certain seedlings from April 1 to December 31 in the calendar year.
We’ll start the Tower Garden in our garage next year if we want the restricted tomatoes, peppers or eggplant. Well, forget the eggplant.
Lettuce Celebrate National Salad Month
May is the perfect time to celebrate National Salad Month. Did you know the Association for Dressing and Sauces created this event in 1992? National Salad Month encourages people to incorporate more salads into their daily food regimen. So this May, celebrate by turning over a new leaf. Change your eating habits, get creative with your salads, and inspire others in your life to do the same.
Here’s a tasty, simple recipe to kick-start your salad month, with (some) ingredients you can grow in a Tower Garden!
15 Spring Bucket List Ideas
This list has some fun ideas for your spring/summertime enjoyment.
1. Eat outdoors as much as possible
2. Go tent camping
3. Eat produce in season…
April 25, 2023
CBX, Not CVS
Donna was invited to her friend Natalie’s birthday celebration in Puerto Vallarta a few weeks ago.
The trip sounded great, but the thought of having to drive her to always-a-nightmare LAX with a dementia-challenged mother in tow was a bit of a downer.
Ron remembered reading a while back about a way to fly to Mexico from a border crossing in San Diego, and yes, his recollection was correct. After many years of meticulous planning between two countries, CBX, the Cross Border Express, had been opened in 2015.
According to the website, one could check in to the CBX terminal on the U.S. side of the border, and in ten minutes, walk across an international bridge right into the Tijuana Airport concourse.
We were a little queasy, having heard nothing about it over the past eight years, but we decided to give it a try, and it was a hit.
An easy drive to and from with limited congestion and an effortless drop off and pick up. Fares half of U.S. airlines from LAX, non-stop, and on brand new planes from an immaculate terminal.
Guess we’ll be down there again when a long-imagined trip to Cabo beckons us.
After such a positive experience, we weren’t surprised to hear CBX is expanding, planning on building a parking garage, a couple of hotels and some nearby shopping. Keep it simple, guys. We like it the way it is.
Click the link to see what Donna experienced.
Easy Peasy – From the U.S. to Tijuana Gate in 10 Minutes
If you’ve ever gone to Mexico and visited a Walmart or Costco near a vacation resort town’s airport on your way to your lodging, you’ve probably been amazed at the number of unrecognizable fruits and vegetables.
Those of us who live in Southern California and Arizona think of Mexico as a desert, but that is only true in the northwest part of the country, mostly Baja and Sonora where the American and Mexican deserts really have no borders. Most of Mexico is tropical, and fertile ground for a cornucopia of plant edibles.
Do you know the national fruit of Mexico? Avocados. (Yep, it’s a fruit.)
Click on the link below and scroll through images of popular fruits in Mexico. You will likely find common Mexican fruits you have never heard of in the U.S.
The Mexican diet is more healthy than the American diet. Studies have shown it takes three generations for Mexican nationals who have moved to the United States to have their health erode to that of a native American.
Juice Plus+, the whole food supplements we represent, is sold in 20 countries, with Mexico being the 20th. But Juice Plus+ does not have the same level of need to fill in Mexico as in the United States.
Unlike native Americans, Mexican people on the whole have a lower nutritional gap to bridge.
30 versus 20
Juice Plus+ is sold in 20 countries, while Bemer, our microcirculation device, is sold in 30.
Microcirculation therapy enhances the health of all of us no matter where we live.
The picture above highlights the Bemer Headquarters in the charming European country of Liechtenstein nestled between Austria and Switzerland.
The Plus
You know our Juice Plus+ Essentials Fruit, Vegetable and Berry Blend capsules include plant-based nutrition from a variety of 30 different fruits, veggies, and berries, but did you know that our blends also include a variety of other important plant-based nutrients? We call this the “plus” in Juice Plus+.
This includes nutrients like mixed carotenoids such as beta-carotene, which the body converts into Vitamin A, and lutein, which supports healthy vision; folate from lemon peel, a B-vitamin your body needs to make DNA and other genetic material; and so much more.
What you see on our product label is exactly what you’re getting in Juice Plus+ products! Our NSF certification means our Juice Plus+ capsules have undergone independent testing by non-profit NSF and our ingredients have met and exceeded the highest food quality standards.
Renewal
Spring is the time for renewal – we spring clean our houses, we spring clean our vehicles, and we plant new plants inside and outside our homes. Another thing that is continually renewing is the cells in our bodies. Some of our cells turnover quickly (think skin cells) and some more slowly, but they all eventually turn over. The more we understand this, the more we’ll be inspired to feed our cells the best nutrition possible. Juice Plus+ makes this easy. Review this article for cell growth details.
Eating Bird Food
Try this yummy salad attributed to Friends’ actress Jennifer Aniston. It’s more than bird food!
March 12, 2023
Red Leprechauns?
Bet ya didn’t know leprechauns were depicted wearing red instead of green until the late 19th and early 20th centuries when future Ireland was rebelling from England and wanted to establish its own identity tied to its lushness.
Bet ya didn’t know St. Patrick’s Day, a religious holiday in Ireland, became a secular holiday in the United States as our many Irish immigrants and the American passion for celebrating evolved into an annual day to party.
Corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, green beer, and eventually leprechauns defined the celebrating, all eventually exported back to Ireland.
We can thank St. Patrick’s Day for creating the template for enculturating our American Cinco de Mayo.
Bet ya didn’t know the 1959 Disney movie “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” popularized leprechauns and accelerated their association with St. Patrick’s Day.
Also, by the way, gave us Sean Connery with hair.
Bet ya didn’t know there aren’t any female leprechauns. Explain that to your kids.
Bet ya didn’t know leprechauns are mischievous, cunning and mean, and not represented well by the cute little guy on the boxes of one of our most popular American cereals.
Bet ya didn’t know there have been eight terrorizing leprechaun theatrical movies over the years to present, beginning with the 1993 “Leprechaun” where Jennifer Aniston was too young to need makeup.
And finally, bet ya didn’t know leprechauns have historically been recognized for following a strict diet of mushrooms, nuts, vegetables and wildflowers even before we in America adopted them.
So what does this mean? You can simultaneously have a healthy diet and a mean disposition, or in Irish terms, be an arse. We can help you with one, but you’re on your own with the other.
Supple Skin
From fighting free radicals to smoothing fine lines, some types of foods are packed with the good stuff for glowing skin. No need to obsess about a particular “superfood” or exotic ingredient. There are plenty of options in regular grocery stores. What matters most is your overall eating pattern. In a nutshell, most people need to eat more fruits and vegetables, cut down on sugar and salt, and choose whole foods over processed ones.
Congratulations! If you’re already taking Juice Plus+, you’ve taken the right steps to have healthy, supple skin. Read this article published in WebMD for more encouragement.
JP+ Research – Skin Health
From the JP+ Research guide: Proper circulation is important for healthy skin. It ensures nutrients and oxygen get to your skin tissue, giving it a healthy glow.
Two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have found that JP+Essentials Capsules increase skin micro-circulation by 39%, while boosting skin hydration, thickness, and density in middle-aged women.
A Most Powerful Drug
Exercise is a potent way to reverse signs of aging, according to a new study covered by Medical News Today. So potent that one of the researchers we spoke with described exercise as “the most powerful drug we have.”
Fill your Tower Garden with wildflowers any time of year, especially spring and summer.
Soup’s On!
With a nod to St. Patrick’s Day this month, here are two Irish stew recipes: a traditional one with meat and a meatless Irish stew. Whatever you end up making, Erin Go Braugh!
Lucky?
February 5, 2023
Well, Is It?
As Valentine’s Day approaches, maybe a little boxed candy talk is in order.
Did you know American boxed chocolates of the brands many of us know started as husband and wife, or partner, kitchen businesses in the 1920s and 1930s?
One famous California-based boxed chocolate company is See’s. See’s was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles in 1921.
Did you know Warren Buffett has owned See’s Candies since 1972, calling it his “dream” business. It was the first high-quality business, as opposed to fixer-upper value company, Warren ever bought.
Did you know “Lucy in the Chocolate Factory,” one of the most watched television shows of all time, was filmed at the See’s Candies store on La Cienega Boulevard in LA?
Did you know See’s Candies relocated their headquarters from LA to South San Francisco in the 1930s for a cooler climate to store their chocolates?
Most boxed chocolate candy companies in the United States were started and grew in northern cities. It was just too warm in the South to keep chocolate fresh in the early days of refrigeration.
Transplants from more eastern regions may fondly remember your childhood with Whitman’s in Philadelphia, Fannie May and Brach’s in Chicago, or Russell Stover from Denver and Kansas City.
Did you know Forrest Gump didn’t hold a box of Alabama chocolates at his bus stop? Nope, his box was Russell Stover.
Did you know every time you purchase San Francisco’s beloved Ghirardelli chocolate, established in 1852, you are patronizing the third-oldest chocolate company in the US, after Baker’s Chocolate (1780) and Whitman’s (1842).
Did you know the Brach’s factory in northside Chicago was the largest candy factory in the world, almost 2.5 million square feet of space in 1950?
Brach’s fell into bankruptcy in the 1980s, suffering from a period of extended sugar shortage.
It is now Mexican candy, produced in a company town outside Monterrey.
Did you know some candy makers got their start with coated ice cream bars? Yep, Russell Stover and yet another Chicago confectioner, Dove, were known from their ice cream dating back to their early years in the 1930s.
Our Mission Viejo friend, Catherine Barr, who has marketed Dove products for many years in our area, can spin some good yarns about Dove.
Did you know every one of the American boxed candy companies we’ve touched upon today are now subsidiaries of venerable chocolatiers, mostly out of Europe. Chocolates, after all, are a global business, and we were late starters.
So is life like a box of chocolates where you never know what you are going to get?
Well of course, generally about life events in your journey.
But it when comes to your health, there’s nothing mysterious about “what you’re gonna get.” Eat healthily and you’re likely going to have a better life.
Follow the average American diet and you’re likely to have a shortened and poorer quality journey. The only mystery may be when it ends.
Did you know…see the bottom of our email?
Why Walk?
In a recent Blue Zones post, author Amy Fletcher discussed the benefits of walking, especially that walking can lead to a longer life with better outcomes. Logging more steps per day as a systematic approach to health has an intuitive appeal, especially in light of the obesity epidemic in the United States. Though the fitness industry is worth an estimated $35 billion per year, approximately 41.9 percent of the population is classified as obese.
Are Unhealthy Foods Addictive?
Stop and think about what you ate yesterday. Did some of those foods elicit a strong “I must have more!” feeling? You may be eating some foods that are considered addictive by health professionals. Take a moment to read this article.
Valentine Soup
If it’s red and it’s considered to be an aphrodisiac, then beets sound like the perfect Valentine’s Day food! Enjoy some delicious beet soup on February 14th.
Did you know Forrest in the picture at the beginning of our email is a wax figure exhibit in Madame Tussaud’s museum in Berlin, Germany?
Veggie Valentine
December 5, 2022
Rexxy Christmas
On our way home from Thanksgiving in Phoenix with son Hunter, as we started up the last summit on I-10 before descending into the LA Basin, we snapped this picture from the car….the Cabazon dinosaurs painted for the season.
How many of you have driven through Banning Pass, noticed these creatures to the side of the highway, and wondered about their history?
We’ve stopped at the dinosaurs many times over the years, in earlier years to eat at the Wheel Inn diner whose owner built the dinosaurs as a way to attract business to his restaurant.
Both the Wheel Inn and the dinosaurs share a rich past. The dinosaurs are still there. The beloved 60’s diner was demolished in 2013, a victim of shinier nearby outlet malls and a casino.
Since it’s the holiday season, a time many of us do our annual watch of Chevy Chase’s 1980’s classic Christmas Vacation, it seems fitting to bring up another of the most-watched 80’s movies these days…. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was one of Tim Burton’s first movies, and a classic.
Man-child Pee-Wee Herman, on his way to the Alamo to retrieve his stolen bike, ate at the Wheel Inn and wound up watching the sunrise in the head of the Tyrannosaurus Rex with a Wheel Inn waitress.
So what does this all have to do with whole food nutrition and microcirculation? Nothing. But it’s December when many of us unfortunately forget the word health. Seemed fitting for us to take a break from our story too.
Check Out the Cabazon Dinosaur Story
Energy + Mood
Fruits and veggies improve energy and mood. If you want to feel happier and more energetic tomorrow, eat more fruits and vegetables today. That’s the take-away from an interesting study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
“On days when people ate more fruits and vegetables,” Dr. Tamlin Connor noted, “they reported feeling calmer, happier and more energetic than they normally did.”
Immune Power
Does your home stock up on tissues when the temperature and leaves change? Do you feel that a strong immune system is more important than ever? Juice Plus+ is a powerful tool in your toolbelt in helping support a healthy immune system.
Juice Plus+ capsules have been the subject of four different studies on immunity conducted on four different populations: healthcare professionals with direct patient contact, young law school students, an elderly population, and athletic men. The combined results of these studies show that Juice Plus+ capsules support the normal function of the immune system and support upper respiratory health.
Christmas Is Just Around The Corner
Give the Gift of Hope
What gift will you give to family and friends this year?