Our Blog
June 26, 2024
Thomas Jefferson’s Pox on America
Thomas Jefferson….one of our greatest Presidents. Maybe greater than you thought or could drop a bit when you hear this news.
Thomas Jefferson introduced french fries to America in 1802, at the time he was the third President of the United States, when he served them at a White House dinner. He became a fan of fries years earlier when he was living in France as American Ambassador.
Being we are in between June 22nd’s National Onion Ring Day and July 12th’s National French Fry Day, it seems appropriate to give equal time to the onion ring, the french fry’s junior sister.
Crisco (Remember grandma having it under the kitchen sink?), hydrogenated oil in solid form introduced to replace animal lard in 1911, and which turned out to be only marginally healthier, promoted a recipe for onion rings in a 1931 marketing campaign.
It was a very successful marketing campaign, and onion rings were here to satisfy our American cravings from then on.
Fries versus onion rings?
The typical American consumes 40 pounds of fries and 20 pounds of onion rings annually, an interesting ratio since onion rings hold twice the grease of fries.
Studies have been conducted where participants abstain from eating fries/onion rings for a whole year, achieve significant weight loss and have a healthier heart. Why are so many irresistible foods unhealthy?
But there is a workaround.
With the skyrocketing price of fast food fries and onion rings these days, you can both save a ton of money and eat these popular foods in a healthier way by popping them in your toaster oven or air fryer (or even a regular oven) and enjoying them grease free.
Sharpen Your Brain
Wrote this month’s HH Tips in a matter of minutes thanks to this new product.
Bemer Me Up
Call or text Donna 949.463.0520, and she’ll set you up with a demonstration wherever you are.
Summer’s Here – Hydrate
About 20% of daily fluid intake usually comes from food and the rest from drinks.
So, how much water should we be drinking this summer? Check out the chart below from the National Academy of Medicine.
Click here for more information and more ways to stay hydrated.
| 1- 3 years | 4 cups, or 32 ounces |
| 4-8 years | 5 cups, or 40 ounces |
| 9-13 years | 7-8 cups, or 56-64 ounces |
| 14-18 years | 8-11 cups, or 64-88 ounces |
| Men, 19 and older | 13 cups, or 104 ounces |
| Women, 19 and older | 9 cups, or 72 ounces |
| Pregnant women | 10 cups, or 80 ounces |
| Breastfeeding women | 13 cups, or 104 ounces |
May 30, 2024
The REAL “Unfrosted” Story!
Did you see Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix movie, “Unfrosted”?
Told the story of the cereal wars in Battle Creek, Michigan in the 1960s in humorous but fictional fashion.
Now for the real story.
Did you know America’s love for cold cereal started with the 7th Day Adventist Church? Headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan at the time, the church placed an emphasis on diet and health, including a regimen of plant-based foods.
The church opened the Battle Creek Sanitarium, world-renowned health resort with 1,300 guest rooms, in the late 1800s. It had a nickname of “Little Chicago” considering a large percentage of guests came from the nearby big city.
The sanitarium was managed by surgeon, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a last name you are surely familiar with.
Dr. Kellogg began experimenting on a healthy alternative to the American breakfast diet of the times…meat, eggs and potatoes.
Near the turn of the century, he created a wheat flakes cereal right there at the sanitarium for guests to enjoy.
There was soon a falling out between John and his brother, Will Keith (W.K.), who had partnered with John in opening a cereal business.
John was into health; W.K. was in to profits. W.K. developed a cheaper version of the cereal, using corn instead of wheat, and John said “I’m out!”
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes hit the market in 1899.
One of the guests at the sanitarium, Charles William (C.W.) Post, must have held a glass to a door, because he soon thereafter introduced Post Grape Nuts, which were neither grapes nor nuts, but grain pulverized into small chucks with a grinder.
He is pictured above with his young daughter, Marjorie Post, who replaced C.W. as principal in their cereal business at age 26 after his passing in 1914.
Marjorie, 44-year owner and managing director of Post, became immensely wealthy.
Perhaps her biggest claim to fame came posthumously. Her estate sold Mar-A-Lago, her long-time residence, to Donald Trump.
Kellogg’s and Post became the two titans in Battle Creek, which became known as the “Cereal Capitol of the World”. Because cold cereal was so easy and cheap to make, over 100 competitor companies flooded the town in the first 25 years of the 20th Century.
Some tried to produce knock-off products. Some just bought cereal off the shelves and repackaged it.
That reflects how in a few decades cereal took over morning breakfasts. People were gravitating from farms to factories. Suddenly they were on the clock, needed to eat fast and get out of the house.
Let’s take a hall of fame stroll through the most popular new cereals by decade.
1920s – Wheaties
Famous from the outset for highlighting famous athletes on its boxes, for many years with early Olympian, Bob Richards.
Chose to highlight a more recent box in the series, the Bruce Jenner box. Who would have ever imagined the future of Bruce (Caitlyn).
1930’s – Cheerios
Cheeri Oats, as they were first known, became the king of the cereal hall of fame, ultimately the most consumed cold cereal in the world.
1940s – Rice Krispies
The three mascots of the cereal, Snap, Crackle and Pop, were so effective at selling the cereal to kids that, from then on, mascots became an essential part of cereal marketing.
1950s – Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes
Did you know the voice of Tony the Tiger (“They’re Great!”) was Thurl Ravencroft, who sang many Disney songs and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”?
In the 1980s and 1990s, he was the narrator for the Pageant of the Masters summer art pageant in Laguna Beach.
1960s to Present – Crap
Ironic that the cold cereal business was started as a healthy breakfast alternative and turned into a swampland of sugary diabetes-promoting slop.
The good news is many Americans are giving a side eye to whole milk and sugar.
With the exception of the height of the pandemic, ready-to-eat cereals have been declining in sales about 4% a year in recent years.
Donna Enjoying Bemer 2.0
We’ve had our new-generation Bemer Evo set for over month now.
Same benefits as the first-generation Bemer, but more powerful and with several new applications.
All of the applicators are more powerful for more targeted microcirculation. The new B-Body pad has sixteen coils versus six in the original Bemer.
Also, there is now a Beauty Pack, two infrared lights for skin therapy, including a light for skin issues such as acne and another for deep skin cleansing which can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
Check it out in this link:
Familiar with Prevagen or Neuriva or Other Brain Boost Supplements?
Introducing Juice Plus+ Luminate, a WHOLE FOOD Alternative
The powerful whole food ingredients in Juice Plus+ Luminate help with mental energy, alertness, focus and help you adapt to physical, mental and environmental stressors.
Check it out in this link:
Brain Exercises
Research has shown there are many ways you can help your brain stay healthy. Here are 13 evidence-based exercises that offer the best brain-boosting benefits.
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Play cards
- Build your vocabulary
- Dance
- Use all your senses at once
- Learn a new skill
- Teach a new skill to someone else
- Listen to or play music
- Take a new route
- Meditate
- Learn a new language
- Take up tai chi
- Focus on another person
Find more detailed info here.
April 28, 2024
Do You Know Your IQ?
We all feel comfortable talking about Intelligent Quotient (IQ) scores. but where do they come from and what do they tell us?
There have been many attempts to measure human intelligence over the years, but the one ultimately seen as the standard measure is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
David Wechsler (seen above) developed and refined the scale over many years (1937-1967) as Chief Psychologist at the famous Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in New York City.
The WAIS scale was first introduced in 1957 and had several improvements over the years. If your great great grandpa bragged about his IQ score, he was fibbing. No one knew their IQ score before 1957. IQ scores for people back in history are extrapolations, not of course direct measures.
100 +/- 15 points on the scale is average intelligence, which is adequate for most of us. The lowest IQ score ever recorded was a 20, which represents extremely developmental. Anyone at or above a score of 130 is bright enough to be in the top 1 percent of intelligence in the world’s population. Anyone above 160 is considered a genius. There is no upper maximum to the scale.
Intellectual intelligence is solely based on genetics. To date, no intelligence genes have been identified, so you are as smart as you are ever going to be. No upgrades currently possible.
As an interesting side note, celebrities past and present never seem to crack 160 genius. There are some exceptionally intelligent ones out there such as Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg, Jodie Foster and Matt Damon, but they don’t quite ring the bell at the top of the carnival strongman strike scale.
So let’s take a quick look at some of the most intelligent humans who ever lived starting with Cleopatra.
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt for 30 years, highly educated for her time, had an estimated IQ of 180. She was fluent in 12 languages. History tells us she had major influence over the Roman Empire.
Leonardo da Vinci had an estimated IQ between 180 and 220.
With skills ranging from art and science to music and architecture, da Vinci didn’t just work in different fields—he excelled at them.
Over the course of his lifetime, William Shakespeare completed 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and a variety of other poems, all with the help of a 210 IQ.
Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor—and arch-rival of Thomas Edison—reportedly had an estimated IQ falling somewhere between 160 and 310, depending on the measure.
Nikola invented the Tesla coil, precursor to alternating current (AC) electricity. He also had a brand of electric cars named after him.
Albert Einstein, the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century, had a measly little old genius IQ of 160.
He also was recognized for having extremely high emotional intelligence, which he used in supporting many humanitarian and social sciences agenda.
Maybe his intellectual brain needed to leave space for his social brain.
And finally in our sample, Marilyn Vos Savant, born in St. Louis in 1946 and still with us, who for many years held the Guinness Book of Records record of world’s highest IQ of 226.
Marilyn dropped out of college, as many contemporary genius-level people have done. Maybe some geniuses are so smart that they don’t believe they need college.
Marilyn gravitated toward medical sciences. She married Robert Jarvik (one of the co-developers of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart) and was made Chief Financial Officer of Jarvik Heart, Inc., a post she held for many years.
She is most well know for her “Ask Marilyn” magazine column appearing in Parade and other publications from 1986 to 2022.
Imagine what these geniuses could have accomplished if they had access to the new Juice Plus+ Illuminate to enhance their mental energy, clarity and focus through specially formulated plant-based nutrition.
We’ll introduce you to Illuminate and what it can do for you in our next monthly Tips.
What, We Have No Tomatoes?
Are you one of those travelers who feels guilty returning from Arizona or Nevada with fruit or vegetables in your car as you pass through the California Agricultural Border Checkpoint?
Since they most of the time wave us through without even speaking to us, many of us don’t have to admit our transgressions. Yep, we’ve done it ourselves.
With agriculture being a mega-industry in California, the state is ever diligent regarding agricultural products coming in from other states and countries, inspecting at every port of entry to guard against diseases and blight which could cause major economic damage.
And now that diligence has extended to Tower Garden seedlings shipped from other states. Beginning April 1 each calendar year, tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings may no longer be shipped into California until the following January 1. (Eggplant, no loss.)
if you miss the April 1 deadline, you go back to the old fashioned way…
buying seeds at Home Depot and growing your own seedlings under warm sunshine through an exterior window.
With Southern California weather so crappy this spring, we delayed our seedling orders and had to go the seeds to seedling route. All is good. Our Tower Garden tomato seedlings are taking hold. Just an extra step this year when the sun don’t shine in California.
Watch the video below if you’d like to refresh yourself on the Tower Garden and the produce it can grow in your back yard or on your patio.
To Your Poison-Free Health
The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list highlights produce items most heavily contaminated with pesticides, emphasizing the need for caution.
By cultivating your own fruits and vegetables or opting for organic varieties, you can significantly reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals linked to various health concerns, including developmental issues in children, hormone disruption, and increased risk of certain diseases.
Prioritizing organic and homegrown foods not only supports your health but also promotes sustainable agricultural practices, ensuring a safer and more environmentally friendly food system for future generations.
Find out more about EWG’s Shopper’s Guide Here
Vacationing with the Bemer
We haven’t been able to travel much in recent years because of family obligations. But we do hit the road regularly for Palm Springs, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
And any road trip (or occasional flight) we’re on includes the Bemer.
We plug the Bemer console into the charging outlet under the dashboard and cruise down the highway with our neck and back receiving microcirculation all the way.
When we arrive at our destination, the Bemer comes inside our lodging and is there for us to receive electromagnetic therapy just as we do daily at home.
Check out this article on Vacationing with the BEMER
March 28, 2024
Are You Mad?
Here we are right in the middle of the annual March Madness college basketball tournaments. Historically the men’s tournament was the big daddy, but we’re heading into an era where both men’s and women’s tournaments garner premiere attention.
A women’s tournament game featuring Caitlin Clark, a generationally talented female athlete from the University of Iowa, set an all-time women’s viewing record this past Monday evening.
For those of you who don’t follow college basketball, consider it a teaching lesson for you.
For our household, it reflects are own special madness.
As first generation college graduates in our families, we fell in love with our schools.
Donna fell so in love with the University of Kansas, she stayed for a second degree, which gave her more time to camp outside the basketball arena on cold winter nights for the opportunity to see her team.
Ron fell in love with two schools, first the University of Illinois and then the University of Washington through a teaching assistantship which brought him to the West Coast.
For years beyond his maturity, his residences were full of college team spirit gear, some classy but most suggesting he was emotionally still living in his teens.
For decades, even though both of us were living in Southern California large distances from our colleges, we followed our teams faithfully in the best ways we could.
We kept our faith through scouring the LA sports pages for scores and news. We’d pull out our transistor radios (remember those?) when a rare opportunity came up to listen to a game. And if we were really lucky, and the rabbit ears or later cable tv afforded us a special treat maybe once every couple of years with a televised game, we were right there watching.
For years, we had limited opportunity to follow the colleges we loved.
But in the past year or two, we’ve begun to experience a brand new wonderful world.
Cable + streaming + 4k TV + sound bars + every game of our schools telecast somewhere across the spectrum = bliss.
Games for all teams record on demand for us. With YouTube TV, we can click “key plays” and see a whole game in minutes when we don’t have the time to watch it live or in full.
We will be ready tonight when Ron’s Illinois Fighting Illini hit the court back in Boston attempting to move from the final 16 to the final 8 in the men’s tournament.
Our son, Hunter, graduated from a major university with sports teams a few years ago.
Think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? Guess again.
He only knows and cares about one sport, which he plays with his hands.
Donna and I are mad, but not about the products we represent.
Both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Association of College Athletes (NCAA) encourage whole food nutrition and microcirculation therapy for its college athletes.
Whole Food Vs. Multivitamins
- 70% of Americans are trying to fill gaps with a multivitamin
- A multivitamin only has a few isolated nutrients
- An apple has approximately 10,000 PHYTONUTRIENTS working in synergy
- Research shows that isolated vitamins may do more harm than good
ANNALS of INTERNAL MEDICINE. DEC 2013
Click Here for More on Juice Plus+ Vs. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
Salad in a Jar
Not only are salads in a jar sustainable,
they are delicious and easy too!!
February 25, 2024
Are You Ready to Take a Leap?
Most everybody knows 2024 is a Leap Year, when this coming week we add February 29 to our calendar.
Leap Year occurs every 4 years in the year evenly divisible by 4.
Since we get an extra day this coming week, it seems appropriate to share how we got to the Leap.
Until the time of Christ there was no Leap Year or Day.
In pre-history, we as people just knew the four seasons.
We knew the equinoxes, the days when the daylight and nighttime hours were equal, using structures we built to pinpoint those days through the positioning of the sun.
Stonehenge is a famous example of early calendar tools.
There were other primitive solar/lunar calendars in the centuries before the time of Christ, but all were primitive approximations.
The first widely adopted Western calendar was the Julian calendar, the first strictly solar calendar, through an edict from Julius Caesar on January 1, 45 BC.
He added a Leap Day every four years, but all months, by custom in the Roman Empire, had to be even numbered. The month of February continued to have 28 days, but on Leap Year, February 24 was repeated to account for the extra day.
If you were born on February 28 of a Leap Year, you got to have a 48-hour birthday every four years.
The Julian calendar worked well for a while. Still over the course of almost 600 years, the Julian calendar overcalculated by roughly 11 days. The vernal equinox had moved from March 21 to April 2.
No self-respecting Pope could allow that to continue, so in October 1582 Pope Gregory XIIII introduced the more refined Gregorian calendar, which is the standard calendar in the world today.
Pope Gregory replaced two February 24ths in the Julian Leap Year calendar with a new day, February 29, as Leap Day on the Gregorian calendar.
Pope Gregory got his monk mathematician star power to work, and they calculated a calendar year at 365.2422 days instead of the 365.25 days in the Julian calendar. That took care of some of the 11 day overage in the Julian calendar, but still we would be a little off without a further adjustment.
Strain your brain to the maximum to get this: Once every 400 years, there is a Century Year with a Leap Day. That is the Century Year divisible by 400.
All other Century Years will not be Leap Years.
The Century Year 2000 was a Leap Year (2000/400=500), The Century Year 2100 will not be a Leap Year (2100/4000=5.25).
The next Century Years to be Leap Years will be 2400, 2800, 3200.
By then most of us living likely will be on Mars instead of Earth, so the calculations will be meaningless.
That’s it. The most perfect calendar except for the occasional need to add a Leap Second in some years. We let the atomic clock take care of that.
Of course, as we well know these days, human beings can be prone to suspicions and conspiracy theories, and we have some about the calendar too.
In Ireland and England, for instance, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage in Leap Years. (Hopefully, we are past that one year every four years limitation!)
In Finland, the tradition is if a man refuses a woman’s proposal on Leap Day, he has to buy her a skirt. (Might want to up the stakes on that a bit to maybe buying her a car.)
In Greece, marriage in a Leap Year is considered unlucky. One in five engaged couples in Greece will plan to avoid a wedding in a Leap Year.
Fortunately, there are no Leap Year or Leap Day prohibitions on taking whole food supplements or using a microcirculation device. Leap Days are just bonus days for better health.
Eliminating Toxins from Our Food
Now that we have your attention, it’s crucial to recognize the significant rise in environmental toxins over recent generations, including microplastics found in our food, water, and air. While we strive to reduce exposures, it’s not always feasible, and our bodies require support to efficiently eliminate these toxins.
Accumulation of toxins can lead to various health issues such as autoimmune diseases, fertility issues, including low sperm count even in young men, brain fog, allergies, cancer, thyroid disorders and more. Toxins are also sadly found in 99.9% of pregnant women.
Please watch the video below featuring Dr. Tamara Sachs, for more information on where these toxins come from and find out how and why to detox with plants!
Meditating for a Healthy Heart
Problem: During stressful situations at work or home, the release of stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine can lead to increased heart rates and blood pressure, contributing to cardiovascular stress and potentially severe health issues such as kidney damage, heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes—leading causes of death in America.
Solution: Meditation activates the body’s “rest-and-digest” functions, countering the “fight-or-flight” response. Incorporating meditation into your daily routine has been associated with lower heart rate and blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease. Take a breath and remember to do something for yourself every day.
Whether that is carving a little time out to relax or unwind, taking a bath in the evening, scheduling a yoga class, waking up 5 minutes early to drink your coffee alone, or curling up with a good book. When you take care of yourself, you are also better able to take care of others.
Free meditation resources are readily available on platforms such as YouTube or you can download a meditation app on your phone. We use an app named Calm and highly recommend it. There is both a free version and a subscription version which runs about $60 a year. You can download it to your phone or through any streaming platform.
Discover how meditation benefits your heart, body, and mind for overall well-being.
It’s a Three-Peat for the Stoffels!
We’re ordering a third Bemer for our household this month, this time the new Bemer Evo with enhanced electromagnetic pulse and new features, including a dedicated LED light for facial repair, including acne.
And the best news is the new model has a lower basic price than the original Bemer.
We’ll give you a personal review after we have a chance to experience it.
Heart Healthy Dessert (or Breakfast) Hack
Treat yourself guilt-free with a delicious Banana Split made with yogurt or a plant-based alternative (preferably unsweetened), topped with your favorite berries, nuts, granola, coconut, or any other toppings you desire!
Better yet, make it for yourself and savor every bite of this wholesome treat!
December 14, 2023
Santa Baby!
Some of you may have already seen our 2023 family holiday greeting with the Marilyn Monroe theme.
Seems appropriate this month to address a common misconception about Marilyn and Christmas.
Many of us associate Marilyn Monroe with the classic Christmas song “Santa Baby”.
Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani, and Trisha Yearwood, among many others, have covered this perennial holiday favorite over the years. It was a featured song on Taylor Swift’s 2007 Christmas album.
But the consensus best version of “Santa Baby” was by the entertainer the song was written for in 1953, a sultry singer of the 50s and 60s, Eartha Kitt.
Perhaps because Marilyn Monroe was a famous celebrity when the song came out and because as years pass, our memories get fuzzy, it’s assumed by most of us Marilyn sang “Santa Baby”.
Marilyn did have a hit song in 1953 for the movie “Gentleman Prefer Blondes”. The song: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. It is questionable, however, how much of the singing is her real voice.
Marilyn did not sing “Santa Baby”. She was probably saving her voice for “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” nine years later.
The myth persists about Marilyn singing “Santa Baby”. Watch the video below with Eartha Kitt’s voice and Marilyn mouthing the words like the way mouths move in cheap cartoons.
“Santa Baby” was composed back in 1953 by long-time songwriter and current resident of Pacific Palisades, Phil Springer. At age 97, Phil continues to compose 35 or so new songs every year.
Phil Springer takes Juice Plus+ and uses the Bemer for microcirculation.
A Gift of Small “Interest” for the Holidays
Bemer microcirculation pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) can be a god-send for people seeking an incremental way to maintain good health or who have chronic health challenges to be addressed.
It also can take a substantial bite out of a wallet when purchased with a single payment.
Bemer is now offering low interest financing for spreading the cost of a Bemer system over up to 36 months.
Click the Bemer Financing link below for details. Contact Donna for more information if you are interested.
Ginger – It’s More than a Cookie Ingredient!
More and more people are becoming aware of the significant culinary and medical benefits of ginger. And that number might see a significant increase with growing interest in ginger’s potential to support immune health.
Make and Gift this Chocolate Bark
A perennial, “quasi-healthy” holiday favorite!
Veggie Humor
October 27, 2023
We Are All Frankensteins!
Yes, you read it right. We are all Frankensteins!
Our bodies are merely one large machine full of circuitry and electricity.
Since practically 70% of our bodies are made up of water, they are considered good conductors of electricity.
This is due to the ions (i.e. Na+, K+, Cl-) that are contained within the water.
Check out the video below for an example of how the human body is a perfect electrical conductor.
Low-intensity pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) microcirculation devices use the body’s electrical conductivity to enhance blood flow, resulting in better circulation and supporting the elimination of CO2.
Regular use of a PEMF microcirculation device reduces stress, improves relaxation, enhances muscle conditioning and physical fitness, and affords a better overall feeling of wellbeing.
The device we recommend to our clients, the BEMER, which stands for Bio-Electro-Magnetic-Energy- Regulation, developed and manufactured in Luxembourg, is the top-selling microcirculation device in its class.
Our Immune System
It probably comes as no surprise (especially to you healthy readers!) that eating junk food increases the risk of becoming depressed. This study prompted calls for doctors to routinely give dietary advice to patients as part of their treatment for depression.
Published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, the findings have come from an analysis by researchers from Britain, Spain and Australia who examined 41 previous studies on the links between diet and depression.
Did you know?
That 10 grams of sugar can suppress your immune system for up to 3 hours? And, 10 grams of sugar isn’t much!
A Grande pumpkin spice latte (16 oz) has 50 grams of sugar!
But What About Diet Soda?
Another urban myth that has been exposed as inaccurate in the past few years is that diet sodas are good for you.
When it comes to drinking diet soda, these two UCLA doctors provide sound advice: err on the side of caution. Rather than consume diet soda daily, save it for an occasional treat. Many people find that it’s the bubbles as much as the sweet taste that they crave. That makes the many varieties of fizzy water that are now available a viable option.
Uplevel Your Pumpkin Spice Game!
A thought to leave you with…
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.