There have been harvest holidays in many countries around the world with deep roots in history, Germany for instance every first Sunday of October, our neighbor Canada every second Sunday of October, and many more.

But our American Thanksgiving every fourth Thursday in November is unique in its origins and traditions. Or is it?

Would you believe there are other countries around the world who celebrate with us every year around the same November calendar day? Our Pilgrims birthed something with international reach.

Allow us to share chronologically others sharing our day with us.

American whalers used Norfolk Island, an Australian protectorate between Australia and New Zealand, as a home base for fishing the South Pacific during the 1800s.

Our whalers shared Thanksgiving with the local islanders, and Norfolkers have continued to share Thanksgiving with one another after they left to this day.

Liberia, for those geographically challenged, is a country on the West Coast of Africa founded by American slaves returning to their homeland.

Thanksgiving has been an official national holiday since 1883. There has been a bit of controversy over the holiday in recent years, as a portion of the populace, native Liberians, feel the holiday is an imposition from the African American settlers of the country.

Thanksgiving became an official holiday in Japan during American occupation after World War II.

While no longer an official holiday, Thanksgiving is still widely recognized across Japan.

Don’t count on turkey though. A more cost-effective substitute where there aren’t that many turkeys is seafood.

Ron was on a business trip in Tokyo over Thanksgiving many years ago.

He and his fellow business travelers were excited to see a sign board in their hotel lobby advertising Thanksgiving dinner.

Everyone was salivating as they sat down to dine. But then disappointment followed. The turkey portion was somewhere in size between a quarter and a 50-cent piece. A little dollop had to do us. At least the pumpkin pie was a healthy slice.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in Brazil in 1949 after the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States returned home to rave about this great holiday Americans had where everyone ate themselves silly.

With such a premise for the holiday, wondering if the Brazilian President who proclaimed the Brazilian Thanksgiving was a heavy man who liked to eat.

Which brings us to Turkey. No, there are no turkeys in Turkey, and there is no Thanksgiving-type celebration.

Türkiye, the official name of the country, means the Land of the Turks, Turkic people who ruled the area for centuries.

In a historic irony, Americans named turkeys after the Ottoman region of Türkiye because of a mix-up with a similar-looking bird, the guinea fowl, which was imported to Europe via trade routes from Africa through Türkiye.

When explorers brought back the true American turkey to Europe, Europeans saw it resembled the guinea fowl and mistakenly called the new bird a “turkey”.

On balance, Thanksgiving is a pretty good holiday for those of us around the world who give thanks on that day.

In America, we eat a lot, averaging 2,000+ calories of intake, some of us much more. But by and large its more healthy eating than the processed foods most of us consume on regular days.

Be thankful for a processed foods-free day. Enjoy every bite of your preservative-free Costco pumpkin pie.

Let’s Say It Altogether…Gratitude

We Know It’s Coming

It happens every year right after the end-of-year holidays…New Year’s resolutions.

And every January we get our biggest-month-of-the-year new customer orders.

We’re here if any resolutions of you or your family/friends fall in our bailiwick.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.”

– Melody Beattie

We’re coming into horror movie season. Whether you are a horror fan or a horror avoider, you have a month or so now to either lean in or look away.

Believe it or not, horror as a cinematic genre began way back in the 19th century.

The movie Le Manoir du Diable (The House of the Devil) by the famous French early filmmaker Georges Melieis, scared the living daylights out of its audience for all of 3 minutes in 1896.

But how about we advance into the modern era and take a look where horror cinema has taken us.

After a thorough review of horror films on the internet, we’ve come up with a list of the 10 most popular/talked about/influential horror movies of all time, in our opinion, starting with number 10 and working down to number 1.

The Conjuring is the story of paranormal events (5% true, 95% made up) back in 1971 at a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. The owners of the farmhouse at the time of the movie’s release sued Warner Brothers for substantial damages after the house was overrun with looky-loos and ritualists. No fun sitting on your toilet with cameras peering into the bathroom window.

It to date is the highest grossing horror film of all time. The main character, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, played by Bill Skarsgard, didn’t meet the kids he would be terrorizing until he was on-set for a scene. The kids’ look of terror in that first-appearance scene is real.

The baby in Rosemary’s Baby, of course, was the devil.  The film’s composer, Krzysztof Komeda, fell off a cliff in Los Angeles under mysterious circumstances. He later fell into a coma, and his only moment of consciousness occurred when Rosemary’s Baby’s lullaby was played to him before he died.

Jaws was the first big summer blockbuster and one of the last big movies to be made without computer-generated special effects. Its special effects had to be welded, hammered and bolted together.

The shark, fondly named Bruce on the set, was a calamity of a machine. Because it proved unfilmable, it was used only sparingly during the filming, which as it turns out, left the shark up to the audience’s imagination and heightened the fear.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was born from a Christmas shopping experience of co-writer and director, Tobe Hooper. He was in a very crowded Sears doing holiday shopping and had to detour down an aisle full of chain saws. First, he jokingly considered to his friends using them to get out of the store and then came up with a better purposing.

The film was shot by a collection of newbies near Austin, Texas in horrific mid-summer heat and humidity on a budget of only 60k. Gunnar Hansen, the massive chainsaw guy, was plucked off the nearby University of Texas campus, not because he was an actor but because he was big.

Alien was groundbreaking for the time for its special effects, winning many awards. But some of the best effects were not special. The alien was made out of shredded condoms, and drooled KY jelly out of its mouth.

“Heeere’s Johnny!” when axing down the hotel room door was an ad lib line Jack Nicholson made up. The Shining was not filmed at the time-honored Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado as suggested in the movie, but on a soundstage in England. Exterior shots were of the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon.

Halloween was the slasher movie that defined the genre. Jamie Lee Curtis, who battled the slasher Mike Myers, got the part at age 17 through her actor mom, Janet Leigh’s, influence. There have been 13 films in the Halloween series. Jamie Lee has been in most all of them. The Mike Myers slasher character keeps turning over. Must be the part is hard on the psyche.

The girl’s vomit, one of the most memorable scenes in The Exorcist, was a mix of green pea soup and oatmeal. Its sequel, The Exorcist 2, released in 1977, has been consensually labelled as one of the worst movies of all time, slapped together for a quick buck.

Psycho was a big risk, and the movie studio behind it expected it to be a flop, in fact, assigned all future rights to the film to producer and director, Alfred Hitchcock. But Alfred was not only a great filmmaker, but also a master marketer.

Hitchcock had sandwich board signs placed outside each and every theater showing his movie picturing him looking at his watch, with the caption “no late entry allowed”. This was quite an attention-grabber for the times. Back in the 50s and 60s, it was common for movie goers to enter a theater at any time and just watch the beginning of a movie at the next showing. Curiosity was a major factor in turning his film into an all-time hit.

The greatest horror of all results from not maintaining our health.

Tariff-ic Trend

With so much anxiety about tariffs, sales of the Bemer electromagnetic field therapy microcirculation device have exceeded projections in recent months because of consumers’ concerns about rising prices.

Tariffs on Luxembourg-manufactured products, including the Bemer, have risen some since April, with the possibility of larger tariffs looming.

If you or someone you know might have a need for improved cardiovascular circulation for any number of reasons, including just helping to keep in good health, this might be a good time to reach out to us for more information and a possible complementary trial period with the Bemer.

Your New Grocery Ally: The Yuka App

 Shop smarter, not harder: let Yuka guide the way.

Yuka – Food & Cosmetic Scanner

Do you really know what’s in your cart? The Yuka app is a free tool that scans food and personal care products to give them a simple, color-coded health score. It shows nutrition, additives, and organic status and even suggests healthier alternatives, so you can make quick, informed choices.

Turn grocery trips into a game, let your kids scan with Yuka too!

Swap That Pumpkin Spice Latte For…

Of course, any of us who are remotely familiar with Shakespeare know “Beware the Ides of March” is a foreboding in the year 1599 play “Julius Caesar”, that on the Ides of March, calendared as March 15, 44 BC, Caesar would meet his death through the hands of the Roman Senate.

So we know the Ides of March was March 15 in the early Roman Calendar.

The following short video explains the Ides and the two other days on the Roman Calendar (Yes, there were only three days in a Roman month), the Kalends and the Nones.

The Roman Calendar was a lunar based calendar. So it was set up with the Nones as a growing half moon and the Ides as the full moon. After it was initiated, though, that was not normally the case. It was a random mess. Still only three days counted in the monthly cycle. All other days were days before the next counted day.

And then there was the Roman Calendar year. The year started in March and was 10 months (304 days) long.

After December, there was the equivalent of today’s summer school break. People just waited around for the next year to begin.

Oh, for the good (very) old days!

Et tu, fruits and veggies.

Maybe You Saw This On A Wall in Your Doctor’s Office?

What Our Whole Family Has For Breakfast Every Morning

Every day starts the same in our household, with Ron, Donna and son Hunter breakfasting with a high in plant-based protein and fiber Complete shake.

Gluten-free, non-dairy, low glycemic, and 100% vegan.

The shakes can be chocolate- or vanilla-based. We prefer the chocolate.

Donna adds to them to make an even more impactful start to the day…

coffee, milk (almond, soy, rice, coconut, or dairy if you prefer), non-fat Greek yogurt, ground flax or chia seeds, banana, powdered peanut butter, a scoop of Complete with ice and water mixed in.

And we might note in today’s times, NO EGGs required.

If you have an interest in seeing her full recipe and benefits, click the link immediately below.

Donna’s Chocolate Complete Protein Shake Recipe

Another Family Daily Ritual

We have Donna’s shake, and then sometime during the day or evening, everyone in our house has a Bemer microcirculation session programmed to their specific needs, including medical grade infrared spot attachments for surface and subsurface skin repair.

It’s Time!

We Planted Our Tower Garden For The California Growing Season Just Last Week

Son Hunter and fiancé Hailey, our nature lovers, manage our Tower Garden. Here you see Hunter with a bit of mess on the patio from overnight rains, not from the Tower Garden but from overflowing planter pots.

The planter pots are for heavy plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli.

The Tower Garden provides a continuous April through November supply of lettuce, herbs, and pollenating flowers, with a bit of catnip thrown in for our fur babies.

Altogether a great setup promising a variety of produce for farm to table.

Probably thought we were going to share about the holidays.

This month we’re going to talk about something fun outside the holiday sphere…

…musical roads.

Way back in 1995, two engineers in Denmark invented the musical road. It played a very short set of notes created by vehicles running over programmed grooves in the road at a set speed. They named their invention the Asphaltophone.

Over the years since, musical roads have been built in 12 countries, with Japan being the most prolific with 30 roads.

The U.S., as most of the 12 countries, has a few.

The epicenter for musical roads in America is Lancaster CA, the dust and tumbleweed desert town about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles. It has two of the three U.S. musical roads, and each of the two roads has a story.

The first musical road in the U.S. opened in Lancaster, sponsored by the city, in September 2008, a quarter mile stretch of straight highway playing the William Tell Overture (locally recognized as the Lone Ranger theme song).

Sadly, the music was paved over within two weeks, as the residential community next to the road was losing its collective mind.

The Honda automobile company soon came to the rescue, and sponsored rebuilding the William Tell road strip in a more remote area of the community.

Unfortunately, engineers on the first version of the William Tell road misinterpreted width of the strips with width of the gaps between strips, and Honda used the same faulty engineering for its replacement road.

Honda quietly ended its affiliation with the road, but it remained. You can drive it today, but it is largely a testament to the sounds of human belches and toots.

Lancaster redeemed itself in 2023 with a perfectly pitched musical road featuring the Marine Hymn. Take a listen. Quixotically, the road is just miles from Edwards Air Force Base, the largest employer in the region. The nearest Marine base in hundreds of miles away.

So what does this all have to do with health?

Nothing.

Take your foot off the health pedal a bit in December if you need or wish, and just be ready to get your health engine up and running after the first of the new year.

The Best Gift is The Gift Of Health

Go ahead. Fill your mouth with goodies this month. But why not give your family or friends something to help them through the coming year.

Don’t Forget Me…

…I can start getting the holiday sludge out of your arteries and veins as quick as you can say Bemer.

Get A Jump Start For The New Year

Holiday foods can be rich and indulgent, leaving your body craving balance after the festivities. Detoxing with plant-based nutrients, like those in Juice Plus+, helps support your body’s natural cleansing processes, boosts energy, and restores vitality to keep you feeling your best all season long. Click below to find out how and why to detox with plants, with Dr. Tamara Sachs.

Socks on? Let’s see if they’ll stay on.

Our turkey is a native American bird in the peacock family, but the pilgrims confused it with a similar-looking bird familiar in Europe as being from the region which is now the country Turkey.

Hence, the name turkey, the only bird in the world named in common language after a country.

If you have someone in your family tree who told you they trick or treated before the mid-1940s, they either were fibbing or had dementia.

Believe it or not, the first Halloween trick or treating began right after World War II.

Beginning around the turn of the 20th Century, the big house-to-house event each year was Ragamuffin Day on Thanksgiving.

Kids walked the streets on Thanksgiving morning dressed as hobos or down-and-out politicians to collect treats.

In those days, women were deemed too fragile to participate. It was all boys.

Ragamuffin Day began to fade with the advent of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927 and disappeared as the Macy’s Parade began to be televised and became a Thanksgiving morning national tradition.

In late fall of 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to issue an executive order changing the date of Thanksgiving from the 4th Thursday of November to the 3rd Tuesday. He made the enactment to give retailers another full week between Thanksgiving and Christmas for holiday sales.

This proved highly unpopular in, even then, a politically charged environment. For several years until the enactment was rescinded, we had dueling Thanksgivings across the country.

Oh for the days when all we fought about was the official date for Thanksgiving.

Did you know turkey is considered the meat of choice for athletes?

A single serving of roast turkey contains only 45 calories, but a healthy 25 grams of protein, and at the same time just 4 grams of fat.

Doesn’t add to your weight, but efficiently provides plenty for the body to be nourished in the right way.

The average American eats 14.6 pounds of turkey annually. That same American eats 56 pounds of beef over the course of a year.

Now that’s BELIEVABLE!

Our country might be in a better, healthier place if those weight totals were reversed.

Holiday Lessons From Blue Zones

Did you know there are five regions in the world where people can be thankful they commonly live past 100, with one of the five right here in Southern California?

They are known worldwide by health scientists as the Blue Zones, regions renowned for longevity and remarkable health.

Wanna created your own mini-Blue Zone? Here are the health practices universal across all the blue zones:

1. Moving regularly during daily activities.
2. Clarifying your sense of purpose.
3. Cultivating daily rituals to reduce stress.
4. Prioritizing strong social connections with family and friends who support healthy behavior.
5. Enjoying a diet rich in whole grains and beans.
6. Eating fresh, seasonal veggies and leafy greens.
7. Limiting processed sugars.
8. Practicing mindful eating and stopping when 80% full.
9. Drinking mostly water, tea, coffee, and limiting to one or two glasses of red wine daily.
10. Minimizing meat, seafood and cows milk consumption.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLUE ZONES HERE

Pumpkin Spice Energy Balls

You can mix the ingredients in a food processor or bowl and then roll into little balls. You can keep some in the fridge for now and put some in the freezer for later!

A Shoutout from Austin

Habits That Set Happy People Apart

Who doesn’t want more happiness? From practicing gratitude to setting meaningful goals and caring for your body, explore the 12 habits that set happy people apart—and see how they align with lessons from the Blue Zones! Click below to learn more.

October is the month most of us associate with pumpkins. Yet few of us know much about this enduring symbol of autumn. Time to learn.

It’s common knowledge today’s corn was first cultivated in Mexico as maize around 4500 BCE.

However Mexican peoples were eating pumpkin long before that, as early as 7000 to 5500 BCE.

Mexican pumpkin was one of the world’s first cultivated plants.

Pumpkins are a fruit, not a vegetable, because anything starting from a flower is a fruit, and the pumpkin has beautiful yellow flowers. Its flowers are a delicacy in themselves. Fried pumpkin flowers are a common breakfast meal especially in the South.

The greatest majority of pumpkins grown in the United States come from Illinois. Illinois farmer Sarah Frey is called the “Pumpkin Queen of America”.

She gets her queen title by selling over five million pumpkins annually from her pumpkin plantation in southern Illinois not far from where Ron grew up.

The United States produces a million tons of pumpkin yearly. China produces 1/3 of the world’s pumpkins at 7.7 tons yearly.

Check the menu if you visit China. You might be surprised.

Some of remember getting bowl haircuts from our parents when we were young. In earlier times, there was no waste of a bowl.

New Englanders used to be nicknamed “pumpkin heads” because a local law required them to cut their hair short around a pumpkin rind.

Use the name sparingly in today’s times. Since the days of Opie and Andy Griffith, “pumpkin head” has come to be known as an idiot or fool. Gomer and Goober were pumpkin heads.

The pumpkin is one of the world’s most nutritious foods.

Practically every part of the pumpkin, including the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and the flowers, is edible with high nutritional value.

Get the full scoop by clicking on the link immediately below.

Pumpkin: Nutrition, Benefits, How to Eat

But of course, there’s a dark side to every silver lining.

A Horse is a Horse,

Of Course Of Course…

Hey there. Remember me?

You watched my tv show weekly from 1961-1966.

Remember how smart I was?

Well, I was smart enough to start using the Bemer microcirculation device for horses when it came out a few years ago, and I’m smarter than ever, all while being almost 70 years old.You know, there’s a human version for the Bemer microcirculation device too.

Can’t guarantee you’ll become as smart as me, but you might want to take a look at it.

My good friend, Donna, will be glad to arrange for you to test it out.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ed

Pump(kin) Yourself Up by Avoiding These Common Ingredients

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Artificial Food Coloring Nitrates and Nitrites Guar Gum High-Fructose Corn Syrup Artificial Sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin and acesulfame potassium) Carrageenan

Sodium Benzoate Trans Fat and Partially Hydrogenated Oils Xanthan Gum Artificial Flavoring Yeast Extract Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) Potassium Chloride Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)

Click Here for Ways to Reduce Your Intake of Food Additives

It’s Pumpkin Time!!!

According to the American Heart Association, men should consume no more than 9 teaspoons/36 grams of added sugar per day and women should consume no more than 6 teaspoons/25 grams of added sugar per day.

Did you know a grande Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks has 50 grams of sugar? You should try this tasty, yet healthy alternative instead!

So what has the State of Kansas contributed to the world which has reached practically every corner of our planet?

Sunflowers, you say? WRONG! The greatest majority of sunflowers in the world are grown in Russia and Ukraine.

Nope, Kansas changed the world by introducing the Icee (aka Slurpee).

The Icee was invented in 1958 by Omar Knedlik, a Dairy Queen owner in Coffeyville KS in the very southeast corner of the state on the Kansas-Oklahoma state line. (For more senior readers, you may remember the Dalton Gang. That group of desperados made Coffeyville their home base.)

Omar’s soda machine broke down, and he began placing bottles of soda in his freezer to keep them cold.

He began selling bottles of the soda which would instantly turn to slush once opened.

The frozen soda became popular with his customers, and the Icee was born.

Omar brainstormed with a lady friend in Coffeyville, and they came up with the name Icee together. His hometown friend then created the Icee logo still used today.

Omar invented and patented the first Icee machine made from a car air conditioning unit, and the rest is history.

In the mid-1960’s, the Southland Corporation, owner of 7-11 convenience stores, took notice of the popularity of the Icee and negotiated a licensing agreement for using the machines in its stores.

The marketing executives at 7-11 saw a win-win by changing the Icee name to Slurpee based on the slurping sound people make when drinking the beverage and by marketing off the sound.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Slurpee had its own song/jingle, which rivalled the Ozempic and Jardiance earworms of today.

Listen at your own peril.

Last year almost 170 million Slurpees were sold in 7-11 stores. One day every July, all 7-11 stores worldwide offer free Slurpees.

Additionally, over 500 million Icees were sold worldwide in 2023.

But none of the 670 million slushes sold last year offered even a single gram of whole food nutrition.

Mankind will not survive on Icees/Slurpees alone.

Also, Did You Know?

Did you know there are a greater percentage of thoroughbred horses (against the total race horse population in the U.S. of 1.1 million) than people (against the total U.S. human population) using the Bemer?

Most racing thoroughbreds in the United States use microcirculation devices as part of their training regimen, and Bemer is the overwhelming favorite microcirculation device amongst trainers.

Bemers are legal for the general health of the horse, just not allowed to mask pain from injuries.

Check out the very short video below for an understanding of the equine Bemer.

6 Keys To Making Lasting Changes To Your Health

Do you ever feel like it’s easy to start making healthier changes, but it’s hard to continue long term or life gets in the way? Here are 6 keys to making lasting changes to your health!

1. Take time for yourself daily. Even if it’s 2 minutes to focus on the positive things in your life. You can even write down 1 or 2 things in a gratitude journal to start your day off right or keep it by your bedside to write in just before you go to bed.
2. Nourish your mind and body. Fuel your body with good nutrition, lots of fruits and veggies and keep feeding your mind with positive thoughts.
3. Move more! Our bodies are made to move, even if it’s a 10 minute walk around the block or 15 minutes of stretches.
4. Take a moment to reflect and feel these changes. Take notice of how good you feel when you are taking care of yourself.
5. Inspire others. It can be difficult to get started, so make it easier for someone else by bringing them with you on your health journey. Inspiring others will also inspire you!
6. Create a community. Surround yourself with like minded people. It’s so much easier to keep healthy changes when you have a community to cheer each other on.

Berries and Lemon Cream Parfait (Serves 4)

This light fresh dessert can be prepared in a matter of minutes. Elegant enough for company.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup each of blackberries, raspberries and strawberries or (any berries you like)

One 8 oz. container of Greek yogurt 1%

1 cup Kefir, plain

3-4 tbs. Lemon curd, Dickinson’s or Stonewall kitchen – (in jelly section of most grocery stores and certainly at a specialty store)

One 1/2 tbs. chopped candied ginger

1/4 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Mint for garnish (and toasted coconut or Go Lean cereal if you like on top)

Gently mix berries in a medium bowl and set aside.

Mix yogurt, kefir, lemon curd and ginger until blended. Adjust amount of lemon curd based on how lemony you want your cream to taste. Layer parfait starting with lemon curd, followed by berries and repeat ending with lemon curd. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, or if just for family sprinkle Go Lean cereal on top. Garnish with mint.

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.

JUICE PLUS+ LUMINATE

Bemer Me Up

Call or text Donna 949.463.0520, and she’ll set you up with a demonstration wherever you are.

BEMER 2.0 – THE EVO

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.

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:

BEMER 2.0 – THE EVO

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:

JUICE PLUS+ LUMINATE

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.

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