Now That They Are Back in School

They spent all summer without so much as a sniffle, then go back to school and a few weeks later they have this year's version of the plague. Kids seem to be the catalyst for flu season in my part of the world. More people tell me about how they got sick, their spouse got sick, the whole house got sick a month or so after the school season starts up again. Why are the schools such breeding ground for colds?

Begin by looking at the situation we created in the summer. Kids have the worst diets and spend all of their time being as lazy as they can get away with. (Maybe not just kids) This is a great recipe for an impaired immune system. They do not suffer from anything largely because they are not exposed to anything. Kids only hang out with a few different people for most of their summer time off.

Then, just when the hayfever season starts to ramp up again, we ship them off to school. My kids have never had a class smaller than 25 students in their lifetime, and usually larger. Each class had a generous mingling of different students and teachers, plus time in the halls with several hundred other people. Add to the mix no central HVAC, so no real air circulation. It really is a wonder that all we get from this environment is a “cold”! Exposing people with even slightly impaired immune systems to that breeding ground is ridiculous, but we do and then accuse them of faking to get out of school.

Kids must go to school, if for no other reason than to give moms a break. The environment in the schools is not going to change. It would be wise for us to shore up the defenses our bodies have to ward off as much as possible. I suggest you keep it as simple as possible, multivitamin and extra vitamin C daily. With a good diet this is usually enough to fend off most of the illness in the schools. At the first sign of a cold, however, pull out all the stops! I personally swear by liquid oil of oregano, but you are not very likely to get a kid to take it. It really does burn. For most kids, I would suggest Wellness Formula from Source Naturals. It takes an “everything plus the kitchen sink” approach to immune support. As always follow the dosing instructions for each.

I would also suggest that when the first little bout of illness comes around everyone in the house start taking either supplement. As the expression goes: The best defense is a good offense.

Why People Should Never Eat Lunch With Me

I was having lunch with a member of my family a few days ago and he was telling me about his bronchitis that he was suffering through. I told him he should have gone with walking pneumonia, cause it sounds cooler. He had just finished taking his prescribed meds and was feeling a little sleepy. Out of curiosity I asked what he was taking. The doctor had put him on a very potent oral antibiotic. The first thing out of my mouth was to tell him to start eating lots of yogurt. The look he shot me was delightful. There was confusion and sleepy mixed in with the “what is he babbling about now?” that I usually get.

In an effort to clear up my cousin's confusion, I started to ask what the doctor said he should expect to happen during the course of meds. Great conversations over meals I have, I know. The doctor or pharmacist told him that he could expect diarrhea as a side-effect of the medicine. “Side-effect”! That made me laugh, calling the diarrhea from antibiotics a side-effect is the same as calling victims of friendly fire the side-effect of gun fights.

Antibiotics have one job. It is right there in the name; anti- against, biotic- life. They are designed to kill things, specifically bacteria in the body. Oral antibiotics kill bacteria in the gut, both good and bad. They basically carpet bomb your gut, then the move onto the blood stream and continue their job. It is the killing of the good bacteria that causes the well known “side-effect”.

The solution is simple, cheap, and safe. Take a pro-biotic 2 hours after each dose of the antibiotic. Wow, one little pill and you don't have all the joys of the “side-effect” of the prescription, kinda makes you wonder why they don't tell you this when you pick-up your medicine. Don't ask me, I have no clue, I just shake my head and marvel at what people will go through because someone in a white coat tells them to.

Every Year We Go Through This Same Ritual

So, you spent the last two months working hard at being lazy. You have done practically no work of any kind, spending all of your time on the couch playing video games, watching movies, or just hanging out. No mental activity past where to find the junk food you have hidden around the house. Oh ya, your diet could not have been worse. The fact that you are sleeping till the middle of the afternoon makes it difficult to get more than one real meal a day, so you have been supplementing with potato chips and soda.

Then your parents tell you school starts in two weeks.

This is what we do to our kids every year. They have a summer off and develop so many bad habits, it has become the working man's dream. Then we change their entire world in two, or fewer, weeks. Then we, the adults, expect them, the kids, to not have let themselves be lazy, and be ready to start the school year off fresh, focused, and with a strong work ethic to get good grades.

'Cause that's the way we come back from our 1 week off from work we get 2 or 3 times a year. Sure.

Now is the time to help them “right” themselves, and re-establish the correct behaviors for school. I suggest tackling the sleep patterns first. I have teen-agers. They have not seen the “AM” on a clock that was not preceded by 1:00 since June. Their sleep cycle has been completely destroyed. I suggest attacking the problem from both sides.

Help them fall a sleep at a reasonable time. Most of us have difficulty falling a sleep at a new time. We toss and turn for hours getting frustrated, but persevere because we know we need too. I would start with a sub-lingual melatonin supplement to bring on sleep more quickly. Try about 3mg to start. Melatonin is considered safe with few, if any, side effects that most never experience. It is a natural hormone that promotes sleep.

I also suggest waking them up earlier each day. This will also help them get used to the needed sleep cycle. Again, I have teen-agers so I plan to use a tool designedperfectly for the job, but you should use what ever your kids respond too.

Tis the Season

About this time every year, I have parents come to me for advice about their young football star. They want to know how to keep them healthy through the season and get the most out of their practices so they can play at a high level during the game. Dad also wants the kid to be the next Peyton Manning, even if he plays nose guard. 

Each level of competition has a different set of rules regarding what supplements the players can and cannot use, so it is always necessary to check with your own governing body to be sure you are not breaking any rules. With that in mind, hydration during practice and games is critical and, if done correctly, within most guidelines. We have all seen the big orange drink containers on the sidelines. They sponsor a lot of teams and deserve the publicity. I feel the best use of that drink is after the game.

Hydration is critical to the safety of the player. Being dehydrated can cause muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, and in extreme cases death. So that makes the case for drinking water during an athletic event easy. The problem is that the sweat lost during exercise is more than water. The body also loses critical electrolytes in that sweat. Electrolytes are minerals that serve your body during muscle activity and other functions. They need to be replaced.

But wait, there's more! As long as you're drinking water and getting electrolytes, why not add some fast carbs for continuous energy? You're burning fuel at a terrific pace running up and down the field. It takes a lot of energy to launch your body 6 feet in the air to score that touchdown.

Sounds a lot like the drink in the orange cooler doesn't it?

Here is the difference: branch chain aminos and L-glutamine. BCAA's should be used before, during, and after any exercise. They are part of energy production and help to protect your muscles during exercise. As I have said before L-glutamine buffers lactic acid and is used in muscle repair. They are also not in the most widely available sports drinks.

The above combination is the formula that the Steelers used when they won the Super Bowl, and what the Olympic team uses, and what is usually in the cups you are seeing pro-athletes drinking, no matter whose logo is on the cup. It will require you to mix a few ingredients yourself but the results are consistent among the people to whom I have suggested it.

Not into football? (I am not sure that sentence makes sense to me.) This formula is used by runners, bikers, wrestlers, MMA, baseball and basketball players, golfers that I know about. If you are sweating on the job, get a new job, but til then drink this so you can play after work.

Getting Big the Right Way

I spent most of my life as a scrawny - mom's word - kid. I have a small frame and the muscle structure to match. I have gotten used to the idea that there will always be someone stronger than I. I learned to deal with this in two ways. First, I focused on the things my body could do well, such as running and biking. Second, I let them do all the heavy work. Turns out, I am kinda lazy. I understand what drives the guys that want to change themselves and get big.

Adding muscle when you are small takes more than going to the gym a few times and looking at yourself doing curls in the mirror. You need to work as hard to get big as most need to lose weight, and it will take longer. The first thing to come to grips with is the fact that you are an animal. Nature does not like waste - how many fat monkeys do see? When you gain a pound of muscle it requires more calories to maintain, so your body will not want to keep it long. You have to commit to this new lifestyle as a permanent part of your life. If you don't, your work will be lost almost right away.

Once you have decided that this is your goal, and you are training to achieve it, there are some supplements that can help you out. I have written about the core four, protein, creatine, glutamine, and arginine in the past but you will need more help to get to your goals. I would look first at your post work out/ recovery shake. I suggest that you get 30 grams of protein with about 60 grams of carbs in that shake. I would then add 5 grams of creatine. That seems to work the best for the guys I help. Any more protein and it will likely be flushed down the drain. The carbs are needed to recharge your muscles and control your insulin. Most people do not realize that insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body. Controlling your insulin is a great way to improve the gains you will earn from you workouts.

Ideally, that will be the only shake of the day. You need to eat your calories, not drink them. Eat a balanced diet that has enough calories based on your metabolic rate to gain muscle at a controlled, slow and steady pace. Fast gains are fast loses. Remember you are change your body and it has been many years in the making already.

Krill Oil for Non-Belugas

“Which is better: krill or fish oil?” This is a question that I have faced almost daily for the better part of two years. When Dr. Oz gave his endorsement, it did not make my life any easier. I have asked the very same question to the people who produce the products we are deciding between.

My first warning about krill oil came 18 months ago when I asked 3 respected producers why I should take krill oil instead of the high quality fish oil supplement I had been using. Everything I had read up till then had indicated that I wanted to take between 1.5 and 2 grams of EPA and DHA per day. To achieve that in krill would require baleen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baleen . I might be overestimating. My best received response was about the superior absorption of krill. The most common response was a condescending smile, and friendly pity. I guess I have that kinda face.

Well, two years later, I feel confident when people ask me that question. Krill is an outstanding source of astaxanthin, an outstanding antioxidant that I place a very high value on. http://www.naturalnews.com/astaxanthin.html For the omega 3 fatty acids, however, it is just not a practical source. Even it's better absorption does not over come its low amounts per dose of EPA and DHA. When you couple that to the fact that only 1 ship, not company but ship, has been certified as sustainably harvesting the krill, my decision is clear.

I do not take krill because it has the potential to do more harm to the environment than benefit to me.

Supporting the Whole You

The other day I woke up with a headache. I was away from home and did not have any solutions for the pain with me. I was not doing anything mentally stimulating, so there I sat with the pain and boredom. It made me think about what I would do if someone had approached me with this same issue.

Often people want a remedy for the pain, something that will work right away. When this happens I tell them I take aspirin. I love the look of shocked horror on their faces! After they recover I start the real process to help them.

Treating a symptom like a headache and calling it a cure is much the same as using one of the spray can flat tire repair kits to fix a flat. It does the job, but you still have a nail in your tire. A headache, for example could be caused by many things, such as excess stress, exhaustion, too much alcohol, or getting hit with a frying pan. It makes sense to most of us to prevent the headaches when we can. If most of your headaches come from flying cookware then you would naturally learn to duck and maybe buy a hard hat. Hangovers are prevented just as easily. Nobody does it, but, hey, at least it more fun the the Calphalon assault.

Why, then, would we not take the same steps for a systemic cause? Helping the body cope with chronic stress can have an impact on the frequency of the headaches. Use an adaptogen, such as rhodiola, to support your body's response to stress. If your sleep has been poor lately, using supplements like L-theonine, L-trytophan, or ZMA can help you return to regular sleep.

I know that when I do not eat correctly my blood sugar can drop and a headache soon follows. Regular use of supplements like cinnamon and chromium when combined with proper diet can help support blood sugar within normal levels.

Treating the symptom with something to mask it does not really help support your health. It is up to you to look for what is causing the symptom. Take the remedy of your choice to help with the immediate problem, just don't forget to look for the underling problem to maintain your better health.