Calcium
As an Aikido instructor I have a love/hate relationship with Steven Segal.
(The actor/character, not the real person. In reality, we come from the same
school or dojo originally and my teacher also promoted him to black belt.)
On the one hand he gives exposure of Aikido through his movies to people around
the world. The result is, we often get calls asking if we teach what he does.
However, what he shows in his movies is not “real” Aikido but
a blend of Aikido with Karate and anything that might look good on the screen.
He also does many things (breaking bones, maiming and killing) that we look
down on, so the philosophy is much different and we have to get that across
to the potential new student, hence the love/hate thing.
This is pretty much the same with many of the infomercials one might see on
late night TV. On the one hand, people see something about this nutrient or
that supplement and this gets them interested in taking some products. But,
on the other hand, (sadly) much of what they may have heard has no real science
or even clinical evidence behind it. Some of the recent infomercials on calcium
are a good example.
Much of what is said about calcium, in general, is very true. However (sadly)
it’s hard to separate that from some of the fiction. I recently watched
one of these infomercials talking about coral calcium and the people of Okinawa.
I found one statement very strange… the “doctor” on the
show was saying how the Okinawa people are some of the longest-lived people
in the world. (This is true and a book was recently released on the subject.
It is believed their long life is a combination of their diet with lots of
native fruits, veggies, and seafood combined with a life of exercise.) However
the infomercial wants to “blame” this long life solely on coral
calcium and states that this substance is such a part of their diet that even
their water is milky white from such high concentrations of coral calcium,
this miracle substance.
I was in Okinawa recently and I drank lots of water, but I never saw anything
but nice clear water. I drank from a couple of different hotels as well as
several restaurants. Thinking maybe things have changed recently I asked one
of my Aikido students about this, as she is over 60 and from Okinawa. She
looked at me really strangely; the answer was, “Of course not.”
So much for infomercials.
Much of what is said about calcium is true though. While most Americans tend
to think of calcium in only its role as a bone builder its actual importance
is much, much wider. Along with bone it builds all the hard stuff in the body;
hair, teeth, nails, etc. But equally as important in this role (building the
body’s framework) is its role in helping to regulate hormones. It was
recently found that calcium helps balance hormone levels and aids in weight
loss…Without enough calcium in the system it can be very hard to drop
excess pounds, if not impossible. Calcium, perhaps again in its role in regulating
hormones, helps prevent colon cancer.
Calcium also has an effect on the muscles and nerves in the body. It helps
to stabilize and regulate the heart rhythm. (One of our more important muscles.)
It is partly responsible for smooth muscle contractions and can be very helpful
in treating muscle spasms. Calcium is one of Mother Nature’s natural
pain remedies.
What the infomercials talk about, and this IS very important, is its role
in balancing the body’s pH level. This can help foster or hinder disease.
Most things in nature, viruses, bacteria and even us, operate within certain
limits of temperature, light, and pH balance. Fortunately we have greater
latitude in this regard than many, if not most, of the things that would attack
us.
A fever is the body’s response to such an attack. When a virus (such
as a cold, flu or SARS) comes on, our temperature goes up in an attempt to
kill the invader. (This is why you should not try to lower a mild fever, unless
it goes on for days.) The body’s pH level can also provide either a
hospitable or inhospitable environment for this attacker, making the difference
as to whether it ever gains a foothold to begin with or not.
Coral calcium is a valuable calcium source because it contains not just calcium
but a mixture of other very important minerals and trace minerals needed for
absorption and utilization by the body. Symmetry has always known the importance
of these co-factors and has included a “Green Food” base to provide
these to you. Our “greens” provide a rich source of the needed
trace minerals in a pollution free form. These minerals are also more easily
utilized by the body because they are attached to veggies – straight
minerals are very hard for the body to absorb.
Striving to make sure you gain all the benefits of calcium we have always
provided you with a blend of calcium types; including calcium carbonate, calcium
citrate, malate, glycinate, and we have always included Coral Calcium in our
Calcium Coverage.
CarbLess
In 1999 obesity was up 57% from 1991. In 1998 diabetes rose by 6.5% and
in 1999 it rose by 6.9%. Today it is not unusual to see children as young
as 8 being diagnosed with adult onset (sometimes called type 2) diabetes!
At first it was believed that these children had type 1 or juvenile onset
diabetes – it was hard for even their doctors to believe they could
have adult onset diabetes at such a young age! Clearly we have a problem here.
Years ago, 10, 15, possibly as far back as 20 or more years ago we made the
connection: carrying around extra/excess weight is not healthy. Being overweight
puts an increased stress on most if not all your body’s organs and/or
systems. It became clear… being fat is unhealthy. Unfortunately, someone
made the leap from; being fat is bad, to eating fat makes you fat, so eating
fat is bad. Sounds like a logical progression… and from that one misstep
came a new dogma: to live a healthy life you must not eat fat, hence the low
fat, high carbohydrate diet. An entire industry has grown up around this movement.
The US has exported the movement along with the myriad of low-fat, no-fat,
almost not-fat, and fake fat foods around the world.
During this time period Americans have heard the battle cry and responded.
We have taken the low-fat plunge, we eat carbohydrates whenever we can along
with no-fat fats and we have won the battle. The average American has cut
30%, or more, of the fat from their diet!
Too bad we have lost the war! While we have cut our fat consumption and boosted
our carbs we have seen, as stated above, a huge increase in obesity. At the
start of this war we were 1 out of 3 overweight. Now that we have reduced
our fat intake we are 1 out of 2 overweight! Heart disease is the number 1
killer in the US. This along with a number of the other top 10 killers which
include diabetes are directly linked to what we are putting in our mouths
– or neglecting to put in our mouths.
Time the truth came out… eating fat doesn’t make you fat. Eating
a high carbohydrate diet makes you fat. It will also increase your risk of
heart disease, diabetes, stroke, gall bladder disease, arthritis, and on and
on to include many of the degenerative diseases of aging.
In countries where they practice the opposite of the American advice –
where they do eat fat – heart disease is very low as is the overall
incidence of obesity. In the country of Crete people actually consume the
equivalent of a pint or more of olive oil each day and heart disease is almost
unheard of.
Certainly the Western world has done studies to prove this theory of fat makes
you fat, that high carbs are good? Several studies have been started with
the test subjects on a very high carbohydrate, very low fat diet. They had
to be stopped though as those eating this way were dieing of heart attacks
faster than they could be counted. However, the dogma has become a matter
of fact in our culture. This is largely to blame because there is a huge food
industry that has grown up around the low fat line. Turns out it is very cheap
to make low fat food – just take the fat out and replace it with corn
syrup – extremely cheap… extremely bad for you.
Symmetry is here to help. We know that carbohydrate is just a fancy word for
sugar. That while there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential
proteins and even, yes even essential fats – there is no such thing
as an essential carbohydrate. You can live just fine without carbohydrates.
With this knowledge we have created: CarbLess.
CarbLess is an amazing no, an essential dietary supplement in today’s
world. When you are being bombarded by the low fat, no fat, almost non fat
foods from the cheap diet food industry, when you are being encouraged to
eat carbohydrates at every setting let CarbLess be your oasis, your dietary
salvation!
Who can benefit from this unique dietary supplement?
• Those watching their intake of carbohydrates.
o This product limits the carbs you can digest.
• Those watching calories.
o By limiting carbohydrates you limit your overall dietary calories.
• Those watching their weight.
o By limiting carbs and thus calories you encourage natural weight loss.
• Diabetics
o Remember, carbohydrate is a fancy word for sugar. By limiting sugar absorption
you help regulate blood sugar levels and thus diabetes.
• Anyone with high blood fats.
o Eating fat doesn’t make you fat and eating cholesterol doesn’t
much influence your blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is manufactured
in the Liver and the production doesn’t go up when you eat eggs or other
high cholesterol foods, but it does go up when you increase your carbohydrates.
• Anyone wanting to age more slowly.
o Eating a high carbohydrate diet causes a release of not only more insulin
but also cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol encourages not only weight
gain but weight gain around the middle increasing your risk of heart disease.
It also stresses all of the other bodily systems speeding up the aging process.
Controlling your uptake of carbohydrates controls this hormone and helps balance
your body which can lead to longer life and a more healthy life.
How does this great new product work?
- Through special ingredients that inhibit enzyme activity CarbLess reduces
the carbohydrates you can digest and thus absorb into the body.
- Special nutritional ingredients help regulate insulin sensitivity and thus
control blood sugar levels and also hunger.
- Encourages thermogenesis or the burning of calories for heat. This encourages
healthy weight loss (fat loss).
-Lagerstroemia Speciosa or Banaba an herb from the Philippines that helps
control blood sugar levels and has been used as an aid in managing diabetes
for generations.
- Phaseolamin or white bean extract which new research has shown to inhibit
the enzymes needed to break down carbohydrates into smaller sugar molecules
for diegestion.
- Gymmema Sylvestre, an herb from Auryvedic Medicine originating in India
where it has been revered for thousands of years – and modern research
shows – for its ability to help regulate blood sugar levels.
- Minerals such chromium and vanadium which most Americans are dangerously
low in and which are essential for making up Glucose Tolerance Factor.
- Also the herbs: fenugreek seed, Chinese bitter melon and lyceum berry, which
have all been used for countless centuries to help regulate sugar metabolism
in the body and help control hunger and weight.
I suggest for maximum results you take 2 tablets about 15 minutes before with
any meal that might be high in either refined or natural carbohydrates. If
your meal is really high in carbs you may want to take 3 or even 4 at once.
For maximum healthy fat loss add Symmetry’s Advanced Omega formula with
either our SlymPack or Ultra SlymPack. Omega is an essential fatty acid formula
important to help you lose weight in 3 different ways: it’s thermogenic,
helps make you feel full so you eat less and it works synergistically with
insulin to balance blood sugar.
So don’t lose out, lose fat! Use Symmetry’s revolutionary new
product: CarbLess!
Cardio-Essentials:
Pleasing the People
You’ve heard the expression, you can’t please everyone?
So it was with Symmetry’s Cardio-Essentials. People loved the formula - and when I say people I’m talking physicians, nutritional experts and customers alike. This formula was originally put together by TRAC members; Dr. Frederic Vagnini and Dr. Mark Crapo.
Frederic Vagnini, MD, FACS has been specializing in cardiac care for over 30 years. He is a member of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He also holds memberships in the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Nutrition. He used his unique background in not only Western based heart care but in nutrition to suggest the nutritional base in Cardio-Essentials - A foundation based on clinical experience and proven results.
Mark Crapo, OMD, DAc, BS, CA, LAc has over 20 years of clinical experience and training in nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Dr. Mark has taught continuing education classes for MDs, DOs, nurses, physical therapists and pharmacists in the United States, the Caribbean and the Philippines. He is a contributing author and editor of the PAN course leading to registration in the State of California as nutritional consultant. Dr. Mark provided his unique herbal knowledge to our formula, a foundation based on time honored and proven herbal mixtures from China and Japan.
So what’s not to be pleased about?
Cardio-Essentials is a powdered drink mix. While everyone loved the formula, some people said they didn’t like the grape flavor. (Can you imagine that?!) You can’t please everyone!
The flavoring system also included 3 grams of sugar. That’s not a lot, but people with diabetes or weight control issues asked if it wasn’t possible to use some sugar substitute so they too could use the formula without worry.
Lots of time, research and tasting… and tasting… and tasting went into the upgrade of the new Cardio-Essentials. We have been able to remove all the sugar! There are 5 grams of carbohydrates in the product but they come from the fiber blend. The fiber blend provides 5 grams of mixed fibers. This yields 0 grams of net carbs – they cancel each other out.
We’ve also taken care of the, I don’t like grape flavor, or orange, or peach, etc comment we sometimes hear. It is very true that you can’t please everyone with one flavor. We all have different tastes. The new Cardio-Essentials formula takes care of this by having no flavor. We’ve designed the product to mix into your Ultra Vitality Drink. You won’t even know it’s there. However, you could drink it in any juice or even in plain water. (Filtered through your Symmetry water enhancement system, of course.)
To make things even more “palatable” we’ve been able to do all this and lower the price!
Symmetry’s Cardio-Essentials has gone from 8 carbs to 0 net carbs, from 3 grams of sugar to no sugar, from a grape flavor (that people either loved or didn’t like) to no flavor and from a price of $70 to $35! (Check the exact prices.)
While it may be true that you can’t please everyone, at Symmetry we never stop trying!
ColdRX the Smart Choice
Watching the national news this morning I see that the Rockies are being
hit with heavy snow and the Plains States are having drifting snow and very
cold temperatures. The past few days I’ve heard those around me sneezing,
coughing, hacking and complaining. I’d say the cold and flu season has
arrived, with a vengeance!
Looking for an answer, looking for relief? I would suggest you look carefully.
Consider just what it is you are reaching for if you’re reaching for
a standard OTC (over the counter – non-prescription) remedy. Researchers
from Yale University have just released the results of a five-year study looking
at some of the most common cold and cough remedies. They have found one of
the most popular ingredients in hundreds of these preparations increases some
user’s risk of stroke. The FDA will now be looking at the results of
this study.
The ingredient in question is phenylpropanolamine (PPA). It appears this chemical
is linked to hemorrhagic stroke, or bleeding in the brain. The Yale study
says that currently billions of doses of PPA are consumed each year in the
US! The action of PPA is to help constrict blood vessels and relieve nasal
congestion.
PPA in your medicine cabinet
Here are some of the top over-the-counter medications that contain phenylpropanolamine,
according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association:
AcuTrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant Plus Dietary Supplements
AcuTrim Maximum Strength Appetite Control
Alka-Seltzer Plus Children's Cold Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Original
BC Allergy Sinus Cold Powder
BC Sinus Cold Powder
Comtrex Flu Therapy & Fever Relief Day & Night
Contac 12 Hour Cold Capsules
Contac 12 Hour Cold Caplets
Coricidin 'D' Cold, Flu & Sinus
Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dimetapp Cold & Allergy Chewable Tablets
Dimetapp Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels
Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough Elixir
Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops
Permathene Mega-16
Robitussin Allergy Cough
Robitussin CF
Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of Sinus & Nasal Congestion
Triaminic DM Cough Relief
Triaminic Expectorant Chest & Head Congestion
Triaminic Syrup Cold & Allergy
If you’d like a safer alternative to any or all of these I would suggest
you try Symmetry’s ColdRX. Our ColdRX lozenges have a pleasant taste
and contain zinc, Echinacea, vitamin C and Slippery Elm Bark. All these ingredients
not only help you feel better but they do it safely.
I think we are all familiar with vitamin C. Studies have shown that while
this vitamin may not stop you from getting a cold or flu it does certainly
shorten the duration and lessen the symptoms. The RDA for this nutrient is
only 60 mg. But this amount is what’s needed for a “normal healthy”
individual not to develop deficiency symptoms, not what is needed to be optimally
healthy. Further, the need for this vital antioxidant goes up, way up, when
under attack from the cold bug or other physiological stresses. (Dr. Linus
Pauling recommended taking from between 500 mg to 1,000 mg every 2 hours at
the onset of the cold or flu symptoms.)
Echinacea, which has been used for hundreds of years, has some similarities
with vitamin C. It also appears to benefit people taking it for relief of
cold and flu symptoms. Resent research suggests that this herb may not work
well to prevent you from getting the bug in the first place, as has been thought,
but it does seem to reduce both the duration of your symptoms and also the
severity of them.
Slippery Elm Bark is used to help aid a sore throat. It does this by reducing
phlegm and soothing the mucosal membranes. It can be very helpful to reduce
your cough and your irritated throat.
Finally we come to zinc. This mineral has become very popular in recent years,
as studies have shown its ability to cut the duration of a cold or flu by
about 50%. It has also been shown to reduce the overall severity of symptoms
by about 50%. Most research suggests that zinc gluconate is the best choice
to use but there is some evidence that zinc citrate may also be beneficial.
Symmetry combines both in one powerful formula – along with the other
ingredients mentioned above.
Need another reason to try our ColdRX? How about this: brand new research
shows that zinc can inactivate the herpes simplex virus – this causes
Cold Sores. You can aid your cold and flu symptoms while fighting off cold
sores at the same time!
One last thing to think about… Research led by the Salk Institute has
shown zinc to be an integral part of brain ion channels: structures that regulate
communication among nerve cells. This is apparently why zinc is essential
for proper cognitive function and memory. In this capacity it helps us learn,
focus and concentrate as well as have proper memory recall. Clearly Symmetry’s
ColdRX is the “smart” choice!
A few other things to think about this cold and flu season:
OptiBreathe; a comprehensive formula of Chinese and Western herbs to help
maintain a strong respiratory system response.
Immunity; a formula based on Chinese herbs used for centuries but bolstered
with herbs from around the world to help maintain an optimally functioning
immune system.
Botana-C; extra vitamin C and bioflavinoids to help lessen those cold and
flu symptoms.
Botana-G; garlic used for centuries by peoples everywhere to help ward off
the cold and flu bug.
Extreme Fuel; a great tasting drink to help you avoid dehydration, fight off
muscle aches and pains, and give you a little extra energy.
And for a great tasting sore throat elixir; mix (to taste) Genesis, New Attitude, honey and lemon juice - heat and sip.