Good posture reflects a body that is aligned in its most efficient pose.  Your head, neck, back and legs are all supported effortlessly by the joints beneath them. Your internal organs experience optimum blood flow. Good posture reflects a mind that is at ease. 

How can we achieve good posture?

Causes of poor posture
As mentioned, a peaceful mind will be reflected in our posture. However, stress will cause a disruption somewhere in your posture. And a disturbance in one part of the body will require compensation in another part of your body until the entire “kinetic chain” is out of alignment – all because of stress.

Simple deficiencies can also be reflected in our bearing:

• An oxygen deficiency from restricted breathing may result in an anxious, forward-of-center posture.
• Dehydration from too little water or copious urination (associated with mineral and EFA deficiency) may result in loss of a proper curve in your back.  Foundational nutrition (a multiple vitamin/mineral supplement; Omega Essential Fatty Acids; Vitamin C and Vitamin B-12) can have an impact on your posture from the inside out!
• Sleep deprivation often results in slouching and a jawline that is forward of your slumped shoulders. This causes extra stress on your jaw joint (TMJ) and may result in chronic jaw pain.

By far, the most damaging influence to our posture and therefore our health, is a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting or being immobile for long periods of time has a detrimental effect on all of the joints in the body. As mentioned, if the body structure is improperly aligned, circulation will be impaired. That means no nutrients to the cells and an accumulation of waste that can’t get out.

For optimum wellness, find an exercise routine that you enjoy and do it often. Choose several different types of exercise (or play) to prevent activity “burnout.” I like swimming, running and riding my bicycle. Many prefer organized routines such as Pilates, Tai Chi or ballroom dancing (dancing is the highest expression of human movement).

Posture self-test
Proper movement and good intentions can be the cure to bad posture. For example, if you really want optimum wellness for your life purposes, check your posture frequently. Check to see that:

• Your shoulders are level
• Your head is straight, not tilted to the side
• The spaces between your arms and your sides seem equal on both sides
• Your hips are level, not sloped to one side
• Your ankles are straight and not turned in or out

You can also have someone look at you from the side and check the following:

• Your head is stacked over your body, not jutting forward or pulled back
• Your chin is parallel to the floor, not tilting up or down
• Shoulders are in line with ears, not drooping forward or pulled back too far
• Your hands are in line with hips, not forward or back
• Your knees are straight, not bent or hyper-extended
• Your lower back is slightly curved forward, not too flat or curved too much (creating a swayback)

Our body was made to move. The more you move, the more you will be able to move and the more you will want to move. The less you move, the less you will be able to move and the less you will want to move.

Take the posture test. Then, ask yourself what imbalanced posture means in your case. Address the cause and watch your posture come back into alignment. As it does, watch your energy level increase and your mental clarity improve. Enjoy the vitality of wellness and use that strength to fulfill your life purposes!

• Check your posture weekly
• Focus on improving daily
• Make sure you are living the 10 Essentials
• Focus on exercise most days of the week
  • Aerobic training 30 to 150 minutes
  • Resistance training 2 to 5 times per week
• Try Pilates, Tai Chi or ballroom dancing
• Take foundational nutrition:
  • A multiple vitamin/mineral combination (VitaDaily)
  • OmegaPrime®
  • Vital C
  • Sublingual B-12
• Define your purposes and work toward them!

A solution that won’t go away!
Many years ago, scientists began to notice that certain cultures had low levels of heart disease even though they ate high levels of fatty foods. This was common in France. So, a careful search was made to explain this “French paradox.” As it turns out, resveratrol (a nutrient found in red and purple grapes, red grape skins and seeds, and red wine) provides significant protection from toxic “oxidized” fat.Resveratrol is also excellent for helping protect against rapidly aging skin. This may explain some of the skin-health benefits people report after taking Nopalea™:  One of the supporting ingredients we included is an antioxidant complex based in the skins and seeds of red grapes. Likewise, Adaptogen 10 Plus® and Super Antioxidant Complex™ both contain concentrated antioxidants from the skins and seeds of grapes.

One more use for B-12…
The homocysteine-reducing effects of HCY Guard® are also good for your skin. Homocysteine shatters the collagen matrix in the blood vessels, lungs, brain and bones. It is also implicated in certain skin disorders associated with rapid skin aging. Using HCY Guard may reduce your blood levels of homocysteine by as much as 35% in six weeks.Healthy skin reflects a healthy, balanced body. Beauty on the outside begins with wellness on the inside. Learn and live the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness, which includes adding the appropriate amount of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and proteins to your diet. Take the time to correctly assess your nutrient needs and supplement your diet accordingly.
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“I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?” – Jean Kerr

Beautiful outside, beautiful inside?
Who doesn’t want beautiful skin – especially as we age? Our outside layer of skin often reflects the health of our internal organs, as we discussed in the Weekly Wellness Report on “Liver Spots.”

For instance, skin hydration relies on glucosamine just as joint hydration relies on glucosamine. So, dry skin likely means dry joints. Skin that is easily torn and damaged indicates rapid aging, which likely indicates rapid aging of our circulatory system. Furthermore, skin that is easily burned by the sun may indicate that our essential fatty acid (EFA) and antioxidant reserves are low which means other tissues that rely on antioxidants and EFA for protection may also be at risk.

Therefore, beautiful skin is a good indicator of healthy reserves of critical nutrients.

Inside first…
As we age, we are likely to experience skin that wrinkles and becomes blotchy. It may start to get pigment spots and become easy to injure. There are many products and procedures you can use to help your skin from the outside and those are important. But more important is nourishing the skin from the inside.

Skin has a base of healthy fats. Most of the external emollients we use on our skin are some form of fat. However, humans are not designed to take in fats very efficiently through the skin. The best way to have a healthy base for your skin is to take OmegaPrime essential fatty acids. Two per day is good, but for skin health, more is better!

From the outside…
There is a huge industry that provides cleansers, peels and emollients for the outside of your skin. Use of skin treatments is important only after you have been nourished from the inside. Then your skin will have beauty long after the makeup has been removed. Dr. Libby’s Vital C Powdered Crystals are perfect for your weekly beautiful skin routine. Try this natural deep moisturizer treatment and skin exfoliant:

1. Add 1/4 teaspoon of Vital C Crystals to your daily skin moisturizer and mix thoroughly.
2. Liberally apply the cream to your face and neck, massaging gently.
3. Leave on for 10 minutes.
4. Wash off completely with warm water; follow with a splash of cold water to close your pores.

Your skin should have a lovely glow!

Sunlight and Vitamin D
The skyrocketing incidence of diabetes, osteoporosis and certain cancers definitely say that we are not getting enough Vitamin D. The increase in insomnia and seasonal depression tells us that we are not getting enough early morning sun.

We need more sunlight. Now, how do we make it safe?

1. Recognize the need for sun and the need for caution. Plan your sun exposure so that you maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks. For instance, get your sunlight early in the day. Early morning sunlight does not have the high ultra-violet intensity that midday sun does. So, take a 20-minute walk in the early part of the day with your skin exposed to sunlight. This will give you the benefits without the risks of over-exposure.
2. Alternately, take a 20-minute walk in the evening with your skin exposed to sunlight. There are fewer UV rays in the evening than at midday, though more than in the morning. This will have a less dramatic effect than morning sun but will still provide you with many of the same benefits.
3. Never expose your skin to midday sun for long periods of time. Wear clothing that covers most of your skin and wear a hat that provides shade for your face and ears.
4. Certain nutrients work well to protect against sun damage:

1.  
   1. Essential fatty acids interact with Vitamin D in your skin to create a bulwark of protection against harmful radiation.
   2. Vitamin C quenches smoldering fires of oxidative stress once they have begun.
   3. Antioxidants, such as green tea (Energy Now!) and those found in berries (Adaptogen 10 Plus) can help protect against DNA damage from radiation.

All these are excellent strategies for dealing with the stress of too much sun.

What about sunscreen?
The discussion about sunscreen is full of heated rhetoric. The first thing I will say about using sunscreen is that it is completely up to you: it’s your choice! I would also point out that people have lived outdoors for thousands of years without serious risk from sun exposure. The increase in skin cancer risk came about as a “perfect storm” of severely polluted air, a low antioxidant/nutrient diet and the 40-year tanning craze that followed World War II.

The truth is that more people die of cancer related to Vitamin D deficiency than of skin cancer caused by sunburn. Again, get some morning and evening sunshine for good health, never get a sunburn and keep your skin covered when you are exposed to midday sun. Beyond these recommendations, do what seems reasonable to you!

Total health
The health of our skin can tell us much about the health of our entire body. We naturally desire that “healthy glow” and beautiful skin. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? We have a tool to assess our internal health immediately at our disposal: our skin. All we have to do is learn to listen to the message of healthy skin!

  Take Control of Your HealthFor healthy skin:

• Eat healthy fats and take OmegaPrime to help form the foundation
• Take Joint Complex for healthy collagen
• Drink plenty of water
• Eat an antioxidant-rich diet
• Take a specific antioxidant, such as Adaptogen 10 Plus or Energy Now!
• Use topical antioxidants frequently
• Get appropriate sunshine – never burn!
  • Get your sun exposure early in the day
  • Alternately, get your sun exposure in the evening
  • Wear long pants and long sleeves during midday
  • Wear a hat that provides shade for your face and ears
  • Take EFAs, Vitamin C and antioxidants for

OK, this may seem a little weird. It is definitely unexpected. But I recently read about a newly discovered process for turning the food we eat into energy: exercise. I found this pathway in two medical journals: one for children and the other for seniors – two groups at opposite ends of the energy-production spectrum.

Normally, humans turn food into energy through metabolism – a Greek word that describes how heat and light are created by burning wood in a fire. Metabolism is an example of controlled inflammation: the “fire” inside you that turns food into energy. We burn some of that energy at rest, but we burn more of it when we exercise.

Chicken or egg?
We need energy to exercise. But now it seems that exercise is itself a source of energy. So, the question becomes, do fitness fanatics exercise because they have a lot of energy? Or, does exercise give our “health nut” friends the energy we envy?

As it turns out, the answers to both questions is yes!

We create energy as we burn sugars (carbohydrates), protein and fats. These are called macronutrients. Each has a burn-rate that supplies us with fuel: sugar burns quickly, protein takes longer to burn but the undisputed champion of stamina is healthy dietary fat.

Dietary fats burn slowly. The fats that we don’t harvest as fuel for energy production are used in creating certain structures inside our body. For example, brain cells are made mostly of fats. The healthier the fats are in our diet, the healthier our brain may become. Hormones are made mostly of fats. The healthier the fats are in our diet, the better our hormones will balance. Cholesterol is made of fat. The healthier the fats are in our diet – you guessed it! – the healthier our cholesterol levels will be.

For stamina, a healthy brain, balanced hormones and optimum cholesterol, we need healthy fats.

Energy from exercise
Fats recycle in our body when we exercise. For example, fats may become cholesterol. Some of our healthy cholesterol may end up in our skin where hormones interact with sunlight to produce Vitamin D. Vitamin D then transports unused fats and cholesterol from our skin into our muscles. In this way, fats are recycled and cholesterol is kept low.  That’s why people with low Vitamin D levels often have high cholesterol levels: Vitamin D transports fats so they may be burned in the fires of metabolism.

Vitamin D recycles minerals. That’s why people with low Vitamin D levels also have low bone mineral density – a condition leading to osteoporosis. Vitamin D recycles hormones as well. That’s why people with low levels of Vitamin D have the highest risk of Metabolic Syndrome, a disorder characterized by insulin resistance (insulin is a hormone) and other hormone imbalances.

As it turns out, our body recycles fats with Vitamin D and it recycles Vitamin D through strenuous muscle exertion – exercise! Even spending appropriate time in the sun and taking Vitamin D-rich supplements will not recycle Vitamin D unless you also exercise. To recap:

1. Strenuous exercise activates Vitamin D.
2. Vitamin D activates the hormone insulin to start the fires of metabolism.
3. Then, Vitamin D recycles fat from the blood and skin to burn in those fires as fuel for more activity.

So it seems that expending energy activates the pathway to give us more energy. It reminds me of an old saying: The less you move, the less you want to move and the less you are able to move; the more you move, the more you want to move and the more you are able to move!

Conclusion
The journal articles concluded that the more Vitamin D children had in their growing bodies, the less likely they were to suffer a muscle or bone injury. Also, the more Vitamin D a senior had in their body, the less likely they were to fall and suffer an injury. Finally, at any age, energy levels and activity levels were bound together by Vitamin D levels.

For healthy energy, we need a balanced diet and supplements that support healthy levels of fat and Vitamin D. And we need activity because energy, it seems, begets more energy!

• Eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables:  5 servings for children, 7 for women and 9 for men
• Eat healthy fats including olive oil, peanut oil, avocados, nuts, seeds and cold-water fish (salmon, trout, herring, etc.)
• Take Omega-3 supplements every day
• Take Vitamin D according to your need:
  • VitaCal-Mag D (under 30 years old with no bone-health issues)
  • Bone Growth Factor (over 30 or any age if you have risk factors)
  • Leanology Capsules (those with low Vitamin D and high body fat)
• Exercise at least ½ hour daily, most days of the week
• Include both aerobic and resistance exercise

Learn more!

• Exercise and Bone Health
• Exercise After 50

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports…

• Sun Damage
• Test Yourself: Body Mass Index

    New! – Wellness Talks With Brazos Minshew

Listen to TriVita’s Chief Science Officer, Brazos Minshew, speak on a range of vital health topics. These talks will help you learn more about the science behind different TriVita products, as well as how they can help you and others with different health problems.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 

Stress…it’s all around us – at our jobs, in our schools, on the highway and inside our homes. Stress not only makes you feel anxious and nervous, it may also contribute to serious health problems. Research has linked chronic stress with a variety of diseases, including diabetes, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, weight gain, immune disorders, skin conditions and rheumatoid arthritis. But while stress may be inevitable in today’s world, the key to maintaining health is knowing how to properly manage stress.

As a medical doctor with a strong belief in God’s Pathway to Healing, I know there are safe and effective ways to ease stress in our lives. Studies show that nutrients like magnesium and B-vitamins, and herbs like ginseng and magnolia extract, can lower the stress response, helping our bodies to handle stress better. Additionally, herbs such as passionflower, chamomile and gotu kola have long been used to promote calmness, relaxation and well-being.

Based on my years of medical practice and research, I’ve formulated Stress Support with nine all-natural, stress-fighting ingredients. It’s a unique formulation designed for people who may be experiencing an especially stressful time in their lives, or for anyone who needs help dealing with the stresses of day-to-day living. Stress Support won’t take stress out of your life, but it will give you the nutritional support you need to cope with stress – and that can make all the difference.

Dr. Reginald Cherry

www.drcherry.com