Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

How should mentally healthy people act? Could you put this into words if you were asked?

In referencing a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who once said of obscenity-"I know it when I see it."

Most people, now days, could not accurately describe, or even recognize the many vast emotional complexities of a normal, healthy human mind. Over the last 30 years, emotional illnesses have been, conveniently, invented to market specific designer drugs, and this dumbing down of our cultural intellect has a lot of people totally confused about how a normal and healthy mind reacts to problematic events in our lives. But of course, you would recognize how a normal and healthy state of mind would react to challenging problems if you saw it, couldn't you?

A healthy emotional state is not always absent of negative emotions such as fear, anger, or sadness. There are people in federal prisons for committing heinous crimes against their fellow man. They show no emotional remorse or anxiety for the things that they have done. They are, therefore, labeled as having antisocial or abnormal personalities.

A mentally healthy person can feel, and successfully manage, a wide range of emotions. I believe this to be one of the main reasons why we are here in the first place. A higher source designed each of us to be able to, naturally, gravitate towards the higher emotional states of happiness, love, and joy.

A lot of us have had to live through some really tough times. These rough times can definitely take their toll on the physically and mentally healthiest of people. How an individual manages all of the negative emotions that arise from these challenging situations says a lot about someones coping skills.

Another good indicator of sound mental health is if he or she is capable of having an open relationship that is mostly honest, supporting, and trusting. Can this person manage their responsibility and productivity between work and family? How about balancing their freedom with limitations?

People who are mentally healthy will be more likely to recognize rational limits. A quote from the famous psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud, who said-"love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness. When we feel these two things are being threatened, a mentally sound person should be able to recognize the need for assistance when they think they need it by taking advantage of any available outside resources ( beyond themselves ) such as counseling, talking to a trusted friend or family member, or using self-help courses and books.

Knowing that you are never alone, and that you do not have to struggle or cope with troubled times all by yourself, is not about admitting defeat, failure or a weakness. If you think that a mentally healthy person should be void of all negativity or struggle, then those are the people who are, on the average, the farthest away from being mentally sound.

Most of us need a little help from each other, every now and then, to get us through the really tough times. We could use less put-downs of ourselves, and stop doubting our entitlement to deserving a happier and better life. A lot of us don't know ourselves nearly as good as we think we do.

As young children, from our earliest moments of understanding, we believed just about everything we were told. We developed certain attitudes from our family backgrounds. Some of these unproductive attitudes are so subtle in nature that we do not even realize that we have, sometimes, carried them right on into adulthood. They have created expectations that are so unrealistic that they have influenced our behavior in nearly everything we do, or have ever done, without our realizing it.

Can you imagine what it would do to your mind if, as a small tot, you had grown up being repeatedly told that you were going to be the ruler of an entire nation, because you had been born into a family of wealth and hierarchy? How about the opposite? What if you had grown up being told that your options of amounting to anything at all were rather limited and hopeless because you had been born into a poor family?

I don't believe any one of us came here to have the ultimate perfect life. If this were true, then how boring things would quickly become, and how would we ever experience the joy of a much needed improvement in certain areas of our lives? We are all pretty much the same, we each feel the very same emotions. We must have come here to experience the different contrast of all of them. A healthy mind just knows that if we can think it, we can create it. If we believe in ourselves enough, then we most certainly can achieve some of our highest dreams.

We must, therefore, be very mindful about what we are always thinking and creating. It is absolutely critical that we filter through our thoughts, ideas, and emotions on a daily basis. Have faith that you will meet the right people to give you some of the toughest life lessons you never wanted to get, and on the flip side of that very same coin, you will also meet the right people to get some of the most wonderful, loving life lessons you ever hoped to have. The hardest part, is trusting that wherever you are right now is always the perfect place for you to be in the present moment, and believing that you will soon have what you can not see, hear, touch, smell, or taste.

But, it will be delayed, somewhat, in coming to us if we can not get a handle on our emotions, by getting rid of the negative knee-jerk reactions we have to our problem situations, such as impatience, doubt, anger, and fear. From improving the outcomes of our relationships with others to bettering our career outlook, this book can help you sort through the muck that must be cleared from your mind that holds you back from getting what you want.

Emotions, they are the biggest part of who we are. We can learn how to understand their meanings and to manage our lives for the best possible experience we came here to get, in living more fulfilled lives on this planet we call 'Earth'.

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

As human beings, a lot of us tend to work way to hard to achieve the impossible. We mess things up and complicate our goals, unnecessarily. A higher, deeper part of us truthfully believes we can have it all, while a smaller, selfish, and fearful ego part of us tells us there is no way we can have what we desire and dream of having.

Of course, having it all is going to mean something different to everyone. And, what seems to confuse our higher self (who we really are) more than anything, is the constant daily assault of false advertising that comes via the mainstream media sources we expose ourselves to like television, radio, magazines, and newspapers. The product marketing sector of our modern day culture spoon feeds us many lies, therefore, it really becomes difficult to determine if we are only striving for the things we think we are supposed to want, or if some of our goals really are not ours and belong to someone else.

Take this as an example, do you believe drug companies really have the only magical one-pill solution to most of your health problems? Do you really believe that you will not have to lift a finger in changing any negative aspects about your life to get the results they are promising? Have you ever questioned the logic presented at the end of the drug commercial, "when diet, lifestyle, and exercise fail, then maybe XYZ is right for you. Talk to your doctor."

Be a myth buster in asking intelligent questions, because diet, lifestyles changes, and exercise does not usually fail too many people. It's sad but true, but many people are influenced by fear mongering tactics, slick advertising campaigns, and the opinions of family and friends.

At times, even the most independent of thinkers can be susceptible to second-guessing themselves. When you over think something you are also limiting your true potential. It's a form of playing it safe. When we are lying to ourselves, basically, we are giving ourselves permission to say 'no' to something.

Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it's not. They say too much of anything is not good for you. I think that's true, always try to seek a balance.

What are some of the circumstances going on in your life that are troubling you? What kind of stories are you telling yourself that are keeping you from fulfilling your dreams?

The working mom example is a common dilemma for many women. Whatever reasons you are choosing to work, because you feel it's a necessity or you want a career, it can be overwhelming for those who try to work and raise a family. I have been there, and it was very challenging.

There are going to be times when you feel so stressed when your house is often messy, not enough time for more nutritious home cooked meals, and you feel like you should be more involved with your kids at school. Plus, being a lovely and ravishing companion for your husband or boyfriend.

Sometimes, the harder you work in keeping all those balls juggling in the air, the more you begin to feel like a loser. Maybe this low feeling has something to do with expectations. How high are yours? Are they set, unrealistically, too high?

Take a real long, good look at your family. Maybe your house isn't kept as neat and tidy as you would like it to be, ALL OF THE TIME.

Maybe, your kids aren't as polite as you would like them to be ALL OF THE TIME.

And, maybe that last home cooked meal you prepared did arrive at your house via the Colonel. In that moment, when you and your family gathered around the table to share this meal, did they seem to be pleased that you thought about them ? Were they all, for the most part, happy and healthy?

Maybe you are the only one present, most of the time, who thinks you can't have it all.

Are you killing yourself, in being who you really aren't, to try to be something your family really is not interested in? Does your family really care if you haven't had time to run the vacuum today, or would they rather spend time connecting with you instead? Do your kids and significant other appear to be happy with frozen pizza and a salad for supper, and have more of your attention? Maybe, they could care less about your hang-ups about perfection. Because, your hang-up is going to cost you in ways that only serve to make you unhappy, if you hold on to it.

Maybe gracefully letting go of this notion is the KEY to having it all. Because the truth is, you can have it all, sometimes, just not ALL OF THE TIME.

There are plenty of lies being believed out there. Some people really believe we can't have lots of money and have wonderful, fulfilling relationships at the same time. Or, that being poor is more noble than being rich, and so many others.

I recently found an inspiring author by the name of Susan James. She also offers several different subject courses on personal development. There is also lots of free stuff on her site to take advantage of if you feel like you don't have the extra money to buy books.

Susan writes in a style that you can relate easily to, in helping you bust some of the myths in your life. I suggest starting with the Manifesting 101 & Beyond series of articles. I love them and their free. I think you will enjoy reading them too. What have you got to lose, and what might you gain?

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

No matter how long you have been interested in a particular subject, in studying it intently or living it, you will always be discovering important aspects about it that you never knew before. That seems to be the nature of all of life in general, and you will eventually come to realize that no matter how much you know in your present moment of awareness you will never know all there is to know about your subject of interest, or anything else. Even the so-called pros or experts have their new light-bulb moments of new discoveries too, and just as often as the rest of us.

That, I think, keeps the whole game of living interesting with plenty of contrast. If we knew everything there was to know about life, or our field of interest, then how quickly would we become bored with it all? When it comes to dietary supplementing, I know a fair share of knowledge about it compared to someone who is interested just enough for the sake of their health, but not really interested in taking the time or interest to learn more about it themselves. This is why I do what I do here on this web page, it fills a helpful need to others. A lot of people find learning about nutritional knowledge outrageously boring. I love learning more about it. I believe living with someone who was seriously mentally ill, for 29 years, had something to do with why I gravitated towards nutrition.

It made sense to me, and I truly believed in it. When I began dabbling with it, over 10 years ago, I managed to gradually eliminate all of the physical health problems that were limiting my enjoyment of life. Of course there are many things I still do not know, but I continue to read, study, and apply from the experts. I realize that in sharing what has worked for me, may not necessarily work, completely, in every area for you. Why? Because, everyone will have some variances in their nutritional needs, have different metabolic rates, and noticeable differences in lifestyles.

Americans spend a huge amount of money on dietary supplements each year. More will be spent each year than the year before. Why? Because, it simply makes sense to a whole lot of people. Strangely, though, despite this fact, some forms of chronic disease rates have not gotten any better or changed much, and others have actually gotten worse.

One thing seems to be apparent, despite the large amount of money people are spending on them, they do not seem to be making much more of an improvement on diseases than pharmaceuticals. The problem may lie in being able to find quality assured brands of supplements. That will require you to do some homework in researching companies that use real whole food ingredients with a minimal amount of processing, and not synthetic substances that have been altered in a lab. It can be confusing for people who don't know where to start.

Remember, the first rule about supplementing is this, supplements can not make up for not eating right in the first place. Supplements are designed to help you take in more of certain kinds of food groups that you may not be getting enough of in an overall well balanced diet. And well established diseases are probably not going to respond very well to synthetic nutrients, just like diseases do not respond very well to chemical drugs.

Another fact that has come to my attention recently, is that you can not always judge the quality of a supplement by its price. But overall, the best rule of thumb, most of the time, is the cheaper they are the more likely you are wasting your time and money. Of course there will always be an exception to the rule, occasionally. Most companies who use quality raw food ingredients, will voluntarily adhere to quality control standards. And, even if they do, it still may not necessarily be a completely safe supplement to take.

Back to the first paragraph of this post. Remember when I said you will always be learning new things through out your entire life, and you will often be discovering new things you didn't know yesterday? Well...last week my son sent me a phone text message. Mom, look up 'magnesium stearate'. He told me he had been listening to a radio broadcast, and had heard the message that this additive was a potential health hazard in dietary supplements.

Knowing that his mom would be really interested in this juicy tidbit, I was on it like a hunting dog. I looked it up here.What I learned there concerned me, and decided I had to help pass this message on to you. I was only thinking about how many supplements a lot of people take. Some people take an unrealistic amount of them everyday. We are sadly, a pill popping culture.

I take a few, not a lot, but of the ones I do take, I examined the labels of the ones I was not so sure of. Turns out, that my chewable digestive enzyme tablets, and a well-known and respected brand of garlic supplement tablet had magnesium stearate in the list of ingredients.

Was I disappointed? Well, yes and no. Yes because I pay a little more for these products, because I shop for them at my local health food store thinking they are better products than what I would, most likely, find in big discount store chain or grocery store. And no, because now I know more than I did yesterday, and I will be looking harder for a company that knows enough to not put this junk in an, otherwise, fine nutritional dietary supplement.

You can bet I will be scrutinizing labels more carefully from here on out. I have also learned that this additive is not as likely to be present in a liquid supplement mixture. Most of us choose tablets or capsules out of convenience. Maybe the supplement industry needs more customers to contact them personally with this information, and together we can help influence sales enough to let them know that we don't want this stuff in our supplements. Declining sales, due to widespread knowledge like this, usually gets the message across pretty clearly, and helps the industry regulate itself in customer demand.

This additive is in a lot of higher-end priced nutritional supplements. So, no matter how much you pay for a nutritional supplement, there is no guarantee that it will NOT be in the product. I'm honored to be a part of this team, and you will not find this additive in this fine nutritional supplement.

What fluid makes healthier diets, supplements, and other complimentary techniques work even better?

Water.

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

While it is true that improving your diet, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of fresh air and sunshine will go a long way in keeping you feeling energized and fit for life, those things alone are not capable of solving all of your problems. Undoubtedly, it is a good beginning, but it is only half done.

Whether very many of us would choose to believe it or not, there is another really simple thing anyone can do to help boost their intelligence, strengthen memory recall, and stabilize emotions. Take a guess as to what you think that, really, simple thing might be.

Allowing yourself more sleep time. Yes, nothing more than sleep. For a lot of people, sleep seems to be low priority or a dirty word. Sounds easy enough in theory, yet how many of us think we need to burn the candle at both ends these days? Getting enough sleep on a regular basis seems to be one of the hardest things to do in this high-tech age.

Everyday we are bombarded with thousands of different types of distractions ( stimuli ). We, often, try to catch the last few minutes of a television broadcast, surf the net one last time for the day, or try to iron out family differences right before we go to bed for the night. These are a few of the first steps we take in cheating ourselves out of more sleep time.

And it can get worse, once you finally make it to bed and lay yourself down, many times you find your brain does not want to cooperate in becoming relaxed enough to drift off to sleep. Pessimistic or problematic thoughts can keep you from relaxing enough to go to sleep, or keep you up half the night, cheating you out of even more sleep. Sleep deprivation builds up over days, weeks, and months. It is not easy to make up the loss once it begins to stack up on you.

Current research is showing and uncovering every day, that the brain remains extremely active while we are asleep. During sleep, our brains are busily copying, filing, and storing bits and pieces of information that got past our perception filters during our awake time.

While we are asleep, one of the many tasks our brains perform is helping us to find meaning in the bits and pieces of, seemingly, random information we have learned throughout the day. The brain repeats the patterns of neural activity performed during the wake cycle, thus helping the strengthening of your memories long-term potentiation (recall) at will.

So, it definitely looks like getting more sleep will help make us smarter, more physically coordinated, and emotionally stable. Like duh, who doesn't know this? The big question is how do we go about getting more of it? I believe it comes down to making it a top priority in your life.

We sleep through about one third of our lives, yet why we must has remained a mystery up until now. Everyone is a little different when it comes to sleep requirements. Some of us feel refreshed on as little as six hours a day, while others need, seven, eight, nine, or even ten. It is agreed by most sleep experts though, that any less than six hours on a regular basis is trouble waiting to happen.

Lack of sleep can cause all kinds of problems.

It may be mainly psychological, but when I can't fall asleep (which is more of a problem for me than waking and not being able to go back to sleep) I find that drinking a glass of raw milk before bedtime helps relax me better. I think a lot of people use this technique.

But, whatever works for you is great, if it works, right?

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

Many years ago, I began to see through the prescription drug fallacy. This actually came about due to my living through one of the worst periods of my life. But, in thinking back on it, now, I did learn a lot from the whole experience, and it wasn't all that bad either. In fact, I'm grateful to this experience because it changed my life for the better.

I married extremely young, at age 19. My husband and I were both the same age, and not long into the union (about 3 1/2 years), he was diagnosed as having Bipolar 1 disorder. For 25 years of our married life he was on multiple prescriptions. These different drugs had very few positive effects on his mental health condition, and plenty of negative side effects on his emotions. This led him to drinking heavily, using street drugs, and denying that anything was seriously wrong with him.

Remembering back, he told me, that deep down inside, he did not believe that the prescription pills he was buying was ever going to make him well. I heard him tell me this many times. I remember thinking, surely he didn't really believe that. But, he must believe it, because he is no better today than he was when this condition came to live with him. We are no longer together anymore, as I believed there was something out there that could help him. I, eventually, let go of thinking that the solution was going to come from prescriptions. I tried getting him to think outside the box but, after all he had been through, he wasn't interested in trying alternative options either. So we finally split for good, 2 years ago.

Thinking even further back, as a small child, I remember seeing a lot of prescription pill bottles bunched up on a table next to a wall in my grandparents dinning room. I think most of us grew up watching our parents, and grandparents, thinking they needed to take pharmacy pills for various different health ailments from time-to-time. Grandma would always have me setting the table for the noon or evening meal. She would then come into the room and start taking pills out of all those bottles, and setting them on her and grandpa's plates. There were at least a half a dozen, or more, different colored pills on each of their plates. I recall asking her, one particular time, what are all of those different pills were for. Her answer was, "when you start to get old, a lot of things don't work right anymore. Your grandpa and I take these pills so things will work right again". I then promptly asked, "well, will you ever get fixed right so you don't have to take them anymore"? She told me, "you know, I really don't know the answer to that, besides you ask too many questions".

My grandparents were, probably, somewhere in their 50's at that time. Not too long from now, I will be in that season of my life too. I am currently 49, and proud to say that I am not taking a prescription drug for a systemic health condition. In a rare moment I might opt to take the smallest dose I possibly can of an over-the-counter pain reliever for some troubling and persistant ache. I seem to need less of these as time goes along, as I have started using strategies such as meditation and The Emotional Freedom Technique to pinpoint the cause of my pain. Unresolved, bottled-up emotions can have a powerful impact on many different issues in your life from physical pain and disease, to staying in dead-end relationships or having a bad game of golf. Our thoughts, absolutely, rule our emotions and our lives.

I can not say that I have always been prescription drug free. Throughout most of my adult life, on up to my mid 40's I have been on a wide variety of man made chemicals from birth control pills (for 18 years) to antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, allergy prescriptions, and acid reflux medications. I don't know why I thought I would have a different or better outcome than anyone else that I had known. I tried to believe in them but, just like my ex, I guess deep down inside I did not really believe they would really fix my problem for good either.

Out of desperation I, gradually, turned to cheaper and simpler options.

I have learned that your brain is a very powerful goal-seeking device. It determines that what you believe in will come true for you. It is also capable, at the same time, of giving an illusion to make you believe something is true. Subconsciously, whatever you intensely believe or feel will actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, let's say that you, intensely, believe that curing any type of health problem is going to be hard or really difficult for you to do. You will, then, find yourself in circumstances and events that will match your expectations with your way of thinking. To further complicate this scenario, feeling hopeless will make you almost blinded to being able to find a simpler or easier way to rid yourself of your current problem.

I know this may be hard for most people to truly understand. I'm not suggesting that you are consciously creating your health struggles because you enjoy it, or hate it. Most people do not like being sick or living in a diseased state. When it comes to this "thinking is believing" stuff, it goes on at a much deeper level inside of you than your intellectual, conscious mind, it comes from your fact oriented subconscious mind.

When it comes to your actual experiences, whether what is happening to you is something you really want, or NOT, both sides of the coin will have an equal effect in you getting to experiencing being RIGHT about what you, truly, believe!

As our thoughts bring on our emotions, we have a powerful, intellectual need to experience consistency in what we believe in, by what happens to us, or has happened to us in the past. We are consciously looking for evidence to back-up the internal stories we tell ourselves. They may be true or out right lies, you will need to question yourself thoroughly to determine what is really going on. Your ego does everything it can to try to protect you from harm. Knowing that you will try to, consciously, create the circumstances that confirms what you believe in, be very careful of what you wish to have. You will probably get it, just make sure it is as good for you as you thought it was going to be.

Along these guidelines, notice that you will attract and are attracted to other people who think a lot like you do. If romantic relationships have been difficult for you before now, we tend to judge our current romantic involvements with our past experiences with them. It is quite possible that you will attract another difficult romantic relationship to you. Changing some of your self-sabotaging behaviors, feelings, and thoughts, regarding romantic expectations, will have a different combination of potential partners being attracted to you. This may even turn a problem relationship around, completely, with your current partner becoming more trusting and less fearful of your motives.

Of course it could go the opposite direction too. Sometimes, when a stressful situation has brought two people together and something happens to alter one person's beliefs, the other person becomes suspicious and distrustful of the other. Maybe they don't see themselves as being needed as much anymore, doubting the other person's intentions, or afraid of this person's new found independence. They may have fell in love with that needy way the other person used to be. Their ego may be telling them, "what is this person trying to pull on me", or the ( mother of all lies )"well maybe doing it this way worked for you, but my situation is totally different, it probably won't work that way for me".

In which case, obviously, you are going to be better off to say good-bye to this opportunity. A better one is on the way, be patient.

Here's the connection, whether it's your health or romantic involvements you are wanting to improve, it all begins by doing something different. You can use your mind to hurt or help yourself. If you keep doing what you have always done, expecting a different outcome, that is what has been called the definition of insanity.

To get a different result, you are going to have to do something that is going to be very hard for you to do. It is not going to be easy, at least at first, to expand yourself outside of your current comfort zone. We all have one, for better or worse, because we naturally cling to what makes us feel safe and secure. Sometimes, as much as we say we want positive changes, we secretly fear them. Why? Because they are unfamiliar to us. When it came to some of the physical health problems I was experiencing ( well over 5 years ago now) I was really afraid of trying something else. Why? Because I was afraid they wouldn't work for me either. I am happy that I went for it anyway, because deep down I knew they had to be better for me than what I was doing. That turned out to match what I truly believed.

But, I was not satisfied with just this one area of my life. I had several other areas of my life that I wanted to improve too. The cosmos ( or God if you prefer ) was testing me to see what I had learned about going outside of my comfort level. Putting a stop to all of the UNTRUE stories is going to be a life-long challenge for me. Most people will agree, when you successfully climb one mountain there will always be another to climb.

For some people, depending on their circumstances, prescription drugs may be a viable, short-term option. I think deep down inside, most of us know that we were never meant to take them for a lifetime. Who's kidding who in this way of thinking?
Are you kidding yourself, or is it the companies who are trying to sell you on this idea? One thing is for sure, this controversy is heating up today, and is not going to be solved tomorrow. Just be aware that, right now, you still have choices. Choose wisely!

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

In the past, I know that I have been guilty of, unfairly, bashing the sickness fighting model of the conventional medical health care system in many of my articles, newsletters, and blog posts. And, beginning now, I would like to make some amends by apologizing for some of my mistakes and failings.

A year ago, I was unexpectedly stricken with a dangerous infection. I succumbed to a bout with bacterial pneumonia. Despite my knowledge and best attempts at eating a healthier diet than most people, and my dedication to getting more physical exercise than the average individual, I still realized that if I had kept trying do rid myself of this thing (whatever it was)it might have killed me. As my core body temperature kept rising, and peaking out at 105 over several days, I finally admitted I needed the help of a conventional doctor, and antibiotics. I knew next to nothing about herbal remedies, and did not trust that I might have been able to figure out any kind of a cure there. I did not have the time for that, obviously.

Bottom line, I knew I did not know enough. Fear can make you do the right thing sometimes, and this was one of those times for me. If I had been having symptoms of a severe cough, or chest pain, I might have suspected pneumonia, but I was not coughing and had no chest pain. Upon listening to my heart and breathing with a stethoscope the doc detected a slight rattle in my chest. This prompted a chest ex-ray and the picture determined that I had developed an infection in my left lung. I was lucky, it was only in one lung. A blood test confirmed that my white blood cell count was off the wall, and that indicated a severe bacterial infection.

Two, very strong, antibiotics were prescribed, and I was feeling much better in about a week. At least I was eating again, and things tasted much better, as I had lost about 10 pounds due to not being able eat much. But, I hated the thought of what those antibiotics had done do my intestinal tract. I did voice my concern about this with my doctor. You see, many people (including me) are very aware of the indiscriminate properties of antibiotics. We know that they not only kill most of the bad bacteria that caused you to get sick, they also destroy a lot of the good germs that can help keep you well, in the future, too. Afterwards, a little bit of both types of bacteria will still remain in your gut. But, in a short amount of time, the bad 'boy' germs will eventually reestablish themselves rather quickly. They will eventually overpower the good 'boy' germs, and you will keep getting sick, and much to often.

Until, that is, you begin to understand more about the benefits that good germ nutrition can have in strengthening your overall health. You must always keep good germs replenished, by doing it often enough, and make it an ongoing necessity in becoming strong enough to fight off the effects of having too much bad bacteria or viruses in your system. The more of them you have inside of you, the more they will be able to help you fight off the bad germs that can harm, or even kill you.

Well...doctors know about the gut stripping side effects of antibiotics too! It's just that most doctors do not routinely dispense this knowledge with their patients freely, unless you know enough to ask them about this truth. My doc advised me to drink some buttermilk or eat some yogurt for a while. This is good advice by the way, but only if it is homemade and not store bought. There is not enough good bacteria in manufactured dairy to do you much good at all. Besides, these products are loaded with unhealthy sugars ( like HFC and artificial sweeteners ), preservatives, and they are pasteurized.

You know, most conventionally trained physicians are not very well versed in the science of diet and nutrition. Many of them are, slowly, coming around in being more open-minded and knowledgeable about it, while many others still feel arrogantly threatened and ignorantly afraid of it. After my bout with one of the worst infections I had ever had in my entire life (at age 48), I decided it was time to learn a little bit more about how good bacteria can help keep you safe and healthy.

I started making kombucha tea about a year ago. It seemed like a much easier, and a much cheaper alternative option, than continually buying probiotics out of the health food store ( some of which are not all that effective and way too expensive anyway ). I don't care much for the taste of homemade yogurt of kiefer. I knew I could not eat or drink this stuff on a daily basis. So, I was searching for something I could easily make myself, and like the taste of, when I stumbled onto kombucha. If you research it, online, be prepared to read some very highly opinionated, negative, and skeptical comments about it, as that is just the nature of some people. By and large, though, most of the information you will find over the internet about kombucha tea will be more positive than negative, and reliable.

I have been making and drinking this tea for about a year now, and I have found that I have not been sick with even so much as a cold. And, while it is still too soon to tell, I have several friends and family making and drinking it as well. I can not vouch for their results just yet. But, they are impressed with what I have managed to achieve with it so far. I have noticed a slight increase in my energy levels, less dry, cracked fingertips during the winter months, and much better bowel elimination. I believe drinking this stuff, everyday, also helps me better assimilate the few dietary supplements I do take. It just seems to compliment my diet, exercise, and overall active lifestyle.

Kombucha will work more efficiently for you, ( and you will read this on KomuchaAmerica's web site ) if you step up your water intake. Increasing your water intake is just a smart thing to do anyway, regardless of what health condition you are trying to improve, especially if you are hoping to lose some unwanted weight.

Recently, this article in a newsletter that I subscribe to ( which is totally free ) caught my attention. I thought I would share it with all of you. According to Jon Barron, a very respected authority in the alternative health field community, are some of his personal views, and conventional medicine's peer related views, on a few of the greatest advancements in modern conventional medicine to date.

Alternately, here are some of modern conventional medicine's worst failures.

In summarization, I feel that until both ends of the total health and wellness industry spectrum models can learn to be more open-minded and respectful with one another, our health and wellbeing is going to continue to hang, dangerously, in the balance. By embracing the good, along with rejecting the bad, in each another's equally prestigious paradigms, true human mind, body, and spirit health and wellness is going to remain stymied for a little while longer yet, if they continue to do battle with one another. However, I do believe we are, now, starting to see some much needed changes.

A little more compassion and understanding on both ends, towards one another's accomplishments and mistakes, would go a long, long way in establishing a more productive collective consciousness that would, ultimately, benefit all of mankind in so many different, and positive, ways.

An agreement in this one, very important, area of our lives would, then, begin to put each one of us on a more equal footing with one another. As to those of us who already know this, because we really do understand how we are all one and the same. You can not help, or hurt, one another without it having a rippling effect on us all, and everything that surrounds us. Yes, or no?

Brenda Skidmore's Health Tips

Water is the 'super' glue that holds the fabric of our lives together. Without it, there is not a single thing that will happen easily. Remember, 'water keeps everything flowing'.

When a person decides to take charge of their physical health they, rightly, determine that it is going to involve eating better. So, they begin to focus on taking in as many healthy nutrients as they possibly can. They start eating fresh whole plant foods, more lean protein, better fats and begin eliminating unproductive beverages like sodas, boughten sugary coffees and teas, and sports drinks.

This is a good start. They may also decide to try adding dietary supplements to further enhance their health goals. This is also a very good thing to do. In the rush for maximizing success, oftentimes, the most important nutrient is overlooked completely. Why?

In our arrogance, and ignorance, we have assumed that improved taste is is preferable to plain or bland. If it tastes better, then manufactured beverages must be a better choice for us than plain old water. The advertising medium that has been used to promote these beverages has worked very well, that is how bottled water has become to be so popular by the way. Many also believe that, if water is in the product then it counts towards daily water intake. Bad mistake, because it sadly does not. Why?

Outside of the WATER base, from which it is made, lurks various other ingredients such as HFC, sugar, artificial sweeteners, additives, caffeine (taste luring addictions are in the container) that your body does not have much use for at all.

Would you be surprised to hear that your body is, roughly, about 75 percent water? How about that your brain is approximately 80 percent water and 20 percent fat? These facts should let you know that water becomes the most important nutrient inside of you. Did you know that losing as little as 5 percent of this fluid can cause fatigue, headaches, confusion, anxiety, memory loss, and elevated blood pressure?

You easily lose this amount every single day by urinating, sweating, and breathing!

Every function that goes on inside of you requires water. Without it, there will be no tissue cell formation, repair, or toxic residue elimination. All the dieting improvements, supplementing, and physical exercise in the world will only take you so far. By the time you feel thirsty, you have already lost about 2 percent of the water fluid from your system.

Carry it with you at all times, and replenish it hourly. You know you are getting enough when the color of your urine is pale or almost clear. When you are drinking enough the dietary salt scare becomes a non-issue. Water and salt work together as partners.

Take your physical health to a whole new level by choosing to drink water three fourths of the time. You don't have to drink it to the point of drinking nothing else. That is not what I am saying here. Some people will make this effort much harder than it has to be. You can include fluids like fresh squeezed fruit juices, raw milk, and homemade green and herbal teas. You can have a cup of coffee. Just remember for every cup you have you will need to replace the water loss you will experience, due to caffeine's diuretic effects, with a glass of water to make up for this loss. Dump regular sugar, altogether, and try sweetening with 'Stevia' instead. A much healthier way to sweeten and you get the benefit of the sweet taste too.

Having an emotional high on being able to get your physical health back in line is one of life's greatest pleasures. That may inspire you to delve, further, into more of life's spirtual highs, and help you dispel some of your untrue stories about yourself and others.

And, as Gary Craig (founder of the Emotional Freedom Technique) explains in his free basic manual, water can make the difference between getting results or not. Learning this technique can become one of the most healing experiences of your life.

It's a funny thing, people make choices every day. And, people who think they just could not stand the thought of drinking more water soon come around to the idea. That is, if they give themselves half a chance. I have encouraged this healthy habit with my family and friends. Several years have passed, now, and they all admit there are positive health benefits associated with it. Many have reduced their weight, have more energy, and find that digestive health improves. I have also loaned out Dr. B's book so many times that it is quite worn around the edges of the pages. It does change people's attitude, and it may do that for you too.

My friends are still taking it seriously, and continue to drink the water. Amazing. isn't it! Such a simple thing to do, with so many positive health benefits. It almost makes modern medicine look, ineffective, overpriced, and greedy by comparison. What is needed here is compassion. Simple cures like healthy food, drink, and physical exercise goes a long way in fixing what is wrong. At the same time, every now and then, we need a little chemical intervention. Not often, but sometimes. I think this particular industry (and mindset) is very afraid of losing their monopoly. What do you think?