Health-Essentials.info Newsletter for January 2008

Greeting from Lincoln, Nebraska.  I sincerely hope that your new year has started out well, and that it will prove to be a year of health and happiness for you and yours.

 

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Thieves products for the cold and flu season:

Updated September 2010

I have found that the On Guard line of products from dōTERRA^® is superior to the Thieves products in a number of way.  They are purer, more potent and have a much nicer fragrance.  I recommend them heartily.

 

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A funny thing happened on the way to writing this newsletter.

I had just been to the Post Office, to mail off some orders (thank you very much).  On my way there, I was sucking on a Thieves^® Hard Lozenge, and was just finishing it when I walked in the door and took my place in line.  An elderly gent inquired of the person behind him if she smelled this wonderful scent.  His impression was of sage.  That lady answered "Yes", but thought it smelled more like some spice.  "Maybe cinnamon."  The lady in front of me said that it smelled like Holiday baking, of some sort.  "Whatever it is, it sure smells good."  Then, they all looked at me; so, I had no choice but to admit that it was my Thieves^® lozenge. 

I explained what it was, and that I used Thieves^® lozenges as my first defense against colds and flu.  It lead to a rather active discussion about essential oils and natural health alternatives over the next few minutes; and, after passing out my business card, I was feeling pretty good about it all.

When I got up to the window to mail off my packages, I discovered that the clerk had a whopper of a cold.  After a few quips about hot, spiced Captain Jack Morgan, we talked about the advantages of the Thieves^® lozenges a bit.

After that, what I wanted to do was come home and write this newsletter.  What I did instead was get sick.

Okay, I realize that this isn't the highest endorsement of a product.  At least, not at first glance.  But, let me offer some perspective:

• First of all, there's me.  I've had an immuno-suppressive disorder for most of my life.  I very nearly didn't graduate from high school, due to my many absences for illness.  And, for most of my life, the area where I was the most susceptible to problems has been my respiratory system.
• Secondly, there's my wife.  Like a lot of people, she ran herself down "a bit" over the Holidays.  As a result, she caught a cold.  Since we live in close proximity, avoiding exposure was impossible.

Now, normally, I'd have had a drop-dead (hopefully!!!) cold within a day or two.  But, this year, we had the benefit of the Thieves^® line of products.

• I have been taking a few drops of the Thieves^® blend, diluted in Blue agave nectar, for some time now.  I do it just as a supplement.  It's good for the immune system, good for the heart and blood sugar levels, and really gives me an overall boost.
• Now, with the Inner Defense, there's an even more convenient way to ingest the benefits of the Thieves^® blend, along with oregano, thyme and citronella.  Amazing stuff, that.
• Linda and I have also been using the Thieves^® Foaming Hand Soap; and, because you simply can't go running off to wash your hands every time you blow your nose, we made frequent use of YL's new Thieves^® Waterless Hand Purifier.  It's really convenient to use, smells great and works into the skin quickly and cleanly.
• And, whenever I felt like a cold might be coming on, I took a couple of Thieves^® Hard Lozenges.  I've knocked down half a dozen colds with this since autumn.

Together, the Thieves products left me feeling stronger and more defended against colds and flu than any time I can remember.  So, what got me?

Well, I did.

Updating my websites, with price changes and various odds-and-ends, I'd been putting in very long hours.  Some days, over a three-week period, had been 14+ hours long, generally without much of a break.  (When I'm working on code, I don't think I even blink.)  With the help of the Thieves^® products, I had been handling all of this quite well, actually.  I was really impressed with how I was not only avoiding Linda's cold, but able to work so effectively, for so many hours a day, without feeling run down and drained.

But then, I had an especially long day (about 18 hours) at the same time that Linda, feeling especially bad from her cold, failed to keep up with the Thieves^® Waterless Hand Purifier.  As focused on my work as I was, I probably got a little lax with hygiene, as well.  And whammy!

The point of this sad story is this: To boost your immunity during the cold and flu season (and to avoid spreading it around to others), there are several things you can do.  (You can see more on this at An All-Natural Approach to Avoiding the (Bird) Flu: A safe and effective alternative to vaccination.)  Getting adequate rest and practicing good hygiene are especially critical.  And, despite succumbing in time, I'm very impressed with the power of the Thieves line of products to support immunity and good hygiene.  My feeling is that they will not only help you to avoid getting sick, they will add a new strength and vitality to your day-to-day life.

StemEnhance^® for spinal injuries

One of the products I offer on my Essential-Vitamins.com™ website is a stem cell enhancer called (ingeniously enough) StemEnhance^®.  It's an all-natural botanical extract that has been demonstrated to boost the level of adult stem cells in the bloodstream by up to 35%, and to facilitate their migration into damaged tissues, enhancing the body's own, innate renewal system.

I've been using this product for about two years now, and I'm really impressed with what it has done for my overall sense of well-being.  One of the things I've noticed is that my back is much stronger; an important benefit for me, since I hurt my back running cross country in high school and, with sitting at a computer for so many hours a day, I seem to have developed a floppy disk.  (Okay, I'm sorry.  That's a pretty bad joke.)  I also give it to my Great Pyrenees, with amazing benefits (you can read about that at here).

This is a product that I'd recommend to anyone, especially if you have back or joint problems, issues with your heart, liver or kidneys, or any sort of inflammatory situation anywhere in the body.

But, I've been asked a few times over the past couple of months if I think StemEnhance^® would be helpful in the case of paralysis from a spinal injury.  So, let me clarify my position on this.

StemEnhance^®is a really amazing product that can be of substantial benefit to any number of health issues; however, it is not stem cell therapy.  It offers powerful support for your body's own, innate renewal system; but, the number of adult stem cells involved in this are much fewer in number than in the therapies you hear about in the media.  Also, with stem cell therapies, the cells are injected into the area being treated; they do not circulate throughout the body, as with StemEnhance^®.  So, the effect is significantly different.

That said, it is entirely possible that StemEnhance^® might be beneficial, on a smaller scale, for those with spinal cord injuries.  With a two-capsule dose taken every six hours, you can maintain an elevated level of circulating adult stem cells.  If this is started very soon after injury, when the chemical signals in the body are the strongest, I would think that a higher number of stem cells would be called into service at the injury site.  And, if done in conjunction with RainDrop, using oils that help with nerve regeneration, and the Pointer Technique (described in the Essential Oils Desk Reference, page 462), there should be enhanced benefits.

But, when I started on StemEnhance^®, it took me about five months to know for sure that it was really making a difference for me.  You should not expect a miracle. 

In the case of a spinal cord injury, taking StemEnhance^® would not do any harm.  It might offer some benefits.  But, you should never think of it as therapy or treatment, per se; but, as an adjunct to whatever else you can do to affect recovery.