Extreme Health, with Dr David Hill of dōTERRA^®

On June 10, 2010, Dr David Hill, Chief Medical Advisor and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at dōTERRA^® gave a webinar entitled "Extreme Health", in which he gave an overall perspective of what it means to be healthy.  Things zipped by pretty quickly, so it was hard to catch everything he had to say; but the following are (extrapolated) notes I took during his presentation.  You can see the recording of it at www.builddoterra.com, under the Webinar Archive link.

Some of this information can be found in the LifeLong Wellness Brochure, as well.

What is health?

At its most basic element, health is the body's ability to function normally, so that you can do the things you need to do.  The key to this is having normal metabolism.  And, while many people think of metabolism in terms of how quickly you can burn calories to lose weight, it involves much more than this.  Two key components of metabolism are: 1) the production of energy and 2) the elimination of toxins from the body.

Signs of metabolic compromise include:

• Pre-mature aging,
• Lack of energy,
• Increased toxic load, generally because of poor lifestyle choices,
• Weight imbalance, which involves more than being either too fat or too thin; it involves the whole scope of metabolic function, inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome (overweight, high blood pressure, insulin insensitivity).

Foundation for Health

There are a few basic things which provide a solid foundation for health.  These include:

• Eating right, with a diet of whole, natural foods,
• Getting enough of the right kind of exercise,
• Getting enough rest and managing stress,
• Reducing your toxic load,

These are all lifestyle issues.  But, you also need to:

• Practice informed self care,
• Get proactive medical care.

Following these principles should, in a perfect world, help you to maintain your health at the highest levels.  But, we don't live in a perfect world.  For one thing, eating right is almost impossible to do, because our food source has changed.  Foods simply aren't produced in a way that guarantees their nutritive value; the emphasis, from seed to market, is placed on yield and profits.

• Hybrid seed may produce more yield per acre, but the harvest is devoid of food value.  The land is sterilized with synthetic chemicals, so the foods lack critical enzymes and probiotic organisms.  Crops are picked before fully ripened (to help with transporting them to market), and so they lack many of the most important nutrients, which only come into the food in the last days of ripening.  They are also often laced with synthetic chemicals, which create the need for added nutrients, especially antioxidants.
• Animal foods are "factory farmed", where the animals are pumped full of antibiotics and synthetic hormones to keep them alive in stressful environments and speed their growth.

And things don't get better between the farm and your kitchen.

As a result, to complete the foundation for your health, it is important to supplement your diet with key nutrients, like those found in the LifeLong Vitality Pack.  For proper metabolic function, all cells need:

• Metabolic/energy co-factors (like those found in Alpha CRS),
• Essential fatty acids (like those found in EO Mega),
• Vitamins and minerals (like those found in MicroPlex VM).

The importance of dōTERRA's Alpha CRS for your health

Alpha CRS: Cellular Vitality Complex, part of the LifeLong Vitality Pack, supports extreme health in two main ways: 1) by supporting the normal aging process, and 2) by providing energy at the cellular level.  It contains potent levels of super-antioxidant polyphenols, which support healthy cell proliferation and life span, as well as a powerful blend of metabolic factors of cellular energy.

When it comes to aging, you should look at it both in terms of chronological aging and biological aging.  You can't do anything about the chronological aging process (unless you get into cryonics, I guess . . . ).  It just happens.  But, by supporting cellular metabolism, you can have a profound effect on your biological aging, both inside and out.

In the body, old cells die off and new cells are formed on an on-going basis, with each cell containing its own self-destruct mechanism.  To maintain an appropriate biological age, in relation to your chronological age, it's important to keep the ratio of new cells to old cells higher.

And what determines the age of your cells?

The telomeres, which sheath the ends of the cell's chromosomes.  As a normal part of aging, these telomeres become shortened; and when they wear out, the cell dies.  (That's why Dolly, the first cloned sheep, was born old.  Chronologically, she was brand new; but biologically, her chromosomes were the same age as the sheep she was cloned from.  Talk about feeling old before your time . . . )  If the telomeres sheathing the chromosomes of your cells stay intact, you will age biologically at a normal pace.  However, if through compromised metabolism, the telomeres are exposed to free radical damage (oxidative stress) and inflammation, they will wear down at an accelerated rate, causing pre-mature aging.

To protect your cells' telomeres and slow the process of biological aging, you need a diet rich in antioxidants.  But, since most of our food sources today are deficient in antioxidant content, Alpha CRS becomes an indispensable ally to your health.  Each serving provides you with 835 mg of a polyphenol blend, to protect against free radical damage and inflammation, including:

• Baicalin from Scuttelaria root,
• EGCG catechins from green tea,
• Resveratrol from Polygonum cuspidatum,
• Ellagic acid from pomegranate,
• Proanthocyanidins from grape seed,
• Quercetin flavonoid,
• Lutein, and
• Lycopene;

and 360 mg of a cellular energy blend, including

• Acetyl-L-Carnetine (ALC),
• Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA),
• CoEnzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and
• Quercetin.

Alpha CRS also contains 15 mg of dōTERRA's Tummy Taming™ Blend, including the essential oils of peppermint, ginger and caraway seed.

The importance of Alpha CRS's Polyphenol Blend to your aging process

Polyphenols are natural super-antioxidant compounds, often concentrated in the skin of fruits, bark of trees and in seeds, flowers and roots, that protect plants from foraging predators, environmental stressors and oxidative (free-radical) stress.  They offer 70 times more antioxidant protection than vitamins A, C and E.

Why you need to manage oxidative stress and inflammation An important component of the pre-mature aging process is the effect of oxidative stress at the cellular level.  This oxidation creates inflammation, which creates more oxidation, in an on-going cycle, unless there is something introduced to end it. Chronic inflammation can also lead to chronic pain disorders, immune disorders (including auto-immune disorders, like Lupus), heart disease, brain disease (like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's) and some cancers.  Some sources would include diabetes in this list. So, managing free radical damage and the inflammatory response is critical for extreme health.

The benefits of polyphenols include powerful protection for DNA from free-radical damage, support for healthy genetic regulation of cellular lifespan and aging, support for healthy cellular inflammatory response to oxidative stressors, promotion of healthy mitochondria biogenesis and energy production.

The potency of antioxidants is measured by the ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) scale.  Alpha CRS scores 5,900+, which is equivalent to more than 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3.33 servings of NingXia Red, 3 servings of MonaVie or 9.5 servings of XanGo.

The importance of Alpha CRS's Polyphenol Blend to your cellular energy and toxicity

The polyphenols in Alpha CRS play another critical role in your overall health, having to do with cellular energy and toxicity.  Energy, as ATP, is generated in your cells by the combination of oxygen and food molecules in the mitochondria.  As you age, this mitochondrial function can degenerate, due to fewer mitochondria per cell, leading to decreased cellular energy (less efficient output) and increased exposure to toxic metabolic wastes.

But, the polyphenols in Alpha CRS promote mitochondrial biogenesis (resulting in more mitochondria per cell) and mitochondrial efficiency (resulting in a greater energy output per cell), as well as better management of toxic mitochondrial byproducts (both in reducing toxic wastes and providing more antioxidant protection for the DNA and other cellular structures).

The importance of Alpha CRS's Cellular Energy Blend

In order to produce energy, carbohydrates are converted into energy in the mitochondria of the cells.  But, for sustained energy production, the cells must be provided with, not only carbohydrates, but energy co-factors, like Acetyl-L-Carnetine (ALC), Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA), CoEnzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and Quercetin.  When cells are supplied with these co-factors, you will feel a natural energy boost, without a following crash or inflammatory response.

The importance of dōTERRA's EO Mega for your health

Essential fatty acids (EFAs, which are differen than essential oils) are critical for your overall health.  Your brain is composed of about 80% fatty acids, and the myelin sheaths protecting your nerves are composed of about 70% fatty acids.  However, fats are not all the same.  Among the different types of fats are omega-3s and omega-6s; omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, while omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory.  These need to be in the proper balance for good health; basically 1:1.

The problem is that the typical American diet is really heavily loaded toward the omega-6 side (from vegetable oils, particularly in processed or fast foods), and the typical ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is something like 15:1.  This results in chronic inflammation.  One way to correct this problem is by supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids.

dōTERRA's EO Mega, part of the LifeLong Wellness Pack, is the ideal omega-3 supplement, providing you with 1000 mg of marine-based omega-3s (fish oil concentrate) and 1000 mg of land-based omega-3s (from flaxseed, pomegranate seed, Evening primrose and cranberry seed oils), along with 60 mg of a certified pure therapeutic-grade^® essential oil blend, including clove, frankincense, thyme, cumin, wild orange, peppermint, ginger, caraway seed and German chamomile, which increases the effect of the omega-3 fatty acids.

It is the perfect antidote for a fast food diet.

The importance of dōTERRA's MicroPlex VM for your health

While it is true that genetics play a role in how we age and our overall health, our genetic profile is only part of the picture.  Genes can be switched on or off by various factors, resulting in a wide variety of outcomes.  Genetic regulators of aging include diet, exercise, body weight and stress, and these have powerful influences over the expression of genes controlling life span.  Poor lifestyle choices, again, lead to oxidative stress, which leads to inflammation, which will damage your genes.

Two things we'll look at here are stress and toxicity.

Proper nutrition (vitamins and minerals): one key to managing stress

In recent years, a lot of research has been done into the effects of stress on your health.  Not all stress is bad stress; we need a certain amount of it to perform at peak levels.  But, when stress becomes overwhelming or unremitting, it affects how our cells function.  There is the generation of more free radicals within the cells, resulting in inflammation and the destruction of telomeres — biological aging.

It has been estimated that about 90% of all doctor's office visits are due to stress-related issues.  It is clear, we need a way to manage stress.  And, closely related to stress is depression.

While there are various ways to deal with stress, something that we have learned about depression shows the importance of proper nutrition for managing it.  In one study, depressed subjects were given a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement over a period of time.  As their bodies were becoming saturated with these nutrients, their mood improved.  What is interesting is that, even after their bodies had become saturated with these nutrients, so their levels of nutrients leveled off, their mood continued to improve.  It's not hard to see how this same process would work in managing stress.

Proper nutrition (vitamins and minerals): one key to managing toxic load

Another important factor in biological aging is the toxic load we carry.  Now, more than ever, our bodies have to deal with toxicities from our air, food and water.  Toxins are simply inescapable.  You can take steps to lessen this load, but in the end, you will have to deal with detoxification.

The body deals with toxins in various ways. 

→ Water-soluble toxins are excreted through sweat and the kidneys.

→ Fat soluble toxins are dealt with through a two-stage process in the liver.

• Phase one: the liver converts fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble toxins, to be excreted through sweat or the kidneys.
• Phase two, the liver combines converted water-soluble toxins with other compounds, through a process called conjugation, so they can be excreted in our urine.

However, for this detoxification to function properly, our livers need to be supplied with ample amounts of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  If the process is inhibited in any way (as by insufficient nutrients), it results in the production of free radicals and inflammation.  But, there is another issue, as well.

 

Toxic overload and obesity

When the liver is overloaded, due to either too many toxins to process or insufficient nutrition to carry out detoxification, the toxins are converted to fat.  With something like 65% of Americans considered to be obese, we can readily see what a problem this is.

Fat cells (adipose cells or adipocytes) are formed from stem cells, through a process of protein activation.  Normally, these fat cells remain at a rather constant number, although their size and fat content can change.  These fat cells store toxicity, walling toxins off from the rest of the body.  However, when the system is overwhelmed with toxins, new fat cells are formed.  So, for effective weight loss, you must address the issue of detoxification.

For that, since our food source has changed so much, supplementation is very important.

dōTERRA's MicroPlex VM, part of the LifeLong Vitality Pack, is the ideal choice.  It offers a balanced formula of essential vitamins for cellular health and vitality, as well as chelated minerals for energy metabolism and cellular function. 

• The vitamins in MicroPlex VM provide antioxidant protection, mediate cellular communication, can act as hormones, regulate tissue growth, assist in enzymatic activity and act as co-factors of cellular metabolism.
• The minerals support almost all biochemical pathways in the body.  They are also essential elements of cell, tissue and organ structures.  They support bone growth and health and are used in energy metabolism.

MicroPlex VM contains chelated minerals, where a mineral is combined with an organic compound to enhance its bioavailability.

dōTERRA's LifeLong Vitality Pack, essential nutrition for your extreme health

dōTERRA's LifeLong Vitality Pack is a foundational supplement set for your overall health.  It will support cellular longevity and life span, cellular energy and metabolism, give powerful protection for your DNA, defend you from free radical damage through a network of antioxidants, boost your immune system, help to manage stress, support cardiovascular health, support bone and joint health, support brain and cognitive health and improve digestion.*

dōTERRA's Slim & Sassy Metabolic Blend

An additional tool to correct a compromised metabolism and support overall health is dōTERRA's new essential oil blend, Slim & Sassy.  It's a blend of grapefruit, lemon, peppermint, ginger and cinnamon that primes your metabolism to support efficient cellular function.  It reduces toxicity, reduces appetite and cravings and supports healthy metabolism and insulin response, helping your tissues to function normally.  Some people find that it gives a good energy boost, as well.

And, while Slim & Sassy is not a weight loss product, as such, it will help you to store less fat in your body.

When you eat too much, your body will store the excess calories as fat.  Fat storage is also related to the types of calories we eat.  The typical American diet of processed or fast foods is something of a double-whammy: too high in both fats and calories, but low in nutrition.  Add to that the emotional component of foods and eating, and the resulting tendency to make poor choices in terms of comfort foods.

How Slim & Sassy can help

Slim & Sassy can help with these issues by helping to regulate metabolism and reduce appetite and food cravings.

• Peppermint oil can help both to curb your appetite and reduce cravings.  This was demonstrated in a study.  Students who used peppermint oil ate 28% fewer calories than those who did not, and those using peppermint oil got 23% fewer of their calories from fats and sugars.
• Citrus oils, like grapefruit and lemon, reduce toxicity and appetite.  They also balance the autonomic nervous system.  Grapefruit oil is great for reducing your toxic load, but it also balances blood sugar levels and improves insulin sensitivity, making Slim & Sassy a great blend to help with Metabolic Syndrome (a combination of overweight, high blood pressure and poor insulin sensitivity).
• Ginger oil stimulates fat cells to release fat (lipolysis), shrinking them down, while cinnamon oil inhibits the forming of new fat cells (adipogenic inhibition).

There are many ways to use Slim & Sassy.  The important thing is just to get it into your body.  You can:

• add it to water,
• put it in capsules or
• put a few drops on your tongue.

Dr. Hill will adds 10-12 drops of Slim & Sassy to every glass of water he drinks throughout the day.  He recommends 6-10 drops in water about 3-5 times per day.  Of course, you should transition into this, not just start with 6-10 drops all at once.  If you are a nursing mother, you should not be as aggressive with Slim & Sassy, and checking with your doctors would not be a bad idea.

Supporting healthy digestion: another key to extreme health

To achieve extreme wellness, Dr Hill also recommends taking GX Assist and PB Assist once every month.  GX Assist is a 10-day cleansing program to rid your digestive tract of parasites and yeast.  This should be followed by PB Assist, a probiotic complex, to restore the flora to your gut.

dōTERRA's Essential Skin Care for healthy skin

dōTERRA^® also has a line of skin care products that will compliment what you are doing on the inside.  Healthy skin comes from what we put on the skin, as much as what we put in our bodies, and these essential oil-enhanced skin care products have been shown to make a dramatic difference in the quality of skin in a short period of time.

My mother is 83 years old and had the deep wrinkles you would expect with her age.  She started using the Essential Skin Care system some months ago and has seen remarkable improvement in her skin, with discernable benefits coming within a week.  She still has the wrinkles, but they are much softer and not nearly as deep.

Final thoughts

When it comes to health, healing is good, but prevention is the best model.  We are all in a process of degradation, so the time to act is now, before problems present themselves.

Healing involves a fortifying sequence in the body, driven by nutrition.  It is a process in which change is created internally, before we see any outward manifestation.  So, be patient — and consistent.  You can get there.

 

---

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.