This December newsletter is a summary of the advice that I have passed on to all of you over the course of the 2008 year.  May you give the gift of good health to you and your family.  Know that your family loves you and having you be healthy and happy is the greatest gift you can give to them. Here are ten tips to keep you and your family happy and healthy for years to come.

1. Lower your stress. We all have a lot of stress right now with an uncertain economic future and an unsafe world. But stress is probably the single most important component to health. I just returned from a conference in which the following study was presented: It is possible to measure the cancer killing capacity of the cells in the blood. A young employee of the office had his cancer killing capacity measured and it was 100%. He then had to present a lecture about which he was very anxious. His cancer killing capacity was reduced to zero. After he presented his talk and returned to the office relaxed, his cancer killing ability was returned to 100%. Pick three stress management tools and use at least one of them every day. Stress is a killer.
2. Love is one of the most powerful health-promoting feelings in nature. Love of self, love of life, love of others are all types of love available to us. Take the risk to allow someone to love you intimately, allow them to feel close to you and enjoy the gift that their love brings. Take the risk to allow yourself to love someone intimately, to feel close to you. Allow yourself to enjoy the gift of giving your love to someone else just for the sake of making them smile with happiness. It will do everyone wonders.
3. Find some spiritual connection that is meaningful to you. We all need to feel connected and that we are not alone. Having a connection to a higher power, whatever you understand that to be is a good start. Numerous studies have shown that having a connection to some higher power that was meaningful lead to quicker recovery time and fewer illnesses.
4. Eat according to your metabolic/nutritional type. What is not obvious is that the food we eat turns our genes on and off. The highly processed, high carbohydrate, high sugar foods or foods that we are allergic to all stress our bodies very severely. This stress causes an immune reaction and increases the inflammation of the body as a whole. The inflammation leads to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and increases your risk for cancer. Eating according to your type gives your cells the nutrition that is most specific to your individual needs and gives your body the best chance to combat the inflammatory and degenerative diseases of aging. If you still do not know your type, take the test and make an appointment with Becky to learn how to implement it with delicious food. Make it a Christmas gift to yourself.
5. Eat whole foods, preferably organic. I know that organic foods are more expensive and not everyone can afford them. Some foods tend to concentrate pesticides and toxins more than others. You could concentrate on buying organic foods that tend to concentrate the toxins strongly and buying non-organic foods that tend to concentrate toxins less strongly. For example apples and spinach concentrate toxins strongly, so only buy organic apples and spinach. See my website for a list of foods that concentrate toxins and buy the ones you eat most often organic. You can eat non-organic foods that are low on the list of toxin concentrators.
6. Get no less than 7 hours of restful, rejuvenating sleep.  Have you ever wondered why babies sleep so much? It because sleep is a very important and busy time. Here is a partial list of the things our bodies do while asleep: a) repair of cells and building of new tissue; b) brain and tissue growth c) regulates temperature and immune function d) conserves energy; e) lays down memory pathways, develops the brain, removes toxins from the body, manages the neurotransmitters that make us happy and thin. Our bodies are busy during sleep. Give your body a chance to do all this wonderful work for us.  You need at least 7 hours of sleep that is restful and restorative. 
7. Exercise regularly. The type and amount of exercise will vary depending on your level of fitness and your needs. Like all of holistic medicine, exercise needs to be customized and individualized to fit you. What will help you to exercise regularly is to pick something that you find enjoyable and that will not make you feel overly stressed/tired or sore for a long period of time. Keeping yourself well hydrated during exercise will help enormously in preventing soreness and there are some supplements that may help as well. Ask Dr. Somner for advice if you have questions. 
8. Maintain your vitamin D level to be 55-60 ng/dl on a blood test.  The importance of vitamin D (which is really a hormone and not a vitamin) has been all over the news in the last few months. It lowers our risk of cancers, keeps our bones healthy, keeps our mood optimistic and prevents illnesses. The winter season is a time when we are at much greater risk for vitamin D deficiency and all the health problems that go along with it. If you have never had your vitamin D level measured or it has not been measured in a while ask Dr. Somner to measure it for you. The best source of vitamin D is sun exposure. Check the table on my website for the amount of sun exposure that is right for you skin type. If the sun is not available to you then you may need to supplement. Ask Dr. Somner or Becky for a supplement that is right for you. 
9. Statin drugs are the most widely prescribed medications in the United States today.  They not only inhibit the production of cholesterol in the liver but also of CoQ10 and squalene. The mitochondria are the organs of the cell that are responsible for creating energy so the cell can function. CoQ10 is an enzyme that is utilized heavily by the mitochondria. One third of the weight of the heart is mitochondria. When you take a statin drug and deplete CoQ10 you are robbing your mitochondria of an enzyme essential for it to function fully and properly. Squalene is a substance made by the liver which is cancer preventive. It is now being sought in shark liver for the treatment of cancer. Squalene is also blocked by statin drugs because it is in the same pathway as the CoQ10 leading to cholesterol. If a statin drug is being recommended to you, be sure to supplement with CoQ10 and you might think seriously about other ways to prevent cardiovascular disease. See the next tip. 
10. Cholesterol is an alcohol produced by the liver for the purpose of transporting fat. Cholesterol is produced when there is injury to the body and fat is needed to repair the injury, a common occurrence with injury to the cell membrane. Cholesterol will rise with age, stress (both physical such as surgery and emotional), and also the consumption of highly processed foods and sugar. Highly processed food and sugar are actually compounds that trigger inflammation and immune reactions from the body. The best prevention of cardiovascular disease is to avoid the consumption of high fructose corn syrup, sugar and processed foods. Focus instead on delicious, whole foods with high nutrient value.

I hope these tips will be of value to you and you will enjoy not only a healthy and happy 2009 but many more to come.