February was Heart Health month, and we honored it by writing about two nutrients that are critical for a healthy heart, vitamin E and CoQ10. However no discussion of nutrients that benefit the heart would be complete without talking about our favorite vitamin, vitamin C. We’ve told you before about a theory advanced by one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, two-time Nobel laureate, chemist Linus Pauling. He hypothesized that heart disease may actually be a vitamin C deficiency disease. Pauling observed that animals don’t get heart attacks. Most animals (humans, apes, guinea pigs and fruit bats excepted) make their own vitamin C—out of blood sugar! According to Andrew W. Saul, PhD, most mammals make the human equivalent of more than 5,000 mg of vitamin C daily, and considerably more when under stress. Pauling also knew that one of vitamin C’s primary roles in the body is helping to build collagen, the basic material in connective tissue, including blood vessel wal…

The mighty mitochondria! You’ve heard us talk about them before. Mitochondria are the tiny power houses inside our cells that take glucose and fats from the blood and magically convert them into energy. The more mitochondria we have, the more fat we burn, and the more energy we have. If you’d like more energy, more mitochondria will help you get it. How to get more mitochondria? According to a report on work being done at the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI) in Orlando, Florida, aerobic exercise stimulates your body to create more and better-functioning mitochondria. Without enough exercise, muscle atrophy accompanies aging. Starting around the age of thirty, muscle fibers shrink, while fat stores accumulate. Even if we maintain the same weight, we lose muscle-to-fat ratio. We also lose mitochondria, and those we have become less effective. This can lead to developing insulin resistance, making it even harder to manufacture energy, as well as…

Every summer we warn against using sunscreens. First, sunscreens contain toxic ingredients. Some are better than others, but we haven’t found a single one we’d want to use or recommend. Second, sunscreens are designed to block out the sun’s ultraviolet rays. This prevents sunburn, but it also blocks out many of the sun’s benefits. We’ve been sold a bill of goods on sunlight being dangerous. Sunlight is essential to our health and well-being. While too much sun can give you a sunburn, too much of anything can be harmful. Used intelligently, sunlight is nourishing and energizing. Our bodies convert the sun’s rays into vitamin D. Sunlight increases production of the “happy hormones” that prevent anxiety and depression, it enhances immunity, and increases the oxygen content in our blood. It helps to prevent and reverse cancer. Sunlight has even been shown to lower blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, and to heal wounds and any number of skin diseases. So what is “intelli…

How you take your supplements and what you take them with can make a big difference in how your body absorbs and uses the nutrients they provide. At Beyond Health, our formulas are designed to combine nutrients in the most synergistic way so that they support rather than compete with each other. If you take too much of one nutrient it can suppress absorption of another—this is the case with zinc and copper. To prevent this, the two nutrients must be present in a balanced ratio. B vitamins work together, so they should almost always be taken together as a “team.” Also, most supplements should be taken with food. You can trust Beyond Health to provide balanced formulas, so, for the most part, all you have to do is follow the directions on the label. However, fat-soluble vitamins should always be taken with a good amount of fat in a meal for best absorption. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. Customers who’ve been trying to get their vitamin D levels up have sometimes re…

There isn’t a vitamin more important to your health than vitamin D. You need it to build and maintain strong bones. Your immune system is crippled without it. Vitamin D deficiency appears to raise the risk of almost every chronic disease, from cancer to diabetes to cardiovascular disease to age-related cognitive decline to auto-immune disease. Yet professor and nutrition researcher Peter Horvath at the University of Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions in Buffalo, New York, reports that during Buffalo’s winter months, nearly 50% of the population in Buffalo has insufficient levels of vitamin D, while 25% are outright deficient. “Every cell in your body,” he says, “is responsive to vitamin D. If you’re deficient, you won’t see the health effects for years and it could take months to get your levels back up.” Dr. Horvath is probably using the standard definition of vitamin D deficiency—a blood level of less than30 ng/mL (or 75 nmol/L). However other vitamin D e…

Most people who call us at Beyond Health believe, as we do, that supplementation has become essential (see this report if you need convincing). What they want to know is how to get the most bang for their supplement buck. “What supplements do I really need?” is a common question. Well, the first thing to consider is this: The most expensive supplement you can buy is the one that doesn’t work AND does you harm! Unfortunately, that’s what you get with a lot of the cheaper brands. If money is tight, it’s always better to take fewer high-quality supplements from a company you trust than to buy cheap, low-quality brands. Next, what do you want to accomplish? What you purchase should always be related to your health goals. Our three wellness kits address different health goals. The Basic Wellness Kit For those who are healthy and want to stay that way, our Basic Wellness Kit includes our multi, EFA (Essential Fatty Acid) Formula, and vitamin C. It costs about $2.50 a day. Everyo…

Most people know that diabetes is a serious disease of high blood sugar that can damage the heart and blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves. Fewer know that pre-diabetics develop similar problems. But maybe you’re neither diabetic nor pre-diabetic. You don’t have to worry about high blood sugar, right? Well, maybe you do. Diabetes is currently diagnosed if fasting blood sugar (aka blood glucose) levels reach 126 mg/dL, and pre-diabetes if levels reach 100 mg/dL. But many alternative practitioners like to see their patients maintain levels below 90 mg/dL, or even 85 mg/dL, since research shows damage to body organs and tissues can begin when these levels are exceeded. Do you know your blood sugar level? Since it tends to rise with age, it should be measured periodically. Why is high blood sugar so damaging? Excess sugar in the blood gets converted into triglycerides. These either become fat or they stay in the blood and increase your risk of heart disease. But even more d…

Because high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, many doctors are quick to prescribe blood pressure-lowering medications. But there isn’t one that doesn’t have disturbing side effects, and most of the time they’re unnecessary. Eating a good diet that’s high in fruits and vegetables and low-to-moderate in carbohydrates; taking heart-healthy supplements like CoQ10, vitamin E, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, garlic, hawthorn, taurine and curcumin; making sure you get 8 glasses of pure water a day; minimizing salt intake; learning to manage stress; losing weight if you’re overweight; and regular exercise will all help to lower your blood pressure if it’s over the ideal 120/80 or below. But scientists are wondering if particular foods may also help. It started when a study done at Queen Mary University in London, England, found that drinking a little over 8 ounces of beet juice decreased systolic blood pressure by about 5 points. Systolic blood pressure is th…

Given the public health crisis sugar is causing, as well as widespread sugar addiction, we’re not big fans of sweet treats. For an unjaded palate, fruits and the sweeter vegetables like red peppers, carrots and beets, eaten in moderation, provide plenty of sweetness, while even the healthier sweets, like raw honey and dried fruits, cause unfavorable blood sugar swings and can all too often easily revive a dormant sugar addiction. Artificial sweeteners are toxic, as we’ve written about before in Newsclips and articles, and of the “natural” sweeteners available, such as agave, Monk fruit and stevia, Raymond Francis has approved only one stevia product: BetterStevia Organic Extract Powder from NOW. (Note: He had previously approved KAL Stevia, but withdrew his approval when they began adding maltodextrin to their product.) However sweets are such a huge part of the holidays, and when prepared in a low-glycemic way and eaten occasionally, they do little harm. Watch how they affect y…

How can you tell if you’re deficient in essential fatty acids (EFAs)? Here are some clues. There are two families of EFAs, the omega 6s and the omega 3s. Omega 6 Deficiency Dry, flakey skin is the cardinal sign that you aren’t getting enough omega 6, which maintains the skin barrier against excessive water loss. Your skin should be soft and velvety, but water loss can lead to “alligator skin,” “chicken skin,” thick patches of skin, cracked skin (especially on heels or fingertips), or frequent nosebleeds. Also look for brittle nails that break easily; dry eyes; dry, dull and unmanageable hair; dandruff or hair loss; itchy skin, eczema and other skin lesions. Canker sores in your mouth may be another sign. Water Loss can lead to excessive thirst. Other signs of deficiency include poor immunity, wounds that are slow to heal, PMS and other reproductive problems, kidney malfunction, joint pain and heart beat abnormalities. Omega 3 Deficiency Fatigue can be caused by many thin…

It’s flu season again, but you don’t need to get caught by a cold or the flu. The truth is, healthy people don’t get colds. Many people in traditional healthy cultures live well past a hundred without getting a single cold. Here’s what you need to do: Build your immunity daily with the Beyond Health Wellness Kit appropriate for you (call our office at 800-250-3063 if you don’t know which one to take), 8-10 glasses of pure water, exercise that produces a sweat (and/or take regular saunas), and a good, sugar-free, alkalinizing diet. Get your vitamin D levels tested; if they aren’t in the high-normal range, include 1-2 capsules of Beyond Health vitamin D3 in your daily supplement program and retest every 3 months until they are. Minimize stress, avoid allergens (they tax the immune system), and try to get a good night’s sleep every night. This should keep your immunity in tip-top shape—ready to throw off any viruses that come its way. However, because life isn’t perfect, and neit…

You eat a good diet with no sugar, take your supplements and probiotics, get enough sleep, and avoid toxins, but you’re still getting colds. What gives? Well you may be neglecting a crucial factor: exercise. Exercise is critical to the proper functioning of part of your immune system, the lymphatic system. You probably haven’t given much thought to your lymphatic system. Most people don’t even know exactly what it is. The lymphatic system is a network of vessels similar to the network of veins and arteries that make up the circulatory system, however its vessels carry a fluid called lymph. Like blood, lymph delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues and cells, but the lymph vessels function primarily as the body’s drainage system. Waste products from cells and tissues are drawn into the lymph, which the lymph vessels carry to various “lymph nodes.” Here, immune cells destroy foreign particles, including infectious organisms like bacteria and viruses as well as environmental toxi…

In the past twenty years, we've been heartened to see a growing interest in health as more and more people realize they don't need to have allergies or get frequent colds every winter; to be fatigued or have digestive issues; and that they can even reverse serious illnesses without drugs. They're jumping on the health bandwagon, and we're happy to provide them with accurate, science-based information as well as premium health-supporting products. Raymond has written four additional books to address significant health challenges of our time. Never Be Fat Again provides a deep understanding of and a solution to the national epidemic of obesity. Never Fear Cancer Again teaches you how to prevent or “turn off” the process leading to this dreaded disease. Never Feel Old Again argues that you don't need to fall victim to chronic disease as you age, and shows how to make every year of your life a healthy, productive, enjoyable one. Finally, The Great American Health Hoax updates Never Be…

Whether it’s having friends over to watch the Super Bowl or making your sweetheart feel special on Valentine’s Day, there’s a tendency to equate good times and feeling good with unhealthy food choices. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Although we live in an imperfect world and our choices aren’t always going to be ideal, the truth is our health is the result of the sum total of all the choices we make every day. So why not plan healthier choices for these two events? Watching the Super Bowl can be a time when the excitement and aggressive energy of watching two teams compete translates into compulsively and mindlessly chomping through bowls of potato chips and other high-calorie/low-nutrient snacks. But although you may be identifying with the guys battling it out on the field, they’re the ones burning up the calories, not you! If you’re in charge of food for the group, limit the amount given to each guest and make it healthy. A good-sized bowl of cut up raw vegetables wi…

Raymond Francis' expertise in supplements developed on two levels. As a chemist, he networked with leaders in the industry and began to understand how a good supplement should be made. On another level, he was his own guinea pig, learning by trial and error. He was extremely chemically sensitive at the time, and poorly formulated supplements could have devastating effects, causing health setbacks lasting days and weeks at a time. He knew that although he was an extreme example, such supplements could have subtle negative effects on anyone. Lesson number one became crystal clear: supplements made with cheap, synthetic chemicals, with low biological activity in the body were the most expensive supplements anyone could buy! Not only were they only marginally effective for their intended use; their unintended and harmful side effects on body chemistry made them worse than worthless. The only supplements capable of helping people get well and stay well were made from natural ingredient…

We all know that physical fitness is a good thing. Fitness is associated with heart and lung health, good blood sugar control, and a longer, more productive and enjoyable life. But what does it actually mean, and what do you have to do to get and stay fit? Although some definitions of fitness also include muscle strength, flexibility and body composition, fitness usually refers to cardiovascular fitness, or aerobic capacity—the ability of your heart, lungs and circulatory system to supply oxygen-rich blood to muscles and organs and remove metabolic waste products during exercise. You can assess your own aerobic capacity to some extent by how winded you get climbing stairs, lifting heavy packages or running for a bus. A more scientific home test is given here. You can also go to a clinic or health spa and have it measured by exercising as hard and long as you can on a treadmill while your heart rate and breathing capacity are measured. According to studies done at the Cooper Inst…

Necessary for the function of more than 300 different enzymes, zinc is “essential for virtually all processes in the human body.” But even though Mother Nature wisely put a little zinc into most foods, it’s still easy to come up short. Known as the cold-fighting mineral, zinc is needed for every aspect of immune function. Zinc is also used in the synthesis and function of DNA and RNA, making it essential for reproduction and growth. It’s needed for neurological, eye, and heart health, and for healthy bones and glucose metabolism. Vitamin A can’t function without it. Zinc reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, supports detoxification, and plays roles in digestion, metabolism and protein synthesis. But like other minerals, zinc is significantly depleted in US soils: A carrot today may have 95% less zinc than a carrot grown sixty years ago. Phosphate fertilizers and sewage sludge used in conventional agriculture are also highly contaminated with cadmium, which competes with zin…

High blood pressure is known as a silent killer. You can have it for years without getting any symptoms until you experience a fatal heart attack. But there is another silent killer: kidney disease. Given the many priorities already on your plate, you probably haven’t given much thought to your kidneys. But since March 10 has been named World Kidney Day (and March, National Kidney Month), we’d like to draw your attention to kidney health if only for a couple of minutes. According to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), more than 26 million Americans have kidney disease, and most of them don’t know it. By the time you experience clear symptoms, your kidneys may already be shot necessitating dialysis for the rest of your life . . . which may not be that long. Kidney disease is the 9th leading cause of death in the US. Even before symptoms of kidney disease are evident, the disease significantly raises your risk of heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis and anemia. A simple urine or…