Strategies to Keep Your Family Healthy This Winter

I don't know about where you live, but here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, the flu has been running rampant. It is so contagious! 
And why is it that science is still no closer to a cure for colds and flu? Because we're dealing with smart viruses. Any one of hundreds of viruses could launch a cold or flu attack, and chances are that this year's flu virus won't be the same as last year's making it nearly impossible to develop a simple cure. 
While we can't avoid all germs; I do have two kids in preschool so germs are inevitable, we can do some simple things to help our bodies build up their immune systems and lessen our chances of getting sick!

Our Best Prevention Strategies:

Take Good Care of Yourself: As always, the best place to start to maintain a good immune system is with the basics. Make sure to keep exercising, sleep well, reduce stress, drink alcohol in moderation, and eat a low-fat, low-sugar diet.
Wash Your Hands: Washing hands remains the most effective way to protect yourself and your family from colds and flu. Lather, rinse, repeat throughout the day. Do it long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.



Boost the Beneficial Bacteria: 80 percent of your immune system surrounds your digestive system. Research supports a healthy gut flora and overall immunity. 
Along with the above, we also use Basic G and a bacteria fighting essential oil to help keep the germs away. This strategy has really helped with our health, too!








Add Foods that Support Immune Health: There are many foods with medicinal properties, make sure you include as many as possible. Think about combining a lot of the ingredients below in chicken soup: 

• Oranges, strawberries, bell peppers, potatoes and other vitamin C and E rich fruits and vegetables are all good for your immune system.
• I do not like mushrooms, but have read that Shiitake, Maitake, and other mushrooms have been used for boosting the immune system.  
• Garlic and onions have  been researched for their ability to modulate immune function. 

Helpful Herbs: Research supports the immune modulating activity of tumeric, oregano, ginger, Echinacea, Larch, and elderberry. Our family uses a product called Defend & Resist when we start to feel that first tickle or stuffiness. It has larch, echinacea, and elderberry in it. It's our first go to when we start feeling run down!
Here's my favorite recipe for making a homemade vitamin water using Defend & Resist, Vitamin C, and Performance. It tastes so good and it really helps!! 















Make Sure You are Getting the Right Nutrients: Your immune system needs to be well nourished to function at its best. Stock up on the following nutrients:

• Macro-Nutrients: the macro-nutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Focus on good proteins for a healthy immune system. Supplement with EPA and DHA, or eat fish twice a week for those healthy fats.
• Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamins such as vitamin A, B6, B12, E C, folate, and the minerals zinc, copper and iron all support an effective immune response. 
• Vitamin D: vitamin D, in particular, has been the focus research on optimal immune system functioning. Vitamin D plays a role in the improving mucus membrane barrier functioning, the production of anti-microbial peptides (small proteins), and in general overall immune support. 

Take care of your immune system by starting early, taking good care of yourself, and feeding your body the nutrients it needs to stay strong!

Shaklee Membership FAQ's

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm passionate about keeping my family healthy by creating a clean, non-toxic, safe environment! My husband and I truly believe that our home should be the safest place on the planet, but in many cases, it's not. That's why we love Shaklee so much! We can provide our family with that (without a lot of money!) and have peace of mind knowing that all of the products in our home are safe!
Which is why I've put together a Shaklee Membership FAQ list for you! Read on. NOTE: At the bottom, you'll find several ways to get your Membership for FREE!!

What is a Shaklee Membership?

Think of it as a wholesale club membership. Many of us pay $50-$100 per year for a membership to Sam's or Costco so we can get that wholesale pricing. 
With Shaklee's membership, you pay a ONE TIME fee of $19.95! That fee gets you 15% or more off all our products!
After you join, you receive a MyShaklee secure website for ordering products, and it also includes a library of super helpful information and referral benefits!
Our Member Team also provides a way to earn extra goodies! It's so much fun!

Do I Have to Sell Shaklee if I Become a Member?

No, if you join as a customer member, you are not eligible to sell Shaklee or receive bonus checks. We do appreciate referrals and love to reward our customers for referrals!

What if I Change My Mind and Want to Become a Distributor?

That's fantastic! Being rewarded for sharing what you love is so much fun! Any member can upgrade to a Distributor by purchasing a Distributor Kit or Gold Pak Kit. Contact us for more information on each Kit!

Am I Required to Make Monthly Purchases?

Nope! Never! Your Shaklee Membership is lifetime, without minimums!

What Product Lines do You Offer? 

We have four major health lines:

What Do You Recommend I Start With?

It depends on what you're looking for, but I usually recommend a starter kit because it has everything you need and gets you the biggest bang for your buck!

If weight management is your thing, any of our 180 Kits are fantastic, but this is one of my favorites!

When I was a Shaklee newbie, the first kit I purchased was the Get Clean Starter Kit, so I could jump right in and get our home toxin-free!

And I just love our Enfuselle Nutrition Therapy Kit. I have drier skin, and it has helped immensely with getting my skin back to healthy!

How do I Order?

Simply go to my online shop and place your items in the cart, join as a member, then check out! For future orders, you'll order right through your own MyShaklee site!

How Soon will I Receive My Order?

Shaklee ships fast! I usually get mine in less than a week! I hope this helps answer some of your questions about Shaklee's Membership program! Feel free to contact me with other questions!

Want a FREE Membership???

Here's how:  Simply purchase any of our awesome Shaklee 180 Kits and your membership is FREE! Or Purchase our fantastic daily multivitamin strip, Vitalizer, and your membership is FREE!

Getting to Know Your Blogger

A little about me that you might not know!

• I'm the oldest of two kids.
• I grew up in Oklahoma but moved to Dallas, TX as soon as I graduated college.
• I majored in Early Childhood Education but have never taught in a classroom.
• I met my husband online via a dating site. I know, I know. We both lucked out!
• We married in Austin, TX in 2005 (my favorite city in Texas!)
• We waited 8 months before we took a honeymoon and I highly recommend this to newlyweds! 
• We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon and it was amazing!
• We bought our first (and so far only) home in 2006 and immediately started doing DIY home improvements. Does anyone know how long those DIY projects take??
• I lost my job in 2008, when I was 4 months pregnant.
• Because of this, I was sort of forced into being a stay at home mom.
• Which wasn't my immediate plan, so it took awhile for me to get over the guilt of losing my job and get used to my new 'job'!
• Our first son was born in November 2008 and is just a blessing. 
• By 2008, we'd installed a kitchenette in our garage apartment, ripped up all the carpet in the house and stained the concrete foundation, added an outside staircase to the garage apartment, remodeled our laundry room, had the exterior of the house painted, had a new roof put on, and started working on installing a sprinkler system. Whew!
• In December '08, hubs was laid off his job and was jobless for about 6 weeks. Newborn and neither parent with a job? Talk about stressful!
• By January of 2009, hubs found a new job within the same company.
• December 2010 we found out we were pregnant with our second child!
• After noticing I was becoming increasingly sensitive to regular household cleaners, I started a quest to find more natural ways to clean, so I started making my own cleaners.
• Our second blessing was born on our 6th wedding anniversary in August 2011 during one of the hottest Texas summers on record. We're talking about 115 degree temps!
• While being a mom to two kids, I found that making my own home cleaners was takign up too much time (and I can't stand the smell of vinegar!), so I did more research and rediscovered Shaklee! I immediately ordered my first Get Clean kit and was thrilled with the ease and effectiveness of the products.
• After a lot of research, reading, PRAYING, and discussion, my husband encouraged me to share what I love and create my own business by partnering with Shaklee.
• On the night of our son's 1st birthday and our 7th wedding anniversary, lightening hit our fence and air conditioner and caught them on fire. Praise God a neighbor happened to be leaving his home for the evening and saw our fence burning!
• We were without an A/C for two weeks.
• So we lived in hotel for two weeks.
• Lord help me if I ever have to do that again!
• In 2012 I helped eight families get healthier, happier lives simply by sharing my personal testimonies and helping them get the products they personally need to be healthier and toxin free!
• We did lots of short trips to OK and LA where our families live.
• We took our first family of four 'camping' trip to Caddo Lake in June 2013.
• My husband got laid off again in September 2013.
• Praise God he was able to find another job with a fantastic startup and they're doing super cool things!
• I made big goals for my health and wellness business for 2013 and was able to meet them! I helped 15 families get healthier! Woot!
• Hubs and I went to Las Vegas for a week without the kids. Well, he was there for work and I just tagged along, but a vacay is a vacay, right?
• We had a super early (for Texas) ice storm in December that pretty much left us stranded at home for four days straight. Not fun!
• We had an interesting Christmas at our house with almost everyone getting the stomach virus. Except who didn't get it? Our boys, who I'm totally diligent about making sure they're taking their natural supplements every day! We lived and learned on that experience...now all the adults are regimented on natural supplements, too!
• Matt and I rung in 2014 by painting our master bathroom at midnight!
• I have big, BIG goals for 2014 with my business...I want to help at least 30 families get healthier, happier, and possibly financially fit this year!

And that, my friends, is a little about me! :)

Easy Healthier "Cookie Dough" Bites | Recipe

My boys love to make cookies with me. Actually, they love to just eat the cookie dough! Who doesn't, right??
While I love to eat scoops of cookie dough, I know that it's really loaded with...well nothing healthy! And quite frankly, I get a stomachache if I eat too much! 
So here's a super easy, quick, healthier version of cookie dough bites that's loaded with protein and other natural ingredients.
I whipped them up after quiet time yesterday since the boys wanted a snack. Ya'll it took me less than five minutes to mix it all together and scoop the dough out on to a plate! I like mine cold, so I put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Recipe below...let me know if you make them and how you like them!

"Cookie Dough" Bites

• 1 cup of NonGMO protein powder- I mixed half of with chocolate and half with instant protein powder
• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of honey

Mix these ingredients together, scoop it onto a plate, chill for a little bit, then enjoy! THAT'S IT!!!
What I really love about this recipe, is that we can add extras to it! This time around, I just mixed it up 'plain,' so they tasted like peanut butter cookies. But you can add chocolate chips, coconut, maybe some flax seed, chia seeds...really the possibilities are endless!
You can use any protein powder, but the Instant Protein and the Chocolate Protein are the only ones we trust for our family!
Have fun with it and mix it up!

Join me on Facebook!

 

What's in My Hair Styling Products? | Reading Labels

If you read my Facebook posts, you may have seen a post a few days back about the ingredient DMDM Hydantoin that's found in a lot of your everyday products like your hair care and body care products.
What is it?
According to wikipedia:

DMDM hydantoin is an antimicrobial formaldehyde releaser preservative with the trade name Glydant. DMDM hydantoin is an organic compound belonging to a class of compounds known ashydantoins. It is used in the cosmetics industry and found in products like shampoos, hair conditioners, hair gels and skin care products.^[1][2]

DMDM hydantoin works as a preservative because the released formaldehyde makes the environment less favorable to the microorganisms.

So basically, DMDM hydantoin is a form of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde can hide in your products under other names, such as: diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, and sodium hydroxylmethylglycinate.

Why do I take issue with this? I don't want any type of formaldehyde on my skin or anyone else in my family. Plus, while I know these types of ingredients are cost effective to the manufacturers, I really believe continued use over long periods of time can and will have an effect on our overall health.

While purchasing safer, more natural products seems more expensive today, I believe on down the road you might prevent future doctor visits, illnesses, a general feeling of 'yuck' by switching. Just my two cents!

OK, so after finding out about DMDM hydantoin, I went on a search through our home to see if we had any products that contained it. I was CERTAIN that we didn't.  (I know our cleaning products don't have this chemical in them; we use the best and safest!)

Boy, was I wrong!

Here's what I found. These are the hair styling products in our home that contain DMDM hydantoin.

Ugh. Time to get busy on our mission of eliminating ALL potentially toxic products in our home!

Question for you: What hair products do you use that are safe and natural? I'd love to have some recommendations!!

Note: I'm not a scientist, nor am I an expert in the chemicals field. I'm just a wife and mom on a continual search to replace potentially hazardous products in our home with safer, natural, effective alternatives. If I have written something that's in accurate, please feel free to start a discussion below!

Make Your Own Canvas Prints | DIY

I love the look of photos being printed on canvas, but I do not love the price! Unless you've got some great coupon, they can range from $40 on up! That's definitely not in our budget for home decor!

After perusing lots of other blogs, it seems the easiest and most cost effective way to achieve a similar look is to do it yourself!

Here ya go!

Materials:

• Photos of your choice in matte print (I used one 11x16 and three 8x10 photos)
• Canvas of the same size (I get mine at Hobby Lobby...two 8x10's for $3.99!!)
• Matte Modge Podge (I prefer matte photos and Modge Podge...I don't like glossy, shiny pictures)
• Black acrylic paint (Hobby Lobby has acrylics ranging from $3.99 on up)
• Two foam paint brushes

Make It!:

• Using your foam brush, paint your canvas with the Modge Podge and 'glue' your photo on top. Make sure you get the corners really well to help prevent your photo from curling. 

• Once the photo is dried to the canvas (or mostly dried), paint over your photo with the Modge Podge. Don't freak out! It's supposed to be milky white on the photo! Trust me, I will dry clear!

• Be careful here and make sure you use long, even strokes. You can put it on fairly thick, but if you see little bubbles, you'll need to smooth those out.
  
• Let that dry...takes about 45 minutes.
  
• Next, using your other foam brush, get a good bit of acrylic paint and paint the sides of the canvas.
  
  
  
  
  
• Using the tip of the brush, make sure you slide it in between any gaps of the canvas and print so that it gets painted and no white is showing.
  
• For an extra 'vintage' look, I like to get just a tiny bit of paint on the brush and tap it on the edge of the photos.

It's really easy, and fun to make. I really like the way the Modge Podge gives a bit of texture to the print. You can see the strokes on it...the prints aren't perfect, which is what I love! I made a bunch to give as Christmas gifts!

Let me know if you try it!

Understanding the Shaklee Difference

One of my favorite things to talk about is my passion for helping others get their lives healthier and happier, and I am so proud to be a marketing partner with Shaklee...the number one natural nutrition company in the US! Besides their excellent, natural products, Shaklee's quality, standards, and integrity are what really draw me to the company. 

Here is a letter from Dr. Jamie McManus explaining a few things that make Shaklee different! (I've met Dr. Jamie at a few conferences here in DFW and she is just awesome! So full of information and you can tell she really cares about Shaklee's products!)

How Well Do You Understand the Shaklee Difference?

Dear Shaklee Family:

Shaklee products – and the quality and science behind them – are unmatched in the industry. But how familiar are you with the many elements of the Shaklee Difference?

Even if you think you know what makes this company and our products stand apart from the rest, refresh your knowledge with this list of :

Ten Key Steps that we take to ensure that Shaklee supplements are the best in the marketplace:

1. Shaklee conducts more than 100,000 tests annually to ensure the safety and efficacy of our products.

2. Each and every lot of Shaklee products is 100% tested to ensure and guarantee that each and every ingredient that is part of our label claims is present in the appropriate amounts.

3. All ingredients in Shaklee products are qualified under the incredibly stringent Shaklee protocol, unique in the industry, which tests for up to 350 chemical contaminants including pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, solvent residues, etc.

4. Our Shaklee scientists create formulations so that the key active ingredients are included at clinically efficacious levels, often significantly higher than many companies in the market.

5. Each product is formulated with nutritional ingredients that have been extensively studied to confirm safety and efficacy. Our products don’t follow “fads” but incorporate scientific and/or epidemiologic evidence of need and benefit.

6. Shaklee employs advanced delivery systems to enhance bioavailability – and these systems are tested to confirm their nutrient delivery advantages.

7. All ingredients must be acceptable from the standpoint of the Shaklee philosophy, as well as detailed scrutiny as to their safety. We don’t simply accept the Certificate of Analysis that many other companies accept but, rather, retest for contaminants to confirm the Certificate of Analysis is accurate.

8. Shaklee has an unwavering commitment to avoid the use of artificial flavors, sweeteners, and added preservatives. We use only non-genetically modified soy protein.

9. Shaklee developed many of the standards and protocols for manufacturing that are now referred to as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).

10. Ongoing proof of our product performance is demonstrated by:

• More than 100 scientific publications, 90-plus in peer-reviewed journals
• The Landmark Study, the only study of its kind, which showed that people who took Shaklee supplements over a period of 20 years had markedly better health than both single-multivitamin and non-supplement users
• Shaklee products powering athletes to win 125 medals
• Shaklee products fueling world explorers, 7 of Time-Life’s Greatest Adventures of All Time, and NASA space shuttle astronauts with a special rehydration product (called Astro-Ade)

Add to this list our accomplishments and awards in the area of environmental leadership and responsibility, and you’ll see why I’m truly proud to be part of this company, where integrity, quality, and social responsibility are our standards, and where making people and the planet healthier is our mission.

Shaklee is all about helping people take control of their future health by virtue of their choices today. My 16 years as a practicing family physician led me to believe even more strongly that prevention is where the future of medicine must go. Research confirms that nutrition, weight control, and wise supplementation can powerfully impact your vitality today and your health in the future, and I believe that we can redefine wellness in the coming years. Thank you for all that you’re doing to share Shaklee products and the Shaklee Difference with so many. Together we’re making a BIG difference in the health of the world!

Be well!

Jamie McManus, MD, FAAFP
Chair of Medical Affairs, Health Sciences, and Education for Shaklee Corporation

Want more information about Shaklee? Contact me today and also check out these resources!

The Shaklee Difference video (8 minutes) here (watch and share!)

Message from Dr. McManus here