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Heart Health Month

Heart health month

February is American Heart Month (see here). Many of us set goals at the New Year to eat healthy and exercise more, but by now those resolutions may seem like a distant memory. February is a great month to recommit to heart health. The danger of not caring for the heart has deadly consequences. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that “Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States; one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day.” Clearly, ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

What can you do to start caring for your heart? A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology gives us a clue to a simple yet effective first step in recommitting ourselves to caring for our hearts. In this article, researchers examined the work of past researchers targeting the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and its connection to heart health. Their summary of the results is rather remarkable. The minimum dose for effectiveness is 500 mg (EPA + DHA) and depending on the aspect of cardiovascular health you are targeting, can increase to as much as 3 grams. The benefits are as follows:

Benefit	Time frame
Anti-arrhythmia (reduction in irregular heart-beats)	Weeks
Lowering of triglycerides	Months – years
Lowering of heart rate	Months – years
Lowering of blood pressure	Months – years
Anti-thrombosis (reduction is blood clotting)	Weeks

A key statement from the lead author of the review punctuates the power of omega-3 fatty acids: "This isn't just hype; we now have tremendous and compelling evidence from very large studies, some dating back 20 and 30 years, that demonstrate the protective benefits of omega-3 fish oil in multiple aspects of preventive cardiology," said Carl Lavie, M.D., F.A.C.C., Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, and lead author of the article. "The strongest evidence of a cardioprotective effect of omega-3s appears in patients with established cardiovascular disease and following a heart attack with up to a 30 percent reduction in CV-related death."

In addition to this evidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that, “Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary disease.”

To see more information from one of the original discoverers of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, Dr. Jorn Dyerberg, click here to watch his video.

The Basics

What are omega-3 fatty acids and where can I find them? Omega-3 fatty acids are unique because of their characteristic double-bond at the third carbon from the fatty end of the molecule. Omega-3 fatty acids, like docohexaicosanoic acid (DHA) or eicopentaenoic acid (EPA) are found in a variety of food sources, including fish like salmon, mackerel, trout, and tuna to name a few. Omega-3 fatty acids can also come from plant sources like chia. Plant sources are rich in alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) but not DHA or EPA. Research has shown our bodies do not readily convert ALA to DHA or EPA (<5% conversion). The overwhelming evidence demonstrating benefits comes from EPA and DHA.

The First Step

We should aim to regularly include more fish in our diet like mackerel, trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon. However, regularly shopping for and cooking fish may not be everyone’s cup of tea (especially when the strong post-cooking fishy smell lingers). An even simpler first step to improving heart health is adding fish oil as daily nutritional supplement. But be careful; quality matters. Fish oil supplements are the number one product sold as a dietary supplement. Quality matters because fish oils have been known to be contaminated with high levels of toxic heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic. This is why we recommend Unicity’s OmegaLife-3. Our capsule form of pharmaceutical grade fish oil has been molecularly distilled to remove the heavy metal and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB’s) contaminants. With the Bios Life seal of approval, you can rest assured that OmegaLife-3 is safe and contains high amounts of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA (800 mg and 400 mg, respectively) and can be recommended by nutritionists, doctors, and researchers.

With the overwhelming research connecting a healthy heart with fish oil, and the ease and availability of OmegaLife-3, your healthy heart resolution is one New Year’s resolution you can be sure to keep.

One in four may be unaware they have a blood sugar disorder

As a follow-up to last week’s post, I read recently that a hospital in Israel offered a free health screening (see here). Over 1,400 people volunteered for screenings, the vast majority of whom had no known blood sugar problems. The screenings were performed by trained volunteers, and the results were astonishing.

Of the 1,401 volunteers, 228 knew they had diabetes; 21% of the remaining (1,173 individuals) had Dysglycemia. An additional 4.3% had Type 2 Diabetes. That means nearly one in four people had a blood sugar disorder or were pre-diabetic, and they didn’t even know it.

This is of the upmost importance that each of us is aware of our health. Regular physicals and periodic lab tests will help ensure that’s the case. Even if we feel relatively well, we can’t just assume we’re healthy. There may be blood level issues we’re not aware of or are not yet feeling the effects of. And while most of those tested who did discover a disorder tended to be a bit older, had higher blood glucose, a higher body mass index, and a higher systolic blood pressure, many of us who don’t fit into all of those categories could still be at risk.

The second issue, which is perhaps even more pressing, is how widespread this diagnosis is. While this wasn’t a simple random sample of volunteers, it’s reasonable to think 20% to 30% of people are facing the same issue. This grows from a systemic problem where many people don’t care about their health, don’t maintain healthy eating and exercise habits, and aren’t tracking important health indicators.

It’s important for all of us to be aware of what diseases we may be at risk for. And while some people may be aware they’re diabetic or have dysglycemia, there are potentially millions of others who have no idea. The solution, of course, is to not wait; take the steps to improve your health and take them now.

What to do about feeling blue?

One of the things that we strive for, here at Unicity Science, is to be a good member of the scientific community. We are very fortunate to have the backing of of CEO, Stewart Hughes, who is passionate about the products we develop but also recognizes the value of working with quality scientists in the community. We have been working with Columbia University, supplying Dr. Elizabeth Sublette, with OmegaLife-3 supplements. We received the following release and pass this along for your information. Please be sure to check the link to her research (see here).

New Study Reveals Certain Formulations of Fish Oil Supplements Effective for Major Depression

NEW YORK, NY – In the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, a team of Columbia University psychiatric researchers shows that only certain formulations of fish oil supplements provide sufferers relief from depression. This finding could be significant to the over 20 million people in the United States who suffer from major depression.

“If you are taking a formulation with equal amounts of the fatty acids DHA and EPA, you may not be doing anything for your depression,” said Elizabeth Sublette, MD, PhD, Director of the MIND Research Clinic at Columbia Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and lead author on the research study.

She added, “Although fish oil is not currently an FDA-approved treatment for depression, our examination of clinical trials from the last nine years of published studies showed that EPA-rich formulations of fish oil were effective in treating depression. EPA had to be present in at least a 60/40 proportion with the amount of DHA in order to see results—studies using lower proportions of EPA were ineffective.”

Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and anchovies are rich dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are important compounds the human body needs for optimum health. These fatty acids are essential, which means people must consume them because the body will not make these nutrient compounds itself.

Today, fish oil is prescribed as a triglyceride-lowering treatment. This research study shows that fish oil is a promising treatment for depression as well.

There are several types of omega-3 fatty acids, but two of them, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), are the most recognized for their role in human health.

According to Dr. Sublette, consumers can perform a simple calculation to determine if the brand they are considering has the optimal ratio of EPAs to other omega-3 compounds: “Look on the nutrition information label and find the milligrams of EPA and DHA per serving. Divide the amount of EPA by the sum of EPA+DHA. If you get 0.60 or greater, our research suggests that this brand will be a helpful adjunct to depression treatment.”

Details regarding fish oil supplements and information about Dr. Sublette’s ongoing research can be obtained at http://www.moodstudies.org.

Knowing what you should know but don't...

In the November 2011 issue of Today's Dietician, there is an article by Lindsay Getz (see here), entitled, "Stop Diabetes in its Tracks", that caught my attention. What grabbed my attention was the statistic cited in the article that nearly 80 million people are prediabetic, meaning they have manifested some form of insulin resistance but aren't quite into full blown diabetes. If you combine that with the 24 million adults diagnosed with diabetes that means that a full 1/3 of the US population has problems managing the blood sugar levels in their bodies. This is a staggering number and potentially a huge problem because people with pre-diabetes are at risk for developing full blown diabetes within 10 years.

What is especially tragic is that type 2 diabetes is a disease that can be avoided or prevented. But how can you avoid something if you don't know you have it? Well, first - go to your doctor and get a check-up. Ask specifically for blood work testing for diabetes. They aren't expensive and typically will be covered by most health insurance. Use the posted image (from a great education piece on medscape, see here) as a reference as to where you are with respect to blood sugar management.

Second, if you arediagnosed with diabetes, ACT NOW! Do not delay. There are very simple things that you can do that make a big difference. One - eat better. Eat more vegetables, more lean protein and cut out the refined carbohydrates (think sugars). Consume more dietary fiber (think Bios Life Slim). Slim is a great way to moderate your blood sugar levels. Two - get moving. Exercise improves your body's ability to utilize insulin.

Lastly, get educated. Learn, read, and listen to people who can tell you what is going on with your body. Talk to certified diabetes educators. Talk to your physician. Don't be afraid to ask questions. It's your life that is on the line. A simple program that gives you all of that is the Make Life Better Transformation Experience (see here). Remember, don't delay. Get started today!

National Diabetes Month in the US...

November is American Diabetes Month in the United States. It couldn't come at a better time since most kids consumed an extra 7,000 calories this past Halloween (that is not a misprint). There are many activities that you can do to help promote diabetes education and if you have the means, please donate (you can do so here).

The Importance of Dietary Fiber

I ran across this article from the Mayo Clinic about dietary fiber and how essential it is for everyone to include a sufficient about of fiber in your daily diet.

From the article:

A high-fiber diet has many benefits, which include:

• Lowers blood cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber found in beans, oats, flaxseed and oat bran may help lower total blood cholesterol levels by lowering low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol levels. Epidemiologic studies have shown that increased fiber in the diet can reduce blood pressure and inflammation, which is also protective to heart health.
  
  
• Helps control blood sugar levels. Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, can slow the absorption of sugar, which for people with diabetes can help improve blood sugar levels. A diet that includes insoluble fiber has been associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
  
  
• Aids in weight loss. High-fiber foods generally require more chewing time, which gives your body time to register when you're no longer hungry, so you're less likely to overeat. Also, a high-fiber diet tends to make a meal feel larger and linger longer, so you stay full for a greater amount of time. And high-fiber diets also tend to be less "energy dense," which means they have fewer calories for the same volume of food.

Read the entire article here, and remember, Bios Life Slim contains high levels of dietary fiber!

The importance of glycemic control...

I spent a beautiful day in Sydney, Austrailia meeting with researchers at the University of Australia, Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller and her staff. They are most pleasant and were great hostesses (for more about Dr. Brand-Miller go here). We discussed some of the primary research they were doing on our product, Bios Life Slim and what impact is will have on the world. In the course of our conversation, we discussed a variety of topics and the one that stood out the most to me was how glycemic control was directly related to mortality rates.rol was directly related to mortality rates.

This seminal paper in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates the relationships with glycemic control and hazard ratios regarding various disease diagnoses, including mortality rates. The paper can be found here (subscription required). As expected, poor glycemic control, or high glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values had a linear relationship with increased hazard ratiods for diabetes diagnoses. The researchers also found linear relationships with hazard ratios for stroke, coronary heart disease and even with overall death. According to the authors, the tipping point, or HbA1c value in which patients should start to worry and start changing things was 6.0%. This was an eye-opener for me as I recently measured my HbA1c and it came back at 5.8%. I immediately upped my usage of Bios Life Slim, from one sachet to two before each meal!

Fortunately, there is a great solution to improving your glycemic control. As I mentioned previously, we have been looking at the effectiveness of Bios Life Slim on glycemic control. It turns out it is very effective. One packet of Bios Life Slim will reduce post-prandial glucose responses by up to 30%. It reduces the glycemic index of three different foods (white bread, white rice and instant mashed potatoes) up to 20%. This simple product can profoundly change lives in diagnosed diabetics or as a tool for prevention. The key is to use the product. Why wait? Improve your quality of life by using Bios Life Slim!

Uh oh, FDA revises advisory for Zocor...

Over the weekend, Reuters reported that (see here) the FDA revised it's recommendations for simvastatin (Zocor) (see here). The recommendation is to limit the use of the highest dose, 80 mg, of simvastatin in patients due to an increased risk of myopathy (muscle injury). This comes after the FDA reviewed data from the Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH) and found that particularly in their first year, patients who started the high dose were at a significantly elevated risk for myopathy. This news should not be a surprise tothe Unicity Science Blog followers. We posted on this issue way back in February of 2009 (see here).

The question then becomes - what do we do with this information? Well, for starters, you can look to clinically proven alternatives such as Bios Life Slim for cholesterol management. Unicity International has done and

will continue to do clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the product in terms of maintaing healthy cholesterol levels (for examples see here, here and here).

Second - if you are taking a statin medication - supplement with CoQ10. Cholesterol and CoQ10 share the same starting biosynthetic starting point. This may be a simple way to mitigate the muscle pains caused by statin medications. Lastly - get out and exercise.

Another simple, yet effective way to help your body improve its ability to metabolize fats is through exercise. Plus, you get the added benefits of improved cardiovascular activity, reduced stress and improved learning! Get started today!

A fat buster...

Many of us know Dr. Mehemet Oz, from his frequent appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show and from his own show, "Dr. Oz". He is a great resource for tips on how to improve and maintain your health. In a recent episode, he targeted some ingredients as "Revolutionary Metabolism Boosters" (see the video clip here). Among these five revolutionary metabolism boosters was the ingredient, L-carnitine.

L-carnitine is a dipeptide (shown on the right) comprised of the two amino acids, lysine and methionine. One of the interesting functions of l-carnitine is its integral role in the production of energy in the body. L-carnitine is essential to transporting long-chain fatty acids into the cell's mitochondria. It's in the mitochondria, where the fatty acids take part in oxidative reactions that produce energy in the form of ATP. In order for, fatty acids to enter the mitochondria, they must first be chemically bound to L-carnitine, by forming ester bonds. These compounds, also called ester compounds, are carried into the mitochondria by special mitochondrial transport proteins, where they are broken down into short and medium chain fatty acids. L-carnitine will then bind to these short and medium-chain fatty acids and transfer them out of the mitochondria. All body tissues except brain cells depend upon this function of L-carnitine for energy production. To make matters worse, tissue levels of L-carnitine decline with age, reducing the efficiency with which the mitochondria operates.

So getting back to Dr. Oz, if you are interested in helping your body metabolize or burn fat more efficiently, one of the simple things you can do is supplement with L-carnitine. This fat-burning role is one of the principal reasons that L-carnitine (at a 500 mg dose) is included in our Bios Life E, or as we like to call it, Bios Life Matcha formulation. This synergistic role, with the antioxidants from Matcha, to facilitate fatty acid oxidation in the body makes this a great product for anyone seeking a natural way to help burn fat. Combine Matcha with Slim and you are on your way to a 1-2 combo that will transform your body!

Cut it out!

I saw this little article (see here) while reading the news during a layover in Mexico City.

According to the article, the average adults should only be consuming 8 grams (10 if you are following the USDA guidelines for sugar consumption) of sugar a day. One simple was to exceed this is to drink a soda. One 8 oz bottle of Coca Cola contains 46 grams of sugar. That's not a misprint (see here).

Mexico is a beautiful country, rich in history and full of culture - but it is also the Coca Cola capital of the world. I repeat this stat, it's no wonder that type II diabetes is the number 1 killer in Mexico. There are many other similar numbers around the world. A very simple thing to do is stop drinking all the extra sugar by getting rid of sugar-laden soft drinks. Do it for one month and see the results! If you want to see even better results in your health - drink Bios Life E or Bios Life Matcha in its place. Bios Life Matcha has only 1.5 grams of sugar. More importantly it contains polyphenols, naturally produced by the organic Matcha, called catechins. Catechins have been shown in clinical research to reduce carbohydrate absorption and improve insulin sensitivity. Can your soda do that?

A new toxin...

I saw this video (see here) over the Christmas holidays and was reminded of it by some of my co-workers. Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D. a pediatrician and expert in pediatric hormone disorders at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) gave this very compelling lecture. You NEED to see it.

Gary Taubes has a good article (see here), worth your time as well on the subject matter. Look at the two graphics on the left and right to see how much sugar and high fructose corn syrup the average person consumes respectively. YIKES!

Now consider what changes you will make in your life. Let me offer a few. First, start consuming Bios Life Slim. Slim reduces the physiological impact of sugars on your body. Two, stop drinking soda! Sodas are the hidden sugar bomb! While in Mexico last month, everywhere I went, I saw people drinking Coca Cola, Sprite, or Fanta. It's no wonder that the number one cause of death in Mexico is diabetes mellitus. Drinking empty calories is a quick way to adding inches to your waistline. More importantly is puts undue strain on your pancreas potentially leading to chronic diseases. Lastly cut out foods made from white flour. This means no white bread, rolls, white rice, doughnuts, pies, cookies, candies, etc...It may seem dramatic but it really isn't and it's very simple to do. Simply switch out the white food with food of color (vegetables, lentils, beans, etc...) Your body needs energy but it also needs vitamins and minerals to function properly. White flour based foods simply provide energy but not the other essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. You are very literally eating empty calories. Now you may experience a withdrawal period (I did) but persevere and plug through it. You will begin to look and feel better with those simple changes.

Some questions about Matcha...

I just spoke with our Matcha partners in Japan. They are safe and doing well. For your information, the matcha fields are located more that 300 miles south of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. As of March 23, 2011 no radiation had been detected. In speaking on with our partners today, they have confirmed the absence of radiation.

One item of note is that all of the product that is available today or that will be available this year is from the 2010 harvest. The 2010 crop reserve is being held in a cool secure facility with no radiation exposure. I received results confirming the absence of any radiation in their reserves. Even though the farms and processing facilities are located far to the south, as a precaution all material will be tested for radiation and will need to meet all Japanese and US food safety regulations.

We are confident that we will continue to be able to provide our matcha products without any delay or problems that may have been caused by the devastating earthquake and tsunami. I invite you to continue to consider donating to the relief efforts. As you know, these funds are matched dollar for dollar by the Make Life Better Foundation (see here). Remember that we ARE about Making Life Better.

A boost to your slimming efforts...

In 2009, a consortium of researchers lead by a group at Tufts University in Boston, MA, looked into the effects of a green tea-catechin rich drink on body fat distribution in exercising obese adults (see here). Two groups were both set to an exercise routine. One group drank a catechin-rich drink while the other was given a placebo. The group drinking the catechin-rich drink tended to have lower body weight after the 12 week trial. The green tea group also had less abdominal fat, lower triglycerides and free fatty acids. Something to consider when embarking on new health regime.

However, compelling the results, I wonder if this group wouldn't have achieved better results using matcha in place of a green tea extract. One of the pitfalls to using extracts is that extracts by their definition are only a fraction of the original source. In this case, green tea extracts or catechins, lack all of the many nutritional components of the Camellia sinensis leaf including, chlorophyll, soluble fiber, and amino acids to name a few. Matcha retains its naturally produced caffeine that when combined with the L-theanine produces a calm alertness that rivals medications. Matcha is a tea that is eaten not steeped and as a result one "eats" 100% of all that matcha has to offer. A far cry from the mere 30% of the nutrients gained by drinking a steeped green tea.

Now, consider this potent one-two punch Slim and matcha. Take the benefits of controlled blood sugar and reduced insulin from Slim and add to it the increase in fatty acid oxidation from matcha and you have a compelling set of products to attack a global epidemic, obesity. The simplest way to validate this is for you to try it. First - measure your waist. Second, drink Slim. Third - drink E, either with Slim or in between meals (it's great because it has such a low-impact on your blood sugar. In fact, other research shows that catechins may improve insulin sensitivity.) Try it for a month then measure your waist again. You'll see a difference! Matcha is a simple, yet delicious way to boost your Slimming efforts.

Scooped and the lessons learned from it.

In the scientific community - when one of two research groups who same the same research focus publishes a paper just before the other group - it's called scooping. It's a journalistic reference to getting the "scoop" before others do. Well, I was scooped by our CEO, Mr. Stewart Hughes (see here). He posted a recently published article in Obesity addressing meal frequency in obese men (see here), great article to read that gives further evidence to our 4-4-12 rule.

Now - I had highlighted this article to produce a blog post but in the hustle and bustle of the day didn't get around to doing it. Here are the lessons that apply to us all, on the corporate side or in the field. What separates those who lead and are successful from the followers and average joes is ACTION. Leaders do -they don't wait for the opportune time. They see the opportunity and DO IT. Waiting or hesitating results in passed or lost opportunities. In our lives - we are not living by standing on the sidelines. Action makes us participants in the game of life. Who doesn't want to live a richer fuller life?

Second lesson. I have been following Jim Fobair and his teaching a new idea to extend your work day by an extra five minutes. Do five minutes more of what you should be doing. So DO and then DO a little more. Clearly - I can and will improve work but this is part of life to keep working and getting better each day. What are you doing to make your life better?

If you needed another reason to stop smoking...

At the recent American Chemical Society meeting (see here), researchers at Cal State Polytechnical Institute in Pomona, California, found that nicotine raises blood sugar levels and the more nicotine was present, the higher the levels rose.

A quote from the study's author, ""Smoking is really harmful for diabetics. It's even more harmful to them than to a non-diabetic," said study author Xiao-Chuan Liu, an associate professor in the department of chemistry at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. "This study should encourage diabetics to quit smoking completely, and to realize that it's the nicotine that's raising [blood sugar levels]."

It's tough enough for diabetics but smoking exacerbates their situation. Stop smoking now! There are many local resources to help you in your efforts to quit. Life is too valuable to be spent killing ourselves with this addiction. Seek the help you need to quit smoking. Do it today! A smoker is estimated to lose 14 years of their life due to smoking (see here). Diabetics are estimated to lose 6 years of their life due to the disease. Combing the two means that one will lose 20 years of life! Stop smoking and start Bios Life Slim! Get your blood sugar under control with Slim and stop worsening the problem by quitting the smoking habit! Get Slim and live!

If there was one product you would take other than Slim, what would it be?

There are times in life when you are presented with an opportunity to speak with special people. Dr. Jorn Dyerberg is one such person, who happened to be in the right place, at the right time, and seized the opportunity of a lifetime. His research includes over 300 peer-reviewed publications and has been at the forefront of omega-3 fatty acid research for the past thirty years.

We had the pleasure of having him come to the corporate office, in Orem, Utah, to share with us his amazing story of how he and another Danish doctor, discovered omega-3 fatty acids. Dr. Dyerberg was kind enough to allow our video team to record the conversation. Check it out here. By the way - the answer to the question in the subject is an omega-3 supplement.

Nutrition by the numbers...

In Wisconsin, there is a movement (no - not the unions) to educate kids on healthy eating. The initiative is based on a local area code 54218. Each number is used to remind the kids of some healthy habit. Here is the call to action for each number:

5 - eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
4 - drink four glasses of water each day (no sugary drinks)
2 - limit your tv exposure to less than two hours
1 - be physically active for at least one hour
8 - get at least eight hours of sleep

It's very reminiscent to the 5 steps to Optimal Health (Hydrate, Exercise, Cleanse, Nourish and Target). Are you taking control of your health and living by the numbers?

Eat right and live well!

Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
- modified from : Edward Stanley (1826-1893) from The Conduct of Life

There is no better illustration to this quote than to simply look at some diabetes statistics. In the US - currently over 1/3 of the population is diagnosed a type 1 or type 2 diabetic or is considered to be pre-diabetic (based on fasting glucose and A1C results). The percentage of the population that is type 2 diabetic increases with age, in fact over 1.4 million new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes occurred in people over the age of 45. It's estimated that over $174 BILLION (that's nine zeros) is spent on direct and indirect costs simply due to diabetes (see here and here for diabetes stats). These are staggering numbers. The real problem is that experts aren't thinking it's going to get better. The tragedy is that type 2 diabetes is the result of a poor eating habits. It's a preventable disease.

The good news is that those eating habits aren't set in stone. They can change. For thousands of people, they have changed. We just aren't reaching enough people. One frequent question that a pre-diabetic (someone with a fasting glucose level greater than 100 mg/dl) might ask, "Is where do I start?" To answer that, let's turn a review article, published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2008. The authors of this article review what the metabolic effects are of consuming dietary fiber. They note that the consumption of soluble fiber decreases postprandial glucose responses and increases insulin sensitivity. This means that soluble fiber slows the rate at which your body absorbs glucose and reduces the output of insulin.

A year earlier, a research group showed that not all soluble fiber is equal, but rather viscous soluble fiber had a greater impact on post meal responses to glucose asborption. A colleague recently asked what made Bios Life Slim different from other fiber products available on the market. It's simple - the fibers used in Slim - are fibers that add viscosity to the gut thereby maximizing the effect on how your body absorbs glucose from your meals. It's not just one fiber but it's a blend of six different fibers, each contributing to the viscous nature of the drink that makes Slim unique. If you have any doubt, simply try it. Eat a meal and measure your glucose 60 minutes after eating that meal. Then do the same thing, only this time drink Slim before eating your meal. You'll see the difference!

Hippocrates wrote, "The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." Let Slim be your first step to your greatest blessing - good health.

Keep moving forward...

I hope you are all doing well and have had a successful first two months for 2011. Many of you (hopefully all of you) have set goals and resolutions to do something to Make Life Better in some form of personal development. One of the keys to long term success, be it in business or personal health is setting appropriate goals and developing metrics to track your progress.

In 2009, researchers from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, reported that participants who weighed themselves more frequently were associated with greater weight loss. This is not new data. Another group, from Drexel University, reported in 2007 a similar finding - that participants who frequently weighed themselves reported greater weight loss. Even more so - participants who stopped weighing themselves reported an increase in their body weight. Participants who lost at least 30 lbs and have been able to keep the weight off for at least one year share, as a common behavior, frequently weighing themselves. (As an aside - they also ate breakfast.)

Now whether you choose to track your body weight, your waist circumference or your body fat percentage - that is up to you. What is important is that you start keeping track of something. Tracking your progress is a simple exercise that reminds you of your goals and in the process creates a mechanism whereby you will make future positive choices throughout the day. Will all your future choices be the "right" ones (e.g. eating more fruits and vegetables or exercising)? Perhaps not at first, but over time, as you begin to replace poor eating habits with good ones, they will be.

One of the simplest habits that you can start to build is consistently drink Slim. Slim is the key to improving your nutrition and your health. There are many apps, calendars, websites, etc... that are at your disposal to track your progress. You can only see differences but if you are tracking them. The key is STARTING and DOING. "When you track performance - performance improves. When you track performance and report it - performance is accelerated." (Thomas S. Monson) Make it a family affair -get your spouse or loved one to join in with you. Perhaps a friendly wager to see who can have the greatest transformation is what you need to get motivated. Whatever it is - TRACK IT. Get out, get started and keep track of your peformance.