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This past month I did a little test on a product called VIVIX, a liquid resveratrol product that I have been taking daily for almost two years now.  I stopped taking Vivix for about three weeks.

Resveratrol is made from red wine and its purpose is to help you live longer by making your cells healthier to fight the diseases of aging. Right now it is available in a natural supplement form, though there is aggressive research being done to make a pharmaceutical resveratrol form.  The serving size of Vivix (the brand I use) is only 1 teaspoon per day and it is equal to the resveratrol in 100 glasses of red wine!

I don’t know about you but for me there are things that happen in terms of the way you feel or something hurting that you tend to ‘put up with’ instead of addressing right away. These are things that affect your quality of life.

Three things that I re-discovered last week when I started taking Vivix again were the same 3 things that I liked about it when I first started using it. Now I have a new appreciation for these things that I don’t have to live without. We don’t have to ‘put up’ with anything less than feeling great everyday!

Alert

Almost 2 years ago this summer I was taking my youngest daughter to visit colleges. Most were 2 – 3 hours driving distance away and something that has affected my driving for almost as long as I can remember, and especially in the summer (not sure if it is the heat or what because we are inside an air conditioned vehicle), is that I want to take a nap. As soon as we get on the road, I feel tired.

What was different during those trips is that I wasn’t tired. Not at all. They were long drives to the destination, a presentation to sit through and then a tour of the school. We usually had a bite to eat and then back on the road. Once we visited two schools in one day. It hit me about half way through the trips that I was not tired at all driving, or during any of the events. I was alert and focused throughout the day. This was the same when I was home. Every day there is this alertness and ability to focus better that comes along with taking Vivix.

Energy

I won’t call the energy I get from Vivix a burst of energy. And I do take my Cinch Protein Shake every morning that contributes to the balanced energy I get all the way till lunch. Together, they give me a constant feeling of energy to go from morning till night and not feel tired.

I felt this within a week of starting Vivix. Now, for almost two years, I have grown accustomed to feeling good. Feeling alert, focused and having enough energy to last all day long. So why would I need to ‘test’ this. For starters I sold my whole supply of Vivix before I realized I was at the end of my own bottle (not sure how I let that happen). It was going to be close to a week until my new supply would come and by that time I thought why not conduct this personal little test and stop my Vivix for a month – see if I noticed any difference. Well, I only lasted 3 weeks.

Sleep

Sleep is one of the reasons I wanted to start taking resveratrol again. Sleeping better and feeling very rested when I woke up is another benefit I discovered within a couple of weeks after taking Vivix when it was first introduced on 8-8-08.  And it is something that I have come to expect.

This month, during my test, I could tell a difference. I have always been a good sleeper but I can’t say that I always felt rested when I woke up. This month not only did I have a few nights that I didn’t sleep well, which may have been unrelated, I didn’t feel as rested. I like that feeling of waking up, feeling good, and ready for a full day!

Conclusion

I don’t think that I will be doing more Vivix testing anytime soon, at least not in regard to pulling it out of my food supplement regimen. I believe in it too much and I am getting such great results. Why would I want to mess with that?

And the three I mentioned may not be the main benefits associated with resveratrol. It does a lot on the inside that we don’t see and won’t feel either. It is working at the cellular level to fight the diseases of aging while also giving us better quality of life. Still, these benefits that I have noticed are benefits lots of people notice and it is good to ‘feel’ some of the benefits.

Another thing that will appeal to lots of us is looking younger than our age. When resveratrol is hard at work keeping us younger, it is helping us look better. It is not a miracle worker, or surgery, but if you take it faithfully (EVERY DAY) I really believe that people are going to notice something different about you!

I mentioned earlier that resveratrol is currently available only in supplement form. Since I take a brand that makes all of its products at pharmaceutical grade and does a tremendous amount of scientific research on high quality supplements, I feel very comfortable taking it in supplement form. What will be different with a pharmaceutical resveratrol product if one is developed is most probably the potency. Drugs are more powerful than supplements and the amount of resveratrol in a drug may be higher than in a supplement.

So what are you waiting for? Do you want to feel younger? Do you want to live longer? (with a great quality of life of course!) I know that I do!

Today at Blair County Ball Park in Central PA, there was a Walk Now For Autism Speaks community walk to raise funds for Autism research. The energy and enthusiasm for this project was contagious. It is now an annual event with this being the sixth year. Family teams, corporate teams, individual walkers, agencies, organizations, and even Virtual Walkers participated!

In our last post we noted the high rate of Autism in children today: a shocking 1 in 110 children is diagnosed. A new case is diagnosed every 20 minutes. There is no medical detection or cure for Autism.

Here is a video of some pre-walk conversations and the start of the walk around Blair County Ball Park.

Here is a link to our previous article: Autism Awareness.

I was searching for information about Autism, in preparation for a local event that benefits children and families affected by it.  Today I am sharing some information from a few trusted sources.

In our next post will be at the local Walk Now for Autism Speaks event on Saturday, June 12, 2010, in Altoona, PA.  The statistics related to children who develop autism are shocking.  I had no idea that there are currently 1 in 110 children who are diagnosed with autism.  And 1 in 70 boys is on the autism spectrum.  To me, this is alarming.

On Dr. Oz’s Question & Answer page, he addresses, in an easy to understand way,  a theory about how autism is developed:

Ask Dr. Oz

When we’re infants, we have all of this brain material compacted in a small space. Like tree branches, they overlap. That garbled anatomy makes it difficult to do some things, such as making decisions, because the jumbled structures crossing one another make it nearly impossible for our brains to focus on one thing.

As we get older-3, 4, and 5 years old-our brain starts deciding which branch points get developed and which sort of fall off. So the more we use certain parts of our brain as toddlers, the more we develop those kinds of neurons, while the opposite holds true for those neurons we don’t use. The way we train our brains at an early age actually has an effect on which of those neuron systems will become good and strong and which won’t.

In autistic children, the current best theory goes, those underused links don’t fall off, meaning the jumbled mass makes it more difficult for autistic children to focus because too much is going on. This is different from Attention Deficit Disorder, which affects the ability to concentrate. Many of us actually had it as kids (but it was rarely diagnosed years ago), and difficulty concentrating on only one subject can be something we even carry into adulthood.

That explanation of neurological development can partly explain why our brains function in certain ways as we age. If we didn’t listen to music as a child, or learn how to ski, or learn to speak French, then it becomes more difficult to learn those things as an adult because those neuron connections aren’t developed for processing the necessary information.

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There was news this week on Autism research and it centered around genetic links to developing Autism.  Scientists say the finding could lead to genetic therapy to treat the disorder.

From:  Rare Genetic Patterns

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Autism Research at NICH

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Another Autism Research website.

Walk Now for Autism Speaks, Altoona, PA, June 12, 2010.

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This week I read an article in Ladie’s Home Journal about a woman who is living the reality of a lot of women at the present time. Out of work. Issues to address everywhere she turns. Complete overload.

Even without the added challenge of being out of work, people are just plain too busy. Most of the time we are too busy to even think. I mean the kind of thinking that doesn’t involve our next task, or destination, or meal to prepare.

When is the last time you had the time to sit down and think? For many people, this may be the quiet time you sit down to pray.

The story I read centered around the benefits of prayer. The writer stumbled upon a simple prayer that was able to comfort her, and then she questioned how that happened.

She talked with people in religious life, religious studies, searching for answers about why prayer was able to relax her and do such good things for her in the midst of chaos in her life.

The individualism of prayer was discussed. Prayer can be such a powerful force for a person without involving another person. It can take you out of your own life for that time and away from reality itself.

Having both the opportunity to feel like she is connecting directly to the source and also to step away from the current demands of life seem to appeal to women especially.

It’s not like most of us expect that everything we ask is going to be granted, so why is prayer this powerful force for many of us?

The next part of the article became interesting to me. What is the connection between faith and our bodies? Are there health benefits? There is current scientific research being done on exactly this question, and there has been progress made.

First was the connection between strong faith and lower rates of depression. Next it was discovered that there was a relationship between daily prayer and lower blood pressure.

There was also the discovery that attending public prayer services regularly was associated with having a stronger immune system. These are positive and powerful health benefits that prayer can influence.

Next came some challenging questions. Can you pray simply to gain better health results? Will we get the same effect if we simply slow down and spend time on reflection or meditation?

What about time spent engaging in yoga or other relaxation or meditative physical exercise? There seems to be a difference between prayer and meditation, even if both can provide health benefits.

Toward the end of the article a new scientific field of study was introduced: neurotheology, the biological basis of religion and spirituality. Scientists have shared some powerful information when looking at the brains of people in deep meditation or a deep prayerful state.

They expected to see the part of the brain where we concentrated was very active, but were surprised to see that part of the brain that would receive outside signals was shut down. This demonstrates the one-ness you can feel when deep in prayer.

Depending on your beliefs, you will have your own explanation for what happens to your body and to your mind. Is it God or is it your body? Or maybe the most important consideration is the fact that we have an outlet for our crazy lives.

We know A LOT more about nutrition health and wellness today than ever before.

We also are more sick, more overweight, more obese, and have more health complaints than ever before.

Why is that?

Did you know?

The percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, with 1 out of 3 kids now considered overweight or obese.

Overweight and obesity in adults puts people at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and some forms of cancer.

9 out of 10 Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that means they may not be getting enough of the right nutrients.

More than 60 percent of young people eat too much fat.

30.6% of men reported that knee pain was the most common type of joint pain they suffered.

Arthritis limits everyday activities such as walking, dressing and bathing for more than 7 million Americans.

There are many more troublesome statistics and facts about both children and adults struggling with their health.

It is no wonder why we are in trouble.

Going back to the fact that we have access to A LOT of proven health and wellness information that can make us feel better and be healthier, why aren’t we listening?

Here’s what we know:

There are proven things that we can do to build better health, and in turn FEEL GOOD every day.

1- Adequate rest

2- A balanced diet

3- Exercise

4- Reduce stress

5- Maintain normal weight

6- Nutrition health supplements – yes, we now have long term (20-year) studies that prove nutrition supplements make you healthier.

That may sound like a very comprehensive program for building good health, perhaps overwhelming to some.

It is comprehensive, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

We, as individuals have to be in charge of our own good health. Our doctors may tell us all of these 6 things above, but they aren’t going to follow us around every day and make sure we do them.

It is up to us. Each one of us. Individually.

We have to WANT IT for yourselves.

And we have to DO IT everyday.

For me, if I take each step, and decide how I am going to work it into my life, it becomes more manageable.

Some steps are easier than others. If you have to schedule that sleep at night, do it. Try to get 7 or 8 hours. That may be hard for some, I realize we are busy. But if it means cutting out some tv (we don’t ‘need’ that) or whatever there is in our lives that isn’t absolutely needed (like work) – get the sleep!

That can be one of the easy steps.

Exercise is hard for many people to make a commitment to do. It might be easier, now that it is summer in the U.S., to incorporate a daily walk into your life if you aren’t already exercising regularly. It is a start and will hopefully lead to more.

Nutrition health supplements can be the easiest thing to do. After you do your research and make sure you choose a quality brand (studies have shown that there is a lot of junk out there and may actually do more harm than good – but the quality supplements are PROVEN to build better health). Once that decision is made, you simply set them out each day and TAKE THEM. Easy stuff.

Each step can be planned out in your daily life. Make it fit in. Schedule it. The goal is to SEE and FEEL results that will motivate you to continue.

We all can have better health. But it is a choice. So we have to want it and choose it – to get the benefits.