Archive for the ‘Optimal Health’ Category

Procrastination

“Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you want to do it or not.”

Skip Ross

When I was approaching the time for me to leave the Navy, I decided I’d go to college and become a Pharmacist like my Dad. I thought that since he owned a drug store, I would probably inherit the store, so I might as well become a Pharmacist. Neither of my sisters, nor my brother had any interest in pharmacy. So when I got out December 7th, 1953, I told Dad that I had decided to go to college and become a Pharmacist, but I wanted to wait until the following September to start. Dad told me that if I was going to go, I should start now instead of waiting. Knowing what I know about myself now, he was right. The longer you put something off, the harder it is to start at all. I probably would never have started at all if I hadn’t started when I did. I wonder how my life would have turned out if I had waited?

Don’t procrastinate. Delaying just makes it harder to do. As Skip Ross says; “Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you like it or not.” Life is so much easier if you don’t procrastinate. When you have that urge to delay doing something, just say to yourself, “Do it now!”

Belief (Placebo effect)

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won’t, you most assuredly won’t. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

Denis Waitley

One day a woman went to see Dr. Bill Markham, a local Doctor in Ottawa, Ks. She complained of all kinds of aches and pains. Dr. Markham examined her and couldn’t find anything wrong, so he called in a prescription for #100 aspirin. Dad filled it and charged her 85 cents. Two weeks later, she was back in Dr Markhams office complaining about the same things and saying the medicine just didn’t work. Dr Markham examined her again; still nothing wrong with her. He  called dad and told him to give her #100 Lilly’s pink ASA Compound(same thing as before, just a different brand) and told dad, “Don’t you dare charge her 85 cents, charge her $3.85.” The medicine worked wonders. She thought because the first medicine was so cheap, it wasn’t any good.

The power of belief, strong belief, makes a great deal of difference, not just in medicine, but in every area of life. Belief has to be a part of every step of the achievement process. You have to believe that you have the talent and ability to achieve what you want to do, and that you deserve to achieve it. Without that belief you probably won’t put in enough effort for a long enough period of time to make it happen.

Believe me, I know this from experience. I’m pretty good at visualizing and dreaming, I know how to set goals and develop plans for achieving those goals, but when it comes to putting them into action, sometimes I fall a little short. I’m good at procrastination, and most of the time, it’s because I really don’t believe strongly enough. Here’s what I do believe. If God has put a dream in your heart, then He has also given you the talents and abilities to achieve that dream, otherwise He wouldn’t have put it there. But we have to believe that this is true. Here’s something else I believe. We don’t have to know everything before we start, we just have to start. Just like a rocket doesn’t need it’s guidance system activated until it launches off it’s pad, God can’t guide us until we launch off our pads.

So what do you want to achieve? Do you believe it’s possible for you? Will achieving this move you closer to fulfilling your purpose in life? If you know what you want, and you can answer “yes” to these questions, then go for it. The guidance will come.

Gerald Briscoe

gbriscoe1@cox.net

757-348-3610

Faith in Action

“Your talk talk talks, and your walk talk talks, but your walk talk talks louder than your talk talk talks.”

My parents never talked much about their faith, but we knew it was important to them by the way they lived their lives. Going to church on Sunday morning was never an option.They never got up on Sunday morning and said, “Well, shall we go to church or just sleep in?” We understood that we were going to church. That’s just what we did. They weren’t  just Sunday Christians either, they took an active part in the life of their church. Dad Ushered every Sunday and served on the Church committees.

Our church, 1st United Methodist Church, in Ottawa, Ks. owned and operated Camp Chippewa, just outside of Ottawa. Some land next to the camp came up for sale and our church wanted to buy it to expand the camp, but they didn’t have the money. So dad bought the land and held it until they could raise the money. In honor of what my dad did, they named the lake on that property after him, Briscoe Lake.

Mom never met a stranger. She loved everyone, and they knew it. She was a big asset to our Drug store, even though she couldn’t make change very well, because she made everyone feel they mattered. They came back on a regular basis just because of her.

Dad was a very service oriented person. He was active in the Loins Club and had over 25 years of perfect attendance. He wasn’t just a member there either, he participated, but he didn’t talk much about all the things he did. We just “saw” what he believed in by the way he lived his life.

Judy and I have tried to apply that principle to our lives, and I think its turned out pretty well. All of our kids have turned out great, and have great partners and families. We are very blessed, but I believe it’s partly because we lived the example we wanted our kids to learn, and didn’t just lecture them. If what you say doesn’t match what you do, it doesn’t mean much.

How about you? Can people “see” what you believe in by the way you live your life? Are you a living example for the people you care about?

Gerald Briscoe

gbriscoe1@cox.net

757-348-3610

When I was about 15 years old, I was washing the windows on the outside of our Drug Store at 114 S. Main in Ottawa, Ks., and an old man came walking by. He stopped to watch me, so I said; “How are you doing today?” He looked at me and said “ Don’t know, haven’t seen my Doctor yet today.” I didn’t say it to him outloud, but I thought to myself, “Man, that’s really sad when you have to have someone else tell you how you’re doing.”

Going to the Doctor for routine checkups is a good preventive strategy, but your Doctor’s only one member of your health team. You are also a member, and you need to take some responsibility for your own health. There are a few strategies you can use to increase your chances of having a good outcome with your health.

Dr. Duke Johnson wrote an excellent book, the Optimal Health Revolution, and he says that the two main killers are heart disease and cancer. He lists 15 risk factors for heart disease and 16 for cancer. All of these risk factors are under your control except one, heredity, and even that, you can influence. Here are the lists of risk factors from his book.

Heart Disease

1. Family history and genetic predisposition
2. Diabetes
3. Smoking
4. High blood pressure
5. Lack of exercise
6. Obesity
7. Elevated lipids
8. Not enough fruits and vegetables
9. Depression
10. Stress
11. Lack of intrinsic faith
12. Homocysteine
13. Hypothyroidism
14. Lack of omega 3 in your diet
15. Elevated inflammation

Cancer

1. Family history and genetic predisposition
2. Smoking
3. Lack of exercise
4. Obesity
5. Stress
6. Animal fat
7. Not enough fruits and vegetables
8. Excessive alcohol
9. High salt intake
10. Pollution
11. Smoked or grilled food
12. Excessive sunlight
13. Certain infections
14. Vitamin D deficiency
15. Inflammation
16. Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your score? Do you see any areas that could be improved? Improvement in any area increases your chances of having a good outcome. Improving in two or more areas multiplies your chances. For full details on these risk factors, check out Dr Duke Johnson’s book, The Optimal Health Revolution. You’ll be glad you did.

Gerald Briscoe

gbriscoe1@cox.net

757-348-3610

How do I know which brand is best?

There are so many different companies out there making supplements, it’s confusing. Most Supplement companies don’t make their own products, or grow their own ingredients. They buy them from outside sources, so how are they being made, and who’s controlling the quality? Here are a few questions you need to ask about any supplement you are considering taking;

1. Are they synthetic, or plant based? Your body seems to handle plant based better that synthetic.
2. If they are plant based, do they contain  a wide variety of plants? Many of the products on the market that claim to be plant based, only have 4 or 5 plants. We need a wide variety.
3. If they do contain plant extracts, are they grown on certified organic farms? And do they own their own farms? Look for a company that controls the whole process from the seed to the serving.
4. Do they follow GMPs? These are the standards the Drug Companies have to follow. Since the supplement industry doesn’t have to follow these same standards, and since they add to the cost of the product, many don’t follow them. Find a company that voluntarily follows them anyway.
5. Do they stantardize their products? Every tablet or capsule should have exactly to same amount of active ingredients that it states on the label.
6. Do they use Pharmaceutical grade ingredients? There are three grades, animal, food, and pharmaceutical.
7. Does the tablet or capsule dissolve in 30 minutes or less? If not, they may just pass right on through you without being absorbed.
8. Are they a a good reputable manufacturer. Check them out at www.consumerlab.com. They are like Consumer Report, only they analyze supplements and herbals. They look at things like; are they standardized, do they contain contaminants like lead or mercury, do they dissolve in time? In their tests, they found that 10 out of 34 vitamin supplements they analyzed didn’t pass.
9. Do they have  published ORAC scores? ORAC stands for oxygen radical absence capacity. The Government says we need 3000 to 5000 units per day to handle the free radicals we are exposed to each day.
10. Does the manufacturer have published Bio-Assays that I can easily access? Manufacturers can clain all kinds of things, but can they be varified?

These are just a few of the things you should consider when looking for a good supplement and a good manufacturer. For a more complete list, read Optimal Health Revolution by Dr Duke Johnson, and Secrets of Supplements by Gloria Askew.

I only know of one Manufacturer that that can say “yes” to all these questions. And that’s Nutrilite by Amway. They are the only ones I know of that plant the Certified seed in Certified organic soil, and control the whole process all the way to the tablet or capsule you take. You can check them out at www.nutrilite.com, or go to www.amway.com/gdb.

If you have any questions, or want more information, please contact me at; 757-348-3610, or e-mail me at gbriscoe1@cox.net

What supplements do I need, and how much?

Have you ever gone to a Health Food Store, a Pharmacy, or to your Doctor, and asked which supplements you should be taking? Everyone has a different opinion. There is so much misinformation out there, it’s hard to know what to do, or what to believe.

I certainly don’t have all the answers either, but I do have access to some highly reliable sources where I can get the best answers available. I also have access to a very comprehensive online test developed by Dr. Duke Johnson, author of “Optimal Health Revolution”, and a team of specialists from a variety of disciplines.

Here are a few of the things they look at:

• Family and Medical history.
• Medicines you take(Prescription, OTC, Herbal).
• Eating Habits.
• Lifestyle( exercise level, stress level, where you live, etc.
• Age
• Genetic History

Based on the information you give them, they will make recommendations about which supplements you need, and make suggestions about lifestyle changes you can make that will greatly improve your health, and your chances of having a better outcome. And, eventually, if you follow their suggestions, be able to eliminate some of the supplements. The goal is to get as much of your nutrients from a your food. Incidentally, the online test is free.

Any supplement program should always start with well balanced, high quality multi-vitamin/mineral supplement, then add other supplements if you need them.

But just remember, taking a nutritional supplement doesn’t take the place of a well balanced diet of a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats.

If you have any interest in taking the test, please call me, or email me and I’ll set it up.

Gerald Briscoe                                                                                                                                     757-348-3610                                                                                                                                       gbriscoe1@cox.net                                                                                                                             www.selfcarestrategies.com

Do I really need to supplement?

In counseling with people about using nutritional supplements, there are three questions that come up in some form or another.

1. Why should I use supplements? Why Can’t I get what I need from the food I eat?
2. If I should supplement, which one, or one’s, and how much?
3. How do I know which brand is best? What’s the difference between synthetic and natural?

Dr John Marshall, a well known Nutritionist and Biochemist said that the food we eat today has about 50% less nutritional value than it had 25 years ago. When I heard that, I wondered why that would be true?

It would be too lengthy to cover all three questions at one time, or go into too much detail, so I’ll just cover #1 now, and then talk about #2 next week.

Here are just a few of the factors that may effect the quality of our food:

• Soil. Since fruits and vegetables absorbs nutrients from the soil, the quality of that soil will make a difference. If crops are not rotated properly, so the nutrients the plants absorb can be replaced, eventually the soil becomes depleted.
• Chemicals. What about the chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides? Do you feel they have an effect on the quality of the soil and the plants grown on that soil? How does organically grown fruits and vegetables taste in comparison?
• Harvest time . How many of our fruits and vegetables are vine ripened? Does this affect the nutritional value of our food?
• Storage and shipping. A plant starts to die the minute it’s harvested. If it stays in storage too long, what happens to the nutritional value?
• Food preparation. Do you use a lot of water when you are cooking? Do you use high heat? Vitamins are very sensitive to heat, and most are water soluble. Do you peel your potatoes, apples, or carrots? Most of the nutrients are close to the surface.

So just to make sure you are getting everything you need, does it make sense to fill in the gaps with a well balanced, high quality supplement,? Call it nutritional insurance.

Gerald Briscoe

757-348-3610

e-mail:gbriscoe1@cox.net

www.selfcarestrategies.com