Dr. Pat presented the following slide show live to a group of essential oil enthusiasts. We are now pleased to offer it to to you here on the web.

This slideshow addresses the health benefits of keeping an open and loving mental-emotional state and it offers tools to help achieve one. You will learn the following:

• The 3 Habits of an Open Heart
• How to Influence Others Positively
• Is there a Link between the Heart, Love and Beauty?
• Essential Oils best suited to help you keep an Open Heart

Please enjoy the presentation.

Thank you for your interest in Dr. Pat’s presentation! We hope you found it useful.

Share your feedback in the comments below and/or on the social web. If you enjoyed this presentation, you will note that there are others from Dr. Pat in the sidebar available to view.

We encourage you to stay connected as we develop more healthful resources to come.

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Chromosomes with telomeres in magenta.
By Asako J. Nakamura, Christophe E. Redon, William M. Bonner, and Olga A. Sedelnikova [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What and Where are Telomeres?

Telomeres are specialized proteins which are found at the end of your chromosomes, in the nuclei of your cells. They form “caps” at the end of your chromosomes that allow your cells to differentiate the end of a chromosome from say, a piece of broken DNA.

Telomeres are important because without them, your chromosomes are wide open to damage, disrepair, and ultimate destruction. Without healthy chromosomes, your cells won’t reproduce as they should. Tissue repair is compromised and the body’s ability to renew itself breaks down. I’m sure you can guess where that leads.

A Brief History of the Research

The first landmark studies of Telomeres were published in 1978. Later, their authors went on to identify the enzyme, telomerase, whose function it is to repair and maintain the telomeres. Both discoveries were deemed so important that the three principals involved in the research: Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2009.

Length Predicts Longevity

Over the course of a lifetime, telomeres gradually burn down. Researchers describe them as being like lit candlewicks, finally sputtering out, exposing the chromosome to destruction.

There is a bigger picture too. Researchers found that they could predict likely mortality in a group of individuals by measuring the length of their telomeres. Excluding accidental death, scientists found that the folks with the shorter telomeres would die earlier than those with longer telomeres. Relationships with cardiovascular disease and immune conditions were shown and suspected in other diseases, such as diabetes as well.

Why Telomeres Shorten

For many years scientists thought that telomeres had a built in “aging cycle”, that they would shorten, and that this built in “shortening factor” could not be challenged. The theory went that we start with long telomeres at birth and, as we grow older, our telomeres grow shorter. When they are gone, we die. As researchers studied telomeres, however, a different picture began to emerge.

In 1984 Elizabeth Blackburn and her graduate student Carol Greider discovered the enzyme telomerase and showed that it functions to repair and maintain telomeres. You need just the right amount of telomerase, not too much and not too little. Rather than a fixed “shortening factor”, when telomerase is not secreted by the body at sufficient levels, telomeres deteriorate no matter how old you are.

In 2014, Elissa Epel and her colleague Eli Putterman studied 239 healthy postmenopausal women over the course of a year. During that time most of the participants experienced at least one of 13 identified life stressors: unemployment, divorce, financial problems, etc. They measured the length of telomeres at the beginning and the end of their study.

Epel found that telomeres of those women suffering the most stress demonstrated the most shortening. Yet, there was a subset of these women whose telomeres did not shorten. As they evaluated the differences between the women who had shortened telomeres and those who did not, they found that the women who practiced healthy lifestyles that included exercise, eating well, and sleeping well, maintained telomere length despite their stress levels.

Epel said, “The question had always been whether the telomeres respond to daily lifestyle changes or if the system is chronic and proceeds at its own pace. In our study, it was lifestyle, with damage occurring mostly in people who were sedentary.”

Love Your Telomeres

Studies showing that behavior effects telomerase production continue to accumulate. In response, many researchers, including Epel and Blackburn, now look to healthy lifestyle management as the key to producing optimal levels of telomerase, thereby maintaining good telomere length and, in turn, a healthier and longer life.

Such research contributes better understanding and tools for measuring and, perhaps, influencing the benefits of lifestyle habits that holistic clinicians have promoted all along. Mostly, you already know what to do but the importance and challenge of implementing these recommendations makes them worth repeating. Follow these important lifestyle guidelines especially when under significant stress. They just might save your telomeres and, therefore, your life:
 

Tips for Healthy Telomeres

 
Eat Right

• Choose organic, whole, clean, real food. This improves your antioxidant intake and reduces the amount of toxins ingested that use up nutritional antioxidants.
• Avoid junk foods (and GMO) such as sodas, excess sugar, diet sweeteners, chemical foods and transfats. These add a toxic load to the body and shorten telomere length.
• Get plenty of antioxidants, especially Vitamin C, D and E. Consider supplementation and/or a high antioxidant drink.
• Take a quality multivitamin.
• Drink plenty pure water. It helps reduce toxic load.
• Increase the fiber content of your diet.
• Lower the average omega 6:3 essential fatty acid ratio of the foods you eat.
• Avoid drinking excessive alcohol.

Exercise

Regular movement is a must. Exercise helps the body detoxify and reduce toxic load. Telomere length has been shown to respond to both endurance and resistance training. Other research has shown high intensity interval training to be best since it achieves the highest levels of healthy endorphins. Rebounding on a mini tramp has been found to stimulate detoxification at a deep lymphatic level.

Don’t Smoke

Smoking leads to lung cancer and other diseases. Second hand smoke can be similarly detrimental. Avoid exposure to it as well. Smokers have shorter telomeres.

Maintain Ideal Body Weight and Composition

In addition to being coupled with poor physical function, low muscle mass, especially when associated with high body fat, is associated with elevated disease risk. Keep body fat low, especially in the visceral region, and lean mass high.

Breathe Deeply and Diaphragmatically

Breathe deeply and diaphragmatically throughout the day. Inhalation and exhalation through your nose is believed to be even more helpful. It filters and conditions your air and it increases Nitric Oxide production, believed to help maintain telomere length. Deep breathing moves us into a more peaceful, parasympathetic mode, reducing unnecessary stress response.

Practice a Peaceful State of Mind

Pray. People with spiritual faith live longer. Meditate. Meditation has been shown to improve telomerase production as well as help with many other types of health challenges. Other Spiritual/Mindfulness practices of eastern origin including yoga and many martial arts including taichi and qigong have been shown to be beneficial. Therapeutic grade essential oils can help you relax even more. Focus on the present. Maintain perspective. Learn to live your life in parasympathetic mode and activate fight/flight only when under immediate threat. We cannot always control the stress in our lives but we can control our response to it.

Smile More Often Than Not

Fake it until you make it. Smiling has been found to release beneficial endorphins which have healthful effects, even when we fake it. Cultivate positive emotions. Open your heart.

Engage Socially

Studies have shown that those who enjoy meaningful supportive social relationships live longer than those who do not. Grow breadth and depth in your social networks. Develop your interpersonal skills. Practice empathy and love the one you’re with, in a manner appropriate to your relationship, of course. Find your purpose and dedicate yourself to it as best you can.

Spend Time in Nature

Outdoor electromagnetic fields are different than those inside our homes which are also filled with WiFi and other modern transmissions. Enjoy the negative ions which can have a positive effect on mood and health. When weather permits, go barefoot or lie in the grass to benefit from the earth’s healing magnetic field.

Monitor Your Health Status Regularly
Think of improving your health as a cyclical process. You add or improve an awareness, you build that into a behavior and then a practice, you assess its affect and then you go back and adjust and build some more. Most cyclical processes involve an element of assessment. Compared to subjective assessment, objective tests provide a track record that supports proactive management. They are typically influenced less by extraneous factors and harder to deny.

• Use objective measurement for a better understanding of how your health is doing. Test at regular intervals to highlight changes over time.
• Consider adding telomere length measurement to your health metrics. Per Stefan Kiechl,a telomere researcher in the Department of Neurology at Innsbruck Medical University, “The appealing thing with telomere length measurements is that they allow the estimation of the biological — in contrast to the chronological — age of an organism. This was previously not possible.”
• If your results are low, work on the above tips and improve them! If they are high, keep up the good work!

Want to Measure Your Telomeres?

We’d be happy to get that done for you through our association with SpectraCell Laboratories in Houston Texas. SpectraCell is the only lab to make telomere length testing commercially available in the United States at this time.

More information about this test is available for you to read on the link to the.pdf document under “Related Posts” below.

$290

This is what you would pay if you purchased this test on your own off SpectraCell’s website. It includes a blood drawer from an authorized local site, the kit, processing, the report, and shipping and handling. In my opinion, it’s totally worth it.

$282

This is HOLLY HOUSE’S price. This is what we normally sell it for. It includes everything that you would get from SpectraCell plus I will get a chance to review it. If you are under active care, this should have benefit for you.

$262

To compliment publication of this post, we are pleased to offer you a special discount of $20 for the next four weeks through April 7, 2015.

If you’d like to learn your biological age and gain this interesting new perspective on your health condition, why not save $20 and order your test this month? Contact us with your private questions or to have us run this test for you. Please leave all other questions in the comments section below.

Related Posts:

• Telomere Testing, A Window to Your Patient’s Cellular Age
• SpectraCell’s Comprehensive Nutrition Panel

There are so many supplements out there. Each one promises to help in some way. For most of us, however, our budget is limited as is our capacity to swallow all those pills.

When choosing which supplements to purchase, wouldn’t it be helpful to have a clearer understanding of your nutritional needs so that you could more easily select the most relevant products while confidently passing on the rest?

I’d like to tell you about a new lab panel designed to help you do just that. We’ve recently added it to our evaluation kit and I’m very excited about the focus it can bring to my patient’s nutritional programs and spending.

The Comprehensive Nutrition Panel

The lab panel is called the Comprehensive Nutritional Panel, also known as the Micronutrient Panel, brought to us by SpectraCell. The panel tests an extensive range of Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids, Anti-Oxidants, Fatty Acids, Metabolites, levels of total anti-oxidant function (Spectrox), an immune response score (Immunidex) and an evaluation of carbohydrate metabolism.

Example of report element.

The report provides you with targeted nutrient repletion recommendations for those vitamins and minerals that you are deficient in.

More from SpectraCell about this test: The Comprehensive Nutritional Panel

What’s Unique about SpectraCell’s Comprehensive Nutrition Panel?

The Comprehensive Nutritional Panel is a blood panel designed and based on the results of 18 years of research at the University of Texas. In this research micronutrients were studied for their effect on function within the white blood cells. Evaluation of nutrient status using white blood cells was revolutionary.

Traditional tests measured nutrient status using blood serum levels but the useful life of these results is limited. This research shows that the analysis of white blood cells gives a much more accurate assessment of nutrient status over a longer and more useful time frame. Due to the success of this research, this type of assessment became a patented technology now available to us through SpectraCell.

Why run the Comprehensive Nutrition Panel?

Better Health

We now know that nutrition has a significant influence on the expression of our genes which plays an important part in how healthy we stay as the years go by. A better understanding of your nutritional needs can help you modify your diet and/or supplementation appropriately which will lead to better nutrition allowing for more optimal expression of your genetic potential and ultimately to better health.

Save Money

Identifying specific imbalances in your body can help you save money. You can cut back on supplements identified by the test as being too high, freeing your money to support other areas that are too low. It helps you determine where your money is best spent.

Peace of Mind

Knowing your body is receiving optimal levels of nutritional support helps you stress less about whether you are getting sufficient antioxidants and fatty acids.

Stress burns nutrients. Among many other major benefits, peace of mind also reduces the supplements you need to maintain good health.

Who can benefit?

• Anyone who is currently struggling with his/her health and needs to make the most of his/her nutrition to promote his/her best outcome.
• Anyone who would like to make sure his/her money is being spent on a supplement program in the best way possible.
• Anyone who has a familial history or genetic predisposition to a chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer, and wants to ensure their best outcomes with superior nutritional supplementation.
• Anyone who wants to age healthfully by maintaining the best nutritional balance possible.

How much does this test cost?

As of the date I’m posting this, here are the prices that I’m aware of:

$390

This is what you would pay if you purchased this test on your own off SpectraCell’s website. It includes a blood drawer from an authorized local site, the kit, processing, the report, and shipping and handling. In my opinion, it’s totally worth it.

$379

This is HOLLY HOUSE’S price. This is what we normally sell it for. It includes everything that you would get from SpectraCell plus I will get a chance to review it. If you are under active care, this should have benefit for you.

$297

This is a special price underwritten by SpectraCell available to you through HOLLY HOUSE on a temporary basis if you have health insurance.

SpectraCell wants to register this test for reimbursement by insurance carriers but it needs to demonstrate a history of use to do that. Once your lab has been processed, SpectraCell will bill your insurer for the list price of the lab. Depending on your carrier, your carrier may or may not reimburse you but it’s a good deal either way. We don’t know how long this deal will last, so if you are eligible and interested, you will want to act before it expires.

What’s your next step?

If you’d like to add another level of understanding to your nutritional program, SpectraCell’s Comprehensive Nutritional Panel is an attractive tool at an attractive price especially at the moment.

Contact us if you are interested in having us run this very special panel for you.

Introducing an Exciting New Source of Omega-3s

HOLLY HOUSE has long carried high quality Omega 3 supplements to help bolster your consumption of these essential fats should your food choices ever fall short. You will find them in assorted formulas in assorted forms including capsules, tablets, and liquid from assorted sources including flax seed, rape seed, soy beans, walnuts, some meat and dairy products and, of course, fish. We are now pleased to offer you Omega-3 from an exciting new source which has garnered a lot of press as well as controversy in the nutrition world lately; krill.

What’s the fuss about?

Krill are a small crustacean similar to a tiny shrimp hugely abundant in the waters around Antarctica. Excitement stems from the claims made by many reputable sources that Omega-3s derived from Krill offer some unique advantages over other fish oils. If a major portion of consumers shifted the source of their omega-3 supplementation to krill, that would be a big deal in the nutrition world.

Are krill for me?

Whether everyone should now substitute Krill oil for fish oil is a question hotly debated in some circles. Quality fish oil remains a healthy choice that may still be right for you but if you are one of the many who have found fish oil supplementation to be challenging or even if you haven’t, krill oil is worth a serious look.

Primary Benefits

Phospholipids

Omega-3s in krill oil are bonded to phosholipids instead of triglycerides as are other fish oils..Phospholipids are also found in human cell membranes. One of their properties is that they dissolve in water. As a result, unlike fish oil, the oil does not separate in our stomachs. This results in several major benefits for consumers:

• Easier, more complete and rapid assimilation, allowing for
• Smaller pill sizes
• No Burping

Purity

• Decreased risk of heavy metal contamination due to the pristine environment from which krill are harvested as well as their very low position on the food chain.
• The purity of the raw material allows for more gentle processing that avoids distillation typically used to produce fish oil thereby possibly better preserving nutritional integrity.

Other Benefits

Krill oil contains other nutrients in addition to Omega 3s including:

• phospholipids, nutritional in their own right
• flavonoids
• astaxanthin, an antioxidant existing in the algae upon which krill feed, gives the oil its red color

Sustainability

Krill grows in the pristine ocean waters off Antarctica. Its location and krill’s huge importance to the ocean’s food chain have caused this new dietary interest in krill to raise some eyebrows.

Though the world’s last great wilderness would be a fearful thing to lose, vendors assure us that strict measures have been put in place to preserve both the environment and the viability of the krill population.

Krill constitute the largest biomass on the planet. Apparently, we are harvesting just a small fraction of what would be safe and only a small fraction of that is actually ingested by humans directly. The remainder is used for aquaculture and other purposes. Regulations specified by international treaty govern all harvesting and some reputable companies even choose to go above and beyond the requirements.

Krill Oil Products through HOLLY HOUSE

HOLLY HOUSE offers the following two krill oil product options:

• Thorne Research Krill Oil – Thorne uses Superba® Krill from Aker BioMarine. Available through our Thorne Research web panel or our front desk.
• Neptune Krill Oil – Neptune is from NKO which sponsored the early health research on krill. Available through our Nutri-Dyne web panel or our front desk.

Consider making krill oil part of your supplement program.

(transcript of video introduction)
Over the past year, I’ve discovered the health benefits of rebounding. I’ve since come to love it and I’m excited to now share some of what I’ve learned with you.

This particular video focuses on the act of rebounding itself. See my video entitled “Rebounding for Better Lymphatic Health” for a discussion of associated health benefits.

The purpose of this video is to help my clients and others get started safely, get the most benefit, and generally have a positive rebounding experience. I intend it primarily for those just learning to use a mini tramp. Watch it if you plan to begin rebounding. It is especially important to watch if you are de-conditioned or just beginning to exercise again.

Though not the focus, experienced athletes may still find value here, especially if they are looking for a fun new way to improve endurance and vitality and have yet to try rebounding. Those anxious to move forward will find a reference to materials on taking it to the next level below.

Now for my Top 10 Tips:

(CLICK each tip for it’s respective video transcript)

For more tips on rebounding check out the DVD from ReboundAIR and the REBOUND-AIR.com website.

I wish you safe and effective lymphasizing through the years to come.

Enjoy your rebounder!

Note: We appreciate feedback in any form but instead of sending us email, ask that you leave a comment below.

Related Post: "Rebounding for Better Lymphatic Health" Includes a coupon for a discount good toward the purchase of a new rebounder.

Heart disease remains the most common cause of death in the United States. According to the CDC, an American has a heart attack on average every 34 seconds. Many victims showed blood pressure and cholesterol levels within normal ranges and were never even considered at risk.

There clearly is a great need to do better.

New Insights into Cholesterol

In response to the suffering, science has poured resources into dealing with heart disease and it has some fundamental new distinctions to offer. No longer does it focus simply on good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, HDL and LDL. It now looks deeper.

It turns out that not all LDL is equally bad. Large, buoyant LDL is much less dangerous than small dense LDL. Small dense particles are more likely to slip into the arterial walls and cause the buildup of dangerous plaque. Even if you have normal LDL levels in your blood, if you have more of the small dense particle types, you might still be susceptible to experiencing a heart attack.

Conversely, it has also been shown that some types of HDL are more protective than others. Even if your total HDL level isn’t as high as you would like, if you have the right type, you may rest a bit easier knowing you still enjoy some super protection.

Better Cardiac Risk Assessment

Clinical laboratories are using these new insights to introduce new tests. They offer better assessment of cardiovascular health than tests of the past and may even tell a different story.

HOLLY HOUSE is now pleased to offer a wonderful example of such a test through LabCorp called the VAP Cholesterol Test. The VAP Cholesterol Test identifies the types of LDL and HDL you have in your blood. With a simple blood test, it will tell you how much of your LDL is of the small and dense type and how much of your HDL is of the super protective type. In addition, it provides more helpful information as well.

Who it is for:

Anyone might find this test useful but especially those who are concerned about heart disease, have a family history of cardiac events, or are aware of having one or more risk factors for heart disease, especially if they are over the age of 45.

Why Take the VAP Test

Although piece of mind alone might justify the test, most importantly it can warn you of a cardiovascular risk that you had not previously been aware of. If your blood fats are out of balance, we want to know because there are action steps we can take to change them. These action steps range from specific exercise prescriptions to specific supplement and dietary recommendations. They can improve your results markedly.

My Recommendation

This is one of the most exciting new tests to become available in a while. If you have heart disease or are concerned about the possibility or even if you are just getting older, I recommend that you consider taking it. Contact our front desk to schedule your test today.

CLICK for a detailed description of the VAP test.

The VAP cholesterol test is a comprehensive lipoprotein analysis.

Test Includes: Apo B100 calculation(LDL pattern B); LDL subclass pattern (pattern A, B, A/B); LDL-R(real)-C; lipid and metabolic syndrome assessment; quantitative measurement of total HDL cholesterol, total LDL cholesterol, total VLDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides (indirect measurement); VLDL subfraction cholesterol (VLDL 1+2 [large boyant] and VLDL3[small dense])

All Other Calendars (Outlook, iCal, other)

Applies to orders placed with our front desk and paid on or before the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

In Person:	At the front desk.
By Phone:	651-645-6951
By Email:	frontdesk at hollyhouse dot org
Delivery:	Product becomes available on Super 2nd Wednesday Pick up at your convenience or Ship at your prerogative.

If we don’t have the product on our shelves, we’ll order it for you.

Don’t forget to Save Money on Sale Prices on the Second Wednesday this month!

CLICK a button to add this event to your calendar:

All Other Calendars (Outlook, iCal, other)

Problems That May Develop Include:

• Possible B12 deficiency
• Magnesium deficiency
• Increased risk of Clostridia infection
• Increased risk of pneumonia
• Increased risk of hip, wrist and spine fracture
• Increased weight gain
• Severe reaction with Plavix
• Increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease
• Increased risk of death after hospitalization

What Does JAMA Recommend?

Because of these risks The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article including the statement, “Physicians need to use caution and balance benefits and harms in long-term prescription of high-dose PPIs.”  JAMA Internal Medicine 2013. 

How about you?

Do you need to take a more natural approach to your stomach problems? Natural, functional medicine assessment and therapies help you get to the causes of your acid reflux and help correct the problems. Don’t put your future health at risk!

It is so important for men to keep their weight within optimal ranges as they age. Many aging males experience decreased testosterone levels, now associated with declining health. Typical symptoms include decreasing vigor, loss of muscle strength and power, decreased bone density, depression, erectile dysfunction, thinning skin, and decreased concentration and cognitive performance. They will face further risk if they are over weight. The presence of excessive fat in the body increases the activity of the enzyme aromatase which promotes the conversion of testosterone to estradiol (yes, an estrogen). Such conversion leads to worsening of health and swelling of the prostate gland, and in some men, the development of breast tissue. Often, with actual obesity, Type 2 diabetes may ensue, complicating the picture. Insulin resistance increases inflammatory activity and pain in the body, and compromises cardiovascular health.

Don’t Let it Happen to You

If you are beginning to put weight on, and are over 30 years of age, commit to getting your weight to an optimal level this year. Find an exercise program that can work for you since a well designed exercise program can help as well by creating better balance in the endocrine system. You will “turn off” the excessive estrogenic effects of aromatase enzyme and feel a whole lot better.