BLOG 29: CHAPPED LIP SKIN

PUT AN END TO SORE, DRY, FLAKY LIP SKIN

CATEGORY: 1: Simple Malnutrition

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTS: Biotin and Folic Acid

You know the symptoms: your lips are dry, and/or, cracked, red, burning, flaky, peeling, sore, sometimes even bleeding, but always with that extra layer of scratchy skin. It can hurt, and the condition is noticeable when you are kissed. Biotin, along with Folic Acid, causes more moisture to be held in the lip skin, and will stop chapped lip skin. And since these two supplements can fix the problem, it tells us that if you have chapped lip skin, you have a deficiency in these supplements.

This is a great little therapy, and it works almost the same day to soften and smooth the skin on your lips. The only problem is that the day that you forget either of the daily doses is the day your chapped lip skin returns. But if you can be faithful to the therapy and make it a regular part of your daily routine, you’ll really like the improvement in the way your lips look and feel. More kissable.

To aid your lips’ ability to hold on to moisture: each night before you go to sleep, smooth on a little Shea Butter, and rub it in for a few seconds. It will penetrate overnight and aid the softening process. Use unadulterated, unrefined Shea Butter, not the marketed products with tons of other ingredients. I recommend “AAA Shea Butter,” which is nothing but unrefined Shea Butter at a good price. Contact them at 800-450-2228, Atlanta GA.

Chapped Lip Skin QUICK GLANCE CHART
Supplement	Breakfast	Dinner	Brand	Strength
Biotin	3 tablets	3 tablets	Puritan’s Pride #7961	1000 mcg
Folic Acid	8 tablets	8 tablets	Puritan’s Pride #2845	800 mcg
Biotin and Folic Acid are part of the B Complex, which elements work synergistically and have to be kept in balance. If you take some parts of the B Complex alone for an extended period you may end up with a deficiency caused by a lack of the missing ones. For that reason you should also take a B Complex supplement, for balance.
B Complex	1 capsule	1 capsule	Puritan’s Pride #10280	100 mg/mcg

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 30: Essay 2: The Lynn Capehart “Category Approach” To Healing All Disease With Nutrition

To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit www.lynncapehart.com. For private consultations you may contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality. To view a video about preventing inflammation go to www.youtube.com

Blog 28: RAYNAUD’S DISEASE/SYNDROME

STOP THIS ANNOYING PROBLEM IN JUST DAYS

CATEGORY: 2: Inflammation
RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENT: Beta Carotene

Raynaud’s is one of the most annoying problems, but also one of the easiest to fix. There is a distinction made between Primary Raynaud’s, referred to as the Disease, and Secondary Raynaud’s, referred to as the Syndrome. Both manifest as numbness in the shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet and toes. Luckily, this therapy works equally well on both.

Primary Raynaud’s (the Disease) is diagnosed if the symptoms have no other known cause and occur by themselves, with no association with any other disorder or condition.

Secondary Raynaud’s (the Syndrome) is diagnosed in conjunction with and secondary to a wide variety of other conditions, including, connective tissue disorders, eating disorders, obstructive disorders, ingesting certain drugs, and occupations that lead to extensive exposure to cold weather or cold conditions. Raynaud’s is often described as an allergy to cold, because cold conditions are one of the classic inflammatory triggers that leads to the problem.

A closer look shows that these other conditions associated with secondary Raynaud’s are all, directly or indirectly, connected to and caused by a flare-up of inflammation, just like Raynaud’s. Therefore, if you can control inflammation you can control both Primary and Secondary Raynaud’s, no matter the cause.
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Note: Inflammation can flare up anywhere in your body, at any time, and for a million different reasons. How it will manifest is a function of your personal genetics. Maybe your family has a genetic weakness in the nervous system, so your inflammation may show up as Multiple Sclerosis. Maybe the genetic weakness is in the digestive system, in which case your inflammation may show up as Crohn’s Disease. Maybe it’s a predisposition to tumor growth that turns your inflammation into cancer. But inflammation is inflammation: All and any inflammation has the same root cause, oxidation and an excess of free radicals. Hence, no matter where it manifests, any case of inflammation can be treated with the same therapy with equal success.
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WHAT DOES RAYNAUD’S FEEL LIKE?

You wake up in the middle of the night with the phone ringing loudly in your ear. Your reach for it, only to discover that your right arm is completely numb, with no feeling whatsoever. Since the numbness extends into your hands and fingers, you can’t pick up the phone. Or you go out to shovel snow from your walk. When you finish and reenter your kitchen, your fingers are completely numb with no feeling. You even have trouble unzipping your parka. Or, maybe every time you sit down for a spell, one or both of your legs fall asleep, making it hard to stand again and move around. This is Raynaud’s, and it is one of the easiest disorders to control and prevent.

WHAT IS RAYNAUD’S?

Think of Raynaud’s as “over-crowding,” like thirty-six people sharing a studio apartment, constantly getting in each other’s way, constantly invading each other’s space.

All of your blood vessels are surrounded by soft tissue. When that soft tissue becomes inflamed it takes on water, swells up and expands. As it expands it takes up more room and presses against the blood vessels, leaving less space for blood flow to get through to your extremities. The decreased blood flow to the extremities causes the numbness and the condition we call Raynaud’s. That’s all there is to it. It’s easy to see therefore, that stopping inflammation will stop the tissue from swelling, and will stop Raynaud’s from stealing space belonging to the blood vessels and thereby cutting off the blood supply to the extremities.
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Note: When exposed to cold temperatures, the blood supply to the face, nose and earlobes can also be markedly reduced because of the same inflammation described above. When the oxygen supply in the area is depleted, numbness occurs due to lack of blood, and the skin turns bluish.
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Chronic recurrent attacks of Raynaud’s can result in atrophy of the skin, subcutaneous tissues, and muscle, stemming from the prolonged periods without enough oxygen. In severe cases, if left untreated, Raynaud’s can progress to necrosis or gangrene of the fingertips or toes, because extended constriction of blood flow to any area leads to tissue hypoxia.

It is said that Raynaud’s can herald certain diseases by periods of more than 20 years in some cases, making if effectively their first presenting symptom. That’s because it is inflammation that is causing the Raynaud’s, as well as the other diseases. Left untreated inflammation worsens and leads to other conditions, like cancer, Crohn’s, or MS.

RAYNAUD’S INFLAMMATORY CHAIN REACTION

When inflammation flares up in your system it has a set process and reaction sequence. In the case of Raynaud’s, the inflammatory trigger causes reddening and warmth in the tissue surrounding the blood vessels. The body then attempts to cool the heat by shunting extra fluids to the tissue. The tissue absorbs the extra fluid and swells. The swollen tissue squeezes against the blood vessel walls, nanrrowing them, and decreasing blood flow to the limbs. Decreased blood flow means decreased oxygen, and results in numbness and temporary loss of usage in the affected extremities.
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Raynaud’s Inflammatory Chain Reaction
environmental trigger → inflammation → reddening and warmth → extra fluids → swelling → squeezing of blood vessel walls → narrowing of blood vessels → numbness in extremities _____________________________________________________________________

BETA CAROTENE IS THE VERY BEST INFLAMMATION FIGHTER

Large doses of Beta Carotene—a superior antioxidant, supported by Vitamin D3 and taken on a regular basis—will prevent and heal Raynaud’s. Beta Carotene stops inflammation from being triggered, and will keep the tissue around the blood vessel from swelling and constricting blood flow to your extremities, leading to tissue hypoxia. It does this by severely restricting free radical growth. (See Blog 3: The Danger of Inflammation)

Ginkgo Biloba is recommended because it thins the blood, permitting more to get to the affected area even after blood vessel constriction. While you are using Beta Carotene and Vitamin D3 to control Raynaud’s, you may also want to take Ginkgo Biloba to thin the blood and help more blood and oxygen get to the extremities right away. Once you no longer suffer from Raynaud’s, you can stop taking Ginkgo Biloba, but you should continue taking Beta Carotene and Vitamin D3. If you are already taking a prescription drug blood thinner, like Coumadin, don’t take it with Ginko Biloba, because the supplement will duplicate the effects of the drug.
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Note: Smoking tobacco worsens the frequency and intensity of Raynaud’s attacks, because tobacco smoke is known to constrict blood vessels all on its own.
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RAYNAUD’S/NUMBNESS IN EXTREMITIES Quick Glance Chart
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Supplement           Breakfast         Dinner                   Brand                   Strength
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Beta Carotene
(softgels only)      50 softgels    50 softgels    Puritan’s Pride #1223    25000 IU
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Vitamin D3
(softgels only)      2 softgels         2 softgels     Puritan’s Pride #17621    2000 IU
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This is a healing and maintenance dose, meaning that you should keep taking Beta Carotene and D3 in these dosages, even after Raynaud’s symptoms have disappeared.
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Ginkgo Biloba
(capsules only)      1 capsule        1 capsule      Puritan’s Pride #4544      120 mg
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NOTES

► If you take Beta Carotene without also taking Vitamin D, you will deplete your stores of Vitamin D and develop a Vitamin D deficiency. It may manifest as sores on the inside of the mouth. Always take Vitamin D when you take Beta Carotene. Vitamin D3 is recommended, because it more closely replicates the Vitamin D made naturally on your skin from contact with the sun. If you can’t find D3, take straight Vitamin D.

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 29: Dry, Sore, and Chapped Lips,  where I tell you how to have soft, kissable lips without chapstick.
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To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit www.LynnCapehart.com. For private consultations or other contact please email me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality.
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BLOG 27: ASTHMA

BREATHE EASY IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS

CATEGORIES: 2: Inflammation, 3: Blockage

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTS: Beta Carotene, Lecithin, L-Cysteine,

My father, Raleigh, was career Army. He loved it. Loved the order and organization. The discipline and polish. The precision and pomp. He considered it a true meritocracy, and believed there was no more level playing field for a man of color then, than in the U.S. Army. Thankfully, he never tried to impose his love of order and discipline on me. He didn’t bring home the soldier, only the dad.

But whatever made Raleigh a good warrior also fed a bit of an obsession with my safety and well being. His only child, and him a single parent. Thus it was his habit to try to incorporate defense information into our everyday activities. But it never came across like a “lesson.” He was smart and always teaching me new things. The defense part seemed all of a piece with the other information.

More often than not he made it a game, like “Front Door Intruder,” where he would knock on the screen door and pretend to be an intruder. I would open the front door, spot the malice in his face. He would pull the screen and come at me. The game was to see if I could turn and make it up the stairs to my bedroom and lock the door before he could catch me. Of course he taught me not to open the door in the first place; this was just his backup plan in case I forgot.

If we were watching a show on television and a woman was on her way into a trap, he would turn to me and want to know what was wrong with the picture. What mistake was she making? What should she do? When the victim was a man, my father would identify himself with that person and ask how I would go about rescuing him. If I gave a wrong answer I might hear something like, “No, no, first you have to create a diversion.” Then we would run through my options for creating a diversion.

Among other things, Raleigh signed me up at the Police Athletic League for rifle lessons, taught me himself how to use a hand gun, and the correct way to hold a knife as a weapon. He showed me the best escape routes out of the house from every single room, how to get to the police station through a series of backyards, and that a well placed kick to the shin would slow an attacker as quickly as one to the groin. If you’re wearing shoes.

He also schooled me on basic survival techniques. Sundays, when the family was lazing around the house reading the newspapers and funny pages, and laboring over the New York Times crossword puzzle, he would suddenly pull out The Army Survival Manual (ASM) for a bit of light reading and discussion. Groans might be heard from another room but I usually cooperated, and he usually reciprocated with ice cream, sometimes homemade by him.

The ASM makes for absorbing reading. It tells a soldier how to survive in a battle situation when she is separated from her unit. How to think, psychologically, and what to do. But there are survival tips that serve civilians just as well: What if your car breaks down in the desert? What if your small boat washes out to sea while you’re napping? What if your snow mobile runs out of gas on an Alaskan ice ledge? What if you get separated from your camping party and lost in the woods?

The ASM instructs that if you are stranded in a survival situation, there are fundamental steps to be taken if you want to make it out alive. And the steps should be taken in specific order if possible. If you are injured, first aid takes priority. Second is to find water, because we can only live a few days without it; third is build or find shelter for protection from the elements, whether rain, snow, wind, sea, or sun; fourth is find food; and fifth is find a way to signal rescuers who will be looking for you, or, make plans to travel from the site on your own.

Notice that none of the steps tells you to find an air source. We expect air to always be there. We can live without it only minutes at best. So no one cautions searching for an air source. But what if you couldn’t depend on getting enough air, and had no real control over the situation? What if once you got air in, got your lungs all filled up, you couldn’t get the air back out? In a very literal sense, asthma steals your breath away.

ASTHMA AND INFLAMMATION

Asthma is a chronic inflammation in your lungs, which triggers certain responses from your body that together form what we call an asthma attack.

Let’s say you’re on vacation with three friends, renting a seaside cottage on the Maine coast. It’s a hot July day and the bees are out busily pollinating flowers. You have a cigarette on the porch with a cup of Earl Grey. Watching the waves entices you to take a swim in the Atlantic, where you push yourself beyond your normal limits. As you leave the water you feel a tightness forming in your chest. Your heart speeds slightly in anticipation of an imminent asthma episode. By the time you get back to your room, you’re coughing and having trouble breathing.

An asthma attack starts with inflammation. That’s what asthma medicines like inhaled and swallowed corticosteroids try to achieve, the control of inflammation. You can have inflammation anywhere in your body, but in the lungs is possibly the worst place to have it. If you suffer from asthma, you walk around with a chronic, low grade inflammation in your lungs all the time, making them overly sensitive and therefore susceptible to certain triggers.

When those triggers are activated as they were in the opening hypothetical, by pollen dust, cigarette smoke, hard exercise, and fatigue, that low grade inflammation flares inside your lungs into a full blown one. When inflammation reaches a base point threshold in your lungs, it triggers an asthma attack.

We’re all familiar with the symptoms of inflammation. If you bang your wrist on a fence, the affected area will redden and warm due to increased blood flow as your body reacts to the damage; it will swell as the body dispatches fluids, trying to cool the heat it just produced; it will be painful from a chemical released in reaction to the damage that over stimulates nerve endings; and there will be a loss of function, because of all the other reasons.

When that process happens on a wrist it’s an annoyance but you get on with your day. If it happens inside your lungs, it’s a catastrophe, and you could suffocate. Let’s walk through an asthma attack, step by horrible step:

SIX STEPS TO AN ASTHMA EPISODE

Step 1: your specific trigger causes inflammation to explode inside your sensitive lungs;

Step 2: your body acts to protect the area by expanding capillaries, which increases blood flow to the lungs, and causes reddening and warmth;

Step 3: the reddening and warmth signal your body to send extra fluids to your lungs, attempting to cool the heat it just produced there;

Step 4: the extra fluids are absorbed by the lung tissue and result in swelling and the production of excess mucus;

Step 5: as lung tissue swells and the lungs fill with mucus, airways constrict (narrow); this lethal combination of swelling, mucus, and airway narrowing reduces the space in the lungs, until there isn’t enough left for air to move in and out. (You try to take a breath but there’s no place for the air to enter into.)

Step 6: the narrowed airways cause chest tightening, and pressure in the chest as your muscles work harder and harder for every breath; it can get so bad that no air can circulate in and out, and you lose function in the lungs.

There is pain and discomfort throughout this entire frightening process.

ASTHMA’S CHAIN REACTION   environmental trigger → inflammation → reddening and warmth → fluids → swelling → mucus → narrowed airways → trouble breathing → loss of lung function → with pain and discomfort throughout the entire process

ATTACKING ASTHMA

As you can see from the steps above, if you can stop inflammation from flaring, you can stop the chain reaction that leads to an asthma attack. All of the symptoms associated with asthma have inflammation as the core problem. Because of the chain reaction asthma causes in the lungs, it takes several supplements to control and prevent it naturally.

There is no better inflammation fighter than Beta Carotene, along with its support partner, Vitamin D3. (Please see Blog 3: The Dangers of Inflammation for more information.) You are given the option of taking from 15 to 25 softgels twice daily. If you start with 15 and do not get the results as described here, simply increase your dosage and keep increasing it until the asthma is under control, even if it means taking more than 25 softgels twice daily. This is only nutrition and will not hurt you. Let me say that again. Beta Carotene will not hurt you. It is perhaps the kindest gift the universe has ever given us. Whatever dosage works to control your inflammation is your specific daily maintenance dose of Beta Carotene.

Lecithin will keep lungs clear of the mucus produced by your body as it tries to heal the usually low grade, but never ending, inflammation in your lungs.

L-Cysteine, along with its support partner, Vitamin C Complex, has an incredible ability to heal and cleanse the lungs fast and efficiently.

You can avoid the side effects of asthma medicines with these food supplements that actually heal the condition without causing harm. Taken together, they are all that you need to control and prevent asthma. You should plan on taking the extra nutrition in these supplements daily, as a maintenance dose, to make sure you keep asthma completely in check. Otherwise it will return if you stop.

ASTHMA Quick Glance Chart
Supplement	Breakfast	Dinner	Brand	Strength
Beta Carotene (softgels only)	15-25 softgels	15-25 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #1223	25,000 IU (equivalent to 15 mg)
Vitamin D3 (softgels only)	1 softgel	1 softgel	Puritan’s Pride #17621	2000 IU
Lecithin (softgels)	6 softgels	6 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #303	1200 mg
Lecithin (granules)	1 heaping tablespoon		Puritan’s Pride #1064	(equivalent to 6 or more softgels)
L-Cysteine (capsules only)	3 capsules	3 capsules	Puritan’s Pride #100	500 mg
Vitamin C Complex	3 tablets	3 tablets	Puritan’s Pride #3140	1000 mg

NOTES

► If you take Beta Carotene without also taking Vitamin D, you will deplete your stores of Vitamin D and develop a Vitamin D deficiency. It may manifest as sores on the inside of the mouth. Always take Vitamin D when you take Beta Carotene. Vitamin D3 is recommended because it more closely replicates the Vitamin D made naturally on your skin from contact with the sun. If you can’t find D3, take straight Vitamin D.

► Lecithin is the best natural emulsifier available, and will safely breakup and remove congestion from your lungs and sinus. I have recommended Puritan’s Pride brand because theirs is from soybeans only, and contains a minimum of 732 mg of phosphatides in each 1200 mg softgel, equivalent to 61 percent phosphatides. The value of a Lecithin product is determined by the percentage of phosphatides, because they activate the emulsifying process in your body. You may use another brand but make sure it conforms to or exceeds these specifications or it will not work as I described.

► When you use Lecithin regularly, in the beginning you will notice that you are coughing up and blowing out of your nose, a lot more mucus than usual. And it may appear thicker, nastier, and more opaque than usual. This is happening because Lecithin is breaking up congestion blockages in your lungs and other areas, causing mucus and other wastes to be expelled. This is a good sign and will taper off as your body cleans itself.

► Lecithin Granules are best used in blender drinks and sprinkled on salads, fresh cut fruit, and cereals. Make sure to consume it uncooked, in its natural state. You can use it in cooked recipes for texture and smoothness, but those amounts do not count toward your daily maintenance dose. It’s completely safe so take as much as you want.

► When you open a bottle of L-Cysteine you will notice a strong odor. It’s supposed to smell like that. It’s the sulphur. If you have a sulphur allergy do not use L-Cysteine.

► In order for L-Cysteine to work effectively it must be taken with twice its weight in Vitamin C. So, if you were to take 1000 mg of L-Cysteine, you would need 2000 mg of Vitamin C in order to get the L-Cysteine to work properly. This therapy will not work as I have described if you take L-Cysteine alone, or without enough Vitamin C.

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 28: Raynaud’s Syndrome (Numbness In Extremities),where I tell you how to eliminate it forever in just days.

To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit LynnCapehart.com. For private consultations you can contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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BLOG 26: ESSAY 1: WHY NUTRITION CAN HEAL AND PREVENT ANY PHYSICAL DISORDER

IN THE BEGINNING, NUTRITION FUELS POST CONCEPTION GROWTH

A pregnant woman’s body is a biological factory, a product manufacturing site, and a distribution port for the human race. It takes in raw materials in the form of nutrition, breaks down the elements into a usable form, and shunts the majority of those resources to the design floor, the womb, where they are utilized in a combined production, resulting usually in a fairly decent product being shipped. Namely, you.

No matter how you were conceived, naturally or in a petri dish, you came to term inside one of these female factories, having grown and survived after conception on the nutrition that your mother consumed. You’ve heard the expression, “you are what you eat.” Well, in a very real sense, at birth you were what your mother ate. As there is no other way for you to get here, to this reality, it can be said that you—the body you inhabit—are literally, not figuratively, constructed from nutrition. Constructed from the same proteins, vitamins, minerals, herbs, plant extracts, and other concentrated food formulations that I recommend to heal your body and maintain wellness.

NUTRITION ENABLES GENETIC PROGRESSION

The premise for all my theories, the reason for my absolute promise to you that nutrition can heal any disease, is based on the fact that since vitamins created your body, it is logical to believe that the same nutrition can repair it. The particular genetic recipe for each of you is contained in your individual genes. But the instructions in the genetic code cannot be implemented without the addition of nutrition into the process. In other words, your genes need an energy source in order to activate and then construct your body based on your chromosomal blueprint. This energy source is none other than the food nutrition provided by your mother’s own choices and consumption patterns.

The genes you inherited turn off and on throughout your lifetime. This is one way that mama evolution keeps things interesting and ensures that you don’t pass on the same genetics to each offspring. This mix-it-up plan makes better usage of the gene pool from whence you sprang. That’s why your sister can look like dad while your brother looks just like dad’s granduncle, Ted. And you look like your mother’s great-grandaunt, Selendra, the financial investment wizard who died in 1929. Let’s say that you were lucky enough to inherit Selendra’s genes for math and financial projection. Meaning, you have within your genetics specific code for a future on Wall Street, and achieving financial stability in your youth.

A LACK OF NUTRITION LIMITS POTENTIAL

But let’s also say that you were conceived in a time of ongoing crisis or famine, and that during your manufacturing process, your mother consumed only 27 percent of the proteins, 16 percent of the B complex components, and 31 percent of important minerals that are necessary to grow an optimal human brain. While the majority of her consumed nutrition was shunted to you in the uterus, some of it was kept and utilized by your mother so she could continue functioning. Call it overhead, like you’d spend to keep any factory functioning, say for gas, electric, and cleaning services. So the percentages of these important nutritional elements were even lower for you during gestation.

In this case, there will certainly be fewer nutrients than necessary to grow the cerebral area pertaining to mathematics. And suppose that the crisis or famine situation includes a toxic atmosphere, which causes rampant free radical growth in your mother’s factory. She is eating only 25 percent of the antioxidants she needs to control free radical activity. So, even though you have the genetics, you come to term without great-grandaunt Selendra’s math abilities due to a lack of nutrition, and already predisposed to free radical inflammation based conditions, like cancer, and multiple sclerosis.

This is certainly a worst case, but I am trying to make the point that nutrition counts at every single step in the process of growing, caring for, and keeping a human body well and free of disease. It especially counts during pregnancy when the new human is under construction, and later when it needs repair.

NUTRITION BUILDS THE BODY FEATURE BY FEATURE

Pregnant women are notorious for their wild food fancies—from pickle and pomegranate casserole to peanut butter and popcorn sandwiches. But what they eat translates directly into sustenance for the growing fetus. It translates into bone and sinew, into blood vessel and brain matter, fingernails, faces, skin and hair. Every bit of you is constructed by nutrition.

Perhaps one day your mother woke up and unbeknownst to her, her factory was scheduled to produce ears and hearing for you that day. Maybe the production line needed a lot of extra potassium that day in order to get the hearing just right, so you would have perfect pitch. The factory foreman sent resource demands to her brain and your mother spent the next few days stuffing herself to exhaustion with guacamole and corn chips, buttered potatoes and lima beans, and pint after pint of fresh picked blueberries, all good sources of potassium. By the end of the week, the factory had moved on to eyes, and you had the perfect pitch of Yo-Yo Ma.

This transfer of nutrition happens minute by minute while you are in the factory, in the womb. Let’s say that while you were gestating, your mother ate as a snack one afternoon, a 16 ounce broiled sirloin, french fries, sautéed winter vegetables, and three whole wheat rolls with butter. She shared with you through the umbilical cord, a large portion of the nutrition she consumed at that meal.

From the steak you received, in addition to the calories—a lot of protein to help grow bone and tissue, iron and cobalamin (B12) to facilitate the flow of oxygen and to help regulate how your cells were differentiated, zinc to assist in brain cell formation, and B6 to produce hemoglobin and grow your nervous system.

From the vegetables you received, in addition to calories, protein, and fiber—an enormous assortment of vitamins and minerals, including Vitamins A, C, K, E, thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium, among other trace elements.

Each vegetable has these nutrients in varying amounts—e.g., a cup of dried seaweed has 1527 mg of potassium, while a cup of raw spinach has 167 mg. A cup of pumpkin has 12,230 IU of Vitamin A , while a medium baked potato has 17 IU. A cup of parsnips has 1.56 mg of Vitamin E, while fennel and mushroom have none. It’s important to eat a variety of vegetables because they work together to make up for what they each lack.

From the whole wheat hard rolls you received, in addition to calories, protein, and fiber—carbohydrates, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, folic acid, magnesium, selenium, manganese, and important fats, plus other trace elements.

From the butter you received, fat and calories, which are also important in a growing fetus’s diet. You’ve heard the term “baby fat.” It is nature’s gift to a newborn, a nutritional reserve to live on in case there is crisis or famine when it is born.

And that’s just one meal. Think about all the nutrients Mom consumed while carrying you to term. All the raw materials by way of nutrition, that rolled into the factory and were used to make the body you’re parked in right now.

NUTRITION CAN MAKE ANY REPAIR

There is plenty of evidence to support agreement that the human body is constructed from nutrition. Once that is established, it’s not such a big leap to the conclusion that when that body gets sick, it makes sense to utilize the same elements to repair it that were used to create it in the first place.

Suppose you came outside one sunny morning, coffee cup in hand, and discovered that Roxanne had dug several holes in your lawn while looking for a lost bone. You love this lawn and repair it immediately with like material: seeds to grow new grass, or a patch of grass to cover the damage. You wouldn’t use cement, or carrots, or velvet, to repair the grass.

If your tire went flat you would repair it with a rubber patch because the tire is made of rubber. If you tore a hole in a denim shirt you would repair it with a cotton patch because the shirt is made of cotton. If an oil derrick arm broke down you would use steel to repair it because it is made from steel. If the sidewalk in front of your house cracked and needed repair, you would use cement because the sidewalk is made of cement. If the road in front of that sidewalk needed a repair, you would use asphalt because the road is made from asphalt. Et cetera.

I think you get the picture. Common sense tells us that when the human body breaks down, gets sick in any way, we should use nutrition to repair it because, say it with me now, “it is made from nutrition.”

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 27: Asthma, where I tell you how to toss the inhaler for good and get on with your life.

To learn more about my approach to wellness, please visit www.lynncapehart.com. For private consultations you may contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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BLOG 25: OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA)

END PAIN AND POSTPONE OR AVOID SURGERY WITH THIS NUTRITION THERAPY

CATEGORY: 1: Simple Malnutrition

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTS: Glucosamine, Monavie Active, Beta Carotene,  and Lecithin

As an infant you are born with 300 to 350 bones. As you grow, some of them fuse together, thereby decreasing the overall number until it drops to 206 in adulthood. There isn’t strict agreement on the number of joints in a human body. The answers range from no one knows to a couple hundred. We can agree that you need a lot of joints to hold together 206 bones.

Definitions: A Joint is the spot where two or more of your 206 individual bones are joined in such a manner as to permit flexibility and movement of the musculoskeletal structure. Joints are held in place by Ligaments, tough elastic tissue that connects bones and cartilage to the joint. (Tendons connect muscle to bone.)

Osteoarthritis (OA) assaults your joints and cartilage, and affects more people than rheumatoid arthritis, the “other” arthritis, which is an auto immune disorder. OA is the number one cause of chronic disability in the United States, and accounts for one in four visits to a primary physician. Meaning, that if we could get control of this disease, we could greatly reduce chronic disability, and eliminate the costs associated with 25 percent of primary care visits.

It is believed that some people have a genetic propensity that causes them to contract OA. Even so, you can always trump genetics with nutrition. Always. It’s not the family genes that are at fault, but the family diet that is passed on to succeeding generations.

OA is also known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease, simply because as the disease progresses the joints actually degrade, erode, and slowly disappear in places. The polite term is “narrowing.” OA symptoms include acute pain, chronic stiffness, fiery burning sensation, swelling from water retention, bone spurs, crackling sounds (crepitus) when joint is used, and enlargement and misshaping of the joint. Naturally, any combination of these can lead to a loss of mobility. There are lucky people who do not have symptoms, despite x-ray evidence of OA.

Definition: Bone Spur: It is caused by the same inflammation that causes swelling from water retention, and most of the pain and burning. This inflammation stimulates the overgrowth of bone cells, causing them to deposit too much bone in the area of the arthritis. The extra bone accumulates until there is a noticeable bony outgrowth called a spur. Bone spurs are one reason for the enlargement and misshaping of an arthritic joint, and are directly related to inflammation.

PREVENTING CARTILAGE DEGRADATION AND LOSS IS THE FOCUS FOR TREATING OSTEOARTHRITIS

OA is not a complicated disease despite its debilitating affect on your body. It can be successfully treated with nutrition that targets the resultant symptoms, and also the trigger itself, which is wear and tear. OA results directly from the loss of cartilage, the spongy protein substance that “cushions” the joints and keeps the bones from bumping into each other as you move.

Humans are always seeking “cushions” in life. We want the cushy job. We are told it is wise to have a financial cushion in case of hard times.  Chairs are padded with cushions for our butt’s comfort. Your car’s bumper cushions it from other, inept drivers. Take that natural desire for cushion to a biological level. Each bone has the same need. It needs a cushion to keep the other, inept bones away from it.

A large part of the cartilage cushion is dependent upon water content and other joint components like Glucosamine. If you don’t give your body the building nutrients it needs to repair cartilage, it will dry out over time and become less resilient. As the cartilage dries it provides less and less of a cushion for the adjoining bones. If the cartilage dries out completely, the cushion is lost and the bones collide with drastic results.

A great loss of flexibility and mobility occurs when the cushion collapses and bones start grinding against each other. Movement becomes painful and sometimes impossible. With a loss of cartilage, joints can actually lock in place. The stress on the joint from the disintegration of cartilage causes inflammation. Once inflammation is present the other symptoms show up as well.

ALL JOINTS ARE AT RISK FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS

OA can affect any joint but it usually presents in hands, feet, hips, knees, spine and lower back. The medical industry tells you that osteoarthritis is simply a natural result of aging. That you should go ahead and expect your joints to wear out before you’re done using them. Joint replacement surgery has become routine.

This medical information is confirmed by your own observations. When you look around you see most people over 45 with some symptom of OA. They complain that certain joints have become tender and achy. Or that they’re beginning to experience stiffness. Maybe a little swelling now and then? That’s the beginning of OA. But today you also hear 23-year-olds complaining about OA, while some 90-somethings show no signs of the disease. OA is no longer a disorder associated strictly with aging. Now it’s a disorder also associated with a profound lack of nutrition, regardless of your age.

The truth is that evolution designed your joints to operate efficiently for over 100 years, if supplied along the way with the nutritional building materials they need to make repairs and maintain their integrity. But after decades of use without enough nutrition, sure, they’re going to fail prematurely. They’re going to wear out.

Think of a favorite pair of shoes that you wear every day for months. They’re comfortable and you love them because they make you look cool. After a while the heels and soles show signs of wear and tear. Your first impulse, since these are your favorites, is to take them to a repair shop before they fall apart and you can’t wear them anymore.

Same thing with your joints. If you expect to get extended use out of them, you have to take steps to ensure they can fulfill the 100 year warranty. Your joints are in use more or less constantly. Even when you’re asleep, you can’t turn over in bed, scratch your ear, or reach for the annoying alarm without using many of your joints. Everything you do, your mobility itself, depends on actions by your joints. Without healthy joints you would become an immobile stick creature like Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, before Dorothy saved him with the oil can. If you supplement your diet with specific nutrients, your joints will have the building materials they need to make repairs and maintain stability.

THE SUPPLEMENTS

Glucosamine Sulfate or Glucosamine Hydrochloride (HCL) both do a good job of repairing and forming new cartilage inside joints. Glucosamine is a component of joint tissue and important to the production of synovial fluid, which keeps the joint lubricated. Your body produces Glucosamine, but the levels fall as you age and fail to add it as a supplement to your diet.

There is disagreement on which Glucosamine works better, the sulfate or the hydrochloride form. You’ll have to experiment to see which works best for you. For a long time I used sulfate and it worked fine, but then I noticed that taking it caused irritation in some joints, especially the knee. When I switched to hydrochloride the results improved. I can promise you that Glucosamine will rebuild the cartilage cushion in your joints, but your individual factors will decide which is best for you. Don’t lose heart if you try one form and it doesn’t work for you. Simply switch to the other to get relief.

While Glucosamine is the accepted supplement for rebuilding cartilage and preventing future loss of it, Monavie Active, which has a potent Hydrochloride form of Glucosamine, is very effective and highly recommended.

Lecithin is an emulsifier. It smoothes out the cartilage being constructed by the other supplements, and keeps the joint clear of organic debris that is the cause of a lot of the pain experienced by those who have OA. Like Dorothy’s oil can, Lecithin helps keep the joints lubricated and mobile.

Beta Carotene reduces free radical activity and thereby calms inflammation. It also reduces pain, burning, swelling, and misshaping of the joint through bone spurs.

Vitamin D3 supports Beta Carotene in its inflammation fighting function. If you take Beta Carotene without Vitamin D, you will deplete your stores of Vitamin D and develop a Vitamin D deficiency. That’s why you should always take Vitamin D when taking Beta Carotene. Vitamin D3 is recommended because it more closely replicates the Vitamin D made naturally on your skin from contact with the sun. If you can’t find D3, take straight Vitamin D.

Ibuprophen eliminates 90 percent of the stiffness accompanying OA. The pain, burning, and swelling will end if you take the supplements discussed above. But if stiffness is still a problem, regular daily use of Ibuprophen makes a huge improvement. You’ll stop feeling like you’re already 100.

Healing and Preventing Osteoarthritis   QUICK GLANCE CHART
Supplement	Breakfast	Dinner	Brand	Strength
Glucosamine Sulfate or HCL (capsules only)	2-4 capsules	2-4 capsules	Puritan’s Pride #4173 for Sulfate; #11822 for HCL	1000 mg
Monavie Active	2 ozs (mandatory)	2 ozs (optional)	Monavie	NA
It’s important to shake the Monavie bottle well each time before you use it. Consume everything that comes out of the bottle. Sometimes you will see grit, or small chunks of puree. Don’t discard any of it.
Lecithin (softgels, and granules)	5 softgels, and one heaping tablespoon	5 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #303/ #1064	1200 mg
Lecithin granules are best used sprinkled over salads, fresh fruit, and cereals, and mixed in with blender drinks. To count toward the daily dosage you must consume it uncooked.
Beta Carotene (softgels only)	25 softgels	25 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #1223	25,000 IU (equivalent to 15 mgs)
Vitamin D3 (softgels only)	2 softgels	2 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #15605	1000 IU
Ibuprophen	2-3 tablets	2-3 tablets	Generic	200 mg

IF YOUR KNEE JOINTS ARE THE PROBLEM IT’S IMPORTANT TO EXERCISE THE MUSCLES THAT SUPPORT THE JOINT

Make no mistake, if you’re aiming for zero tolerance you have to take all of the supplements recommended above. But if you follow the instructions and find that you still have discomfort, weak muscles might be the problem. You need strong muscles surrounding the knee to hug the joint and hold it in place. If the muscles are weak they permit too much movement in the joint which leads to an instability. Your knee stability will improve shortly after doing the following exercises.

The focus here is on the muscles on either side of the joint. It’s a good idea to do these exercises at least three times a week on a regular basis. The directions begin each exercise with the left leg, but you can switch it up if you want to.

The directions also instruct you to switch back and forth from the left leg to the right leg. If you prefer you can do all the exercises for one leg before moving on to the other leg.

OUTER KNEE MUSCLES

STARTING POSITION: Begin all three exercises lying on your right side, supporting your head with your right hand and bent elbow, with your body bent at the hip so that you are in the shape of an “L.”

EXERCISE 1.     Keeping both legs straight and your left foot flat and parallel to the floor, lift your left leg about eight inches and drop it back down gently. Do 25 reps. Up and down. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

EXERCISE 2.     Keeping both legs straight, lift your left leg a few inches and point your toes. Keeping both knees in alignment, one above the other, bend your left leg and swing it back gently, until it makes a 90 degree angle with your upper thigh, and straighten it again. Do 25 reps. Back and forth. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

EXERCISE 3.     Keeping both legs straight, and your foot flat, bring your left knee toward your chest as far as you can, and return it to a straight position. Do 25 reps. Up and back. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

INNER KNEE MUSCLES

STARTING POSITION: Begin all three exercises sitting on the floor with your legs spread in front of you in a V-shape. Bend your right knee and place your right foot flat on the floor. Lean to the left and rest your weight on your bent elbow with your left hand against the floor. Rest your right arm on your bent leg.

EXERCISE 1.     Your left leg is still where it was originally in the V-shape. Turn your left leg so that the inner leg is facing up. Keeping your foot flat and the inner side facing the ceiling, begin to bob your leg up and down about four inches. Do 25 reps. Up and down. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

EXERCISE 2.     Your left leg is still where it was originally in the V-shape. Turn your left leg so that the inside is facing up. Keeping your left foot flat and the inner side facing the ceiling, bend your left knee, bringing your heel close to your body. Push out and down gently, leading with your left heel. Do 25 reps. In and out. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

EXERCISE 3.     This exercise is almost identical to the one above. Your left leg is still where it was originally in the V-shape. Keeping your left foot flat and the inner side facing the ceiling, bend your left knee, bringing your heel close to your body. But this time kick out and away, while leading with your pointed toes. Do 25 reps. In and out. Change sides and repeat for right leg.

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 26: Essay 1: Why Nutrition Can Heal and Prevent Any Physical Disorder

To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit www.lynncapehart.com. For private consultations you may contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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BLOG 24: THE FLU

STOP AN OUTBREAK OF ANY STRAIN IN JUST HOURS   

CATEGORY: 6: Viruses

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENT: L-Lysine

Tis’ the season. To be jolly sure, but also to be sick. Each year brings new and more deadly influenza viruses that claim lives. You’d like to think of the flu as just a nastier version of a cold. Add aches and pains and you’re there, right? But they’re different. Colds are bacterial based and won’t kill you, at least not until they turn into something much worse, like pneumonia. But the flu, which is virus based, can be deadly enough to take your life, especially if you’re part of an at-risk group—like infants, the infirm, and the elderly—who often have a compromised or weakened immune system.

THE SYMPTOMS

The primary symptoms of flu manifest quickly after exposure, what is called “sudden onset,” and include high fever 100F or greater, sudden unexplained muscle pains, chills even when in a sufficiently warm environment, and extreme fatigue. Secondary symptoms include sore throat, headache, runny nose, sneezing, an array of stomach symptoms—like nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and diarrhea—and chest discomfort as in coughs, pain, and congestion.

THE VIRUS

The viruses that cause flu are living entities that crave life and will fight for it much as you would. In furtherance of the goal to survive, maintain and increase their population, and pass on their DNA to the next generation, they also breed—in a manner of speaking. In order to keep you sick and feeling like hell the flu virus has to breed, because each generation doesn’t live long enough to sustain the process. By breeding and replicating themselves, as one generation dies another is being born within your tissue, and the misery continues, sometimes unto death. Your body will most likely fight off and weaken succeeding generations of the virus until it is expelled. But not before you’ve spent an unhappy week or two.

Therefore, the focus has to be on stopping the virus from replicating a new generation of itself. If you can do that, stop that next generation from invading your tissue, you can stop the flu in a few hours. L-Lysine actually disrupts the virus’s DNA replication cycle, thereby stopping the next generation from being born, and ending the flu.

THE VIRUS KILLER

L-Lysine is a simple amino acid, one of the “building blocks” of protein. Natural and benign. Taken in appropriate doses as soon as possible after you experience the symptoms listed above, it will stop any strain of the flu.

Let’s be clear on this. We label each new strain of flu virus based on many factors. We worry about its origin, strength, and ability to mutate. But inside the body, L-Lysine will stop any strain, because they’re all the same when it comes to preventing replication, which is L-Lysine’s specialty.

PREVENTING FLU

You can take other simple, common sense steps to avoid getting and/or spreading the flu:

1.         Washing your hands regularly is important: When you get home, you should take off your coat and go directly to a sink to wash your hands, and scrub well. Also wash them after you use the bathroom, before you handle food or go into the refrigerator, and after you blow your nose. Keep in mind that flu viruses can live from 2 to 8 hours on a surface.

I was invited for Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago. I was watching the host’s sister make a salad. She had been sniffling from the peppers she was cutting. So she stopped, pulled a tissue from her apron pocket, blew her nose, put the tissue back in her pocket, and her hands back in the salad. Needless to say I didn’t eat the salad or anything else I thought she may have touched. I once dated a man who thought that after he showered in the morning his body miraculously stayed clean through the day, even his hands. He’d shower, go shopping at Vons, come home, unpack and begin immediately to prepare food without washing his hands. When I asked him about it he told me about the divine shower he had taken. Do you know how many filthy surfaces he touched, door handles, shopping carts, money, to name a few? How many bacterium he came into contact with, between leaving the shower stall and pulling out the frying pan? Good grief.

2.         Keeping your sneezes and coughs to yourself will be greatly appreciated by all: The best way is to sneeze or cough into the crook of your arm, because you won’t be using it to touch any other surfaces and leave little nasties behind.

3.         Please stay home if you’re sick: This is another way of keeping your sneezes and coughs to yourself. No one will praise you or think better of you if you drag your sick and contagious body to work. Don’t be a martyr. Your coworkers will only resent you for it. If you’re sick you won’t do an effective job at work anyway. All you’ll do is spread your contagions around the office and infect others.

4.         Please keep your hands to yourself when you’re sick: It bears repeating that flu viruses can live from 2 to 8 hours on a surface. So, don’t touch a lot of things if you have the flu, as your hands most likely have the virus on them. If you don’t have the flu but are around those who do, avoid touching your own face, especially around your mouth, nose and eyes, because chances are good that you will have touched a surface contaminated by a sick person, and therefore have the virus on your own hands.

Stopping The Flu QUICK GLANCE CHART
If You Are Already Experiencing Symptoms
Supplement	First Dose	Every 3 hours while awake and symptoms are present		Twice daily for a week after symptoms are gone	Brand		Strength
L-Lysine	4 tablets	2 tablets		2 tablets	Puritan’s Pride #6011		1000 mg
L-Lysine is the primary supplement, and all you really need to stop the flu. Below are support supplements that address other problems created by the flu, like (a) Lecithin for lung, nose and sinus congestion, (b) B12 for extreme fatigue, and (c) Beta Carotene for inflammation.
Supplements	Morning		Evening	Brand		Strength
Lecithin (softgels only)	4 softgels		4 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #303		1200 mg
B12	2 tablets		2 tablets	Nature’s Life		1000 mcg
Beta Carotene (softgels only)	10 softgels		10 softgels	Puritan’s Pride #1223		25,000 IU (Equivalent to 15 mg)

You can prevent the flu and other viruses by taking a daily maintenance dose as recommended below.

Preventing The Flu QUICK GLANCE CHART
Maintenance Dose As A Preventive Measure
Supplement	Breakfast	Dinner	Brand	Strength
L-Lysine	1-2 tablets	1-2 tablets	Puritan’s Pride #6011	1000 mg

NOTES

► Do not use time released or sustained release Vitamin B12. You need the jolt of the whole dose at once, not to have it slowly dribble into your system.

► It cannot be overemphasized that you have to flood your system with L-Lysine in order for it to be effective as a therapy against the flu. It is important to take every dose on time and not miss a single one.

► Be aware that some people may experience watery bowels while taking high doses of L-Lysine. It will stop as soon as you reduce or stop the supplement. But don’t let this stop you from taking the recommended amounts. It won’t make you have to go to the bathroom more often. It’s just that when you do, your feces will be watery.

► Certain foods produce mucus in your system and should be avoided or kept to a minimum while battling the flu: (1) high fat milk products, (2) refined sugar products, and (3) alcoholic products.

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 25: Osteoarthritis, where I tell you how to avoid it and joint replacement.

To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit www.lynncapehart.com. For private consultations you may contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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BLOG 23: BUTT TIGHTENING LOWER BACK EXERCISES

SCULPT AND SHAPE YOUR BUTT & RELIEVE LOWER BACK PAIN   

CATEGORY: 8: Exercise & Fitness

The following exercises have both physical and psychological benefits. They are designed to lift, tighten, and shape your rear end, and in the process strengthen your lower back muscles, lessening pain in that area. A tight shapely behind is good for more than attracting and keeping lovers. It helps support your lower back as well. And it makes you feel pretty good about yourself, with all those extra eyes checking you out as you pass by.

THE BUTT

Culturally big butts are all the rage now, and it’s comforting to posses that which is sought after by others. But imagine the potential mess when time and gravity get through with that extra muscle and flesh. Kind of a, “bigger they are the bigger they fall,” scenario. If you don’t specifically target-exercise the gluteus maximus and surrounding muscles, chances are 90 percent that you will end up with a droopy, flattened, jello-shaking or cellulite-ridden exterior. But if you exercise the area regularly, faithfully, 3-4 times a week, there is no reason why you can’t have the same butt at 60 and beyond, as you had at 25. It might even look better after a regular course of these exercises.

THE LOWER BACK

You can’t do much in life without the support of your lower back. Back pain is complained about across the age spectrum, by the young, the old, and the in-between. It seems that no one is immune to the problem. When you think about it you realize that the lower back doesn’t get a lot of exercise on a daily basis. It is crunched into a sitting or standing position for most of the day. Suddenly you make a demand on it, like support to lift a window air conditioner. Then the spasms and pain begin, because the muscles were too weak to respond properly.

Lower back pain can be triggered by many things, including overuse, injury, vertebrae problems, fractures, osteoarthritis, and spinal conditions. A large percentage of these conditions can be helped or eliminated simply by strengthening the lower back through regular exercise, because most lower
back pain stems from weak musculature being over taxed. The following exercises will not only tone and tighten your rear, they will strengthen you lower back muscles.

THE EXERCISES

For all exercises, it’s better to start with a lower number of repetitions per leg, say 12, and work up to the recommended set of 25 for each exercise. When you reach 25 repetitions per leg, which is one set, you can extend yourself by adding another set of 25 repetitions. Work out on a carpet or other floor padding that cushions and protects your elbows, hands, back, and knees. Don’t work out on a bare floor of any kind unless you have no other choice.

1.         STAIR KICK

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. With your weight on the right knee, lift the left leg off the floor. With the left knee still bent, bring the leg forward under your chest, and then swing it back until your leg is straight out behind you with your toes pointed.

B.         Continue to bring the leg forward as far as you can under your chest, and then swing it back until it’s straight out behind you. You’ll get into a kind of rhythm of swinging it forward and back. Be gentle in your movements. Don’t exaggerate, don’t force. Don’t raise your leg higher than your hips, when you do the back swing. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

NOTES

► This is the most important butt exercise. If you do none of the others, at
least make sure you do this one regularly.

► This works well because it duplicates the movements of climbing and descending stairs. If you live in a house with a staircase, you can enhance your workout by going up and down them 12-25 times each day, all at once as a set exercise, in addition to your regular daily use of the stairs.

► The best weapon against the crimes of time on your behind is the bicycle,
stationary or real life. For stationary, use the upright where you sit straight
and slightly forward, with no back support. At the gym I notice older members queuing up to use the sit down bicycle with back support, while there are upright machines available. They mistakenly perceive that the bicycles with back support are easier to use. Not true. The back support bike has you moving your legs in a lateral motion, across gravity. So even with inertia working your way, you don’t get the full benefits of gravity helping you. The upright bike has you moving your legs vertically, so that when inertia is added, the whole process is easier. It’s just physics. I’ve tried both, and though it’s counterintuitive, the upright bike gives a more butt-effective workout with less effort.

2.         HALF HYDRANT

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. With your weight on the right knee, and keeping your left leg bent, lift the left leg off the floor and move it out and away from your body, to the side—but not too far out, about 45 degrees—and then swing it back in. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

NOTES

► Along with the Full Hydrant below, this exercise can make you appear 5-7 pounds thinner after about a week of regular sets of repetitions, even without actual weight loss. It does this by altering and narrowing the curvature of the hips. It gives a more athletic, leaner look to the body. If you like an hourglass,
round-hip figure, you may want to avoid this exercise. But if you need to look
thinner fast, this exercise can get you into a smaller dress size without drastic dieting. With drastic dieting you could probably drop two sizes.

3.         FULL HYDRANT

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. With your weight on the right knee, lift the left leg off the floor and move it out and away from your body, stretching it out until the leg is straight to the side with toes pointed. Touch the floor or the air near the floor with your toes, before returning to the starting position.

B.         After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat. Be gentle when sretching your leg to its fullest extent. Try hard to make the full extension without forcing it.

NOTES

► Along with the Half Hydrant above, this exercise can make you appear 5-7 pounds thinner after about a week of regular sets of repetitions, even without actual weight loss. It does this by altering and narrowing the curvature of the hips. It gives a more athletic, leaner look to the body. If you like an hourglass,
round-hip figure, you may want to avoid this exercise. But if you need to look
thinner fast, this exercise can get you into a smaller dress size without drastic dieting.

4.         BUMPER

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Lean forward until your weight is on your forearms, with your hands pointing forward, and your butt sticking up. Keep your head down and look at the floor.

B.         With your weight on the right knee, raise your bent left leg off the floor, moving it upward until the front of your upper leg is parallel to the floor, and the bottom of your foot is facing the ceiling. Make sure your lower leg is kept vertical. If you can see yourself in a mirror, your leg should be in an L shape.

C.         Drop your knee slightly below the level of your butt. Then, bump your foot up toward the ceiling, purposefully using your butt and the back of your leg to lift. Drop it back down, slightly below parallel and repeat. Don’t lift your leg above the level of your butt, and make sure the bottom of your foot is always facing the ceiling throughout. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

5.         BUMPER STRETCH

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Lean forward until your weight is on your forearms, with your hands pointing forward, and your butt sticking up. Keep your head down and look at the floor.

B.         With your weight on the right knee, raise your bent left leg off the floor until your upper leg is parallel to the floor, and your toes are facing the ceiling. If you can see yourself in a mirror, your leg should be in an L shape.

C.         Extend your leg fully until it is straight out behind you, with your toes pointed, then return it to the L position with your toes facing the ceiling. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

6.         BOUNCE

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Lean forward until your weight is on your forearms, with your hands pointing forward, and your butt sticking up. Keep your head down and look at the floor.

B.         With your weight on the right knee, lift your left leg and stretch it all the way out straight behind you. With toes pointed, bounce the leg up and down a short distance, making sure not to lift it higher than your butt. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

7.         TRIANGLE

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Stretch your left leg out straight to the side with the inner part of the foot flat on the floor.

B.         Lean on your right forearm. Use your left arm to brace yourself on the floor. Lift the left leg off the floor, keeping the inner side of the foot parallel to the floor. Bob the leg up and down above the floor, without touching it. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

8.         SIDE L KICK

The L exercises are difficult to do. If you body won’t cooperate, you will do fine with just the other exercises.

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Lift your left leg, which is still bent at the knee, all the way out and up, until the inside of the leg is parallel to and facing the floor, forming a 90 degree angle with the floor.

B.         Holding your inner leg parallel to and facing the floor, kick your leg out, away from your body, gently, until it is fully extended to the side. Then return the leg to the bent position. Make sure the inner leg is always facing the floor. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

9.         BACK L PUSH

The L exercises are difficult to do. If you body won’t cooperate, you will do fine with the just other exercises.

A.         Start on the floor, doggy style, supporting yourself with your bent knees and your hands. Lift your left leg, which is still bent at the knee, all the way out and up, until the inside of the leg is parallel to and facing the floor, forming a 90 degree angle with the floor.

B.         Holding your inner leg parallel to and facing the floor, push your leg back, gently, until it is  fully extended behind you. Then return the leg to the bent position and repeat. Make sure the inner leg is always facing the floor. After your repetitions, switch legs and repeat.

10.       WAIST BEND

A.         Stand with feet should length apart, holding a 5 pound weight with both hands centered in front of you.

B.         While bending at the waist, slowly lower the weight to the floor. While still bent over lift the weight to your chest, and return it to the floor.

C.         Slowly straighten up, bringing the weight with you, until you are in the starting position with the weight centered in your hands in front of you. Repeat.

NOTES

► You should start with 6 repetitions of the Waist Bend. If you want to challenge yourself, you can work your way up to 12 repetitions, adding more sets of 12, with one minute rest or stretch periods between sets.

► If you have really bad lower back pain start with a lighter weight, something like 2 pounds. If you’re really bad off, you can use no weight in the beginning. Just try to bend over, touch the floor and raise both hands to your chest, then drop them back down to the floor and straighten up, letting your arms come to rest at your sides. You can also increase to a 10 or 15 pound weight.

Please be nice to each other, and look for my next blog: Blog 24: Flu, where I tell you how to stop an outbreak of any strain in just hours.

To learn more about me and my approach to wellness, please visit www.lynncapehart.com. For private consultations you may contact me at lynn@lynncapehart.com. All inquiries are treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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