8 Days and Counting!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I can hardly believe that it is only 8 days until Christmas and 15 days until 2011. This past year has been good in some ways and in other ways I'm really ready to have the year over.

I have some big news. I have a new job that I absolutely love. I still work for the State of Alaska, but now I work in the personnel department. I now get to see the light of day through regular sized windows.

The weather here has been cool and windy. At night we have had beautiful clear skies. I've been lucky enough to see some of the meteor showers. I wish the northern lights would now come out. Then the clear night skies would be worth the cool temperatures. The Matsu Valley had 80 mile per hour winds yesterday. I'm glad we only had 50 mile per hour winds.

Shaklee has been a great part of my year. The conference in California was wonderful, I met and made some wonderful new friends and the products have kept me healthy through some pretty nasty flu bugs. If you would like to know what I take to keep myself healthy, contact me at jkristenson@yahoo.com or greenandfit.myshaklee.com

Have an awesome holiday season.

December Already

Can you believe it? In 3 weeks it will be Christmas. Where has this year gone? My "To Do List" is still way to long. I have lots of Christmas thing still to do, plus lots of regular list stuff that is not completed either. I guess I had better get busy.

It sure was nice to wake up to clear skis after yesterday icky weather. It was hard to believe that we had horizontal rain, plus getting 4" of new snow all in one day. I think the town of Seward got worse weather than out of town. It will be fun to see what the roads are like when I go to town to the Arts and Crafts Fair (one of my favorite things Seward has in the winter).

I just finished listing to a great live Internet training with Janet Legere. She is very motivational. If I could do 1/3 of what she asks, I'd be on top everything I want to complete in my life.

I also got a great email from the Cinch Brag Book. Getting into that book is a must do on my list. If you are concerned about your Calcium and vitamin D. Take time to read the following:

New Calcium and Vitamin D Intake
Recommendations – What You Need to Know

Hello Shaklee Family,

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) just released the report "Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D" that establishes higher recommended intake levels for vitamin D. The new Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for children and adults ages 1-70 has been increased to 600 IU/day and the RDA for those aged 71+ has also been raised to 800 IU/day. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level was raised from 2,000 to 4,000 IU/day for adults. Calcium intake RDAs remained essentially the same with a range of 700 – 1,300 mg per day depending on age and sex. The full report can be accessed at http://shaklee.custhelp.com/rd?1=AvUg~wqRKP8Sx9LbGvAe~yL~Jvsq~6T~JUT3jjr~&2=11646.

We recognize that the goals of the IOM are to make broad-based recommendations for the entire population, and develop reference values that serve to guide nutrient guidelines for the US and Canada. We applaud the IOM for updating the vitamin D and calcium nutritional reference values established in 1997, for the potential far-reaching benefits to public health, but we also believe that such modest adjustments in recommended intakes may under-serve the many population groups who are at potential risk for low intakes of calcium and/or vitamin D..

We also want to take this opportunity to reiterate that Shaklee’s mission is to support optimal health for everyone, and in this case, we believe the potential benefits of calcium and vitamin D supplementation go well beyond simple nutritional adequacy and bone health. Scientific research links vitamin D inadequacy to an increased risk for certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes, and higher intakes of vitamin D may help reduce the risk of these diseases. These are precisely the reasons we conducted our own extensive review of the scientific literature and sponsored two independent vitamin D research studies. We also recently adjusted our individual vitamin D intake recommendations based on an individual’s risk factors for vitamin D insufficiency.

It has been estimated that as many as 80% of Americans may have “insufficient” blood levels of vitamin D and there are many reasons why low vitamin D levels seem to be commonplace today. The season or calendar month is a major risk factor for vitamin D insufficiency because sunlight is less efficient during winter months at triggering vitamin D production in the skin. The risk for vitamin D insufficiency rises as sunscreen use and time spent indoors increases. The latitude of your residence is another determinant of sun exposure and those with darker skin are less efficient at converting sunlight to vitamin D. Other factors that can increase risk for vitamin D inadequacy include increasing age, increasing body mass index, lack of exercise, and low intake of fish and other vitamin D rich foods in the diet.

While we support the IOM for the long-awaited adjustments to the calcium RDAs, increases to the vitamin D RDAs, and the increased Safe Upper Levels of Intake (UL) for vitamin D, we also remain committed to individualized and potentially higher vitamin D intake recommendations based on an individual’s unique vitamin D risk factor profile.

For more information about calcium, vitamin D, and your health, talk with your doctor or healthcare professional to discuss the steps you should take to achieve optimal calcium and vitamin D intakes. To obtain an individual vitamin D intake recommendation from Shaklee Health Sciences, based on your own risk factor profile, take the Vitamin D-Ology questionnaire at http://shaklee.custhelp.com/rd?

Sending warmest regards,

Dr. Jamie McManus M.D.
Chairman, Medical Affairs and Health Sciences
Shaklee Corporation

I just got plowed out. I did not realize there was as much snow as there is. I had to go move my car. Now this afternoon I get to go clean up the small berms that are left. It will be good exercise for me.

Well, I need to get this completed and my day going. Have a great week.