Today is my husband’s 78th birthday.  He actually never expected to reach this milestone nor did he expect to feel as good as he does~ I am so happy that he did so he can continue to enjoy spending time with our wonderful grandchildren (4 of them in picture above)  So what made the difference?

I have to go back to 1995.  Ray had just been diagnosed with very high cholesterol and was carrying a lot of extra weight.  His doctor gave him good advice….change his eating habits and exercise along with his suggestion that Ray begin taking Lopid,  a cholesterol-lowering drug with side effects (we found out later) which included gallstones abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and liver damage.  Ray was told that the benefits of lowering his cholesterol with this drug far outweighed any of these possible side effects.  This drug was expensive as well as, I believed, dangerous, but we were terrified of Ray’s cholesterol level and this was the only solution offered us.

Meanwhile, our daughter Raelee, away at college, had been introduced to a line of products through a tape program that offered her a reward of $100 toward her purchase by educating herself about the supplements through a series of tapes.  She learned about Fiber Plan a food supplement which was soluble fiber containing locust bean gum, psyllium husk, pectin, and guar gum, a unique blend of natural plant fiber sources, gluten-free, with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors or preservatives added.   One serving of these four fibers is equivalent to eating 3 1/2 bowls of oatmeal or 13 cups of brown rice or 6 apples.  Needless to say, we were ready to try food rather than a drug so Ray chose to discard the drug for Fiber Plan and try it for 8 weeks.

When he went in for his next checkup (8 weeks later), the doctor made him retake his test, as the results were overwhelming. Ray had dropped 89 points in this short of time!  Of course the doctor believed it was the drug that resulted in this reduction, but when Ray informed him that it was not Lopid but the Fiber Plan that had accomplished it, he simply replied, “Well, whatever!” and did not pursue it any longer.  Both of us began to investigate the rest of the product line at this time and never looked back.

That was 22 years ago.  We still faithfully take these supplements daily and are so grateful we were introduced to them.   Each year that passes we become more aware of how important that decision has been and have been able to see  the value of using food supplements to prevent disease and heal illness.

One of the things we have learned about are telomeres and how they actually affect how we age.  (Telomeres are the caps that protect the ends of chromosomes.  As we age, ourtelomeres grow shorter, preventing cells from being able to replenish tissue which is necessary to help live a long, healthy life.)  The company that provides our supplements was in the preliminary Telomere Study which compared people using these supplements for at least 5 years to healthy nonsmokers living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The Telomere Study showed that those long-term supplement users had a 40% lower rate of telomere shortening across the adult age range compared to a healthy control group!  We were pretty excited about that.  Taking small steps each day toward a healthier lifestyle has resulted in blessings such as having that special time with our grandchildren.

Who knew that the journey we began so many years ago would help us both live younger longer.  I offer an interesting e-book, “What Your Doctor Was Not Taught in Med School” which gets into more discussion about the benefits of supplementation.  Just  click here if interested.

 

 

 

 

 

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