New Year’s Resolutions: How to make them how to keep them

It seems every year my family’s badly executed lines of Auld Lang Syne
cause a temporary lapse of sanity and I come up with an absolutely
impossible New Year’s Resolution. This year would be a perfect example. I
committed to riding my bike three times a week. If I lived in sunny
California that would have been an excellent resolution, however,
unfortunately for my resolution, I live in Iowa and there are currently
three inches of snow outside. Considering that a significant portion of
January newsletters dwell upon this subject I believe that it would be
fairly safe to say I am not unique to reckless resolution making.
Fortunately more rational minds such as Dr. McCord’s can shed light on
this very subject. Some years because of difficult circumstances, small
resolutions such as eating better and taking a good vitamin are all that
we can really manage. Still these seemingly small resolutions can have a
big, positive effect on our health. Dr McCord in her book “Living Well At
One Hundred” gives several examples of how simple getting one’s recommended
servings of fruits and vegetables can be. Also an Olivamine Full Spectrum
vitamin provides the body daily with the things it needs to defend its most
important components. Here at Pinnaclife we are excited about the upcoming
year as we work towards fulfilling our own resolutions. Our marketing team
is still working toward getting our products into more Hy-Vee Food Stores
and other pharmacies in the state. In this way we hope to make your
resolutions just that much easier to fulfill with our products. Here’s to a
healthy New Year!

Information: A Crucial Part of Wellness

Hello!

Today I wanted to share with you some good ways to find valid and factual information online about your health. These are sources that I have found and used while working at Pinnaclife. In order to give our customers facts about our products, we need to have reliable information ourselves. That is why our websites are full of science and research to support our products. Every source must be completely supported by science and not by opinion. Just because someone tells you it is great, you need to know why.

At Pinnaclife, we have our roots deep in science because of two reasons: 1. We want our products to actually work and 2. Our products HAVE to work. We have customers, friends, family and even ourselves on the Pinnaclife products and they need to work. The first great site we use is Google Scholar. This particular source is nice because it filters the results to find the most credible information possible. Google Scholar eliminates opinions and gives you real facts from scientific sources.

Another source we like to visit often is the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association is particularly helpful when talking about Omega-3 fish oil and other essential fatty acids. Even though the FDA doesn’t regulate supplements, they do have information on them. Visit their website to learn what they control and what they do not. Finally, the USDA has a great website that is informative when it comes to dietary guidelines and including supplements in your diet.

When you look for information online, visit the doctor or even talk to knowledgeable friends you must be prepared to hear different things than what you already know. It is very important to research the topic before you take advice from someone else. So visit these websites for the facts before you talk to anybody and be armed with the correct information. By taking responsibility and knowing where your information comes from can help ward off opinions and get to the facts.

Click here to read more facts from the FDA.

If you want to read specific dietary guidelines from the USDA, click here.

Visit the University of Iowa Research website to read articles on Hydroxytyrosol and your health.

If you want to know more about dietary supplements, visit the National Institutes of Health’s website.

A New Vision of Healing

Hello!

When you begin working for a company that does what Pinnaclife does, you are very skeptical at first of the products and their results. Not because you don’t think they will work but because the products do such amazing things it is hard to believe it is actually true. This feeling lasts until you hear the testimonials of the customers that now have better and healthier lives because of the supplements. After so many, “I feel better,” “I have more energy,” “My numbers are down,” and “I have less pain,” it becomes hard not to believe in the products.

The same feelings happen to other people when they decide whether they want to become clients with us. One of the reasons we have such wonderful partnerships with Hy-Vee, Care-Pro Pharmacies, Pharmacy Matters, and Anytime Fitness is not only are they willing to sell the products but they actually do believe in them and what they can do for their customers. Some are even on the products themselves! You trust they will do well to promote your products because they care about their customers and they know our products can help.

Finally, we have all had experiences with different doctors who do not help us in the way we want to be helped. They do not listen to what the patients want or need but instead push certain drugs onto them without thought. When you look for a doctor you need to find one that not only has a vast medical knowledge and the understanding that supplements can help but also has the ability to be a friend. Pinnaclife partners with trusted doctors and veterinarians that provide accurate information and care about their patients’ welfare personally. When you have trusted professionals looking out for your well-being, you have the complete health solution, which makes us very proud to partner with those medical professionals.

Go Hawkeyes! Go HyVee!

Hello again! This weekend is a huge weekend for our company and for the area. First and foremost it is the very first home game for the University of Iowa Football team! Go Hawks! This morning started off bright and early at 6:30am listening to the Iowa Marching Band and meeting all the incoming freshman players. The event was the Johnson County I-Club Breakfast to kick off the annual Fry Fest to honor legendary coach, Hayden Fry. Among those present were head coach, Kirk Ferentz and former wrestling head coach, Dan Gable. Pinnaclife and McCord Research sponsored the event this morning. Drs. Darlene and James McCord are avid Hawk Fans! The coaches were amazing and you could tell they loved Iowa and the team just as much as everyone else in the room. Check out Hawk Central for photos of the breakfast and more.

If you are in the Iowa City area on Saturday, September 3rd and you would like to tailgate or possibly walk around Kinnick Stadium before the game, Pinnaclife is hosting a tent to prepare for the Hawkeye victory. The tent will be located in the Kinnick Stadium parking lot, across from Gate G. If you can’t find that, look for the Pinnaclife and Hawkeye flags flying high. We will be providing food and beverages three hours before kick-off. If this sounds fun but you can’t make this game, don’t worry; the tent will be in the same place three hours before every Iowa Football home game.

Secondly, we have our wonderful Kevin McCarthy, Director of Brand Development and David Raduechel, Vice President of Finance in the field again for Pinnaclife and HyVee. They have been in Quincy for the past two days and soon they will be headed to Des Moines (after the Hawkeye game of course), for the HyVee Triathlon on Sunday morning. Now if you have never been to one, and don’t worry I haven’t either, now is the year to check it out! Especially if you are in the Des Moines area. They will have great things going on all weekend and the athletes could really use the support.

What is more exciting than watching a bunch of people exercising? Visiting Kevin and David at the Pinnaclife vendor booth in Des Moines’ East Village. The tent will be located on the corner of East 5th Street and Grand Avenue. Kevin and David can answer any questions you might have about the products or company, tell you which HyVee store you can find the products or just talk about health and wellness in general. If this sounds like something for you, check it out! There will also be water available, what could be better?

David Raduechel and Laura Frese

Kevin McCarthy and Shelby Miller

David Raduechel in Quincy

Kevin McCarthy in Quincy

Are Your Kids Regular?

Hello again! This week the office has been receiving a lot of questions on the health and wellness of children. As a young, newly married woman with no children this doesn’t concern me too much. For those of you who do not know me very well, I do not expect myself to be having children very soon. Not because I don’t want to but because I am completely terrified. I once tried babysitting for a little extra money but that gig didn’t last very long. Before I get myself into trouble the children were not harmed in any way and they were fed and clean. However, I decided I did not have the knowledge and will power as a teenager to care for any children.

Looking back on this I realize I still feel the same way. I am certain I can handle anything that comes along once in awhile but what about the day to day things? I’m not sure what children need every day. Many things on the market are not safe for young children even when well-informed people say they are. I am sure the day will come when my husband and I decide to have children and people say that your mothering instinct will kick in, but I’m not taking any chances. I am going to need answers, and a lot of them. I am going to need people telling me what exactly I need to provide for my children to be healthy.

I’ll give you some background, certain doctors have been prescribing Miralax for their patients’ children and people have been wondering if this is the correct decision. While I have no opinion or answer on this topic, our Director of Brand Development, Kevin McCarthy made it his mission this week to seek out answers for the questions we received. He scoured our online resources found at pinnaclife.com and he sought the advice of our very own Dr. Darlene McCord when he needed the extra guidance. Many parents and healthcare professionals wanted to talk specifically about fiber and the importance of it in children and I for one really wanted to know more. So please enjoy Kevin’s response, I hope you learn just as much as I did.

When you are considering the causes of constipation in children you have to address two main issues that affect most children today before placing them on a laxative. 1) Children don’t get enough water. Is your child drinking enough water? Water is necessary for life. Cells migrate, replicate and take in nutrients in the presence of water, and the digestive system requires water to produce passable stool, among other things. And 2) Children are often times deficient in fiber.

Fiber is derived mainly from vegetables and grains. It would be great to say that our children are getting all the fiber they need from the foods they eat, but the rising cases of fiber deficiency in children is a clear indication that they are not. So, we supplement.

There are two types of fiber: Insoluble and Soluble. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to the stool and allows foods to pass quickly through the stomach and intestines. The Pinnaclife soluble fiber comes from digestion resistant maltodextrin (corn starch), attracts water and turns into a gel during digestion. This does a few important things: 1) it slows digestion which allows people to feel full longer and eat less, 2) It softens stool and allows for an easy exit (prevents constipation) and 3) it acts as a filter for nutrients, allowing the naturally occurring bacteria in the colon to filter out the good from the bad.

Providing children with 2 Teaspoons of Pinnaclife fiber per day (half of the recommended adult dose mixed into any hot or cold beverage) should yield results within the first week of use.

There is one key thing to remember here: Adding soluble fiber to your child’s diet will help your child stay regular and more importantly healthy for the rest of his/her life.

Several studies note that free radicals produced in the stomach can lead to to many diseases that affect the digestive system.1,2,3 Adding Olivamine to the Fiber will simply help the fiber work better in the intestines. Since Olivamine is designed and proven to fight free radical damage, the Olivamine can quench the free radicals in the stomach before they enter the intestines. Without the presence of damaging free radicals, the intestines can produce the bacteria needed to produce stool and cleanse the body.

Think of Pinnaclife Fiber Cleanse as a prebiotic. A prebiotic encourages the growth of healthy bacteria in the intestines. Lots of people talk about adding probiotics to their diet – unless otherwise predetermined by a physician, this is a response to a problem in the digestive system that is likely the result of malnutrition and a fiber deficiency.

Probiotics are the healthy bacteria that people take orally in hopes of replenishing the bacteria that should be produced in the intestines naturally. Well, there are a couple of problems with this, first, some research has shown that the probiotics (i.e. probiotic yogurt) are dead when you eat them anyway and are thus useless. Second, assuming they are alive, these bacteria are born in the intestines and are not fit to survive the acidic environment of the stomach. It is unlikely that they will make it to the intestines and actually work. Pinnaclife soluble fiber will cleanse the digestive system and encourage the growth of the natural bacteria that the intestine really wants to produce anyway but cannot because of malnutrition or a fiber deficiency.

Now, I am not a doctor and when supplementing your health, you should always consult your doctor. Though, I can’t explain why a doctor would recommend Miralax for a child. When I spoke with Dr. McCord, she too was confused at the recommendation.

First and foremost, on the Miralax label, it specifically notes that children under the age of 17 should not be given Miralax. Second, Miralax is a laxative, an osmotic stimulant to be specific, NOT a soluble fiber. Miralax uses Polyethylene glycol 3350 is to treat occasional constipation.

Polyethylene glycol 3350 is in a class of medications called osmotic laxatives. It works by causing water to be retained with the stool. This increases the number of bowel movements and softens the stool so it is easier to pass.4 The problem with this especially is that this product retains water that should be going to the body’s cells. As mentioned earlier, without water, the cells cannot take in the nutrients they need to thrive and to survive. This could explain why children taking Miralax sometimes suffer from ailments associated with nutrient depletion.

In conclusion, what children really need is fiber to make everything work great forever, not laxatives. Laxatives will likely unclog them and remedy the acute problem of constipation, but ultimately further deplete their already deplete and fragile cells.

1. http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/261/3/G470.short
2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0891584988900366
3. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/089158499090091V
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000241

This report is not intended to be taken as medical advice.