Love You!

Cupid has arrived and in the tradition of St. Valentine this one day asks us focus on the people in our lives who we want to express our feelings of love and commitment. While this is a time honored holiday, why not spend the other 364 days loving and making a commitment to yourself?

Janet Jackson asked, "What have you done for me lately?" The Wellness Industry asks, "What have you done for yourself lately?" in regards to your health, happiness and longevity.

Just last week, my health deteriorated to the point where I practically fainted during a Super Bowl party which scared me to death! I had experienced something similar to this during my freshman year in college during track practice. I started to feel extremely weak, saw black spots, became very hot and felt nauseous. A teammate gave me a piece of candy and some Gatorade and instantly, I felt better. I didn’t think anything about the incident until it happened again the following week.

I went to my doctor and explained what happened and expressed my concern that I may have Diabetes or Hypoglycemia. At that time the tests concluded that I had low blood pressure which increases dehydration and that I had a very active metabolism (couldn’t complain about that one).

Now, 14 years later, the incident at the Super Bowl party was more severe than what I had experienced in college. I considered the obvious – I had guests visiting me so I was very social that weekend - drank alcohol, did not consume enough food over a 60 hour period, and was sleep-deprived from the work week. The following night after the incident I had major menstrual and/or abdominal cramps which was not normal for that time of the month, plus I do not suffer from PMS.

After that red flag, I called my doctor and she wanted me to take a pregnancy test…yikes! However, I was 99.9% sure I did not have a bun in the oven and was right. From there, we started discussing a few other possibilities and I made an appointment to come in for tests.

Due to the fact that I always want to be and feel healthy, I really felt uneased by this whole situation. Also, my allergies were bothering me which I have not experienced in long while. So I did what I do best – I turned into my own detective and started “investigating” all of my symptoms online.

To add to all of this, I discovered that there was a big mushroom growing in one of my plants. When I went to get rid of it, I saw a ring of mold around the pot. Just like a detective I added this information to my notes and now have more to share with my doctor at this appointment and will have her also test me for mold toxins.

The point in sharing my story with you is that if I didn’t love myself enough and want to really take the driver’s seat with my health and wellness I might have just taken allergy medication, seen a doctor that conducted the same basic tests that I had done 14 years ago (thankfully, my doctor's practice has incorporated a wellness approach with their patients and go beyond basics), or I could have ignored the incident altogether going by information that was given to me 14 years ago.

Love begins with yourself and BalanceBoost.com hopes to inspire you to become your own detective and educate you on all areas of wellness to help you love yourself all year round by being healthy, happy and living well.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tiffany Houser, Founder


Are you your own detective when it comes to your overall health?

From the Founder: Raw Milk

The topic of Raw Milk has a lot of buzz around it right now due the legal issues of how and where it can be sold. It’s interesting to me because once again the FDA wants us to believe what’s best for their bottom line which now a days seems to be more business-related rather than concern for our education and safety.

I personally wrote off milk back in 2004, when I became serious about living a wellness lifestyle. As I mentioned in the past from my findings in the book Ultra Prevention, I discovered that that medical research has linked milk to many common and preventable health problems.

This sentence is what that made me give up milk forever, “For many, milk is the cause of allergies, sinus problems, eczema, and ear infections as well as a potential source of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and digestive problems.” Most of which I used to suffer from, until I stopped consuming the majority of the dairy products in my diet.

The book states that over 75% of the world’s population suffers from lactose intolerance. The book also goes on to say that we should not consume milk from a cow unless we are a calf.

I know some of you are wondering, “Where will I get the calcium by bodies needs if I am not drinking milk?”

Ultra Prevention also notes that most women in Africa ingest little calcium – perhaps 300 to 500 mg a day – yet they rarely come down with osteoporosis. This is because they are not drinking alcohol, colas, caffeine, or eating salt or excessive animal protein – all of which leach calcium out of your bones and into the toilet.

Now, I know most of you may want to stop reading this, but while living a wellness lifestyle I also insist upon balance – not giving up the things that make you happy. Most of us do enjoy a cocktail, a cup of coffee, a steak and other indulgences, but there are other amazing sources of calcium such as broccoli, bok choy, french beans / haricot verts, quinoa, dried figs, sardines, parsley, sesame seeds and almond butter. (For more foods that contain calcium, click here.) There is also supplementation, but find out which form calcium is best for your needs.

Back to the topic of Raw Milk, my vote is yes due to the hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides found in our pasteurized milk supply. Bovine growth hormone, used to increase milk production, may increase the likelihood of breast cancer. So on top of the everyday ailments, the additives in our milk supply can also lead to major diseases!

Overall, my suggestion is to avoid dairy at all costs. With all of the information we discovered while researching this topic, if consuming dairy makes you happy I say stick with the raw. Yes, it takes an extra step or two to get it, but aren’t you worth it?


Were you aware of all of the issues involved with what was marketed to us as an innocent and beneficial drink? Ever wonder what happened to all of the “Got Milk?” advertisements?????


Tiffany Houser
BalanceBoost

Milk Does a Body Bad?

If you’re like most Americans, you were raised—thanks in large part to the U.S. government and National Dairy Council—to believe that several daily glasses of milk were good for you. On the other hand, a growing number of doctors and researchers say that milk and other dairy products may worsen inflammation, allergies, asthma, and other health problems. Some experts also theorize that lactose intolerance—the inability to digest milk sugar—is a signal from our bodies that we shouldn’t be drinking animal milk at all.

The Raw Deal

There’s another side to the dairy debate:
raw milk.

Once a dinner-table staple, raw milk’s popularity decreased during the 20th century, with the advent of pasteurization, a process that kills E. coli and other pathogens with heat. But that may not be all that pasteurization destroys, say raw milk advocates, who claim the process also kills beneficial bacteria, proteins, vitamins, and digestive enzymes.

Instead, they praise raw milk’s nutritional value, creamy flavor, and alleged health benefits for conditions like eczema, allergies and Crohn’s disease. They may be right: A study published in the June 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology found that British children who drank raw milk regularly were 40 percent less likely to develop eczema and 10 percent less likely to develop hay fever than those who didn’t drink raw milk.

Not so fast, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whose director of dairy and egg safety has likened drinking raw milk to “playing Russian roulette with your health.” The FDA claims it’s safe to drink milk from cloned cows, but has banned interstate sales of raw milk—although individual states can determine commerce within their borders. Currently, raw milk is legal in 22 states and its devotees are growing in number: An estimated half-million Americans drink it.

Liquid Assets

The issue isn’t as simple as the FDA implies, however. All raw milk isn’t created equal, point out advocates. Yes, raw milk is unhealthy—if it comes from an industrial dairy. They view pasteurization as an excuse to produce dirty milk: Pasteurization doesn’t prevent contamination, it merely kills germs after they surface. In fact, outbreaks of salmonella, listeria and Campylobacter have been traced to pasteurized milk and cheese.

Unlike industrial dairies whose milk is later pasteurized, raw milk dairies tend to be cleaner and their cows are fed organic grass rather than corn. When purchased from such dairies, raw milk may be healthier, safer—and tastier—than pasteurized varieties.

For more on raw milk, see Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck (Bloomsbury USA, 2006). Click here to find a raw-milk distributor in your area.


Could you cut out milk from your diet altogether?