This week I am continuing my coverage of “The Vitamin D Solution” by Dr. Michael Holick.

One of the most interesting chapters of the book was the one in which he discussed autoimmune diseases – especially multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease in which cells of the immune system attack the nerves, leading to loss of muscle coordination, weakness and even loss of sight.  MS generally develops in middle age and is much more prevalent in women than in men. There is also a genetic component to MS, with people of Scandinavian or Celtic origin being more prone to developing MS.

But by far the strongest predictor of MS risk is sun exposure. People in North America or Europe are five times more likely to develop MS than people who live in the tropics, Even in North America people living above the 37th parallel are twice as likely to develop MS as people who live below the 37th parallel. And the most interesting part of it is that the risk of developing MS seems to be determined by your sun exposure at an early age. Once you’ve reached the age of 15 you can move anywhere in the world and your risk of MS will not be altered. It has already been determined by your sun exposure before the age of 15.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune cells attacking the pancreas and rendering it unable to make insulin. Once again sun exposure seems to play a significant role. Northern Finland, for example, has the world’s highest incidence of type 1 diabetes. Since type 1 diabetes generally develops during childhood, the question of whether you could decrease the incidence of type 1 diabetes by getting more sun exposure after age 15 is a moot point.

The mechanism of this effect is not known, but it is known that the thymus plays an important role in destroying immune cells that could harm the body. This function of the thymus is particularly important when we are young and recent research suggests that it could be regulated by vitamin D.

The evidence that vitamin D could prevent MS is indirect, but there is clinical evidence that vitamin D can prevent type 1 diabetes.

The Finnish government did a major study with 12,000 children in 1966 in which they gave half of them 2,000 IU of vitamin D/day during their first year of life and the other half a placebo.

The children who received the vitamin D supplement during their first year of life were 80% less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than those who received the placebo. And when they did the comparison with a subgroup of children who were demonstrably D deficient (they developed symptoms of rickets), the vitamin D supplementation decreased the risk of developing type 1 diabetes by 2.4 fold (240%).

However, with both type 1 diabetes and MS it appears that the die is cast early in life. Dr. Holick and others have tried vitamin D therapy with patients that have already developed MS or type 1 diabetes without success.

So what is the bottom line?

If you have already developed MS or type 1 diabetes, there is no evidence that vitamin D supplementation can slow or reverse the disease (although it may reduce the risk of osteoporosis and many other diseases).

However, one of the greatest gifts that you can give your children may be to make sure that they get adequate levels of vitamin D from birth through adolescence. And that is particularly important in light of studies showing that 50 – 70% of our children may not be getting enough vitamin D.

To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney

Dr. Stephen Chaney
Shaklee Master Coordinator
http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com
888.860.2075

P.S. If you would like copies of any of my previous
“Health Tips From the Professor” they are a free
resource at:      http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com     888.860.2075

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not
intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Read Each One Carefully & Think About It a Second or Two

 2. Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they   don’t love you with all they have.

3. A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand & touches your heart. 

4. The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can’t have them. 

5. Never frown, even when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.

6. To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. 

7. Don’t waste your time on someone, who isn’t willing to waste their time on you. 

8. Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the person, we will know how to be grateful. 

 9. Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened. 

 10. There’s always going to be people that hurt you so what you have to do is keep on trusting & just be more careful about who you trust next time around. 

 11. Make yourself a better person & know who you are before you try & know someone else & expect them to know you.

 12. Don’t try so hard, the best things come when you least expect them to.

REMEMBER: WHATEVER HAPPENS HAPPENS FOR A REASON. 

Follow Gabe’s journey on Facebook by clicking here

Babe In Total Charge of Herself.com is proud to introduce you to Kirsti Walent and her story of survival and life with cancer.  Please click on her link below.

Camarillo woman fights cancer

Allegiance:  loyalty to or support for a person, cause, or group

I pledge allegiance to myself and

the happiness I deserve

And to the people

I love in my life

To be one family,

Dysfunction free

For the health and welfare of all

Just as we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, knowing to do so will ultimately require some kind of sacrifice, mentally healthy human beings need to pledge allegiance to ourselves with the same expectation of loss.  To eliminate dysfunctional people from our lives (an act of functional being)is no less a herculean task than ridding the world of dysfunctional leadership; it’s just being done on a much smaller scale….well, depending on how populated your dysfunctional world is.  When a certain someone or a group of certain someone’s take control of your life then proceeds to cause you pain, fear, and anxiety which ultimately damages your self esteem you, my friend, are at war!  Your objective:  survival. 

Survival can be achieved in a couple of ways. There is the often popular Vietnam strategy which involves a tremendous amount of behind the scenes maneuvering, manipulating, capitulating and plain old butt kissing which will take years and years and years of effort, a tremendous amount of your resources and a huge loss of personal life for absolutely nothing …not my personal favorite.  Or there is the Desert Storm approach which involves coming in with everything you’ve got, getting it done quickly and getting out as fast as you can.   Personally, I’ve grown to appreciate approach number two because I tried approach number one and, honestly, it SUCKS!  The truth is when you are dealing with a dysfunctional world leader, ideology, friend or family member, no amount of ass kissing or negotiating or capitulating or threatening is going to make a whit of difference to them because they cannot and, in many cases, WILL NOT acknowledge that their way of being is harmful and should be changed.  More often than not (perhaps as high as 99.9%) of the time they will let you know it’s YOU that is the problem, not them, therefore justifying their immensely self serving behaviors and their perceived right to rule and dominate.  These kinds of dysfunctional people can only be made to understand the need for change through threat of loss, they need to understand there will be a high price to pay for them to remain in the position they’ve taken.  For those who are fighting this oppression, difficult choices are going to have to be made and terrifying actions are going to have to be taken.   

Warning: These choices and actions will not be appreciated by the dysfunctionist who will probably react adversely….

Now, once you decide you’re going to declare war on dysfunction in your life, both on your own personal behaviors and that of others, the planning phase begins.  No good battle strategist charges in unprepared. 

The first thing you will need to do is enter into an allegiance to yourself, to your own mental health and the mental health and welfare of those you love who are also being hurt by the behaviors.  It’s a battle and it’s a difficult, painful and scary thing to do and more often than not will come with a high price.  You need to be prepared to lose your relationship with the dysfunctional entities because it’s a high probability that they will not appreciate being confronted or challenged and will eliminate you from their lives through emotional hostage taking.  As the United States does not negotiate with terrorists, you need to be prepared to stand your ground as well and not give in to their manipulations.  You need to be prepared to experience a huge push back from not only the dysfunctional people you are dealing with but also others around you who are watching you do what you do.  This may come in the form of belittling, harassing, reputation bashing, sabotage with friends and family, being ostracized and alienated, criticized, admonished and for some, threats to your personal well being.   

This is where allies come in, in this battle for your very life you will need to create a support system (allies) around you. 

This support system needs to be made up of those people who you know will be there for you when you need your wounds tended to, your broken heart assuaged and your funny bone tickled in order to put you back in balance for the next foray into battle.   You need to believe that this battle may take a while to fight but that the rewards at the end will all be worth it, no matter how high the price. 

So you’re probably saying to yourself right about now, “Ah, yah, well this sounds like a very difficult and painful process to go through and why would I do it anyway?  Hey, I’m used to being in this crazy situation!” 

Yes, I understand the perceived position of safety you would be giving up.  Note the word “perceived” as our perceptions are warped and distorted by dysfunction.  That’s what is so amazing about us human beings – the ability to adapt to just about anything including abuse.  That is what allows a woman who is beat by her husband to defend and protect that same man if he is picked up by the police…she’s used to it.  However, just for this moment, consider just a few of the reasons you might want to step out and take the risks and deal with the hurts.  Knowledge opens the world of choices to us and choices give us power.  When you make the right choices you eliminate the drama in your life which drains and distracts and eats you alive, you eliminate the vast majority of the pain in your life which can be physical, spiritual and mental, you  eliminate the vast majority of shame in your life which is probably what immersed you in dysfunction in the first place and is keeping you here and you eliminate the vast majority of the sorrow in your life, a sorrow you aren’t even fully aware you have until you begin to take the steps away from the dysfunction.  Once all the above is taken care of it creates room for all the good things to come in, i.e. joy, peace, happiness, self control, self esteem, confidence, and freedom from fear to name just a few. 

We all have a certain amount of dysfunction in our lives and we will never truly remove all of it but for some of us every day is lived immersed in it.  We walk around others as though we’re walking on precious china cups terrified we’re going to break one and upset our keepers.  We lose personal freedom and even, for some, our families are sacrificed to the relationship.  We lose and lose and lose and lose and have very little in our pockets at the end of the day.   Isn’t it time to stand up and take the risk needed in order to create our own happiness, our own way in life without catering to the needs and fears and demands of those who are trained to destroy us?   

Take the pledge and declare your freedom.

Suggested reading: http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Dealing-with-Codependency-Books/455

Check out the Breast Cancer Awareness Store

The Pink Lotus Breast Center

Dysfunction, though often thwarted by your conscience mind, will rise up at the most unexpected moments and grab a hold of your psyche like a tiger rushes in from behind and latches on, it’s claws digging deep and securing in the most tender places, the most vulnerable.  For a little while we are held captive in fear, anger, and helplessness until we finally dislodge each and every claw through introspection, counsel and patience. Understand this, you are not a lesser being because the harms of the past have imprinted on you and, though you bravely fight them, they come back to haunt and, sometimes, torture you.  Be kind to yourself, be patient with your self, take care of yourself by examining each one of those claws carefully then gently removing them and remember the tiger isn’t nearly as fierce or ferocious or powerful as we have given him credit for being.

What we are fighting is the way others have managed to control us in the past.  It could have been a parent, a sibling, a friend or a spouse/partner.  They, in turn, are functioning from the same place, someone in their lives has either done the same thing to them or they have developed their method of control in response to that other person’s behaviors.  It is literally “the sins of the father passed down from generation to generation” as the Bible says.  Accumulative hurt, fear, anger and pain that started with Adam and Eve and continues with each of us.  The question we all have to consider is this.  Are we willing to go gently into that night and pass these behaviors on to those around us that we probably love and cherish?  Are we willing to keep stepping forward in our dysfunction without looking because we are too afraid to see what we have done?  Or are we willing to go forward into the light, into the truth of what is and accept responsibility for our actions and our thought processes, forgive ourselves and change our behaviors for the betterment of everyone, but mostly for ourselves?  If there is a Satan, and I believe there is, he works in the little unseen ways of our every day lives and through those subconscious, subversive acts of pain and fear, he destroys us and those we love.  If you want to start the journey to self control and a clean, non-dysfunctional life, I’ve listed several sites below to get you started.  Keep this one thing in mind as you move forward in this commitment:  Whatever the truth is you will not die and it will never be more than you can handle.  That is the lie that keeps us where we are, don’t let it keep you from the peace and joy that awaits you.

The Symptoms of Codependence

Removing Unhealthy People from your Life

It’s interesting how prevalent and immediate a scare and concern HIV/AIDS was just a few years ago and now, you barely hear anything about it.  I just watched this video on FB and since I am a huge Annie Lennox fan and because I believe this disease has been de-escalated into obscurity and shouldn’t have been, I’m putting her video on here for you all to see.  Thanks!

And whine and cry and feel sorry for yourself and elicit the care and concern and comfort of others.  This was a hard lesson for me to learn.  For years I kept it all to myself because that was the example I was taught.  Don’t cry, don’t talk about it, just deal with it.  Well, over the years that burden became too great for me to conceal and, quite honestly, I just didn’t want to anymore.  So I started talking, to my friends, my acquaintances and to just about anyone who seemed interested in what I was going through and the more I talked and the more they heard and responded the better I began to feel and the more in tuned with myself I became.  I learned from those who listened to me and gave me feedback and encouragement that I wasn’t alone in what I was going through, many of them had also trod on that path and were grateful to me to know they weren’t the only ones either!  We all have common experiences, common hurts, fears and joys and in the telling, in the whining, in the bitching and complaining comes empathy, sympathy and connection.  In this new world of internet relationships we now have a venue almost completely dedicated to this concept, it’s called blogging.  Want to share something joyous in your life, blog about it!  Want to whine and complain about something or someone, blog about it!  Want to rant and rave against the machine, blog about it!  Want to share your sorrow, your pain and your hurt, blog about it, someone out there will hear you and respond, it almost never fails and in that exercise of expression you may just find you have more friends than you ever knew you had.