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Russell-Mikki-Margaret
100+ years holistic experience

 

 

 

   
 

 

   
 

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Optimum Connections

News from Optimum Choices, LLC

January 2006

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Contents

Current news
New Year's Resolution Sale
Oil of the month
New Year's resolutions for your pets
Book of the month
Contact us

Current news

Doggie Massage Class

Saturday, January 28, 2006, 1:00-3:00 pm

My Pet's Place
9111 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, CO 80125
Call: (303) 683-0330 to register
Cost: $25

Dogs have muscles too! Massage is no longer just for humans--dogs can benefit just as much as humans. Come learn how to help your dog feel better with massage and acupressure. Click here for more details.

Beyond Aromatherapy Class

Saturday, February 4, 2006, 11:00 am-3:00 pm

Journey Books & Gifts
1050 S. Wadsworth, Lakewood, CO
$33 through Jan 28 ($44 thereafter)

Come join us as we rediscover the therapeutic uses of essential oils including: fighting colds & viruses, relieving stress & pain, releasing emotions, safe use on animals, and other everyday uses in addition to how to include oils in your healthcare practice. Click here for more details.

Hurricane Katrina dogs still seeking homes

You probably assumed all the Katrina animals had been rescued and re-homed by now, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case yet. There are still some rescued Katrina dogs in Denver seeking homes. For more information, see: www.optimumchoices.com/katrina-help.htm.

New Year's Resolution Sale

Now that the holidays are over, how many of you made New Year's resolutions regarding your health? To help you keep your healthy resolutions, we are offering a sale on our most popular new product, that studies have shown can do the following:
  • Improve immunity
  • Reduce risk of cancer
  • Increase heart function
  • Protect vision
  • Detoxify the liver
  • Help diabetes
  • Encourage weight loss
  • Beat depression
NingXia RedTM is a whole food product that helps with all the above and much more. What makes NingXia RedTM unique from all the other juice products are the following facts:
  • Truly a whole food product—uses the peel, pulp and juice from the Chinese wolfberry (Goji berries).
  • More whole food juice—contains 51% of the wolfberry purée in every bottle.
  • Uses only the prized wolfberries from the Ningxia province of China (Herbal Medicine Valley).
  • The wolfberries have the Green Certificate equivalent to organic certification—it contains no fertilizers, pesticides or heavy metals and no sulfites, dyes or irradiation have been used.
  • Manufactured using the proprietary Nutrient-GuardTM process—preserves the bioactivity of enzymes, vitamin C and the rest of the nutrients by cooling the juice quickly after the heating of pasteurization (similar to flash pasteurization).
To help you combat fatigue, illness, lack of time to eat right and preserve longevity and your youthful looks, we are offering a $5 rebate plus a FREE DVD. Purchase a bottle of NingXia RedTM juice at the full retail price of $50.99 and receive a $5 rebate from Optimum Choices plus the NingXia RedTM DVD containing the Chinese wolfberry (Goji berry) history and science behind this superfood ($2.00 value). New Year's Resolution Sale only good through January 31, 2006.

Oil of the month

Highest Potential Essential Oil Blend

(Code #3355, $50.99/44.87/38.75)

Ingredients
Highest Potential is an inspiring fusion of the essential oil blend Australian Blue (a blend of blue cypress, ylang ylang , cedarwood, blue tansy, and white fir), Gathering essential oil blend (lavender, galbanum, frankincense, geranium, sandalwood, ylang ylang, spruce, cinnamon and rose), jasmine and ylang ylang.

Body System Supported
Emotional

Directions/Precautions
Possible sun/skin sensitivity. Keep out of reach of children. If pregnant or under a doctor's care, consult your physician.

Description
Have you ever tried to change jobs or careers unsuccessfully? Are you struggling to start your own business? Have you tried several diets and failed or repeated past relationship patterns? The common factors in all of these circumstances are fear, doubt and a lack of self-confidence. This oil blend addresses all the above frustrations by tapping into your deepest yearnings, focusing your profound energies you may not even be aware of and helping you surmount what once seemed impossible. There is a shining sword of possibilities waiting to be plucked from the granite stone of doubt.

When applying this oil to the temples, forehead and back of the neck you may experience a feeling of warmth and an opening in the center of your head for new found energies. This warmth is the opposite of the cold one feels when one is fearful or afraid (e.g., cold feet). Don't let your hidden fears or past experiences control your future. Take control of your destiny by activating your "Highest Potential" with this oil blend from Young Living Essential Oils.

Testimonial
Have you made a New Year's resolution to change jobs, careers or relationships? I know from experience that when changing jobs, careers or undergoing a mid-life transition (crisis), the biggest challenge is our own personal fears. Each of us has unique deep-seated fears and patterns that hold us back from reaching our highest potential. I used the Highest Potential essential oil blend to work through all three of the above challenges (in addition to my mother's death) at the same time. Slowly, I banished all my self-doubt, built up my self-esteem and attracted the right resources to change my downward spiraling path, overcoming depression and build the business of my dreams. I wish the same dreams for everyone who tries Highest Potential.
R. Louie

To order Highest Potential blend online, go to our online Young Living site and click on the Product Catalog on the left menu and do a [Search] on "Highest Potential".

New Year's resolutions for your pets

by Margaret Auld-Louie

Many people make New Year's resolutions to improve their health such as losing weight, getting more exercise, eating healthier, etc. How about some New Year's resolutions to help our pets' health too? We have found Internet sites sponsored by major pet food companies that rate how well you are taking care of your pet and then proceed to deduct points for such things as failing to vaccinate annually or feeding forbidden "people food" to your dog. My scores come out pretty low on those quizzes. However, if you were to consult a holistic vet, they would tell you that over vaccination and feeding of many commercial pet foods will decrease, not increase your pet's health and longevity. So, we will describe steps to improve your pet's well-being from a holistic perspective.

1. Feed the optimal diet designed by nature

Most holistic vets recommend feeding a home-prepared raw or cooked diet containing human-grade meat, fish and vegetables to dogs and cats. If you look at what the ancestors of dogs and cats eat in the wild, you see carnivores that are eating raw meat, bones and organs, not dried kibble made primarily from grains. There is controversy among holistic vets as to whether raw or cooked meat is best for our pets. We think it depends on your pet. Some pets do great with raw meat and others don't. So we suggest researching how to do a balanced raw diet and then following it if your pet does well on it. If not, then a home cooked or super premium commercial diet may be better. For more information, see our article on pet nutrition here: Optimal nutrition for dogs and cats.

What about table scraps? Isn't "people food" bad for dogs? Well, it depends on what your diet is. If your diet contains healthy foods: organic meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and grains, then giving some to your dog isn't going to hurt him. If you eat fast food and junk food, then it isn't going to be good for your pet either. Most holistic vets say you can feed up to about 1/4 of your dog's diet in table scraps without seriously imbalancing the diet. Again, this is something where you would want to see how your pet does. The one thing to be wary of is that some human foods are toxic to dogs and cats. For a list of foods to avoid, see our article here: Don't feed this to your pet!

One toxic food you particularly need to watch out for is onions because they are added to many foods, such as ketchup, tomato sauce and hot dogs. The ASPCA Poison Control Center also reports that avocados have a toxin in them, though we have not seen our dog have a problem with them. However, our dog is a Chihuahua mixed breed so avocado is a more natural food for her to eat than other breeds. We suggest taking into account your dog's breed and individual susceptibilities. For instance, northern breeds like Huskies thrive on fish but when we gave our Chihuahua-mix dog salmon, she spent all night vomiting it up. You can learn more about breed-specific nutrition in the book Canine Nutrition: Choosing the best food for your breed, by William D. Cusick.

2. Provide healthy, clean water

Many of us give our animals tap water to drink. We feed our pets the perfect diet and then put down a dish of tap water for them without thinking. Tap water contains chlorine and other chemicals that can have a negative impact on the health of both people and pets. We have heard of cases of dogs or cats with bladder or kidney problems that improved when they were changed from tap to bottled water. So we suggest that you consider using filtered or bottled water not just for yourself and children but for your animal family as well. We will provide more information on water and health in an upcoming newsletter but meanwhile you can call or e-mail us for more information.

3. Avoid unnecessary vaccinations

Everyone knows that good pet owners take their dog or cat to the vet every year to get their "annual vaccines", right? And if you want to take your dog to a doggie daycare, kennel or dog park, you may be required to provide proof of "current vaccines" (meaning annual for most and twice-yearly for bordetella). However, this conventional wisdom may not be the best thing for our pets' health. Many holistic vets feel that over vaccination is a major factor leading to the epidemic of cancer and other degenerative diseases seen in our pets now. They generally follow a different vaccination schedule than conventional vets, recommending a few core vaccines for puppies and kittens, the rabies vaccine as required by law and then no other vaccines for the life of the pet. They feel that vaccines typically last for the life of a pet, not for only one year. If you press them, they may privately admit that the rabies vaccine need not be given every one year or three years, either. In fact, there is now funding underway to support a study showing that the rabies vaccine persists for longer than 3 years. For more information, see this site: Rabies Challenge Study Fund. There are now studies coming out of veterinary schools showing that vaccinations last longer than a year and the American Animal Hospital Association is now recommending vaccines every 3 years. However, many vets are not yet following the current recommendations and are still promoting annual vaccinations. To learn more about this topic, see our article here: Vaccination Controversy.

We have seen evidence with our own cats of the difference between heavily vaccinated and lightly vaccinated animals. Our previous two cats both died at age 17 from chronic kidney failure. They both received complete annual vaccinations the first 10 to 11 years of their life. One vaccine that may be related to kidney disease is feline distemper, as it is grown on kidney cells. So it may set up an autoimmune reaction. While 17 years is not a young age for a cat to die, we now have a cat that is estimated to be around 20 years old (she was a stray so we don't know for sure) and she has no kidney problems yet. She had the same diet as the other cats for most of her life--dry kibble (we now feed her canned and raw food). The difference is that she was not heavily vaccinated. The neighbors may have vaccinated her when she first appeared in the neighborhood but the only vaccine we gave her was the rabies vaccine, one time.

4. Avoid overuse of drugs

Those Internet quizzes that rate how good a pet owner you are will deduct points if you are not using heartworm preventive medication every year. Heartworm is a problem in dogs and the treatment for it once they contract it is pretty nasty--they are given arsenic to kill off the worms and then must be kept quiet for a month or two while the medication works. In severe cases, the dogs can die anyway from heartworm or the treatment may kill or permanently damage them. However, you should be aware that the preventive medication is not without side effects, either. It is an insecticide designed to kill off the larvae before they can mature. Ingesting an insecticide can't be very good for them either. In states with a low incidence of heartworm, such as Colorado, holistic vets often recommend that owners get yearly testing for heartworm and avoid giving the preventive medication. They feel that the risk of contracting heartworm is not high enough to justify giving a poisonous drug to the dog. In parts of the country with a high incidence of heartworm (such as the deep south, where the Katrina dogs came from), then you may decide that the risk of contracting heartworm is too high and you prefer to give the medication. There is no "right" answer to this dilemma. Dr. Richard Pitcairn, the noted holistic vet, feels that keeping dogs healthy with fresh, raw foods and plenty of exercise helps them resist parasites like heartworms, so that preventives are less necessary. He is also experimenting with a homeopathic preventive for heartworm and is seeing good results so far.

Steroids, such as prednisone, are another heavily used class of drugs. They reduce inflammation and can eliminate the symptoms produced by many different diseases, at least in the short-term. However, with long-term use they suppress the immune system and can create more problems than the animal had in the first place. Because they are so effective at reducing symptoms, conventional vets will often use them heavily. However, holistic vets tend to avoid them whenever possible, due to the long-term effects. In fact, when a vet at a recent meeting of holistic vets joked that the first thing she does is reach for steroids on her shelf to give patients, everyone burst out laughing at the absurdity of what she said. Dr. Richard Pitcairn, DVM states in his book Natural Health for Dogs & Cats that when he treats cancer, the third of animals that he has the most success with (the tumors regressing or no longer growing) are the animals that have had no prior use of steroids or surgery.

Holistic vets, instead of using steroids, will instead work with homeopathic remedies, herbs, diet, supplements and natural treatments like acupuncture to build up the animal's body so it can heal on its own and then it doesn't need steroids. We have seen problems in pets that would normally be treated with steroids helped by nutraceutical whole food products that provide the body with the nutrition it needs to heal itself, such as the BioSuperfood/BioPreparation algae product that we offer.

As with humans, it makes sense to avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics, both to avoid creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria and to avoid side effects from their use. Conventional vets will often prescribe antibiotics prophylactically (for prevention), such as when an animal has its teeth cleaned. Holistic vets will typically use them more cautiously, reserving their use for an active infection that is not responsive to other treatment.

5. Avoid environmental toxins

We now live in a very toxic environment, laden with chemicals and pollution. And our pets get more exposure to it than we do, since they walk and lie on the floor and ground and then lick their feet and body. You probably already know not to put herbicide on your lawn and then let your dog out to play on the lawn. (We would suggest you not put chemicals on your lawn at all, since it is bad for the health of your environment). But what do you use inside the house that might harm your pets? Many household cleaners can be toxic to pets (and people--we are just bigger so it takes more to visibly harm us). Indoor air quality can often be worse than the smoggiest day downtown.

We learned first-hand just how sensitive our pets can be. We avoid using any cleaning products with chemicals, since I am sensitive to chemicals. However, we were using orange oil to polish the furniture (a "natural" product but high in natural chemicals). As it turns out, our little Chihuahua-mix dog is sensitive to this. She would periodically have episodes where she would be sick at night, spending all night licking the sheets, pillows and herself instead of sleeping, and if we took her outside, she would eat every weed and twig in sight, like she was trying to cleanse and rid herself of something. Our holistic vet was mystified as to what might be causing this, as were we. We could not connect it to anything we were feeding her. Finally, an animal psychic suggested that she was reacting to something in the environment, possibly orange oil. This theory was inadvertently put to the test about a month later when we paid someone to clean our house and she used orange oil on the furniture. When I got home that night, the orange smell was so strong it almost made me sick. A little later that evening, I noticed our dog licking the pillow on the sofa and when we went to bed that night, the "licking fit" started. Fortunately, I was able to stop it with a homeopathic remedy and some energy work, but it showed that she was indeed reacting to the orange oil. By the way, citrus oils are are extremely toxic to cats. Be careful when using any household products containing citrus scents, including any "natural" essential citrus oils around cats. See www.optimumchoices.com/animals_oils.htm for more details.

To learn more about how environmental toxins affect our pets and how to reduce their exposure, we recommend the newly revised version of Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats. This is our Book of the Month and it has an excellent chapter on this topic. A non-toxic recipe for furniture polish is described in his book: 2 parts vegetable or olive oil with 1 part lemon juice.

6. Get plenty of fresh air and exercise

This seems like an obvious recommendation but can be hard to follow at times when both adults are busy working all day. Just like people, animals need exercise to keep their bodies healthy. The dog breeds that were created to work hard all day--hunting dogs in the field or herding dogs in the pasture--suffer both physically and psychologically when they don't get the exercise and work their bodies were designed for. Border collies do best on farms where they can work, not in suburban backyards. Behavioral problems can often be reduced when dogs get more exercise. As dog trainers like to say, "a tired dog is a well-behaved dog". To meet this need, many doggie daycares and dog parks have sprung up. It seems like a new doggie daycare facility opens every day (now if you could just find one that doesn't require "current vaccinations"). See www.optimumchoices.com/Daycare.htm for a doggie day care & kennel near Denver that does not require vaccines. Facilities like this provide a very necessary element for our dogs' health if you cannot take your dog for long walks, runs or play sessions every day. Rather than "pampering" your dog, you are meeting your dog's very real physical and psychological needs by taking advantage of these places.

7. Supplement the diet with super nutrition

Even the best diet may not be sufficient to provide optimal health in our pets, given the factors that have damaged their health in the past and our polluted environment. It is no longer possible to find animals anywhere on the planet that are not contaminated with chemicals. PCBs have been found in polar bears. So even the organic raw meat you feed your pet has some chemical contamination in it. Also, even the best diet can be lacking in nutrients due to the depletion of minerals in our soils. Genetics plays an important part in our animals' health as well. Unless your pet comes from several generations of animals fed organic raw food, given no vaccinations, exposed to no environmental toxins and responsibly bred, their health is already compromised as soon as they are born. And if you are like us and acquire your pets from shelters or neighborhood strays, you may have no knowledge at all about their background or parents.

So, what can you do to counteract this and prevent future health problems? We suggest supplementing the diet with superfoods containing very concentrated nutrition, providing the body with the building blocks it needs to detoxify chemicals, as well as prevent and fight off disease. It is best to do start this as a puppy or kitten and continue throughout the animal's life (or even better, start it with the mother when she is pregnant).

Many people hesitate to do this while their animal is "young and healthy", feeling that it's not necessary and they "can't afford it". They don't think their animal will get sick. Unfortunately, the odds are against them. Pets have a higher cancer rate than humans. The Morris Animal Foundation estimates that 63% of Golden Retrievers will die from cancer and nearly 50% of all older pets will get some form of cancer. Dr. Martin Goldstein, a nationally-known holistic vet specializing in cancer, states that he sees far more cancer now than he did 20 years ago and in far younger animals. Almost all holistic vets state that the level of degenerative disease seen in our pets now has greatly increased. So, when the animal does get sick later, the owner is now desperate to get them well and no longer concerned about cost. Unfortunately, it may be too late at that point, for either conventional or holistic medicine to cure their pet. While some animals can recover from cancer and other fatal diseases, not all will. Some animals will recover while others may have improved quality of life from holistic treatment but will still die from the disease. As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

We suggest feeding nutraceutical-grade superfoods that provide the body the nutrition it needs to reduce the chance of degenerative diseases later in life. The product we use with our pets is BioSuperfood/BioPreparation, the whole food algae product that we offer. We have given this to our dog since we got her, even though she is "apparently healthy", as a preventive. We saw the power of this product when we were first introduced to it and tried it on our 17 year old cat who was dying of kidney disease (one of the cats mentioned in the vaccination section above). That cat felt better and was more lively after just 2 days on the product (despite a lifetime of over vaccination and poor diet). This product might also be one reason why our 20-year old cat is still here, despite a lifetime of dry kibble and obesity. She has been on it for 3 years now. So, we feel that supplementing our pets' diets with powerful superfoods is an important component of providing for our animals' well being.

This New Year's, resolve to help your animal on the path to better health by implementing the above steps to optimal wellness. To learn more, we suggest reading the Books of the Month (below) and our other recommended books here: Book Page.

Book of the month

Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, Third Edition
by Richard H. Pitcairn, DVM, PhD and Susan Hubble Pitcairn

ISBN 157954973X
Click picture to order from Dogwise

This is the third edition of the book that has become a classic in the holistic health literature for pets. Dr. Pitcairn is a pioneering holistic health-oriented veterinarian who has trained many vets in how to use homeopathy to treat their patients. After watching the extensive interview with him in the film Eat, Drink, and Wag Your Tail: Improving the lives of our dogs through nutrition, we were eager to read this new edition of his book which was recently released. This book covers a broad spectrum of topics, including a chapter on the effects of environmental toxins on our pets, something not always considered, even by holistic vets.

Dr. Pitcairn takes a truly holistic approach, looking at seemingly unrelated symptoms and illnesses in one animal as being caused by an underlying imbalance, rather than the allopathic approach of treating each disease and symptom as a separate, unrelated occurrence. He explains it this way: "The individual animal is a whole organism, not parts patched together. When healthy and balanced, everything moves along smoothly and there are no symptoms. However, when injured or exposed to an infectious organism, the whole patient responds, and this response includes the production of symptoms. These symptoms (even inflammation or pain) are expressions of the healing process the body is going through". This would seem pretty self-evident but this approach is totally different from the western medical approach used by most veterinarians. This holistic approach is also different than using "natural" treatments such as herbs to treat or suppress symptoms. The truly holistic approach supports the body in healing and minimizes the suppression of symptoms, which can lead to long-term health problems and even drive the illness deeper into the body.

The second part of the book contains a quick reference to many different conditions ranging from allergies to cancer, FIV and weight problems. Dr. Pitcairn points out repeatedly that good nutrition is fundamental to prevention as well as treatment of disease. Our one quarrel with him would be his heavy use of grains and beans in his recipes for dogs and cats. We feel this does not make sense as they are carnivores and their natural diet is meat, bones and organs. Most holistic vets these days recommend a diet of raw meat, bones and organs with some vegetables but minimal grains, especially for cats. Also, according to the Weston Price Foundation, grains and beans need to not only be cooked but should also be soaked and fermented to make them fully digestible, for either humans or animals (unless the animal has a multi-chambered stomach for fermenting plant foods, such as cows, sheep, deer and goats). Dr. Pitcairn's recommendations are partly due to the fact of his being a vegetarian, which he feels is healthier, as well as easier on the environment, therefore he suggests reducing the amount of meat fed to dogs and cats as well. We would disagree with his assertions about vegetarianism and direct you to this article for more information: Myths and Truths about Vegetarianism. Dr. Pitcairn also feels that a high meat/fat diet is too rich for our relatively inactive domestic dogs/cats vs. wild animals; however, many vets feel that a high-carbohydrate diet is what causes dogs and cats to become obese (think "Catkins" diet for fat cats).

Despite our disagreements with his diet recommendations, there is much of value in this book and it definitely deserves a place on your bookshelf along with other holistic pet care books.

Contact us

Click here to give your pet
the fountain of youth today!

E-mail

General Information: Russell@OptimumChoices.com
Webmaster: Webmaster@OptimumChoices.com
Newsletter Editor, Margaret Auld-Louie: Editor@OptimumChoices.com

Telephone

303-271-1649
866-305-2306 (toll-free)
Normal office hours are 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM Mountain Time (U.S.). If you would like a return call outside those hours, please specify what days and times are best.

Location (call first for appointment)

416 Plateau Pky
Golden, CO 80403-1533
U.S.A.

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