Health Matters Newsletter - May 2020 #1

I hope all has been well for you over the last couple of weeks, and if you are still in lockdown that you are coping, OK. It's been a frustrating time for all of us. There are, however, positive signs in many countries that the worst may be passed, but the US and the UK are still being hit hard.

The way in which the COVID-19 situation has been dealt with has polarized many people and governments. The removal of personal freedom has hit hard in many countries, and it remains to be seen what the best strategy has been... total lockdown, or the Swedish model. The Swedish model has had minimal effect on the lives of their citizens and large businesses were able to continue pretty well as is with little impact on employment and people's livelihoods. The lockdown, on the other hand, has had a devastating impact on many businesses throughout the world. Here in New Zealand, it has largely destroyed the tourism and much of the hospitality industry.

It will be interesting to see how it all washes up over the next few months. Will Sweden come out on top? What about Belarus who had even fewer restrictions than Sweden. I personally favor the Swedish approach, but hey... I may be wrong...we will see.

One thing that is indisputable is that your risk of dying from COVID-19 or any other virus for that matter is significantly reduced if you focus on your general foundational health. Not only will that reduce your risk of getting a degenerative disease of any sort, it strengthens your immunity and your chances of having an adverse outcome if you get infected by a virus are significantly reduced. I don't have to tell you about the basic things you need to do for foundational health such as exercise and correct diet. Of course, there are a lot of people who feel that they are eating correctly when, in fact, they are not.

Remember, in the last issue we ran a survey on the eating habits of our customers. Here are the results: 64.2% of the respondents are omnivores... in other words, eat the conventional way, 10% is Keto, 8.3% is Carnivore, 6.7% are Vegetarian, 5.8% is Vegan, and 5% is Other. On hindsight, we should not have included other as I have no idea what that could be... maybe it was paleo which we forgot to include... perhaps some of you who selected 'other' could comment on that.

I am often asked what type of diet do I follow. I don't strictly follow anything, but probably it is closer to Paleo/Keto/Carnivore than anything else. But, having said that no one diet fits all. So, what works for me may not work for you. For example, some people thrive on a vegan diet, whereas others get sick on it, same applies to a Carnivore diet. From what I have seen over the years is that Keto seems to be the most effective all-rounder for people striving for weight loss.

Now, why is it that one person does well on one type of diet and another person does not? I don't think anyone really knows... but, maybe this might be the answer. I'll explain it. About 20 years ago, I read a book called 'Eat Right for Your Type' by Dr Peter J D'Adamo. He was an advocate and still is for structuring your diet around your blood type. For example, he advocates being a vegetarian if your blood type is A. People with type O would be more meat-eaters. I am a type O, and so is the majority of other people. Perhaps this might be a reason why I don't do well on a vegetarian diet. The actual science behind this eat for your blood type, is like many things to do with health...inconclusive. But, if this is an area that is likely to interest you, you can find his books on Amazon. Oh... I should mention that we respect all views when it comes to diet ... EXCEPT eating processed foods or stuff out of a packet.

With the exception of our fish oil, all our products are vegan friendly... Well, that is about it for today.

In this issue, we would like to get a sense of the age of our customers. I think that we have a pretty good idea of the age brackets, but it would be great if you could take a second or so and let us know in the below survey... thanks again, and thanks to all of you who completed the last survey... most appreciated.

One last thing... we have included Kiwi-Klenz as the featured product for today as it is considered to be one of our most important nutritional supplements as it targets the gut microbiome which also plays a significant role in our immunity.

Talk to you again soon. Bye for now.