Wellness, from the standpoint of the body, is reduced inflammation.

Achieving physiologic balance is key to wellness. Physiologic balance (consider this the optimal environment for the body to function) involves the individual cell's ability to build, repair, detoxify, and perform their unique metabolic function. Physiologic balance is achieved through proper food, fitness, stress reduction disciplines, and nutrients. The combination of these results in peak metabolic performance... and a body through which dreams are realized!

When we address these needs of the body, it allows the body to do what it does best: build lean body mass, reduce body fat, and ultimately drive down inflammation which is the central process of disease. Wellness, from the standpoint of the body, is reduced inflammation.

Inflammation is the central meeting point of disease. You might consider inflammation to be disease and disease to be inflammation. Wellness, on the cellular level, is REDUCED INFLAMMATION.

What drives inflammation? Sugar!

Blood sugar and blood fat regulation are central to health and are tied together. For instance, diabetics have elevated blood sugars and blood fat levels and are therefore prone to developing diseases of the blood vessels (which can lead to heart attack) and obesity (due to resistance to insulin, which causes cells to remove blood sugar from the blood stream.)

Blood sugar (glucose and fructose) is also inflammatory to the body because excess sugar will bind to proteins in the blood stream creating "advanced glycation end products", or AGEs. AGEs are known to be associated with age related diseases and diabetes-related inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory conditions include asthma, arthritis, heart attack (due to atherosclerosis or blood vessel inflammation), and neuropathy.

In fact, cooking can promote disease through the production of AGEs. Cooking is chemistry: combing two or more elements in the presence of heat! So, super-heated foods and sugars (think french fries and funnel cakes) can create AGE products by causing sugars to bind to proteins. Be aware, you can actually ingest AGE products which may be the equivalent of eating inflammation! Essentially, you might be eating inflammation.

No nutritional product, diet, or herb can replace optimal eating habits. Supplements in and of themselves are helpful for providing missing nutrition but they are not a substitute for poor diet! Unfortunately, very few people understand what healthy eating means- so we encourage to be informed and apply what you should know! We provide Wellness Educational Resources on our website that also include a Wellness Blog and a Healthy Living Whole Foods Cookbook. There are many other sources of reliable information including PubMed and your healthcare providers.

Research shows that adiponectin decreases liver production of glucose, increases the uptake of blood sugar, stimulates fat breakdown and clearance in the body, protects bloods vessels, increases insulin sensitivity, and promotes weight loss.

So let's put it all together...

• Inflammation is central to disease.
• Blood sugar is associated with inflammation.
• Excess fat tissue promotes inflammation through reduced production of the protein hormone adiponectin.
• Nutrients and the african herb X promote physiologic balance and activity of adiponectin to reduce fat.
• Reducing fat will reduce inflammation.
• Reducing fat will reduce blood sugar levels, which also reduces inflammation.
• Educating yourself on clean eating, stress reduction, and optimal gastrointestinal health along with optimal nutritional supplementation can help you achieve wellness through balanced body systems!
• Obviously, this is a complex issue and represents the cutting edge in the science of wellness.