Resveratrol - Why Wait?

Last Sunday, Jan. 26, on CBS, 60 Minutes, they featured a research team and story about Resveratrol. They called it the Fountain of Youth pill and talked about how it turns on the survival gene that extends life by decades and prevents lots of those dreaded age-related illnesses that ruin your life and finances. The researchers saw the possibility of 90 year-olds looking, feeling, and being able to do things like 60 year-olds.

And what is Resveratrol? It is a natural substance in the skin of grapes that protects them from the invasion of bacteria and it turns out it is good for us too. The universe, it seems, has many of these mutual benefit arrangements between plants and us. How considerate!The researchers then announced that it would take about 5 years to turn this into a drug at the cost of about three-quarters of a billion dollars. That’s B for Billion. Think big cost for those pills. The 60 Minutes reporter failed to ask the next most obvious question: If it is already in nature and we know how powerful it is in promoting health, why do we need to make it a drug?

On top of that, to make it a drug you have to turn it into a chemical toxic substance. It won’t be able to go from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the new drug approval protocol without first demonstrating how much will kill half of their laboratory animals. It is call LD 50 or Lethal Dose 50.

Should we just drink more red wine instead? I don’t know how well Resveratrol survives the processing and aging of red wine. Does it remain biologically active and do we know how much you get in a glass of red wine? Does it vary with the winery? I love my glass of red wine with dinner. Yet, how much would I have to drink to get enough Resveratrol to make a difference?

For me, I’ve been getting Resveratrol for about a year now in my supplement, in capsule form. With this new data I will continue for sure. With this kind of good news, why wait? Good science is so important. If you are with me, don’t get just any Resveratrol. Make sure the science is there and it is natural and still alive.

O Happy Day

O happy day. In my humble home, on my cushy sofa, in pajama pants, I indulged myself in front of our plain ol' 27" TV. What else could have been more important for me to do right now, this special morning? I watched the Inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama.

Gratitude. I felt the surge of emotion and joyous gratitude, resonating from the thousands of people packed shoulder to shoulder in the 27 degree D.C. morning. I am so grateful to be able to watch, to share this moment, just as millions more watch on TVs around our nation. And I am grateful for this time in our country, when one man, with the nation's hope and faith will take the helm and steer our nation, government and people; making the difficult turn to set us on a better course. Hope and Faith that we will unite, forgive, trust and work together. It's a prayer, sent out into the vast and mysterious atmosphere of our lives. I declare it a happy day!

Are You Ready for Prime Time?

I’m 55 years old and I've been noticing that most of my peers, friends and associates are now between the ages of 50 and 70 years old. I'm declaring that we are in our prime! What if 50 to 70 years old is the “Prime Time” of our life?

Just knowing more about ourselves: been all over there and done all that! Maybe retirement and the freedom to realize dreams of travel. Or choosing to work on projects and occupations that we actually want to do. Folks with grand kids to enjoy...gleefully handing them back to the parents to do the real job of child rearing.

Because I feel that this is my Prime Time, I am more aware of the importance of my health, especially prevention and sustainability. I realize that I don't actually have a "choice", whether to take care of myself or not. You see, at this age my body is only going to keep going with how I've managed it so far. I know that from now on, things will get "worse"...in terms of slower, saggy-er, etc. But that doesn't stop me from getting more information about how to sustain what I've got and committing to what will sustain my energy, flexibility and healthy cell structure. I've been learning about "cell structure", and really getting the picture of how my body is connected by all these buoyant little cells, communicating and interacting, making up this big mass of fun called Me.

Maybe the Saturday Night Live crew was “not quite ready for Prime Time” on television; but I’m so grateful to be a Prime Time Player in 2009!