Insulin Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes, Hormonal imbalances, Osteoporosis (soft/brittle) bones, Adrenal Exhaustion, Food allergies, Anxiety, Depresion and oh, of course, my 'personal' favorite (sarcasm here), weight gain and bloating. These are just some of the problems that we as 'Midlifers' could face as we try to age gracefully.

To touch on food allergies here for a second, did you know that sometimes something that a person is either eating or drinking could actually be the cause of their illness - for example, possibly milk could be the culprit for symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. If that turns out to be the culprit, the person could have a full recovery once they refrain from drinking milk - or whatever it might be that is impacting their health.

What THEY (doctors or anyone else who knows) don't tell us is that a lot of ailments could be derailed - or circumvented - if we made sure we took enough enzymes with each of our meals. The enzymes our bodies used to manufacture diminish as we get older. This, coupled with the fact that at least 75% of our immune system is located in our colon, sets us up for all sorts of physical debilitation as time goes by. We could be eating the same things we've always eaten - as well as working out as we've always done - but if our food is not being broken down within our system it can pave the way for all kinds of health problems.

Linus Pauling, the Nobel prize-winning chemist and biologist and the only person in history to be awarded two unshared Nobel prizes, said, 'you can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency"...that is why taking minerals is so important. When we reach our 40's and 50's, and we start having mineral deficiencies, as most people will, the body will start leaching it from other sources in our body.

Dr. Weil, on his website, touts 'Juvenon" - which helps protect and maintain healthy cells. It promotes brain cell function and sustains energy (https://www.drweil.com/drw/u/PAG00289/health-and-aging).

I watch a TV informercial which features a Dr. Solaman (who passed away within the last year). She has several health books that her company features on its website, as well as products which I am planning on purchasing in the near future. The hostess of the show is a former Miss America who takes the 'Making Healthy Choices" products herself and recommends them highly.(https://www.makinghealthychoices.com).

It goes without saying that we all need to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. Avoid soda, even diet soda. It turns the blood acidic - and disease thrives in an acidic environment. We need our bodies to be slightly on the alkaline side to stay healthy. Did you know it takes approximately 12 to 16 hours for the body to recover after having just one glass of soda? That's how seriously it impacts our system.

Naomi Judd had the luxury of consulting with the most respected doctors and scientists in all the world after she found out she had Hepatitis C. I bought her book that she came out with (the name eludes me right now) - wherein she details what she did on the road to her recovery. For one, she listened to 'healing' tapes while having therapeutic massages.

Many, many women develop thyroid problems as they get into their 40's and 50's -some are hyper thyroid which means they have an overactive thyroid; but I think for the most part, the scales are tipped toward hypo thyroid women - women who start gaining weight and cannot lose it so easily as they go into midlife. From the research I've done on thyroid problems, some sites say exhausted adrenals can play a major role in why the thyroid stops working at peak efficiency. That is why they gain the excess weight (women2women.com).

Flaxseed oil (organic) is also touted for us midlife women. It is an Omega 3 (essential) fatty acid which our bodies do not manufacture. Flaxseed can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

I have a lot more pearls of wisdom that I would like to impart to you if you'd care to read about it. I have gleaned so much information that I actually don't know where to start - but I will elaborate further in my next article on 'Bella - Midlife'. In the meantime, Happy New Year (again) and I hope that the year started off on the right foot with all my readers...