Gaze Upward, Press Forward 10 Blood Sugar

Gaze Upward

Press Forward

By Merleen Von Caues - AIM Director

My father was a highly intellectual man and at the age of 20 he was already appointed as manager at the Bank. However, he developed a serious drinking problem and on the 4th of July 1984, when I was 17 years old, my father passed away in a rehab centre in Cullinan, just outside Pretoria.

Compared to many stories I read mine doesn’t seem very special. However, I am sure I am not alone in feeling this way. This is why I want to thank AIM for allowing each of us the platform to be brave enough to share!

My mother was a dedicated nursing sister and a devoted wife and mother, but suffered severely from stress and nervous tension.

As children, we often see our parents fight battles we don’t know much about and it passes by without us ever questioning how they handled it or being curious about the consequences of their behaviour and lifestyle.

When we enter adulthood with all its fabulous facets, from choosing a career, marriage, parenting, raising children, forming new friendships, buying or building a new home, and all the financial challenges that go with these things, we learn about life!

I joined the South African Police Service when I was 20 and spent 13 wonderful years serving the community and my country as a trainer and media liaison officer. As an editor at the Video Unit, I was involved in filming different crime scenes of gruesome family murders for training purposes. And while working in the Karoo, I was exposed to several brutal farm murders where the horror of crime against young children was forced into my world time after time. Going home after attending to scenes such as these and then being met by the faces of my own two beautiful children, made me literally run to the bathroom, lock the door and sit there for hours just sobbing my heart out!!

It is then no surprise, given my family history, that I was inevitably, diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). What followed were years and years of endless medication, ultimately numbing all feelings of pain and trauma in order to cope and just carry on with carrying on.

After leaving the Police I followed a few different career paths in marketing and early childhood development. I finally joined my husband for two years in Somalia, where we were both mentors for the Somalian Police Force.

Here too, the brutality of war and the total disregard for human life together with the unnecessary loss of friends’ and colleagues’ lives, made it difficult to handle day to day tasks and the norm amongst all of us in camp was to simply self-medicate with either alcohol and or medications.

I consume AIMega and Frame Essentials which my dogs Abbey and Layla take daily too, some Peak Endurance to give me the necessary “oemf” to frolic on the beach, CalciAIM and sunlight for all the Vit D needed and of course our ultimate go-to AIM product, Composure. One DOSE a day and LIFE is AIMazing!!!

During this time my Sponsor introduced me to AIM and I started using some of the products on an irregular basis.

Today, I can testify that because of the AIM products and people like my Sponsor and upline Members, I am feeling much better. Do I still experience feelings of anxiety and panic? Oh yes indeed! Do I still struggle to sleep sometimes? Most definitely! Do I still feel overwhelmed? Everyday!!! Only last week, that “big black dog” was sitting by my side all day, barking relentlessly.

And this is where I need to emphasise that my doctor, therapist and life coach are still part of my journey of recovery because I firmly believe that God allows gifted and wise counsellors to assist us in making Godly decisions every day. So, in certain seasons of my life I may need more than just my AIM support and that is okay!

At some point in our lives, we all endure times of trial filled with pain and suffering. Usually these events are brought on by things that are out of our control, as we are all globally experiencing right now, or simply by things we would prefer not to have happen to us. We have a choice to either be defeated by negative circumstances, or to embrace a transformation. In doing so, we become new and improved versions of our old selves.

Today, I want to compare my story of transformation to that of the cocoon producing a butterfly. Like the cocoon, I did not know why I was going through such a life-changing event, or how long it would take.

Believe me, the events of my life have seen me do just that although it still scares the living daylight out of me. But just like the cocoon, I didn’t have a choice.

At some point I would have had to break out of the cocoon. And once the transformation happened, would I be a broken butterfly or would I choose to use the tools I have gained from AIM and every beautiful human who has been put on my path, to become who I was meant to be? Through AIM, I have become stronger and found the strength and courage to take care of myself, and to make my own decisions. As my Sponsor always tells us: take responsibility for your own body, mind and soul.

“Upward and Onward”

In closing, I want to quote Barbara Johnson: “Just remember, Every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there!”

Blood Sugar

Every morsel of food you eat goes into the manufacturing of energy. Your body uses your nutritional input and turns most of it into glucose. This sugar is transferred to cells via your blood, which is why normal blood sugar levels are so important to good health.

Problems arise when sugar remains circulating in the blood instead of being channelled into cells. It’s a health situation that creates inflammation instead of energy. What should be energizing for your entire body becomes an inflammatory effect instead.

Your choice of nutrition determines an extreme spike in blood sugar levels or a gradual rise and fall. Plant-Based Blood Sugar

One of the most effective ways to maintain healthy blood sugar levels is by consuming a primarily plant-based diet. That translates as fruits, legumes, nuts, vegetables and whole grains and only small amounts of meat and refined foods. Or better yet, avoid all processed foods that typically contain unhealthy fats and added sugar and have a negative effect on blood sugar levels. Going plant-based not only supports your body’s crucial production of energy, it improves and maintains your overall health on so many levels beyond blood sugar. Support from AIM

Plant-based powders, such as BarleyLife, and CoCoa LeafGreens, supplement a healthy diet with concentrated nutrients that enhance a plant-based intake. Leaves of barley, Swiss chard, arugula, kale and spinach along with broccoli sprouts and three kinds of cocoa supply super sources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, chlorophyll and unique phytonutrients that work for your body, not against it.

To specifically target blood sugar, AIM created GlucoChrom, a combination of trace minerals and herbs. The key ingredient is chromium, a mineral considered to be a cofactor of insulin, the hormone that helps move glucose into cells, which is the key to healthy blood sugar levels.