Hello and as I welcome you to another Weekend Read, I have rather a lot to get through this week, so all I want to say here is that you really made me smile with some of your emails following my comments on menopausal skincare last weekend.  I am really not sure on which planet the health and beauty industries reside, but together with their paid cohorts, they need to wake up and realise that they exist to serve us, the consumers.  We will not be duped, we will not be undermined and, increasingly, we can see straight the way through their self-serving platitudes.  Most of which, I believe, will be exposed in the fullness of time.

I will leave it there, but I don’t write these words lightly and, for the record, these are evidence-based comments.  As I’ve written before, it’s all a bit David and Goliath, but we shall overcome and we shall overcome by continuing to support the niche brands and products that make such a positive difference to each of us.  And on that note, I want to thank you so much for your incredible support following my words on Hyaluronic Acid and Skin Restoring Ceramides last weekend.  I thought we had it covered, but our order was delayed in transit and once again I sat staring at another wait list, which hopefully has now been resolved, or will be resolved very soon.

So let us begin with the product section.  And we are going to begin by talking about Fulvic Acid Elixir, although quite honestly I have written so much about Fulvic Acid Elixir over the past decade, there is little more than I can say, other than to refer you to Shabir’s article, The Elixir of Life.  But what I will say is that as Hyaluronic Acid is core to the health and integrity of our skin, Fulvic Elixir is core to helping our bodies heal, renew and restore as it helps to combat nutrient deficiencies by enhancing the absorption of all vitamins and minerals.  It also happens to be a rather brilliant, next-generation hair, skin and nail formulation.

Powered by Ioniplex, an ionic mineral complex which provides cellular protection and promotes cellular energy, Fulvic Acid Elixir is the liquid version of Ionicell, and although I take both, you really don’t need to do that, it’s simply a matter of choice.  But I wouldn’t want to be without it and if I could only have three supplements in my life, there is no doubt in my mind that Fulvic Elixir would be one of them as I honestly believe that it serves as a foundation for optimum health and wellbeing, as it also helps increase metabolism, which in turn creates energy.  And you know what’s coming next.

Basically because we had such fun with Fulvic Face Cream last weekend, I thought we should carry that theme through to this week, and it looks like this.  When you buy Fulvic Acid Elixir, I will automatically throw in the Travel Size Fulvic Face Cream (30 ml), which is worth £15.  If we are going to do the health/beauty crossover, we may as well do it in style.  So it’s a double-dose of Fulvic, and I promise not to scrawl over either product with my now infamous Bic biro, although the temptation is great.  Only one gift per customer on this, in order to be equitable, or whilst stock lasts. 
VH Editorial: Fulvic Elixir – The Elixir Of Life; Fulvic Acid Elixir 480 ml + Free Fulvic Face Cream (30 ml) £30; Hyaluronic Acid Capsules High Strength £35 for 30 Capsules

With all of that said, I think one of the most salient points about Fulvic Elixir is that it enhances all other vitamins and minerals, as I’ve written above.  I think this is of particular importance at this given time as we are mostly taking supplementation to help enhance our immune system.  When I wrote about immunity a few weeks ago, I made particular reference to Vitamin D, and I also made reference to D3000 Vitamin D Oral Spray by Better You.  Having campaigned for an in-depth understanding of the benefits of Vitamin D with the founder of Better You, Andy Thomas, a very long time ago, my stance on its importance is absolute.

Better You have, over the years, focused on Vitamin D and Magnesium, the latter of which is where I am going with this.  Better You’s Magnesium Oil Spray provides magnesium chloride for topical use.  Its benefits include helping to alleviate sore joints and helping to encourage restful sleep, more of which very soon.  But for now, with any Better You product bought, we will automatically include a free Magnesium Oil Spray (15 ml) with every order placed.  I’m linking the products below, but as above, there is only gift per customer, whilst stock lasts.  And just to make it even sweeter, I am doing a 10% brand discount across the weekend.
Better You Products; D3000 Vitamin D Oral Spray (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 9 October)

Right, we are now going to talk about sleep, or rather Shabir is going to talk about sleep as he has just written an article about the benefits of sleeping on your back if you have back pain.  It is thought that only about 10% of us sleep on our backs, but as this is a very short article, I will not steal Shabir’s thunder and will refer you to his words, where he also explains the difference between sleeping on your back or sleeping on your left or right side.  For the record, I sleep on my left side, if anybody is at all interested.  And I’m also left-handed.
VH Editorial: The Benefits Of Sleeping On Your Back

Referring back to the article, it is of course a given that Shabir would recommend Superior Joints for back pain.  This natural anti-inflammatory supplement contains Natural Eggshell Membrane known to rapidly alleviate pain.  It is joined by Turmeric and Ginger not only for their anti-inflammatory properties, but for their circulatory benefits too, and of course Hyaluronic Acid helps cushion the cartilage tissue found in-between bones. 

On a metaphysical level, it is often said that lower back pain aligns with a lack of support in life, which makes total sense to me as our spine is our body’s central support structure, and if we don’t feel supported, we so often crumble, physically and emotionally.  It is therefore of the utmost importance that we continue to support each other, in both health and financial terms, wherever we can.  I am not saying that any of this is easy, because it is far from easy, but I will always try to be pragmatic in terms of thought and responsibility, and as such I am dropping the price of Superior Joints from £30 to £25 across the weekend. 

Additionally, I will also drop in a limited edition gift with every order placed for Superior Joints.  That gift is De-Stress Muscle Gel (40 ml) by Aromatherapy Associates and once again, there is only one gift per customer. In full transparency, if this gift fails to go into your basket, it will mean that the offer is over.  And one final thing, Shabir has written four articles about Superior Joints, all of which you can find on the product page. 
Superior Joints £25 for 60 Capsules (offer ends at midnight BST, Sunday 9 October)

I want to follow through by saying that Shabir also writes about lack of sleep in the above-mentioned article.   Lack of sleep has always been a huge issue, so let’s talk about this for a moment.  Whenever I write about sleep supplementation, I always caveat it by saying that it is notoriously difficult to determine which of the many supplements available will work best as we are all different.  It’s easy with supplements such as Superior Joints because there is no doubt in my mind that this supplement is best-in-class, so for the purposes of this newsletter, I am going to write about Sleep Tight, as per Shabir’s recommendation in said article.

But back to basics first, and in the vast majority of cases, stress is the root cause of sleep deprivation.  It goes something like this, when we are stressed the stress hormone, Cortisol, comes out to play in abundance.  Cortisol blocks the production of the sleep hormone, Melatonin, and it is this disruptive cycle that we need to address.  Sleep Tight capsules are blended with several ingredients to help promote relaxation and sleep, including Magnolia officinalis, Theanine and Magnesium.  Shabir’s article, listed below, offers further insights into sleep deprivation and whilst you read that, I am dropping the price of Sleep Tight from £25.50 to £22, whilst stock lasts.
VH Editorial: Are You Getting Sufficient Sleep; Sleep Tight £22 for 60 VegiCaps (whilst stock lasts)

More or less staying on subject, I wrote last week about the Christmas Gift section on our site.  I also wrote that as it was early October the list was by no means definitive, so I thought it would be pertinent to tell you about a new addition to that list bearing in mind we are talking about sleep.  It is called ‘Sleep On It’ and it is a first-aid kit for sleep.  There are three products in this set, Stress Check Mood Manager (5 ml), Stress Check Roll-On (5 ml) and Deep Sleep Pillow Spray (5 ml).  Full details on the product page, but this is a glorious adjunct to supplementation and as such I am dropping the price from £13 to £9, whilst stocks last.  One for me and one for you.
Sleep On It by This Works £9 (whilst stock lasts); Christmas Gifts

A celebration.  It is five years since we launched LixirSkin for and on behalf of Dr Colette Haydon.  It was, and is, my total privilege to work alongside Colette, a formidable product formulator who has created products for many well-known brands, including Heal Gel.  But this was her baby, her own brand and launching with just six products, LixirSkin has gone from strength to strength.  In recognition of a triumphant five years, Colette and I would like to celebrate with you and as such if you buy any product from the range costing £30 or above, we will automatically include Universal Emulsion (50 ml) as a gift, which is worth £29, whilst stock lasts.
Lixirskin (only one gift per customer; a limited edition gift, if the product fails to go into your basket, then the offer is over and I honestly don’t expect it to last very long)

Back to health issues we go and I want to throw the focus on refined sugar and how it can age our bodies.  Sugar is the most common ingredient in food today, most especially in processed foods.  Many of us are simply unaware of the amount of sugar we consume since it is often hidden under names such as dextrose, maltose, high fructose corn syrup and maltodextrin to name just a few.  There are actually nearly sixty different forms of sugar and current statistics indicate that many of us are consuming between 110–230 grams of sugar per day, which is an awful lot of sugar.

In his article, listed below, Shabir takes an in-depth look at sugar-related issues, which include hormonal imbalances and the suppression of the immune system, but I want to talk about controlling blood sugar levels.  Over fifty years of research has shown that Chromium supplementation can effectively help control blood sugar levels and it should also be noted that a deficiency of Chromium can directly contribute to high blood sugar levels and pre-diabetic complications.  It is thought that one in three of us are Chromium deficient, so please do read the article, together with Shabir’s recommendation of Optimized Chromium With Crominex 3+.  And just to add, this supplement can also help to curb sugar cravings.
VH Editorial: Refined Sugar Ages Our Body; Optimized Chromium With Crominex 3+ by Life Extension £10.75 for 60 Capsules

Some interesting news.  A three-year study has shown that taking a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement can help memory, focus, planning and other cognitive functions in older people.  Additionally a multivitamin can support your immune system to help ward off infections, as Sarah reports in this week’s Health Notes.  Sarah does the detail, where it is noted that more than 2000 people, aged 65 and older, participated in this study.  It should also be noted that we are talking food-state supplementation here and as such Shabir recommends Alive Once Daily Multivitamin Ultra Potency, so let’s drop the price from £30 to £26 in recognition of cutting-edge supplementation.
A Daily Multivitamin Could Help Ageing Memory by Sarah Stacey; Alive Once Daily Multivitamin Ultra Potency £26 for 60 Tablets (offer ends at midnight BST, Friday 14 October)

A Temple Spa treat.  Repose is a relaxing night cream which is rich in natural plant extracts and antioxidants, fused with a blend of essential oils including Valerian, Frankincense and Geranium.  Formulated to help calm your mind and soothe your skin, Repose Relaxing Night Cream is one of Temple Spa’s bestselling products and with full details on the product page for use, with every jar of Repose bought, we will automatically include a second jar free of charge.  This gift is worth £42 and if for any reason it goes onto pre-order, which it might, please don’t worry, we will honour this gift until the end of October.
Repose Relaxing Night Cream by Temple Spa £42 for 50 ml (+ Repose Relaxing Night Cream 50 ml free)

Staying with skincare, I feel I want to do a Garden of Wisdom treat.  This is in recognition of the high volume of feedback we are receiving regarding all of the products in this range, for which I am so very grateful.  With such an extensive range of products, which was quite deliberate, there were always going to be those products which were more popular than others, and one such product is 100% Pure Prickly Pear Seed Oil, which can also be used as a hair treatment.  With an article attached to this product, I am offering you an opportunity to buy the oversize Prickly Pear Seed Oil, which means you get 45 ml for the price of 30 ml.  And this is a limited-edition offer.
VH Editorial: Beauty Benefits Of Prickly Pear Seed Oil; 100% Pure Prickly Pear Seed Oil by Garden of Wisdom for VH £21.50 for 45 ml

Given that I have already mentioned a few Christmas gifts over the past couple of weeks, we may as well continue so please let me tell you about a Christmas cracker.  Fabulous Cracker Nourishing Nail & Cuticle Serum Pen (15 ml), is just that, a cracker containing a serum pen.  This is a variation on a theme from last year’s offering from Margaret Dabbs which flew out the door as I suggested it would be an amazing stocking filler, or they could be used as table settings for the festive period.  I suppose it helped that I lowered the price then and I will lower the price now, as the Fabulous Cracker drops in price from £12 to £10.  For the interim.
Fabulous Cracker Nourishing Nail & Cuticle Serum Pen by Margaret Dabbs £10

One final fling and it’s a Lanolips treat, actually it’s two treats.  So I’m keeping it short and I’m keeping it neat as I tell you that I am reducing the price of Lanolips Tinted Balm SPF 30 Rhubarb from £8.99 to £4.50 and I’ll do the same with Lanolips 101 Ointment Multi-Balm Pear, which also drops from £8.99 to £4.50.  And now I’m wondering how many of you will be smiling as you read this and decide that it could be another very good idea by buying them as stocking fillers or as gifts, and nobody will ever know what you paid for them, unless of course they also read the newsletters, in which case it is probably better to refrain.
Lanolips Tinted Balm SPF 30 Rhubarb £4.50 for 12.5 grams; Lanolips 101 Ointment Multi-Balm Pear £4.50 for 10 grams

And into the Saturday only treat we go, so with every order placed for £30 and above, excluding p&p, we will automatically send you Fulvic Acid Shampoo (60 ml) just because I'm in a Fulvic frame of mind. I think you can tell that my Fulvic sharing gene has come out to play today, but I’ve decided that we absolutely have to focus on the here and now, and in the here and now we deserve to have amazing hair, so if you have yet to try the Fulvic Shampoo, this is an opportunity for you to do so.  Full product details listed below.
Fulvic Acid Shampoo

As we end this newsletter, I will tell you that I am still receiving emails regarding the Tapping session we did together with Poppy Delbridge.  Many of you have asked when the video link will expire and it was scheduled to expire very shortly, so I called Poppy and asked her if it was possible to extend the time-frame, which she has done.  For ease, I am linking that video again and the time-frame has now been extended to 1 January 2023, for which I am so very grateful.  And staying with it, please do let me know if you would like to take the whole Tapping experience to another level.  I think we should.
Tapping In with Poppy Delbridge (Passcode: tapjoy2022!)

I cannot end this newsletter without saying that the world is in a mess and that the current difficulties are affecting so many of us.  It is extraordinarily difficult to hold it together, but this is being amplified by clickbait articles across the media predicting ongoing doom.  Of course we have been here before and not for one moment am I under-estimating the difficulties that are apparent, but we can only do what we can do in any given moment, so let’s try and stay in the moment as we sing this song together.  We sang it twice during lockdown, and so for the third time let us join together, because we will overcome.  By staying close. And walking hand in hand.
We Shall Overcome by Bruce Springsteen; The VH Playlist

With love

Gill x

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*Free gifts will only be granted if the items purchased are physical products and your total basket value exceeds the required amount noted.  Saturday only treats are subject to change should the specified gift run out prior to your purchase and are only included in orders placed between 7.45am (GMT) and Midnight (GMT) on the Saturday the Weekend Read is sent.  VH Addicts membership is a digital product and therefore will be excluded from the basket value.  Some gifts are blocked from international shipping due to local limitations imposed based on the country destination.  If this is the case, we will replace the gift with one that is able to be shipped to your destination.