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VAT Update!

Health Store staff all over Ireland are probably all pretty jubilant just now. Only yesterday I joined a large contingent of fellow health store people to protest outside the Dáil about the imposition of VAT on health supplements. After that we handed letters into the Dept. of Finance and the offices of the Revenue Commissioners asking them to take into account the more than 70,000 signatures collected from people opposed to the plan and to defer it. We voiced our discontent but the general feeling was that it would happen anyway.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Not so! On the way home I heard on the radio that the change had been deferred until November of this year after it’s full implications have been examined by the Government’s Tax Strategy Advisory Group. It felt wonderful to know that our campaigning had paid off even if only at the last minute. As an association Health Stores Ireland is committed to continuing the fight to retain our supplement’s current zero VAT rating and safeguarding our customers’ right to look after themselves naturally without being penalized for doing so. This fight isn’t over, we will be asking for your support again.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”12957″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”green”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Dr. Hauschka, An Update

I attended a Dr. Hauschka training in Dublin recently and, as I always do, I found it really inspiring. I genuinely believe that, while there are many great natural skincare ranges on the market today (and to change over to any one of them from ‘regular’ cosmetics is a huge step forward both in terms of doing your skin real good and supporting a more ‘ethical’ approach with sustainable environmental impact and no animal testing) none of them has quite the therapeutic benefits of Dr Hauschka. For me a company like Dr Hauschka is a great antidote to the general ‘green washing’ we see where companies add a small percentage of natural ingredients to their products and call them ‘natural’ because they do so. There’s no ‘green washing’ here. Tara told a wonderful story during the training about her last visit to the company. It seems that two workers involved in harvesting the plants had a bit of a falling out one day and there was a fair bit of bad feeling between them. This was discovered by their supervisors before the day ended and resulted in everything they had picked during the day being totally discarded to avoid their ‘bad energy’ passing through the plants into the products.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Everything Dr Hauschka do is to harness and respect the healing properties of the plants and other natural ingredients used in the products. I think they bring this to a level where the products help not only the physical body but the senses and the soul as well.
Two new products are on the way in the near future, an eye make up remover and a shower cream and, most excitingly, we have a promotion on the whole Dr Hauschka range all through March with a whopping 20% off everything.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”12962″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”green”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Heart Health the Natural Way

We were delighted to host David Burke, renowned natural therapist from Waterford, for a talk on heart health in the last few weeks. David spoke at length about his healing philosophy and how he uses both lifestyle recommendations and techniques like hypnosis on his clients. He also gave great insight into the research and reasoning that lead him to formulate his first commercially available supplement ‘Body Balance for a Healthy Heart’.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”12964″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”green”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]One of its primary ingredients is an amino acid L-arginine which improves blood flow. It does so by creating nitric oxide (NO), a gas that helps dilate blood vessels. L-arginine has been shown to help people with heart disease or clogged arteries because of its vessel-widening abilities. In combination with other ingredients such as minerals, powerful antioxidants, fish oils and alfalfa to purify the blood I believe that ‘Body Balance for a Healthy Heart’ represents a breakthrough for people suffering from heart ailments and high blood pressure as well as for athletes looking for natural performance boosters.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Heart Health Testing Coming to Only Natural

Measurement of the Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity is a non invasive method of assessing heart health by detecting stiffness of the arteries. The greater that stiffness the greater the risk of heart attacks and strokes. We now offer Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity Testing (aka the Arteriograph Test) in Only Natural. This will be carried our by Declan Murphy CEO of Heart Health Matters in Co Mayo who himself devised the test. Declan wrote the following about the Arteriograph test for our newsletter.

“Our arteries age as we age. However premature increased arterial stiffness is associated with a high risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.  Premature stiffness of arteries can begin in early childhood. As our arteries get stiffer this leads to an increase in blood pressure and other cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. Children in Ireland are now being diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 8. Changes in arterial stiffness can be present years before symptoms of heart disease manifest. Up until recently the main method to measure arterial stiffness was through invasive cardiac catheterization.

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The Arteriograph medical devicis a game changer in measuring parameters that could only be acquired before via invasive cardiac catheterization. This is a non-invasive testIt measures numerous parameters of the cardiovascular system. The most important measurement is the Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity which is considered the gold standard for assessing arterial stiffness. 

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Detecting the onset of arterial stiffness as early in life as possible allows us to implement preventative measures to reduce risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack or stroke through early intervention methods.

Following my screening service a number of clients have had up to 5 stents put in place and many others have had to implement medical, lifestyle and dietary changes in an attempt to counteract early arterial stiffness detected. This is the Preventative Screening that Saves Lives.”

To book an Arteriograph heart health screening with us at a cost of €50 just call us on 053 91 23236 or for more details check out hearthealthmatters.ie.

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