I am going to comment not on the product of Juice
Plus, but I am going to give you what I have learned
about supplements in general and from that you
can make your own decisions. I am not an advocator
of supplements in most situations. Whether it
is Juice Plus, EAS, NOW Foods or Ultralife, I
consider them all the same from the get go. If
down the line of treatment my clients are hitting
roadblocks, then and only then will I do testing
through BioHealth Diagnostics (www.biodia.com)
in order to find out physiologically/hormonally
what is going on or not going on inside. Then
I will have an exact idea of what types of supplements,
enzymes, probiotics, hormones, etc. my client
needs. At the same time, this give me an opportunity
to refer out if needed to a more skilled professional
in these areas such as a naturopath, herbalist,
etc.
What I recommend all my clients to do, as well
as what I have done is to do research to come
to their own conclusions. If I don’t know
something about a product, exercise, diet, etc.,
I go research it and research it until I can’t
research it anymore. As well, sometimes I actually
try things on myself first before recommending
them to clients.
In my clinical opinion one of the major crutches
of society is supplements. The word implies what
they are, but society like to use them as their
primary source of nutrients, enzymes, and food
intake. There are many major problems with this,
stress being the most important one. Here is a
definition from www.m-w.com:
Main Entry: 1sup•ple•ment
Pronunciation: 's&-pl&-m&nt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin supplementum,
from supplEre to fill up, complete -- more at
SUPPLY
1 : something that completes or makes an addition
<dietary supplements>
2 : a part added to or issued as a continuation
of a book or periodical to correct errors or make
additions
The key to this definition is something that
compliments or makes addition to. The problem
is the society uses the supplement as the food
and the food as the supplement. We have it all
backwards and society is painting us a picture
of that. I chose IBS secondary to it being one
of the most common complaints that I see with
new clients. Symptoms consistent with IBS are
present in 10-20% of adolescents and adults. Less
than one third of patients seek medical advice.
In the pediatric population, IBS symptoms are
reported in 14% of high school students and 6%
of middle school students. One third of patients
with IBS trace their symptoms to childhood. (http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/testimony99.html)
Now this is not even giving you stats among adults,
but it is scary to see that a high percentage
of children are already having GI problems. From
what I have seen clinically, most of my clients
eat lots of refined/processed carbohydrates and
other foods, as well as are taking lots of synthetic
vitamins, protein powders, enzymes, probiotics,
omega-3’s, and so on. For one most of these
people have a poor lifestyle habit and are using
the supplements to play catch up. Two, most or
all of theses supplements are synthetic, which
means man made. So you body reacts to these in
a stressful (sympathetic response) way. You get
GI inflammation, irritation, constipation-diarrhea,
cramps, bloating, gas, food in your stool, you
have lethargy and jitteriness at the same time,
you can’t loose weight, and feel like $*#@!
Most of the supplements you buy on the market
today are synthetic and depleted of any energy.
Using a “this for that” approach,
never works in the long run. If you think of how
most Americans eat, as well as take supplements,
no wonder why they are constipated and taking
laxatives or other supplements to poop. They are
eating processed foods, conventional meats, eating
man made fats and chemical, but on the other end
of it to make up for their deficiencies they take
antioxidants, mutli-vitamins, vitamin A, B, C,
D and so on to counteract the effects of their
poor nutrition and lifestyle. Americans buy $1,300,000
worth of laxatives every day (How to Eat, Move
and Be Healthy by Paul Chek)! Do they ever take
the time to listen to their body and wonder why
they might be constipated or pooping out toxic
waste? They just keep pumping this junk into their
bodies, which makes them become more and more
constipated.
Now with all this what is my point? I have two
points for you. The first one is simple. We spend
more money on health care, prescriptions and day’s
home from work sick secondary to GI Disorders.
This leads to more money wasted on healthcare,
a weakened economic system, as well as creating
a whole in your pocket. If we just paid attention
to nutrition and lifestyle, everything would be
peachy keen! In the past 6 years, I have only
missed one day of work. Yes one day and I attribute
that to proper nutrition and lifestyle.
My second point is that if you are eating organic
foods (It takes life to give life!), eating for
your metabolic type (www.mercola.com), drinking
the proper fluids (water), getting enough sleep
and thinking positively, then success is inevitable.
Taking any supplement for that matter creates
negative energy within the body (stress), which
the end result it total body dysfunction in the
long run. There are some companies that have high
quality organic supplements, but I never recommend
them until the 6 month mark while working with
a client. I would rather focus on diet and lifestyle
initially in order to reintroduce life to the
body. 99.9999999% my clients get results. Did
cave men have supplements?
Before you start recommending supplements, my
advice is to:
1. Do some major research on them, as well as
others.
2. Try using diet and lifestyle recommendation
first with a client.
3. Purchase:
a. The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott
b. Check out www.mercola.com and use his search
engine to learn about supplements and everything
else for that matter.
c. Purchase How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy (book)
and You are What You Eat (audio cd’s) from
www.chekinstitute.com
This will give you a great start so when clients
as you questions about supplements, you are fully
loaded and ready. Good luck!
Joshua Rubin
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