Selecting Quality Supplements for Weight Loss...

When people learn that I have training in Holistic Health and the Natural Products industry I usually get one of two questions; "What can I do for energy?" or the more popular, "What can I take to lose weight?"

The weight loss question is usually a very loaded question. No pun intended. The reason is because weight loss is almost always, at least 90% of the time, connected to a deep emotional place. In other words, I can provide the finest supplement program and the best exercise regimen but if you are not psychologically  prepared and ready to take the journey towards feeling better physically, mentally, and emotionally, then you are unfortunately destined to self sabotage. You have to see clearly that self medicating yourself is a method that we use to hide and even protect aspects of ourselves that we prefer not to see the light of day, whether we are medicating ourselves with prescription pills (legal or illegal), alcohol, or food. The decision to stop self destructive behavior is not an easy one to first make and then second to see that decision all the way through.

Will power is your best friend. Super charge your will power by deleting the foods that keep you hopping on that self destructive roller coaster ride of reward, regret, and guilt. Find a super fine tooth comb and go through your refrigerator, cabinets, cupboards, your secret hiding places, and even your grocery list! Eliminate foods with words that you cannot pronounce in the ingredients, (no joke, if you cannot pronounce it, then odds are you need not put it in your body), foods with refined white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour (nothing but empty calories), and hydrogenated oils. Hydrogenated/Partially Hydrogenated oils are often over looked when tossing out the junk that fills your trunk. You are a soldier that is preparing for a war. This is a war that will be fought against your addictive mind and the foods that provided ammunition to that addictive mind. To keep junk food in the house is like providing the bullets to your enemy. The enemy will use those bullets and will shoot straight for your will power so that it can throw you back on that roller coaster of reward, regret, and guilt. Use visualization and strategy. Visualize yourself taking apart that roller coaster piece by piece with a smile of sweet revenge. Yes, let that be your hard candy, your donut, your chips, your new junk food. Sweet Revenge! If you haven't heard then you should know that the best form of revenge is living WELL! Read, Read, Read books about healthy lifestyles and motivational books that will be useful to you on your journey to well being. Transitioning to your new life style will require research. Focus your research on replacing the old destructive diet with new foods that heal and rebuild. Heal and Rebuild, Heal and Rebuild. That is your new Mantra to yourself, HEAL AND REBUILD!!!

Ok now that we have addressed the psychology of weight loss, let's first address a few useful points before we plunge into the supplement portion. 1) If you have scales in the house, get rid of them, throw it out, give it away, beat it with a sledge hammer; whatever you have to do. It is like a wrist watch. If you are constantly looking at your watch during a work day then it will drag on for ever. If you never see the time during a work day then it will go by and be over before you know it. Your clothes will be your measuring stick. 2) Eliminate caffeine, whether it is coffee, tea, soda, or so-called energy pills. A false since of energy will generate a false craving for detrimental foods. (be careful when eliminating caffeine because it can cause headaches, migraines, and even convulsions, so if you must ween off then by all means ween slowly.)  3) Add water with some fresh squeezed lemon juice (not store bought lemon juice concentrate). Water consumption is CRITICAL, I can not overstate this enough. My formula is to take your weight and divide it by two, the number you are left with is how many ounces you need per day. In other words if you weigh 128lbs, divide that by 2. You will get 64. 64 ounces or a 1/2 gallon of water a day, if you are out in the sun and sweating, then more should be consumed to replace the water that is lost. 4) Kombucha is a great drink to replace the junk drinks (it can have a slight taste of vinegar so it is NOT for everyone and it is an acquired taste). GTs Kombucha has many flavors and helps to control cravings and improves digestion. 5) Do not drink water or any other liquids with your meals. This will slow down your digestion and at worse cause you major digestive problems. Wait at least 15 minutes and at most an hour before consuming liquids. Start small and work your way up to an hour. This will take time to adjust but will improve your success on your journey. Here is a great article that discusses digestive issues that may be linked or even contribute to weight loss problems Is bacteria in your gut making you fat? 

Now for the supplement program and exercise regimen that I have been using and sharing with people for years. First you need a good quality EFA (Essential Fatty Acid). Good fat helps to burn and eliminate bad fat. It has a myriad of other healthy properties beneficial to the body that I will not discuss here for time sake. My favorite is Barleans Fresh Pressed High Lignan Flax Oil but if you are squeamish then their omega flavored oils are awesome! You would need to take a tablespoon for every 100 pounds of weight twice daily. Then you would take an amino acid called L-Carnitine, 500 mgs twice a day on an empty stomach (individual amino acids work better on an empty stomach because they tend to compete with other amino acids for bio availability in the intestines). L-Carnitine converts fat into energy in the liver. Next you will need to take food enzymes from a great company called Enzymedica. Optimum digestion is Key to losing weight. If you are eating 3 meals a day then you should be eliminating 3 times a day. In other words if you send 3 cars into the car wash and only 1 car comes out then something is wrong with the assembly line. What you have come to except as normal is NOT normal for a healthy digestive track. What goes in MUST come out after the body has drawn all the nutrients from a meal that it needed. Take 2 enzymedica's Digest just before your first meal. Read as much as you can from Enzymedica and Renew Life's websites about digestion. It will empower you to be better informed. Last be most certainly take a good quality Whole Food Vitamin. If you take a cheap name brand vitamin that does not contain any whole food co-factors then you will find yourself getting very very hungry because USP Vitamins or fractionalyzed  vitamins will search your body for those co-factors leaving you famished. Here are a few of my suggestions for whole food vitamins: MegaFood, NewChapter, and Garden of Life.  Now based upon the individual I may add some to this program but this would be my basic formula or foundation to build upon.

 Now for the exercise portion of our program. Set aside 3 days a week, 3 minutes per day. I like to call it 9 minutes of FUNK! Essentially the goal of the 9 minutes of Funk is to get the heart rate up and igniting that caloric burn. This exercise is, like the supplement program, a foundation from which to build upon. First and foremost you must stretch, and then stretch some more. Stretching is there to prevent injury and derailing you from your journey. Once you feel you are loose enough to begin then let's start slow. For the first week, walk or power walk as briskly as possible for an entire minute without stopping. Once you have completed your first minute then take time to cool down and slow your heart rate back down to it's pre-walk rate. Then as it says on your conditioner bottle, rinse repeat, and then rinse repeat. Do this for the remaining 2 days that you have set aside. The second week, do the exact same thing but let's bump up that brisk walk to a quicker jog. On the third week and the weeks that follow bump that jog to a flat out run. Lastly, have a salad that has plenty of trimmings. Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, nuts (choose 1 or more of the following ---> walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds etc.) spinach, carrots, or what ever healthy thing you can dream up. Use olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and freshly squeezed lemon over your salads with some seasonings. Follow that meal with some lemon water.

As with any lifestyle change and exercise , please consult a physician before hand. Address any and all medical concerns that you have. I bid you a safe and successful journey toward Greater Health and Well Being! Peace...

For questions, comments or suggestions please drop me a line supplement.snob@gmail.com

What is in your Vitamin C?

The science of 1000mgs of Vitamin C is very out dated but companies still perpetuate the myth of taking 1000mgs of C or up to bowel tolerance. Linus Pauling's studies on Vitamin C were never proven to be accurate as to his usage of 10,000mgs of C on cancer patients. The human biology has a threshold of what the body can intake on any given nutrient. Vitamin C is no exception. A FULL COMPLEX Vitamin C in the 400 mgs range is preferred on the cellular level. Vitamin C has to be in a family of co-factors in order to be effective. When one particular member of the Complex family is isolated then you are creating an irritant in the form of a drug. Ascorbic acid is often thought of as an isolate from an orange. Nothing could be further from the truth. Companies even humor you with cartoons of happy oranges on the label. The reality is that you are consuming a corn by-product or a corn polymer. The following is the biochemical broth that we call Vitamin C AKA Ascorbic Acid:


A practical method for the production of calcium 2-keto-L-gulonate (an interme-
diate in the Reichstein synthesis of L-ascorbic acid) from D-glucose has been
established by using a two-stage fermentation system. D-Glucose was first
converted to calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate by a mutant strain of Erwinia sp. in a
medium containing D-glucose, corn steep liquor, (NH4)2HP04, and CaCO3. After
a 26-h cultivation, 328.6 mg of calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate per ml was
obtained, with a 94.5% yield from D-glucose. This broth was used directly for the
next conversion without removal of cells by treatment with sodium dodecyl
sulfate. The stereospecific reduction of calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate to calcium
2-keto-L-gulonate was performed with a mutant strain of Corynebacterium sp.
When the cell growth reached a maximum (about 16 h) in a medium containing D-
glucose, corn steep liquor, NaNO3, KH2PO4, and trace elements, NaNO3 was
added to the culture, and then the calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate broth was fed
over a period of about 50 h. Since the mutant strain requires a hydrogen donor for
reduction, the calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate broth was mixed with D-glucose
before being fed. The results off our two-stage fermentations in 10-m3 convention-
al fermentors showed that an average of 106.3 mg of calcium 2-keto-L-gulonate per
ml was obtained, with a 84.6% yield from D-glucose, the starting material of
calcium 2,5-diketo-D-gluconate production. Calcium 2-keto-L-gulonate was stable
in the broth. Neither 2-keto-D-gluconic acid nor 5-keto-D-gluconic acid was
detected in the final broth.


Now ask yourself, do I really want this in my body? It is your duty to question the source material of everything that you put past your lips. Do your research and make an informed decision about what you invest into your health both economically speaking and holistically speaking. If you have any questions comments please send me a note via supplement.snob@gmail.com


In Health
Supps Snob :)

Raw Material Sources

When making choices about which foods, vitamins, drinks, and even personal body care products then you have a right to know the level of quality and the source of your purchase. If a company is not willing to provide you with the origin of their raw material then you should question why you are purchasing their products. Not giving up the recipe is certainly understandable but the raw material by which the company make their product should not be a secret. The Raw material should be a bragging point. I truly miss Trinity Spring Water. Trinity was very forthcoming about where their water came from and it soon became the most highly sought after water within the Natural Products industry. Paradise Springs, Idaho was the location of their Geothermal Spring water. Back in 1998 I spoke with the CEO, Joc Bell, up close and personal at a Whole Foods in Vienna, Virgina. He shared the story with me about how the water was treated like gold by everyone at all levels in the company. They built an organic sustainable building around the spring. They understood that water has cellular memory and wouldn't even allow someone that was in a bad mood around the water. Now that is creating an experience for the consumer. I was an ambassador for Trinity almost instantly. Unfortunately for the consumers of Trinity water the company became caught up in a lengthy court battle but if and when that comes to an end and they turn the pumps back on then I will be the first in line to purchase a few dozen cases. Truth, integrity, full disclosure, and pride are the four things that I measure a company by before I put money to purchase. Tell me about your experiences with your favorite natural products. supplement.snob@gmail.com

Welcome :)

Welcome to my Blog about The Quality of Raw Materials within the many products of the Natural Products Industry. I am just getting started on this Journey using the Twitterverse but have been actively on this journey for the past 16 Years. From the isles of Health Food Stores to working with several supplement companies in the industry. I have seen and researched the worst of the worst and the best of the best that the Natural Products Industry has to offer. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or recommendations. supplement.snob@gmail.com