Supplement Brands Differ In Quality and Performance
I have been in the iron game since I was 14 years old. Because I am challenged with Cystic Fibrosis it became extremely important that I supplement my body with a high calorie diet, complete with weight gain supplements, vitamins and minerals and so forth from the very beginning. The simple fact is that when you have a chronic illness and you are strength training at the same time, you end up burning the candles at both ends. Nutritional support becomes a crucial factor in determining progress in the gym.
For people with CF, strength training can be very helpful, and my doctors were always encouraging me to continue with my strength training endeavors. But gaining weight was such a challenge. You have to remember that I was young. I had a high metabolism to begin with and I was battling this damned illness. Gaining strength would have been impossible without the use of supplements, and I am so grateful I had access to them.
However, I would be the first to admit that much of the crap I gulped down on a daily basis, along with the tablets I was popping like so many tic-tacs, probably did little for my health. If there was an upside to the thousands of dollars I pissed away over the years on garbage products, it’s that I learned that not all nutritional products are the same. You need to do your research when deciding on what sort of nutritional companies you are going to work with. This was a hard lesson for me to learn, and it was expensive. But I can save you the trouble by relating my experience to you. Hopefully my suggestions and experience will save you from going down many of the roads I did.
Over the course of the past 30 years or so, I have had some heated debates with people about the value of nutritional supplements. Usually, the debates were with morbidly obese people, or people who were grossly out of shape and had no intention of every entering a gym. Some people you just cannot reach.
One of the tactics used by many of my would-be challengers was that all nutritional supplements were the same. Aside from the fact that these folks had no idea what they were talking about, I had years of experience that said just the opposite.
I can remember scanning the shelves of my local health food store. I was always checking the prices of the products before I looked at the labels. Once I wised up a bit, I began to look at both the price as well as the labels.
Once I was able to decipher what was on the labels I was looking at, I was always struck by the vast differences between nutritional profiles of products. Moreover, there was almost always a connection between price and nutritional profiles. There just was no getting around it. The more extensive the nutritional profile, the more expensive the product. The problem then boiled down to which company was telling the truth about what was actually in their products.
In other words, how can anyone know that a company is being truthful when they tell you that their product has “X” amount of ingredients in it? The sad truth is that you can’t. The only way to know for certain that you are making a wise purchase is to one of two things: 1) Go ahead and try the product(s). Or, 2) You can do what I did and begin to talk to people who had used the products I wanted to try. In this way, I could talk to as many people as I needed and I could ask as many questions as I wanted. In the end I could use the information I gathered to make a much more informed decision.
Ultimately, I found this approach to be a much better way of using my time, and I ended up making much wiser purchases with my money as a result.
Of course, now that we have the Internet we can do our own research into product brands by checking out product reviews, reading scientific studies etc. In fact, I found one such study today that only goes to show that there are vast differences from one supplement company to the next in terms of product quality and performance. This is an interesting article from the New Zealand Medical Journal on the bio-availability of certain brands of co-enzyme Q10. The results of this study are nothing short of fascinating, and clearly show that something as crucial as bio-availability can vary greatly from one product to the next.
As I stated early on in this entry, I have been in the iron game for a long time. I have wasted lots of money on countless supplements that did little or nothing for my health. It was not until I began to talk to people that I began to make wiser purchases for my well being. In fact, I recommend products on this web site that are a by-product of talking to my doctor who recommended a handful of products to me over 14 years ago. And would you believe that I am still using those very products today? Well, I am. And the reason is because they worked for me. Those products he recommended gave me a greater sense of wellness and more energy than anything I have experienced from any other products I have used before. So, I continue to use them. Now that I have this web site I am also recommending them to my visitors.
Click the products links below to get valuable information on the four products I have been using since 1993:
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Daily BioBasics Super Nutrient Powder
If you take only one nutritional supplement, it should be Daily BioBasics™
Daily BioBasics helps increase energy levels, maintains healthy circulation that helps support brainpower, sustains calcium levels and provides your body with the essential vitamins and minerals it needs on a daily basis.* Daily BioBasics contains the foundational nutrition we all need. It provides the recommended daily allowance of essential vitamins and minerals, plus a broad array of antioxidants and trace minerals.
To support cleansing, Daily BioBasics contains pre- and probiotics (microflora to support colon health), and supplies more than 50% of the USDA Recommended Daily Value of fiber from a special blend of six different soluble and insoluble fibers, plus greens from several high quality sources, including super green algae. Just one serving of Daily BioBasics in your favorite drink in the morning provides the ideal nutritional insurance policy
- Nourishes your body
- Supports whole body cleansing
- Contains 100% RDA of all vitamins/minerals intentionally excluding iron, phosphorus, potassium and sodium.
- Formulated in our exclusive PhytoZyme(tm) Base
- Neutral taste - Mix with your favorite drink
26.1 oz.
Item#
Price
IP
Ounces**
6132
US$55.00
40.00
39
**This is the approximate shipping weight for the product. -
Proanthenols 50 mg
Why do we need antioxidants? Cigarette smoke, air pollution, alcohol, drugs, radiation from televisions and computers, chemicals and a busy life generate free radicals, which cause “oxidative stress”. Free radicals attack all your vital cellular structures, such as cell membranes and stimulate processes that have been linked to accelerated cellular aging.
An antioxidant’s job is to neutralize the free radical cells thus protecting the cells in our body from accelerated aging. By neutralizing the free radicals, these once free radical cells are able to assist with nutritional distribution, proper circulation and overall better health.
Proanthenols provides the very best in nutritional antioxidant support.
60 Tablets
Item#
Price
IP
Ounces**
6191
US$24.50
21.00
4
**This is the approximate shipping weight for the product. -
MSM PLUS (Biological Sulfur)
As a dietary supplement, MSM Plus represents a highly bioavailable source of sulfur, a mineral element critical to the normal function and structure of the body.*
This mineral is needed for the manufacture of many proteins rich in sulfur containing amino acids, including collagen, the primary protein of connective tissue, skin, hair, bones, teeth, and insulin. Sulfur is also a component of bile acids, and therefore contributes to fat digestion and absorption.
240 Tablets
Item#
Price
IP
Ounces**
6127
US$26.50
22.00
12
**This is the approximate shipping weight for the product. -
CO-Q-10 Plus
Up until recently, no one heard much about coenzyme Q-10, but that doesn’t diminish its importance to your body. Life Plus Co-Q-10™ Plus is specially formulated to help you maintain proper coenzyme Q-10 levels in your body. Coenzyme Q-10 is an important naturally-occurring antioxidant that is necessary for cellular energy production.* The more energy you burn, the more coenzyme Q-10 your body needs from your diet.*
In addition to being an important antioxidant, it is also critical to maintaining a healthy cardiac system, supporting healthy gums, and is an integral part of your immune system*. Some studies indicate that it may assist in helping you control your weight*. Although our bodies naturally produce coenzyme Q-10, we need to obtain more of our coenzyme Q-10 from our diets as we age. In order to ensure that you have sufficient coenzyme Q-10 in your daily diet, include Co-Q-10 Plus as part of your regular nutritional supplementation routine.*
This formula of CO-Q-10 contains 50 mg of pharmaceutical grade, bio-available CO-Q-10
60 Tablets
Item#
Price
IP
Ounces**
1012
US$41.50
35.50
6
**This is the approximate shipping weight for the product.
Tell Me How To Use The Same Products You Are Using
That’s simple. Just order them directly from Life Plus like I do. It’s actually quite easy. All you need is a major credit card and a telephone. Life Plus International is staffed daily from 8 Am Central to 7 PM Central Monday - Friday
- Dial 1-800-572-8446 and press 1 to reach an order taking representative
- You will need to tell the representative that this is your first order, and that the referral number is 699352
- Next, tell the representative that you want to order the following items:
- Daily Biobasics - Item# 6132 ; US$55.00
- Proanthenols 50 mg - Item# 6191 ; US$24.50
- MSM Plus - Item# 6127 ; US$26.50
- CO-Q-10 Plus - Item# 1012 ; US$41.50
- Have your credit car handy and place your order
That’s all their is to it. You should receive your order in 1-3 business days. You will want to hold on to the shipping receipt and the box, just in case you decide to return the items.
Tags: antioxidants, collagen support, recovery from workouts, supplement, supplement brands