With all the influences around us, it is very easy to forget, or to simply overlook, the unrivaled power that diet possesses to either enhance or harm our health. Nothing comes close. Other than our genes, which we are born with and cannot change, how we eat is our most powerful weapon against disease and the ravages of aging. I recently had a firsthand reminder of this power and it has changed my diet forever. I will discuss in greater detail below, but it is undisputed that the foundation of our best health is eating well. Our health (good or bad) is directly connected to what we put in our bodies. We can always blame our parents and our ancestors for our genes, but regardless, we possess great power through our diet. The right path is not confusing, since we only need to look toward the Mediterranean or Asian Diets for some basic foundational principles of healthy eating. Speaking about a nutritional foundation, it is appropriate that this month’s Today’s Special be a special version of our Essential 1 multivitamin, since just as diet is the foundation of good health, Essential 1 is the perfect foundation of those nutrients lacking from even the healthiest of diets. I will also introduce our March Monthly Specials: CholestaCare, Ultimate Oatmeal and Ultimate Oat Bran. These three products are particularly relevant, since they relate to my discussion below of my most recent blood tests and the dietary changes they inspired. Ultimately, we are all getting older and the youthful “immunities” we may have once possessed are sooner or later relinquished with age. In my case, my lifetime of security that came from “perfect” numbers was suddenly gone and I was shocked to find myself in a high risk category. That was humbling and alarming, but also inspiring, since none of us are doomed to be the helpless victims of aging. This seemingly bad news inspired change and with it an opportunity to remind myself of the supreme power of diet to influence our health and to thereby reduce our lifetime risk of virtually every health condition and disease. I will explain in further detail below, but first our upcoming Essential 1 Today’s Special…
Nothing speaks more clearly about Essential 1 than the experiences of those who use it. Currently there are over 2,900 reviews and almost 2,600 of those reviews are perfect 5-Star Reviews. That is an astonishing 4.7 Star average, with almost 97% positive reviews! It is even more impressive if one considers that multivitamins are typically among the most negatively reviewed supplements. It is easy for me to prove why no multivitamin possesses the unique ingredients, purity and effectiveness of Essential 1, but even more important is Essential 1’s unsurpassed gentleness. Unlike most vitamins that come as large, difficult to swallow and digest, artificially-colored tablets, Essential 1 comes in a small, soft, easy-to-swallow capsule that is guaranteed gentle even to the most sensitive stomachs. Essential 1 is mild despite offering potencies that far exceed any of the world’s leading multivitamins. It also does so without any added ingredients – NO colors, binders, fillers, lubricants or other chemical additives. This weekend’s Today’s Special is a unique new formula delivering 2,000 IU of our special Vitamin D3 daily. I have always considered 1,000 IU the minimum daily level of Vitamin D3 to be consumed, but 2,000 IU is the level at which Vitamin D3’s greatest benefits commence. That is the same level of Vitamin D3 found in separate high potency supplements and it now comes with your daily Essential 1. That amount of Vitamin D3 alone would cost almost as much as Essential 1. Essential 1 also contains ultra-high levels of our unique Coenzyme Methyl B12 (250 micrograms). It is uniquely absorption-protected and therefore guaranteed to deliver its vital benefits.
It is unlike any other Vitamin B12 found in any other multivitamin. Like Vitamin D3, the value of the Vitamin B12 alone in Essential 1 would justify its purchase. In other words, if you consider only a few of the two dozen key ingredients in Essential 1, you are saving multiples of what you are spending. For just pennies per day you get our best formula at our best pricing ever, providing high potencies of Vitamin C, D3, E and all the B-vitamins, including B12 and high levels of Biotin (the costly beauty vitamin), along with all key minerals, as well as costly Lutein, Lycopene and Zeaxanthin (glaringly absent from most leading multivitamins).
Multivitamins are the one area of supplementation where the medical community is in agreement about their necessity. And, if one does their homework, it is easy to conclude that Essential 1 is the finest multivitamin investment one can make. I would agree that today’s Essential 1 is the most important product we create and the single most important capsule that anyone could contemplate taking on a daily basis. I look forward to discussing the science and why over the course of this weekend.
I have mentioned recently on-air that there were some unpleasant changes in my recent blood test numbers. February was my birthday month, so I suppose that is a good time to discuss the passage of time…otherwise known as aging. The scientific and medical communities seem to accept the inevitable deterioration in our health numbers as a result of aging. Until recently, I had no such personal experience, so I remained grateful to my parents for my seeming “immunity.” Throughout my life, no matter what I ate, my numbers remained perfect. My blood pressure has always been on the low side (110/50) and my fasting blood sugar (80s) and my A1C (5.2) are great. All that remains unchanged; however, recently, my previously perfect lipid numbers had suddenly taken on a life of their own. When I was a vegan in my 20s, my total cholesterol was under 120 and my LDL and HDL were both in the 50s, with triglycerides in 30s. Even when I was no longer a vegan and freely consumed animal products, including butter, eggs, cheese, cream, red meat, chicken, etc., my total cholesterol remained under 150 with an HDL in the 60s, an LDL in the 70s and triglycerides in the 40s. My lipid numbers had always been great despite a diet rich in cholesterol and saturated fat. It was only in the last 5+ years that my lipid numbers started their unfortunate climb. About 5 years ago, my cholesterol went into the 160s, then the 170s, then the 180s and suddenly, just a couple of years ago, it was over 200! Because of my exercise, my HDL (good cholesterol) remained quite high, so my numbers were still technically good, but they were no longer perfect. I was disappointed, but not alarmed. Then, suddenly, just 3 months ago, my total cholesterol tested at 235. I did not believe it, so I retested it and it came back at 239!! I was at a loss to explain this! Where were my perfect numbers?! In less than 10 years my total and LDL cholesterol had gone up more than 50%! That is a huge increase in cardiovascular risk. My perfect numbers were now far from perfect! How could this have happened so suddenly?! Either way, I was not going to throw in the towel or give up. I was not going to be the victim of aging without a “healthy” fight.
The competitive part of my personality kicked in and it was now, “Me Versus My Cholesterol.” 
I have always said that diet is the most powerful tool for our good health, so it was time for me to get serious about diet. Medications were a last resort, so I was willing to make whatever dietary changes were required. I immediately eliminated all egg yolks, and eggs have always been one of my favorite meals or snacks throughout the day. Eggs are also the principal source of cholesterol in many diets. In the past, it would not have been unusual for me to eat more than a dozen eggs in any given week. I eliminated heavy cream, which Muriel would add when making her yummy scrambled eggs, and I also eliminated cheese, butter, milk, red meat, etc. My primary sources of fat became extra virgin olive oil and avocados, nuts and seeds. My sole sources of animal protein became fish, chicken, turkey and egg whites. I started each day with a bowl of Ultimate Oat Bran or Oatmeal with 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed, 2 capsules of cinnamon extract and some sliced almonds or pecans. Throughout the day, I ate healthy vegetables, legumes and soups, as well as sautéed edamame and/or dark green salads (with fish, chicken, turkey or egg white added). For dinners, I had fish or chicken with vegetables. Even if I had a fruit smoothie, I would sprinkle oat bran and flaxseed into it, along with my protein powder. I also took Fibermucil and CholestaCare capsules with every meal. A few weeks later, I called my doctor, who has been a friend for the past 30+ years, and told him I wanted to come back to get re-tested to see what my dietary changes had done for my numbers. He said, “Give it a chance. It has not been long enough.”
I was still so curious that I went to a local lab for a quick test and lo and behold, less than 30 days later, my total cholesterol was now 159 (an 80-point drop!) and my LDL was now back under 100. My doctor could not believe my results and actually asked if I was taking some cholesterol lowering medications. Now that was funny!  I said, “No,” so he encouraged me to stop by and get retested just to confirm my new results. I did so and by that time my total cholesterol was down to 151 (an 88 point drop!). Seeing those rapid results truly inspired me and now I am even more diligent with at least 2 days per week being vegan days. As a result, my lipid numbers have only gotten better and they are back to those “perfect youthful” numbers from my 30s.
Although we cannot stop aging, we retain the power to determine how we age. We are not victims. We can determine so much of our future by being intelligent about our diet. Aging increases our risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke, and even conservative physicians attribute more than 50% of that risk to our diet and lifestyle. I attribute closer to 80% of those disease risks to our diet and lifestyle. This should be inspiring and not depressing. Aging is not a curse, but an opportunity. Even the greatest of genetic gifts will not last forever. How we exercise our free will when it comes to diet goes a long way to determining how long we will enjoy this precious gift of life. Just 90 days ago, I would not have believed it possible, but today, my cholesterol numbers are now as good as they have been in decades. We are all aging, but we need not be the victims of that process. Our dietary choices exert the greatest influence (good or bad) on our future health and aging. All this talk about how to eat might sound funny coming from a “vitamin guy,” but both ethically and technically speaking, even the best vitamins cannot compare to the supreme power of a healthy diet. My hope is that my recent experience might serve to inspire others to consider that every time we eat something, we take our health, and with it our destiny, into our own hands.
If we were choosing for our children or someone we love, we would encourage them to make the very best choices. Of course, they would hope that we would choose the same for ourselves.
See you on Saturday evening and throughout the day on Sunday.
Best of health.
Andrew
