Recently I have been forced to pay some mind to my nutrition, reexamine the way I eat and the nutrients I put into my system. I must admit, my nutrition is not even close to being perfect – I hate vegetables, can’t stand much fruit either, and outside of protein shakes, I don’t take any supplements. At vitamin and nutrition stores, I browse the aisles looking from product to product. All of them appear to be very beneficial, but the labels of promise on top of promise never actually get me to commit my money.
In no way am I claiming that I am above advertising, there have been many purchases in my past, with many more to come in the future, based solely on product marketing. However, when it comes to nutritional supplements though, I simply cannot set aside my skepticism.
Two weeks ago, I went to the Lighthouse’s Low Vision Products Show at the Friendship Village in Schaumburg. Besides low vision aids, a display was devoted to a company called Pharmanex. They have a device, named the Biophotonic which scans the palm of your hand to determine the amount of antioxidants in your bloodstream. The entire process takes about a minute; you sit down and place your palm against the laser eye of the machine, answer a few questions, and the scan is complete. Biophotonic processes the information, displays your results on a connected computer and you discover the total amount of antioxidants in your system. Along with the results, you receive a card that places your totals in a range, describes what it means and the healthiness, or lack thereof, of the people belonging to that segment.
Before I disclose the results of my test, I would like to provide some information on the importance of antioxidants. From what I could gather, antioxidants neutralize free radical cells within the body. In short, free radicals are damaged cells that may cause damage to other cells. After a long period of time, the amount of free radicals may become extremely high which will eventually cause some type of illness or disease, including cancer.
With that in mind, my score was very low, 20,000 – 25,000 range. Aside from being tired every once in a while, I have not noticed many negative health effects associated with my inadequate score. I exercise a minimum of three times a week and luckily, knock on wood, am not very prone to sickness or ailments. Regardless, the scan at the Lighthouse Products Show forced me to question – am I just lucky, or immune to the consequences of poor nutrition?
Post scan, I slightly increased my intake of fruit and started drinking more water and juices instead of soda; still no vegetables- I absolutely can’t stand them. I’m also taking a more diligent look at supplements and examining them in a broad-minded manner. It can be somewhat confusing since there are a number of products for every type of ailment and nutritional remedies to accomplish a limitless list of specific goals.
What is unique about Pharmanex, in comparison to the thousands of competing supplement companies, is that they target the skeptics, cynics and disbelievers. With their Biophotonic scan, which lets you test the effectiveness of supplements over some time, they put their products on the line and dare those who doubt their effectiveness to refute the evidence. I, a disbeliever, definitely found respect through this tactic. A company willing to engage a self imposed gamble of its reputation must know something I don’t; it must be positive of its products or otherwise bankruptcy would have found its place within the organization long ago. For this reason, I have high regards for Pharmanex as a company and view their nutritional products likewise. Researching their website, I have found several items that interested me. I am honestly looking forward to the next Low Vision Products Show on April 29th, so that I can see how my slightly elevated consumption of fruit has improved my antioxidant score. Perhaps the results will inspire me to commit my dollars to supplements.
To reiterate a point, I am far from an expert when it comes to nutrition and supplements, far from novice even. So please, if your have any advice, guidance, experiences with supplements, or if you simply want to make some recommendations, I will certainly appreciate them.
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