If you’re looking for ways to improve your health, owning a good blender is a really great start!

Owning (and of course using) a blender means that you can create great tasting concoctions out of things that you may not really like eating. For example I add lots of leafy greens and sprouts to my smoothies – more than I’d ever eat in a salad! I also add seaweeds such as Dulce flakes that I really don’t like the taste of, but in a smoothie I can disguise the taste with other ingredients. It means I’m getting great nutrition and lots of it, but in a form that’s partially pre-digested (by being blended it makes it easier to digest) and with flavours that I love!

I currently own a very overworked Sunbeam Café Series blender that I bought when we returned to Australia two and a half years ago. I’ve used my blender a lot since I bought it – it gets thrashed to be honest. In a house with several adults that regularly consume juice, smoothies and other such healthy stuff it’s earns it’s keep – believe me!

With my return to a predominantly raw vegan diet, it’s now getting used even more and I fear for it’s continued ability to do my bidding. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great blender for it’s price and has handled most of the jobs I’ve thrown at it fairly well but I’ve been considering what sort of blender I will eventually buy to replace it and the Vita mix blender sprang to mind.

I’ve looked at the Vita mix blender in the past because, let’s face it, they’re an amazing machine. Vita mix have set the benchmark for all the other brands of blender on the market, but no others seem to be able to match that benchmark, let alone beat it.

My recent investigations into the Vita mix blender have brought me to the Vitamix 4500. I’ve decided to do a Vitamix review to see what this blender has to offer so let’s get started.

So just what are we looking for in a blender?

1. A really strong motor – we want a motor that can handle anything. I remember using a blender that my Mum and Dad owned a few years ago. I was trying to make hummus in it – you know – cooked chick peas, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. Nothing tough about that, but this pathetic excuse for a blender was overheating and really struggling!

I ended up taking it all out and mashing it up by hand as I was scared that the smell that was coming from it might mean I was about to burn the motor out. As for my own current blender, it does pretty well, but it still leaves bits of unblended stuff in my not so smooth smoothies and it does struggle a little at times.

2. Variable speeds – for most jobs, a really fast speed is what you want but sometimes slower is better when using a blender, so being able to adjust the speed while not essential, is definitely handy.

3. Tough blades – the blades have to be strong so that we can blend nuts and seeds and hard things. You never know, we might decide that we want to eat ground avocado seeds!

4. A large container – there is no point in having a blender with a small container. We need at least 1.5 or preferably 2 litres. That way we have enough capacity for most jobs we might want to do.

5. A clear container – so that we can see what’s going on.

6. A strong container – so that it lasts and can handle the treatment it’s going to get blending ice and other hard objects as well as heat and cold.

7. A Plunger – this is really handy for pushing ingredients down towards the blade when they get stuck.

8. A lid that seals well – to keep liquids inside the blender while blending – where they should be.

9. Easy cleaning – that speaks for itself really – who wants appliances that are hard to clean?

10. Easy operation – we don’t want anything in the kitchen that we need a license to drive!

If you rush in and buy a blender based on price, chances are you’ll get a piece of kitchen equipment that will join the others in the cupboard collecting dust because it doesn’t do what you want it to.  So, does the Vitamix 4500 meet this list of requirements?

Is the motor strong enough?

This is a tough, grunty 2+ peak horsepower motor which is exactly what you want in a blender. As you’ll see when you read the feedback on this machine it’s not quiet, but the sheer power of this blender and the speed at which it blends makes up for that.
You want a motor that can blend whatever you want it to blend. The Vitamix 4500 will have everything blended and silky smooth in a matter of seconds!

The motor on the Vitamix 4500 is thermally protected. This means that it’s a cool running motor that is designed to handle the toughest blending jobs with the blades reaching speeds in excess of 200mph. As an extra feature it does also have an automatic cut off to protect the motor from overheating.

Dual speeds

This is a 2 Speed Blender. This means (obviously) that this blender has two speeds which means that you don’t have to blend flat out those things that might require only a slow speed.

..and what about the blades – can they go the distance?

The Vitamix 4500 has a stainless-steel enclosed blade assembly with sealed ball bearings. The blade assembly is made from hardened stainless steel making it tough enough to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it (or in it) including nuts, seeds and ice cubes and even avocado pits! The fact that it’s a sealed unit mean that no liquid or food can get in to the bearings and clog things up or cause damage.

Ok, so how about the container? Is it clear, strong and large enough?

The container on this Vita mix blender is a clear 64-ounce non-toxic polycarbonate container. So this container is a good size (2 litre) and being made from polycarbonate means that is contains no PBA – that’s the not so human friendly chemical that’s been hitting the news in recent times because of it being in plastic baby bottles.

The container is clear so that you can see what’s going on and it’s virtually unbreakable (unlike my Sunbeam blender which has a big crack in the base of the container). It has a non drip spout.

It comes  with a plunger – right?

The Vitamix 4500 does come with a plunger that can be used while the machine is running to push ingredients down into the blade. It is designed so that there is no danger of the plunger hitting the blades and as I said above, this is a really handy tool to have when ingredients get stuck and don’t want to move – the stuff down the bottom of the container is being blended but further up the ingredients are stuck and not moving. It saves having to turn the blender off each time this happens and open it up to push down the stuck ingredients.

Does the lid seal in liquids?

The lid has a simple locking mechanism to lock it on to the container and it has spill proof vents to allow the safer blending of hot foods – the vent stops any pressure build up which can be dangerous and cause burns. There is also a plug in the lid that can be removed when blending to add more ingredients. The plug is also marked with measurements to allow it to be used as a handy measuring cup.

Is it easy to clean and simple to use?

The Vitamix 4500 is designed to be easy to clean – pop some water in and turn it on for a short burst pretty much does it and it’s simple to use – it has two switches. You can’t go wrong with two switches

Additional Features – This Vitamix 4500 has an easy-to-clean front panel and it comes with a full-color recipe book included.

The Vitamix 4500 measures 7-1/4 by 8-3/4 by 20 inches

Does the Vita mix blender have a warranty?

It sure does! This Vita mix blender has a generous 5-year limited warranty

This Vita mix blender has strength and durability that you definitely won’t find in a cheaper blender or (from what I’ve uncovered during my research), even in other blenders in the same price range. It’s like the ‘Rolls Royce’ of blenders I guess.

However, the fact that it’s arguably the best blender on the market isn’t all it’s got going for it. There’s more! The Vitamix 4500 is not just a blender. It really can do the job of several kitchen appliances, which is gives us another reason to take a really close look at this machine. (This was what impressed me when I first came across the Vita mix).

The Vitamix 4500 can be used to make hot soups and sauces! Yep, that’s right – I said hot. Put the ingredients in your Vita mix Blender and turn it on. Leave it to run for a few minutes and you’ve got steaming hot soup or sauce! For example, to make a silky smooth cheese sauce, put in your milk, butter, flour (grind that first before adding the rest of course) and cheese. Pop the lid on and turn it on. The sound that the machines makes changes once the sauce is ready. No stove required. Hot, smooth, satiny cheese sauce and not a burned pan or lump in sight. That’s pretty cool!

Your Vitamix 4500 can also be used to grind flour from wholegrains, or grind fresh linseed meal, coffee beans and even to make bread or pizza dough. Just grind your grains into flour, add water, yeast and sugar and then make your dough right there in the Vita mix blender.

Use it to crush ice, make frozen ‘slushy’ drinks, chop cheese, make coleslaw, emulsify salad dressings, blend pesto and even make cold compost fertilizer for your plants!

What should you expect to pay for the Vitamix 4500?

Most of the prices I’ve seen for the Vita mix blender have been around $500. The cheapest I’ve found has been at Amazonwhere the price is under $400.

What others are saying

This Vita mix blender has received rave reviews and has been rated 4.5 stars out of 5 on Amazon. Here are some of the comments to date:

· I have had my Vitamix 5000 for 5 and 1/2 years and could not be happier with it.
· This thing is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Yes, it’s loud. VERY loud. But what it can do completely makes up for it.
· I highly HIGHLY recommend this blender, and think it will rock your world. You will never want to use a cheapo blender again.
· When I used it for the first time, I was in awe of the power and efficiency of this baby.
· To date I have never heard it bog down, no matter what we put in it.
· A breeze to clean. Totally worth the money

I found very few complaints on this Vita mix blender. A couple of people have commented on the noise but have said that it’s worth it for the power that this blender has. Nearly all the people who buy and use this blender seem  to be extremely happy with it.

Where can you buy the Vitamix 4500?

The Vitamix 4500 is available from Amazon for less than $400 which from what I can tell comparing prices with other online merchants is the best price available. Amazon also offer free shipping which means Amazon currently have the best deal available. Click here to view on Amazon.

Where can you read more reviews for the Vitamix 4500?

The best place to read more reviews from people who actually use this Vita mix blender is Amazon. Click here to read more.

I’ve touched on this subject in the past but it’s been brought to my attention again this morning in an email from Joseph Mercola’s website regarding his new hair care products (which touched on my funny bone cos he has none!). He’s talking about the potentially harmful ingredients that are found in most hair care products because he now has his own range of natural hair products. Mercola has a list of the ingredients in his shampoo and conditioner and they look pretty good except he’s done the same thing as the company in my last post – he’s listed ‘Surfactant derived from vegetable oil’ and ‘Surfactant derived from glucose’ in the shampoo ingredients. These are descriptions of ingredients that could be any number of things from my understanding – they are not the name of an ingredient! I’ve emailed Mercola.com and asked what the ingredients are. It’ll be interesting to see the response.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not knocking Mercola – I’ve been getting his emails for years and love them, but it’s a subject that I’m really interested in and I’m curious.

Anyway, my take on the whole subject is that for those of us who actually value our health and don’t want to use harmful products, then we’re obviously going to be on the lookout for safer choices. So, I also know that a lot of people are searching for natural hair products as well as natural products in general. But I want to pose the question ‘Is that what we’re really after?’.

My question is do we want ‘natural’ products? or do we want ’safe’ and ‘effective’ products? There is a difference.

As I already discussed in my previous post, ‘natural’ products might sound like they’re safe when we look at the ingredient list, but they may not be. The ingredients in these products may be contaminated before their use, or the names used may just be plain misleading. For example SLS has (in the past at least) been referred to on ingredient lists as ‘derived from coconut oil’. SLS apparently used to be commonly made from coconut (I think more is synthesised these days), but it in way no resembles coconut by the time it has gone through the processes to be made into SLS! I remember Amway using the ‘derived from coconut’ ingredient on their cleaning products many years ago. I wouldn’t know if they still do.

Then there are the many, many companies that just say their products are natural, when they blatantly list ingredients such as SLS and Proplylene Glycol as well as many other nasties on their labels, knowing full well that many (trusting, and uninformed) customers will buy them thinking they’re getting a safer product.

Companies such as Melaleuca Inc make out that their products are safer alternatives to other brands and that their products are environmentally friendly when they contain the same (potentially harmful)  ingredients that every product sitting on the supermarket shelf contains, but their customers and fooled into believing that they are using safe natural products.  I’m talking here about their personal care products – I don’t know about their cleaning products.

Melaleuca Inc – The Wellness Company – have many pages of documents on their website defending the ingredients in their products and attempting to convince the reader that there is no science behind the warnings about ingredients such as SLS and Propylene Glycol. It’s interesting that they feel the need to defend their use of these ingredients. I also note that after researching the ingredient lists of Melaleuca’s personal care products several times over the past 5 years or so, that they now seem to have done a very good job of removing all ingredient lists from the internet! I couldn’t find one. On their own website they have removed all Pdf documents that used to be there with product information including ingredients and on distributor sites after looking for while this morning there are no labels or ingredient lists to be found. They were there 12 months ago when I was looking!

Then there are the ‘Organic’ products. Some say they’re organic or put the word ‘Organic’ on the label to make out that they are organic when they are (obviously) not, and even those that are made from certified organic ingredients may still be contaminated with things that aren’t on the ingredient list! Something that I’ve just learned is that many commercial organic crops are sprayed with BT Insecticide. It’s apparently been used for a long time and is made from the Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria. Guess what? There are questions surrounding it’s safety! If you’re interested read more about it here.

Anyway, what gets my back up is companies that are doing their best to mislead customers. It is our right to take care of our health, to know what we are putting into and on our body, what we are feeding and using on our children and what we are putting into the environment.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be many honest and open companies out there. Companies that are happy to disclose their ingredient lists fully, and correctly with the correct ingredient names. Many use the excuse of ‘Proprietary Formula’ for not disclosing ingredients and they get away with it because there really is no regulation. The truth is that they can disclose the ingredient lists without disclosing their formulas so it is no excuse and there are almost no companies that go to the extent of making sure their ingredients are not contaminated with harmful ‘extras’ before using them!

I’m not a scientist – not by a long shot. I’ve done a lot of research into different ingredients and products over the past 8 years or more, and believe me when I say it can do your head in! I still look at products and ingredients because it’s an interest (obviously!) from time to time, but I now listen to those people who are experts in their fields. People like Dr Samuel Epstein – Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and author of The Safe Shoppers Bible who really knows and understands the science and who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the safety of ingredients and products. I believe people like Dr Peter Dingle from Western Australia when he tells me the things to avoid to keep myself and my family safer – he knows what he’s talking about! If you ever get the chance to listen to him speak you’ll realise that he knows his stuff.

And I look and I listen. I listen to the results people are getting with their health and I look at my own and other peoples results. For example, I know for a fact that my hair and my scalp improved immeasurably when I stopped using shampoos with harmful ingredients. I went from having a scalp that was lumpy, itchy and flakey (it was baaaaaaad!) and hair that wouldn’t grow throughout my whole life, (even as a child) because it was always broken and split, to having hair that grows so fast and strong that sometimes it drives me nuts keeping it under control and to a much healthier scalp. That for me is enough proof that those supermarket shampoos contained ingredients that we causing at the very least, superficial problems and probably more. It’s common sense.

The recycled water tap was turned on here on the Gold Coast on Tuesday the 1st of December for use in our homes, and yesterday (Saturday the 5th of December), the first mess up was revealed on the news – recycled water has somehow ended up in the drinking water of over 600 homes in Coomera. Oops!

Recycled water is used in several places around the world (some even in their drinking water!) and in theory, if you ignore the possible health ramifications, it sounds like a feasible idea. Here in Australia, lets face it – water’s a problem. With droughts that last for years, a growing population and a growing requirement for water, it’s definitely something that needs to be resolved in some way. I just have serious doubts that recycled water in our homes is the answer.

First lets look at what recycled water is – Recycled (or reclaimed) water is sewage that has been treated. All of our waste water from our toilets and drains goes to the local treatment plant, it has the solids removed. Then (according to the literature given to us a couple of weeks ago, by a council employee knocking doors to educate the public on the impending implementation and use of recycled water), it goes through several treatments including:

• Biological treatment
• Anthracite treatment
• Chlorine disinfection
• Membrane Ultra Filtration
• Ultra-violet disinfection
• Chlorination

It is then pumped to our homes.

Now all of these treatments are all very well. They should indeed remove bacteria and pathogens if performed correctly, I would guess (the tricky bit here is the word ‘if’. This is local government that’s responsible for all these procedures after all). Anyway, let’s assume that the bacteria from all the faeces, urine, vomit and other bodily fluids and functions is removed – all good there. What about the rest?

Herein lies the problem – there are so many variables with what goes down peoples toilets and drains that there is no way everything could ever be tested for and there is no way for everything to be removed.

There are chemicals of all kinds – it’s not just they stuff you yourself would use, but the things that others put down the drains. Everything from personal care products and cleaning products, to automotive products, industrial chemicals and who knows what else?

Then, possibly the biggest concern, is the pharmaceutical drugs that get poured down the toilet or the drain when no longer required by some thoughtless people. As well as the remnants of drugs that have passed through the bodies of those taking them and excreted via the kidneys in their urine or passed through the digestive system and expelled in the faeces of those who haven’t managed to digest their medicine for whatever reason.

Recycled water is potentially (and very probably) a chemical cocktail – a cocktail of who knows what sort of chemical residues as well as synthetic hormones (from the millions of women on the contraceptive pill), blood pressure medications, mind altering psychiatric medications, painkillers, opiates and so, so, so much more.

For me, coming into contact with this stuff isn’t something that I’m keen on and at this point if everything was to be perfect and go to plan, I shouldn’t have to come into contact with it and neither should anyone else. But, everything isn’t perfect. People make mistakes (local governments and their staff are known for it unfortunately) and only 5 days after implementation, over 600 families have been drinking this stuff, bathing in it, and cooking in it for the past few days – apparently. If that were me – I’d be angry. Very angry!

However, council as usual is doing it’s collective best to pass the buck and blame the developers, as well as under playing the whole thing by minimising the health risks, and telling people to boil their water for the next few days just in case – she’ll be right mate!

For those who don’t know about the chemicals and the drugs, it’ll sound like a feasible plan and they probably won’t be too concerned. But you see, these residues from the chemicals and the drugs in this treated sewage that is pumped out into our environment, are already having an impact on our wildlife -the affects are being studied and documented as we speak- and the wildlife is only being subjected to this treated sewage in a diluted form, in the rivers and lakes that they live in and around. Wildlife that is being rendered sterile and unable to breed because of endocrine disrupting chemicals and hormones. Wildlife that’s changing sex – boys becoming girls. Exposure to this treated sewage is having this effect on our wildlife. Us humans won’t by some miracle be exempt from it’s effects!

So, the few days of exposure for the unfortunate families over the other side of the highway from where I live, probably won’t have a huge impact on their health – right? or will it? Do we know?

The information that the council handed out to educate us residents about the recycled water says it should not be used for the following:

• Drinking
• Cooking or other kitchen purposes
• Personal washing such as baths, showers, bidets or hand basin
• Domestic evaporative coolers
• Clothes washing
• Swimming pools and spas
• Recreation, such as water toys and playing under sprinklers
• A water source for pets or livestock
• Filling rainwater tanks and other storage

Ensuring that it is not used for these purposes and only for it’s intended purposes is the householders responsibility – apparently. That’s according to the council documentation. But, you know what? People are people. Some are smart and some are not so smart. Some care about their families and their health and some just don’t care so much. Some care about their pets, and some really don’t care about them at all.

So what’s going to happen is:

• Some people will let their kids play with it or the kids will play with it without their parents knowing
• Some people will fill up their dogs water bowls with it
• Some people will renovate their houses and connect the wrong pipe up to the drinking tap
• Some people will fill up their swimming pools with it because it’s cheaper
• Some people will fill up their kids pools with it because they just don’t think
• Some people will spray their vege gardens with it and not wash the produce before eating it

These are guaranteed scenarios because people are human and human’s sometimes do things they shouldn’t or make mistakes. So where does that leave us?

There have already been cases in Sydney of people filling their pools with recycled water because it’s cheaper and if it only affected the moron doing the filling, then that would maybe be ok. But it doesn’t only affect that person. It affects his family that uses the pool and any friends that also unknowingly use the pool. The childrens friends perhaps that come over every day after school for a swim. It’s scary.

And then of course as we’ve already seen there’s the errors made by council or plumbers or whoever is responsible for getting it right and making sure it’s going down the right pipes and ending up in the right taps.

There has to be a better way!

Have you thought about what your health is worth? I know that most people, if you ask them would agree that it’s pretty important, but I don’t believe that most people actually really think about the implications of not having good health maybe until it actually happens to them and for those where a lack of good health comes on slowly, progressively, over a period of time, I think many still don’t actually think about the impact of it on their lives – not really. It gets put down to the aging process and accepted as the way it has to be.

I take my health, and more so,  my responsibility for it, fairly seriously. It’s definitely not perfect, and I doubt it ever will be, but I’m working on it! It’s a work in progress you might say. I use the safest personal care products and cleaning products available, and I take what I’ve learned  to be the best most effective supplements available. I eat organic where possible, buy clean grass fed meat where I can,  free range eggs and poultry and organic ‘real’ sourdough bread. You get the picture!

As you’d realise this doesn’t come cheap and I’m not wealthy (yet!) so how do I manage to afford all this? I manage to afford these things, because I’ve made my health a priority. I still can’t do and take everything that I’d ideally like to if money weren’t an issue, but I do all that I can with the resources that I currently have.

This has been one of my biggest revelations over the past few years – we will always afford whatever we make a priority and that’s the truth. It’s not the lack of money that’s the problem, it’s the lack of importance in our minds. Don’t believe me? Look around you. No matter how low an income people are on, they will manage to buy or do whatever is a priority to them. Whether that be smoking cigarettes, smoking drugs, drinking alcohol, buying and playing video games, watching dvd’s, buying new clothes or shoes, keeping up with the Jone’s, going on holidays, having a cool car or whatever – they can be pleading poverty – can’t afford to pay  the phone bill but spending hundreds or thousands per month on unessential ‘priorities’.

We used to do it! Before I quit smoking and got really interested in health, I remember that we could be absolutely skint, broke, no money and we still always found a way to have cigarettes. They were a priority! Having tobacco was probably more important than anything else – not something that I’m proud of now I must say, I didn’t know any better at the time, never really thought about it  and that’s just the way it was.

I remember before we moved to Australia 20 years ago, we lived in Martinborough, NZ. Our neighbours a couple of doors down lived in a Housing Commission house that was run down, they’d broken windows and it was a bit of a mess. My husband Ray worked very briefly with one of the young fella’s from this family and he was telling Ray about how tough things were and that they were forced to eat WeetBix three times a day for meals a lot of the time. Their power used to get cut off from time to time and I don’t think from memory that they had a car that actually went. However, they managed to spend a lot of time at the pub, smoked cigarettes and every week when the ‘Mr Whippy’ van came around and parked outside their house, (on payday), they’d buy huge quantities of snowfreeze icecreams! Every single week for the two years we lived there, that was the case – Mr Whippy knew exactly where to park his van!

So, back to your health. What price would you put on it? Let’s assume that reading this now, you have ‘good’ health. You work and earn an income, you are able to participate in your favourite hobbies or sports, spend time with those that matter to you and generally live your life in a way that’s satisfactory and enjoyable most of the time.

Now, think about the opposite scenario. You are suddenly ill. You have to give up work, your income is gone. You’re incapacitated and can’t pursue the things you enjoy – your golf, or other sports or hobbies. You can’t have enjoyable time with family as you can’t get out of the house and you’re in too much pain or too sick. What is the price difference between these two scenario’s? Can you put a dollar value on it?

You can in the sense of the difference in income of course – that’s a pretty obvious price. Then there’s the medical bills – doctors, medication, surgery etc. That can be some pretty serious expense I’m told. If you’ve read other parts of my site, you’ll know that I haven’t been to a doctor for many years and don’t really have anything to do with the allopathic medical system, but I’m told it’s getting pretty expensive! The government isn’t subsidising as much as it used to (because it just can’t keep doing that – but that’s a whole other story), so everyone including pensioners are having to fork out more and more themselves for their treatments and they’re not cheap.

Many people have medical insurance or health insurance. The term ‘Health Insurance’ I think is a bit of misnomer. It should be ‘Sickness Insurance’ instead as it is insurance that pays out when you’re health is lacking for the most part. I know that some policies will pay out for some preventative ‘alternative’ treatments, but it’s a token effort generally. If the people paying for very expensive health insurance were instead to put that money spent on premiums, into prevention, then the likelihood of them requiring the surgery or medical treatments that they are insuring for would be massively reduced. The fact that so many people have health insurance, indicates that they expect to need it and that in my view ensures that they will – if only to ‘get their money’s worth’!

I’ve been frustrated many times over the years, as a therapist offering treatments that encourage good health and the ability to live life well, with the excuse ‘I can’t afford it’ coming from people who’s lives were being seriously affected by pain that could in most cases be either completely resolved or at least made manageable with regular treatment.

I also get so frustrated when I share with people knowledge about the chemicals that they’re using on themselves and they’re families every day and they get a little concerned, but then use affordability as an excuse not to switch brands.

The same thing with supplements. Many people don’t take supplements at all and their health will reveal the consequences of that over the long term. Many others, buy supplements from the supermarket or the health food store with no understanding of what they are actually buying. They buy and take a multi vitamin and mineral product for maybe $20 and think they’re getting a good deal, not realising or understanding that what they’re buying may be of dubious quality – synthetic with crushed rock for minerals that our bodies can’t use (and that will cause health problems over the long term) as well as colours, fillers and even plastic coatings with hormone disrupting chemicals such as Pthalates all thrown in for good measure!

My multi vitamin might cost me for example, $40, and so it appears to be expensive. But my questions are:

• If I spend $20 on a product that doesn’t do what it claims and contains ingredients that are going to undermine my health – is it cheap?
• If I buy a product that is twice the price, but is many times more effective and will enhance my health and do what it is designed to do – is it expensive?

These questions are not only relevant to supplements, but all products – personal care, cleaning products as well as foods. For example we now buy our bread from the SOL Bakery in Southport. It’s 100% organic ingredients and real sourdough – no yeast. It’s great bread and I’m happy to give them a plug because they’re doing a great job. The loaves, depending on variety,are around $6 each. Most people would balk at the price, but when you go in to the supermarket or to another bakery, the average price is around $4.

It’s the same deal. The $4 loaf from the supermarket or other bakery is made from commercially grown wheat, sprayed with chemicals and grown in soil deficient in minerals. It’s then processed and bleached using chemicals. The bread contains not only this highly processed flour that’s deficient in nutrients, but also preservatives, probably soy, sugars and who knows what else – all playing a part in gradually undermining your health. Is the extra $2 per loaf for the bread that’s not going to ruin my health worth it? Hell yes! It also tastes better, and you don’t eat as much of it, because it’s a lot more satisfying – as real food generally is.

So, how much is your health worth?

According to a documentary on TV3 in New Zealand – yes. They are! What a lot of rot!  I haven’t had the pleasure of watching this doco as I live in Australia and when I went to the TV3 website it wouldn’t play for some reason – probably just as well as I’m pretty sure it would’ve been a waste of an hour judging by the comments I’ve seen and what I’ve heard about it.

The first I heard was an email sent to my son by his gal’s mum who lives in NZ, concerned that our vitamins may well be killing us. Obviously this documentary has had an impact on those who are taken in by people with titles such as Professor or Doctor and their years of study at University (and this is the intention). The fact is, that neither the years of study, nor the title makes them any smarter than you or I, and nor does it make them ethical.

I’ve seen documentaries like this before, as well as articles in newspapers and magazines along with the ‘quackwatch’ websites online and have to ask (with some sarcasm) who is funding these? From the comments I’ve seen by people obviously smart enough to question and not gullible enough to be taken in easily, the ’science’ in the TV3 documentary was lacking scientific quality and the ’study’ flawed at best.

They picked on vitamin E and vitamin A – again! Then they throw in some bits on Vitamin C just to cast some doubt on this amazing nutrient while they’re at it.  This is because these are two vitamins (a & e) that are often synthetic forms in cheap vitamin tablets and the cheap synthetic forms can cause health problems – that’s a fact. The solution is to take good quality supplements that don’t use these harmful synthetic forms of vitamin E and A – simple! As far as vitamins go generally – hell, they are part of our food for gods sake! or they’re supposed to be.

The supplements that I take are made from plants – they are real food concentrated in a pill or capsule. If we had good quality food and not so much in the way of chemicals and toxins to deal with then we wouldn’t need the supplements, but the fact is that we do. To be healthy today – we need them.

When the claims that vitamins are dangerous come out (from whichever study was last funded by one of the drug companies), what is needed is a common sense approach. How many people die from vitamins per year? Ummmmm that would be zero? They are not drugs, they are food. If you take a massive dose of vitamin C it may give you a dose of the trots, but it won’t kill you. Take a massive dose of even common old over the counter Paracetamol  (only about 12 tablets actually) and you’re dead. Your liver will probably be damaged beyond repair and you’ll be six foot under.

Pharmaceutical (legal) drugs kill hundreds of thousands of people per year worldwide and that is the ones that are correctly prescribed and taken. It doesn’t include the ones that taken incorrectly or those that are  incorrectly prescribed.

It’s all common sense. Think for yourself instead of listening to whatever garbage is on the telly – it’s all paid for and it’s purposely aimed right at you, by those with the funds and the influence to arrange it, to change your perceptions and views. For me I say the proof is in the pudding. I know what I see and the people that take the supplements and use the products for instance that I use and have been using them  for some time, are obviously (for the most part) healthier than those who don’t.

Those who don’t take good quality supplements are generally sick often, age faster and are just less healthy as they age. It’s pretty obvious when you look around you and actually start to pay attention. The proof is in the pudding – particularly as people age. Genetics always play a part, but in the same family we can have those who take supplements and look after themselves and those who don’t – the difference is often astounding once people start to get into their 50’s and 60’s and beyond.

As I always say, health is common sense. Look to what nature provides and work with it as much as is possible in this day and age. It’s simple and it’s healthy!

A couple of weeks ago, Ray (my hubby) and I were out walking and we were walking past a fairly typical nice, newish two story home. The type of home that can be found in any of the new suburbs here on the Gold Coast. It had a lovely solid wall along the front boundary that was probably 5 foot high. On top of the pillars that were spaced every 10 feet or so was a pyramid shaped cap that looked to be made from concrete – very nice! However as we walked along we noticed that one of these caps was chipped on the corner and inside of the rough textured concrete looking coating, we could see it was in fact made from – polystyrene!

We were amazed, but not really surprised as we have seen houses being built with footings laid on polystyrene slabs, and Ray’s brother in law had a brand new home built in NZ, that we realised had polystyrene pillars on the outside! We’ve also come across homes that have plastic corners on the outside which are then rendered over (to make it easier for the ‘tradesman’ doing the rendering) until the lawn mower bumps them and breaks the plastic strip!

It would seem that our society doesn’t have too much concern for what’s inside these days – for real substance and the ability to last the distance. As long as it looks like it’s doing the job, looks attractive, appears sound and healthy then that’s all that matters.

We see everywhere people treating their bodies and their lives the same way. As long as they think they look young, attractive, healthy, happy, wealthy, there is no thought for what’s really going on inside. Cover it over and just keep up the appearances!

These days we have much of our female population with fake nails, fake boobs, fake tans, fake hair (extensions etc), botoxed faces that don’t move, plastic surgery to fix, correct, tuck and change. And now the men are starting also with the waxing, fake tans and all the plastic surgery etc. Our society is becoming a race of fake people trying to fit some image that doesn’t exist.

The problem with this is that no thought is given to the inside of the body, or to the mind and the spirit – the things that matter. The fake bits most of the time don’t look real and we all see through them if truth be told. The fake bits don’t add to real beauty. Real beauty comes from within, in glowing skin, clear eyes, a healthy smile, healthy hair and a healthy spirit.

I’m currently working in a job where I phone about 250-300 people a day – cold calling – and I come across people every day who are sick, people in who’s voices I can hear the physical and emotional pain they are in, people going through chemotherapy for cancer, people who have just lost their partner to disease, people who are nursing a loved one who is ill or dying, people who are suffering.

I find it hard to listen to at times and extremely sad because I know that most of it is unnecessary. I see that more people like myself are looking for answers and it’s education and truth that’s needed – for truth to be told (whether we want to hear it or not) and for our society to get on track with the things that matter – to get back to what’s real and what counts. To learn how to be healthy and happy and take responsibility for our lives. To get rid of the fake and seek out what’s real. To do something that has meaning. To learn how to live well, to love unconditionally and to be happy both with ourselves and our lives.