Degenerative diseases, including cancer, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, macular degeneration, Parkinson’s disease and many others have become the major causes of death and reduced quality of life in our country. At Weight Loss and Natural Hormone Balancing Clinic, our Nurse Practitioner will teach you ways to provide your body with the defense mechanisms necessary to minimize the impact of the toxic environment in which we live today.

The Need for Nutritional Supplements

Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat. We can read from research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 6-19-2002; 287 (23): 3127–3129).

The Enemy: Oxidative Stress

There is a vast body of research and double-blind placebo studies published in journals such as JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, British Lancet, and Annuals of Internal Medicine. These research studies look closely at oxidative stress and the effects of damage to the cells of our bodies. This damage is caused by free radicals in our systems, and is the probable root cause of many degenerative diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s dementia, macular degeneration, lupus, MS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and a host of others.

The Solution: Cellular Nutrition

Our own bodies are our greatest weapon in fighting off the effects of oxidative stress. However, in order for our bodies to be able to do this job effectively, they need proper cellular nutrition. Choosing the right nutritional supplement can be a daunting task. We have done exhaustive research in comparing a plethora of available products on the market today, to be able to recommend supplements that meet the following criteria:

• They should meet pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which are far more stringent than the food GMP requirements set by the U.S. government for supplements. This guarantees that what you see on the label is what you are getting in the bottle.
• They should be formulated based on the latest medical research, with emphasis on providing the maximum bio-availability of essential nutrients.
• They should meet or exceed USP standards for purity, potency and dissolution where applicable.
• If at all possible, they should be listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference, the reference of choice for doctors who need an accurate overview of prescription and non-prescription pharmaceutical products.

With so many choices… How do I know what to take?

In years past it was the practice in our clinic to send all our patients to the local health food store with a long list in hand specifying which vitamins and minerals should be taken daily and how many micrograms or milligrams would be optimal dosing. This was time-consuming, inconvenient and expensive for all of us! After several years of intermittent research, we finally found USANA supplements which are rated No.1 by the independent Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements in the United States and Canada. We happily discovered that these supplements meet all of the above requirements and provide more concentrated nutritional support at a fraction of the cost. As a result, we personally use these nutritional supplements on a daily basis, and recommend them to all our patients.