If you're an Eye Protection fan, and we know there
are a lot of you, here's a heads up for you.
Some of you have noticed the deeper purple color
of our new Eye Protection capsules. As Teri likes to say, "They're pretty."
No worries, it's natural. Bilberry, the botanical
responsible for the purple color in our Eye Protection formula, varies in hue
from season to season. Rain, time of harvest, soils, and sunshine levels all
affect bilberry color.
The raw material in our current batch happens to
be far more purple than previous lots; however, we use a standardized 4:1
extract to ensure that we are delivering the same potency of anthocyanidins (the
active ingredient in bilberry), and we have a predictably fabulous
lab test to prove it.
Enjoy the fancy purple color for this batch of
Eye Protection and happy ordering of this perennial Top 10 product!
Kat's Interview:
Co-op Team Member Donnaree Lost 40 Lbs!
This kat
didn't have to venture far for this week's interview -- just back to the
shipping area where our lovely Donnaree was busily packing your orders. For the
past few months, there's clearly less and less of Donnaree. She also has a
healthy glow and her smile keeps getting bigger (if such a thing were possible).
So with all the orders out for the day, we sat down for a chat. Inquiring minds
always want to know the secrets behind any kind of dramatic weight loss.
OHC: My, my Donnaree, you must be
attracting a lot of attention these days. How much weight have you lost?
D:
[sheepish grin] It's true. I lost 40 lbs. in 3 ½ months and kept it off for 8
months now. It's hard for even me to believe!
OHC: You know that we have a lot of
FatCats who will want to know your trick. Spill the beans on how you dropped
those extra pounds.
D:
I've been following the
Ideal
Protein protocol some of our members have been using. I've been
chubby all my life—always a size 16 or 18—and have tried every diet imaginable.
Nothing stuck, except the pounds!
OHC: What prompted you to try again?
D:
I'm Jamaican and I've always been told I was beautiful on the inside. Well, I
wanted to be just as beautiful on the outside and healthier too. I’m only 30
years old – too young to be struggling with my health as much as I have. When I
heard pharmacist Mike Ciell, talk about the effectiveness and health
benefits of the Ideal Protein diet I felt some hope.
OHC: You've had some big health scares over the years
all related to having "sticky blood." Can you share more?
D:
Actually, it's called sticky
platelet syndrome or
thrombocytosis,
where my body produces a dangerous number of platelets and my blood doesn't flow
properly. In my case, the underlying cause is actually a form of leukemia, but
very different than we typically associated with leukemia.
My condition
was diagnosed about 3 ½ years ago when
I found myself in constant pain. They discovered I had really high
platelets. Normally, platelets work to stop bleeding by sticking together to
form a clot, but too many platelets can cause nasty problems like blood vessel
clots and even strokes. For me, the condition has mostly just
meant a lot of pain and exhaustion because my blood doesn't flow as it should.
My doctors prescribed a drug called Hyrdera, which is a chemotherapy pill. The
drug has helped me by managing managing the platelet overgrowth, but my health
suffered too.
Thankfully, my health as well as my body
is in much better shape after
everything
I've learned about nutrition while working here at the Co-op. I've gone from
eight chemo pills a day to just two! I am a really big fan of
Heart Plus,
Green Tea,
and
Beta
Glucan,
I feel better when I take them and wouldn't be without them. I also take
Probiotics 16,
Fiber Fit, and
Conjugated Linoleic Acid.
I don't know
why, but I
used to have really bad migraines, and they went away completely about 4 days
after I started taking the supplements, so I can't imagine going back to my old
ways.
To make a
long story short, at my worst point, before my diet and nutrition changed, my
platelet count peaked at 1,954, which is dangerously high. My last test showed
only 490, and normal is between 150 – 400, so I'm almost there!
My doctors
were flabbergasted and also a bit suspicious of the supplements I take, so they
did a blood culture and agreed that whatever I was doing was really working.
OHC: What's been the hardest thing about
your diet?
D:
Avoiding sweets! But the Ideal Protein program has all these great bars I can
treat myself with once a day, so I always have something—besides celery—to look
forward to. My favorite is the Caramel Peanut Bar.
OHC: Many of our members have never been
to Jamaica. What is one of the memories you have of growing up on an island in
the Caribbean?
D:
I’ve been in the U.S. 11 years now! My most dramatic memory of growing up in
Jamaica has to do with hurricanes! Did you know that when I was a child, my
mother once tied me and my brothers to a tree during a hurricane to keep us from
blowing away?! Traumatic then, but hilarious to picture now. I still have some
family back home, but I’m happy to be in the States. In fact, I hope to receive
my citizenship this year.
OHC: You are certainly a strong member of our
team. Can you share how you found us?
D:
Four years ago I answered an ad Teri placed. Funny enough, I think part of the
reason I got the job was because I was so big and sturdy! I think
"sturdy" was actually in the job description as I had to be able to lift heavy
cases of things like
Liquid Calcium,
Arthro
3, and
Fish Oil.
Teri took me
under her wing, and I've got to tell you it is like family working here. I love
my job, and I take pride in getting all of our packages out to our members as
quickly as possible.
OHC: Last, but not least, what do you
think of this kat?
D:
Sometimes I forget that you're even around. You're welcome to stop by more often
and help me pack!
------
That will be the day. Packing is
not my thing. ^..^
I think I'll stick to sharing my big opinions and let the humans do what they do
best, and Donnaree is the best shipper we've ever had, not to mention the fact
that she is an all-round good soul.
If you want
to drop a line to Donnaree,
I will make sure she gets it!
Concentrated Fish
Oil: Good Deal with Twice the Omega-3s!
Tess has been taking a lot of Fish
Oil lately. With her bad knees and Utah's cold weather, she relies oh Fish
Oil to help her get through the cringes that come with winter storms.
During her recent trip to the
Florida office she was seen stashing a few bottles of our new Concentrated
Fish Oil in her bag for her trip home.
With
twice the omega-3s, Tess addresses her knee pain without
swallowing so many softgels (she shares her stash with her three Siamese
cats at home too - stay tuned for a video of the antics when they tussle
over "who gets the fish oil"). Concentrated Fish Oil gives you the same
Omega 3's per dollar as our regular Fish Oil, only you take half as
many.
Since fish oil supports everything from joint comfort to heart health and
brain power, Concentrated Fish Oil can help you stay healthy without adding
so much to your "handful" of daily supplements.
Stock
up now!
