I’m not gonna claim that I’ve found the proverbial “Fountain of Youth” or anything close to that, but these days you will find me sharing information with my friends and family about something that has in fact, changed my life.
For over four years, I’ve been drinking 2 ounces of an all natural liquid nutritional supplement each morning. I more or less stumbled upon this product at work one morning when a co-worker bounced into the computer room at 7:45am with more energy than I had been able to muster in a very long time.
With a bit of sarcasm in my tone, I said to her, “I don’t know what you’re drinking this morning, but give me some.” And she did.
With a huge smile she began to explain to me that the only thing she’d been doing different lately was drinking this “shot” of liquid nutrition each morning and she felt great. For me it was a no-brainer, I’d give it a try. So I set aside my usual regimen of vitamins for one month and started taking my shot.
Was I reckless and irresponsible for taking this supplement without first consulting my doctor? Frankly, this thought never occurred to me until recently when a friend said he would have to talk to his doctor before he tried the Vemma I offered to him. “Of course,” I replied. “And please, show your doctor the results of the studies that were done by Brunswick Labs which validate the results that I’ve personally experienced.” Confident in the value of the information I had shared, and certain that his doctor wouldn’t have an objection to my friend tossing his bottles of over the counter vitamins for an all natural, plant sourced, liquid nutrition, I waited to hear what he found out. In the meantime, I started thinking about this idea of asking one’s doctor before purchasing or consuming things. I began to wonder how often people actually do this.
I can’t think of one time in my life that I called my doctor for her opinion before I bought vitamins at Harris Teeter or the GNC store. Over the years I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on multivitamins, minerals, Fish Oils, Children’s vitamins, Women’s vitamins, protein powders, and weight loss supplements. For me, if I bought something from a “nutritional center” (as proclaimed by the name of the store), then it was obviously good for me.
This led me to think of the many other items I had consumed over the years without consulting my doctor for her opinion. Things like diet soft drinks, french fries, processed chicken nuggets, hot dawgs, gummy candies, margarine, microwave popcorn, artificial sweetners, ice cream, etc. The list goes on and on. Thankfully, I have eliminated most of these items from my diet but I know there are still areas that I could improve and that my doctor would recommend if I called her. (Despite my efforts, there are chemicals in foods that I eat and unlabeled GMOs which slip past me.)
Not once did I call my doctor before purchasing and consuming any of these things, even though none of them were “naturally occurring healthy foods”. I know I’m not alone here. We, as a society will consume products based solely on marketing. If it’s sold in a store or a restaurant, we will try it. Rarely, do we question ‘what’ we are consuming if we are comfortable with ‘where’ we are buying it. The recommendation of a stranger wearing a name tag in a store carries more weight than the personal experience of a close friend for most of us. If it’s not sold in a retail store, we are skeptical.
Skepticism is not a bad thing, but close-mindedness is. We have been programmed to trust that the more commercial something is, the more valid it is.
We complain about the system but when given another choice, we freeze, unable to open our minds and try something different. We revert back to asking the opinion of people who are part of the system, scared of stepping out of the box.
I have tremendous respect for my doctor and I value her opinion, but I’m an intelligent woman with the ability to question and research for myself and that is what I choose to do. Based on the evidence after four years, I’m feeling very confident about my decision. 🙂
Being Mindfully Me 