Nicole,
We've found the key to our daughter (Zoe's) health is to stay aggressive and maintain her meds, CPT/vest, give her the correct amount of enzymes with her food, monitor her stools, her respiration, and her body in general. Unfortunately all too many people do not do this. With Zoe having cystic fibrosis our goal, obviously, is to maintain her health at an optimum level (as best we can), prevent any infections etc. from occurring, and to deal immediately with any that do occur. This really weighed heavily upon my mind for months after Zoe had a bowel obstruction late last summer. I hate CF and I hate her being hospitalized. Yes, we try to do all of the right things, but I wanted to find some way to better her odds and to keep her healthier. I literally researched, off and on, for months. I do understand that she needs extra ADEK due to the CF, but I also looked at many different vitamins and supplements etc., and found that what her (and our) bodies need, as you well know, is not heavy doses of fractional or synthetic multi-vitamins that do no good, but whole foods.... whole fruits, vegetables, and grains. We should get not 5 servings a day, but anywhere from 7 to 13 servings a day of raw fruits and vegetables. In general, the non-CF society today simply eats too much and too poorly as far as nutrition goes. In addition, it's almost impossible for anyone to get that many servings of fruits and vegetables each day..... especially someone with CF who needs 2 to 3 times more calories than the rest of us normally do. How would you be able to fit in all those raw fruits and vegetables when at times it is nearly impossible to get your little ones to eat what they need from day to day for their caloric intake...... just to "maintain"? As you know, our bodies are extremely complex. They know exactly which nutrients they require and in what ratios. The phytonutrients contained within plants, specifically dense fruits and vegetables, are absolutely fantastic! Some vegetables contain as many as 10 to 12,000 phytos (that we've identified) .... some as vitamins and some as anti-oxidants, but all extremely important. As you know, anti-oxidants neutralize free radicals generated by our normal metabolism, and that billions of them (free radicals) are produced every day. Some damage/oxidize lipids or proteins, and others actually damage our DNA genetics which often times leads to malfunctioning body operations, but worse, can lead to issues such as cancer and heart disease among many others. Now, this won't correct for the CF, but it would certainly quite possibly aid in the prevention of sickness and do something to ward off infections due to the boosting of the body's immune system. I'm sure that you know all of this already and are wondering where I am going with this..... stay with me. After researching, I came upon a whole food, fruit and vegetable supplement called Juice Plus+.. This supplement comes in capsule, chewable, gummy, and the powdered form. As far as I could tell, and I did a tremendous amount of researching, emailing, calling, and asking questions, this is one of the best, if not the best, product available. It is backed and recommended by thousands of physicians, and is marketed by a company that has been in business for a long time and is doing fantastic. Obviously everyone has their own biases when it comes to nutritional products, but the simple fact of the matter is that the studies and data don't lie. The amount of scientific studies and research that have been done and are on-going have produced excellent data in support of this product. Juice Plus+ has spent millions of dollars on unbiased and independent "Gold Standard" studies. The majority having been Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Crossover studies. When I started emailing and asking questions about Juice Plus+, I emailed a distributor, from the contact info. on his website, about the whole process. I had a million questions..... from just what went into it, to quality control, to the whole process in general. As it turns out, he was the National Marketing Director for Australia. We actually speak on a regular basis with each other. I originally explained why I was looking for something..... I told him all about Zoe and how I wanted to boost her immune system in an attempt to ward off disease and keep her healthy. He was very understanding and concerned. He actually had a month's worth of Juice Plus+ sent to us after speaking to him one time. He answered the majority of my questions and put me in touch with others on staff within the company. His name is Marc Dragan. He was actually Australia's first professional tri-athlete. He was also a pro tennis player, and is a sports commentator as well as still competing from time to time in tri-athalons. He and his wife now act as coaches instructing tennis players and have centered their lives around health and nutrition. He originally came upon Juice Plus+ while on his constant search for some supplement to increase his strength and endurance, and to shorten his recovery time. After starting on Juice Plus+, he has never looked back! Anyway, if you would like to review testimonials or visit my own website (where you can read for yourself the actual studies... past, on-going, and future) just pm me and I will gladly share it. I would feel wrong if I listed it here seeing as this is a support medium for all of us and not a place to advertise our personal businesses etc. We have all been using JP+ for about 5 months now. How quickly each individual reacts is different, but I have noticed a definite change for the better already! There is simply no mystery to it.... fruit and vegetables in a capsule... awesome as a supplement! As far as children go, Juice Plus+ has fantastic program involving the Chlidren's Research Foundation. For every adult that takes Juice Plus+, the Children's Research Foundation has agreed to pay Juice Plus+ for the cost of the fruit and vegetable supplement for any child between the ages of 6 and 15. In other words, it's free for the child!!! All the sponsor has to do is fill out a questionaire about the child regarding health etc. periodically and mail it back. How simple. How could anyone not want to better their health, boost their immune system, and take advantage of this?
Juice Plus+ ..............
* is extremely bio-available and delivers key phytonutrients that are absorbed by the body
* reduces oxidative stress... research showed it reduced lipid peroxides in the blood plasma of test subjects an average of 75% (in 28 days), and reduced them to undetectable levels in a third of the subjects
* boosts and supports the body's immune system
* helps protect DNA... research showed an average 66% decrease in susceptibility to DNA damage
* promotes cardiovascular health by lowering homocysteine levels... research showed that subjects with a high homocysteine level experienced a 37% reduction after taking JP+ only four weeks
* promotes cardiovascular health by helping maintain normal blood flow after a high fat meal
* lowers LDL.... higher HDL
* contains no salt, juice/sugar,water (great for those with diabetes)
* is kosher, is gluten free
* improves eyesight/detioriation slowed
* ............................................and much, much more
If we don't have our health what do we have? What did Hippocrates say...?" Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food". Words well spoken.
I hope this helps a little.
Sincere Regards,
Scott
Zoe's daddy