Today’s post-slash-rant was also inspired by a question from a Whole9 reader, and also involves a popular supplement company marketed heavily to CrossFitters. Honestly, our intention wasn’t to join the Rant Parade down Supplement Street this month, but when something this good (translation: so ridiculous, it makes us think we’ve been huffing paint) comes rolling on by, we just have to jump on it.
Today’s post started with an email from April, an avid Whole9 reader and recent workshop attendee. She’s not your average CrossFitter – April is a savvy nutrition consumer and no stranger to Paleo or the Whole30. So when she received a questionable sales pitch from a popular supplement company, she contacted us for our thoughts. We replied to her individually, but we’re also going to share them here with our readers, because again… it’s just. That. Good.
April writes, in part:
“I’m an admitted Whole9 blog stalker, and attended your Nutrition workshop at Crossfit Austin in June. I have since stuck to high quality (real) food, fish oil and magnesium, thinking simplicity is best. But there are a lot of CrossFitters who recommend AdvoCare supplements, and I’d love to separate the truth from the hype from a Whole30 perspective.
The following items were recommended for me by an AdvoCare representative, as a supplement to my Whole30. I’m not completely savvy on all the scientific names they come up with for ingredients, but I know there’s sugar and whey protein in two of the three recommendations…which I would think is a no-no. Can you give me your take on the below?”
Below are the actual recommendations made to April by the AdvoCare specialist (emphasis added). We couldn’t make this up, kids.
“With the Whole30 diet restrictions, the best products for you are the following, to help you lean out and stay off of sugar. The first product is the MNS C or MNS E. This will be your complete dietary supplement system. C will control your cravings for sweets, carbs and fats (!!!) and E will do the same, plus give you maximum energy if you have issues with energy.
The second product that I would recommend is Catalyst. Catalyst is an amino acid dietary supplement (protein) that puts a protective coating around your muscle so when your body goes to get energy, it cannot go to the lean muscle tissue that you are building, instead it will have to go to the stored fat. This is like a potato peeler. It trims off that fat around muscle so it trims you up in all the right places.
The third product is Muscle Strength. The key benefits are as follows: Enhances muscle growth in conjunction with strength training, helps decrease recovery time between periods of intense workout, promotes muscle strength and endurance, aids in maintaining lean muscle mass, encourages repair of body tissues.”
Oh, boy. Dallas straight-up grabbed the reins on this one, and immediately began crafting his response to April. I’ll turn the post over to him in a minute, but first, I have one thing to say. The entire point of the Whole30 is to eat real food. Avoid processed foods, avoid foods with garbage ingredients, avoid consuming anything you can’t pronounce or don’t recognize. So for someone to recommend ARTIFICIALLY SUPPLEMENTING the Whole30 program is, in the biggest understatement of the century, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT MISSING OUR BUS.
Now that I’ve said my piece, here’s how Dallas responded to April’s question.
“April, your question on supplementation is a good one. There is so much information out there about various supplements – the good, the bad, and the straight-up ugly. You’ve already mentioned some of the good – things like fish oil and magnesium, both things that we use regularly. As for the bad and straight-up ugly… well, there’s far more of that. Products with artificial sweeteners, colours, and flavours, “proprietary formulas” that contains untested or laboratory-created substances, and supplements that make unfounded claims and inflated promises (and demand plenty of your hard-earned money in exchange).
All in all, the giant supplement industry is just that – industry. So I take claims about products with a serious grain of salt, especially if it comes from someone who sells the stuff. I’ve looked closely at the AdvoCare supplements you inquired about, and honestly, I don’t have much good to say.
For one, AdvoCare provides incomplete information about their products’ ingredients on their website. I’d all but guarantee that there are soy, corn, and/or wheat-derived ingredients in most of your recommended AdvoCare supplements… but, of course, they don’t tell you that. They list a few “key ingredients”, but don’t tell you how much of each “key ingredient” is included, nor do they tell you what else is in there. And I have a serious problem with that lack of disclosure. Since supplements aren’t regulated, companies can say just about anything about what their supplement does, and what it contains. So if the company won’t tell you how much of the active ingredients it supposedly contains, or give you a 100% complete list of all ingredients before you purchase it, I say (yell!) “BUYER BEWARE.”
There are some other concerns about some of these supplements too – not the least of which is the cost. I took a quick peek at the cost of a 30-day supply of the three recommended products, and with my rudimentary math skills, totaled it up to $160. One-hundred-and-sixty dollars! That’s, like, a whole week’s worth of fresh, real, Whole30 food. How sustainable is this level of supplementation? Do you plan on giving the Advocare people thousands of dollars a year… forever?
Finally, it’s obvious from the email you received that your AdvoCare salesman is only interested in selling his products – and clearly NOT educated about the Whole30’s goal and implementation. The idea of someone recommending you take pills to help you manage your Whole30 is ironic, at best. (Plus, I can’t resist – claiming any product will “trim off that fat around muscle so it trims you up in all the right places” is straight up B.S. It’s like a potato peeler? For real?)
All in all, your suspicions that it’s “garbage, garbage, and more garbage” are 100% spot-on correct. Your plan of eating 100% Whole30 food plus a few (entirely optional) supplements of compounds that are already found in your body or naturally occurring in real, fresh food remains by far your best option. Stick with that plan, and you’ll 1) save a ton of money, 2) avoid the inadvertent side effects of who-knows-what ingredients, and 3) continue to “practice” sustainable nutrition habits that will lead to optimal health for the rest of your life. Steer clear of what people sell you (unless Broccoli, Inc. comes a-knocking), and you’ll be the healthiest you you can be.”
Back to Melissa now… to our readers, please understand we’re taking a hard line on this particular topic because we’re fired up about the aggressive sales pitch and inflated claims some of these companies use in an attempt to line their pockets at the expense of your health. I don’t need to get my amino acids from a bottle – I eat high quality meat, fish and eggs. A pill won’t help me curb my sugar cravings – but stepping away from the candy dish for 30 days sure as heck will. As for building muscle mass and effectively recovering from exercise… I’ll just pick up something heavy and follow it up with some egg whites and sweet potato, thanks. And then I’ll spend the $160 I just saved on a fall CSA share, ten pounds of frozen grass-fed ground beef or a new pair of Olympic lifting shoes.
We understand how confusing it can be to wade through the marketing campaigns of some of these popular supplements, especially when there are a lot of well known fitness names hawking products we wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. So stay tuned next week for an additional two-part series on supplementation – the Whole9 supplement evaluation checklist, and a list of items that make the cut for our own shopping cart. But for now, an always-reliable rule of thumb… When in doubt, keep it simple and eat real food, just as our smart girl April is doing.
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This is from a documentary called Bigger Stronger Faster. If you watch it (available on netflix online) it is a very pro-steroid movie. Which I’m not condoning. BUT this scene is a very valid point about how un-regulated the Supplement industry is.
I didn’t feel like Bigger Faster Stronger was a “pro-steroid” movie. It was just informative about the American point of view, and the lack of regulation.What about “supplements” like creatine? It’s supposedly natural, it’s unregulated, and it lacks long term study….
Ben,
Good question on creatine (though the question could have been applied to literally dozens of other substances, too). We’re actually in the process of writing a post to describe our personal criteria for what supplements we take, so stay tuned for that (next week). We will not, however, spell out to readers what specific, individual supplements they should take, since some of the criteria are somewhat subjective and personal, much like our recommendations for fish oil dosing. All in all, the “supplement question(s)” is/are complicated, for sure. Do you have a personal set of criteria for what you take (if anything)?
Thanks for the reply Dallas! I’m anxious to read your post about your personal supplementation. I haven’t ever thought about my own criteria, but I suppose my bias (being paleo) is toward natural supplementation. But, to be honest, I really just don’t know!
Wow, that’s got to be one of the more interestingly phrased snake oil sales pitches I’ve seen in a while. Glad you guys set the record straight!
quick question- why just the egg WHITE post WOD? Thanks! Great post guys- keep spreading the good word!
Great blog!
What about Calcium? I don’t “do” much dairy (if any) and really hate taking suplements (except for my fish oil). With all the buzz in the news lately about cardiac arrythmias and Ca supplements am I safe to say I don’t have to take them? I lift heavy things and run, isn’t that enough to keep my bones strong? I’m 42 and not a big fan of ANY “extra” nutrient claims other than healthy food but everyone and their mother asks “where do you get your Ca, you need a supplement” (as they are eating crap and drinking diet coke..LOL)
Great post! Every time a question about food allowances pops into my dense head I always ask myself, could I get the same result with good natural food instead of this easier “chemical” shortcut, and 9.9 times out of 10, it’s a yes. I have been using a protein drink/supplement post-workout, but my whole 9 conscience finally caught up with me!
I had a quick question – a local gym posted something on post-workout nutrition. They recommended getting a quality high-glycemic carb in the form of fruit. I attended your seminar a few months back and I thought I remembered you saying that fruit was not a great form for a high-glycemic carb, that something with less sugar was far more optimal like sweet potato. They also recommended taking in fat with lean protein post-workout and I thought I remembered you saying that fat can actually slow down the absorbtion of the protein. I wanted to check with the food gods before setting them straight, nicely of course!
@Kat…your calcium comes from the whole foods you eat, and the fact that your blood maintains a net alkaline balance when you eat W30…so the calcium is left in your bones where it belongs…not leached out of your bones to regulate blood ph.
One of my colleagues sells Advocare, as do some of my patients. Its a multi-level marketing scheme. I do take their probiotics, because I have tried the gamut and I like them the best. Otherwise, there is all this crap laying around for “energy, weight loss, etc….ingredients lists are so long on some of that stuff. yuck!
Sorry, I posted this in the wrong place first.
Anyway, this is an important piece. I find those people who have no problem questioning the establishment have a difficult time questioning the alternative health stuff. The supplement industry is a direct descendant of snake oil salesmen, and people need to understand that just because it was written down somewhere, or someone has a slick sales pitch, that it’s not necessarily the truth.
What about that Progenex BS?
Just want to let it be known that CrossFit Austin doesn’t pimp supplements. I know its not implied, but I want it to be clear. We Whole30 with are athletes, all natural, all the way!
I love to see people challenging Advocare on these bullshit claims and subpar ingredients. I am not one to judge because I use supplements and I don’t eat Paleo, but I also know that those who follow Paleo stay within certain guidelines and for anyone to hawk this garbage to a Paleo eater is a fool.
Taking holistic diet advice from a supplement salesman is like studying ethics with a politician. It will sound great and smell precisely like what it is.
Hey Melissa and Dallas,
I just moved from CO to OR and over the last year have really noticed the absence of the sun here. I was wondering what your thoughts are for a vit D supplement during the grey winter months?
Awesomeness!!! I get so upset when I see “eat clean – but take THIS!” What are they supplementing? poor nutrition??? I understand people feel the need to get an “edge” but if you are serious about your health and nutrition this crap has no place in that scheme. After a year of Paleo then moving to spot-on Whole30 there is not one PR i haven’t busted. Not a magic pill… just real QUALITY food!
I purchased some AdvoCare SLAM – a BCAA supplement to use pre-workout. And it contains artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners which make my body ache. Luckily I was able to sell my stash to a friend who uses them (and deals them) at only a slight loss.
@All: Thanks for all the comments, and for sharing your points of view. We’re preparing our Supplement Evaluation Checklist for Monday’s post. Stay tuned to learn all about how we evaluate the pills, powders and shakes that are pitched to us, both professionally and personally.
@Sally: Egg whites, because we want an easily digestible protein not hampered by fat. All the fat is in the yolk, so skip them post-workout.
@Kat: Regarding calcium, just read this: http://www.thepaleodiet.com/faqs/#Calcium
@Audrey: Hmmm… Fruit is actually considered on the lower end of the glycemic index, and not the best choice post-workout because of the way fructose preferentially replenishes liver glycogen. You’ve got it right – an easily digestible protein + dense, high quality carb source like sweet potato post workout, and skip any added fat.
@LiBr: You can probably guess our stance on Progenex. When we post our Supplement Evaluation Checklist next week, run any of the Progenex products through, start to finish, and see where it lands.
@Wes: We KNOW CrossFit Austin doesn’t supplement, and the amazing performance gains from CF Austin members like Cari U. and Melissa J. show that hard, smart training in the gym + a solid, real-food-based nutritional plan makes for some amazingly healthy, fit and gorgeous people! Keep up the great work, say hello to Tristy and crew!
@Kate: Stay tuned for Supplements Part II, where we’ll answer the Vitamin D question. (Short answer is, it’s in our cabinet, and makes an appearance in various amounts depending on how much sun time we get.)
Best,
Melissa
This isn’t Whole 30 but it is the best run down I have seen of someone’s training, nutrition and supplementation. Plus it’s Dave Tate.
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/nutrition/body-transformation-chronicles/
I particularly like the “why” for the supplements as it seems very honest. Check out his reason for taking L-leucine. Everyone needs more people they trust to read all those pesky research papers.
Mahalo for nerding out over the pesky research for us.
Beachdog
Hi,
Thank you both for your dedication to educating us and improving lives. You’re probably going to get the urge to punch me in the face but…….. no whey protein? just want to make sure. I admit, I do use it often. I should stop? any weening suggestions, it’s so convenient .
Thanks again,
Marc
Marc,
You’re right – whey is out. No weaning, dude. Just… stop. (Heroine junkies don’t “wean” off. Go cold turkey.) I’d suggest packing some hard-boiled egg whites or scrambled eggs as a Real Food protein source for PWO. Chicken and salmon work really well, too. I’ll go ahead and say it straight: “convenience” is NOT a good enough reason to eat sh*tty food. Man up and plan ahead.
Loved this post, so I had to come back and share…
Not three days after reading this post, I attended a free Saturday workout at a CF box. Great box, great people… but then guess what was waiting for us, post-WOD? An Advocare presentation! I had to laugh.
And uh, no, I didn’t buy anything. ;-)
If whey is out, how about egg white protein powder mixed in with some unsweetened applesauce and mashed sweet potato?
Alex,
Good question. If you can find a lecithin-free, unsweetened 100% egg white powder, then you will have to decide for yourself: is the concession to food quality (by eating nonorganic processed food versus real, fresh food) worth the convenience factor? For the Whole30, it’s out (since ALL processed food is out during your W30), but after that, you’ll have to decide for yourself, just like you’ll have to decide on whether you take any supplements. We generally steer people towards real food, of course, but at the end of the day, it’s your call.
What are thoughts about Co Q10
MaryAnn,
Your question could have been “what are your thoughts about B12/ALA/vitamin D…” There are a LOT of supplements that you could ask about, but I guess I’d ask you why you think that you might want to take it. While there have been some interesting studies on high dose CoQ10 (mostly in Europe, with cardiac patients), run it through our Supplement Checklist and see where it shakes out for you. For us, it’s too expensive to justify any potential benefit, and we’re skeptical of the marketing hype. Real food, real food, real food (and sometimes, a little something extra – like fish oil). Best,
Dallas
Just found your site, My dad just got suckered into being an Advocare distributor and I’ve been trying to dig up some dirt on it which is crazy hard. I’m beyond irritated that the lady he signed up under has only been using their products since July. Thank you for having one of the few anti advocare articles out there! I’m forwarding the Whole30 to my dad now!
Stacey,
Yeah, not only are we not thrilled with most of the products themselves, but the whole distributor/pyramid structure miffs me, too. We’re not running an “anti-Advocare” smear campaign – we just want to share our perspective on supplements that are commonly used/misused. Thanks for weighing in.
I’m actually involved with Advocare and I can honestly say that trying to get someone who strictly follows Paleo into taking any supplement is a waste of time…not in a negative way…but because they obviously believe in consuming whole food. I’ve been able to help a lot of people out with improving their health by getting them on a few products…nothing crazy, so I have zero negative comments about Advocare. I don’t believe in taking multiple products together to get a better result. We also teach them healthy lifestyles choices and lately I’ve been recommending everyone take a look at the Paleo Diet and eat those foods and follow those guidelines.
You’re always going to have those people that make false claims (which hurt the reputation of the company) and you’re going to always have those people who stretch the truth regarding what products do and why. Advocare uses Informed Choice to certify that our products are free of over 196 banned substances, so I would recommend anyone take our products over anything GNC sells because you honestly have no idea what is in them. Our website is actually quite extensive and you can see what each ingredient is intended for…everything is backed by sound and proven science.
Coach Mike Burgener is one of our non-paid endorsers and Crossfitters around the globe look up to this guy. Do you think he would waste his time and endorse a company that was garbage? Dr William Kraemer is on our Sci/Med Board…past president of the NSCA, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Kinesiology at UConn…you think he’s going to put his name and reputation on a company that is junk? Any trainer probably has books written by Bill Kraemer…I know I do. I believe he was one of the first guys to do research on Creatine…very knowledgeable. I also challenge everyone to look up Dr. Stanley Dudrick. He is widely recognized and respected throughout the scientific, academic and clinical world for his innovative and pioneering research in the development of the specialized central venous feeding technique known as intravenous hyperalimentation (IVH) or total parenteral nutrition (TPN). The basic investigative development and subsequent successful clinical application of this highly effective therapeutic modality has been described as one of the four most significant accomplishments in the history of the development of modern surgery, together with the discovery and development of asepsis and antisepsis, antibiotic therapy and anesthesia. It has also been acknowledged as one of the three most important advancements in surgery during the past century along with open heart surgery and organ transplantation.
Paleo followers may not believe in Nutritional Supplementation, but there is a need for them and people do take them. Why not recommend products that are actually safe to take and free of banned substances?
MJ,
“Free of banned substances” isn’t a very convincing sales pitch in our eyes… and we believe there are only two possible reasons one might postulate a “need” for a nutritional supplement: 1) the consumer’s diet and lifestyle are unhealthy (which we’d recommend correcting!), or 2) you happen to sell supplements.
Thanks for the non-confrontational tone of your note, and thank you for the background info of the endorsers, too… but you’ve missed our point. I have tremendous respect for (and a fantastic personal relationship with) Coach B, but whether he endorses your product or not is immaterial to this post. Our issue is with the product, so don’t try to sidestep the real issue by focusing on endorsers. I could care less who puts their face/name on the Advocare label if the product we’re considering is, in our eyes, junk. Artificial sweeteners? Check. Super processed dairy proteins? Check. Soy? Check. Peanuts? Check. “Meal replacements”? Check. Stimulant-dense “energy” pills? Check. Maltodextrin and dextrose? Check. Advocare has them all. It’s like a one-stop-shop for unhealthy ingredients. I’m hard-pressed to find a (Advocare) product that has ingredients that we think are healthy in the context of evolutionary biology and modern nutritional biochemistry. (Except maybe the fish oil?)
Another issue we have with Advocare (among dozens of other companies) is that they use supplement buzzwords (hype) to sell their stuff. I see it all the time – I read a product label that says “contains the powerful antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid” and then I read the supplement details and see that it contains 10 mg of ALA. Robb Wolf recommends FIFTY TIMES that much daily. So companies use the buzzword to sell the product, but the amount contained in the product is basically inconsequential. The danger of buying products sold by multi-level marketers is that, since the person selling to you and the people “above” them (and, of course, the company owners) are taking a hefty cut, either the product quality is decreased, the price is increased, or both, to create a larger margin to pay off the “higher level” sellers. I believe in safe, high-quality products AND good value, and a MLM simply can’t have both.
Best,
Dallas
Thank you Melissa and Dallas for the great information! Now if I can just get my fiance to agree and quick spending $$…..and pay more attention to what he puts in his body!
Dallas,
We are Whole9 partners. I am, also an Advocare endorser and have been since 2004.
I like what you are doing with Whole9, but I don’t like what you’ve said about Advocare. First, your comments are very unwise. It just isn’t smart when you call a product “garbage, garbage and more garbage” It could bring unwanted legal action. If you had nutrition research experience and could note studies confirming your derogatory statements, that would be a different story. However, based on the information on this website Melissa is a “candidate for a Master of Science”, you have a BS in A&P and a Masters in PT and Amy is an RD. I don’t see any research experience.
One of the products recommended to April is Catalyst. What is catalyst? BCAA’s-branch chain amino acids. BCAA’s have been studied more than aspirin dating back to the late 40’s-50’s. Former Soviet Sports Performance PhD Nikolai Volkov began giving them to the Soviet Olympic athletes in 1952. They are the #1 supplement recommended to the performance athlete. If April were to take BCAA’s is she taking garbage? I will let you answer that. Would they ruin her Whole9 lifestyle? Of corse not. If April wants to be a performance athlete, and compete, will they improve her performance. Absolutely, and there are countless studies proving it, and they do not have any sugar, fillers, soy nor garbage.
I am not trying to be a smart a**. I believe you stepped over a line. Sell your product on it’s merits and keep your opinions and general derogatory statements to yourself. I also suggest you take this thread, and your comments down. Your statements just aren’t wise.
Skip,
I assure you, it was never our intent to offend one of our partners, but I will direct you to this post’s date – August 2010 (well before we created our Partner program).
This post represents our opinion of the Advocare products we’ve researched, to the extent we were able to research them. (The company does not provide consumers with detailed information about their products on their own web site – a warning flag for us.)
The Catalyst product you referenced (http://www.advocare.com/products/trim/T2010.aspx) lists only “key ingredients”, fails to list the amount of each key ingredient and does not include potentially allergenic or unhealthy binders, fillers or emulsifiers. In addition, Advocare takes some serious liberties with the product’s benefits, and the conclusions drawn by scientists studying the effect of BCAA supplementation. (We’d be happy to provide studies citing specific potential benefits of BCAA supplementation on immune response, protein synthesis and muscle protein recovery. None of our studies mention the “potato peeler” effect, however. In addition, many studies also suggest that, since amino acids using the same carrier system compete with each other, free amino acids have no absorptive advantage over real food. There is no one right answer, and context matters. But we digress…)
When a product makes a claim, the burden of proof is on the manufacturer, not the consumer. Advocare should be able to prove that its Catalyst supplement does, in fact, act “like a potato peeler… [trimming] off that fat around muscle.” The problem is, Advocare doesn’t have to provide any back-up for their claims, because their supplements are wholly unregulated by the FDA. They can say whatever they want to sell their products – and April’s salesperson’s claims are beyond ridiculous in this case.
We have no issue with BCAAs, or other supplements that contain compounds already found in a healthy diet. We’ve written about this extensively in our Supplement Evaluation Checklist (http://whole9life.com/2010/08/whole9-supplement-evaluation-checklist/) and our “What’s In Our Cabinet” post (http://whole9life.com/2010/09/supplements-part-ii/) – in fact, Dallas has taken BCAAs himself at times over the last few years. However, the three Advocare supplements mentioned in our post fall down on many of our evaluation criteria, and based on this, we stand by our opinion.
Our position on supplements has been public and firm long before you signed on as a partner. We do hope we can agree to disagree on this subject, as we believe you hold a firm commitment to health and fitness through good nutritional practices (with our program forming the foundation of those nutritional practices). We certainly would not begrudge one of our Partners publicly advocating for a supplement they believe in, sell and promote, and we would hope you wouldn’t ask us to censor our own opinions and beliefs.
Respectfully,
Melissa & Dallas
On the Advocare site, under each product, is a print button where you can view details and complete ingredients.
Sounds like the rep used some terms loosely and possibly wasn’t the most nutrition savvy… but let’s not draw conclusions about the whole company based on this one unknown person.
I second Skip Chase’s comments.
Amanda,
If you could kindly point me to the spot on their web site where they list the FULL details of every ingredient, I’d love to review. Right now, all I can see is their detail of “key ingredients,” which is woefully inadequate, and a little shady in our view. We expect companies to be transparent in this aspect – allow us to see what’s in every supplement, including the amounts of each ingredient, please. (We don’t feel like that’s too much to ask.)
Best,
Melissa
Each product has a ‘print’ button at the bottom which will bring up the ‘product page’ – at the bottom of that are ‘supplement facts’ and ‘other ingredients’. Catalyst, for example: http://www.advocare.com/products/images/pdf/T2010.pdf
In my experience, Advocare is the farthest you can get from shady. I encourage you to research… and even email them directly (r&d@advocare.com) with questions.
Amanda,
Thanks for pointing that out. This post was written well over a year ago, and I assure you this information was not there our first go-round with the site. Appreciate your comment.
Best,
Melissa
I assure you it was. :) I first researched Advocare 4.5 years ago.
And I appreciate your site and the work you do…
I hope to see a follow up once you learn more. Feel free to contact me directly too.
Thanks for your response.
I find your post completely wrong!! Maybe if you would of did some more research instead of glancing at the Advocare website, you would of saw that there is a link for you to click on to get the total complete list of ingredients that are in each and every product. Also many people who have chosen to take the Advocare Supplements have taken their products to their personal physician and had them check them out. Which the physicians had given the ok and actually supported the decision. Also you did not mention in your blog that Advocare is supported by Informed Choice which has a board of highly known and well educated doctors, who test all the products in Cambridge England. Also that the national spokesperson who is unpaid is none other than the New Orleans Football Athlete Drew Brees “I’m sure he would not stand behind a product he did not believe in” And as for the price there are ways to work up to a 40% Discount which puts your number you came up with to a vey inaccurate outcome. I have personally seen Advocare change a lot of people’s lives. And I think that it is utterly disturbing how you can put down a company’s products that you have no personal clue about. Do your research next time and report your finding honestly not just to promote your own wonder diet.
A note on creatine: While eating a powder consisting solely of creatine monohydrate is not exactly “natural”, it is easily as natural as swallowing a tablet (or powder) of branched-chain amino acids. Creatine monohydrate exists in every cell of your body (it is how your cells are powered) and every piece of meat that you eat.
It is also one of the most extensively-studied dietary supplements around.
However, this only applies to creatine MONOHYDRATE. There are other forms of creatine available (especially creatine ethyl ester), which might be referred to as “creatine” but are not naturally-occurring substances in the human body.
I felt the need to clarify this point because, several years ago when I was working part-time as a personal trainer, I recommended a small dose of creatine monohydrate to a woman looking for a supplement to help her son build some muscle for high school wrestling. She started screaming at me like I had recommended mainlining Clenbuterol.
I’m SO new to the Whole 9 and Whole30, please forgive me if this is a newbie question. I’m on day 18 of my 1st true Whole30. My eating has been dialed in and I feel like this is a sustainable lifestyle change. My HUGE issue is my 3 pm sleepiness. I teach 2nd grade. I’m up at 445 am. Out the door by 555. I’m at school 630 and it’s on and popping all day. Everyday like clockwork I get sleepy at 3pm. It doesn’t matter what I eat for lunch or an afternoon snack. I had resorted to having a bottle of 5 hr energy in my car to take when I get off. Sometimes I grab an iced (no sugar) coffee. I generally hit the gym at 430 pm. I was recently told about another supplement from Advocare, Spark. Anyone have any thoughts on it?
Please forgive me if this was mentioned earlier I just didn’t read every comment.
Jason,
You haven’t been on the program long enough to become fat-adapted (able to run on fat for energy, instead of sugar). Your body is still needing sugar at 3 PM, and you’re propping up energy levels artificially with caffeine, which isn’t a good long-term strategy. Be patient, because just by changing your eating habits, this WILL get better. Try eating a snack when you get tired, instead of caffeine. Make sure it’s protein and fat-rich, and not just carbohydrate. (An apple isn’t going to cut it.) If you must do a small coffee, make sure it’s small–but those 5-hour energy drinks and the like are only hurting your cause, not helping.
Best,
Melissa