I am not a believer of food supplements primarily because I really don’t know if it works the way I want it. I’ve tried a food supplement in the past but I only gained weight so I stopped. The only supplement I take is Vitamin E for the skin and Vitamin C to boost my immune system. My husband also takes a multivitamin for men so does our kids. But I realized that all of us are getting older. And all of us are getting exposed to harmful chemicals, not eating a healthy meal daily and are exposed to undue stress daily. All these can lower our bodies’ resistance to sickness and diseases.
As the primary menu planner of our family, I make sure that my family gets the right amount of nutrition from a balanced meal. Frankly, planning a healthy menu everyday is a tremendous task because it would take a lot of research, effort, time and money. Although, I am conscious about the kinds of food my family takes in. We don’t drink sodas. Sweets are limited. Instant noodles, canned foods and processed foods are consumed at a minimum. But once in a while kids request for hotdogs or bacon so I give in to the request once or twice a month.
As much I want to make the best food choices and serve them, I fail at times. Why? Life happens. The busyness of the day leads me to open a can of corned beef and top it with fried diced potatoes. These are the days I feel guilty saying, “I could have done better” but I realized life is not perfect so does meal time.
When Coby was younger, he was a picky eater. Now that he is 11, his eating habits are slowly improving. He is not a fan of traditional Filipino dishes like Sinigang, Mechado or Adobo. He prefers that I cook recipes from my ever reliable Yummy recipe books. He craves for restaurant-style/gourmet cooking. Good thing we stick to a budget weekly or we would be bankrupt with the food choices of this boy 🙂 He eats veggies but limited to kangkong and okra. But he devours any fruit he sees on the table. Though he is rather tall for his age because of my husband’s genes but I’m still concerned if he is getting the right amount of nutrients he needs daily.
Jianne, on the other hand loves home-cooked meals. After a meal, she would scoop a bowl of Nilaga (soup) as dessert. She would choose veggies like okra, broccoli, cabbage and her favorite mushroom over meat. She doesn’t like milk and cheese. I assume her aversion for milk due to breastfeeding. She was weaned at 2 years and 9 months. After that I gave her kinds of milk, Fresh Milk, Choc0-flavored milk, Low-fat milk and even Soy Milk but she would only take a sip and be done with it. Recently, she has enjoyed taking small tetra packs of Yogurt Milk. I don’t know if this is related to her height which became my concern for some time.
This is my reality. What am I to do? How can I address the nutritional deficiencies I know my family has? I realized that even if I have the resolve to prepare the best balanced meal for my family, sadly their nutrition would still be poor. Studies show that our bodies though receive vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants from the food we eat, it is not enough.
I learned that in order for us to receive the optimal amount of vitamin C daily we need take it 18 kilos of oranges. Seriously, 18? For optimal vitamin D, we need to consume at least 44 large eggs. How’s that even possible? But after hearing the talk on health and nutrition, my doubt about supplements was reversed. The only question now is what kind of supplement is best for me and my family?
A friend of mine introduced me to a company called USANA Health Sciences. Usana was founded by Dr. Myron Wentz, a renowned microbiologist and immunologist who developed the first diagnostic test that detects the Epstein-Barr virus. Later Dr. Wentz founded the Usana which develops pharmaceutical-grade nutritional supplements as well as personal care products. Their products are proven safe, complete, balanced, bioavailable (absorbed by the body) and potent.
The flagship product of Usana is the Essentials which is a pair of chelated minerals and vitamins and 18 antioxidants. Dr. Wentz painstakingly developed these supplements together with his team of scientists with the goal of nourishing the body at the cellular level. We learned back in school that cells are the basic unit of our entire body. If our cells are healthy then our bodies would be healthy. So, under the company’s strict supervision, they developed the Essentials as well as other supplements called Optimizers which cater to a more specific health condition.
Usana also formulated a multivitamin and mineral supplement called the Usanimals targeting the needs of the kids 2-12 years old. Because of the positive effects my husband and I felt after taking the Essentials which includes no more sinusitis, improved quality of sleep and more energy, we were confident that our kids would also benefit from the same quality of supplements.
Jianne loves it! Usanimals are chewable supplements kids can take once a day. The first bottle they consumed quickly because Jianne was secretly getting additional tablets from the bottle! I had the hide the second bottle from her before she consumes it again.
Though I can’t say if the energy they have now is because of the Usanimals or because they are really energetic to begin with (haha) but I am confident that they are getting a balanced amount vitamins and minerals their bodies need. I am secure that even if I was not able serve them a balanced meal they are still getting the right amount of nutrients their bodies need. Of course, this is not a lazy excuse not to make healthy choices. In the event that mom fails, Usanimals would give them what I was not able to provide.
*This is not a paid review by Usana Health Sciences.
