Robyn's Supplement Story

Ok, so if any of you know me or follow some of my posts on Facebook, you know I am EXTREMELY skeptical about what I put into my body.  This includes foods as well as supplements.  From the second I learned from my exercise physiology professor in grad school, Dr. Brown, that the FDA doesn't regulate the supplements industry and supplement companies can put anything on their labels and make any claim they want to about their products (even un-true), I was completely against them!  The exact thought that crossed my mind is "I am never taking supplements" and "why on earth would someone take them knowing this?" The word "supplement" to this day, makes me cringe just because of the history behind it. I had the belief that you can get all your nutrients and everything you need from food (I still believe this but more on that later), so why do we need supplements?

So as you would imagine, the first person that came up to me to talk about supplements asking my thoughts on them, didn't get a very good response. This person was a nutrition supplement distributor that, knowing I was in the fitness industry, did his best to convince me that I should sell their product.  No dice.  I didn't even want to hear about it.

I did, however, catch one piece of information from our chat that sparked an interest.  Those were the words "scientific & medical advisory board."  I didn't really know what this meant but I took his materials and went home.  It was probably even a few days before I looked into it.  But more on this later...

That talk was 2 years ago. Today, I still believe that you can get all the nutrition you need from foods.  However, it is my firm belief that doing so is almost as hard as being a professional athlete.  Our foods just aren't as nutritious as they used to be.  Over farming,  mass-production of foods, meat factories, and other discouraging facts about our foods today have led me to believe it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get all your nutrition from foods anymore. And you cannot believe or trust the claims that even food companies make.  Food companies are regulated by the USDA, FDA, etc and believe me, our health is not one of their main concern. If it was, we wouldn't be the fattest country in the world.  So sure, you can be "healthy" and "skinny" without supplementation, but are you filling in all of your nutritional gaps left by the foods we've eaten (or haven't eaten)?

So fast forward to today.  I now believe in supplements.  Am I still as skeptical as I was before, though?  ABSOLUTELY.  But I am happy to say that, as a fitness professional with her name and career on the line, have found a company in Advocare that I trust and back 100%.  I will put my name behind Advocare any day.  There are 5 reasons for this...

Here are my reasons:

1) Scientific & Medical Advisory Board - Yes, it did turn out to be a deciding factor for me. The board is made up of the top doctors, nutritionists, medical researchers and scientists in their field.  Most of them are associated with a major university (Yale, for example) and their reputation is far too important to be associated with unhealthy, unsafe products that make false claims.
2) Informed-Choice -  Advocare can proudly claim that their products are all "informed-choice."  This means that there are NO banned substances in their products. High school, college, and professional athletes can take Advocare products with confidence knowing that they will pass all drug tests.
3) Their Product Line -   The variety and amount of products offered is amazing.  It covers all the major health areas.  There are products associated with immunity, digestion, weight loss, products for active individuals, sports performance, overall wellness and more. I love this for myself as well as the fact that there are a wide variety of products that I can recommend to my clients.
4) The Support - I have support from one of the most knowledgeable guys in the nutrition industry with the biggest heart out there.  Joel Holcomb, has an extensive background in Sports Nutrition and was the former head athletic trainer of Georgetown High School where he was in charge of 1,800 athletes. After a scare with his athletes taking products from GNC, he researched products that were safe and exclusively recommended Advocare to his athletes from then on.
5) The TRUST FACTOR  - I love love love that I can recommend products to my campers and be confident that they are safe.  I constantly preach how important nutrition is in addition to exercise and now I have a Nutrition Company that I can trust with the health of my clients. My reputation as a fitness professional and owner of Boot Camp U, is far to important to me to be recommending un-safe products that make false claims.

Tell me, what are YOUR thoughts on supplements?  Do you have any stories to share about your experiences with them?  Good or bad. Please share.

For more information on Advocare, click HERE!