Posts Tagged with: "Youth Juice"

I received this email from Jim Lafferty, my co-founder for TBR Dream Marathon and one of my mentors in running and in life. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Jim is a huge believer in Youth Juice (no, he doesn’t own it nor is he a distributor of it and neither am I) and he shares this poignant story about a female runner named Uche, her challenges in life and how she faced them head on:

As you know, I moved from Manila to Lagos, Nigeria, in early 2010 to take a CEO role with Coca Cola.

Nigeria is also a developing market, and one of the “hot spots” of the global economy, yet FAR behind Philippines in many respects, including development of a running community. Despite some success in the Olympics in sprinting, typically the West Africans have not developed the kind of distance running pedigree of the east Africans. But the talent is there, like Philippines!

Soon after my arrival, I got into coaching and built a local team in Lagos, including key runners from the Women’s national team. These women, I can tell you, are real icons. They get zero support or funding–it all goes to sprinters. They are college educated, professional women—bankers, marketers, procurement officers. They work long hours, and train in what CNN Called “the worst city in the world to live in”. NO parks. No sidewalks. Dangerous roads. Extreme heat and humidity. Dodging cars, bikes, bodies (yes bodies!), rats, you name it. They are so inspiring.

One of the women runners, a 3:30 marathoner who also works for one of the top oil companies, was running with us one day in June this year. She is a quiet, but forceful personality. Keeps to herself a bit. Incredibly talented in so many things, and also a pillar of ethics in a tough environment for this. We stop for a road crossing about 7 miles into our Saturday long run, and she says to me: “Jim can we talk. I have some ‘female’ issues and it seems I have a fibroid tumour in my ovary and uterus. I want to go to the US to see a doctor there. What do you think I should do?”

Now realize this is a 32 year old, world class runner, top health, and takes good care of herself. She is single, beautiful, vivacious, about as special a person that exists. It was shocking, not only to hear her having such an issue, but I was humbled she would talk to me about it.

I told her it was probably a good idea to go to the US. I had seen some of the “best” Nigerian health care and it was concerning to say the least. So a few weeks later she went off to the US—AFTER finishing a strong second in an open women’s 5 kms race, narrowly losing to the national record holder by a few seconds!

She had her tests, and wrote me a note. Sure enough, she did have a fibroid tumour in her ovary. But when they opened her up, they also found COLON CANCER, stage 4, which had spread outside the Colon into surrounding tissues. So they had to extend the surgery to take the cancer out. And then lots of rehab time until the chemotherapy starts.

I cannot tell you all the things, all the questions that went through my head to get this news. But some big ones.

—How tough a human are we talking about? I think I am tough, I am nothing compared to her. She ran with stage 4 cancer and came in SECOND in a 500 woman open 5 kms race in the largest country in Africa! And she was hurting all the way. I struggle with pain being healthy in a 5 KMS race. She redefines mental toughness.

—Where is the fairness in life? She is single, 32, healthy, did everything right. She has her whole life in front of her. How fair is this? To have a cancer so advanced that the survival rate is quoted at 8-15% maximum.

—How long did she ignore those early symptoms? When it was “something funny” and before it became so advanced? Do we all sometimes ignore the little signs we should not?

We were able to get her into the MD ANDERSON Medical Center, one of the world’s top Cancer Centers. They gave her a “Pre Chemo” protocol and she sent it to me. It had a listing of vitamins to boost her immune system, like CQ-10, Vitamin C and E. But then the shocker of them all–THE DOCTOR WROE OUT THAT SHE SHOULD TAKE DOUBLE DOSES OF YOUTH JUICE EACH DAY! That’s right. Apparently MD ANDERSON has done several trials on Youth Juice and they now make it a part of all their cancer protocols. That’s right. The very product you talked about last year, the product that you can find in S+R, is a key part of a cancer treatment. Imagine how it can help healthy people stay healthy?

Uche (that’s her name) is still in Chemo now, and we will see. I am convinced she will be in the 8-15% who survive and thrive. Someone has to be in the 8% so why not her? I think she will be back, and running competitively again. And her role modeling will only be bigger for it. She will touch more lives.

Its a story with a learning for all of us. To count our blessings. To never take health for granted. Don’t ignore ANY warning signs. And to take good preventive measures like our vitamins and Youth Juice. Its a small price to pay to be healthy.

Jim Lafferty

As most of you know, I was battling a persistent, unforgiving, and embarrassingly noisy cough the past weeks.  Prior to that, I had been getting colds on and off the past months, too.  This was surprising since before I ran my series of marathons I hadn’t gotten sick—nope, not even sore throat—for over a year.  I honestly think running all those marathons in such a short period of time, combined with poor eating habits (boo to Cheetos!), compromised my immune system.

My good friend and mentor Jim Lafferty heard about this (and he heard my awful voice over the phone, too) and suggested I drink Youth Juice.  He even advised me to tell our TBR Dream Marathoners to give it a try.  He said I needed it to boost my immune system and get me ready for New York Marathon.

Youth Juice?  Never heard. I didn’t even know where I could purchase it.  Jim felt so strongly about it that, even if he was all the way in South Africa, he managed to send me three bottles for sampling.

I’ve been drinking it for 2 weeks now.  Combined with my super healthy diet the past weeks—lots of complex carbs, veggies, and fruits, no simple sugars, limited salt, no junk—I can say that it helped get me back in the pink of health.  And, not just that:  This morning, I ran 21k with friends and I felt powerful even until the last kilometer.  Totally amazing!

WHAT IS YOUTH JUICE?

According to its brochure, “Youth Juice was developed on the basis of research funded by a Canadian Government Research and Development Grant.  Youth Juice (TM) is a drink made of pure naturally grown berries and sea vegetables.”

Allow me to share Jim’s email to me about Youth Juice as it gets very technical, but he successfully made it simple for me to understand: (This is long, but take the time to read it. It’s worth it!)

“Jaymie,

1. As you may know, for a number of years I have sat on the advisory board of MEDICAL WELLNESS ASSOCIATION, a group dedicated to bridging medicine with more wellness and less purely treatment.  It is bascially a panel of doctors and physiologists, based in the US, who review products and wellness concepts. This is how I saw Youth Juice maybe 3 years ago now. The data blew us away. And all our Mayo Clinic Doctors and staff are now taking YJ in the US and Canada.
2. It starts from a fact that as a by product of many body processes, generating energy, exercise, fighting pollution, smoking, digesting foods, we create atomic compounds called FREE RADICALS which are unstable atomic structures, lacking one electron, and they seek to thus “bond” at a cellular level. When they bond into cells, they cause damage to the cell, or “oxidation” (like rusting on a car) that causes illness, advanced aging, disease, suppressed immune system.
3. Free radicals can cause cellular damage, and they are also processed and neutralized by the liver and kidneys. But we are often on overload. The way we eat, live, stress, pollution, smog, chemicals in food, all is alot more than our bodies were designed to take on. Think of all the chemistry we ingest in processed foods. This all is more than we evolved to take on.
4. Exercise is fabulous but also all the energy production creates ALOT of free radicals. This is why high percentages (up to 30%) of marathoners get upper respiratory tract infections post race—a depressed immune system behind free radical damage. Why so many say, “take lots of vitamin C” but it is more complicated than this.
5. There are compounds in nature that are called ANTI OXIDANTS that possess an extra unpaired electron and thus can “bond” with a free radical and flush it out ofthe body. Anti oxidants come in nature, and are in many of the foods we eat. The highest concentrations are in fruits and vegetables, and the most are in actually BERRIES. They are far and away the most powerful.
6. The most famous anti oxidant is probably vitamin C. And it is very good! But we are finding all kinds of compounds each year in our food that are anti oxidizing! It’s not so simply as “Take a capsule of vitamin C and all is well”. We need all kinds of various anti oxidants and the simplest way is to EAT right vs. trying to pill our way out of it.
7. The US Dept of agriculture, based on the reserach, has developed an accepted tool to meausre the anti oxidancy of foods or supplements. It is called ORAC, standing for “Oxygen radical absorption capacity”. This is widely accepted globally as THE standard for anti oxidants.
8. Tufts university did all the research and found that OPTIMAL human life needs 5,000 ORAC a day. An endurance athlete needs about 10,000/day. Now what does this mean? Let me put it to you this way. 1 orange is 100 ORAC! So to get all you need, you would need to eat ALONE 50 oranges a DAY! Now it is not this messy as different foods have different ORAC levels and oranges are actually not that amazing. A cup full of berries is 2,500 in comparison. So it all depends on all kinds of micro compounds, not just a vitamin like C.
9. There is NO WAY a person eating at Jollibee and living modern life is an optimal human. Hence why they feel like crap or are sick often. The body cannot handle the free radical load. Simple.
10. In Canada where it is a government healthcare system, knowing this they wanted to LOWER health care costs, and instead of cutting surgeries for example they focused on keeping people healthy—WELLNESS. The leading idea was to really develop an amazing anti oxidant.
11. Many products out there, assuming people will not eat perfectly, have low ORACs. In fact, most don’t put on the package as ORAC IS HORRIBLE. A typical Vit C pill is like 200 of 300 ORAC—hardly a dent on what you need. But people feel they can take 1 and they will be fine. In light of 5,000 needed, well it is kidding yourself.
12. There are anti oxidant drinks out there are 2500 or 3000 ORAC, typically berry drinks, but diluted with grape juice or water. What would happen if someone tried to formulate a perfect anti oxidant drink?
13. The Canadian government financed the development of YJ, using berries from Britich Columbia and all over the world, plus seaweed (fucoidan) and Reservatrol from grapes. It was a breakthrough and is the number 1 most effective anti oxidant in the world, and no one is CLOSE.  One serving of YJ is about 10,100 ORAC! And you cannot Overdose on ORAC—it’s just juice after all!
14. Net one serving (there are 10 in a bottle) is all an athlete needs. So on top of a healthy diet, you are about sure to be optimal. I have been drinking this for 18 months and NEVER BEEN SICK. NOR HAVE THE KIDS. Susan (Jim’s wife) had her bowel problems, but not linked to free radicals. She also is never sick and ran a PR on YJ this year in Comrades Marathon at 45. Every Doctor I know who sees the reserach takes it.
15. I do half servings as I want the bottle to last longer and I eat VERY WELL so 5,000 ORAC is good enough even with my running. If I was you, I would nail the first bottle at 10,000 full dose to get healthy (you will come back FAST) and then drop to half dosages to stretch it out. Just my personal POV.

Everyone should take this. Knowing the science above, this is a big issue in wellness toeday.

I don’t own stock nor do I work for YJ. Just believe in this product.

S+R has exclusive rights for Philippines so only available in S+R. It’s expensive but what price do you put on health? It’s like 2 dollars a day to be totally healthy. That’s how I look at it.”

MY REVIEW

PLUS:

1. All natural. I’ve been staying away from processed food for the past month.  So this came at the perfect time as all ingredients are berries or sea vegetables: Elderberry, Red Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Boysenberry, Blackcurrant, Cranberry, Kombu Fucoidan, Bladderwrack Sea Lettuce
2. Loaded with vitamins and minerals. The nutrition information is astounding.



3. Small serving. You don’t have to drink huge quantities to reap the benefits. One serving is 3.2 oz.  Just one shot.
4. Convenient. No more mixing. No more adding other ingredients. Just pour and drink.
5. Super yummy. It tastes like a thicker version of cranberry/grape juice.  Even my kids would love it.
6. It works. My hubby felt stronger the same day he drank it.  As I was sick when I started, I felt its benefits, after a week of drinking YJ.  I honestly believe it helped speed up recovery.  The past couple of days, I believe it’s contributed to improved performance in running and training at the gym.  I feel so strong!

MINUS

Price. It is painfully expensive.  One bottle costs P1,999.95.  Ouch. Now that I’m feeling better, I’ll take Jim’s advice and cut my serving size to half to extend its lifetime with us.  If budget is of no issue to you though, then I would highly recommend this product.

Youth Juice is available at S&R.

Price: P1,999.95 per bottle.

Website: http://youthjuice.com