Garden Of Life
Posted by Long_Haired_Hippie on Mar 09, 2011 · Member since Apr 2010 · 58 posts
Went to a lecture tonight where the creater of the line came to speak and i purchchased some probiotics at the sale afterward. He also gave away one of his magazines and a his latest book. I know not all his products are vegan but im currious if anyone here takes them and what you think. I got the childrens powdered probiotic since im lousy with pills took it with dinner and no stomach upset which is great i hope to see some digestive and immune benefits in the long term. Anyone have any input on the garden of life products or his books?
Natalia
In general I am leery of anyone who says you have to take dozens of supplements to be healthy. Even my naturopath said she will only give 4 supplements at a time maximum. That said, I tried dozens of probiotics when I had a gut infection and only 2 actually worked. Garden of Life's Primal Defense and Pharmax HLC Intensive Caps. The Garden of Life one though I had to take 12 per day for the therapeutic dosage, while the Pharmax one I only needed 2 to get the same dosage.
Jordan Rubin also is a little inconsistent. In his book on digestive disease Guts and Glory he warns against the use of FOS and inulin, which I agree with since those additives to probiotics worsened my symptoms. Then he goes and puts inulin in his children's probiotic. He also was anti-vegan in his earlier books, he told how he was raised vegetarian and his Crohn's didn't go away until he started eating pastured meats, dairy and eggs....but now is catering to vegans, especially raw vegans with his new RAW line. Kind of just capitalizing on whatever.
Again, I hate to be too critical, obviously whatever he did worked for him...and Garden of Life supplements ARE high quality...so if you REALLY need a supplement they are a good option. Just don't get duped into thinking you have to take a bunch of supplements if you are already healthy.
Oh i totally agree i dont think large numbers of supplements are a agood thing but i have a very restricted diet for medical reasons which make scertain things hard to get including probiotics. Its way to easy to overdose on the fat solubles or waste money on the water solubles when taking large numbers of pills. Im glad the primal defense worked for you but i did notice that about his products the doses were very high i gather that is in part the he says he doesnt add any synthetic vitamins so there is additional bulk from the plant matter.
I havent read any of his books just breezed through the recipes int he free one but i can see how that would happen. A trend has a shelf life then its ont o the next so im sure he caters to whatever is int he moment and rigth now plant based diets are front and center as a lifestyle and diet craze. I was unfortunatly not blessed with the gift of good health so between that and my restricted diet i need some help and his probiotic is the most allergy friendly non gelcap form (and many of them arent allergy friendly) ive seen yet. Like you said im glad what he's done has worked for him but i have different needs and tend to be more critical than general supplement takers since i have a very sensitive system. Glad to have your input :)