Please believe me when I say, I am not trying to sell you Juice Plus, but it has provided the foundation for us, as a family that has worked.  What I am trying to sell you on is the value of whole food based nutrition, that is rich in a variety of fruits and vegetables.  So I read it all, and I read the negative reports on-line as well, and I had another couple of years invested in research and I was starting to really put it all together.  It is a lot to grasp.  I am smart, and I have a master's degree and I have numerous professional certifications from my life in corporate America, but the research crossed all types of disciplines, and I was not a medical doctor, of every known discipline, a bio-chemist, a cellular biologist and a medical researcher all rolled into one person---what I was though was overwhelmed and I knew that there had to be an answer.  Someone had to have made this easier, I prayed that someone had put all the pieces together for me in a comprehendible layperson's way.  

We've heard it all our life: "Eat more fruits and vegetables." Now, medical science is telling us, too. But knowing is easy. It's doing it that's hard as I was finding out. We often turn to vitamins and other nutritional supplements to improve our diets. Unfortunately, vitamins alone can't begin to replicate the thousands of different nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables, as was supported by all the medical research I was reading.  I was learning that Americans don't suffer from a vitamin deficiency; but from a whole food deficiency. And this deficiency affects each and every one of us.

In August 2007, our lives changed.  I spent the summer, focused on my kids and what they were putting in their bodies for fuel, and how healthy and happy they were.  As the start of the school year crept into our summer of healthy bliss, I was I admit, terrified of what was going to happen when I lost control in August of the choices they could make for food.  How soon would it be when I had tired, sick, cranky kids because they were consuming school food and not Mom food?  My son was still my big concern.  He had a very healthy happy summer, that was based on a diet of more and more fruits and vegetables, still minimal gluten and casein, and he was thriving.  I didn't want to see him hurting physically or emotionally again, if I could help it.  And so I made a choice, and I felt like I had failed, because I couldn't do what I thought I should be able to do as a Mom, and that was feed my kids right--So I admitted defeat and I ordered Juice Plus for our family.  I put the vitamins away, and I gave them all Juice Plus and it was soon very clear, that it was the right choice for us. 

Increasing his baseline fruits and vegetables with a balance that was designed to fight free radicals and reduce oxidative stress was the right choice and I was breathing a massive sigh of relief.  I was still skeptical though, even after reading all the published research in peer reviewed medical journals, nothing could be this easy.  The body takes four months to produce a new cell and all of your cells are on a different cycle, so after four months, we were working with all new cells that were benefitting from the fruits and vegetables he was getting on a regular basis.  I was giving him a double adult dose of Juice Plus, all three capsules, the fruit, veggie and berry everyday, twice a day with his other meds.  I figured he couldn't have too many fruits and vegetables and that the stress his body had been under could use all the help I could give it fighting toxins.  I kept his base diet the same, rich in protein and limited amounts of gluten and dairy.  His behavior slowly began to change, as did his health.  It wasn't instantaneous, but it was there.  He was sleeping better, and he was calmer, he seemed less agitated and he hadn't been sick.  Eighteen months later, today, I can still tell you that he hasn't had a pneumonia or lung infection that required antibiotics.  He has had a few colds, but they were just colds, and he did have one ear infection that required antibiotics, but his lungs were clear.  His autism remains, but how much it intrudes on his day to day life are greatly reduced by his diet---he doesn't get it though.  Everyday we fight about not eating carbohydrates for breakfast, and drinking soda.  I am consistent, and I win, and when he is allowed to break out of routine, it is on a day and in a place where I know I can control him and what happens.  I hope that he will see the connection to his diet and his behavior one day, and that my power struggle with him over food with disappear.  You could argue that he just "outgrew" some of these things, but I know differently, because if you change his diet, it all comes back!  At this point, I have dropped his dose of Juice Plus to that of an adult, two capsules of the fruit, veggie and berry every morning, and if he seems to be fighting a cold, then he gets double for a few days.  He continues to thrive.

I am not trying to sell you Juice Plus, but I am advocating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.  Juice Plus is just what made sense for our family.  I would however, recommend the same balance of fruits and vegetables in Juice Plus, but quite honestly, I physically can't eat 17 fruits and veggies a day and I don't like all of them.  I also can't afford to buy them every day for a family of 8, but about $1.50/day per person, for 17 fruits and veggies, seems like a great deal!  If you choose to try Juice Plus, AWESOME!  I would hope you see the same positive impact on your family that it has had on ours.  But be patient, it takes time.  Some of the other good that has come out of our increasing our fruits and veggies, and making them the largest part of our diet is that we crave them more.  It has turned out to be true for us that the foods you eat the most, your body craves the most, so on their own, my kids are making healthy choices and packing fruit for snacks.