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Bread, pasta,
and morning cereals from
enriched wheat flour, fortified juices, and processed dairy happen
to be the primary sources of several critically important
vitamins and minerals in the Western diet. The exact same foods also
happen to be prominent contributors to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes
because of their high carbohydrate content. Unfortunately, restricting
these foods while dieting causes undernutrition, oftentimes severe. In
this situation — damned if you lose weight, damned if you don't
—professional-grade supplements are the only realistic option to
“have your cake and eat it too.”
Depending on your current weight and desired rate of weight
loss, your weight loss/diabetes reversal program may span from
several months to well over a year. It is also common knowledge
among clinicians and nutritionists that most adult Americans are
deficient in some or most of the required vitamins and minerals
even on regular, fat-inducing diets. When you combine these two
realities — a restrictive long-term diet without fortified foods
and pre-existing nutritional deficiencies, — you quickly run
into undernutrition or malnutrition, no matter what.
In combination with transitional and reduced calorie diets,
these professional-grade supplements help to prevent
undernutrition, facilitate sustained weight loss,
and assist in diabetes recovery.
Undernutrition is a catchphrase for an acute
deficit of nutrients critical for good health, such as essential
amino and fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and microelements. It
sabotages weight loss and diabetes recovery in three major ways:
● First, undernutrition provokes
hard-to-resist cravings for various foods incompatible with a
weight loss protocol. These conditions are well
documented in medical literature, particularly a chocolate
craving associated with a magnesium deficiency, coffee or tea —
with iron, sweets — with chromium, soft carbonated drinks — with
calcium, a premenstrual food craving — with zinc, alcohol — with
calcium and potassium, and various others.
● Second, after encountering
undernutrition, your body reduces its rate of energy metabolism,
and enters into preservation mode, also known as the hibernation
state. This state is apparent from a low body temperature,
chills, susceptibility to colds, fatigue, and strong cravings
for sweets and caffeine. All of these conditions are well known
as major causes of weight loss failure.
● Third, many of the missing nutrients
limit the loss of fat by slowing down structural metabolism.
In this case the body slows down cell division to preserve
resources and assure survival. Weak muscles, aged skin,
cellulite in the thighs and buttocks, fragile nails, drab hair,
bleeding gums, tooth loss, bone disease, and height reduction
are the most apparent signs of reduced structural metabolism.
● Fourth, impaired structural metabolism
causes a multitude of undernutrition-related conditions and
diseases, including diabetes itself and practically all of its
complications, such as hypertension, heart disease, kidney and
liver failure, strokes,
bone disease, nerve damage, depression, blood disorders, reduced
immunity, loss of eyesight, and similar others.
These four problems — hard-to-resist cravings
for high-calorie foods, reduced rate of energy metabolism, diminished structural metabolism,
and the worsening of diabetes — represent a classical
Catch-22: you are overweight and/or diabetic because of
undernutrition, while all weight loss diets cause even more
undernutrition!
That is why taking high-quality, balanced
multivitamin and mineral supplements, such as the Morning and
Evening Packs (illustrated above), for the duration of your
diet, is the only realistic way to prevent cravings, improve
energy metabolism, maintain an optimal rate of structural
metabolism, and to preempt causing or exacerbating diabetes and
diabetes-related complications.
The ongoing supplementation is also critical for your appearance, particularly
for your skin’s ability to stretch back over the areas of fat
loss, your hair’s ability to remain where it belongs and retain
its normal color, and your nails staying firm, pink, and pretty.
You can learn more about other health-related functions of these
supplements here [link].
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Since you aren't made of steel...
For safety
reasons, the Morning & Evening multivitamin formula does
not include dietary iron. This prevents overdosing by healthy
men and women past menopause who may obtain all of their
required iron through their diet. Women of childbearing age
require an iron supplement to offset its losses during periods,
lactation, and childbearing.
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Supplement facts
100 Servings Per Container |
Serving size: 1 tablet |
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Amount Per Serving |
% Daily value |
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| Iron |
(as amino acid chelate, gluconate) |
25 mg |
139% |
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OTHER
INGREDIENTS: May contain one or more of the following:
magnesium stearate, cellulose, modified vegetable gum, vegetable
stearin, dicalcium phospate, silica and food glaze. |
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CONTAINS NO ADDED sugar, salt, dairy, wheat,
yeast, gluten, corn, preservatives, articficial colors
or flavors.
SUGGESTED USE: As a dietary supplement, adults
take one (1) tablet daily with meals, or as directed by
a health care professional. Store in cool, dry place,
and away from direct light.
WARNING: Accidental overdose of iron-containing
products is a leading cause of fatal poisioning in
children under 6. Keep this product out of reach of
children,. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor
or poison control center immediately. |
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People who have had
bleedings related to cancer, wounds, or surgery, may also need
extra iron in therapeutic doses to replace their losses. In
general, a healthy person stores 4 to 5 grams of iron inside the
body, and a normal daily loss ranges between 0.9 and 1 mg per
day. A mean iron loss during menstruation adds another 0.6 to
0.7 mg per day.
According to the Dietary Reference Intakes for
Iron by the Food and Nutrition Board:
"Almost two-thirds of iron
in the body is found in hemoglobin present in circulating
erythrocytes. A readily mobilizable iron store contains another
25 percent. Most of the remaining 15 percent is in the myoglobin
of muscle tissue and a variety of enzymes necessary for
oxidative metabolism and many other functions in all cells." [link]
The blood, muscles, and cells need oxygen to
produce energy. The blood delivers oxygen to the
energy-producing sites from the lungs. For this it requires
hemoglobin — a pigment that gives red blood cells their distinct
color. To produce hemoglobin and red blood cells, the body
requires iron, folate, and vitamin B-12.
All restrictive weight loss diets, including my
program, do not contain enough of these micro-nutrients because
they limit the intake of carbohydrate-heavy bread, pasta, and
cereals that are commonly fortified with folic acid and iron.
Organ and red meats are the best source of the dietary vitamin
B-12, but they are also limited even in regular Western diets.
When any of these nutrients are missing for too
long, you may eventually experience reduced energy metabolism
related to anemia. Some people, particularly growing children
and women of child-bearing age, may be affected by anemia even
before starting a weight loss diet, and that will make an
already bad situation even worse.
Fatigue, depression, memory lapses, poor
eyesight, hair loss, weak or concave nails, pale skin, high
resting pulse rate, shortness of breath, reduced libido,
infertility, amenorrhea, false menopause, low body temperature,
frequent colds, chills, weight gain on a moderate diet, and
persistent weight loss plateau are some of the signs of anemia,
including anemia related to folic acid and vitamin B-12
deficiencies. If you experience any of these systems, make sure
to ask your doctor to administer blood tests that can confirm
iron-deficiency anemia.
Anemia may also contribute to elevated blood
pressure and heart disease, further exacerbating diabetes and
obesity-related complications. To assure a steady supply of
oxygen to the brain, heart muscle, and extremities, the
autonomous nervous system commands the heart to increase its
output to compensate for reduced oxygenation of blood. The heart
accomplishes this task by beating faster and pumping harder to
increase the rate of blood flow to commensurate with the reduced
level of oxygen.
Quality supplements are the only viable option
to ameliorate anemia while on a weight loss diet. I also
recommend taking iron supplements throughout your diet as a
protective measure even if you don't have anemia. It is always
easier to prevent iron-deficiency anemia with a daily dose of
supplemental iron than to reverse it later on with larger doses,
because non-heme iron (synthetic iron salts) does not digest as
well as hem iron (natural iron in organ and red meats), and has a range
of undesirable side effects when taken in larger therapeutic
amounts, usually above 45 mg per day, a Tolerable Upper Intake
Level for adults.
Although dietary iron may be quite toxic when
overdosed, the amount in this supplement is just slightly above
the daily recommended allowance, and isn't likely to cause any
complications. Please also note that the belief that
supplemental iron causes constipation is incorrect. Actually, it
is the complete opposite — dietary iron, particularly in excess,
may cause diarrhea, oftentimes severe.
People affected by inflammatory bowel disease
may be oversensitive to supplemental iron. If you experience any
undesirable side effects, please discontinue this supplement,
and consult your physician for further assistance.
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Preventing “other anemias” and much, much more…
It is not well known outside of medical circles
that there is much more to anemia than just dietary iron. It can
also be caused or contributed to by deficiencies of vitamin B-12
and folate (a.k.a. folic acid). Between these two, vitamin B-12
deficiency is the trickiest, because this vitamin is relatively
scarce in the Western diet, and its assimilation is a rather
complicated affair, particularly as you get older.
Vitamin B-12
(cobalamine) is a key component of energy and structural
metabolism on a cellular level. It is also involved in the
formation of blood, including red blood cells, and participates
in the synthesis of DNA and fatty acids. Since the body can't
produce it, we totally depend on dietary sources for its
continuous supply.
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Supplement facts
180 Servings Per Container |
Serving size: 1 Losenge |
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Amount Per Serving |
% Daily value |
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| Folic Acid |
400 mcg |
100% |
| Vitamin B-12 (as cyanocobalamin) |
1000 mcg |
16,667% |
| Biotin |
300 mcg |
100% |
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OTHER
INGREDIENTS: Mannitol, sorbitol, dextrose, sucrose, natural
cherry flavor, (May contain onf of the following: magnesium
stearate, cellulose, vegetable stearin and cilica) |
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CONTAINS NO ADDED sugar, salt, dairy, wheat,
yeast, gluten, corn, preservatives, articficial colors
or flavors.
SUGGESTED USE: As a dietary supplement, adults
place one (1) lozenge under the tongue and allow to
dissolve, or as directed by a health care professional.
Do not chew the lozenge. Store in a dry, cool place away
from direct light.
WARNING: Keep out of reach of children. |
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The proper function
of vitamin B-12 in the body depends on the availability of folic
acid. Without the latter all known B-12 deficiency symptoms
continue to persist. Chronic deficiency of vitamin B-12 is
further exacerbated by the drugs most commonly prescribed to
people already affected by diabetes and obesity, particularly
Metformin (Glucophage), and the most popular acid reducers, such
as Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium, Tagamet, Pepcid, and Zantac
because all of them interfere with the release of intrinsic
factors, required for assimilation of vitamin B-12.
Just like antacids, alcohol adversely affects
the absorption of vitamin B-12, turning its scarcity into
dependence, because B-12 deficiency affects the brain and nervous
system, and contributes to chronic depression, anxieties, and
fatigue — the trifecta behind much of alcoholism and other
addictions. I know this firsthand because I wasn't able to get
off even moderate consumption of alcohol — a key precondition
for permanent weight loss — until I started taking a sublingual
B-12 supplement on a daily basis.
Most people past middle age with a history of
gastric disorders, such as heartburn, GIRD, gastritis, history
of ulcers, and delayed stomach emptying, typical for diabetes,
are not able to assimilate vitamin B-12 from foods and oral
supplements because their stomachs no longer secrete intrinsic
factors, essential for its assimilation. For this reason vitamin
B-12 in clinical settings is still provided via intramuscular
injections or intravenously.
There is a certain controversy over the
bioavailability of sublingual supplements. Some authors believe
that it is, in fact, the swallowing of them that actually works.
My actual experience with clients taking B-12 in sublingual form
indicates that they are all “in status” according to their blood
tests. To assure optimal assimilation, you may take a B-12
supplement just before a protein-containing meal, usually a
dinner.
Folic Acid (Folate,
vitamin B-9). The need for folic acid (folate in natural
form) in human nutrition is well known and documented. Organ
meats, namely liver, used to be the primary source of folate in
the human diet, and it is still so in cultures with a heavy
preference for meats.
In the contemporary Western diet organ meats
have been largely supplanted by folate from leafy vegetables,
such as spinach, asparagus, and turnip greens (hence folate,
from Latin's folium, or leaf), legumes such as beans,
peas, and lentils, and fortified products from wheat flour, such
as bread, pasta, and morning cereals. Along with supplements,
fortification represents the major source of folate in the
United States, and other countries that require mandatory
fortification of wheat flour.
The human body needs folate to synthesize and
repair DNA — the precondition for cell division, growth, and
structural metabolism. In addition to chronic anemia and
reproductive problems, such as male and female infertility,
spontaneous abortions, and neural tube defects, folate
deficiency is also behind such varied conditions as heart
disease, stroke, cancer, obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes,
depression, memory loss, schizophrenia, allergic diseases, renal
disease, macular degeneration, bone diseases, rheumatoid
arthritis, hot flashes in post-menopausal women, and infectious
diseases related to weakened immunity.
Infants and children are particularly affected
by folate deficiency, with problems running from autism to
stunted growth, and everything in-between, hence the profound
need for folate supplementation, particularly among prospective
mothers and while breastfeeding. Since over 50% of all
pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, the rate of
birth defects and infertility related to folate deficiency still
remains high.
The ubiquitous recommendation to consume 5 to
10 servings from the Grain group (i.e. bread, pasta, and
morning cereals) was, in fact, intended to prevent folate
deficiencies, and is cited as one of the primary rationales for
fortification of wheat flour with folate. Unfortunately, this
well intended approach ended up fueling the epidemics of
diabetes and obesity in the United States related to the
overconsumption of dietary carbohydrates from these products.
Naturally, to enable and facilitate sustained
weight loss, you must reduce the consumption of these products
to a bare minimum. In this situation, inevitably, you stand the
risk of acute folate deficiency soon thereafter unless you take
supplemental folate.
Just like most other water-soluble vitamins
from the B-group, folate isn’t stored in the body in appreciable
quantities, and requires continuous re-supply through the diet.
Thus, to preempt folate deficiency related to a reduced calorie
diet and reduction of fortified foods, traditionally associated
with folate, I recommend taking supplemental folate throughout
the entire length of your weight loss program, and, unless you
are planning to regain weight from the same causes, permanently
thereafter.
Biotin (Vitamin H
or B-7). Biotin, also known as Vitamin H and B-7,
assists in various metabolic reactions, including maintaining a
steady blood sugar level. This alone makes its supplementation
paramount throughout the weight loss and diabetes reversal diet
because it lowers blood sugar levels, often considerably, by
improving the utilization of glucose and enhancing energy
metabolism.
Biotin is also required for cell growth, the
production of fatty acids, and the metabolism of fats and amino
acids, the building blocks of protein. Not surprisingly, the "H"
in biotin stands for "Haar und Haut,” or German for “hair and
skin.”
Wrinkles, pigmentation (vitiligo), and
discoloring of the skin; soft, brittle, and concave nails;
functional alopecia (non-genetic hair loss), premature graying
related to the loss of pigment in the hair (Anderson
Cooper-type), conjunctivitis, seborrhea, eczema, and a red rash
around the eyes, nose, mouth, and genital area (scaly
dermatitis), are the most common and apparent symptoms of biotin
deficiency.
Biotin deficiency is also implicated in
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a rather common
occurrence among people affected by obesity, hypertension,
dyslipidemia, pre-diabetes, and diabetes. It is also associated
with diabetes-related numbness, tingling, and loss of
sensitivity in the extremities, a condition known as diabetic
neuropathy, which is behind most of the 70,000+ plus annual
lower limb amputations in the United States. [Source:
National Diabetes Fact Sheet, pdf]
Under normal circumstances, intestinal bacteria
produce all of the biotin required by the body. Unfortunately,
exposure to antibiotics and heavy metals, such as mercury in
fish and dental amalgams, damages these bacteria, and the
ensuing disbacteriosis [link] contributes to chronic biotin
deficiency and related damages.
Egg yolk is one of the most abundant sources of
biotin. Alas, most Westerners consume eggs either scrambled,
hard-boiled, or none at all. Consuming eggs raw isn't a solution
either — a protein in uncooked egg whites binds biotin in yolk,
and turns it useless. So it is best to consume certified organic
eggs cooked, preferably soft-boiled, sunny side up, or
over-easy, but not hard-boiled or scrambled, because overcooking
may render much of its nutritional values useless.
Biotin is available in some fruits and
vegetables, but in very tiny amounts — the volume of these
fruits and vegetables required to obtain a daily dose of biotin
is above and beyond what is appropriate during a weight loss
diet, or, for this reason, any diet.
For all of these self-evident reasons —
relative scarcity in the reduced-calorie diet, commonplace
disbacteriosis, improved utilization of glucose, enhanced energy
metabolism, prevention of diabetic neuropathy, and, equally
important, preserving the good looks of your skin, hair, and
nails — I recommend supplementing biotin throughout the entire
duration of your weight loss diet, and beyond. The sublingual
form offers one of the highest rates of bioavailability,
effectiveness, simplicity, and cost-effectiveness.
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How to take Weight
Loss Transitional Program
● Morning and Evening Packs:
Follow the instructions provided on this page [link].
● Natural Chelated Iron: To
assure minimal distress, take this supplement with dinner and
Evening Pack because vitamin C improves iron assimilation, and
its dispersal with a larger volume of foods and fluids minimizes
the chances of encountering any distress. Unlike elementary iron
or inorganic iron salts, such iron sulfate found in most
supplements, this water-soluble organic formula has a
higher-degree of bioavailability, and is gentler on the GI
tract.
● Vitamin B-12 lozenges: To
assure optimal assimilation, I recommend taking one lozenge
every other day immediately after dinner. Do not chew the
lozenge. Let it dissolve gradually. Vitamin B-12, folate, and
biotin are also included into the multivitamin supplement in the
Morning and Evening Packs. Because none of these vitamins is
toxic even in much greater doses, this approach provides an
extra level of insurance against poor assimilation and
undernutrition.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can I purchase Iron and Vitamin B-12
supplements separately?
Sorry, we do not sell these supplements separately because
we cannot do so cost-effectively. We bundle these high-quality
supplements with the three month supply of recommended
multivitamins as an extra service to our clients.
Q. Can I take similar supplements from another
high-quality manufacturer?
Absolutely. That said, if you run into any
problem while taking supplements made even by another equally
reputable company, I wouldn't be able to assist you with related
questions because I can only vouch for the performance of the
supplements that I am intimately familiar with from the
experience of our clients, my family, and myself.
Q. You call your supplements
“professional-grade” but their price is considerably less than
similar supplements from other companies and specialists, who
provide personalized weight loss counseling. Why is that?
Premium (or super-premium) pricing of
professional-grade supplements creates a perception of higher
quality, and, of course, brings in much higher profits.
Otherwise, there
isn't anything special or unique in those overpriced supplements
that makes them intrinsically better other than their “snob”
appeal.
You may take extra measure of comfort in
knowing that my family and I take exact same supplements as
we provide to our clients. Rest assured, only the very best goes
into the mouth of my wife, myself, and our family. Besides, as a
former pharmasist, I know a great deal more about the quality, manufacture, and effectivness
of these supplements than most.
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Author's note
Some people do not take supplements because of
justifiable concerns over their cost, quality and safety.
The overall cost of food on my program is a
fraction of the cost of a conventional diet, saving you
more than enough to pay for the best quality supplements many times
over, and still leave you with plenty of money to replace your
oversized wardrobe!
And that is before factoring in the cost
of medical bills, insurance premiums, and missed advancement
opportunities over apperance bias, however unjustifiable and
inexcusable it may be.
To address safety and quality concerns
(discussed here and
here), I recommend
taking professional-grade supplements manufactured in the United
States from US- and European-made ingredients. I do not
recommend taking consumer-grade supplements for the same reason
you would not feed a newborn with a
Chinese-made formula from a dollar store!
Konstantin Monastyrsky
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