How this journey began...

Quick Disclaimer:  Neither myself nor my husband or anyone in our family for that matter have any financial investment in the Juice Plus+ company as of the date of this posting. This is not a quest to sell or distribute the product in any way, this is our personal journey to discover if Juice Plus+ produces the results it claims.

      A few months ago a friend of mine told me about a product she was taking called Juice Plus+.  She described how her daughter had gotten very sick and was out of school for a couple weeks.  She said during that time she never got sick and attributed it to taking Juice Plus+. 

     I decided to do a little research and find out more about Juice Plus+.  Per their website, Juice Plus+ was introduced in 1993, and is a whole food based nutritional product containing a wide variety of naturally occurring nutrients – including antioxidants and other phytonutrients – from 17 different fruits, vegetables and grains in powdered concentrate form.  It is made from fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables, and is carefully tested to ensure that no pesticides or other contaminants affect the natural purity of the product. The fruits and vegetables are juiced, and the juices are then concentrated into powders.  This product has also had numerous published, peer-reviewed clinical research done by several universities.  I have also heard stories from two families that described to me the benefits they have found by using Juice Plus+. 
    
     Now that you have a little background on the product, back to our journey and a little background on us!  I am a healthy individual, I could definitely loose some weight, but overall on the health scale I would rate myself pretty high.  I rarely get sick, and when I do I am not one to take medicine.  I definitely opt for the more natural alternatives such as zinc for a cold, and vitamin C.  So when I heard about this product, I instantly thought about my husband.  My husband, has a few health problems and in my opinion gets sick quite frequently (he doesn't seem to have the same opinion, but if we look at past Dr's appts and medications in the house, those tell a different story).  I thought this product sounded like something he could benefit from.  I also found out that when an adult in the household purchases the product a child is able to participate in the Children's Health Study and receives their supply of Juice Plus+ free for three years (as long as the adult is a customer).  We have three boys, but our youngest son, has chronic asthma and allergies so I decided this would be a great opportunity for him.   

     A little about my husband....he is in his early fifties, overweight for his height, lacks energy, has high blood pressure maintained by medication, and in the past had high cholesterol readings at annual physicals, but is not maintained by medication.  He has allergies that often lead to sinus infections, sinus headaches, ear infections and bronchial problems.  He can never get a "little" cold without it developing into something more.  He had back surgery around 1995 for a herniated disc in his lower back and has never fully recovered and continues to suffer from back pain as a result. 
    
     A little about our youngest....he is 12, and has suffered from asthma since he was very young.  It wasn't until numerous asthma attacks, breathing treatments and plenty of Dr's visits before we were referred to an Allergist.  Allergy testing revealed he is allergic to everything environmental, all types of trees, grasses, etc.  He was prescribed allergy medication to take every day, and an inhaler as needed.  We even did allergy shots for a couple years.  He continues to take his allergy medicine daily, but frequently suffers from severe sinus headaches that make him nauseous and cause him to miss school 1-2 times  a month.      

     We have placed our order (four month supply, $41.75 a month) and we are waiting for the shipment to arrive.  In addition to ordering Juice Plus+ I also decided to order the Vineyard Blend (four month supply, $26.75 per month) for my husband.  When you order Juice Plus+ you get two types of pills, Orchard Blend (fruit) and Garden Blend (vegetables).  The Vineyard Blend is made up of nine varieties of berries and grapes including Concord grape, blueberry and cranberry just to name a few.  The main reason I thought this would be a good addition is that berries have antioxidants and are believed to protect cells from free radicals, harmful oxygen molecules thought to damage cells that result in cancer, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. 

     Our goal is to discover if Juice Plus+ lives up to its claims.  We are doing this blog is to give a first hand experience, and hope you will follow us on this journey.