Why did you start www.supplementdetective.com?

Some of the best advice I ever got about writing has come from a number of different people – and they all said the same thing:  talk (read: teach) about things you know and that you are qualified to write about.  I’ve been a pharmacist for nearly a decade so I’m a medication expert.  But, by desire, I’m a natural medication expert.

This was really an extension of the things I did everyday as a pharmacist.  Patients are really interested in medicines and what they do, particularly natural supplements.  When I was in pharmacy school we didn’t learn a whole bunch about them so I took an elective where we learned more.  I loved it.  So, ever since I’ve been out of school that’s always been my bent.

But, as time went along and I started researching things I also discovered that while natural supplements and alternative medications have some good points there is also a lot of garbage out there.  It’s pretty tough for the normal person just trying to get a straight answer on something.  Should they spend their money on it?  Is it really effective?  Those kind of things.

Plus, it didn’t hurt that part of my background was in natural supplement marketing.  So I know how that game is played too.

What did you do with marketing?

Early on in my career as a pharmacist I discovered that I was getting burned out on the count, pour, lick and stick mentality.  I enjoyed natural health and learning about it and I enjoyed writing.  So, I looked around at ways to combine them and came up with copywriting.  Which is basically selling something through the written word.  If you’ve ever looked in a major magazine you’ve undoubtedly seen sales pitches selling a supplement…or a home study course…or books…or a hundred other things.  That’s what I ended up doing for a while.

And, I got pretty good at it.  Good enough anyways, that clients were paying me nice money to write for the natural health products.

But then I discovered that it was harder and harder for me because I kept getting pitched to write for the ‘next, latest and greatest’ supplement.  Sure, the client had studies and so forth to back up their claims but I also knew enough from my own research that either the studies were flawed or too sparse to really be convincing to me.  So, if they had a tough time convincing me it would be tough for me to write a sales letter for them convincing people to give this supplement a shot.

I guess in a way it was disheartening.  I started to feel a little dirty by writing for things that I didn’t totally believe in.  Besides, I liked writing and I had a lot of knowledge that I wanted to share.  Knowledge that people wanted to know about based on my research.

So, despite my Doctorate degree and six years of higher education, I finally put two and two together.

So, after wandering in the weeds for a year or so I finally decided to launch my own website where I did what I was already doing everyday.  Helping people like you make informed decisions about natural supplements and healthy eating based on the evidence – not a sales pitch.

I mean, too few people really realize that with most supplements there isn’t a whole lot of difference between them.  There’s usually a tip-off here or there to let you know before you hit the buy button that you might be paying more for promises rather than results

Could give me a few examples?

Sure.  Let’s look at network marketing as an example.

Most supplements I’ve seen sold that way are overpriced to say the least.  And it makes sense when you look at the marketing structure.  They don’t just have to pay one person for bringing the sale in.  They have to pay for that person plus their downline and so forth.  That adds a lot of unnecessary costs to whatever they are selling.

The whole thing doesn’t make financial, or health, sense.

Don’t get me wrong.  A lot of network marketing folks are good people.  They are just looking for a way out of the rat race and network marketing seems like the perfect thing.  But then what happens?  They start conning their friends into dinners which are usually thinly disguised sales pitches.  My only question is can you sleep at night doing that?  I can’t.  I could never do that.  But some people are so desperate they’ll do anything.

I personally know a couple who are friends of mine who were invited to ‘dinner’ with a friend.  The person told them they just wanted to get together and ‘catch up’.  Very innocent.

When they got there the persons living room was full of people.  At first they thought it was a party.  A half-hour later they are sitting there with a stranger (their friends mentor and the person who ‘recruited’ them) giving a slide presentation selling them on the next latest greatest thing.  They felt used – and rightfully so.  But, out of respect, they sat there and listened when they probably should have walked out.

If a product is really that great do you know what a smart company would do?  They’d send out a press release and get more business then they knew what to do with and avoid having to pay hundreds of middle-men.

Network marketing companies have to do things that way because, generally speaking, their products aren’t as good as they claim.  And they justify their prices by saying they are ‘better’.  Really?  Show me the proof.  Truth is, they have to jack up the price to cover their ‘up-lines’ or whatever they call them nowadays.

I could go on and on.  This is just one example of good people who’ve drank the koolaid of network marketing.

And yes, I get people to my site who are in network marketing who tell me how their company is different.  How their product really is priced fairly and how they have such and such famous MD behind it.

God bless those people.  I mean it.  They have passion.  They have drive.  But in 9 out of 10 cases the business model that is network marketing will suck that drive and passion out of them before they realize it isn’t what they thought it was.  In that case I simply have to wish them well and respect their opinion.  But, in the vast majority of cases, they are wasting precious time and money on a scam.

Another example would be pharmaceutical grade vitamins.  It’s marketing.  Hype.  It’s essentially a made-up, industry term to get more money from consumers.

It works.

What is your philosophy about health?  As far as how to obtain it and actually keep it?

Like a lot of things, I think we make health more complicated than it needs to be.  Your body is an amazing machine.  Absolutely amazing.  If you work with it and let it do it’s job – instead of trying to fight it on everything it will richly reward you.  So, that’s the biggest thing – give your body what it is designed for and needs.  And that starts with what you put in your mouth.  So, in a nutshell here is what I believe:

1. Eat Natural Foods. Avoid anything processed if you can.  My general philosophy is that if man made it – it’s not fit for you to eat.  If it is a food that has a definite shelf life and can spoil than it’s a good food to be eating.  Focus on eating nutrient dense, calorically light foods.  Meats, nuts, fruits, vegetables.  Avoid sugar like the plague.  Retain your insulin sensitivity.  Quit worrying so much about fats.  The low-fat diet craze of the last thirty years has hurt more people than it has helped.  You need fats for a number of functions in your body everyday.  It’s well known that pregnant women who eat ultra low fat diets can stunt their babies brain development.  Avoid soy and stop eating every two to three hours.  Yes it boosts your metabolism a bit but you are slowly becoming a borderline diabetic by destroying your insulin sensitivity.  Don’t deprive yourself.  Natural foods will please anyone’s palate if they are creative and you have the right attitude.
2. Treat supplements as the word implies. Natural supplements, vitamins, minerals and the like are great.  But some are greater than others.  Educate yourself.  And then, and only then, add a supplement to your lifestyle.  I’m big on antioxidants.  Cod liver oil is very beneficial.  So is Vitamin C.  But, as with any supplement, treat them just as the name implies: they should supplement your health – not serve as a substitute for it.  All too often I see someone who is spending $99.97 a month on the next greatest super-food or supplement and they think that gives them the green light to live on McDonald’s.  It doesn’t work that way.  Supplements are exactly that…supplementing your health.
3. Limit prescription drugs. Unlike a lot of other natural health advocates I don’t rail against the “pharmaceutical fat cats” and their “poisons”.  Face it.  Pharmaceuticals have saved many a life.  Someone who tells you anything different is likely trying to sell you something.  Hold onto your wallet.  But, just like natural supplements, folks start using them as a cure all instead of focusing on the basics.  Big mistake, and this is why they keep sliding down the slippery slope of declining health.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone overweight (morbidly obese in fact) with congestive heart failure on an oxygen tank coming in to get their blood pressure medications and inhalers (I use the plural forms because after a while the doctor has to start prescribing drugs to treat other drugs side effects) and then they go outside to get a smoke while they wait.  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Again, it all comes back to your lifestyle.  I could take a lot of people and if you could give me 90 days I could turn a lot of things around just given the right education.  Prescription drugs – in almost every case – are not the answer.  They are a band aid.  And generally a poor one at that.  They often times treat symptoms, not the cause.  That’s a foreign concept coming from a pharmacist.
4. Use common sense. You need rest.  It’s a cornerstone of a healthy immune system and life.  Limit your stress when at all possible.  I’m a hypocrite when it comes to this because I’m always striving.  I guess that is my mentality.  I’m not high-strung that way…I just want to achieve a lot.  There’s nothing wrong with that unless you let it adversely effect your health.  It helps if you have someone close to you to keep you in line.  That’s where my wife comes in.  We are both overachievers in a lot of ways.  When we’re getting off track we both rein each other in.  But the point is, if you are doing the things I mentioned above – getting rest and trying to limit unneeded stressors (plus dealing better with stress in general) you’re 97% of the way there.  The other 3% is ‘tweaking’ things a bit.  Say, for example, intermittent fasting and certain exercise routines.

Do you think supplements should have more regulation?

No.

Why not?

It’s like the gun control argument.  We don’t need more gun control.  And I don’t say that just as a gun owner.  I say it from common sense.

Sure…guns kill people.  So do kitchen knives and cars and baseball bats and chicken bones.  Should we regulate those too?  Should we outlaw Cutco Cutlery salespeople or impose tariffs on them?  Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it.  It’s just as ridiculous as gun control.  Guns don’t kill people…people do.

Supplements aren’t a whole lot different.

Trust me.  I know every supplement isn’t perfect.  I’m sure there are some that aren’t safe.  But, I say that because regulation in any form is a very, very thin line.  Yes, there are companies and supplements that operate on the shady side.  But, all in all, I think there is enough oversight in the supplement industry as is.

And the thing is, in a free market, the bad apples will float to the surface and be disposed of.  It’s much more efficient and less expensive to let the consumer vote and have competition between the best companies that remain standing.

Also, when you introduce more and more regulation it hurts not just the companies but you – the consumer.

Think about it as a manufacturer.  Now you have all these regulations.  You have 6,001 new procedures you have to follow.  You have Big Brother looking over your shoulder on every move.  And when you screw up (and, trust me, they’ll find something you’re doing wrong) you pay dearly for it.

Well, eventually manufacturers simply have to pass those costs on.  They can’t continue to absorb them all.  And guess who ends up paying for them?  That’s right, you and me.

Finally, regulation is one thing.  But take a quick look at who does most of the regulating…the government.  In my not so humble opinion, if you wanna screw something up beyond total recognition let the government get their hands on it.  If you want to bankrupt a business as quickly as possible run it like the government.  In short, the less government is involved the better off we’ll all be.

We are all seeing this on a huge scale nowadays with the bailouts, ‘universal health care’ and so forth.

If the government would just leave things alone it would eventually all sort itself out.  There would be corrections.  Would it be easy?  No.  Would some industries get hit harder than others?  Yes.  But look at Japan.  They’ve been continually bailing out and offering ’stimulus’ packages for over a decade and what have you seen?  Nothing.  The economy is stuck.  Their deficits are monstrous.  But, if we’d let ‘nature run it’s course’, – economically speaking -  we would be better off in the long run for it.  But, the government keeps wanting to fix things for their own benefit and all we are allowing them to do is make things worse.  Way worse.

Are You A Republican or a Democrat?

Neither.  I was raised Democrat.  Later in life I gravitated towards Republican.  Eventually, I discovered neither of them were right.  The difference between most Democrats and Republicans is simply shades of gray.

Most politicians are liars to differing degrees and will sell you and me down the river for their best interests.  I know that sounds harsh to some, but you simply have to look at promises politicians make to you and I and if they truly followed them with their actions.  Most don’t.  They tell us what they believe we want to hear and what polls tell them to say so they can get elected.

In short, I believe the two party system is a travesty.

I do however support any politician who follows the constitution.  This explains why I voted for Ron Paul in the last election.

How about Universal Health Care?

It’s already proven itself to be a failure.  It won’t be any different here.

Actually, most states have it already in the form of Medicaid and, most recently, Medicare D.  State Medicaid programs have either gone bankrupt or are on the brink of it.  If you look at the numbers on Medicare D it’s going the same route.  These are gargantuan programs that need trillions of dollars that we don’t have anymore to fund them.  You have to pay for these programs some how.

The results can either skew one of two ways: you’ll either have to pay more in taxes to pay for the programs or you cut back on services to keep costs low.  We already pay enough in taxes in this country.  So that will be a tough sell.  So, the other option is to limit services.  This is why people in Canada have to come to the US for routine things like X-rays or delivering a baby.  There’s a waiting list months long for them in Canada.

It’s great in theory.  It really is.  But I see the results everyday in the health care system and it’s not quality health care.  It’s like the scene at the end of the movie Beetlejuice where Michael Keaton is sitting with his number in the waiting room.  He’s got like 1,500,000 people in front of him.  He’ll be waiting for years.  The kind of treatment you’d get from what the politicians are proposing would be similar.  It’s going to be like getting health care at the DMV.  Ironically, the politicians who came up with this great idea are not going to be using the same system for themselves.

I agree though that health care costs are out of control but that’s why preventative care is the key.  People in this country don’t eat right.  This goes on for years and years.  Then they get diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer and so forth.  That’s when costs start getting high.

Instead of treating symptoms with Universal Health Care people in this country have got to understand the cause of their problems and treat that.  They can do it themselves and they can do it cheaper.  They can help themselves, the health care system and our country.

And if you want to raise premiums – you should do it for the people who refuse to take care of themselves.  Also, let people choose their health insurance.  If my employer had given me the option I would have chosen a high-deductible plan and used a medical savings account because my family and I take care of ourselves and hardly ever use any medical resources.  But I had to pay a high premium every month just to cover those folks who refused to do that (and, of course, to cover the insurance companies poor investments which contribute heavily to increased premiums).

Unfortunately, I see too many people in this country who want the government to take care of them.  The government can’t even take care of itself, how do you expect them to take care of you?

How do you view yourself as different from the other ‘guru’s’?  What sets you apart?

I don’t like to think of myself as a guru.  Here’s why: the word itself is constricting.  I don’t try to pass of or pretend that I know everything.  I like to think that I’m learning and thinking and changing and challenging the norms everyday.  Not just to challenge them for challenging’s sake…but because I truly believe a lot of them are wrong.  Detrimental even.  I hope you do too.

In the beginning I experimented with how I ate because of my own problems.  I researched.  I experimented.  I found things that worked.  I progressed.  I learned to spot a BS artist better than most.  I also learned that I had a passion for natural health.  Finally, because of who I was, my background and education, I discovered I had the respect thing on my side.  People listened.

I read about supplements.  About studies.  I studied the claims.  I studied the critics.  I had a desire to know about these things.

So, in a way, this is all really an extension of what I’d do no matter what.  But I know I don’t know it all.  I don’t try to convince my readers that I’ve got it all figured out.  I think they sense that.

Also, I write pretty transparently.  People can spot phonies.  I have people call me on my opinions all the time.  That’s fine.  In fact, that’s great.  It makes me think before I write.

Also, right is right and wrong is wrong.  Just because you can sell something doesn’t mean you should.  I hate seeing people use their clout as guru’s to sell the next latest and greatest supplement just because they’ll make a killing.

I won’t do that.

Don’t get me wrong.  I sell stuff.  I want to make money just like you.  I think capitalism is great.  But I’m not going to sell my readers down the river because eventually those kind of people are found out and don’t last.  In then end, it’s about my readers and their trust.  The old quote is true, “money made ethically is the byproduct of value creation”.  I believe that and try to follow it.

How can I get a hold of you or ask you a question?

If you have more specific questions you can contact me.  And I can promise you that if you have a question there are probably hundreds of other people out there with the same question.  So don’t be shy.  I do try to caution my readers that I’ll do my best to give them my opinion on their answer where appropriate in a timely manner.  But, I’m getting busier and busier all the time so if you do submit a question…be patient.

One other thing (warning: boring legal disclaimer) my site is strictly for information.  If you want medical advice you need to talk to your chosen health care provider.