Author: Elena

I’ve met people who feel that protein shakes and meal replacement shakes are not a healthy food choice because they are not “natural”.

The truth is – high quality protein and meal replacement shakes can provide nutritional value and health benefits unattainable through traditional healthy food.

Talk to anyone who looks healthy, vibrant and fit after 45 – chances are they will tell you that they use some form of protein shake or meal replacement on a daily basis.

We can envy the unpolluted food supply of our ancestors. Our ancestors, on the other hand, would have had good reason to envy nutritionally dense “scientifically designed” meals made available to us through advances in nutritional science and modern food processing techniques.

Imagine a hundred or more micro and macro nutrients – protein, healthy carbohydrates, essential oils, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber, and more – all in an easily absorbable form – put together in a tasty low calorie shake that takes a minute to prepare and a minute to consume. Something like food for astronauts on a long space flight – the perfect combination of potent nutrients going right into your cells. This gives you an idea of what you get from the best meal replacement shakes.

Meal replacement shakes are often confused with protein shakes. Though good protein shakes may contain many beneficial nutrients in addition to protein their main purpose is to provide additional protein but not to replace a complete meal.

Integrating high quality meal replacement shakes into your daily eating routine has several important advantages.

Your daily meal replacement shake:

• Serves as “nutritional insurance”:  even if you did not manage to eat perfectly at your other meals, you can still have peace of mind knowing that your body received a significant portion of good nutrition.
• Provides additional health benefits through various extra ingredients such as probiotics, digestive enzymes, antioxidants, plant superfoods, etc. (these ingredients vary for different products).
• Helps with healthy weight management by both decreasing your calorie intake and providing additional protein to support lean muscle mass and fat loss.
• Saves a lot of time and effort! It feels good to know that you are able to provide your body with a nutritionally complete tasty meal with extra health benefits and without caloric overload in just a couple of minutes.

A good daily healthy eating strategy is combining one or two meal replacement shakes with respectively two or one wholesome meals and a couple of healthy snacks.

Do not just buy any protein shake or meal replacement shake you find on the store shelf even if it is a health store. Do your research first.

Look at ingredients and make sure they are all natural without any artificial additives. Choose products that provide multiple benefits. Make sure that the manufacturing company has a good reputation.

You also want to know what kind of protein is used (we recommend whey for the best antiaging benefits), where it comes from (better from organic sources) and how it has been processed (cold processing for whey protein is very important).

If you want to follow our recommendations – try Isagenix IsaLean Shake.  It is a complete meal replacement with an exceptional nutritional profile that contains multiple nutrients essential for the healthy functioning of almost all body processes. Each portion of this low calorie (and also very tasty) meal replacement contains 24 grams of the highest grade cold processed whey protein from the milk of caws raised on the pristine pastures of New Zealand, never injected with hormones and steroids and fed on grass never treated with pesticides and herbicides.

For those who like to mix their own shakes using a protein powder, Isagenix offers a pure form of the same unique New Zealand whey protein as another product – IsaPro Whey Protein.

If your are putting together a weight loss or muscle building program for yourself don’t forget to include meal replacement shakes in your nutritional plan – they will help you to achieve your desired results faster and with less effort.

Imagine that we happened to gather practitioners of all traditional medicines and health systems from all sides of the world in one room. What if we would ask each of them to name one natural remedy that has the most profound positive effect on the overall functioning of the human body?

It is guaranteed that they all will have different answers. Another thing which is nearly guaranteed though is that the remedies they name would most probably all belong to the same group – adaptogens.

What are adaptogens?

Adaptogens are natural substances found in a few rare plants and herbs that shield the body against the impact of all kinds of stress. This protective effect is achieved by balancing and harmonizing the body’s systems. Adaptogens display a unique ability to regulate both over-activity and under-activity of organs and systems of the body returning them to normal function.

Adaptogens are not in the food we normally eat, and must be added to the diet through supplementation. They are by definition natural and safe, and can be used regularly without any side effects.

What can you expect from adaptogens?

It can be difficult to explain the specific effects of the adaptogens, since they will influence every person differently. The best answer to the question “What will I get from adaptogens” is “You will get what your body needs”.

If you are mentally tired and continuously physically fatigued adaptogens will help you feel more energetic, strong, and mentally revitalized – but yet, they are not stimulants.

If however you are stressed-out, emotionally exhausted, and are not able to cope with life’s demands the adaptogens will help you relax and feel that you are in control again – yet they are not tranquillizers or antidepressants and will not have a drug-like effect on your body.

If you are a professional or recreational athlete interested in improving any kind of sports results adaptogens will help you to achieve the peak of your performance – yet they are not doping substances and can be used at any sports competitions including the Olympics.

Adaptogens are able to produce such “miracle-like” effects by working at the cellular level and optimizing the body’s regulation mechanisms and usage of energy. Their unique health benefits and safety have been proven not only by thousands of years of usage in traditional medicines but also by extensive scientific research in different countries.

Massive scientific studies of adaptogens were performed in the former Soviet Union in the second half of the last century. These studies involved hundreds of scientists and many thousands of research participants. The research results were so persuasive that for many decades adaptogens became Russians’ secret weapon in international sports competitions.

The Soviet Olympic program has primarily focused on achieving results without using drugs. Using adaptogens provided top Soviet athletes with a competitive advantage by ensuring better performance, endurance, stamina, strength, recovery, muscle development, immune resistance, and adaptation to changes in climate, time zones and altitude.

Using adaptogens has long been an important part of the health program designed for Russian astronauts. Adaptogen based formulas help astronauts’ bodies and minds to adapt to stressors that are inevitable in a space flight, such as extreme accelerations, vertigo, weightlessness, limited living space, and prolonged inactivity.

To get a better idea about what adaptogens are capable of and what specific benefits they can provide have a look at our posts about Shilajit and Eleuthero. Both have been used for centuries. Shilajit has a reputation of the most powerful antiaging and rejuvenating substance in existence and Eleuthero has been shown to do wonders for physical and mental performance.

You might not be an Olympic athlete or an astronaut but your body is also experiencing all kinds of physical, intellectual, and emotional stress on a regular basis – this is just an inherent part of modern civilization. Historically our bodies are not well equipped to handle ongoing intense stress – that is why the number of stress-related diseases keeps climbing. Sometimes we are not able to reduce the amount of stress in our life but we can make our body much more resistant to its effects with the help of adaptogens.

If you are interested to see how your body will respond to adaptogens we recommend trying Ionix Supreme by Isagenix. Ionix includes several well known adaptogens (including mentioned earlier Shilajit and Eleuthero) as well as other botanicals and mineral substances which are not formally classified as adaptogens but display similar properties, such as being safe if used regularly and addressing multiple issues at once. Like adaptogens, they also belong to the “golden fund” of one or many traditional medicines from all over the globe. For more information about this product see Product Reviews: Ionix Supreme by Isagenix.

Author: Elena Berman

Shilajit is known as a the legendary panacea attributed with many magical properties.

In regional folk medicines Shilajit has a reputation of being the most powerful anti-aging and rejuvenating substance ever known to humankind. 

It is believed to increase the core energy responsible for sexual and spiritual power as well as to slow down the process of aging and prolong life.

For the longest time the origin of Shilajit was a subject of much debate. It is collected as a black or brown bitumen-like semi-liquid tar that seeps out of certain rocks high in the mountains during the hot summer season.

It is found predominantly in the Himalayan region running through India, Nepal, China, Tibet and parts of central Asia.

The most accepted theory today is that it is a nutrient-rich organic matter from prehistoric vegetation  captured by tectonic movement and transformed by pressure and heat within mountain formations.

Shilajit is one of the main remedies of Ayurveda where it is used to treat a wide range of conditions such as ulcers, asthma, diabetes, rheumatism, allergies, arthritis, hypertension, obesity, various digestive and urinary problems and more. Regular consumption of small amounts of shilajit is believed to result ingeneral physical strengthening, optimized functioning of all body systems,faster injury healing, and enhanced brain functioning.

Indian medical texts dated thousands of years back claim that there is hardly any curable disease which cannot be controlled or cured with the aid of Shilajit. In Sanskrit shilajit means “the conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness”.

Shilajit is known for its aphrodisiacal properties. It is said that the emperors and kings of great empires of the past used Shilajit on a regular basis so they could maintain their youthful vigor and sexual power even in old age. Shilajit is mentioned in the Kama Sutra. Today Ayurvedic doctors widely prescribe it in the case of low sperm count, infertility, impotence, premature ejaculation, and many other types of sexual disability.

Modern clinical research has shown multiple positive effects of Shilajit on humans and animals.

The studies suggest that it increases longevity, strengthens the immune system, increases strength and endurance, improves memory and cognitive abilities, reduces allergies and respiratory problems, increases resistance to stress, and relieves various digestive troubles.

Extensive human clinical studies have shown significant success in treatment of diabetes patients. It has also been verified that Shilajit has anti-inflammatory qualities and eliminates free radicals.

So far, research data seem to confirm many of the Shilajit properties which constitute its legendary reputation as a universal elixir of youth and health.

Shilajit is included in most of Isagenix wellness solutions as one of the components of the restorative and rejuvenating tonic Ionix Supreme.

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Author: Elena Berman
Photo: Bernard Spragg