Green Drink
I have spent years grimacing when people buy or blend a green drink with all it’s supposed healthful attributes and then down it like it is the nectar of the Gods. I suppose it always seemed like a healthy drink since it was green and green connotes vegetables and stuff that is good for you. That was never reason enough for me to want to drink it, so I just assumed it was something other people who want to live forever do to help them get there. I always assumed it tasted pretty much like how it looked, which was disgusting. I couldn’t imagine ever finding a reason to do so much as try the stuff. In fact, it used to amaze me how much of the stuff was sold on a daily basis. I just kept my distance.
Several months ago I was watching an advertisement on TV about something called AG-1, which was, indeed, a green drink of some sort. The name stands for Athletic Greens and its promotional material calls it “Foundational Nutrition”. It’s comprised of vitamins, probiotics, and whole-food sourced nutrients, whatever all of that means. It is supposed to be good for your brain, your gut and your immune system. I don’t know about the brain and immune system stuff, but the probiotic thing sounded like something worth trying. Probiotics are one of the great mysteries of modern science. They are supposed to be microorganisms like bacteria and yeasts that help us digest our food properly. We all know that microbes inhabit out systems and help us with digestion, but it seems that these microbes (literally trillions of them) are both in a vast array and yet are never enough and have to be supplemented regularly with outside microbes to keep the other microbes on their toes, fighting off the bad microbes. I’m not entirely sure how one tells a good microbe from a bad microbe, but apparently some people do. And what AG-1 supposedly does is give us a bunch of good microbes to keep our digestive system functioning better than it might otherwise do. This is supposed to happen by not only making your system move properly, but also to reduce inflammation and thereby improve immunity.
Immunity and inflammation are big deals these days. I know we have always known about the importance of immunity. We have been immunizing ourselves against all sorts of bad bugs for a long time. I also think we all know people who are immunocompromised and those who seem to have very strong immune systems. I have always believed that my years of living in the filth of Central America in my youth did wonders for my immune system. I have no way of proving that other than to say that my mother lived to 100 when all of her siblings died pretty much on schedule at age 89. The only real difference between her and her siblings were her years living in Latin America and other foreign climes. I have always attributed those added 11 years to her strengthened immune system by virtue of the unvirtuousness of where she chose to live for many years of her life. I only spent half as many years in those places as she, but did so at a much younger age and so may have gained disproportionate advantage. I have generally been a healthy person, not often prone to sniffles or flus, much less more serious maladies. Between Kim and I, we always know that I am less likely to come down with something than she is. I have always assumed that meant I have a stronger immune system.
As for inflammation, I know far less about that and I sense that such focus on inflammation has been a recent phenomenon. What we do know is that inflammation is part of the body’s defense system. The inflammation cells that get sent out to attack injury or illness, surround that portion of the body or that body part and literally bathe it in blood cells of the red and white varieties in an attempt to insulate it and heal it. Pain, tenderness, swelling and heat are all signs of inflammation and they can be both good signs that the body is healing itself and a bad sign that it is struggling to find an equilibrium.
With all the ads I see these days for non-prescription organic medications that help people who are getting older remember what they keep forgetting, I guess there is a need and demand for brain medicine. I can’t imagine believing that taking a non-prescription supplement made out of jellyfish or some such thing would help me remember things better.
I also see lots of ads for supplements which help people get what they otherwise aren’t eating in terms of fruits and vegetables. Balance of Nature seems to have cornered that market and every day there is a new testimonial with an actor or occasional real person portraying some sort of health expert who has taken Balance of Nature for years. They have made those supplements in pink for the fruit and green for the vegetables. Who wouldn’t want to put down a few capsules rather than swallow all those fruits and vegetables. But the thing is, these people understand that they can’t make money assuming that people will come back to the store and replenish their supplies of pink and green capsules. They use a subscription model that will cost clients $89 per month, presumably forever.
But wait a minute, AG-1 is also a subscription model and they make a point of saying that you need to take it once a day, every day, presumably also for the rest of your life. Having used the stuff faithfully now for several months here is what I will report. It has definitely improved my digestive regularity and I do, indeed, feel more gut healthy than before. That alone keeps me taking the stuff every evening. It might also be helping me in all the other ways it claims, but I cannot honestly discern that for understandable scientific reasons. Science tells us to control variables when we test something. I have started taking AG-1 at the same time that I have started my regular exercise and mobility training. Yes, I feel better and probably have more energy (at lest at the margin). I may have more immunity and less inflammation. But what I know for sure is that my gut feels healthier and that is enough for me to say that I plan to keep taking the stuff indefinitely. There are supposedly 30,000 of us regular AG-1 users, so others must also be finding benefits to the stuff.
I have not been in the habit of doing things that are healthy for me for that very reason, so you cannot imagine how strange it feels to me to be endorsing and singing the praises for something that is sold for its health benefits. But I am nothing if not rational and I have firm and clear evidence that drinking this green drink every night makes me feel better. I’m not so sure I would be drinking the stuff every night if it tasted awful, so I can say without equivocation that the stuff does not taste awful. I tend to drink it down in one go and the only part that gets a bit questionable is the last gulp. That gets pretty grainy so I fix that by always having a drink at hand to wash that last bit down my throat. Its not enough to turn me off to the stuff, but I would also not sell it as something that tasted good. Nevertheless, i will be drinking my green drink every night for the foreseeable future.