We asked you to tell us what you thought of our products – and, boy, did you ever answer! We received thousands of responses in our Swanson Summer Giveaway. In return for reviewing a product, customers were entered in a random drawing to receive weekly prizes. 18 people won $50 Swanson Gift Cards. There was one very lucky grand prize winner, who received $500 worth of gift cards to Swanson Vitamins!
Posted by Kayla:
One of the cool things about my job is the people I meet. Whether it’s industry professionals educating me on new products or research, or Swanson customers passing along their testimonials, everyone has a story to tell. Joe McPartland is one of those people. He is featured in our latest Customer Spotlight.
Joe is a long-time Swanson Vitamins customer. He’s been shopping with us since he stumbled across SwansonVitamins.com while browsing the Internet for discount vitamins. He liked what he saw online. He shops Swanson “because of the breadth of the product line, the good prices and their informative contribution to knowledge and understanding of healthy living.”
Continue reading "Swanson Vitamins Customer Spotlight: Meet Joe McPartland" »
I think a case of tendonitis this past spring finally caused me to accept the fact that I'm no longer 29 years old. It's not that I'm unaware of my chronological age, especially since at every hair coloring appointment my stylist laments that I have the most stubborn gray hair in the universe to cover. But in my mind, I often feel postively girlish, and up until recently, the mental image I had of myself was stuck in, oh...about 1989, minus the shoulder pads. I don't really worship youth like so much of this country does, though. In fact to me, it's waaaay overrrated. Looking back, I particularly regret the fact that what others thought of me powerfully shaped my own opinion about myself. I spent nearly an entire decade trying to be someone that I don't even like!! No, I don't long for that part of youth, but rather prefer the confidence and self-assurance that we seem to acquire after our fortieth birthday, give or take a few years. What I do long for are the days when it was no big deal if I injured myself. It didn't matter if I fell down the steps or pulled a muscle or banged my leg against the desk because in less than a week, I'd be good as new. Bygone days for sure.
One thing I know for a certainty--my appreciation for healthy food choices and dietary supplements grows by leaps and bounds with each passing year...well, with each passing day, for that matter. Last night my husband and I were discussing the correlation between how we feel both physically and mentally with what we eat the night before. Although both of us are borderline sugar and carb addicts, we are now beginning to associate these foods with pain, inflammation, itching and low energy. In fact, last night we ordered Domino's pizza (against our better judgment, I might add), yet we each ate only one piece. One single, solitary piece out of the whole pie, and we were done! That's never happened before! We always eat the whole thing, vowing on the last bite never to do this vile thing again. Our good behavior had nothing to do with self control, either. It simply resulted from being sick of feeling sick every time we eat some high carb food. Our bodies just don't cleanse themselves and rebound like they once did. After we consumed our lone piece of pizza, we both got out our supplement organizers and took our evening round of vitamins and assorted health pills. The conversation next turned into something that sort of resembled speed dating, as we came up with short, probing questions that we've never really asked each other before. Since he had just finished the last of fifteen or so pills, I started the ball rolling with, "What three supplements would you never want to be without, and why?" I decided to share his answers with you today, since I'm guessing more than a few of you can relate to him or have similar health concerns. I'll stop short of my next question, though, which was "Have you ever been in a barroom brawl, and if so, how did it get started?" To my surprise, he reminisced about several of them, which added further support to my aforementioned comments about youth!
So here are Ronald's three favorite supplements that he would not want to be without. First choice, which rolled off his lips with no hesitation whatsoever, is ChromeMate brand chromium (chromium polynicotinate), which we carry in the Swanson Ultra line. He insists that it does a better job than all other forms of chromium for keeping his blood sugar levels in check, and he told me something that I didn't know about him and other Native Americans. They are many times more susceptible to diabetes than all other ethnic groups, and he credits ChromeMate and daily exercise for helping him to avoid it so far. He says that if he forgets the supplement, though, his morning blood glucose count may inch up as high as 120 (a consistent fasting count of 126 constitutes diabetes). But when he takes chromium, even if he eats carbs the night before, his morning reading will usually be 100 or less, which is right where it should be! Next on his list are Omega-3 essential fatty acids, and he swigs both fish oil and flax oil straight from their bottles. Neither one of these oils is particularly pleasant to taste, but that's how much he dislikes swallowing pills. And he claims that what they do for the aches and pains in his knees, back and neck is a near miracle, so they're staples on my weekly employee order day. Keeping in mind that he was doing something else besides brawling in all those barrooms, you won't be surprised to hear that milk thistle is his third choice. Ronald ended up with a lot of damage to the liver from his former "drinking days," and for years his doctor was monitoring the health of it very closely. Was he ever surprised to see Ronald's liver enzymes go way down (a good thing!) after about six month's on milk thistle! It really does cleanse and rejuvenate this organ. Ronald has strictly been "on the wagon" for almost twenty years now, and agrees that youth isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Now if we could combine the health of our young bodies with the wisdom of our mature minds, that would really be something! Except I'd be out of this job.
As I was casually flipping through the TV channels last evening, something kind of frightening caught my attention. A young, demon-like female with huge black wings and little else covering her body was sashaying about the screen with a cold, mean stare on her face. Then it hit me...this wasn't some horror movie like I had originally guessed. No, I had stumbled upon a rerun of the Victoria's Secret annual fashion show, and I could hardly believe my eyes! I thought a VS model was suppose to be the embodiment of beauty and sensuality, yet there wasn't a trace of either quality on the runway last night. And the irony is that these women are billed as "angels," no less. (Far be it from me to argue with anything that looked that scary.) It just got me to thinking how much we Americans are drawn to extremes and excesses. If a little make-up looks nice, let's trowel it on really thick and look shocking. If a slender 27-inch waist is pleasing to the eye, why not starve it down to a skeletal 22? What the show actually epitomized to me was our loss of balance. Is there such a thing anymore? Extreme extremism appears to be "in" right now in every aspect of life, and it's infecting the health industry, too. If you have a problem, take a pill. Doesn't really matter what the problem is or how many you've got; there's always a pill for it. If the pills don't help your problem, perhaps it can be scanned, poisoned, burned, or possibly cut out. And what about a nutritional approach? For heaven's sake, no. It's not nearly extreme enough.
I'll never understand why nutrition isn't taught in medical schools. It's so basic to health and wellness that practicing medicine without a practical understanding of how the body regenerates itself from the food we eat is like teaching a course in literature without being able to read. Talk about scary! I'm forever grateful for the knowledge I've gained while working at Swanson Health Products. Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying that the supplement industry doesn't have its excesses, too. But at least there is more of an emphasis overall on preventative care that includes wholesome eating, exercise and natural ways to stay healthy than there is in conventional medicine, and this is far more balanced to me. In a way, I'm glad the FDA restricts our industry from making health claims for the products we sell. While it ties the hands of the marketing and customer care departments, and it makes more work for our customers to search out information for themselves, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Taking control of one's own health care is liberating! What better feeling is there than researching all options, and then having the ability—and the freedom—to discern for yourself what's best for you? That's perfectly balanced.
I've been down on the media lately (as if you hadn't noticed), but I have to admit that a report on the Today show from December 19 has shifted their credibility a little more to the favorable end of the spectrum. It's not that the report was supporting dietary supplements; it's that it was balanced. Briefly recapping, a Japanese study published this year in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a person's chance of contracting three or more colds in a five-year period decreased by 66% when he or she took a daily vitamin C supplement of 500 mg. The recommendation by the expert on the Today show was to eat lots of vitamin C-rich foods and take a vitamin C supplement of just 200 mg. So while her suggestion didn't exactly mirror the findings of this study, which she admitted was well designed, it did seem balanced to me. In keeping with the theme of this post, though, I'd better practice what I preach, and encourage you to read it for yourself.
How many of you are absolutely crazy about your beloved pets, treating them as though they were your own flesh and blood? Have you ever wondered if doing so is kind of weird or unhealthy? To be sure, the weirdness of this behavior can be debated, but reassuringly, preliminary evidence suggests just the opposite about the health aspect of it. I wrestle with this subject because I'm definitely a person who has willingly given my pets family member status, and I'm always looking for validation that it's ok. If this scenario strikes a familiar chord, keep reading.
I recently read a fascinating study online from the University of Buffalo (NY), concluding that your pet actually can have a positive impact on cardiovascular health. Seems like the science is grounded in the fact that we humans need social support to thrive, and animals provide it for us in spades! The article described how pets often help us to de-stress and more easily accomplish tasks than our human friends simply because we're perfectly comfortable and relaxed with them. They won't mockingly criticize us, try to reorganize our lives, or attempt to one-up us on anything--not ever. Pets just love us and accept us for who we are!! For further discussion of their health benefits, visit the October 2006 issue of Health InSite under the "Health Articles" tab of our website.
More than half the members of the web team have pets, and all of us regularly relate their antics like we were talking about our kids. We've recently discussed how Aedan, the yellow lab puppy of our merchandiser, got spoiled at "grandma's" house when she fed him prime rib, and that Jax, our marketing specialist's rabbit, loves all kinds of fruit. Our proofreader has a cat named Sheba that has been in her family for so long that she and I recently sat in my cube to ponder the "big" question, Is there an afterlife for animals? And most certainly we talk about dietary supplements to keep them healthy, too! Our affiliate manager's bulldog, Baxter, thinks bread soaked in Swanson Glucosamine, Chondroitin & MSM Liquid is a real treat, while Tonka, his Norwegian elkhound much prefers to bolt down the tablets for his stiff and sore legs. My own cat, Perry, who showed up at my door during a snow blizzard with his tail cut off, has obvious signs of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and when he gets overly anxious, he forgets that there's such a thing as a litter box. I have found that the herb valerian calms him down enough so that he minds his manners and quickly finds his way back to the box and into my good graces again. I've also noticed that two of the three individuals selected for our Customer Spotlight feature undeniably have strong relationships with their pets, as does Suzanne, who is on deck for an upcoming profile.
So, if you find yourself wishing for better health, why not make a trip to your local humane society and buy yourself some unconditional love? Don't worry needlessly about treating pets like kids, either. Not unless you consider writing them off as a tax deduction.
Growing up in the 1960s, Thursday nights were often spent with Fess Parker playing Daniel Boone in "living color" on NBC. He was the man!! About the same time that I graduated from high school and moved to Minneapolis, Fess Parker left show business to develop real estate, and in 1986 he built the first of his resort hotels in Santa Barbara, CA called the Fess Parker Double Tree Resort. This gorgeous ocean front property was the site of the recent Commission Junction University Event, a three-day seminar for attendees to learn the latest trends in pay-for-performance marketing. Stacy Aamodt, our affiliate manager, and I attended the seminar as a prelude to re-launching our affiliate program through the Commission Junction (CJ) network this month.
In an affiliate program there are two parties who both maintain a website: The advertiser owns and distributes products, and the publisher earns a commission on sales that result from customers he/she sends to the advertiser's website. The first presenter at the seminar was Jeremy Palmer, one of CJs top performing publishers, who raked in more than one million dollars last year in commissions! Coincidentally, he was traveling on the same plane as Stacy and me, and we noticed that he had a copy of the book "Presentations for Dummies" in his hand. We both agreed that he's definitely a quick study no matter what he does. QuitYourDayJob is one of his many websites that may interest anyone who's thought about developing an affiliate website. Something to think about...Swanson customers make our best affiliate marketers because they know the products better than anyone else!
What particularly stands out in my mind was the presentation from Sarah Fay, president of Isobar US, who spoke about the changing media landscape and how it is affecting the time and attention people give to marketing messages. Like it or not, television and newspapers have had their day in the sun, while digital forms of media are rising fast and furiously. She demonstrated a few examples of highly innovative and interactive online advertising content, and this ad in the UK for the Mini Cooper, a car that traditionally has been more popular with women than men, is fun and truly something to behold! You can personalize it and send it to a male friend via email. The theme of the promotion is whether a guy is man enough to drive a Mini Cooper. Viewing this site will really give you a feel for what I'm talking about.
Ok...while we're on the subject of manliness, I'm switching gears for a moment. I just got off the phone with my friend and our conversation kind of fits in with this discussion. Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld in which Kramer invents "The Bro" for George's dad? It's true that men can develop enlarged breast tissue over time when exposed to environmental estrogens that have arisen from the manufacture of plastic materials and growth-stimulating hormones fed to livestock, among other things. Anyway, my friend told me her husband woundn't be needing a bro after all. He's been taking Swanson Ultra BioDim and it's working! (She actually called to have me get him another bottle.) BioDim metabolizes excess amounts of estrogen in both men and women, and my friend's husband is ecstatic that he can go shirtless again. Sounds like he's definitely man enough to drive a Mini Cooper! Maybe I'll send him the email.
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