inkblotmagazine

I am one of those people that buy Salvia online. I have done for years and it is not the sudden rush of reporting time that the drug is getting that sent me down that route. I am not insane nor do I suffer any adverse effects from the use of the Salvia. If I buy Salvia that does not make me a gun-wielding manic. I am just a normal person who has decided to buy Salvia and to enjoy the experiences that it provides me with.

This is why the blanket ban on Salvia that is being threatened incenses me so. If I want to buy Salvia then I should be able to without fear of being locked up! If it doesn’t hurt me, it doesn’t effect anyone else and it isn’t damaging anything, then honestly what is the problem?

The fever surrounding Salvia has come about fairly recently, and I find it all a little odd. This drug has been around for years and yet the authorities and the media decide to pounce upon it now. Why is that? The answer is that it is a soft target; Salvia is something that the politicians can pick on without fear of a backlash from the community. It is a common enemy that is good only for scoring political points.

The power of the media is, sometimes, really quite startling. Take the recent surge in interest in acai. Some years ago no one wanted to buy acai simply because very few had ever heard of it, and even fewer still had heard of the benefits that it can bring to those who use it in a controlled diet. Now people are falling over themselves to buy acai. The reason that this berry has gone from zero to hero? Oprah.

That’s right, Oprah Winfrey. Love her or hate her (and most love her), if you fail to appreciate the power that Oprah has over the population of the world, then you are missing the point entirely. This woman is a goddess. Her power has been ably demonstrated when she featured a book by Dr. Nicholas Perricone: The Perricone Promise. In this book Oprah points out that Dr. Perricone lists acai as the number one super food. At this point there was a huge rush as almost all the viewers struggled to buy acai.

Where to buy acai from? The Internet is the obvious answer, but it is available at health food shops, too. From wherever you choose to buy acai, you can be assured that you have made the correct choice. Even Oprah thinks so!

Acai is a wondrous little berry that provides so much of the nutrients and goodness that you body needs that it has been classified as a super food by many different industry commentators — even Oprah Winfrey — and it is widely accepted to help your body’s immune system.

Acai preserves are hands down the best way to get all the acai goodness you need. Not only do the preserves have almost 99% acai fruit in them, they’re also really yummy. If you’re looking for ways to introduce acai preserves to your family without encouraging them to eat with a spoon out of the jar, then read on.

Making a shake with acai preserves is a universal favorite, and it’s really easy: just add the acai preserves to some ice cubes, some syrup of your choosing, some sugar and some whole fruit. Blend it and there you have it. A really healthy, really exciting and really tasty shake.

You can use acai preserves at breakfast time to spice up your toast, your muffin, your pancakes or you can even add it to your cereal. Because it is so delicious on its own, you really don’t need to try very hard to make acai preserves work for you.

Since the rapid rise to fame of acai and the benefits of acai berry supplements became known, people are taking up the little fruit — and the many products that are made from it — for a variety of reasons. One of the most compelling reasons to start introducing the benefits of acai supplements into your diet is the effect it has on preventing the aging process. This does not mean to say that the benefits of acai berry supplements will prevent you from aging, but that it will prevent the physical effects of aging from appearing so early in your life.

Naturally any substance that can prevent wrinkles and sagginess is going to be popular. But acai and acai supplements can help to do much more than this.

It is thought that the ingredients in acai that help us the most — antioxidants and healthy mono unsaturated fats — will help to prevent the mental symptoms of aging, too. Doctors are even recommending the benefits of acai berry supplements to their patients to get and stay healthy.

It is not just the producers, the promoters and a few well known celebrities that are starting to laud acai with praises, it is newspapers and magazines all over the world; it is eminent nutritionists, scientists and doctors. Such a fuss over a little fruit? Acai is not ‘just’ a little fruit: it is the world’s greatest super food.

The positive welcome that the acai berry has received has been wholehearted, to say the least. Commentators from all over the media spectrum have been telling us just how great the acai berry is, how effective it can be a as tool to dieting, and just how much of it we should be taking on board every day. Dr. Nicholas Perricone even named the acai berry as the number one super food in his acclaimed book ‘The Perricone Promise’.

Another social commentator — perhaps less erudite than Dr. Perricone but with even greater influence — that has strongly encouraged the use of the acai berry is no other than Oprah Winfrey. Oprah featured Dr. Perricone’s book on her TV show and, consequently, gave it her endorsement. Both sales of acai berry products and ‘The Perricone Promise’ soared, and the world saw an unprecedented take up of acai diet plans.

The acai berry does contain a lot of nutrients and goodness essential to satisfy our body’s needs.  It really is no surprise that it has ascended in the way that it has: it just needed a helping hand to climb the ladder and get everyone’s attention. Oprah and Dr. Perricone — among others — have provided that assistance.

The management team at Monavie must be having a really strong sense of deja-vu at the moment. Not only is their product failing, but they and their parent company Monarch Health Sciences are being investigated by the FDA for what can only be described as dubious business practice.

Monavie was founded in 2005 by MLM company Monarch Health Sciences. The company base is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Many of the management team are ex-members of other (failed) MLM enterprises, and some even with other distributors of acai juices. You would have thought that with all this experience, they would have got something right!

Not that it’s on the top of their list of priorities at the moment, but their product is inferior to almost everything else on the market. It is more expensive — tipping the scales at almost twice the price of the vastly superior Amazon Thunder acai juice — it contains much less acai than its competitors (in fact it contains very little acai at all), and, to top all, the brand is being marketed to customers as a cure for many things that it is a not a cure for. Nutritionists everywhere have warned that Monavie’s outrageous claims as to the potency of their acai juice simply cannot be proved.

I’m not normally one to adhere to fashions and fads, no matter how hard my friends try to get me involved. I was a little shocked when I tried — and stuck with — acai juice, but then I discovered why: acai juice is not a fad. Acai juice is in fact a bona fide health food which tops up your amino acids, essentially omega oils and, most importantly, your anti oxidants. In combination this leads to an increased defense against infections and diseases; it means that the signs of premature aging are combated effectively, and it just means that you get — and stay — a healthier person.

The acai berry — from which the magical acai juice is made — is harvested in the Amazon basin in Brazil. This is as far as the berry gets because it rots very quickly indeed. The best way to get the berry to major markets in Europe and the US is to crush the berry and take the acai juice and place it in a airtight container. So while acai juice might seem a hugely convenient thing in its own right, it is also by far and away the best way for the farmers to get the berry to its biggest consumers. A winner in so many respects.

Acai juices are becoming very popular as a nutritional supplement and as an aid to dieting. It is understandable, then, that many companies want to try and get into this lucrative new market and establish themselves as leaders. Monavie is one example of how not to do this.

Monavie is an acai juice — well, it is a juice with acai in it. Not much, though — that is sold through a multi-level marketing program. The brand is owned by parent company Monarch Health Sciences who are no stranger to controversy and even FDA intervention. Monavie has been sued by Imagenetix, a case that was settled by Monavie out of court.

Acai juice is absolutely fantastic stuff, but Monavie’s problem is that there was so very little of it in their product. What made it worse were the outlandish claims made by the manufacturer regarding the benefits of acai: yes it is very nutritious and is thought to help prevent many diseases, but Monavie just pushed its magic properties a little too far.

There are plenty of much better products on the market, and competitors like Amazon Thunder have been happy — and more than capable — of filling the gap left by the receding Monavie.

The acai berry is doing very well for itself indeed. The little berry with the big benefit has shot from obscurity to massive popularity in a big way over the last five years, with acai pulps and acai juice being sold in many health food specialists and over the Internet Acai juice is especially popular as an easy way to get your daily fix of the acai wonder fruit.

And wonder fruit it is. Sources as varied as the New York Times, Oprah and food guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone are loading praise on the acai berry and acai juice in particular.

In his book on healthy foods – The Perricone Promise – Perricone names the acai berry as the number one super food. Although it doesn’t travel well at all and therefore cannot be shipped to consumer countries, all of the goodness can be retained by making a delicious acai juice. Perhaps unsurprisingly acai juice is much more popular than the acai powders and pills that some distributors are providing. Why go for this alternative when you can have the real think in a convenient drink format?

Acai is a wondrous food and it’s easy to see why it has become so popular. If you’ve not tried it then why not grab some now and give it a go?

Many people are starting to recognise the benefits of a acai diet. Acai is the little fruit with big benefits: its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities make it the world’s number one super food. Its natural ingredients have very potent disease fighting qualities which are known to help prevent afflictions as serious as cancer and Alzheimer’s. The amino acids and anti-oxidants provided by an acai diet benefit us in replacing these things which are sadly lacking in our modern diet.

The natural ingredients in acai also help us to maintain energy levels. Not only does this make us feel a lot better a lot of the time, it also provides us with the drive and thrust to be more productive in our lives. As part of a controlled acai diet this increased energy can mean more effective exercise and more efficient digestion.

Those people in the Amazon basin who harvest the acai berry partake in an acai diet almost by default: their diet consists of 42% of the wonder berry. Impressive statistics, and it just goes to show how nutritious these berries are. It helps, of course, that the berry is so very tasty! Acai berry muffins all around… maybe one day!