Jan Lovejoy: Thank you. Thank you.
Mike: Share with our readers your story of how you got into this industry and created this product.
Lovejoy: Well, it actually goes back to 1970, when I started with nutrition and really studied nutrition for my own health. Then many things happened. I was a cosmetologist, so I knew that I wanted to formulate a product that would be great for connective tissue, hair, skin and nails. I had also owned restaurants for 15 years. At the same time, I studied.
I'm also a nutritionist and an herbalist. Everybody would come to me and say, "What do I take for this and this?" Combining all of these great things that I've learned in my life, I created a product that people could take every day and feel good from ages two to 90.
Mike: That's really the key, isn't it? A product has to taste good at the same time that it delivers nutrition?
Lovejoy: Exactly.
Mike: That's a very difficult balance to achieve. You've done it here without refined sugars and without chemical sweeteners of any kind. In fact, there are no sweetener ingredients at all in this product?
Lovejoy: That's right.
Mike: Yet, I just tasted it and it tastes fantastic. What's your secret?
Lovejoy: Well, my secret is very guarded. Actually, it tastes like spearmint and it has a green tea taste to it, although green tea is not a predominant ingredient of the product. Even when you smell it, it actually smells like chocolate.
Mike: Yes.
Lovejoy: It's very interesting and when you mix it just with water. It tastes great. It has that spearmint green tea taste and it's really because of the spices and herbs that are wonderful for our bodies.
Mike: Let's talk about the ingredients that you have in this product. First, we have the greens group. There's barley grass, spirulina and some other green-oriented plant sources in here.
Lovejoy: Right.
Mike: There's not a "greeny" type of taste. It doesn't taste like wheat grass juice or even close to it.
Lovejoy: That's right.
Mike: How do you do that?
Lovejoy: Well, you put the right amount of herbs in it. There's also a lot of ginger and turmeric in it, in addition to aloe vera, which is a powder form. You want to know exactly how to blend those together. When people are taking it, those ingredients are so important for absorbency.
Mike: Yes. The ginger especially, as you mentioned before.
Lovejoy: Ginger is one of my favorites.
Mike: Aloe vera is one of my favorite herbs, or foods, of all time. I think it's one of the most underrated herbs out there. Why did you decide to put it in?
Lovejoy: Aloe vera is wonderful for blood glucose balancing. It's great for that. It's just so good for the body. There are so many nutrients in it, but what it really helps with is helping extend the antioxidant levels of your body. When you're taking vitamin C and vitamin E, you really only have that protection for usually six hours and sometimes up to eight hours, depending upon how much you're taking. What you can do is when you add aloe vera, it extends the life by up to 25 percent, which is really an incredible ingredient. People ask me why I feel so good, for so long.
Mike: By looking at this also, I can tell that your formulation is very well planned.
Lovejoy: Yes.
Mike: Good planning, good nutritional knowledge. For example, you have in here green tea catechins and turmeric. These ingredients are so often mentioned in breast cancer studies as containing phytonutrients that inhibit the growth of breast cancer tumors. Now, I know you can't make those claims for your product, but what's behind your choice of these specific herbal combinations?
Lovejoy: Well, also I added astragalus, which is also known to be effective for breast cancer, and it's actually anti-viral and anti-microbial. They've done some incredible studies with astragalus. Being an herbalist, I really wanted to add the right ingredients for prevention. It's all about prevention. It's all about healthy lifestyles.
Mike: You also have probiotics in this formula.
Lovejoy: Yes. It has 8.5 billion probiotics. People ask me all the time why we want to put probiotics in the formula, and why is it so important. It's really because so many people are taking antibiotics today. It takes out those beneficial bacteria. What happens when we take out those beneficial bacteria is we lose part of our immune system.
In addition, probiotics are what helps make our B vitamins. When you get really run down and you get really stressed -- which is in the everyday world -- you need to have the right amount of good bacteria. This is why we need the probiotics in our system.
Mike: We could go on and really talk about every single ingredient.
Lovejoy: Oh, I could.
Mike: It's quite fascinating, but one thing that people want to know also is what's not in your formula. The first thing that comes to my mind that's not in it are the filler ingredients. I don't see it as 50 percent lecithin, for example. I find this in some other products represented on the market that are maybe more affordable products. This, I see, consistently contains high-quality ingredients that also happen to be more costly.
Lovejoy: Yes.
Mike: What is the price at retail of your product?
Lovejoy: Actually, if you buy it at the vitamin shop, it only runs $32 for the canister, which is a 30-day supply. That's an incredible value. Then we have individual servings containing 28 packets for $35. That's wonderful. You can also buy it on the internet at EmeraldBalance.com. The prices are $39 and down, depending upon how much you order.
Mike: Okay, so the website is EmeraldBalance.com. Some of the retailers include the Vitamin Shoppe. What are some others?
Lovejoy: You can also find it at GNC stores and Ralph's Markets grocery stores in California. We actually broke into the supermarket. They really like it, which is good. They don't know where to put us, as we're a whole food product and we're all-natural. We're thinking maybe in the vegetable section.
Mike: Are you working on maybe Wild Oats or Whole Foods?
Lovejoy: Absolutely. We are definitely working on Wild Oats and Whole Foods. They're huge.
Mike: Hopefully, it'll be available in those stores at some point.
Lovejoy: We are hoping it will be soon.
Mike: What other points do you want to make to be sure that the readers understand this product?
Lovejoy: It's actually very, very good for your immune system. It's an immune-boosting product. It's wonderful for that. It's also detoxifying and cleansing, but more on a gentle basis. I really believe that if you are going to do a detox, you really need to go through a health practitioner or professional, as it can be very dangerous.
I like more of the gentle amount. This actually has just the right amount without making me feel sick. That's very important to me.
Mike: It's very alkalizing, too.
Lovejoy: Oh, yes.
Mike: The pH effects of this formula must be fantastic. We're always being told that we need to have more of an alkaline diet, especially if we consume a lot of Western food products or soft drinks -- dare we mention that word.
Lovejoy: Yes, exactly, like hamburgers.
Mike: Tell us about the adaptogenic herbs in your formula.
Lovejoy: Adaptogenic herbs are so important, so if you're really stressed out, it brings you down. If you're under, it brings you up. People are finding that it really helps them through the day.
Mike: That's the secret of adaptogenics right there. Okay Jan, one thing I didn't ask you about and I know you're passionate about is hair, skin and nails -- or the cosmetic effects of outstanding nutrition.
Lovejoy: I knew that if I could get this down into people's bodies, they would heal. When I moved to California, everybody was doing cosmetic surgery. I was amazed at how much cosmetic surgery is done in California.
If they don't actually heal their insides, their bodies are not just going to be healthy.
Mike: That's right. You can't keep patching the symptoms on the outside.
Lovejoy: Exactly.
Mike: You have to get healthy from the inside out and then you naturally have radiant skin.
Lovejoy: Absolutely, and I knew that if I actually touched that vanity part, the attention would come. This product has a lot of silica in it, so it's great for the skin, hair and the nails.
Mike: What other ingredients in here do you think are applicable to hair, skin and nails?
Lovejoy: Well, actually it's the high amount of silica, but it's also the antioxidants, which work from the inside. I write articles and newsletters too and I tell people that you can put all this expensive cream on your face -- but, it's just going to sit there, like my friend said, looking like an oil slick in Alaska.
It's just going to sit there and it's not going to come in unless it's a very good, expensive product. Then it actually is available and will go through your skin, but only in layers of the skin and not into your body. You have to do the antioxidants from the inside also.
Mike: Jan Lovejoy, thank you for joining me today. Your URL is EmeraldBalance.com. The product here is Emerald Balance. Look for it in health food stores and natural grocers all across the country.
Lovejoy: Thank you so much for having me on. I'm so happy about this.
Mike: Thank you, Jan. It's been my pleasure.
Lovejoy: Mine, too.