REVIEW: USANA Essentials

Note: Sorry for the poor quality of pictures. I only took it using my celphone camera.

 Last year, our head nurse introduced a list of product from a company she is affiliated with. The company's name is USANA and it is becoming widely popular among nurses in our hospital. The company has variety of products raging from vitamins and supplements to weightloss milks, to skin products. At first I wasn't interested about any of it since it was first introduced to me, by a different person, as a networking company. I thought "here we go again". I tried two networking companies and I never really made good money out of it. I don't have the talent of selling stuffs, I guess I'm not that charismatic to consumers. We also have tons of supplements at home, sent to us by my aunt from the USA, that for years that passed, plenty had been wasted because we never really consumed all of it. I, myself, am not also a fan of taking supplements (even those herbal stuff) because I have a fear of overworking my liver and kidneys. I am a nurse and I know that anything you take, may it give good result, may also cause harm. I guess no supplement convinced me of a win-win effect until I met USANA's Essentials.



Essentials is a two-bottled supplement. For one price you get to have two bottles and you have to take one tablet form each bottle within a day. The first bottle contains Chelated minerals while the other contains the antioxidants. The first question I asked our head nurse, who thoroughly explained to me about Essentials, was "why did the company had to separate it to two tablets?". The answer was simple, some anti oxidants react to some minerals when they are mixed together in one tablet. When they react, they tend to become impotent leaving it useless and unable to be absorbed by the body which will defeat the written contents on their packaging. I equated the idea to the elements in our Table of Elements in which some elements when paired with a certain element causes the latter element to be impotent.


Essentials also has no "No therapeutic Claims" label in the USA and also here in the Philippines, which means it had undergone series of checking by our BFAD and was accredited that its claims are achievable and can be used by those with certain illnesses. Only a few supplements was accredited.




Essentials can also be found on PPD, a drug handbook that we use in our hospital. I looked for it and I was not disappointed. It can also be found on the book "Nutri Research: Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements 2011 Consumer Edition". Not only was it rated 5 star golds among the tons of list of supplements from the USA and Canada, but it was chosen as the Editor's Pick Award recipient





 Essentials is organic so it is less harmful to our organs. Another thing is that due to its potent antioxidant content, it fights off free radicals which are harmful and causes damage to our organs. It solves my worry about organ damage. I tried the Apple Test in which I used Essentials and Centrum for comparisson. I got the experiment from a youtube video and I just tried it at home. Surprisingly the apple with Essentials did not rot after 5 days but the apple with Centrum did, and it looked ugly. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures of me experiment but I suggest you do so. This is the video which inspired me to really test if the claims are true or not.

Please watch this sample video:

I remember comparing the fruit salad (composed of fresh fruits) I did last Christmas. I had a bowl which I squeezed lemon in and the other one had no lemon. After two nights the fruit salad with lemon looked fresh while the one without lemon already had discolorations (which we call oxidation). Lemon is rich in antioxidants, so just imagine taking a tablet with different potent antioxidants.

I had my aunt, who is a medical technologist, read the nutritional contents and she told me that the antioxidants of Essentials are those which are said to be anti-cancer. I searched it over the internet and I was not disappointed. I also gained the idea of the mechanism of how antioxidants fight off cancer.

As a nurse working in a Critical Care Unit, my profession was the main reason why I decided to take Essentials. I am exposed to diseases, some are communicable, radiations, chemicals, and the stress of the work itself. I've been taking Essentials for more than 10 days straight now and I noticed a good improvement in my:

1.) SKIN and GLOW - I vainly look at myself in the mirror now and thinking I look blooming. I am not one of those blessed with beautiful skin so I used to wear concealers and layers of foundations to hide my imperfections. Now, I confidently go to work without make up on. I confidently go out and meet friends without putting any layer of foundation.

Not any of the two pictures was edited. The lighting is the only thing that varied.
The first picture was taken early December 2012, before I took Essentials.
The second picture was taken atfer Christmas 2012.
You can definitely the difference in the quality of skin and the glow.
Note: I have brown color skin in real life, not with fair skin. 

2.) ENERGY - Being chubby, I used to get tired easily and it is a problem for me since I work with my mind and body almost everyday. I take Essentials before my 8-hour shift (since my working time is not fixed in a week), and I noticed an increase of energy during work, which I think is not psychological because I was never told about this effect. I still feel tired but I usually feel it the end of the shift, and it's not the knocked out type of tired I used to feel back then. And since I'm already tired at the end of the shift, I always have a...

 3.) GOOD SLEEP when I go home.


The only negative thing which I noticed while taking Essentials is that I had an increase in appetite. I think I gained weight but as soon as I noticed my frequent craving for food, I searched for a way to solve it. I do not resist the cravings, I surrender to it, but I eat food that are "healthy" or less sinful. I do not suppress my cravings because I usually tend to get hungry and eat plenty on the next meal. I just nibble around fruits, nuts or a small portion of a dark chocolate, etc

 I shared about Essentials to my relatives. I did not force them to buy, I just informed them that a good product exists and that I am recommending it as a nurse. I did not affiliate myself with the company but I will definitely spread the word about the goodness of this product.