When I was a small child, I remember my mother telling me, “Son, you are what you eat.” She happened to say that just as I was biting into a Kellogg’s Pop-Tart. I remember running into the bathroom, looking into the mirror to make sure I wasn’t turning into a strawberry toaster pastry. Being very short for my age, after my Mom’s important lesson on diet, I asked her to buy jolly green GIANT veggies hoping it would make me taller…. Well, I never did turn into a Pop-Tart nor did I become a giant; however, I did learn that what we put into our bodies does form what we eventually become. Little did I know, years later I would be touring the country educating people on improving their diets, choosing proper supplementation and taking that statement my mother taught me one step further:
“You aren’t what you eat, but rather, what you absorb.”
My life changed forever in the mid 1990s when a patient came in after having her clogged up septic tank repaired. What she told me that day will forever be engraved in my memory. One of the plumbers told her they found the cause of her blocked up septic tank. They proceeded to show her hundreds of undigested vitamins, some of them with the brand names still readable. This hit me hard because at the time, I was taking a giant handful of vitamin/mineral pills every day and recommending them to my patients. I did a little research and found out that some cities across the country were pulling out an incredible amount of undigested vitamins from their sewers every month. It is not uncommon to find undigested vitamin/mineral pills showing up in the lower intestines on patients’ x-rays. The reason some of these pills are not absorbed is due to their high metallic content. Minerals like oyster shells, carbonates, oxides and dolomites are made from ground-up rocks. Our bodies are not designed to digest crushed rocks so they pass right through. Some vitamin companies use binders, fillers and hard chemical coatings that are so effective at holding them together, none of the ingredients are absorbed. In fact, hospital orderlies even have a name for these undigested pills and tablets that pass through a person’s intestinal track, “bedpan bullets!”
MY SEARCH FOR THE ANSWER
After researching and finding out that nutrients in a pill form left a lot to be desired, I soon discovered that nutrition in a LIQUID FORM was easier to take, offered quick absorption and cost less than buying a handful of pills. So, I started a national campaign for a liquid product and through my radio show, national marketing campaigns and best selling CDs, I helped put liquid nutrition on the map. In fact, I have been called “The Godfather of liquid nutrition.” Even today, dozens of unauthorized liquid nutritional companies still use my name to endorse their products. In the 90s, I traveled the country eagle comparing liquid nutrition to the CD and pills to the out-dated cassette tape. Once people listened to the superior quality of a CD, they realized how inferior the cassette tape was. The country went from virtually no liquid products on the market to several hundred liquid products! In fact, liquid nutrition products were soon showing up everywhere! Sam's Club, grocery stores, airport terminals, drug stores and even gas stations! There was so much competition; it became known as “the liquid wars”! I received several very lucrative offers from companies wanting me to formulate my own liquid product; one even offered me SEVEN FIGURES! I turned down these offers because, as those who know me will attest, it’s never been about the money for me. It has always been about the JOY OF ENHANCING PEOPLE’S HEALTH BY BRINGING SOMETHING NEW AND INNOVATIVE TO AMERICA. It was the excitement of seeing what was out there and taking things to a new level. Creating another "same old/ me too" liquid product wouldn’t have made any significant improvement to my life or to the world of nutrition.
SOARING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
In 1998, I wrote a feature article for a national magazine predicting that liquid nutrition would be “The Wave of The Future.” Well, just as predicted, that future liquid wave did come... but its time is fading. The cassette was replaced by the CD a long time ago, but now there is a BETTER QUALITY source of audio on the market, and it has replaced the CD - the iPod! Life is about progression and improvement, and that is what I believe everyone should strive to achieve. I was ready to create the nutritional equivalent to the iPod!
Isiah 40:31
Research has shown that the eagle flies at an average speed at an average speed of 30MPH, however, during an in-depth National Geographic study, scientists clocked an eagle traveling at a speed of 202 mph! That is the eagle’s God-given potential, yet most eagles spend their entire lives in their comfort zone, traveling at a measly rate of 30 mph. Had I promoted another liquid nutritional product, I would have been traveling with the rest of the flock and not living up to my potential. A ship MOVING FORWARD at sea will never develop barnacles… a ship sitting stagnant at dock will. I was ready to move forward to nutritional frontiers that had yet to be discovered.
Isiah 40:31
Instead of promoting a 30 MPH liquid product, I was inspired to create the NEXT TREND in nutrition, something that would offer convenience and astounding absorption at a far better price than liquids and pills. After I thought of the idea, I did a Google search to see how much competition was out there and, to my amazement, this search came back with ZERO hits! The delivery system was NOTHING NEW, but the combination of ingredients utilized in my formula CURRENTLY DID NOT EXIST!!!
It took over 3 years of trials and tribulations to formulate this first- to- market product and unique packaging.
I kept telling myself, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it...and that was the reason NO ONE was doing it.” I was turned down by 14 top manufacturers that said creating such a product was "impossible!" Through much perseverance, my vision became a reality. If there is one thing I have learned during that time it’s that, “Life’s delays are not life’s denials and, if you CONCEIVE IT and BELIEVE IT... you will ACHIEVE IT!"
A reporter once asked Hank Aaron, baseball Hall of Famer, how he was able to hit so many home runs. Mr. Aaron replied, “My secret to hitting those home runs is, I already achieve every home run in my mind before I ever step up to the plate.” My product was the home run I envisioned traveling 202 mph through the sky on the wings of an eagle.
Pills, Powders and Liquids leave A LOT to be desired, and Chews-4-Health has opened up a NEW DOOR for nutritional supplements. Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart ) said something that I will never forget: “He who opens the door first, will dominate that market.” Wal-Mart is truly an example of market domination. Starbucks, RedBull, Microsoft, Apple, CHEWS-4-HEALTH and now TRIMULEAN are also examples of first-to-market products. Chews-4-Health International is not PRODUCT IMITATORS, we are PRODUCT INNOVATORS!
Yours in Health,
Dr. David R. Friedman
