With how many products are out there, you have to be careful that the dietary supplement you choose is the right one. Remember that nothing is a miracle pill and will lead to immediate benefits. In this case, we wanted to do a review of Balance of Nature to ensure that you are getting the health benefits the supplement claims.
What You Should Know Before You Buy A Supplement
We like to stay that healthy lifestyle choices are essential in living a long, healthy life. We may even go as saying that healthy choices can prevent diseases, such as cardiac disease and certain cancers.
However, we will never endorse a product, program, supplement, vitamin, or nutrient and say that it is capable of preventing or curing any disease. To do so would violate FDA and FTC guidelines.
Some of the healthy lifestyle choices include avoiding smoking, drinking alcohol to excess, recreational drug use, and vaping. You can also embrace things like regular exercise, a healthy diet, and adequate sleep for repair and recovery.
You should also focus on eating more fruits and vegetables. Depending on age and sex, federal guidelines recommend that adults eat at least 1½ to 2 cups per day of fruit and 2 to 3 cups per day of vegetables as part of a healthy eating pattern.
The subject we are looking at here, Balance of Nature, cites the recommended amount as 9 – 11 servings per day.
About Balance of Nature
Regardless of which guideline you decide to follow, many people find it challenging to get enough fresh produce in their diet.
This is where Balance of Nature comes in. The company is U.S. based and produces, markets, and sells nutritional products that address these deficiencies. At the same time, they sell a dietary fiber product for people who experience digestive health problems.
The business founder is Dr. Douglas Howard, according to Balance of Nature’s website, is “an American physician, medical researcher, and international lecturer’ who ‘specializes in phytonutrition.”
His work focuses on delivering products that contain real food, whole fruits, and that intend to give you what you need in terms of nutrition.
Nevertheless, we will verify or disprove the effectiveness of these products and whether they have positive effects on your body.
Balance of Nature: Whole Health System
The Whole Health System product line features three products: Nature Fruit capsules, Veggies blend, and Fiber & Spice. All of these are made with whole foods.
In this line of products, you can find a nutrition label that includes the ingredients, but we will cover these in detail below.
From this system line you can find the following benefits:
- Ten servings of fruits and vegetables
- Antioxidants
- Taking balance of soluble and insoluble fibers.
The products contain whole, real, non-GMO foods, with no sugars, artificial sweeteners, synthetics, extracts, or fillers. There are sixteen fruits and fifteen vegetables in the Fruits and Veggies products. All supplements are also vegan and packaged in vegan gel caps.
However, the system is more than just these three products, as Health Care Coaching is a crucial component on their site.
At the same time, the company emphasizes “accountability” as essential to meeting your proper nutritional goals.
Balance of Nature provides Health Coaching Services at no additional charge, stating that the service is about support, accountability, and communication. They claim to support you in your quest for a healthier lifestyle.
The coaching service is also meant to encourage you to accept responsibility, help you set goals, and follow up on your progress.
Nonetheless, as you read on, you will see there might be another reason Balance of Nature offers this Health Care Coaching “benefit.”
Key Ingredients In Balance of Nature Products
All ingredients in the Balance of Nature range of products are vegan. However, the Fruits and Veggies supplements use vegetarian capsules.
Nature Fruit
The whole fruits food capsules contain aloe vera, apple, banana, blueberry, cranberry, cherry, grape, grapefruit, lemon, mango, orange, pineapple, papaya, raspberry, strawberry, and tomato.
Nature Veggies
The veggies product includes broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, cayenne pepper, celery, garlic, kale, onion, shiitake mushroom, spinach, soybean, wheatgrass, yam, and zucchini.
Unlike most other supplements, the Balance of Nature’s Fruits and Veggies ingredients are listed in alphabetical order. Yet, we did not find this particularly helpful, as it does not indicate which ingredients are the most prevalent in the formulas.
Other whole fruit and vegetable capsules and powders also have a proprietary blend of ingredients, rather than listing specific amounts. However, ingredients are typically listed in descending order by weight. Balance of Nature seems to ignore this standard convention.
Fiber & Spice
The Fiber & Spice digestive supplement contains psyllium husks, flaxseed, apple, and a proprietary blend of twelve spices, which is unlike other digestive supplements such as Hyperbiotics PRO-15 Probiotics.
The twelve spice product blend in Balance of Nature’s Fiber & Spice is allspice, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, cardamom, fennel seed, fenugreek, ginger, mustard, nutmeg, and turmeric.
What About Soy?
Although soy is one of the most prevalent vegan and vegetarian foods, it is not something that most supplements include within their nutritional information.
In this case, soy can be an allergen and discourage a nature customer from buying the product. Some Whole Food supplements include soy, so if you have an allergy to it, watch out!
Balance of Nature Dosages
Nature Fruits & Veggies: The recommended dose to stay healthy and have more energy is 3 fruit capsules and 3 veggie capsules daily. The company also suggests you can take each dietary supplement as often as you need it throughout the day.
Fiber & Spice: The suggested dose is 2 heaping scoops twice daily, preferably in the morning and evening.
The idea is that you have to rely less on whole foods, your diet, fresh fruit nutrients, and other vitamins.
Nonetheless, the whole process is very difficult, especially because it involves spending a lot of money, energy, and taking lots of pills. It would be a better solution to have a powdered form dietary supplement, but this company does not offer it.
Nutritional Benefits Of The Balance of Nature System
The Whole System product line provides more than ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day, meeting or exceeding the USDA recommended daily requirements.
Real Food In A Supplement
Fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet. Vegetables are typically low in fat and calories and are an excellent source of nutrients, such as fiber, folic acid, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals.
At the same time, fruits are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The
The nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables are beyond dispute. The one caveat, however, is that pills may not be the equivalent of actual fruits and vegetables.
When it comes to the fiber and spice blend, the nutrients in this supplement can help keep your digestive tract healthy and treat things like irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, and diarrhea.
Fiber is usually in food, but many do not obtain the necessary levels. Having it in the form of pills can help solve this issue and make a difference in your digestive health.
How Do Balance of Nature Products Perform – The Claims Versus The Reality
We are firm believers that ten servings per day of fruits and vegetables are healthy. We do not contest Balance of Natures’ statements and assertions to this effect.
The fact that Balance of Nature does not use the USDA Organic seal makes us think that their claims are not supported.
We believe there is a reason behind the negative reviews that this product seems to receive.
Balance of Nature’s response to this issue is that “we do everything it takes to produce the very best product. No shortcuts. We go beyond the USDA Organic seal.”
They go as far as to say that, “Our products contain produce grown, handled, processed, and certified in a way that meets and exceeds the requirements for using the USDA Organic seal. Balance of Nature chooses not to use this seal on its labels because this seal does not approach Balance of Nature’s philosophies and standards for organic.
Although there are minimal customer reviews available on Amazon, they are split about equally, good and bad. Product performance seems to get good marks.
What Others Are Saying About These Products
On one hand, the taste of the Fiber & Spice was criticized. Other reviews were very concerned about the company’s business practices. The concerns centered on the claim that Nature Fruits and Nature Veggies contain healthy amounts of nutrients and are basically the same thing as eating the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables.
However, in our research, we found that reviews on the company’s site were off the charts with people attributing nearly miraculous recoveries to the products.
Some consumers seem to imply that taking these pills can solve the need for vitamins and may even cure disease. Yet, there is no real data on the nutrition facts form on the website.
Our concerns with Balance of Nature have to do with their testimonials and potential claims in their YouTube videos. These include Doctor Douglas Howard stating that the products will prevent and cure lifestyle diseases. If that were the case, the claim would be supported by real evidence, but there is none of this.
During our research for this article, we saw startling testimonials of the product’s efficacy. We found that they were perhaps the most intense negative articles of any product we have reviewed.
Our Verdict
It seems like some of the website reviews were intended to confuse those in search of whole food supplements that are backed by nutrition experts and scientists.
TINA (Truth in Advertising) and the self-governing NAD (National Advertising Department) reported Balance of Nature to the FTC for structure-function claims in their advertising/testimonials. Testimonials purported that Balance of Nature products could prevent and or cure lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses.
We do not feel the claims on the website are supported, and there needs to be a more transparent process in verifying the nutrition information and other information stated.
Keep in mind too that no supplement is approved or supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Potential Side Effects
There are no commonly reported side effects of Balance of Nature products that we could discern in our research.
We do provide the following cautions:
- Individuals with a soy allergy should avoid the Veggies whole food supplement for apparent reasons.
- The psyllium husks in Fiber and Spice can cause digestive issues such as bloating and gas. We suggest starting with a lower than recommended dosage and titrating up as you build up a tolerance.
Best Places to Buy Balance of Nature
The Balance of Nature website is the primary location to buy these products and their site offers the Preferred Customer Program (see below in Pricing).
Still, the products are also available on Amazon in limited supplies, where you can also check out other reviews.
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Pricing
You can purchase these products as a Preferred Customer or as a Retail Customer.
According to the website, you can obtain the following benefits by choosing the preferred method:
- For only $24.95, you will receive wholesale prices or less on every order you make and automatic shipments.
- You will also obtain a personal Health Coach to assist you in achieving success.
- There is no commitment to how long you stay a Preferred Customer. If there is consistency, they guarantee the discounted price you start with.
- By ordering preferred, you may receive a 30-day money-back guarantee on your initial order.
Supply Per Bottle: 30-day supply comes with 17.6 oz of Fiber & Spice and 90 capsules of Fruits & Veggies each.
Nonetheless, the Fruits and Veggies are only sold together, at $89.95. If you are a Preferred Customer you can get them for $69.95.
On the other hand, the Fiber & Spice is $69.95 or $49.95 with the Preferred Customer option.
The Whole System (Fruits, Veggies, and Fiber & Spice) is $159.95 or $109.95 when you choose the Preferred Customer option.
If you are looking for alternatives to Balance of Nature products, you may consider Gundry MD Vital Reds and/or Primal Plants.
Balance of Nature Review: In Summary
Although Balance of Nature goes into great detail as to their processes and manufacturing in their FAQ section, they do not mention if their facility is cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) certified by an independent third party. We think that this is something you should always research for any supplement you are considering.
The Preferred Customer option does include personal health coaching, but beware as it also involves ongoing monthly deliveries.
Some customers also complain the auto-ship program is difficult to cancel. These issues were reported to the BBB (Better Business Bureau). Customer service seems to be an issue as well.
A lack of truth in advertising, sketchy promotional practices, and return policy are concerns in customer reviews.
We think that this product is not living up to their claims. In fact, some of the information can be misleading. It is also hard to consume these many pills in a day, and it is expensive to follow this regimen every month.
If you would still like to give it a try, we suggest you start with one bottle of the Fruits and Veggies and one bottle of the Fiber & Spice first.
