Alive is dead. Alive magazine is an embarrassment. Alive is the free magazine given out in health food stores all across
Yes, the magazine is a platform for people shamelessly to shlock their wares. That is marketing, I suppose. The Standard-health paradigm drug companies certainly set a low standard to which marketers in Alive adhere. But the magazine itself, the people behind the magazine, have, in my opinion, dismally failed the Canadian people as we in the holistic realm expect better. The editors, the publisher, the so-called advisory committees, … all have failed the Canadian people, in my opinion.
Here is an example:
Salba seed. Touted as nature’s most powerful whole food. What a load of marketing crap. It is a seed, for God’s sake. Just a seed like lots of others. In fact, it is just a chia seed cultivar which is mostly white-coated instead of black coated so they can slap a Salba registered trademark on it. Still chia seed, nevertheless. And it is sold for $30ish a pound instead of $
Worse is that Alive Magazine awards this product as one of the best new products sold in health food stores for the year 2007. Crap! It is chia seed! Salba is not even certified organic so it is likely sprayed with all manner of chemicals. No way should it receive any award of excellence from a purportedly nature-oriented magazine.
I have people bringing in packages of this Salba here to the clinic and asking my opinion. I tell them they were dupped, over-charged, and sold an inferior product to cheaper, certified organic seed. They all feel silly, and betrayed by a magazine masquerading as an enterprise serving their better interest. Who really goes to a health food store wanting to be ripped off, and having the magazine representing health food stores encourage them in this effort?
Alive is dead. It is a disservice to Canadians looking to get well through healthful means. Alive magazine gets my Holistic Award of Shame for the year 2007.
My advice: never buy a food with an ingredient that has a registered trademark. You are paying extra and are being had.
3 comments:
Hi Herbinator. I am a Salba guy who can earnestly speak to the excellence in agronomics and painstaking selective breeding to provide a better food. This took over 14 years and then 3 years for completion of research and publication. If not for there vision, work and investment would we all know about the real nutritional benefits of the specific variety? There will be a time when capacity allows for a less expensive product like Salba or other varieties of Salvia hispanica. There is a great resource named Dr. Margaret Conover http://www.chiativity.org/about_us.html who I had the great pleasure of meeting when I first introduced Salba to Canada.....I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Conover and her fantastic knowledge of the botanical variety Salvia hispanica. Dr. Conover believes that Chia is fantastic and she is correct! Dr. Conover will also agree that there are so many varieties that have a great variation of nutritional benefits and many consumers have no idea what they are purchasing....But...when you get great Chia you have a fantastic food. We at Salba are able to provide you with a food that is consistent in nutritional profile and is grown in what all Salvia hispanica experts agree to be the optimum conditions for growing the most nutrient dense variety.
If not for the people at Alive Magazine there would have been little chance for many consumers to get exposed to a product that previously had no response. Alive is getting bigger and they are aware of the risk of perception but continue to stay committed to the Canadian consumer. I for one can absolutely speak to their standards as they continue to challenge and references to publication and adherence to strict Canadian legislation. I like the team at Alive and hope you have the opportunity to meet some of them to really understand who these people are and what they stand for.
Salba has invested in long term studies that has been published do to the fantastic benefits and potential….now there are a lot of people talking about something out there that is cheaper. I am not sure why you would be-grudge the pioneers of this incredible variety of Salvia hispanica to have a reasonable return on their 17 year investment but I think they are entitled to it! If they did not find a way to tell the world about Salvia hispanica would you have even cared to write this blog? Nope because you would not have seen Chia in a package or anyone standing in a store, weekend after weekend, telling individuals about the agronomic policies and the bona fide evidence of nutrition packed in this tiny seed. Instead of saying that we are all so bad think about the work that we have done. We are not a marketing machine. We have been fortunate to have real research, a great friend who can do awesome graphic design and fantastic co-packers who believed that our vision and mission were worth supporting.
I hope this helps you see who we are a little more clearly. Enjoy a healthy holiday season.
Neither Alive nor Salba have this nature-cure practitioner's endorsement.
Several editors ago Alive did do some good societal work even though they are product floggers. I believe Alive, now, to be long past redemption.
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