1. People don't give them enough time. The human red blood cell lives on average for 120 days (4 months). So if you make a change today, in one months time only 25% of your blood cells will have been made under the influence of the nutritional or habitual benefits of your new protocol. In two months 50%, three months 75%... so it is unrealistic to expect to reap the full benefits of a change for at least four months. It is true that some people can feel better within a few weeks - or even days and sometimes hours* of making a change, but for most people, a four month period is probably the minimum time to give toward assessing a new protocol. However, if conditions are chronic it is worth bearing in mind that the body may need considerably longer to work through the related issues.
2. The dietary change or supplements are not what the person needs. For instance, someone reducing/eliminating fat consumption in order to lose weight. Six months down the road very little has changed... because they (and their dietician!) are unaware that eating fat is not what causes one to get fat in the first place!** As another example, consider the disappointment of Mr. X who wanted to experience the same benefits his friend Ms. Y reported after starting on Supplement Z. But chances are Mr. X was not deficient in what Supplement Z had to offer or his system could neither absorb or process it. This results in him experiencing no benefits and beginning to wonder if supplements are just placebos, a waste of money and whether Ms. Y might have lost her marbles!
3. Or they are simply unsuitable for the human body. Most 'diets' and supplements are simply poorly designed, hard for the body to process and can even add to the strains already being dealt with. For instance a product blaring the benefits of Vit X, Y, Z is probably giving plenty of synthetic vitamin X, Y, Z. While certainly better than no X, Y, Z at all, their being synthetic could mean their being unrecognised by the body or perceived as a toxin (all the more so if supplied without the necessary minerals and enzymes needed to fully utilise them). However, alongside the 'wonderful' nutrients there are bulking agents, emulsifiers, flavourings and more which nature never intended we eat. Or in the case of a diet, the new regime does little to address the fundamental issue of the pH value of the nutrient-ash circulating in the body after a food has been digested. This could amount to little more than replacing the original stresses with an entirely new set! The resulting compromised progress or net loss, could easily lead someone to conclude that the dietary changes or supplements aren't working.
4. The change has "plateued". As any beneficial change will take the pressure off the body, it is common for people to say they feel fantastic in the first few days and weeks of a dietary change. Or the introduction of a new supplement. But then they begin to notice they're no longer getting the same lift as in the initial phases - and so conclude that the programme is less effective. This however is an illusion caused by our body's tremendous ability to get used to things very quickly. When daily strains are first taken off, or a nutrient deficiency addressed, we notice a massive increase in energy levels. In the early days, alongside this increase in energy, we still have a very fresh memory of what we felt like before. In this context, changes like increased energy / clarity of mind / no afternoon slump or cravings etc is quite noticable - just as are sudden losses of those improvements. But... as the new regime sinks in... the memories of the old lethargy and slumps begin to fade and the new levels of energy quickly become accepted as 'normal'. So it is common for people to conclude, after only a few weeks on a new regime, that "it's not working like it used to" and should therefore be brought to an end.
* Some
supplements we promote are so bio-available that the body can begin to utilise their constituents within a few days, hours or even moments of their use. Ironically, as is outlined in 4 above this initial 'honeymoon' experience can leave people feeling uncertain about the benefits of these products. In times of such doubt it may be considering that one does not 'feel' the individual impact of Vitamin C molecules. Or the action of a free-radical stealing an electron from a molecule in a DNA strand. However, simply because we don't feel them does not mean they are not happening. Likewise just because we can't feel a supplement working for us doesn't mean that it isn't. True there are some supplements which can lift energy very quickly (e.g.
Supergreens or
MAP) and perhaps they have added to the expectation that supplements will always - and in fact MUST always - provide a lift in energy or otherwise they're no good. But overall, making a judgement about a supplement based solely on whether or not we 'feel' its effects seems unwise. So what criteria to use? We'll put out an article on this in the very near future.
** We will explore the "eating fat does not cause fat" phenomenon in greater detail in a future article.
It's not "working"
