Oxalates are substances that plants produce, which are essential to their growth, reproduction and survival.
• They function as a defensive weapon, protecting the plant from being eaten.
• Plants use the toxic power of oxalates to ward off a variety of predators
• such as fungi, insects, and other plant-eating animals, including humans.

Oxalate crystals wreak havoc in all of the many places they form in the body, including: the kidneys, prostate, testes, vagina, blood vessels, lungs, thyroid gland, lymph nodes, bones, joints, muscles, oral tissues, the eyes, the skin, and the brain.

Excessive consumption of oxalates is a major risk factor in kidney disease.

• Oxalates can cause calcium oxalate kidney stones (particularly, for those with previous kidney stones).
• Oxalates are also linked to kidney failure (even for those without a history of kidney stones).

Even consumption of moderate levels can cause: inflamed joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, lipomas, chronic prostatitis (in men), vulvodynia (vulver pain in woman), chronic skin issues, cold hands and feet, brain fog and mood problems.

Some people may experience: shortness of breath, sinus problems, yeast infections, urinary issues (such as urinary tract infections, frequent urination or cloudy urine). and digestive problems (such as reflux disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, bloating, excessive belching, and constipation).

Persistent consumption results in the accumulation of oxalates in the body over time, sometimes without obvious symptoms, and may culminate years later with “old age” problems such as osteoporosis, chronic pain, vision impairment and hearing loss.

• Symptoms of oxalate overload are often accompanied by fatigue or tiredness,
• When oxalic acid chemically bonds to calcium, it can interfere with cell energy production.
• When oxalates bond to iron (in the bone marrow), it can deprive hemoglobin of the iron it needs to carry oxygen throughout the body, resulting in anemia.
• Oxalate overload can also cause the depletion of the antioxidant glutathione,which may result in:
• an impaired ability of the liver to detoxify
• a lower potential to preserve brain health
• Oxalate consumption can also result in heavy metal toxicity.
• although oxalates can chelate many toxic heavy metals (such as mercury and lead) . . .
• unlike other chelating agents, oxalates tend to trap the heavy metals in the tissues.

Considering all of these harmful health effects . . . its easy to authoritatively debunk both:

• Joe's claim that “There’s never gonna be a dispute” (about the benefits of fruits and vegetables).
• and Douglas' assertion that “With fruits and vegetables there are no negative side effects”

Balance of Nature® has MANY oxalate-containing ingredients, some which are VERY high in oxalates including: spinach, celery, carrot, sweat potato, garlic, soy and raspberry.

In stark contrast, Sea of Greens® is a true whole-food superfood containing virtually no oxalates!

Aside from our belief (admittedly biased) that Sea of Greens® is a far superior product to Balance of Nature®, it is also considerably more affordably priced. All those Balance of Nature® TV commercials are expensive and someone has to pay for them.

Does anyone really believe paid testimonials?

Its hard to imagine why anyone would believe paid testimonials are real, particularly any as “over the top” as the ones featured in the Balance of Nature® commercials. but I suppose there are many non critical thinkers out there, who fall for them. I personally find them to be obnoxious and insulting to my intelligence.

They really lay it on thick . . . for example:

• In the first of a series of commercials featuring celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford, she says:

“You know when you start up a motorcycle and you hear it go va va voom, when it takes off? I was losing that. I was losing my energy (as everybody does when they grow older) And I don't want to be tired. I don't want to look tired and I don't want to be tired. I started using Balance of Nature® (about a year and a half ago), noticed the results IMMEDIATELY, and I went Ohh My Gosh . . . This works. This is what I've been missing all my life. I'm loving life actually more than I ever, ever have. I missed my va va voom, I got it back”

• In a sequel to the Kathie Lee series, she goes on to say:

“I've been in show business my entire life. I know when someone is an actor or actress. And I'd hear Balance of Nature® being advertised and I just thought . . .These are real people out there and they seem to just be really telling the truth about this product that they love... I literally called up the founder and said ”I've never done this before in my life. I want to tell people about Balance of Nature® I want it to do for them what it has done for me.”

• In a subsequent Kathie Lee commercial (a mock interview with founder Douglas Howard), in response to Howard's prompting that “she came along . . . and no one contacted her, she says:

No, quite the opposite. I had to beg you, as I recall . . . In the world that we live in today, which is just full of phonies, inauthentic people and products, people are . . . when they find something that really is what you said it was going to be and really does do what you said it was going to do . . . wait a minute let me look at this again . . . you know nothing's that good . . . nothing's that real . . . nothing's that authentic, but I'm understanding now, in knowing you a little bit better and where it all came from . . . why wouldn't it be? I just kept hearing these voices of these real people and I thought you know, its worth a try, so I tried it and it worked”

• Then there is the very annoying and unbelievable commercial featuring Vincent (a nutritionist), who says:

  ”I'm not a morning person, but after a week of using Balance of Nature® I started getting up early and I started feeling better, because I have so much energy . . . There is something about Balance of Nature® that I need to tell the world about, so here I am.”

• Least I forget, the commercial featuring optometrist Paul Gooch (referring to himself as an optometric physician), who says:

  ”I do recommend Balance of Nature® to my patients because, it's ALMOST a self-evident truth that if they eat a healthy diet that's rich in fruits and vegetables, they are going to give their bodies the rich source of biochemistry they need to have their best chance of being healthy”

  • So in other words . . . It's almost (but NOT actually) a self-evident truth.

My intelligence is especially insulted by the commercials featuring Balance of Nature® founder (chiropractor Douglas Howard):

• Howard shows off his acting skill, feigning spontaneity as he quips:

“The formula that we have is not just fruit and vegetables; and I do take a little bit of offense to that sometimes, because its just thousands of hours studying how to put those fruits and vegetables, in what order and how they can be processed. You have an unlimited number of chemical combinations, that have zero negative side effects and only help and improve the body.”

• Notice how his quote implies that he has spent thousands of hours researching the unlimited chemical combinations between fruits and vegetable, and that his formula is optimized accordingly, resulting in a product that can only help and improve the body with no side effects.
• However if you parse his very carefully scripted statement, you realize that he is not really saying anything of the kind. He really just strings together some unrelated and incomplete sentences, that give that impression, without specifically saying something, that:
  • the FDA would deem to be an unapproved drug claim
  • the FTC would deem to be a false advertising claim.

• In one commercial (in case you have any doubts, as any critical thinker would) Howard insists:

“The food, processes and testimonials are real”.

• In another commercial, Howard says:

“Sometimes, Balance of Nature® gets feedback that Dr Howard should be played by a better actor.”

• ironically followed by obvious “canned laughter”
• not exactly a convincing way to assure authenticity
• Howard then goes on to say:
• with a caption reading “REAL SUCCESS STORIES FROM REAL PEOPLE”,

“Well maybe they’re right, because I am not an actor and I don’t want to be. I hope you understand this is real”

• Do any of these “over the top”, self-serving statements actually reassure anyone?
• I don't know about you, but when someone repeatedly “gas lights” me so intensely:
• that everything they say is true . . .
• that their paid testimonials are actually real . . .
• It raises my red flag, causing me to:
• NOT believe anything they say
• run away as fast as I can!

Bottom line: We do not consider Balance of Nature® a good purchase choice.

• Dietary oxalates are harmful to health, so why take a supplement that contains high oxalate content?
• This product is very expensive.
• Any product that is sold with such an “over the top” - “hard sell” should be avoided like the plague!