Brad King enjoys a glass of wine and a sweet treat as much as the next person, but, unlike the next person, he reserves those indulgences for weekends.
The other five days of the week, King adheres to a strict exercise and healthy eating regiment.
“I want to live a life that’s worth living, but in order to do that you’ve got to give up a few things to make the rest of your life that much more worth it,” he says.
The North Vancouver entrepreneur and public speaker has been in the nutrition industry for 20 years and has authored 11 books, including the international bestseller Fat Wars. His commitment to health and well-being started when he lost both his parents to cancer within a six-month period.
“That’s part of what motivates me. I don’t want to end up like my parents did, or like the majority of the population does,” he says. “We’re an unhealthy society nowadays. We suffer from lack of energy and people complain all the time and they’re on medications.”
His professional focus to date has been adult nutrition, but he’s recently turned his attention to kids. Childhood obesity and its associated health problems are far more prevalent than in previous generations and King says the majority of kids don’t get even 50 per cent of their recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
“A lot of kids these days are really deficient in the nutrients that come from real food and it can’t be made up by giving them a synthetic vitamin,” he says.
His newest product line, Samuraw Organic Complete, is a vitamin, mineral and probiotic supplement formulated for kids and teenagers. King says one gram of the flavourless powder, which can be sprinkled on cereal or mixed into a drink, delivers the equivalent of seven servings of fruits and veggies.
“There’s nothing synthetic in the formula whatsoever, it’s derived exclusively from food, it’s allergen free.”
In a perfect world, King says, everyone would get all their nutrients from the foods they eat.
“We don’t live in that perfect world, that’s the reality of the situation.”
Parents are busy, kids are picky eaters, and there’s an abundance of processed, sugary convenience foods on the market. That’s where Samuraw comes in.
King is a featured exhibitor at two upcoming consumer events taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre and will introduce his new nutritional supplement for kids. The Vancouver Baby and Family Fair runs Oct. 28-29 and the Vancouver Health Show runs Nov. 4-5. For information and admission prices, visit baby-fair.com or healthshows.com.
