I grew up in a house where healthy food, massage, and prayer were used as the essential “medicines” when we got sick. When we were not feeling well, my mom would rush to the kitchen to prepare teas and soups using vegetables, fruits, honey, propolis, ginger, garlic, aloe, rice, and any other natural ingredient that she truly believed would help us. And if those items weren’t sufficient, I remember my parents gently massaging us while praying for us to get better. I know it sounds funny and even a little bit crazy, but it’s no joke. That’s how my brothers and I were raised.
Needless to say, I rarely took any prescription drugs, or even any other kind of pill or over the counter medications. However, when I moved to Hawaii, my husband introduced me to Spirulina and BioAstin. 
Actually, it was the first gift he ever gave me. He put a bottle of BioAstin and a bottle of Spirulina in a bag, and for some reason he even had a cookie in there. I took the cookie and told him that I didn’t take any kind of pills and never had. He tried to convince me that they were natural supplements grown on the Big Island that he has been taking for over 5 years, and I should definitely take them too.
Well, he was so excited about it that I took the bottles just to be polite. However, those bottles stayed unopened on top of my refrigerator for months. It wasn’t until we moved in together, and he started to bring the black BioAstin and the green Spirulina pills to me every night with a cup of water that I started giving them a shot. And to my surprise, after a few months, I started to feel the benefits of both supplements.
I noticed that I wasn’t getting sick as often. With the amount of training I was doing, which was about 3 hours per day, and competing every weekend, getting a cold was inevitable. However, I felt my immune system had grown stronger.
Spirulina is a blue-green algae, and it’s recognized as one of the most complete superfoods. Hawaiian Spirulina has 2800% more beta-carotene than carrots, 3900% more iron than spinach, 600% more protein than tofu, and 280% more antioxidants than blueberries. No wonder this ingredient is considered a superfood. And I feel stronger when I consistently take it.
I love to play in the sun! However, I know too much is not healthy at all. But when you are training for an ironman, you can spend 5 hours straight in the sun during long rides, ocean swims, and long runs. With BioAstin, I noticed that my skin wasn’t getting as dark as it used to, and my skin felt more moisturized as well.
BioAstin’s main ingredient is known as Astaxanthin, a naturally occurring carotenoid pigment that’s found in certain marine plants and animals. Astaxanthin is also known as nature’s most powerful antioxidant. As my passion grew for triathlon, my training loads also grew, which meant more workouts with higher intensity. Again, while taking BioAstin, I felt stronger, and I recovered quicker after hard workouts. Taking BioAstin was a vital part of my routine when training for all 3 of my Kona Ironman World champs.
It has been almost 7 years that I have been taking these two supplements, and I thought that the benefits to my body were worth sharing. However, I still believe that supplements just fill the gap (here is an article I wrote about it) and nothing can replace a healthy diet, a balanced lifestyle, and our parents loving techniques.
some dreams are worth sharing…
mariane
photos by: Mike Vidales
more about Spirulina: What is Spirulina?
more about BioAstin: What is Astaxanthin?
meet the I Take BioAstin team: I Take BioAstin
