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Alternative Health and Supplements |
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Vitacost is one of the best all-around supplement sites on the net. Prices and selection are excellent. They carry the complete lines of many brands such as Garden of Life, Enzymatic Therapy, and Planetary Formulas at a discount of 30-40% or  more, which is among the best pricing available. They also carry most Allergy Research products. Vitacost provides a very well designed website which is easy to shop with the ability to display a great number (up to 100) of the products of a given brand, type, or search result on one page, a feature more website designers should  consider. They provide complete descriptions and content of most products, so it is a great site for research. Vitacost does not carry products by Now Foods or Solaray, but their discounted (50%+) house line of high potency vitamins and other supplements by Nutraceutical SciencesInstitute (NSI) is excellent - many of them are probably manufactured for them by companies like Now, Natrol, and Twinlab. Vitacost is one of the best supplement websites for international shoppers since they guarantee pricing, converted into local currency, with no hidden charges or additional fees to the price quote. Shipping is fast with in-stock items and, unlike almost every other vendor, they will notify you when items are not in stock so you have the option of deleting them to speed shipping, or waiting until they are in stock before the order ships. |
iHerb, like Vitacost, has excellent prices, selection, and service. iHerb carries an excellent selection of most of the popular brands including Now Foods, Twinlab, Enzymatic Therapy, Natural Factors, Garden of Life, Jarrow, Nutribiotic, Natrol, Rainbow Light, and Planetary Formulas as well as a great many minor brands.  They have among the best prices and widest selection on the Now Foods as well as Eclectic Institute lines. Like Vitacost, they do not carry the Solaray or Solgar brands (for these products, see Herbs Wholesale, HerbsMD, or VitaminShoppe below). Pricing is similar to Vitacost with deep discounts on most lines. Full disclosure of most product ingredients is provided. The website design is simple, clean , and their search engine is excellent. Navigating is somewhat confusing when displaying the products in a brand or a particular type of product since the page will show a few products with the majority of them in text links along the left side of the page. A limited number of products can be shown on one page without the ability to display a large number at one time. Given their excellent selection and pricing, with some of the best pricing online, especially for the Now line, this can be easily overlooked. iHerb also features a Natural Library with information on alternative therapies, herbs, and supplements, as well as the German Commission E Monographs.
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HerbsPro, also known as Universal Herbs, is another Mega Online Supplement Store, like Vitacost and iHerb. HerbsPro carries, in general, the same lines as iHerb including the heavily discounted Now, Jarrow,  and Twinlab brands, but like iHerb, does not carry Solaray. They do offer the premium brands like Enzymatic Therapy, Eclectic Institute, Herb Pharm, and many others. HerbsPro usually has complete product ingredients listings, but not in a convenient, easy to read tablular form like iHerb and Vitacost. Prices are usually slightly  higher than iHerb. HerbsPro search engine uses an OR function,instead of the more useful AND with OR results being displayed below, like Vitacost and iHerb, and does not display results with pricing, which is also annoying, plus uses squashed jpgs to display product pictures in their search results. HerbsPro has flat shipping rates (free over a certain amount, currently $89) for orders up to 3 lbs, and after that they provide a $5.95 credit towards shipping. They offer a rebate program - cash back on purchases - similar to Drugstore.com (see below), but would be better to just discount their prices a bit more to match iHerb's. |
Herbs Wholesale like HerbsMD. described below, carries a very wide variety of supplements at discount pricing, and similar in pricing to Vitacost. Herbs Wholsale has the complete line ofmost common brands  including Solaray, Twinlab, Now Foods, Enzymatic Therapy, Doctor's Best, and Jarrow at deep discounts. HerbsMD is one of the few websites which carries Nutribiotic's excellent line of powdered vitamin C and mineral supplements including Meta-C, Electro-C, and Hypo-Aller-C, all highly regarded. Descriptions and content of almost all products are given, plus a product review forum is provided. House of Nutrition has a slightly better selection of obscure and hard to find supplements like those of Cardiovascular Research,  but Herbs Wholsale prices are generally lower. The search engine of Herbs Wholsale is very good and they display a large number of items in a search, which makes finding items easy. Shipping is fast on in stock items, but they don't tell you when you order items that are not in stock plus they may not respond to email inquiries to orders, so this is not a well rated company by eRegimens' standards due to the poor service. |
HerbsMD like House of Nutrition, described below, carries a very wide variety of supplements at discount pricing, although Vitacost is usually lower in price. HerbsMD has the complete line of most common brands  including Solaray, Twinlab, Now Foods, Enzymatic Therapy, Doctor's Best, and Jarrow at deep discounts. They also carry some of the excellent brands which are typically hard to find online, especially at a discount, including Gaia, Eclectic Institute, Herb Pharm, and Thompson. HerbsMD is one of the few websites which carries Nutribiotic's excellent line of powdered vitamin C and mineral supplements including Meta-C, Electro-C, and Hypo-Aller-C, all highly regarded, although Herbs Wholesale also carries the Nutribiotic line and they are a more reliable vendor.. Descriptions and content of many  products are given, but it is disappointing that many products do not state content. House of Nutrition has a slightly better selection of obscure and hard to find supplements like those of Cardiovascular Research, but HerbsMD prices are generally lower. The search engine of HerbsMD is among the worst of any supplement website, plus they only display a small number of items in a search, which makes finding items time consuming. In the past, shipping and customer service has been slow. This improved a great deal in 2005, but as of 2006 greatly increased sales has slowed them down again as with many other online health vendors and orders of even in stock items are taking approximately two weeks to be delivered. |
BodyBuilding.com is one of the largest and best online merchants of bodybuilding, strength & endurance,  weightloss, and other supplements. Their website is broken into two sections - one is the online shopping cyberstore and the other is thesupersite which features a great deal of information on bodybuilding, weight loss,muscle  gain, and competition, plus discussion and chatboards.An excellent feature is the wide variety of non-bodybuilding supplements including a deep selection of popular brands like Now and Solaray, but not Garden of Life or Jarrow. BodyBuilding.com website design is a bit annoying with a default black background and red, white, and blue text on all their pages and products can be hard to find, but since they offer excellent pricing, very fast shipping, and such a wide selection, this can be easily overlooked. Bodybuilding.com also has excellent customer service and even followups on orders to ensure satisfaction. |
The Vitamin Shoppe is one of the oldest and largest supplement websites on the net. They have a huge selection of vitamins, supplements, health foods, bodycare  items, and alternative healthcare books.They are one of the only discount websites that carries the entire Aubrey Organics line. When a promotion code is provided via email or on the website, payattention since it may be needed to get free shipping or other discounts. When displaying a large number of  products in a category, the Vitamin Shoppe website only allows a few to be displayed per page, a design faultthat many websites with extensive product lines are now correcting. Prices areokay, with a typical discount of around 20%, but not as good as the vendors above. Product display pages are excellent with full disclosure of ingredients for most items. Shipping is fast and reasonable in cost and usually free with large orders. Since Vitamin Shoppe has over 250 outlets throughout the US, there are many states in which sales tax is assessed when purchasing online. |
House of Nutrition carries probably the widest variety of supplements at discountpricing of anywhere  online, although Vitacost and HerbsMD are usually lower in price on specific items. House of Nutrition has the complete line of most common brands including Solaray, Twinlab, Now Foods, Enzymatic Therapy, and Jarrow at 25 to 50% off list price. They also carry some of the excellent brands which are typically hard to find online, especially at a discount, including Gaia, Eclectic Institute, Herb Pharm, Cardiovascular Research (Ecological Formulas), and Thompson, as well as Douglas Labs (a professional line sold at retail). House of Nutrition once carried Nutribiotic's excellent line of powdered vitamin C and mineral supplements including Meta-C, Electro-C, and Hypo-Aller-C, all highly regarded, but these have been discontinued (they are still available at HerbsMD, described above.) Some descriptions of products are given, but the full content is usually not provided. When ordering at the House of Nutrition website, submit the Coupon Code HOUSE when checking out to get an additional 5% discount. |
Doctor's Trust is mostly noted for its heavily discounted house line of supplements (Doctor's Trust brand, not to be confused with Doctor's Best),  which usually have Natrol or Now equivalents but are often about  half the cost. They have a limited selection of other brands, and in many cases only one or two products, but if money is tight, their house line provides an excellent value for many types of supplements. They have gone through a couple of website redesigns in the last year. The latest one is much more subdued than the last and much easier on the eye since it is no longer too busy. One of their most popular products is a multimineral maintenance product called Bone Builder with Boron (the same formula as Now Bone Strength). They also have some of the best prices on their house line of CoQ10 products. Shipping is usually very fast. |
SupplementsToGo specializes in discount body-building and weight loss  supplements and offers an excellent selection of these products including those by Serious Nutrition, Schwartz Labs, Bill Grant,Optimum Nutrition, and many others including the Controlled Labs line (and the White Blood arginine ethyl ester ornithine ethyl ester formula is in stock!). They also carry products by the most popular supplement manufacturerssuch as Now, Enzymatic Therapy, Garden of Life, Solaray, etc, but you'd never know it by looking at the menu sidebar.  They are only revealed in the Shop By Brand pulldown menu. The SupplementsToGo website employs a mediocre search engine, but full descriptions of almost all products are given, as well as lengthy discussions on some of them. |
Kalyx is mostly known as a vendor of discount bulk herbs,  but carries a wide variety of products (even including  musical instruments, tools, sporting goods, and toys) They have a huge variety of herbs and herb extractsat very good prices and offer many of their herbsin 25 pound bulk sizes. Their selection of Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs is among the best and they carry some of the harder to find herbs like neem and wormwood annua as well as culture kits for medicinal mushrooms. There is probably no other place on the net where you can pick up a few pounds of bulk herbs along with a reed for your bagpipe, stakes for your camping tent, and a Barbie laptop computer for your kid all at the same place. Shipping can be slow since many of the products are likely drop shipped from the manufacturer.. |
Camden Grey is another vendor of discount bulk herbs and has a good  selection available in varying amounts, usually 4 oz, 8 oz, 1 lb, and 5 lbs, although they are most widely known for their huge selection of essential oils. Camden Grey specifies shipping times, unlike Kalyx, and is more reliable. Camden Grey also carries a wide variety of other products including soap making supplies, fragrances, and food flavorings and flavor oils, plus food and cooking oil, and a good selection of containers for the do-it-yourselfer. The website design is a bit primitive, and it has not grown old  gracefully, with two menus, one at the top and one on the left side. The one on the left side is more useful. Trying to find the main product they sell, essential oils, and one might mistakenly press the button on the top bar which says "Essential Oil Desciptions", and this does give descriptions of essential oils, but there is no link to purchase the oils that are being described in this section, which is baffling. However, the search function is good for high speed connections since it displays all items found on a single page without the hassle of going through page after page. Camden Grey often offers a discount structure based on the order total, to as much as 15% off their already low prices. |
The Vita-Mix is a powerful blender that produces drinks which are composed of whole fruits and vegetables. It is the same machine that is typically used in smoothie shops and for frozen drinks in bars. It  comes in commercial configurations and for home use, but the same durable motor is used in all of them. The Super 5000 series is variable speed and comes with two pitchers with blade assemblies - one for drinks and soups and one for dry foods such as grains and herbs. The cost is about $500 for the Super 5000 package and $400 for the plain 5000 package, which only includes the wet pitcher. Shipping is substantial at about $25, but following one of the links from this website automatically provides free ground shipping (in the US) or $25 credit towards express shipping. The Vita-Mix does not produce pulp like most juicers so cleanup is very easy, but some liquid  like water must usually be added before grinding to make it a drinkable consistency. It supposedly grinds foods to the molecular level so that all the nutrients are easily absorbed, and it certainly includes more nutrients and fiber, most of which is in the pulp, than regular juicers. It is also an invaluable appliance for herbalists. An excellent, fast, and nutritious smoothie is as follows: put frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc) in the "wet" pitcher, add a handful of baby carrots or other vegetables, two scoops of a good whey protein powder, and some raw nuts like walnuts or almonds, or flax or pumpkin seeds. Add enough pineapple juice to cover. Grind for about 20 to 30 seconds on high speed until smooth. Makes a sweet smoothie suitable as a meal for both kids and adults. It can also be used to make drinks of the not-so-healthy variety such as frozen margaritas and daiquiris. |
Aubrey Organics is the leader in the manufacture of all-natural body care and cosmetic items. Virtually every product is produced with all natural ingredients without  a single petrochemical, synthetic chemical, or toxic ingredient. They are the only bodycare company which can make this claim. They were the first bodycare company to be certified organic, too. Almost every item listed on the website provides the complete ingredient list. Aubrey specializes in products for skin care and hair care, including shampoos, conditioners, and hair colors, and also carries sunscreens, baby care items, and even a few for pets. Makeup is a new addition, and a welcome one since it was nearly impossible to find petrochemical/toxin-free makeup in the past. |
Drugstore.com is a very popular website to purchase all manner of items typically found in a conventional drug store, not many of which are recommended by those  in alternative health fields. However, they are an excellent source for a wide variety of natural household cleaning products including those by Caldrea, Earth Friendly Products, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyer's, and Bi-O-Kleen. They also sell Weleda, Tom's of Maine, and Burt's Bee bodycare items. Shipping is usually free with a minimum order and is very fast plus they have an excellent rebate program. |
The Life Extension Foundation offers some good products. Prices are generally high  even if one gets the member discount (membership costs $75 per year) but for some high potency and well-formulated products they do offer the best value for the money. They also sell powdered forms of many vitamins and minerals otherwise hard to find. What sets LEF apart is the extensive research they sponsor, reports of which are available on their website as well as in their monthly magazine. They also offer testing and diagnostic services through conventional labs. |
Only Natural Pet Store offers thousands of products from the leading manufacturers of natural pet care products, including vitamins, supplements, medicine, food, treats, chews, bones, flea control products, grooming supplies, litter, cleaning supplies, and much more. They also offer many hard to find  products like organic food and treats, herbal remedies, homeopathic remedies, raw food, flower essences, and natural flea control products. They carry dry kibble by Solid Gold and Wysong. They provide a link for holistic veterinarian consultation, which is expensive at $75 per half hour, but also have a free monthly newsletter on natural pet care and a section of Q&A by a holistic vet. Shipping is fast to very fast with FedEx and FedEx Express, or Priority Mail for light shipments. This listing is also included in the Pet Supplies category. |
 Old Amish Original Formulas features Dr. Hulda Clark Parasite & Kidney cleanses in easy all-in-one bottle formulation and Old Amish Kidney Cleanse in a "No Tea to Brew" formula. Also pH Test Kits, Lower Bowel, Olive Leaf, and Wellness capsules and health literature. |
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