You’ve heard about it on talk shows and news reports. You’ve read about it in fashion and health/fitness magazines. But...

...does Acai work???

Despite being recently bombarded with a lot of miracle fruits that make promises but don’t deliver – this one really seems to work. And I know, from firsthand experience, that it works remarkably well for me and has all but eliminated my chronic back pain.

My Issue...

My name is Fran and as you can see from this X-Ray, I have a pretty severe case of scoliosis.

There are many joints where there is bone-on-bone contact and so Arthritis pain has become an issue for me. Also, my back muscles are constantly flexed to prevent my spine from collapsing. This has created a lot of Muscle Knots in my back muscles. I used to sit at my desk all day feeling like a hot knife was being twisted under my left shoulder blade. I woke up with the pain, had it all day and went to bed with it. I couldn’t get a restful night’s sleep. I didn’t know how I was going to continue to work, the pain was getting worse by the day.

I tried everything ...

• saw Chiropractors and Massage Therapists
• swallowed NSAID’s all day long
• tried Vioxx and Celebrex
• used sprays and creams
• tried hot/cold therapy

... all any of it did was provide very short-term relief or only slightly dull the pain. The NSAID’s tore up my stomach. I stopped using Vioxx when I read that it was causing heart attacks. It was embarrassing to go out in public smelling like Wintergreen and Menthol, so I limited the use of topical ointments to when I was at home. I was seriously considering surgery, but I was prolonging it as long as I could stand it – I’ve heard too many horror stories about spinal surgery. What's more, I was getting grief every time I asked my wife to massage my muscle knots or asked my daughter to walk on my back to crack it back in place.

Help was a Friend Away...

Then, noticing that I sat on a wedge pillow at work (another attempt to reduce the pain), a co-worker suggested that I try an Acai product he was promoting. My first response was “Yeah, right!!! I’ve tried all these other things and nothing has worked. Do you really expect me to believe that fruit juice is going to take my pain away?” However, this person had always been straight with me and was very persuasive. “What have you got to lose?” he said.

Convincing Myself...

So I tried the Acai juice blend. The first week – Nothing. The second week – Still Nothing. He called to check my progress and I told him that it wasn’t doing anything, my back still hurt. He suggested that I give it a month, after all, I didn’t get this way overnight, it may take a while to reduce the inflammation and loosen up the knotted muscles. Also, sometimes I would forget to take it and had to learn to treat it like a prescription - I had to take it per the instructions for it to work. After a couple of weeks, taking it was part of my daily routine and I no longer forgot.

Relief At Last...

About the third week, I noticed that I had gone all day at work without needing an Ibuprofen. Holy cow! Does this stuff work or was I just having a good day. The rest of the week – No Pain. The next week – again, No Pain. I thought, maybe this Acai juice does work after all– or could it be my imagination? I've heard of psychosomatic illnesses, but a psychosomatic cure or placebo effect?

Making Sure...

I tempted fate and tested it. After my supply ran out, I purposely didn’t order more to see what would happen. After three days, I was frantically calling my friend to borrow some from him. The pain was back, as strong as ever. The pain subsided gradually through the first few weeks, so it was hard to notice it working but when I stopped taking the Acai – BAM! – it came roaring back – and THAT I noticed.

Doing some Research...

The juice worked for me so well that I did some research on the fruits to see what each one purportedly did for the body to compliment the effect of the Acai and improve my health all around. This is what I found.

Let’s start with fruit consumption in general...

• Since the number of daily servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by health professionals seems to increase all the time, it would seem that you should have a “More is Better” approach in your diet. There is nothing that I have found that would indicate that you could eat too much.
• The emphasis on farming is high yield per acre. Thus, for example, the nutrition contained in an orange today is far less than it was 50 years ago. The same applies to all farm-raised fruits and vegetables. So we have to eat a lot more today than in the past to get the same nutritional value.
• Fruits are all different colors and contain different phytonutrients. It is best to eat a variety from across the color spectrum.

Besides Acai, there are some hard-to-get exotic fruits like Acerola, Camu-Camu and Wolfberries along with some common fruits like Bananas, Pears and Grapes that, when combined, can synergistically enhance the benefits of each other and do some amazing things for your body.

Explore this site and discover how Acai and the wide variety of fruits listed here can have a beneficial influence on your health and well being. If you are living with chronic back pain you can learn more at Living with Back Pain