Too Much of a Good Thing

They say that in parenting, kids model their behavior by watching yours. In my case, I think it has been the reverse when it comes to my teenage son Ian. He is by far the healthiest person I know. He hasn't had a soda in about two years. He guzzles orange juice like a pirate drinks rum, and he has gained about 30 pounds of muscle by going to the gym nearly every single day for the last year and drinking protein shakes daily. I never have to tell him to bathe, shave, or put on deodorant or wear clean clothes. Now I don't need to be told to bathe or wear clean clothes, but thanks to Ian, I have kicked my daily diet Coke habit for over a year now and we both drink so much bottled water, we buy it in cases now. I have a diet Cranergy to get my vitamin C and he and I both take our supplements. I'm so proud of him.

Which is why I was so concerned when he started just becoming sooooo tired. Now, he's a teenager, and everyone know teens need lots of sleep, and they hate getting up early. But Ian has been so great about getting up at 6:45 every day for school, and he's only been late once. So this seemed to be like a daily thing, him coming home from school and being so tired he can barely function. I thought maybe he was staying up late texting or going on his Facebook, but he said he was actually going to bed early because he was just soooo tired. 

I decided to listen to my mommy's intuition that something just wasn't right  this Monday when he begged me to let him sleep and miss his first few classes. That is not my Ian. So, I made him a doctor's appointment straight away. I was shocked at what his doctor thought might be the culprit---arsenic poisoning from drinking powdered protein shakes! He told us that there was a huge study done recently that showed most protein powders and shakes contain 3 heavy metals: arsenic, lead, and cadmium. He ordered an array of blood tests and we are awaiting results. (he's also being tested for just about everything---anemia, thyroid, and drugs--which I'm not worried about honestly). Ian is just as curious as I am, and he is FURIOUS. Furious that he's been doing everything he can to be as healthy as possible and here something that's supposed to be helping him is doing damage. We are hoping the damage is minimal and hasn't affected his liver or kidneys!

At this point, he's looking for a safter substitute as he's trying to gain weight (yes, I hate him) LOL For now, he is so angry, WE are so angry. He is looking into a class action suit against the manufacturer of the very expensive powder he's been using. We buy it at GNC and it's like $40 a container, and of course, they always talk us into buying two at a time because we "save money". 

Here's the link if you're interested : 

'Toxic' Report Has Big Protein Supplement Brands Under Assault

http://ori.cnbc.com/id/37577600

I'll keep you updated as we get Ian's blood test results in. And if you know anyone who's drinking protein shakes, let them know how dangerous they are. And let's call a lawyer!! (Tim????)