A Word From Don Smyth

"What you do for your health this year dictates what your health does for you in years to come"

I would like to personally welcome you to R-Garden and tell you a little about our history, our mission and what sets us apart in the marketplace today.

Our company was founded in November 1990 as "the Staff of Life" – a name we still retain for one division of our company. But in reality, the roots of our company can be traced back to the early 1970s when I began to seriously study diet and health.

For 20 years my wife Helen and I had been in the health food store business. We purchased or founded nine health food stores in northwest Washington. In fact, it was our mutual interest in health that brought Helen and me together.

Discovering a Surprising Reality

During the late 1970's, we were introduced to the Brain Response Test, developed by a physiological and nutritional researcher, John Barton. The accuracy and importance of this test have been demonstrated again and again over the years in the lives of our family, and in the lives of thousands of people all over the country.

With this test, we can divide all nutritional substances into one of the three categories: biogenic, biostatic, and biocidic. Biogenic substances are those which enhance your health, build you up, and take you to the next higher rung on the ladder to optimal health. Biostatic substances are neutral. They are safe to consume, but will not necessarily provide an answer to your health problems. Biocidic substances are those which are detrimental to good health.

We began to test the foods and supplements in our stores, and were amazed and disappointed. While some supplements tested okay, most did not. There are many reasons why a nutrient tests biocidic (bad). It may be toxic, old and rotten, out of balance, grown in mineral depleted soil, irradiated, microwaved, or otherwise processed and mishandled.

We continued to test, and found that more than 90% of the food in the average supermarket tested biocidic (bad). This was food that looked and tasted perfectly good. When we tested nutritional substances in pharmacies, we found that about 98% tested bad. In health food stores, the products tested somewhat better but surprisingly not much better as we had hoped.

In short, we discovered that most of even the "best" foods that seemed perfectly healthy were devoid of life-building nutrients.

For many years, Helen and I ate the best foods we could find and took the highest quality supplements available. But even thought our health was fairly good, it was not nearly as good as it could have been. I had been exposed to some agricultural sprays while working for a year in an apple orchard. We also had lead and arsenic poisoning from a well polluted by sprays. My health, in spite of all I did, was slowly deteriorating.

We tried various digestive supplements. But it was difficult to find any that would even test safe with the Brain Response Test. Those that did, seemed to have no effect at all.

A Life-Changing Visit

In 1989, we met Michael O'Brien, a brilliant health researcher and formulator. He made us aware that certain hard-to-find enzymes existed that were available only through doctors – enzymes that could greatly enhance our ability to digest and assimilate our food. We asked a doctor friend to order some for us and we began to take them.

The Brain Response Tests we conducted on these new enzymes revealed that they were biogenic (good) and were powerful and efficacious.

Immediately, we noticed profound changes in our health. Although we had been eating the best foods and supplements for years, we lacked the proper enzymes to digest and help the body assimilate these nutrients. These enzymes supplied our bodies with what they needed. Helen and I have been using enzymes with every meal since with wonderful results.

We felt that it was tragic, however, that these wonderful products should be available only through doctors. We met with Michael O'Brien to discuss developing a line of these enzymes to sell to general public.

We first wanted to sell these products through health food stores, but we realized that only 5% of the population shops in these stores. Also, this was a new product that would require a good deal of explanation for people to understand its benefits. We finally decided upon another method for distributing these unique products: network marketing. It proved to be perfect for our new products.

A Critical Need Gives Birth to a Corporate Mission

And so, in 1990, our company was born. We operated it out of a spare bedroom in our house for many months. In the beginning, I did everything from answering the phone to writing newsletters. And I was still managing two health food stores.

Then, in 1991, Michael O'Brien brought our attention to another unique product, L Salivarius, which we added to our line. The company has been growing rapidly since that time. By early 1992, we began hiring employees, sold our health food stores, and devoted our full attention to the company. By July 1993, we moved our rapidly growing operations to a large new home office facility in Kettle Falls, Washington, overlooking the beautiful Columbia River. Here, we can give our Distributors even better, faster service than we could when we were near a large city, and we have plenty of room to expand.

R-Garden is the child of a critical need: the need for better nutrition in an ailing world. It is this need – combined with our commitment to fill that need with supplements that truly work – that has made our company what it is today. I congratulate you on your decision to join our growing family of Distributors. On behalf of our home office team and R-Garden Distributors everywhere, I pledge our sincere support to help you achieve your goals of health and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Don Smyth, President and Founder