The following 29 testimonials represent a small, but representative, sampling of those we received from 1993 through 1998, when our 五色增勢藥方© Five Color Energy Formula was sold to the public under the brand name Take 5®.

They are listed according to where the consumer purchased or heard about Take 5®. Most responses were filled out Customer Feedback Forms distributed at Health Food Store product demonstrations, or directly to consumers. The last testimonial and our favorite, is a letter from Martha of Bronx, New York.

This first testimonial was received after the Take 5® blend was formulated, but before it was introduced in the marketplace.

Ironman Triathlon, Kona Hawaii G. Jones Solana Beach, California
I received a one pound sample of your Take 5 dehydrated concentrated vegetable powder at your booth during the 1992 Ironman Triathlon Championship in Hawaii. Thank you.

You asked me to respond as to results, and here it is:

Ironman training and competition is in three stages, first a 2.4 mile swim, secondly, a 112 mile bike ride and lastly, a 26.2 mile run. Crunch time is about three-quarters through the bike segment and the final sprint to the finish line, that’s where you either pass the competition or they pass you, and where endurance and Will, what I call the mental “win zone” take over. Take 5® definitely helps me get into my “win zone”– and stay there.

It doesn’t matter how hard my mind is trying to stay ahead if my body can’t keep up, and what has made the difference in performance since using Take 5 is that my mind and body are in sync. By the end of the race the energy, endurance and mental focus are still there.

My test of Take 5 lasted one week. During that time Take 5® was the only vegetables I had, mixing it in water and juice. The power I got from its variety of vegetables far exceeded that of my usual sports drinks, bars and assorted health potions combined.

I liked that it–
1) instantly rehydrates for fluid replacement, during and after training,
2) is hands down the best quick burning energy drink I’ve ever taken,
3) helped me reach, and sustain, my own best peak performance level,
4) provided electrolyte replacement for fast recovery, answering the question “what did athletes do before there were supplements?”
5) is delicious. Refreshing and lemony and not at all like my previous mental picture of.…Oh no, —vegetables–ugh.

When an athlete I train with asked me to describe the Take 5, I told her “It’s a healthy version of a cross between V-8 and Gatorade, that tastes better than both of them.”

I hope you continue to produce it from farm fresh vegetables as a “hand crafted,” not assembly line product. Good luck, there’s nothing else like it out there. I depend on it. It’s real.

Mail order Catalogs-

USA Home Health L. Russell Virginia
I began ordering Take 5 four years ago from the Home Health catalog, and have been taking it just about every day since then. I’m 63, and can honestly say that from the time I first tried Take 5 at age 59 the craving for it hasn’t gone away. I take 4 to 5 spoonfuls daily and feel better than I felt 20 years ago, with more energy than ever. I’m hooked on Take 5!

Sharper Image R. Benet San Francisco, California 
I love vegetables but never seem to find time to prepare them often enough. Since taking your Take 5, I don’t worry about it at all, your selection of vegetables are the same ones I’d cook –if I did. They taste delicious and I just “feel healthy” all day. Mentally, and physically.

Lifestyle Fascination J. Roark New York City, New York
I began using Take 5 on a dare. Let me explain. I regularly jog Central Park’s reservoir loop (1.58 miles), and when a co-worker challenged me to accompany her, jogging the Park’s middle loop (4 miles), I just couldn’t make the distance. My boss, who discovered Take 5 in a Health Food store claimed that after trying Take 5 he had more endurance playing tennis, and joked that if I tried it I might someday pull off running in the New York City Marathon. He had to be kidding, right?

So every morning for a week I took 3 heaping tablespoons of Take 5 in juice and ran my daily 1.58 miles. Then, to my astonishment, on week two I absolutely cruised the middle 4 mile loop. Was it the Take 5? To test that theory, I stopped taking it for awhile and my stamina was nowhere near where it had been before. So after resuming taking 3 tablespoons in the morning, plus one in the afternoon, I wagered my co-worker $25 that I could beat her running the six mile outer loop, and I won! Needless to say, I haven’t stopped using Take 5 since. The best part is that my body feels toned and my mind is sharp hours after my morning workout. Just vegetables, hard to believe.

Bachelorettes of New York and New Jersey V. Jasurek Trenton, New Jersey
I first bought your product after seeing your ad Simply Vegetables, Simply Delicious. You’ve done an amazing job dehydrating a full serving of vegetables into just one tablespoon. Like your ad says, I can actually make out the flavors of crisp celery, tomatoes, sweet carrots, and the others as if they were farm-fresh. Because it’s so easy to eat even 10 servings a day, and so tasty, I experimented actually trying 10 servings a day for several days… wow! I’m 31 and it gave me the kind of energy I had when I was 21.

International

J. Lee Toronto, Canada
I bought Take 5 from the Hedonics catalog. Because the vegetables are dehydrated I have found them to be the most convenient, and cost effective way for me to eat vegetables. With 56 servings per can, each serving costs me less than a serving of vegetable juice, most supplements and even a serving of some fresh vegetables, not to mention the savings in medical costs by just staying healthy.

K. Suzuki Yokohama, Japan
I am an athlete training in professional bicycle racing (Keirin in Japan). I saw the advertisement for it in the Saison catalog and now use your Take 5 every time I race. My performance is much improved since drinking it and I like that it’s real food.

Y. Kim Seoul, Korea
I am a student, receiving Take 5 from Maeil company in Seoul, Korea. I never knew before of being able to eat all the colors of vegetables at one time, except for my grandmother’s kimchee. Take 5 is a very good product with all the colors of vegetables in it, especially when I am studying and don’t have time for food preparing.

G. Murray St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
I bought your product in Saint Croix from a local merchant under the Solid Health label when our cruise ship docked there. The lady who owned the store had cans displayed everywhere and really raved about it. Cruise ship buffets are a gourmet’s delight, but now that the cruise is over, when I get hungry I alternate taking the Take 5 powder mixed in tropical fruit juice with regular meals, and feel just as satisfied. What a find, 56 servings of vegetables in a single can.

E. Bjorn Copenhagen, Denmark
I purchased a small container of your low temperature dehydrated vegetable powder and want to support you in supplying natural organically grown vegetables, or according to your literature, vegetables from fields that are in transition to being organically approved. I had tried another popular U.S. product with 8 vegetables in it but it was too salty for my taste, and I didn’t like that it contained additives.

Radio Show

M. Meligrito Boca Raton, Florida
I have been trying to lose weight and heard about Take 5 on the Donigan Nutrition Hour radio show. Taken with water your concentrated vegetables fill me up. I guess it’s the fiber, and my energy levels don’t sag. Dieting is just easier, and yes, I’ve lost 15 pounds.

B. Hunter and J. Hunter San Diego California
My wife and I bought Take 5 after a local radio program, The 60 Second Bicycle Break, talked about it. We are both avid bike riders and most weekends ride our mountain bikes all over San Diego County, along the coast, from the ocean to the mountains, and the backcountry around Julian. When we ride we pre-mix several spoonfuls of Take 5 in juice and keep it ice cool in an insulated bottle. Last weekend we rode a 30 mile trail in the Cleveland National Forest sipping Take 5 all the way, and wow– the uphill climbs were a lot more fun! My wife says it feels like the bikes have an additional low gear. But the best thing about Take 5, is that before we began using it we were taking several kinds of health food supplements, everything from vitamins-minerals and antioxidants to…well, a lot of bottles. All healthy, all natural. Now, we just seem not to need them–we’re also eating more vegetables during the week, which is a better investment than all those capsules, tablets and powders. Food, what a concept!

Health and Fitness Club

S. Spencer New York City, New York
I’ve been purchasing Take 5 at my Health and Fitness Club, supplied by Super-Nutrition Distributors. I like it because I don’t need a lot to help me through long and strenuous workouts. I hate to eat vegetables, so I thought I’d need to drink more, at least doubling the five serving portions. But that hasn’t happened at all. The combination of vegetables in your powder is so concentrated that even a single spoonful is powerful. You are to be congratulated for making it so easy to get your vegetables in a refreshing lemonade-tasting drink.

Health Food Stores

USA Arizona New Frontiers Natural Foods (Prescott), L. Verhoeven
I had more energy immediately after taking Take 5 vegetables. Now I know how good it is to not have a vegetable deficiency, and have stopped spending money on every new “supplement of the month.” My cholesterol is down and blood pressure’s normal. I’ve been waiting for a product like Take 5 because the nine vegetables in it are a good cross section of what’s available at my local market.

Alaska Rogue’s Garden (Fairbanks, Valdez), J. Thayer
What I like about Take 5 dehydrated vegetable powder is that I’m receiving all the vegetable benefits, like antioxidants, beta-carotene, chlorophyll and vitamins-minerals, directly from the source. Whole food is still the best way to meet the body’s nutritional requirements and Take 5 makes it easy.

California Mrs. Gooch’s (Beverly Hills) [now Whole Foods Marketplace],T. LaVoie
Getting my children to eat vegetables was a big hassle until they discovered that your Take 5 actually tasted good and went down fast. Intuitively, I believe they know that vegetables are good for them. You are to be commended for providing all the healthy kinds of vegetables in one blend: above and below ground, root vegetables, leafy greens, and fruit vegetables. Slowly, my children are actually coming around to eating the vegetables I prepare for them at dinner, and for that I credit their acceptance of Take 5.

California Boney’s (Hemet) [now Henry’s Marketplace], G. DiGiovanni
Getting the vegetables I know I need is tough, plus I believe it’s good to eat a lot of them. Before I found Take 5 I had been juicing mostly green vegetables, and while the end result got me a super healthy drink, it’s a LOT of work day after day, especially the cleaning up afterwards. Take 5 is better not only because it’s more convenient than juicing, but because it feels better to get all the vegetable colors, not just green. No other health food or health supplement I’ve seen does that. If I miss my daily vegetables I take 5-10 spoonfuls, otherwise about 2 or 3.

California Mother’s Market and Kitchen (Costa Mesa), F. Henderson
I had been taking the Pines Wheat Grass and Green Magma Barley Grass when I tried your Take 5 at a store demo in Mother’s Market and Kitchen. I’m happy to write you that I quit buying both the wheat and barley grass products and for several months now have been using just the Take 5 instead. In my opinion yours is much better in terms of cost, taste, convenience, and especially the way I feel after taking it. First, it seems obvious that taking one color, green, is still leaving me nutritionally short the rest of the colors in the produce section. Secondly, I was never comfortable walking past the produce section to buy a vegetable substitute simply because I lacked time to prepare a variety of vegetables. Now, because I use Take 5 to compliment the vegetables in my diet instead of replacing them, I never have trouble getting as many servings a day as I want. It’s good news for my body (and my wallet) that I no longer feel the need for drinking “green grass.” Just vegetables are a better bet in my opinion.

Colorado Manna Company (Colorado Springs), C. Duncan
I’d read that eating vegetables according to color is the anti-aging secret of Mediterranean and Asian diets but could never manage to duplicate those diets except after careful menu planning and spending too much time shopping. Now I don’t even think about it. When I don’t eat my vegetables I just Take 5.

Hawaii Down to Earth, K. Longworth
I had been buying various green supplements like spirulena, chlorella and cereal grasses, and while I liked them, they are too expensive, some actually cost $ 35-45 per jar! You’ve done an excellent job of including green vegetables in your five color mix–spinach and parsley are good dark leafy greens, broccoli is a green cruciferous vegetable (supposed to be one of the best to help prevent cancer) and light green celery provides the fiber I was missing. Just looking at Take 5, green is the most vivid color I see. Thanks for saving me money I don’t need to spend on green “vegetables”.

Idaho Boise Food Co-op, J. Schwartzman
I already know that a minimum of 5 servings of vegetables and fruit a day are supposed to keep me and my 4 children healthy, happy and energetic. But how? Health experts must be kidding to think a single mom with 4 growing kids can spend half the day worrying about preparing vegetable dishes. No wonder my kids love fast food, it’s FAST. Thanks to your terrific tasting dehydrated product, getting those elusive servings every day is a snap. Take 5 takes up the slack when there isn’t time to cook an assortment of healthy vegetables. I can’t thank you enough.

Montana Real Food Store (Helena), T. Moore
Take 5 allows me to eat vegetables all-year-round by drinking it mixed with juice. I really like the taste, kind of like lemonade, and enjoy having higher energy levels than before. I work outdoors a lot on construction projects and on days when it’s not convenient to prepare vegetables I just… Take 5! Keep up the good work.

Nevada Sieman’s Health Foods (Las Vegas), J. Johnson
As a professional pilot, I rarely get the opportunity to eat enough vegetables, so after purchasing Take 5 I began mixing it with water to take with me in a thermos on all my flights. After one year, I can honestly say “I never leave home without it.” Vegetables may really be the secret to staying sharp as you age.

Oregon Ashland Community Food Store (Ashland), I. McGuinness
My mother and grandparents who grew up on a farm ate fresh vegetables and fruit all the time and lived to ripe old ages. It’s true that the colors of the seasons are captured in the different kinds of fresh vegetables and fruit. I am 45 and drinking your Take 5 powder in juice makes me feel young. I take it every day.

Oregon Daily Grind (Portland) C. Flores
I shared my Take 5 with others in my Tai Chi class and now most of the class, including the instructor, are drinking it. The power it gives me isn’t like a “rush” as much as a sustained feeling of steady energy. Very natural and satisfying.

Utah Wasatch Nutrition (American Fork), H. Young
Take 5 bridges the gap between produce and supplements. I want to eat at least 5 servings of produce every day and avoid taking supplements, but how? Take 5 makes it a breeze. The taste is wonderful and I like saving money that would have been spent on supplements or at the doctor. Staying healthy is a blessing, and eating vegetables every day is the best insurance for it.

Washington Central Co-op [now Madison Market], D. Hubbard
I probably like vegetables more than most people and don’t mind eating up to 10 servings a day. Now I find that I can get the equivalent of all 10 servings simply by taking 10 spoonfuls of Take 5! Since discovering Take 5 my usual routine is to eat 4-6 fresh vegetables a day complimented by drinking a few spoonfuls of your tasty powder mixed in juice or water. Delicious.

Wyoming Turtle Island Natural Foods (Casper), R. Krieger
Thanks for putting the best of the produce section in one can. Dehydrating all the colors of vegetables so that only a tablespoonful of powder equals a whole serving of fresh vegetables is a great idea. I wonder why no one’s done it before?

OUR FAVORITE TESTIMONIAL:

Dear Take-5,

I have to tell you when first purchasing your Take-5 Instant Vegetable Refresher, I was a bit skeptical of all those vegetables jam-packed in one container–I thought the taste would be overpowering. Plus it was green–I had never anything green to drink before.

However, I wanted to give it a shot because I wanted to improve my health by consuming my recommended servings of vegetables among other daily allowances from the basic food groups. Your Take-5 was astonishingly DELICIOUS. I was amazed at the taste your Take-5 contained!

Now, I have my kids and husband drinking your vegetable refresher, which is the most shocking result of all. Kids liking vegetables? This is a true accomplishment.

I always keep a handy stash of Take-5 on hand, which my whole family is getting into: my mom, dad, 3 sisters, brother-in-laws–everyone is getting into it! The taste is tempting!

I just have to applaud your accomplishment toward the betterment of our lives. I thank you for the time, effort and dedication you put into this product to provide consumers with an excellent source of nutrients.

Your fine workmanship is very much appreciated. It is a delight to discover a company who works for the best interest of its consumers. This shows the high quality standards conducted in the production of Take-5.

You can rely on my family and I remaining loyal Take-5 consumers for many healthy years.

Happy & Healthy

Martha Bronx N.Y.