I am not a big vitamin pusher.
I believe in some simple supplements. I believe certain products can be useful. I also believe the majority of supplements are not priced reasonably.
This is a free market, of course. If someone wants to offer health and salvation in a bottle and mark it up ten times, and if they feel that represents health and wellness, so be it. That does not mean I have to respect the model.
Most vitamins are overpriced because there are too many middle-people between the source and the customer. Raw material supplier. Transportation. Processing plant. More transportation. Distributor. Retailer. Sometimes even another layer of retailers before the product finally reaches the person buying it. Each vendor adds a markup, and by the time the bottle lands on the shelf, the price often has very little relationship to the actual cost of the compounds inside.
Kudos to the companies that cut out as many middle-people as possible. Direct growers, manufacturers, encapsulators, bottlers, and companies that handle more of the process in-house can, if they choose, deliver a much fairer market price. The problem is not always the supplement itself. Often, the problem is the long parade of hands touching the product, each one taking a slice before it gets to you.
From my experience in the health food industry, what matters is not just the compound, but the sourcing, the delivery method, the manufacturing process, and the honesty behind the product.
There are simple but important differences. Liposomal vitamin C, by many accounts, may be far more effective than cheaper acid-based delivery methods. Plant-based probiotics that do not need to be preserved in a dairy medium may be less inflammatory and, in many cases, more appropriate than dairy-based probiotics. There are many small details like this that can be debated, and they should be debated. That is where the real work is.
For the sake of logic, food is better than a pill. That is my foundation.
Still, it depends on the supplement. Zinc is not the same conversation as creatine powder. Creatine powder is not the same conversation as cooked herbs. Cooked herbs are not the same conversation as the long list of lesser-known supplements that require a lot of hustling, storytelling, and belief-building to get people on board.
My favorite science person in this area, and a friend and mentor to me, is Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick. He does not generally like vitamins, and he has the intellectual capacity and better data sets to justify why. I respect that deeply.
I love the idea of vitamins. I wish they all worked. If they did, health and wellness would be much more guaranteed. But that is not reality.
Over twenty years running two very different companies, I learned one thing: success does not come from being one of many in a sea of mediocrity. My best path forward was always to serve people like myself, people looking for the best product in a category, not simply what is popular, trendy, or aggressively marketed.
That mindset shaped my skydiving retail business. It shaped my family’s antique and jewelry business, where we sold rare pieces to discerning customers who understood value and authenticity. It also shapes goodsugar.
When it came to nutrition, I wanted the same standard: food that is unprocessed, unrefined, and traveling the shortest distance from farm to table. Transparency. Realness. Integrity in every ingredient. That philosophy shapes my personal diet, and it shapes every product I sell.
I became vegan not because it was trendy, but because I immersed myself in the science and saw overwhelming evidence supporting plant-based nutrition. I have never pushed this on anyone. I present the facts, make the case, and let people decide. No pressure. No guilt.
The Standard
Every product I sell, especially supplements, has to meet one standard: transparent, plant-based, traceable, and sourced from the highest quality ingredients available. That is non-negotiable.
Do I take supplements? Yes. Why? Because no matter how clean your diet is, you still live in an imperfect world. Stress happens. Sleep gets interrupted. Environmental exposure is real. Viruses exist. Recovery matters. Sometimes the body needs support.
Currently, I sell one supplement: a 100% plant-based multivitamin formulated with premium ingredients from a trusted European vendor. Simple. Powerful. Clean.
Why Plant-Based Only
Every essential nutrient, from omega-3s to collagen-supporting compounds, can be sourced from plants or supported through plant-based nutrition. When animal-based ingredients enter the picture, things get complicated, ethically and chemically. Contamination risk can increase. Inflammation risk can increase. The body’s natural chemistry can be disrupted. I am not interested in that route.
The Detail Work
I have invested deeply in understanding manufacturing practices. I want to know how products are processed, stored, handled, tested, and delivered. That level of quality control matters to me, to my family, and to the people who trust goodsugar.
At Juice Press, I ran operations like a naval officer running a fleet. Stainless steel kitchens. Chef coats. Mouth protection. Sanitation was sacred. We set a standard inside a 20,000-square-foot production facility where quality, safety, and team morale all mattered.
That same commitment drives goodsugar.
Our probiotic comes from Bulgaria, long known as a premier source of high-quality probiotics. Our manufacturing partners produce strains with exceptional consistency and potency. Harvard reviewed our product and published highly positive findings after independent evaluation.
There may be one or two other producers globally that can match our quality, but their prices are dramatically higher, and their transparency does not always hold up under close inspection. We have tested products. We know what is inside. In many cases, the pricing is not science. It is gouging.
The Difference
We are transparent. We are ethical. We want to help people improve their health without asking them to compromise their values or empty their wallets.
Whether you are a seasoned vegan or just beginning to make better choices, I am here with guidance, good information, and products that actually live up to the promise.
Thanks for being part of goodsugar.