Category Archives: Reflections

Blast from the Past, Reflections, Today's World

Harvesting Protein from the Sea

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My father, Nutrilite founder Carl Rehnborg, was ahead of his time, he was able to foresee outcomes before they happened. And he was always looking for ways to improve the health of the planet and our prospects as individuals – even in unconventional ways.

If you’ve read The Nutrilite Story, you might know the story of the Acania a ship he purchased to harvest plankton from the sea off the coast of Alaska. If you want to know more about Nutrilite history, understanding the story of the Acania is a good place to start because it embodies my father’s forward thinking-nature, the type of thinking that translates into the foundation of the Nutrilite brand.

The Acania designed by John H. Wells and built by Consolidated Shipbuilding Company in 1930. Seen here as Research vessel in Juneau, Alaska (1987)- Southeast Alaska. By Gillfoto – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75

An Eventful World Tour

In the early 1950s my father was entering the retirement phase of his life, having turned 65 in 1952. But he wasn’t slowing down by any means.

A year later, his insatiable curiosity led him to embark on a world tour with his wife Edith that took them to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. During his travels, he was analyzing the character and culture of ancient places that were brand new to him. And in doing so he couldn’t help but view things through his own particular lens – nutrition. 

He visited Europe when it was still recovering from the devastation of World War II. He theorized that proper supplementation could help bridge nutritional gaps in people still recovering from the traumas of war. And throughout his travels across three different continents he saw stark reminders of poverty and malnutrition.

He returned home inspired to find ways to make the world a better place and to do what he could to help eliminate poverty and starvation. He saw that people were not only suffering from a lack of vitamins, but also from an inadequate intake of protein.

Observations while Sailing to and from China

Decades earlier he had sailed to and from China across the North Pacific, where he saw plankton blooms glowing in the dark seas at night. Memories of those passages across the ocean gave him an idea for a solution. In the fall of 1954, he decided to find a way to harvest plankton straight from the sea and use it to make a protein supplement.

Why plankton? More bang for the buck, he figured, or more protein by the pound, to be more accurate. Sure, one pound of plankton might be roughly equivalent to a pound of fish, but a lot of food value was lost between the plankton and the big fish that humans ate.

He purchased a 126 foot luxury yacht called the Acania and he refitted it for harvesting plankton. By the summer of 1956, the Acania set sail, bound for the waters off Alaska. I was able to join the crew during my summer break from Stanford University, where I had just completed my sophomore year studying chemical engineering.

How it Worked

From the Acania’s deck, we would send these big coned-shaped nets down 100 feet in water to scoop up the protein-rich plankton. We would follow the plankton on sonar. We could see the fluorescent plankton rise at night with the dwindling sun when we could get close enough to harvest it. We would bring it onboard via big pumps that sucked it out of the water and into the bowels of the boat, where it was spray-dried with relatively little treatment. Every night, we would catch 100 pounds. It produced a very high-quality material that was 85 percent protein.

The trip was a success, proving that plankton could indeed be harvested, and a healthful protein supplement easily made from it.

Unfortunately, the operation wasn’t economically viable. Harvesting plankton was simply too costly at the time to produce a supplement whose primary market would be the world’s most poverty-stricken areas.

The Acania Today

The current owners of the Acania reached out to me earlier this year to compile historical details about the vessel. The ship was built in 1929 and it’s had a storied history with multiple owners. Nutrilite owned it from 1955 to 1960 after which the boat was sold to the Stanford Research Institute.

The ship is being restored after it sank at the dock in Everett, Washington in August of 2017.

I hope to be able to visit the current owners sometime in the near future to share personal stories about my time on the Acania and to relive some of the wonderful memories I experienced as a young man helping to build the future of the Nutrilite brand.

Recent photos of the Acania undergoing restoration after being salvaged from the harbor bottom.

A Friend of the Sea

Friend of the Sea Logo

Today, Nutrilite ingredients harvested from the ocean are Friend of the Sea® certified. That includes the entire supply chain — the fisheries, the fish oil producer, and our products. Specifically, it relates to our new Omega and Advanced Omega products that have begun rolling out this year. It’s another step toward sustainability and care for the planet we call home.

Friend of the Sea® sustainable fisheries and Omega-3 certification ensures certified products minimally impact the environment. Following Friend of the Sea® requirements ensures healthy fish, supports endangered species, and encourages an abundant supply for the future.

My Father’s Legacy

My father was focused on sustainability, social responsibility, and other innovative methods to help alleviate global challenges like poverty, malnutrition, and climate change. He was doing this even before the modern environmental movement was born.

It’s the type of thinking we need more of today as we slowly realize that the future is now. And we can’t pass our problems to the next generation anymore.

Cheers!

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Blast from the Past, Reflections

Seeing the Future in the Archives

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My recent trip to Amway World Headquarters allowed me to see the future when I visited the archives and records department. That’s where I found a dedicated team of people keeping track of all the materials and artifacts we’ve generated over the decades.

From left to right: Mckeyia Neely, Sue Bowerman, Dr. Sam, Sue Burd, Stephanie Bustraan, Maritza Andrade – not pictured

The climate controlled, state-of-the-art facility is preserving Nutrilite and Amway history, and it’s providing a glimpse into a future that’s still connected to our past.

Let me explain with a brief history lesson.

The Nutrilite story started when my father, Carl Rehnborg, discovered the power of plant-based nutrients, and their impact on human health, while living in China more than 100 years ago.

While traveling the country, he saw that people living in rural areas were much healthier than those living in the city. They were more physically active, and they ate more fruits and vegetables. By contrast, city dwellers were more sedentary, and their diet was less diverse.

He realized that people who were missing these plant-based nutrients that, at the time, he called “associated food factors” – later they would be known as phytonutrients – were not as healthy as they could be.

He personally came face-to-face with the reality of poor nutrition when he and his family were trapped in an isolated settlement in Shanghai during civil war battles in 1927. During this several-month period, the whole city was essentially locked down while warring factions fought.

With food supplies growing short and noticing the signs of malnutrition among other inhabitants, he would gather whatever greens he could from the settlement’s parks and gardens and whatever foodstuffs he was able to persuade the guards to bring him to prepare soups and gruels.

He even added rusty nails and bones to his concoctions whenever he could, knowing that they would provide supplemental iron and calcium and other valuable minerals. He passed out samples to his friends and neighbors. Dad and the family ate it, and he encouraged everyone who would listen to do the same.

He survived the experience and returned to Southern California later that year with $40 in his pocket.

The time he spent in China and the simple observations he made about nutrition became the seeds of an idea that inspired him to create what is believed to be the first multivitamin/multimineral food supplement in the North American marketplace in 1934. He founded Vitamin Products Company, and later changed the company name to Nutrilite in 1939. It wasn’t without personal trials and tribulations, but my father believed in his dream and worked doggedly for many years to turn it into reality.

The fundamentals of the Nutrilite origin story still hold true. Carl Rehnborg believed in eating healthy, colorful whole foods, supplementing the diet with plant-based nutrients, regular exercise and activity, and a positive mental attitude based in curiosity about the world.

Simply put, these ideas of prevention and optimal health still hold true for the Nutrilite brand and Amway of today and in the future.

What I saw in the Archives

At this point I’m sure you’re wondering what I saw when I visited the archives. Here’s a gallery of photos and ads from the early days of Nutrilite.

That’s me at work in the lab during my early days at Nutrilite.
The first Double X.
1950s product lineup.
Nutrilite letterhead and business cards circa 1950s.
A modern photo of the past.
Presenting at the Biltmore in my earlier days at Nutrilite.
Nutrilite storefront in the 1950s.
That’s me in the alflafa fields in the 1980s.
A magazine advertisement from 1953.
A Nutrilite magazine advertisement from the 1950s.

I hope you’re able to see the future in our archives just like I did. We’ve come a long way in nearly 90 years.

The future is bright.

Cheers!

News & Views (Amway & Nutrilite), Optimal Health, Reflections, Today's World

Following the Good Thread

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At the end of February, I traveled from California to Michigan to visit Amway World Headquarters where I experienced some of the incredible work that is underway to build the future of the Nutrilite brand. I spoke at an employee meeting, met with teammates, toured manufacturing facilities, and visited other departments on the Ada Campus.

Speaking at the Amway Employee Meeting with Doug DeVos.

It was a good week. And my time in Michigan reaffirmed my belief in the future and helped me see that the Nutrilite brand and Amway are on the right track.    

One thing that stood out to me were the bonds that exist between employees, a thread between good people and good work. I believe a key component of a successful company is happy employees who find meaning and purpose in their jobs. Part of that magic stems from a workplace culture that prioritizes overall wellbeing and a balance between work and play.

Yes, we all need to provide for ourselves and our families, but our work life shouldn’t necessarily define us. It’s just one component of our identity.

That’s why I was pleased to interact with employees who really get it, those who have figured out how to find the balance between career success and family. Everyone is unique and different; they bring their own perspective and experience to a community that is working tirelessly to create positive impact in our world. That’s the good thread.

I met with the Nutritional Products Plant team.
The eSpring team shared a sneak peek of the next generation with me.
I was given a great tour of the Spaulding Manufacturing facilities.
I visited the wonderful team in Archives.

It’s all about PREVENTION

You’ve heard me discuss Prevention before. But I want to reiterate its importance. This simple concept can change the trajectory of our future. We need to start now, taking care of our health, taking care of our community, and taking care of our planet. It’s the triple bottom line approach that Amway and the Nutrilite brand have adopted. You see it on our farms, in our laboratories, in our manufacturing, in our offices and in the community of ABOs spread throughout the world who believe in the power of optimal health.  

The future is bright!

I’m pleased that we are following a “good thread” – that we are on a positive path to the future that can make the world a better place. It’s time to be proactive and creative.

We need to constantly search for innovative ways to protect and improve our prospects in a world where technology and things like artificial intelligence are disrupting how we think about things we’ve taken for granted for a long time.

While it feels like everything is speeding up, the goal is to slow down. If you can do that, you will find meaning and purpose in a world where it feels like everyone, and everything wants our attention all the time.

So take a walk, read a book, enjoy a healthy meal with your family and friends. Breathe!

You’ll be glad you did.

Cheers!

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed and have blog posts delivered right to your inbox.

Blast from the Past, Reflections, Today's World

An Inspiring Note: The Beginning of the Environmental Movement

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Recently, I received an inspiring note from Takeshi Saito, one of our Nutrilite Experience staff members. He’s been a dedicated Nutrilite employee for many years, and he recently helped host a group of Vietnamese ABOs visiting our Buena Park, California headquarters. 

Sitting next to a life-size statue of my father Carl F. Rehnborg. It’s easy to see why it’s a favorite photo stop for visitors at the Nutrilite Health Institute. The statue was inspired by his famous “Pepper Tree Talks” and his many conversations filled with visionary ideas. Buena Park, California. March 2017.
Sitting next to a life-size statue of my father Carl F. Rehnborg. It’s easy to see why it’s a favorite photo stop for visitors at the Nutrilite Health Institute. The statue was inspired by his famous “Pepper Tree Talks” and his many conversations filled with visionary ideas. Buena Park, California. March 2017.

Because of his welcoming, genuine, and outgoing personality, he was able to make a connection with one of the visiting ABOs who stayed in touch with him. She sent him a message explaining how excited she was that she’d received a copy of a special book published more than 35 years ago. It was a used book she found on a popular online marketplace months ago, but she finally received it during the holidays. 

You’re probably wondering which book I’m talking about. It’s a collection of essays, speeches and writings of my father Carl F. Rehnborg. It was published in 1985.  

The note caused me to pick up the book once again and re-read portions of it. It still strikes me how prescient my father’s writings were. How he clearly recognized the importance of sustainability and the need to take care of the planet and, therefore, our future.  

Much of the writing found in his collection coincided with the groundbreaking work of Rachel Carson, who wrote the famous book Silent Spring back in 1962 which inspired the modern environmental movement. My father and Rachel Carson corresponded with each other during that time, they were both forward thinking and recognized many of the perils we were beginning to face as a world community. 

There is an essay that encapsulates his thoughts about where we were going and the changes we need to adopt to keep the future bright for everyone. It was written in 1962 and it was called Preserving and Protecting Our Environment.  

You can find this passage on page 148: 

“For the first time in human history we will now begin to study our environment instead of taking it for granted and thinking of it as able to supply our every careless whim forever. Maybe we are already too late in getting ready to begin our study. Time will tell, but this looks like a very good time to start worrying – right now, not a few decades in the future.” 

We are more than a few decades into the future. It’s here and it’s time to take meaningful action. Sometimes we just need the right inspiration. 

I’m so thankful for the inspiration to revisit my father’s writings. 

Cheers! 

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed and have blog posts delivered right to your inbox.

Optimal Health, Reflections, Today's World

The Future is Here

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We’re nearing the end of 2022 and I’m inspired. It’s been a year to remember, one with obstacles and change, but also opportunity. For me, it’s an exciting time because I believe that despite the challenges we’re facing in the world, we’ve begun to understand why we need to act in order to secure a healthy future. 

Sunrise on the Nutrilite El Petacal farm in Ubajara, Mexico. 

We’re learning that problems can’t be passed on to the next generation anymore. There is an immediate need to work toward solutions, and I believe we are beginning to make tangible progress.  

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that my dad was deeply connected to the wonders of the universe. He understood how biological systems are intertwined with humanity, and that we shouldn’t take natural resources for granted. He saw the finite nature of our existence. And he realized how the components found in plants were instrumental to our health as a species.  

He clearly articulated the idea in this quote:  

“We are made of nothing but what plants provide and other substances available in the air and water of the earth, and so we are inescapably in and of the earth, and in and of the universe. If we cannot get what the plants provide, we cannot live.” 

Carl Rehnborg inspecting botanicals in 1953.

When I reflect on these words from my father, I think about the continued progress we need to make as a species to help prevent unhealthy outcomes and damage to the planet.  

Living in the future 

We need to continue to gain momentum and help people see that the best way to avoid problems occurring in the future is to act in the present and prevent them from happening in the first place.  

We shouldn’t be just reacting — for instance, many of our health problems can be avoided if we do simple things every day that keep our body and mind active and engaged. Waking up each day with a positive, healthy mindset positions us to learn, grow and find solutions to community issues that can affect the health of the entire world on a much broader level. 

In other words, you can act locally to make a difference globally. That’s how it starts. The impact we make each day compounds into future success.  

Here’s some of the progress I’m seeing: 

  • More power from renewable energy systems is coming online, helping us reduce pollution and power a cleaner future. 
  • Regenerative farming practices are helping remediate the land and bring soil back to its original nutrient-rich state. And many people are embracing circular economies and they are beginning to understand the importance of concepts like biomimicry. 
  • Diets are changing and reframing the idea of food security into nutrition security is helping people eat healthier and improve their quality of life. 
  • People are becoming more active and seeing that regular exercise increases our health span so that we might live beyond 100 years. 

Through this, Amway and Nutrilite continue to grow and build community. People are understanding how to be a product of the product and lead healthy lifestyles that others can follow. 

What could be better than that? 

2022 has been a good year. Here’s to a successful and healthy 2023! 

Cheers! 

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed and have blog posts delivered right to your inbox.