nikaLIVE: About health and wise choices - conversation with doctor. med. Nina Nicheska and Agnieszka Cegielska.

Healthy habits are nothing more than thinking about your ways of acting, planning their improvement and making small daily efforts. Agnieszka Cegielska and the co-founder of the nikalab brand, Nina Nicheska, MD, talk about wise choices and self-awareness. The recording of the conversation can be viewed at this link .

Nina, how did it happen that you, a doctor educated in another part of the world and also working in other parts of the world, ended up here in our backyard?

NN: It wasn't so obvious that I would be in Poland. When I got this offer, as you said, I worked as a doctor, and then I worked for a long time in a pharmaceutical company, where we focused on gastrointestinal, cardiological, psychiatric drugs and antibiotics. That's why I joined a Polish company where both medical and pharmacological knowledge were combined. I worked in this company for 4 years, and after that time I decided to go into technology. Now I'm at a place where I can combine all my specialties together. Paradoxically, there are many supplements on the market. There are many manufacturers, many products, many brands, but after analyzing - most of them, and I have some knowledge of medicine and pharmacy; this market, not only in Poland but also in the world, is unregulated. I came to the conclusion that I personally wouldn't want to supplement anything currently on the market. It was at that moment when I was wondering how to do something good, how to educate people so that they know what is good or that you don't have to take a handful of pills, you have to take care of the basic pillars. As we know, there are some ingredients that need to be supplemented to complement our diet. I always emphasize that supplements are not drugs, we do not use them to treat a disease, it is definitely more of a support and prevention measure. As a doctor, I get a lot of questions about what I recommend supplementing and unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that would be trustworthy, something that I could definitely recommend. That's why nikalab was created! That is, a product that I can recommend to myself, my family and friends . It was also very difficult to find a brand that would be transparent in its activities, and I am a bit crazy about reading labels. In my previous job in pharmacy, I read all labels and compositions for 10 years, so I was very shocked and bothered by the fact that manufacturers were not transparent about what was in their products. So the question arose: why is this so? Why don't we be transparent if everything is fine? I really wanted each of us to understand what we feed our bodies. Be sure that it is safe, valuable, that you do not need to take a handful of supplements, just ingredients that are necessary on a daily basis. So, at the beginning, these reasons were a bit more private, but over time I realized that I really wanted this knowledge and education to reach everyone.

Yes, people who do not have this knowledge can get lost in all this. I myself, having certain knowledge, mention during lectures and workshops that linseed oil from the pharmacy, standing over the radiator - no, no, no! It's sad to see something in a pharmacy that shouldn't be sold this way at all, but it's happening. It is therefore very important to guide the other person so that he or she feels safe in all this, because treatment is a different matter: when we find good herbal mixtures of vitamins and minerals.
and minerals, and what you create - the base - is one thing.

NN: This is something that in English is called the "paradox of choice" - not only in pharmacies, but also on manufacturers' websites, there are so many products that people who have no medical knowledge make mistakes, mix things up, do not know what to choose. They take several supplements at once, which yes, in some cases they can work synergistically, but they can also work antagonistically, so it is also not good to act on their own.

I confirm this, and it is also confirmed by the research I described in the first part of my book. I then talked to Professor Lubiński about selenium. He is an extraordinary expert who specializes in selenium, zinc, and heavy metals present e.g. in fish, which we will talk about later. The professor talked about how important it is not to supplement ourselves with important substances "on our own" unless we do research. It turned out that the women examined by the professor who supplemented with selenium, 1/3 had an excess of it, 1/3 had a deficiency, and only 1/3 was within the normal range. And excess selenium is as harmful as deficiency! I know that these women mean well, especially those who have problems with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, we hear a lot about selenium supplementation, but selenium is not equal to selenium. We live in post-glacial soils where there is no selenium in the soil, but we can't do it like that! The point is that if we reach for something, we should be sure that it is not only a good quality product. As you say - that it is transparent and transparent and that it will give us such a basis that we will simply feel safe. When I use the Niklab base, I say, "What will I do with this energy?!" Normally at this time I was always dozing off!” and recently we were talking on the phone and I said “Nina! It just blows my mind!” and let me just say that it is a very wonderful feeling.

NN: That's right. I also feel it even during the conversation, we talked about the fact that we both have this energy, although I have never lacked it, I have always been and still am so energetic, but the fact is that I get such feedback from clients that the Base improves on a daily basis their mood, adds energy, especially in the autumn and winter period.

Nina, as a doctor, do you care about a holistic approach to health?

NN: Yes, privately and professionally too. I have always been close to medicine, close to pharmacy, now nikalab is also very close to this holistic approach, but also privately I try to look at it as a whole. I must admit that as a doctor I was slightly fixated on traditional medicine, I guess this is a flaw of most doctors, because that's how we are taught. Then, over time, my perspective broadened, and today, after a few years, I really like combining conventional and unconventional medicine. I strongly believe in this fundamental health, I strongly believe that the causes of most diseases and ailments nowadays are improper diet, exercise deficit, and therefore nutritional deficiencies, inability to cope with stress, which is a very important factor in disease. What I emphasize all the time now, because this holistic approach to health is extremely close to me, is that we cannot look at health and the body "in parts" , because everything in our body is connected and if we want to feel good, we have to take care of it. the body as a whole. For this reason, nikalab was created and we tried to find ingredients that support the body from the inside. Such ingredients are included in the nikalab Base, as the name suggests, "base". We'll get into why these ingredients later, but that was exactly our goal - to choose what is basic and what we can't completely get with food. I always say that it's worth looking for a reason:
what causes your body's balance to drop? Because there is a reason and we should restore this balance, but also try to maintain this balance. Do not immediately reach for medications or supplements, but investigate the reason. And it is always there, we allowed this disease to appear, now we should look for its source - observe ourselves and assess what caused this ailment to appear?

My doctor says "what happened that made you invite this disease into your body?"

NN: But there's something to it!

Well, there is something to it... and what is it about these ingredients that made you include them in this bottle? That the Base I am taking, i.e. the Base up to 49 years of age, has this particular composition?

NN: A lot of people were involved in this. An international team of doctors, pharmacists, dieticians and food technologists worked on it for two years. We paid attention to all available research and came to the conclusion that even with a well-balanced diet, deficiencies occur in the human body. They vary depending on our needs and the stage of life we ​​are in. To begin with, we focused on women and created three Databases: 18-49 years old, 50+ and a Database for pregnant women. I will talk about the age difference and why it arose. A population study showed that 80% of healthy people do not provide their bodies with the recommended dose of Omega-3 acids - which is a lot. 90% of people do not get enough choline and although it is available in food, we are not able to eat enough. 90% of Poles - and not only Poles - have vitamin D deficiencies. Therefore, we decided that everything that the research showed us, depending on the stage of a woman's life, would be worth including in our Database, which will support women on a daily basis. Each of our Bases is a set of: Omega-3 acids, vitamins and minerals
and they are intended to supplement our daily diet. At nikalab, we educate a lot because we want people to understand that we are "food first" , that diet is the most important, and we supplement those ingredients that were found in research to be "not provided in the right amount".

And do you, as a doctor, recommend providing any other ingredients from outside the Database? Like magnesium, for example? 

NN: This is a common question. Again, I will say that we relied on research and I can honestly say that these are ingredients for which we do not even have to take breaks in taking them. Just take it consistently, regularly, because these are the recommended daily doses that we should take every day. The situation with magnesium is that we should always compare it with the results of our tests. These are usually very individual issues and must be consulted with a doctor. Magnesium is a very important element, but we deliberately did not include it in the Base - as a macroelement it did not fit, all other ingredients are microelements that could be enclosed in two capsules a day, and we wanted to do magnesium properly as a macroelement. Here I reveal a secret that we have been working on for some time - that there will be magnesium in nikalab! Of course, in the right dose and form. I still think this is a supportive line because if you need it, there is a recommendation from your doctor - you should start taking it, but not every day and for life. Magnesium is very important, but I treat it as a supporting element.

And do you, as a doctor, think that we need to take supplements nowadays?

NN: I would prefer and would like to say no. In an ideal world, supplements are not needed. But unfortunately, practice and all scientific research show that even a good diet cannot provide all the ingredients I mentioned earlier. And now, if we do not provide these ingredients, we expose ourselves to the risk of many diseases: anemia, depression, heart disease, brain disease, so it is very important to provide ourselves with what we can through our diet. These deficiencies occur for various reasons, there are several of them: unbalanced diet, the pace in which we currently live, changed food quality - it was different years ago and there are even studies that currently broccoli has as much as 1.5 times less folic acid than it did 40 years ago ago, but also beans, a little less than in the case of broccoli, but here we also have lower folic acid content. So, on the one hand, diet, on the other - the quality of food, and on the third hand - all the "toxins", pesticides that we take with food, cause the intestines to be unable to absorb nutrients as before. As the last reason, I would point to a genetic mutation confirmed by researchers, which does not allow us to absorb folic acid - as many as 60% of the population has this gene mutation. So there are many reasons here and I would really prefer to answer that "we don't have to take supplements", but we do - at least those few ingredients that we know support our health.

That's why we started yesterday with a meeting with Karol from ProBio Koło to talk about the intestines and it's such a "copy and paste" combination that I have the impression that you are from the same tribe! You speak the same language!

NN: Yes, I need to talk to Karol, I keep promising that when I find out what's going on, I'll call you, because I also wanted to talk to Karol.

Well, here we need to join forces for health and a life of joy, for a good cause! Karol said exactly the same thing about it, he used this specific phrase, I don't know what you think about glyphosate, pesticides and herbicides, Karol said that we "pee with glyphosate" so...

NN: Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth in this.

Exactly... and now Nina, let's look at it from a different perspective - these ingredients, such as folic acid, for example, we associate with use only during pregnancy. This is one topic that during pregnancy, but the quality of the folic acid taken during pregnancy is crucial. So that it does not have any additives in the package, which is prescribed for a woman in a blessed state.
But I also think that we don't know much about choline, because whenever I talk about choline, I hear "choline? What is this anyway?”

NN: Yes, these are ingredients that are not talked about much, folic acid is still associated with the peri-pregnancy period, but wrongly. This is an ingredient that is important at many stages of a woman's life, but not only a woman's! Men and children too, and we don't talk much about it. Every human body needs folate to repair damaged DNA structures, it is an ingredient that helps cells multiply in the body, maintains their proper functions, supports the survival of erythrocytes - these basic functions contribute to the proper functioning of all organs and systems in the body. Vitamin B9 compound
with choline is very important for brain functioning. Humans do not produce folic acid on their own, so we must supply it from outside. Whether we get it from the diet - I still believe that the diet should be its number one source, but as we said, the quality of food varies and research shows that we do need support with folic acid. You can see that this folic acid is needed for many processes in the body. Another issue is that you need to be very careful what form of folic acid you take. It often happens that no one tells us, we are not aware, because not all of us have medical knowledge and that is okay, but we think that we are taking something that brings us a lot of good, but in fact it is harmful to us. There are two forms of folic acid, also called vitamin B9: synthetic, which unfortunately we still find in popular supplements that are on the market. This form must undergo about four metabolic processes to finally be active and for our body to be able to use it. The second form of folic acid is the natural one that we have at nikalab. At nikalab we have the fourth generation of folic acid - Quatropholic - this form is already active, natural, so the 60% of the population who have a genetic mutation and do not absorb vitamin B9 do not even have to do tests, because why do such expensive tests when you can use to the natural form of this ingredient – ​​folate. Often these two names are mixed together, but they are not the same! Everyone can absorb this active form of folate, regardless of the presence or absence of a genetic mutation. In addition, it is a very important ingredient during pregnancy, many pregnant women are unfortunately still recommended to take regular folic acid. That's why I always say - a doctor is a doctor, a pharmacist is a pharmacist, but our own awareness is the most important, because who will take care of us better than ourselves, right? We need to educate ourselves more, so I will speak out about it, in what form to take the ingredients and what to watch out for.

Form is one thing, but there are often additions...

NN: This is another unpleasant example that unfortunately these additives, in the case of e.g. folic acid, do not serve the body in any way, and their purpose is, for example, to extend the expiration date. They support the consistency and appearance of the product, so they are not good for humans, but for some reason they are added to supplements. And it is also sad that the labels of popular manufacturers contain a lot of magnesium salts and fatty acids, which are confused by people who think that it is magnesium. And this is not magnesium, but an additive added for other reasons. Xanthan gum, titanium dioxide, diphosphates, phosphates, guar gum are also added - all these additives can irritate the intestinal mucosa, but also cause allergies, inflammation and even premature aging. This is the most recent example, which I am giving because I am shocked by it: an ingredient marked as E171 - titanium dioxide - added and marked as "legal" only in May 2021, was considered harmful and all productions containing it were stopped,
and we have been taking it for over 20-30 years and it is still present on the market. Yesterday I even checked toothpaste labels and titanium dioxide was present. We have it in supplements, medicines, toothpastes, cosmetics - it was usually added to obtain a white color, marked as legal, and studies in 2021 showed that E171 has carcinogenic properties. I always feel like "if we have been taking something for so many years and it turned out to be carcinogenic, what will happen to the rest of the additives that are still legal?" In 10 years it may turn out that we are currently taking something that is very harmful to our health. That's why I'm against adding all these additives, because there's no other way! Nikalab does not contain any unnecessary additives, we have not added anything unnecessary.

No unnecessary additions, but also transparency, which is very important. I talk about it very often during lectures and workshops - "if you reach for something, see where the source is." When I drink an ecosynbiotic, I know that the source is organic ingredients, that it comes from the Circle, I know where it comes from. Companies don't have to do this and I think they take advantage of it many times. They don't report something very important like pollution levels. There was a very important topic that you raised, in the context of Omega-3 acids, which is, among other things, an ingredient of your Base. Extremely important: we can have Omega-3 from linseed oil, of good quality, three weeks after pressing, and we also have Omega-3 of animal origin, and the most common one on the market is the one from fish. Most often, I see that these companies use this trick and do not provide the level of pollution - it is a bit unfair. I am aware of the fact that, as Professor Lubiński also said, how much fish are currently polluted, not to mention the ecosystem, ecology, etc. But it can be done a little differently! And it's safe.

NN: Yes, Omega-3 is just one example, here we can talk about both vitamin D and Omega-3 acids. In general, so far I have not met a company that talks about it transparently. I really wanted everything to be described transparently on our website - which country a given ingredient comes from, but also which company is our supplier. We know that, for example, Omega-3 comes to us from Switzerland and the supplier is DSM Nutritional Products, so we know exactly where it comes from. We know that we obtain folic acid from Italy, from Gnosis. The ingredients are described in detail, where they come from, what manufacturer we get them from, and this is important because usually no one writes about it. And then we wonder what we end up swallowing. And you touched on Omega-3, which is also very important. The fact is that we are unable to produce this key ingredient in our body on our own, and as I mentioned - 80% of the population does not provide a sufficient daily dose of this acid. Omega-3 is part of the cell membrane, it is involved in many processes in the body, e.g. it supports the functioning of genes, it is necessary for the functioning of the brain, heart and lungs, it is responsible for immunity - so there are many benefits. Most Omega-3 supplements available on the market come from fish, but what is important and we must be careful is that it must be a combination of DHA and EPA in the right proportions, not just DHA. Why did we at nikalab decide to obtain Omega-3 from algae? I always say that we made vegan products not because we are vegan, not because we want to convince everyone to use vegan products, but because after conducting research, it turned out that vegan ingredients are of much better quality than those made from animals. I will use the example of Omega-3 algae vs. fish: first of all - all fish and seafood available for sale have recently raised a lot of controversy. We know what happened to the Odra River. Due to pollution, heavy metals, pesticides, toxins. Additionally, fish farming burdens the environment and contributes to the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases, so ethics is the first thing, but I also want to emphasize the importance of quality. Very few people are aware that Omega-3 acids do not come from fish, the market has accustomed us to this, because obtaining Omega-3 acids from fish is simply cheaper. And yet - the first source is algae, and the connection with fish is only that fish eat algae. So why do all this in a lower-quality option when you can reach for the first source and obtain Omega-3 acids from algae?

I will ask again, as the voice of people listening to us on the other side: do you, as a doctor, think that there is no difference between supplementing Omega-3 from fish or algae?

NN: No, no, I do not recommend and I would not recommend taking Omega-3 obtained from fish.

What if you knew that this level of pollution was low?

NN: Yes, but very few people show it. Organoleptically, looking at the product packaging, it would be very difficult to determine its quality. I believe that fish are not the best source of Omega-3 acids. This is an indirect source because fish only eat algae in which Omega-3 acids are found.

You ask us here in the comments about specific companies, and there are plenty of these companies! We won't mention specific names now, but we are talking about spreading awareness so that each of us can look at it and simply feel safe. No one is saying that you shouldn't use something, it's just that you feel safer and as a consumer you don't have to pay extra for your body to be poisoned, but by buying a given product you can be sure that it is the right choice for your health.

NN: Typically, these toxins do not cause damage to the body immediately. You can take something and only after 10 or 15 years problems may appear.

That's true. And the main thing is not to add these toxins to the body, because there are definitely too many of them there, everywhere - in water, in the air, in food. Nina, first question from one of the ladies - how to support your body with diagnosed osteoporosis, 54 years old, is this 50+ Base enough or should I choose something else? This is quite a big problem among menopausal women.

NN: It is known that consultation with a doctor comes first, but I will also tell you why this 50+ Database was created. As we age, regulating the balance of calcium, which is important for bones, becomes important. And vitamin K2 deficiencies lead to calcium deposition not in the bones, but in the arteries. This is a big problem and it threatens bone density. Base 50+ is highly recommended for osteoporosis, because it contains vitamin D and K2, I often call them "calcium helpers" . It is a trinity of ingredients - magnesium, vitamin D and K2, but we also pay attention to the form of vitamin K2 - it must be Menaquinone-7. Why is it included in the 50+ Database? Vitamin K2 directs all the calcium to our bones, there is a lot of it in pickled delicacies. It is true that our intestinal bacteria produce this vitamin themselves, but with age the amount of K2 produced decreases. The intestines are no longer able to produce as much of it as we need. At the same time, the body's demand for it is increasing - hormonal changes caused by perimenopause, the decline in estrogen affects the condition of the bones, and that is why this trinity: vitamin D, K2 and magnesium is the support I recommend. Base 50+ contains K2 and D and several other ingredients that are important during this period. We will have magnesium as an addition, and I still leave room for the recommendations of the attending physicians, because, of course, the doctor looks at each patient individually and more broadly. The information you've given me isn't enough to tell me what else to take, but let me just say that I'm against taking calcium on my own. We can do more harm than good, excess calcium is often the result of ill-considered supplementation, because many people think "I'm over fifty, I'll take some calcium", but I believe that such ingestion must be consulted with a doctor. Excess calcium in the body can cause constipation, concentration problems, kidney stones and heart disease. In their research, Germans showed that in people who decided to take unnecessary calcium supplementation, the risk of heart attack increased threefold, so I do not recommend supplementation on your own.

Some people write to us about capsules. I love everything in liquid form, I have always avoided capsules, and even if there is a capsule, I always open it and pour out the contents. This is the first time in my life that I am able to swallow a capsule. I don't know if it's because of the wild orange oil or if it's just that the capsule is artificial and I have a problem with it, but your capsule is the first one that I carry with me everywhere, in my purse and I swallow it with a smile and pleasure. Here we have a question in the context of children: we know that you are here with three very good quality products, but are you already thinking about children?

NN: Yes, yes, we are already thinking about both children and men. This was our first order, but we had to divide it somehow due to the expensive product, we had to start somewhere! We started with women, next are products for children - we have been working on them for over two years, there have already been fifteen versions, but the best one is already in the production and testing phase. Of course, these tests will involve the same restrictions as in the case of drug production . I hope that next year we will be able to boast about them.

You said something important, Nina, because times are demanding, and with a good quality product it is like I often mention about coconut oil: first we raised it to the altar, and then we complained about it "saturated fat, like any other fat, like butter". But what am I trying to achieve - to get good quality coconut oil in Poland, one that I can agree to, the price is about PLN 80 - 90, because coconuts do not grow on our trees! So for it to be a good product, it is difficult for the price to be low. Now is the time to say it: until now, you could use the NATURALNIE discount code, which was valid for ordering your first subscription. Today Nina called me with a surprise from the whole team and said that if someone wants to order their jar once, to try it, the code NATURALLY for -30% also works! This means a lot these days, thank you very much! I already told my sister, dad gets pickles, sister gets nikalab, so only healthy gifts! Lest I forget - the code NATURAL for a -30% discount, both when ordering a long-term subscription and when purchasing one jar, so you can try it and feel how beautiful it smells!

Before we move on to men, we have one more question: can I reach for the richer Base if I am about 45 years old and in menopause? The one that contains vitamin K2, coenzyme Q10, etc. Especially since the doctor recommended that I take these ingredients. Can a person who is menopausal but is under 50 years old choose this richer Base option?

NN: If it weren't for the last sentence the patient said, I would have many questions. But if the doctor advised the patient to take these substances, then by all means. Now I will tell you why the 50+ Database is specifically for people over 50 years of age. Studies have shown that the menopause period in Polish women begins on average at the age of 51. Of course, each woman has different genes, and in women for whom this process begins earlier, these symptoms are often not even noticed by them. Due to reduced estrogen resources, dry skin, decreased libido, headaches, problems with falling asleep and waking up begin, but if menopause is diagnosed by a doctor - we immediately recommend taking Baza 50+. This base, apart from the dose of vitamin D, differs from Base 18-49 in four ingredients: coenzyme Q10, antioxidants - vitamins A and E and vitamin K2. These are the ingredients with which Base 50+ was enriched.

And now we come to the topic of men. A story that comes up again, today I even heard it from a friend who has been taking Nikalab for longer than me: my husband comes and says, "Listen, I don't know what you're taking, but I want to take it too! Because you are full of energy, I want it too! and now yes - you don't have this base for men yet, but as a person who has some knowledge about health, I think to myself "there is nothing there, maybe apart from folic acid, that would be harmful to men" looking at the ingredients and logic. , but I have to ask you as a doctor. Can a woman whose husband or partner comes to the patient share her jar with him?

NN: I'm very happy to hear that! It warms our hearts when customers say they are satisfied, this feedback is always the most rewarding. As for men, we also receive a lot of questions on this topic every day. We created these Databases with women in mind. All the research and research, the whole team worked and arranged these specific doses in relation to specific stages in a woman's life. As I said - we are thinking about creating an Everyday Base for men, it will perhaps be a slightly different composition, but not completely. The composition will be similar, but the doses of ingredients may vary. It's not like anything in the Everyday Base for Women can be harmful to you, we even have a few clients who have chosen this Base.

This is also what I talked about yesterday in the context of ecosynbiotics - it is important to look at scientific research and various information. You have created such a great website that there is a lot of content, a lot of information, so read it in the context of the country of origin of the ingredient, why it is like that, why the Database looks like that. Here's a question for you, Nina: does the name nikalab come from your name?

NN: I didn't want it to be like that, but when we started the company, we wanted to buy domains for other markets and I didn't even realize that it was so difficult to find domains that would be available. We struggled with Kasia Godlewska for almost two weeks, and then, over a glass of wine in the evening, we decided that maybe we would try "NiKa" - Nina and Kasia - and that's how it stayed.

Well, there is also Kasia, whom we warmly greet because you are such a women's Dream Team and you and your team create all this together. Nina, we have a question, it's very tricky, but I have to ask it! How long will the one-time code NATURALLY work?

NN: I will say this, exceptionally we decided on a one-time code, previously we didn't even have a subscription code. It's not that we don't want to give a discount. The price of the product is something that I don't want to explain too much, but the technology and forms of ingredients we use are expensive and at the beginning we even wondered whether the current price was too low, but we talked to Kasia that the price must be affordable and available to many people because we wanted to spread this goodness as far as possible. We decided on a subscription, which always offers free delivery and without a discount it is PLN 30 cheaper per month than with a one-time order. But! We decided that we would generate this unique discount for you because we have a very similar approach to health and life, you probably even remember our five-hour meeting, which made me decide that it is worth passing on this discount and spreading our philosophy further. This discount with the slogan NATURAL will work for life, I am not limiting it at the moment.

Wait Nina, we have over 300 witnesses here!

NN: I am a man of my word, so don't worry, we leave it alone and I believe that a one-time purchase will not always be able to show us all the advantages of using our supplements. We have clients who feel the difference after 3-4 weeks of use, but there are people who will feel the effects after 3 months. That's why I encourage you to subscribe because, firstly, it's cheaper, and secondly, the noticeable effects may come with the next jar. The advantage of a subscription is that we don't have to think about it. We don't have to plan the next order, because it comes to your door by itself, and this is mainly why the subscription was created, so that we can consistently feel the changes and have a chance to increase the optimal potential of the body. This takes time. One client, not even ours, but I talked to her and she was terrified - her vitamin D result was 27, which is a very low result, then we are even dealing with fluctuations in calcium resources. She started using vitamin D drops from another manufacturer and used it quite uncontrollably - whether 1 drop or 3 drops - we talked recently and the latest results came to 130. So it was already at the upper limit, almost toxic. You have to be careful with each supplement, at nikalab we have recommended, optimal doses.

Doctor, what should you do to avoid getting sick? Or let me ask this question differently - what do you do to avoid getting sick?

NN: Interesting question! I don't know if it comes with age, I have always taken care of myself, but over the past seven or eight years I have become more and more aware of it. I believe that we need to start with awareness in decision-making, but I also talk a lot about prevention. Prevention offers more than regular visits to clinics or even periodic examinations. Of course, we should do tests, but this is only the point of checking our health. For me, these daily preventive actions include: a healthy diet, coping with stress, exercise, wise supplementation, and sleep. Everyone must consciously look at themselves and assess which pillar they still need to strengthen. As a doctor, I sometimes catch myself, even though I manage my diet, I have a handle on supplementation, I still don't think I'm resistant to stress, even though I've developed it professionally, but private stress is something that it still throws me off balance. And then again – breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, distractions. You have to find your own way to deal with this stress. I didn't say anything new, but I consciously try to look step by step at what I could do better. Writing notes helps me, I am a person who always takes notes during meetings, I also take them at home. It makes me feel good to think that this week I managed to meditate 4 times, or went to the gym once, or practiced yoga, and then I know that I managed to do something good and I feel better. Also, as I said - awareness that can save us some money, because thanks to prevention we will not spend on the treatment of diseases. It's worth testing small things that seem complicated, but I believe that if we organize them in our head, they become simple.

People watching us from abroad ask what happens with shipping abroad? Because I know there are shipping issues to the UK, right?

NN: To Great Britain, unfortunately, yes, but we have a lot of clients who somehow cope, thanks to their family, we ship to family in Poland... as for the rest of Europe - we ship everywhere, and when purchasing a subscription, free delivery applies to every country in Europe .

What is a subscription anyway? I really appreciate it, because honestly, it's a problem to order regularly, every month, but this yellow envelope is delivered to me and I'm already happy as hell!

NN: I know that the subscription is not a well-known sales model, but as I said - it is more financially profitable, you can cancel it at any time, change the date, if, for example: you will not be in Poland this month. We are always happy to help, just write to us. The subscription is not something that generates additional costs. There is free delivery every month, we treat the subscriber as a customer who stays with us for a longer time, therefore he has better terms of cooperation.

And we can also reveal it now, because in the place where Nina and I met for our date - in the hyperbaric chamber - where I also give lectures and workshops, there is a shelf. From next weekend, the nikalab brand will be available for stationary purchase on the shelf of the Hyperbaric Chamber in Wilanów, so you can also visit and buy. Whether as a gift or for yourself, we support as much as we can!
Nina, I wanted to ask you about one more thing, about this comprehensive, holistic approach: I follow your website and Instagram and I was very impressed by this integral approach, which is also shown by science as providing the best results when it comes to
for treatment. Today on Instagram you wrote - as professionals from the world of science and medicine - about gratitude.

NN: Yes, as I said – conventional and unconventional approach. Our website and our blog, which is unique and not because it is ours! I really wanted the topics included there to be attractive to the reader, so that people would actually read it. There are plenty of blogs, anyone can run them, but in our case, each article goes through the hands of the editor-in-chief, through my hands, and I really wanted it to be some valuable information. And also, we touch on topics not only in terms of health, food, sleep, exercise - we have a division of categories, under each article there is an extensive bibliography based on
on research, but we also have a "relationships" tab. We have gratitude there, because I think this awareness is one important thing, but gratitude for what we have is equally important.

And what is the Doctor grateful for?

NN: First, because I have a family. I have a husband and a child, but I also really appreciate my health. I've had a situation with my dad and lost him within four years, so I think you have to appreciate your health every day. Of course, diseases exist, they do not disappear, but they also need to be fought - whether using conventional medicine or not. There are many support tools.

Someone once wrote that the three of us should join together for a conversation, with Karol, that it would be a power and I think that the universe knows and the Mountain is watching over there! And just like yesterday, I thanked Karol for the amount of work he puts in, for talking to other people, for not leaving other people, and for the fact that he and his team are there to help. And now you with the "lifetime code" don't think twice, you just want to help. We create something to help other people. You, as a person who knows the world of medicine, you are a doctor, you know this world of supplements inside out and you say "enough! Now he wants to do something that will be good for other people. I sign it and I create it because I'm tired of what's going on around me, because it's not fair to other people.

NN: Well, that's exactly how it is. I hope that one day we will move to a regulated market, but for now we are dependent on the manufacturer's honesty. In our company, I know that everything is created to the highest possible quality, every dot was monitored and approved by me. I also care very much about educating people and helping everyone learn about this awareness building. Not necessarily with Niklab, but so that everyone knows why they make such a choice, why this particular supplement or why they should not choose a given supplement and why they should not supplement everything.

And can I tell you that your husband also snacks on your capsules?

NN: Yes, you can, I've already said that before. My husband is the type of person who needs everything explained to him and he's certainly not the type of person who jumps at something right away. I have been with him for 15 years and I know that he is not the type of person who would reach for painkillers. He rarely gets a headache, but when he does, he can bear it. So far, he has not taken any pills or capsules, and now he has read a lot about nikalab, he also listens a lot to what I talk about and knows what a perfectionist I am... This perfectionism sometimes gives him a headache, but there was actually a situation in which I wasn't even aware that he was stealing from my jar. I usually keep jars in the kitchen and one day I took mine with me, suddenly my husband called me and asked "where are the vitamins?", I asked "which vitamins?" and he said "well, nikalab". It turned out that he takes it regularly and instead of buying a subscription, he eats mine, and then I'm surprised why I don't have enough capsules for 30 days...

It is wonderful! That's why I said it, because look how it repeats itself!

NN: And he is a difficult customer!

Nina, maybe you would like to say something else at the end of our live? I heard that you sold your car to take more steps. Is it true?

NN: Yes, it's true, a few years ago I decided that I was addicted to driving and that I could use more steps a day. My husband was also the leader of this change. My daily maximum is about 15,000 steps, but my mother, a seventy-year-old woman, when she calls me on Skype, shows me her phone and boasts that she has a minimum of 15,000 steps a day.

I thought that this is also in the context of ecology, what we are talking about: you said in the context of fish to go to the source - to algae, to also save the ecosystem. We didn't say one very important thing: I love your yellow envelope, it makes me very optimistic when it arrives and as long as it is not damaged, I use it, even as a cosmetic bag! And then when it starts to fall apart, I have a compost bin in the garden and I throw it there. And we didn't mention that your envelope in which the jar comes can be thrown into BIO waste.

NN: Yes, it is plant material, corn. The envelope is entirely compostable and it's good that you mentioned it, because for me human health is inseparable from the health of the planet. At nikalab, we tried very hard to make as many elements as possible ecological , although I don't like the word "ecological" because it has been overused recently. Glass is treated as "eco", biodegradable bags are the same... we used plant material made from sugar cane in the process of producing the jar. Together with the label and glue – everything is compostable. We are only working on the cap. What is the difference between "biodegradable" and "compostable"? The difference is significant. Biodegradable means that the material can decompose for years and, additionally, leave behind the so-called microplastics and toxins – this is not eco. Compostable, on the other hand, is a material that can be placed in a composter and decomposes into organic matter in which we can even plant carrots. This was our goal, I am very against all these boxes that come to us unnecessarily along with the ordered products, it burdens the planet. I haven't said one important thing yet! As a transparent company, our jar is also transparent, but we have a UV filter that was added on purpose. Vitamins, mainly vitamin D, react to contact with light, so we had to protect them somehow. The envelope is the only packaging we see, I also use it many times because it's cool
and I'm a fan of using something repeatedly. Here we will return to glass - glass is eco-friendly if it is used repeatedly. And research shows that only 20% of glass is recycled. In addition, how many resources does glass need - transport, CO2 production... that's why I don't treat glass as an ecological material.

And inside our jar there is what you love, and so do I! I'm addicted to this orange scent. This is the scented insert, infused with orange essential oil , in pregnant women it is lemon, because it helps get rid of nausea. What is important - the insert and its scent do not interact with the ingredients, but you probably noticed that when you swallow them, the aroma creates such a pleasant feeling in the throat. It's a little tidbit that makes a big impression. In addition, I later use it many times in underwear drawers, but also for books!

This is a super ethereal and refreshing bookmark!

NN: Yes! And I would like to mention one more detail: I wanted to make a capsule that would not dissolve immediately after swallowing. Stomach acids can destroy some vitamins and minerals, and we made a capsule that looks nice, but its main purpose is to dissolve completely in the small intestine, where we have optimal conditions for the absorption of nutrients. These are two technologies: DUOCAP and DRcaps. DRcaps means that it is a delayed release: for 45 minutes the capsule shell dissolves in the small intestine, and DUOCAP served to allow us to encapsulate vitamin D, K, A and E, which should be taken together with fats, because only in fats they have a chance to dissolve. Thanks to the double capsule, we could combine Omega acids with other vitamins and minerals, and we could adjust the time and circumstances of taking the capsules ourselves.

bow. med. Nina Nicheska in a conversation with Agnieszka Cegielska - journalist, TV presenter, author of best-selling books from the "Naturalnie" series, promoter of a healthy lifestyle. On her IG profile @agnieszkacegielska inspires a holistic approach to life.