Lesly Gourdet had the flu. So he turned to someone he respected as a top infectious disease expert—his mom.
It was 1993, and Gourdet hadn’t thought about a wonder tonic his family developed in years. But he took mom’s advice, making and drinking her three-ingredient recipe. He immediately felt better.
Gourdet spent the next decade tweaking the concoction, and by 2004, LG’s Elixir had grown to include 11 ingredients: honey, garlic, ginger, onions, white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, lemon, lime, habañero, turmeric, and black pepper.
Thirteen years later, in the wake of the 2017 Unite the Right Rally, Gourdet decided he wanted to do his own little part to help Charlottesville heal. He dialed in his recipe and submitted it for testing at a Virginia Tech lab. It proved safe for consumption, and he started selling LG’s Elixir as a rejuvenating drink attacking inflammation and “other malaises of the body” at the City Market in May 2018. It was a hit.
“So many people already know about the benefits of the ingredients, and that speaks for itself,” Gourdet says.
What makes LG’s Elixir different from other antioxidant-rich products? His vegetarian tonic is entirely cold pressed to preserve the ingredients’ natural enzymes. Plus, he’s been gathering evidence over the past several years that shows the drink improves health.
As a lifelong educator, coach, and musician, Gourdet counts his elixir as a necessity for his own active lifestyle. The Haiti-born nature lover is now 69 and still going strong.
“I took this mission because, as a high level athlete, I wanted to use my body to be the best in the world,” Gourdet says. “I thought by the time I was in my 50s, my body would be a wreck. I abused my body, but I never felt any pain. Then a light bulb went off: ‘This is why I am not having so much pain.’ I was using the elixir.”