Day 60- Nutritional Supplements

As I may have mentioned before, I currently work for an amazing nutritional supplement company. Although I'm trying to keep this blog project separate from my work, the truth is a lot of the topics that I have discussed go hand in hand with nutritional supplementation. I've grown up taking nutritional supplements and see strongly the value behind incorporating them in a healthy lifestyle. I know there are people that are adamant that they can get all the nutritional requirements from the foods that they eat, but so much has changed over the years that I'm not so sure that this is true anymore. I've learned a lot about supplements over the last four years through not only my work, but through the nutrition program that I had the privilege to participate in as well. So although I will continue to leave out the mention of my company's supplements, I do want people to know that I strongly suggest working with a health care practitioner in order to find the right nutritional supplements for you.

First of all let me start by stating that I'm not a fan of multivitamins. Yeah, I hear the gasp of disbelief. But think about it, no one person is the same, so how can there be a vitamin that supplies all the vitamins and minerals that a person needs? But I guess if it was the choice to take a multivitamin or nothing at all, I would hands down go with the multivitamin. I would prefer that people run a test to see where your nutritional deficiencies are in order to know what you should be supplementing with. Supplements, like the name states, are to supplement your diet and not to replace food. You also don't want to take a multivitamin that contains excess stuff that the body doesn't need.

Trying to receive all your vitamins and minerals from your diet is so hard; if not impossible for many people these days. There are so many reasons why this is the case. First of all how many of us actually get enough fruits and vegetables on a daily bases. A majority of the foods that we consume are processed and even when we do consume fresh fruits and vegetables they are often missing the nutrient content that was present years ago. The fact that many farms produce a constant supply of crops can deplete the nutrients in the soil. Fertilizers or insecticides that are used don't add many nutrients in the soil and insecticides can actually reduce the amount of nutrients in the crops. Then you have the differences in growing techniques used now of days, crops are being picked before they have had the chance to fully ripen. It is not until the fruit or vegetable has fully ripened that the nutrients become fully available.

Digestion and lifestyle are also a huge reason that we need to supplement our diet. So many people do not have a healthy working digestive system so a lot of the foods that are eaten can not be broken down correctly and the nutrients are not absorbed. Stress, drinking, smoking, lack of sleep, etc. can also cause the body to have nutritional deficiencies.

When picking the right supplement for you just remember a few things. Supplements come in different forms, there are capsules, tablets, liquid, powders, creams, and sprays. I've learned that tablets usually contain a lot of fillers, a main one being gluten, in order to get it in that tablet form, whereas capsules will most likely only contain the wanted ingredients. Creams are great, usually when applied to a vascular area because it doesn't have to go through the digestive tract in order to be utilized. A word to the wise, stay away from hormones creams, they will stay in your body fat and may rub off onto your loved ones, who most likely could do with out your excess hormones. Then there are also sublingual vitamins, you will see vitamin B12 sold like this a lot of the time. The benefits of taking B12 sublingually is that when you have problems with digestion a lot of the absorption on the vitamin will be hindered. Taking the vitamin sublingually, (liquid form under the tongue) it is able to go straight into the blood stream through blood vessels, therefore absorbing hopefully 100% of the vitamin.

What are some supplements that I suggest for daily maintenance?

• Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils)
• Antioxidants
• Vitamin D
• Probiotics

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP