Wellness Wednesday: Do you really need supplements?
If you do a simple Google search to find out if supplements are absolutely necessary for a healthy life you’ll find hundreds of articles showing exactly why you need them. Flip the script and search for why supplements are a hoax and you’ll find just as many results. It’s a HUGE controversy in the healthcare industry. When you add in the fact that supplements aren't FDA regulated, you've got the perfect storm.. There’s plenty of products that are regulated by the FDA that I’d never recommend to anyone, but it would take away the wiggle room for being able to put whatever you want into a bottle, slap a label on it and call it a supplement. Which happens. A lot. Let’s take a look to see if there’s a way we can navigate the murky waters here to bring a little bit of clarity to the issue and get you 3 things you need to know about adding supplements into your healthy lifestyle.
Preventative is always better, but not usually realistic.
In a perfect world, there’d be no need for supplements because everyone would be getting every nutrient they could possibly need from the foods they’re eating. No deficiencies to bolster because it’s all found in your three well-rounded meals. But clearly that’s not the norm, for a few reasons. First, most people simply don’t eat like that. We eat processed foods, consume too mu
ch sodium, empty calories, and foods that have zero nutritive value. Second, even if your plate was full of whole-food, clean ingredients for every meal, the food we eat today is not the food of 50 years ago. Or even 25. The way we grow things is different, the soil is different, and that affects the food that we’re putting in our bodies.
Supplements are NEVER a substitute for making healthy choices, but they certainly can fill gaps where our food falls short. So while preventing the need for supplements by eating all our nutrients would be ideal, it’s very difficult to do in today’s food climate.
There’s no magic fix.
No matter what the bottle says, it’s not going to be an instant solution (and if it says it is, I’d probably just throw them away.) You’re not going to grow a full head of hair, lose all pain in your lower back, and heal your leaky gut overnight. It’s just not possible. Supplements aren’t bandaids for the symptoms you’ve had for years. Taking the right combination can not only help prevent disease but can also begin to aid your body in healing itself. You’ve got to give them time to work. And, just another reminder, they aren’t an excuse to eat all the things and do none of the exercise. They work alongside your body. You get to put in the work as well.
Quality does matter.
It goes without saying, but all supplements are not created equally. Some are full of fillers, artificial sweeteners and colors, and just plain junk. Take a look at most of the kids’ vitamins on the shelf at Target just to blow your mind. Fuuuuull of crapola. Find out exactly what your supplement has in it. Often we’re taking them because the food going in our bodies isn’t always the best, so you don’t need to be adding insult to injury by taking supplements full of more junk.
Do your research, or better yet, let us do it for you! At Back to Health of Anthem, we only carry what we’ve found to be the best and can’t wait to get it in your hands. The 3rd Wednesday of every month we open our doors to our clients who want to save 20% on their supplements. That’s today! Come on in and let’s chat about what supplements would be best for you and your goals.