Supplements 101

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Obliviously a questions many people ask me is regarding supplements. Do I need them? What do I take? How many different ones should I be taking? How often? What about protein powders? Supplements are so expensive. You probably have other questions, but these are some of the most often asked. Today, I will give you my guidelines and rules I follow regarding supplementing. I hope it helps.

My first rule:
You absolutely canNOT, under any circumstances, out supplement a bad diet, period. If you are eating dead, pseudo, fake food, all the supplements in the world are not going to make up for that.

Second rule:
Supplements should be food based, not synthetic.

Two pretty simple and easy rules to keep in mind. Every question you have regarding supplements should be tested by these. This is really the base of it, the rest of this is my ramblings going further into why I hold pretty fast to these two rules.

Food was created to give us all of the nourishment we need. In an ideal world, the one we used to live in, this was where all of our nourishment came from, there were no supplements. There were no stores dedicated to nothing but supplements. Food was your medicine and it gave you everything you needed.
I understand that today this is not the case. Our soils are depleted of vitals nourishment. We do not practice good farming, re-nourishing the soil, putting back in what we have taken out. Picking veggies and fruit green, unripened and shipping it around the world so we can eat it all year long. All of this is adding up to food that is 50-75% less of it nourishment, from some of the studies I have read.
Our animals are not eating what they are suppose to be eating, so they are not as healthy. Some of the healthiest parts of the animal, organs and fat, we do not eat.
We are told beta carotene and carotenoids are vitamin A, retinol, they are not. Remember, retinol is what our bodies need.
We are afraid of the sun and think 10-15 minutes of a little sun will give us all the vitamin D we need, it does not.
Our guts are so out of wack, we are not up taking the nutrients we are consuming.
The list goes on for why we are not receiving the nourishment we need from our food. This is why we supplement, but that is what it should be, a supplement to what is lacking in our food supply, where we have our own deficiency and to support our goals for our lives. You should fist be concentrating on eating nutrient, dense, rich foods, ones that nourish you at the cellular and DNA level. Then, and only then, supplement where you need.

The supplements you do take, should be based on food. Our bodies do not know what to do with the synthetic vitamins and minerals. The synthetic ones are also the mirror image of the real nutrients found in food. Meaning it is the other side of the DNA that is used. Yes, our bodies know the difference.
When nutrients are on their own, they are not as effective. In food there is a synergistic effect of them all working together and nutrients we do not even know about are present. When taking vitamins and minerals in supplement form, on their own, we have a much greater chance of toxicity. When they work together, like they do in nature, the risk is almost nothing.
Look for food based supplements. They are going to be more expensive, but you will not need as many because you supplementing your food.
Look for quality supplements, this does not always mean the most expensive, but it can be. You want to make sure that what they say is in them, is actually in them. Research the company before buying hundreds of dollars worth of supplements with all these bogus claims and what they say is in them is not actually in them. Higher quality and having what they say is in them is actually in them, means less supplements, less cost in the end.
Do you really need that obscure, berry, herb or whatever the latest and greatest wonder pill is for weight lose, heart health, this that and the other that is going got make your life so much better, they claim? Probably not. Our ancestors were able to maintain their health by living off the land, what they could hunt and gather, not something from the other side of the world, that they probably did not know was even there. They maintained their health and weight by what was around them.
Be wise in what you take. Think critically before buying. Ask yourself if you really need it or if you are trying to out supplement a bad diet.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God bless,
Jenn