Why Supplements? And Which Kind?
I've taken supplements most of my life. My mom is a chiropractor as well, and she did a great job raising us and making healthy choices for us as kids. So for me, taking supplements seems like a totally normal part of everyday life. But there was a point when I wondered about something. I was eating almost exclusively organic food, had a healthy diet and didn't eat much sugar or processed foods. If you are eating clean like that, why do you need supplements?
The Things Our Ancestors Ate That We Don't
Think about what people ate 100 years ago... yes some of the same things we eat now, i.e meats, fruits, veggies. But have you heard about people using all of an animal when they were hunting? They ate almost all of that animal. I.e organs, tendons, ligaments, bone marrow etc. Do you eat all of those things? Liver and onions, or sweetbreads (eating brains), or eating heart, or kidneys? I know I don't, and I don't plan to. But there are key vitamins and minerals in those things we no longer eat that are very important for our health. Basically our options are Eat It, or Take It. Either you can eat those orgrans etc. or you can take a supplements to replace them in your diet. I personally, will be choosing the take it options. :)
Environmental Toxins/Soil Quality
Here are some examples of toxins that are likely in your home:
strong chemicals (i.e. disinfectants, bleaches, oven and drain cleaners, furniture polish, floor wax, window cleaners etc.)
pesticides
having your house treated for insects
exposure to dust, overstuffed furniture, tobacco smoke, mothballs, incense, or varnish in your home or office
nail polish, perfume, hairspray, non-organic makeup
diesel fumes, exhaust fumes, gasoline fumes
eating non-organic foods
Some other things to think about:
do you have a water purification system in your home? (less toxins)
do you have an air purification system in your home? (less toxins)
do you have indoor pets? (more toxins)
are you a dentist, farmer, painter, or construction worker? (more toxins)
There are more than 85,000 chemicals on the market. We come into contact with them constantly. Taking supplements helps to protect your body by helping you detox from chemicals. Due to soil depletion, crops grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the ones most of us eat today. This is due to many different reasons which I won't go into here, but it's important to know that even when you're eating healthy food, you're probably not getting as many vitamins and minerals as you would expect.
To Prevent Health Problems In The Future
The type of nutrition testing I do at my office is called MFT (Morphogenic Field Technique), which I'll write a separate blog post about sometime. The first time I had this testing done on me, the Dr. testing me told me if I didn't change something, I would likely get cancer in the future. What?! I was so blown away by that information. I thought of myself as a pretty healthy person. This is also the time I tested for worm parasites which some of you already know about. As you can guess, knowing this information made me VERY COMPLIANT in terms of taking my supplements faithfully. Guys, if I was showing signs for likely getting cancer in the future, and I exercise 5 times a week, mostly eat organic food, and am always trying to find ways to be healthier, what does that mean for other people whose health isn't as big of a priority? Scary, right? Most of the health care things I do for my own health are not covered by insurance, they are all out of pocket expenses. Here are some of the things I'm talking about:
chiropractic care
acupuncture
supplements
yoga studio membership
buying organic food
essential oils
drinking kombucha (seems a bit silly to put that on this list, but I spend quite a bit on kombucha)
Now looking at this list, and if you see what I spend on these things, you would probably think something like "That's expensive." Which I've thought too by the way, when I am paying for these things. However, I see it this way. Either I'll be paying for my health now or in the future. It may seem like I'm spending a lot on these things now, but by doing that I am staying healthy and helping to prevent bad health events in the future. And I bet if I didn't take care of my health in a preventive way, in the future I would likely have a big health issue that would be MASSIVELY expensive and would actually probably cost me much more overall. SO I would rather pay some now so that I can be healthy, have a great quality of life, and hopefully prevent something in the future.
To Be The Healthiest and Most Vibrant You Can Be
If someone asks you "What is your health like?" I think most of us jump to saying something like "I'm pretty healthy." But just take a moment to really think about it. Do you have as much energy as you'd like? Do you find you're quite tired by the time you're done with work? Do you have a hard time getting up in the morning? Maybe there's something you've been dealing with for so long you've almost forgotten about it. Something like GI issues, headaches, sore low back, aches and pains, getting sick often, nausea, allergies/asthma, depression, anxiety, etc...
If you could take a magic wand and go back to the age you felt the healthiest, what would that age be? What's happened between then and now? If you didn't answer that you feel the best right now, wouldn't you like to?
Why I Choose Standard Process
So if you're thinking, I'd like to take supplements. The brand you choose is very important, choosing a high quality supplement is essential.
Although it may be tempting to choose a cheap supplement, something like what you could get at Target, CVS, Costco etc. it's not worth your money. Those supplements are low quality, and will not absorb in your body well. So mostly, they'll just be going through you. Plus, it's possible they may have toxins in them from processing.
In addition, you want to take whole food supplements. When you take a supplement that's just the active ingredient, your body doesn't have the additional parts of the food it needs to best absorb and use the supplement. When you take a whole food supplement, everything the body needs to process the supplement is there. So you are able to get the very most out of each supplement!
Many supplement companies are unregulated and don't do studies. Standard Process grows most of the ingredients on their organic farm and any ingredients they get from other sources, they do extensive testing to make sure they are of the best quality and safe. They also have done many studies to show how effective their supplements are. Also due to their farming practices, Standard Process' supplements are very pure.
When you are taking a supplement, you don't want there to be any toxin from non-organic materials, because one of the things you are trying to do by taking supplements is detoxing. In summary, there are many reasons why I take supplements and they have helped me in my life greatly. Comment and tell me why you take supplements. Or if you have any questions, let me know!
