What is the easiest and fastest way to dramatically improve your nutrient intake? A high-quality supplement!
Unfortunately, so many on store shelves are complete garbage. Think Centrum + Flintstone vitamins, just for a visual. Its why we want to be mindful of quality and why as a Nutritionist I support Young Living; as their Seed to Seal standards isn't just for our essential oils, but the supplements too.
Imagine building your dream home without using any screws, nails, glue or caulk. You could use all the best wood, granite and glass available, but if you don’t have the materials to tie it all together, your home won’t stand very long.
It’s the same thing with the value of a high quality supplement. You could eat the best quality meat and fish and eat organic vegetables. Yet, if you still lack the micronutrients necessary for healthy metabolism, your body won’t hold up the way it could.
When I mention high quality, these are some helpful tips and questions to ask:
Steer clear of big boxed stores and supplements ie. Costco I love Costco, but theres a time and a place to get a deal. I've even seen supplements being sold at the Dollarstore. Not all supplements are created equal.
Read the non-medicinal ingredients on the bottle. This is where fillers, GMO ingredients, artificial colours and flavours are added
Are the nutrients being used synthetic or in their natural form? ie. Natural folate, not folic acid or Methylcobalamin instead of Cyrancobalamin (B12)
Those are starting points to help guide you away from the crap and toward quality.
Our diets are lacking, there's no way around that.
9% of high school students are meeting the recommended fruit servings daily.
2% of high school students are meeting the recommended vegetable servings daily.
12.2% of adults are meeting the recommended fruit servings daily.
9.3% of adults are meeting the recommended vegetable servings daily.
STUDY: AS ONE STUDY PUT IT, YOU’D NEED TO EAT EIGHT ORANGES TODAY TO GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF VITAMIN A THAT A SINGLE ORANGE CONTAINED WHEN OUR GRANDPARENTS WERE YOUNG.
That is NOT good friends. Not.Good.
Even the cleanest, most perfect diets will struggle to get enough nutrients.
Here are 6 reasons why we all need high quality supplements:
Soil depletion decreases nutrient density of crops. The land that our food is grown on has been so heavily farmed that the nutrients in soil have not been able to naturally replenish.
Pesticides and herbicides damage soil microorganisms and reduce nutrition of crops. Soil microorganisms are needed to make minerals and other nutrients available to the plants. When they are damaged, they do not do their job.
Long-distance transportation. Nutrient levels begin to diminish at the time of harvest. Sometimes there can be weeks between when a food was picked, transported, packed, stored and then eaten.
70% of the American diet is made up of processed food. Even if there are some whole foods in these processed food, nutrients are killed and very little nutritional value is left.
Poor eating habits will impair the absorption of nutrients. Over the course of time, the damage we have done to our bodies with poor diets, takes its toll. Trying to make up that gap can be very difficult, therefore supplementation is needed.
Stress, smoking, alcohol consumption and pharmaceutical drugs all deplete nutrients in our body.
As you can see, there is so much that goes into why we absolutely HAVE to be taking supplements daily!
The Average Meal is calorie-rich and nutrient-poor. All that said, most people don’t eat the recommended amounts of vegetable and fruit. Most days, I don’t meet that level and I’m pretty intentional about what I eat.
Even so, I bet you still fall short of eating 9-12 servings of vegetables and fruit everyday (drinking them as juice doesn’t count). And, even if you did, you read above why those 9-12 servings aren’t as nutritious as they once were. Please don’t misinterpret these points as justification to avoid vegetables and fruit altogether. They still contain substantial amounts of fiber, phytonutrients, and other nutrition.
Here is a past blog post of the supplements + natural remedies my family uses to stay healthy and above the wellness line.
https://www.karlieholtbywellness.com/post/my-familys-natural-remedies
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