4 Reasons Why You Need to Be Taking Supplements Even if You’re Eating Healthy
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Before we begin I want to say that supplements are not a replacement for eating a healthy diet and living a healthy lifestyle.
You want to be getting in supplements along with a diet that’s going to get you closer to your weight loss and health goals. This will create a compound effect in your life where you’ll see huge shifts.
When we talk about supplements we want to try and get in whole food supplements where we can. These looks like.
Ground flaxseed powder
Hemp seeds
These things are great to add to smoothies in the morning or oatmeal.
The supplements we will be talking about today though are in capsule form
So why should we be getting supplements in in the first place even if we are eating healthy?
1. We Need at Least 9 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables a Day
The recommend daily amount of fruits and vegetables per day is 9 servings for an adult.
Are you getting that?
Many people aren’t… but to be honest with so much going on in our environment with toxicity, and nutrient depletion in our food I believe that we should be getting in at least 12 to 14 servings a day.
Fruits and vegetables are the top foods that provide much needed antioxidants to our cells. Antioxidants are protective to our cells and help to prevent DNA damage, which leads to illness and disease.
Lifestyle illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancers are largely related to the lack of nutrients and antioxidants in your diet.
So bridging the gap in your diet with what you currently are getting and what you should be getting is key.
2. Fruits & Vegetables are up to 40% Less Nutrient Dense then When our Grandparents were Kids
It’s no secret that the soil practices of industrialized farming depletes the soil, because they grow the same crops in the same land over and over again. During this process the same crops need the same nutrients to grow, which then takes those nutrients out of the soil every harvest. However when crops are rotated (like they should be) different crops take different nutrients and also add different nutrients, so creating that variety with rotation allows for repleting of the much need nutrients we need back in our soil and thus in our food. So even if you’re getting in your 9 servings of fruits and veggies a day the food we are eating is less nutrient dense making supplementation a great way to bridge the gap.
3. We Live in a Toxic World
Between the air we breath, the clothes we wear, the perfumes we use, the foods we eat, prescription drugs, combined with the way we live with stress filled lives, and lack of sleep creates toxic effects and acidity in the body. Because of this toxic load the body is ask to bare, which we didn’t have before, our body needs more nutrients and antioxidants to neutralize these effects to provide for optimal health. You want to feel energized, have mental clarity, move with ease with out pain, feel lighter, and lose unwanted fat. And guess what you can and you should have this to live your best life! Supplementation can help aid in this.
4. Our Gut Health is Everything
Our gut’s job is to absorb nutrients, but unfortunately with the foods we’re getting in our diet and the toxicity that occurs it kills off our microbiome. Our microbiome is crucial in maintaining healthy bowel movements, less bloating, breaking down nutrients so our body can actually use them, and also helps stabilize our mood.
So there it is, the quick and dirty reasons why taking supplements can aid in optimal health even if you’re eating healthy already.
Now let’s go a bit further and look at those most important ones we should focus on daily.
1. A Good Antioxidant Blend/Multivitamin
Antioxidants are crucial, I can’t stress this enough. These are the supplements that will help to detoxify, neutralize an acidic environment in the body, and prevent cellular damage that leads to cancers and other illnesses. Also this will provide you with those nutrients that you’re lacking. A good antioxidant blend that I use is Juice Plus fruit and veggie capsules.
These capsules have been known to increase energy, mental clarity, clearer skin, and decrease cholesterol and help other heart health markers. I love this because they are actually made with real fruits and veggies in a capsule form.
2. Vitamin D3
Many of us don’t get enough sun to create the adequate amount of vitamin D our body needs. And it’s virtually impossible to get as much as we need from the food we eat. So this makes supplementation of it a great idea. Vitamin D helps to build strong bones, is anti-inflammatory, immune strengthening, and anti-cancer.
It’s involved with so many processes in the body effecting more then 2,000 genes, which is why it’s great to incorporate in your routine. Great brands for this are Metagenics or Garden of Life.
3. Omega 3s
This one is good for brain health and also a potent anti-inflammatory.
And what does inflammation lead to in the body?
Weight gain, belly fat, cancer, heart disease…the list goes on and on!
You can get Omegas in a fish oil blend or a plant based omega 3 blend. I like Trader Joes or Nordic Naturals for fish oil or Juice Plus for their plant based omega 3 blend.
4. Probiotic
Perfect for gut health. A lot of the food on the market is actually killing the bacteria that live in our gut. And if you aren’t eating organic, it’s a known fact that the glyphosate (the active ingredient in roundup ready seeds, and pesticides from Monsanto) destroys the gut bacteria, good and bad. Make sure to choose a probiotic with CFU’s of 50 billion.