Supplements: Daily Additions for Better Health
Written By Emma WilliamsIf you make the effort to include a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, animal proteins and organ meats, and healthy fats, then you probably don’t need to take a zillion different supplements to stay healthy. In fact, you probably don’t need the most common supplement, the multivitamin. It is likely that you are taking in most of the vitamins and minerals that multivitamins contain without even making an effort to do so. That being said, it likely won’t hurt your heath to take a multivitamin, so if it’s something you already do, there’s no good reason to stop. There are a few supplements, however, that I do recommend most people take, and there are certain circumstances in which additional supplementation can be helpful.The one supplement that I believe is beneficial for everyone to take for overall health is Fermented Cod Liver Oil. I know, that sounds disgusting, and to be honest, it is pretty gross. It is fermented fish liver oil, after all. Fermented Cod Liver Oil is more of a traditional food than a true supplement, however. It is a food brought back to relative popularity by the work of Weston A. Price, whose life work was to study traditional cultures and to understand why they did not experience certain diseases, like heart disease, metabolic disorders, arthritis, and dental problems. While it does contain Omega-3 Fatty Acids, it also contains other nutrients that regular old fish oil or even cod liver oil, do not contain. Fermented Cod Liver Oil is an excellent source of fat-soluble Vitamins A and D, which play a role in all aspects of your body’s function, from immune function to detoxification of heavy metals. It is a true super food! If you go with the cinnamon tingle flavor, you can hardly taste the fishiness, and I highly recommend it.Another supplement that is useful for most people is magnesium. Many of us actually suffer from magnesium deficiency, because the water that we drink is low in trace minerals, and the soil that our food is grown in is depleted. Stress, sweating, alcohol intake, and low Vitamin D levels can also deplete magnesium. You can supplement with magnesium in capsule form, or go for a powder. “Natural Calm” is a great magnesium supplement that also helps you sleep. One downside: once your magnesium stores are replenished, you could experience diarrhea. If this happens, just a take a break from the supplement until symptoms resolve.A third vitamin that you should concern yourself with is Vitamin D. If you’re not taking Fermented Cod Liver Oil, and you don’t spend time in direct sunlight without sun block or protective clothing, you could have low Vitamin D levels. Vitamin D supplements on their own are pretty much useless in raising your Vitamin D levels. Your body does not absorb Vitamin D in supplement form. The only way to make sure that your body’s stores of this vitamin are sufficient is to get some time in the sun and to take Fermented Cod Liver Oil. I am not suggesting that you go out and get a sunburn, but a ten-minute early morning walk with some skin exposed should be sufficient.Supplements can also be great therapeutic tools. There’s a different supplement for pretty much any condition you may suffer from. Skin conditions (Vitamin E), depression (St. John’s Wort), concussions (NAC), digestive problems (Probiotics), the list goes on. A simple Google search will help you decide which supplement will help you with a particular issue, but Mark’s Daily Apple is a great resource for all of your supplementation questions.The best thing that you can do for your health is to eat a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods every day. However, because of the state of modern agriculture, our water sources, and our mostly indoors lifestyle, most of us can certainly benefit by adding some smart supplementation to our routines.
Emma Williams is a contributing writer to the Full Range Training Blog. Her monthly posts cover a range of nutritionally-based topics. To request a topic, you can contact Emma at emmaaw@yelp.com