This is a very common question I hear from clients all the time and it is easy to see why. You can pick up the newspaper any day of the week and find all types of information about why we should eat more Kale because it is loaded with this vitamin, or we should be drinking more red wine as scientist have discovered it has anti oxidants that may reduce your risk of cancer, etc etc. You will also find at some point the exact opposite answer in another publication. Both scientifically proven with research results. So what do we do? No wonder we are confused. Putting aside all of this research, basic logic would tell you that if you increase your levels of vitamins, let's say with a multi vitamin capsule then this can only do good things for you. Right? Well it is not so easy as that, and in fact you could be doing more harm than good. I also find that people who rely so heavily on vitamins and supplements rarely eat good organic food & meats, and eat a poor variety of vegetables. They really are trying to use a synthetic capsule to make up for their poor nutrition choices. What I will show you in this article not only is that a poor strategy but also one that could cause mor harm than good!
How Did People On Traditional Diets Find Vitamins?
Here is an extract from an article from the Weston A Price foundation that sums up traditional diets.
"Successful traditional diets provided a rich array of nutrients that cooperated with one another to produce vibrant health. As modern diets have shifted towards nutrient-poor foods fortified with the favored nutrients du jour, we have gazed askance at the degeneration that has resulted and embarked on a series of searches for the dietary villains that we imagine lurking in the shadows. We have blamed heart disease on cholesterol, mortality on meat, osteoporosis on vitamin A, and diabetes on fat. Yet somehow it has eluded us that we are asking all the wrong questions. Biology is not a war between good molecules and evil molecules, nor is it a war between “wholesome” natural foods like vegetables and “poisonous” natural foods like meat. Biology is a system wherein many parts work together in synergy to produce a context within which each part benefits the whole." Read the rest of this article by clicking here
By the way make sure you read the book "Nutrition & Physical Degeneration" by Weston A Price as it is the best book you will ever find about Nutrition!
Coming back to the question at the top. Whenever I hear this, I respond by asking, “Why?”
There is certainly a time and a place for using supplementation, but what are the reasons you feel you need these extra vitamns in the first place. My suggestion is to look carefully at the symptoms that have led you to believe you need supplementation, and then look openly and honestly at your use of nutrition. Because you may find you need to do something different than just swallowing a few pills. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you eating a good variety of quality organic foods?
2. Are you drinking good quality water?
3. Are you getting to bed on time?
4. Are you reducing yours stress?
5. Are you exercising enough?
I would highly encourage you to read our article on The Top 10 Reasons People Cannot Lose Weight and download our Free Report which gives you great detail on each of the 5 questions I just listed.
This means you are looking to see where there may be patterns that are sending you messages through your body that something needs to change. It may be that you simply need more or less of any one or a combination of these factors. For example if you are not getting to bed on time and not exercising enough, taking some vitamin pills will not solve this for you. As I stated earlier more often than not it is because people are not doing any of the above very well which in turn creates high levels of inflammation in their body. Basically creating stress! When your stress hormone levels too high, it will disrupt balance of your autonomic nervous system and can cause all sorts of depletion symptoms. In my 10 years as a CHEK trainer and having worked with hundreds of people with various goals, illnesses and injury the people who wanted to use supplements had a common theme.
99% of the time, the reasons they give me for wanting to take supplements turn out to be so they can continue to live against the advice their body is giving them, ignoring the real reasons and solutions that they need to implement. Basically looking for the “Quick fix”! In many cases where someone takes the supplement, feels better, and forever uses that as a way to continue living an imbalanced lifestyle. There is no such thing as an isolate vitamin or substance in nature. Moreover, vitamin and related deficiencies are rarely ever seen in animals living in the wild on their natural diets. Only when animals are put into captivity, or infringed upon by human beings do they begin to display such imbalances.
You can learn more about this by reading the book, "The Real Truth About Vitamins" and Antioxidants by Judith DeCava. A very important book! Another key point to remember is this: anytime you bring in more isolates of any type than your body can utilize, your organs of detoxification must detoxify them. An example of this would be young guys consuming copious amounts of creatine and protein powders. They are more or less poisoning themselves with supplements!
Understanding The Big Picture
It is clearly time to move beyond viewing each vitamin in isolation. The fat-soluble vitamins not only synergize with each other, but cooperate with many other nutrients and metabolic factors such as magnesium, zinc, fat, carbohydrate, carbon dioxide and thyroid hormone. This paradigm has two important implications. At the level of scientific research, a study about one vitamin can easily come to false conclusions unless it takes into account its interactions with all the others. We should recognize the complexity of these interactions, realizing how little we know and recognizing that we are always learning. So with regards to our personal health, these interactions emphasize the need to consume a well-rounded, nutrient-dense diet. Supplementation with an individual vitamin runs the risk of throwing it out of balance with its synergistic partners. The fat-soluble vitamins work most safely and effectively when we obtain them from natural foods by eating a diet rich in quality and variety.
Vitmains That Are Most Commonly Depleted & What Foods You Will Find Them In
Vitamins A, D and K cooperate to protect our soft tissues from calcification, to nourish our bones and teeth, and to provide children with adequate growth. We obtain these nutrients together by consuming organ meats, cod liver oil, fatty fish, grass-fed animal fats, green and orange vegetables, and fermented plant foods. Many people squim in their chair when I mention organ meats but did you know that Pate is made from livers and tastes amazing. Watch the video below of No Regrets Trainer and Wild Oak Restaurant owner Ben Higgs with Melissa Jack showing us how to make Pate and Fermented Foods.
Magnesiumis required for every process in the body. Among its many interactions, magnesium is required for proper calcium metabolism. Magnesium is abundant in many plant foods and some seafood, but there is little magnesium in meat and almost none in refined sugar and refined grains. Consuming a balanced diet devoid of refined sugar and refined grains is the best way to obtain adequate magnesium.
Metabolic Typing Program
In our Nutrition and Lifestyle coaching program we look with great detail at the body as a system of systems. We try to pinpoint where your weaknesses are and what deficiencies you have within your nutrition and lifestyle habits so we can build a plan specific to you. There is no templates or one size fits all meal plans. We don't believe in short term 12 week body transformations. None of these methods or programs look at the real issue and teach you life long lessons about what it really means to become healthy. If you would like to book in a Free Consultation click the image below.
