Supplements are a hot and sometimes controversial topic these days. The nutritional supplement industry has grown by leaps and bounds, especially within the past decade. You can't drive down a street without seeing another GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, etc on every corner, not to mention the countless network marketing companies out there that are based around vitamin/mineral supplementation. It's no surprise that more and more people are questioning whether or not to believe "the hype" as they like to call it.
When browsing the grocery aisle or the vast world of the internet, here are some very important things to consider:
1. YOU CAN'T GET ALL OF YOUR NUTRIENTS THROUGH FOOD.
Nowadays, a multivitamin should be the bedrock of your supplement routine. Contrary to popular belief, it is very hard to get all the nutrients needed on a daily basis through one's diet alone. This fact is especially true in the midwestern regions. For example, in the midwest, we have to deal with fruits and vegetables that are picked and packaged way before they are ripe, and then they go through the ripening stage during shipping or even after being on the shelves for some time! This robs them of vital nutrients that are supposed to be found naturally in the food. A good multivitamin will do the job of filling the gaps that our modern diets fail to fill. Our bodies need at least 90-100 nutrients a day in the forms of vitamins/minerals, antioxidants, probiotics, fatty acids, and other herbal blends. If your current multivitamin is not measuring up to that, you might want to consider researching other brands.
2. DON'T BELIEVE WHAT THE FDA SAYS.
The FDA will try to tell you all the "dangers" of nutritional supplements because the FDA only regulates drugs and the like. Since many nutritional supplements are considered food, or "all natural", the FDA will tell you any way they can that they are unsafe to consume, because the FDA wants to make the drug companies and themselves more money. For instance, at one point it was stated in the headlines that too much Vitamin A in your diet could be toxic. Well, a single carrot has well past the RDA for a person's intake of Vitamin A. Should we stop eating carrots? No! Your body is smart. When you take a supplement, your body will use what it needs and the rest will be eliminated.
3. DO YOUR RESEARCH!
I am someone who is a huge promoter of doing your due diligence when it comes to your health. Take the time to research what's out there. Especially due to the fact that there are so many companies out there! Until I started researching a little bit more, I just did what everybody else did and used your basic multivitamins and supplements from the grocery store, such as your Centrums and One-a-Days, which don't even contain HALF of what your body needs on a daily basis! Not to mention they aren't even in a humanly digestible form. For myself in particular, in 2003 I came across a nutritional company called SYMMETRY DIRECT, who's supplements I continue to use to this day. Their staff is constantly updating their supplement line to be at the top notch level of what you can find today. If you would like to research them, the website is www.symmetrydirect.com. I am still with them because their goals as a company go hand-in-hand with my health goals.
There are many different roads to take with nutritional supplements today. Don't just go off of commercials and what you hear from your co-workers or friends. It's YOUR body. Take charge of your OWN health. Your body will thank you for it during your golden years!
Hey Amy! I am finally getting around to checking out your blog. Interesting stuff! I would like to disagree with you on one point. As a local government employee and seeing first hand the miscommunication and misinformation that is often exchanged between government and the public, I don't think the FDA has any intention on making the pharmaceutical companies more money. Although, I do think that since many supplement manufacturers skirt FDA regulation by claiming "all natural" ingredients, it pisses the FDA off! The FDA believes they are the end all, be all of food and drug knowledge/regulation and it irks them to now end when a company creates a beneficial product without the FDA's "approval". They will issue their warnings and opinions USUALLY without down right saying the product is dangerous because they don't really know if it is or not. They don't want to put themselves in a bad light so they say only what they know they can get away with! One example, after doing a LOT of research into alternative medicines for my wife's health issues, I am absolutely convinced that there are many all-natural and alternative solutions to a lot of diseases. Unfortunately FDA regulations and big money, don't allow these companies to publish or publicize their ideas/products.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just my thought. I am definitely a "smaller government" kind of guy but I don't believe that most agencies/departments have alternative motives. Most are just misguided and misdirected!