Supplements often get a bad reputation from the FDA and the media. I sometimes see articles stating that a research study has proven them ineffective. Articles and studies like this must be put into a larger context and investigated to find out what the parameters of the study was and exactly what supplements they were using. One thing that is true is, not all supplements are created equal. Finding a trusted brand of supplements is important.
The supplement industry is not regulated by the FDA as the pharmaceutical industry is and that is why you will see the disclaimer on the back of a supplement bottle, "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease." Also, many supplements are made of natural herbs that cannot be patented, and therefore not a lot of money can be made on them, as in pharmaceuticals. There is a push, therefore, from the pharmaceutical industry, who stand to make lots of money by selling you their drugs, to do their best to discredit supplements. Being someone who avoids pharmaceutical drugs, I find a lot of value in supplements. Supplements are used to substitute for missing nutrients. You may have heard about how our soil today is depleted of many trace elements and minerals necessary for health. Even organic food today is not as nutrient rich as it was a century ago. Supplements can stand in the nutrient gap and help us get the full amount of vitamins and minerals that we all need. Another great benefit of supplements is that they are able to stimulate various functions of systems in the body. For example, if you are constipated, you can take an herbal tea or an aloe supplement that will stimulate the bowels to get waste moving more smoothly but is gentle and will not put strain on they system as laxatives. As you move through life, you may have various system functions slow down and using supplements to stimulate that function is a great way to get back to your best health. Supplements are important to support vital voids or for temporary support when a system is lacking normal function. Anyone who has had parts of their body removed could greatly benefit from taking a supplement to give support to the body where that missing body part would have been working. Anyone eating a Standard American Diet is most likely experiencing digestive issues because of the highly processed foods and lack of nutrients in the diet. For people eating that way, digestive enzymes and healthy levels of hydrochloric acid are often missing from the digestive system for normal gut function. Those two supplements would be great to support the digestive system function as the person works to heal their gut and change their diet. Finally, supplements are great for self treatment of pathogens and relief care when someone is trying to avoid pharmaceutical drugs like me. Herbs have been used for thousands of years to bring people back to health and relieve painful symptoms. In fact, many pharmaceutical drugs are based on herbs and plants, but the active ingredients have been isolated and removed from the natural state of the medicine. Herbs are beautiful because they are balanced in their natural state. The active ingredient does not have negative side effects because the rest of the plants properties, balance its effects in the body making it much safer than drugs. Supplements have many uses and are valuable additions to a healthy lifestyle today. At a minimum everyone should be taking a multivitamin & mineral supplement, a probiotic, an antioxidant and an omega supplement. These four supplements support overall health of the body and all its systems to prevent dysfunction from occurring. I hope my thoughts have shed some light on the confusion around supplements. If you or anyone you know is struggling with poor health and looking for answers, schedule a free consultation with me, to gain insight and a few practical tips that can give you a health breakthrough!
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You may have a friend who has gone on a low carb. diet and raves about the success they experienced on it. Or you may know someone who is a vegetarian and also speaks about how good they feel eating that diet high in vegetables and grains. Is one person right and the other wrong? No, both are right because both have different metabolic types.
A metabolic type is how a persons body utilizes its food and the type of food that is best for it. Vehicle engines are a great example of how metabolic types work. Diesel engines must get fueled with diesel gas in order to function well and they burn the fuel more slowly than unleaded vehicles. Put unleaded gas in a Diesel engine and it will break down. The same is true of metabolic types. If I am a protein type, I need to fuel my body with plenty of protein for it to run well. If I put too much carbohydrates into it, my body will break down. There are three metabolic types: protein, carbohydrate and mixed. In order to determine which type you are, there is a simple online test you can take. MTdiet.com. I use this test with all of my clients to help them determine what fuel is best for their body. When you know your metabolic type, you know the correct ratio of macronutrients to eat at every meal or snack. Every time you eat, you should consider whether it is in the correct ratio for your body to function best. I believe it is the best diet out there because it helps us understand how food is processed in our bodies and gives us a much simpler way to look at being healthy. There is not one best diet out there, there is the best ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fats for each body. I have seen my digestion improve dramatically and my energy levels increase, by simply changing the ratios of macronutrients I eat at each meal. How much simpler could a diet be? If you or someone you know is struggling with poor health and interested in learning more about what working with me looks like, schedule your Best Health Strategy Session. It is a free 45 minutes one on one call where you:
Life is too short to feel sick and tired! Live life to the fullest and attain your best health today. I think it is safe to say spring has officially sprung in Minnesota. We got that last (hopefully) spring blizzard out of the way and now are enjoying the greening up of grass and trees. It is time to think about yard work and gardening.
Do you have a garden? I do. It is one of those non-negotiable things in my life. Every house where I have lived, I have had a garden, even if it was just a few tomato plants around the deck. Gardening is one of those things that I need to do to enjoy the warm seasons of the year fully. I feel joy spending time outside tending plants, getting dirt under my finger nails and exercising. It also helps me put more organic food on our table. If you don't have a garden, you need to create one. It doesn't have to be big and it doesn't have to be hard. You can create a garden in a day without any heavy equipment or even using a shovel. After creating many gardens, I have found this method to be the best and easiest way to create a fertile organic garden. The first thing you need is to gather materials. All the organic matter (things that decompose) you can get your hands on. My favorites are cardboard, newspaper, leaves, pine needles, grass clippings, compost and wood chips. Secondly, select the location of your garden. You can build a raised bed or simply lay it on the ground and edge it later. Lay the cardboard or newspaper in a thick layer on the ground. If there is grass where you are building your garden, make sure to overlap the material so the grass will be efficiently smothered. Then layer on the materials one at a time. Don't mix the layers, just rake them evenly across the surface. The best practice for this is to alternate with green and brown layers of organic matter but mine are usually heavy on the brown layers. The green layers get added on as the summer progresses and I have grass clippings from the lawn. Finish the garden with a layer of soil on the top. It doesn't have to be thick. An inch or two is plenty to get you started. You can plant seeds or seedlings into it right away and water thoroughly. You want the water to soak all the way to the bottom and get the cardboard or newspaper saturated. This garden is an amazing way to attract earthworms which are nature's plows and fertilizers. They will come and enjoy a buffet of organic matter and poop out for you the best fertilizer you can buy. As the summer progresses, mulch your garden with your grass clippings. This adds more nitrogen to your garden and helps keep moisture in the soil so you won't have to water as often. This method works so well because you are mimicking the natural process of how soil is created in an ecosystem. That is the best way to do anything, work with nature and not against it! I hope you are inspired to create a garden for yourself this year, or improve on your existing one. The benefits you will reap from gardening stretch into all aspects of life! You will be surprised how gardening can change your life. If you are serious about changing your life and improving your health, schedule a Best Health Strategy Session with me and discover how easy getting healthy can be! |
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AuthorJessica Mutunga is passionate about good simple living that focuses on relationships, food and creating a supportive healthy environment. She is The Light Way Coach. Archives
May 2022
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