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| August Health Notes. The Supplement Issue. |
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Are you a Super Food or Super Supplement eater?
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Pass me the berries and the nuts, and the beans, and the broccoli and the... Ok - how do we get the daily dose of all the different foods that make up a healthy serving of antioxidants, superfoods, vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients? Almost daily a new study result comes out with the "solution" to eating healthy. Each time it seems we have to add yet another food to our daily servings. If the supplement industry has it their way, soon we will be eating nothing but that, because getting all these foods everyday is not that easy at work. Or is it? Not according to a recent food convention for technologists where the food presented had a health benefit attached to it. Such as fish- paste colored by lycopene (known to be of cancer fighting properties) and rice infused with green tea (a highly potent antioxidant), and brownies with phosphatidylserine (a chemical compound that is said to enhance memory). Food is being supplemented and functional. Soon we can live off pills and bars, can't we?
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Food as food or food as medicine? Many believe that health comes in a bottle of pills. Real food is no longer convenient enough in our busy lives and the fast junk food is for many a very last resort. Still needing a fast and convenient source of food against hunger, we have fast food and go for health in a pill. The supplement industry is increasing its sales everyday as we hope to give our body what it needs when we cannot get it from our food. But what about food for pleasure and for nourishment? Food as medicine is a very ancient solution for health and healing and I still believe we need food to keep us truly nourished. A supplement to our food can help support us in getting our daily dose of health, but it still needs to be a supplement, not the solution. Many ask me if they can just eat the way they do and then "just" take vitamins and supplements to get healthy. No, is my answer. |
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How to choose a supplement. Look for supplements that are food based. Some companies are great at seducing us with a great number of ingredients containing the "stuff we need". The real issue however is, can your body actually absorb it? The question of supplementing versus eating. When we eat a food that is whole, the content of nutritional value is already so "packaged" from nature that our body can recognize it and absorb it. Many health claims have failed because once the supplement has been taken out of its natural environment (= a whole food), which we have seen in the case of calcium supplements, then the supporting substances that make it accessible to our body is no longer part of it and we cannot therefore not absorb if and then not use it for much of a health benefit either. When supplements become too much. In regards to our health, it is not also so that more of a good thing is better. Especially not with supplements. Most people on a healthy daily diet get their basic needs covered and a supplement might help them just get that extra dose that makes a difference. Others eat so many supplements every day that it becomes a meal in itself often resulting in too much work for the liver and strange sensations of imbalances and cravings in our bodies. |
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Solution? Choose supplements that are made from food that you would otherwise be eating. My personal favorite is a daily green drink that is a powdered version of the greens I would otherwise juice or put on my plate. There are many on the market and some have so many ingredients in there that it is another version of super food overload. I suggest choosing one that is from organic sources, well harvested, and freeze-dried to preserve the wellness of the plant nutrients. Wheat-grass. One of the most health intense potions is probably the wheatgrass, which was made popular when used for healing very ill patients by Ann Wigmore. Many swear by their daily dose of green grass for energy, wellbeing, and anti-inflammatory effect. Omega 3 fatty acids, also known as EPA/DHA. This is one that we often can get enough of with a healthy daily diet, but since it is considered such an important factor in an anti-inflammatory diet, many animal food eaters are not balanced in their fatty acid intake and could therefore use the aid of the supplement. The preferred supplement is the omega 3 healthy fatty acid source in a liquid form of the foods we would be otherwise be eating. That would include flaxseeds, and other seeds such as hemp, chia, sunflower- and pumpkin-seeds, nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, avocado, dark leafy greens, and fish, such as wild salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, and herring. Other fish also contain the omega 3 fatty acids . So Eat your food, enjoy your food, take your supplements when you need them, but do get your nourishment from all that feeds you, your body, your soul, your heart, and your health. Coming to that place of being truly nourished, fulfilled, and healthy is surely not a scientific answer of more supplements.
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www.selfnourishment.com It is an info site to help you eat healthier, and as the prelude to my upcoming guide book for navigating your daily choices. And Path for Life has been voted among the 10 best Nutrition Centers in NYC in 2007 by City Search.
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| < click here to go to the Path for Life web site > |