You are what you put into your body, nutrients and all of the rest
You are what you eat
I shared this in my group, but it was so important I had to share it here as well...
According to an article that I read on the Harvard website, "multivitamin bashing seems to be in season. The March 2008 Harvard Men’s Health Watch gives the impression that few of the ingredients in a multivitamin are worth taking. The June 2008 Nutrition Action Health Letter suggests taking a multivitamin every other day instead of every day. The central concern of both articles is folic acid—specifically,getting too much folic acid." And when we read articles about supplementing what it always comes down to is that you can't replace real nutrition with synthetic nutrients.
Their better advice: "Take a standard multivitamin every day, but stay away from heavily fortified foods that deliver a full day’s dose—or sometimes more—of folic acid ... there is newer evidence that excess folic acid (the synthetic version of folate, a vitamin found abundantly in vegetables, fruits, and grains) may be contributing to an uptick in colorectal cancer. many of those multi vitamins or meal replacement shakes contain your recommended daily amount — 400 micrograms (mcg) — but look at your package foods and you'll see that folic acid is also added to breakfast cereals and enriched grain and cereal products, including breads, rice, and pasta. A person taking a multivitamin can easily exceed the recommended total intake, and maybe even the safe upper limit of 1,000 mcg. This issues of getting too much isn’t a problem with folate found naturally in foods. But most supplemental vitamins are fortified and not the whole foods that your body really needs."
You've heard me talk about Folic vs. Folate before when I have talked about MTHFR, but did you know that most vitamin B1 supplements are made from derivatives of coal tar? Or that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is often made by reacting high-fructose corn syrup with sulfuric acid? Worse is that they are not feeding corn syrup to algae that they are using to fortify foods (organic milk, etc). It makes me mad that even many iron supplements (for those that have the iron-folic anemia you may want to hear this) ... are often made from the rust off of nails? How gross is that?
Where you get your nutrition matters. How you react to what you are eating matters. If your skin looks like it's being used to detoxify your system, you have a problem with your central detoxification chimney. Many of you know that I use with my family and with my clients a whole foods supplementation program, but not everyone can afford it. I get that. I also love and recommend creating a change with your body. I love whole foods and what they do for your body.
I want to get more into the concept of food synergy. This concept is based on the proposition that the interrelations between constituents in foods are significant. We all should realize this by now, but we don't. It's because we see these ads all over the place that say we need this fortified food and that fortified food. This significance in our food and/or supplementation is dependent on the balance between constituents within what is going into our bodies, how well these constituents survive digestion, and the extent to which they appear biologically active at the cellular level.
The Journal of the American College of Nutrition published data says: A healthy diet should contain all of the required nutrients and sufficient calories to balance energy expenditure and provide for growth and maintenance throughout the life cycle. Importantly, dietary factors are associated with 5 of the 10 leading causes of death, including coronary heart disease, certain types of cancer, stroke, noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8892167
So are you getting the nutrients you need? I think you need to make sure of it. I have found over the years as I have coached almost 4,000 people through the less meaty Whole#0 program, you need to enjoy real food with a good plan for delicious meals. Busy lives require that we have food on the table in 20 minutes or less.
A lot of people opt for meal delivery programs, and that's great for getting started and for areas that just do not have access to fresh foods. Personally I love using meal plans with shopping lists, the best non-gmo ingredients, and helpful how-to’s on planning and prepping your meals to make your program work well. My clients have what they need supplementation wise to bridge the gap that is going to happen to us all, no matter how clean we eat. Now I am so happy to be able to offer them a new supportive program coming in July that brings together these easy recipes, nutritional and cooking expertise, support, and accountability in order for everyone to be able to achieve their goals and feel energized. It is our time for a Nourished Revolution. This is something people can do for the Whole30, they can do for Keto, they can do for Weight Watchers, they can do for Intermittent Fasting. We know that there is no one size fits all diet program, beyond the fact that we just all need more whole foods.
We really do need to know where our food comes from and what’s in it. We need to teach the next generation how to cook and make easy meals. They are Pottenger's Cats, that fourth generation that not only eat a mostly boxed based food range, but do not know how to cook with whole, natural ingredients. If we can change that, and start to limit those processed foods, be conscious of the added bad fats, high sugar and salted foods, with foods that just taste good, I think that we can tackle things to change the shape of our globe.
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