Supplements for health are a very tricky area of health. They can be your best friend or worse enemy. Many people buy cheap supplements that they think they need, but are actually causing more harm than good to their body. A word of caution, most of the products on the market today are not beneficial. They are usually made from synthetic substances the body cannot use and actually has to detoxify from. Others are created from poor sources and are in a form that the body does not absorb or use the nutrients. Worst of all, many supplements on the market are probably robbing your body of the valuable nutrients it does have.
On the other hand, there are supplements out there that can seriously impact your health, energy, skin health, weight, and mood. On top of that, the food we are eating these days is so depleted of nutrients that we almost need to supplement in one way or another to provide the body with each valuable nutrient it needs to be thriving.
While I truly believe it is best to get your blood tested to see what exactly your body needs, there are a few supplements that could make a wonderful impact on your health and provide valuable nutrients that every beautiful body needs. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, try adding these supplements for health, healing, and abunent life!
The best suggestion I have is going to a professional for product recommendations. Shoot me a message if you are interested in companies I trust and recommend.
What to Look for in a Supplement:
1. Organic, non synthetic ingredients, in their ACTIVE forms(more on that below)
2. Know what the additives are and if they are toxic or natural
3. Know where it comes from and where it is produced
4. No artificial ingredients, fillers, colors, or flavors
5. Research the company: their standards, their processing, and their mission.
Superfoods:
Using food instead of man made supplements to get major nutrition into your body is so powerful and very effective at taking your health to the next level. My favorite food based “supplements”
- fermented foods
- chia seeds
- apple cider vinegar
- liver
- bone broth
- sprouts
- Look here for some of my other favorite superfoods.
Supplements for Health to Start With:
Greens powder:
One of the most powerful life-giving substances on the planet is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll rich foods are extraordinarily useful in building new blood cells and purifying the body from cancer and other diseases and imbalances.
Our blood stream is designed to be in a slightly alkaline state. Stress, environmental toxins and poor diet  put us in a more acidic state. When we get stuck in this acidic state, we lose energy and develop chronic disease.
The best way to balance this alkaline environment is to reduce stress and toxin exposure and consume more chlorophyll and oxygen rich foods and herbs.
Green foods also supply essential fatty acids, amino acids, and trace minerals that are critical for life.
Green foods contain an abundance of powerful phytonutrients & trace minerals. Cereal grasses such as wheat grass and barley grass, are considered the most chlorophyll dense plants in the world. Chlorella and spirulina are algae that help to cleanse and detoxify the body with their chlorophyll.
Cruciferous veggies such as kale, collard greens, mustard greens, and broccoli contain isothiocyanates & sulfuraphane which are some of the world’s most powerful cancer fighting nutrients.
Many greens powders have a combination of vegetables, greens, probiotics, algaes(spirulina, chlorella), and other antioxidants that will give you a bang for your buck.
If you take a combination powder or a single green(spirulina, barley grass, wheat grass, chlorella) you will be doing your body good!
The most quality greens powder I have found that have made the most difference in my skin and energy are the Body Ecology Products
 Probiotics:
Probiotics are living organisms that enhance the digestion, nutrient absorbtion, and detoxification in the body. These organisms also play a very important role in immune function. In my opinion, this is the most important supplement you can take. Probiotics play a special role in many functions of the body and are important for skin health, hormones, energy, and digestion. Look for one that has between at least 50-100 billion organisms. Incorporating high quality fermented foods like  sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and coconut kefir is another great way to get the highest quality Probiotics into your diet on a daily basis. Body Ecology Products provide the most powerful probiotics, probiotic liquids, probiotic greens powders, and starter cultures.
Omega 3:
Essential fatty acids play a critical role in fighting inflammation and supporting a healthy brain & nervous system. Critical fats include EPA & DHA. As a supplment, this is really one that quality and brand count. Most fish oils on the market are rancid and very poor quality and will actually cause inflammation in the body. I love fermented cod liver oil because it is filled with Quinones, Omega 3, EPA/DHA, CoQ10, Fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2. All of which are critial for brain function, hormonal balance, and a strong immune system. I also recommend Nordic Naturals for fish oil as it is loaded with bio- available forms of EPA/DHA. This is the purest quality therapeutic fish oil that I have found.
B complex:
High levels of stress, alcohol, caffeine, and poor diet all deplete your B vitamins. This is important to note because each B vitamin plays an important role in the body and almost all of them help us combat stress.  Each of the B vitamins provides a different service to the body but they also work synergistically. The B complex is responsible for energy generation, metabolism, and the synthesis and breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids. They are also involved with  serotonin production which controls your mood, appetite and sleep patterns.
Here is where quality comes in. You want to get a B complex in ACTIVATED form. You need to avoid any supplements that don’t provide the methylated (active) forms of the key B vitamins. For instance, any supplement with folic acid is not good– this is just the synthetic, inactive form of folate. When the vitamins are in activated or methylated form, your body can actually absorb and use them.
Here is what to look for:
- Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxal 5?-Phosphate or P5P)
- Folate (as L-5-Methyltetrahydrofolate or 5-MTHF from L-5-Methyltetrahydrofolic Acid)
- Vitamin B12 (as Methylcobalamin)
Multivitamin:
Depending on your needs, you do not need to take a B-complex and multi. Same guidelines apply for finding a good multivitamin. Make sure there are no synthetic ingredients, that the B’s and other vitamins in the supplement are in their activated form, and there are no artificial colors, fillers, or ingredients added to it.
Multivitamins are wonderful because most people are deficient in many of the vitamins and minerals that the body needs to function properly.
Whole raw food vitamins have a combination of trace minerals, anti-oxidants, enzymes and probiotics in a natural form that our body has adapted to for centuries. These real nutrients provide a synergetic effect that maximizes nutritional bioavailability.
The proper multi-vitamin has naturally occurring vitamins and minerals contained in whole foods that are accompanied by essential co-factors that enable the absorption and utilization of such vitamin or mineral in the body. Cooking, treating and adulterating food robs it of many of those co-factors.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12909818
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC207122/
https://chriskresser.com/throw-away-your-multivitamins-and-antioxidants
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