Supplements vs Real Foods

With our never-ending plethora of health and wellness advice, marketing material and newsfeeds it’s no wonder we are confused with what to do regarding consuming the best form of vitamins and minerals into our diet.
Let’s begin with looking at the wonders of Mother Nature and unlocking all there is to know about good health, longevity and living a life disease free.  We have everything we need right at our fingertips and living in our century means we don’t have to hunt and gather for it.  It’s all here ready and available for us, so reap the rewards of consuming nutrient dense real foods to supplement your health and nutrition needs.  Choose organic, preservative free, wholesome, unpackaged food as much as possible, not only will you enjoy the flavour and taste of the foods, you will also benefit from much more than want you intended, for example, know that you are not just consuming the vitamin C from a fresh orange but the added bonus of fibre, vitamin A and calcium!

Since the industrial revolution we have seen so many medicinal advancements take place which have eventually introduced vitamin and mineral supplementation.  The ease and availability of these products have been coined as a safe-guard that will meet all your health and nutrition needs, but you should know that they are not the magic bullet that they claim to be.  Real food is always best, however, in cases whereby people with special dietary requirements, health concerns, pregnancy, the elderly, supplementation to assist their vitamin and mineral deficiency has been of significant benefit. 

Naturally, source the best possible quality product you can find.  Ways of doing this is by checking the label for TGA registration, this is printed as “Aust L or Aust R”.  Check the ingredients list to ensure that no fillers have been included, you want a product that is devoid of fillers so that you consume only the vitamin and mineral as it’s intended for its therapeutic requirements (in other words you don’t want to consume 6 tablets to get the benefit of 1 good quality tablet).  Check the manufacturers website to see if any clinical trials have been conducted and view their results.  If all this sounds too overwhelming, seek the advice from a health professional such as a Nutritionist or Naturopath who can recommend a TGA approved supplement that is right for you.

Adopting a healthy eating regime that includes consuming good nutritional supplementation, (preferably in food form), drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep and adopting a stress-free lifestyle, is nature’s formula for a healthy, well-balanced body, mind, spirit.
 

Yours in wellness for life,

Rita

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food – “Hippocrates”