Tag Archive for: Supplements

Are Your Vitamins Working?

multivitamin-tabletsVitamins can be a hot topic. Some folks are pro vitamins while others feel they are a waste of money. One of the questions people always ask, is how do I know if my vitamins are working?

To really know if your vitamins are making a difference to your health, you would need to complete blood work before you started your regime of vitamins and then follow up several weeks later and compare the results.

But there are  a few things you can do right now.

First, is your body absorbing the vitamin?   Take this home test to find out.  Fill a glass with a cup of vinegar, drop your vitamin into the glass and wait for 30 minutes. If your vitamin has dissolved that’s a good indication that your stomach acids would work the same and the vitamin would be absorbed  easily into your body.  If the vitamin is still whole and sitting at the bottom of the glass, you might want to consider switching vitamin brands.

Second, vitamins don’t last forever, so remember to keep them in a dark, cool, dry place and keep an eye on the expiration date.

Thirdly, never take a new vitamin supplement without talking to your doctor or health care practitioner first. Here are some questions you should be asking:

  • How would this supplement help me, and how much should I take?
  • What does the research say about its benefits & what are the side effects?
  • Can I take it along with my other medications?
  • What are the best brands of this supplement in terms of quality, and how well they work?

Fourthly, you may also want to know whether your vitamins are natural or synthetic.

Look for products that contain the words “100 percent plant-based” or “100 percent animal-based” on the product’s label. Manufactures are allowed to use the term “natural” if at least 10 percent of the product comes from natural food sources.

If the product’s label does not contain a list of natural food sources, then the product is synthetic. Look for food sources such as yeast, fish, vegetable and citrus.

A synthetic salt is added to supplements to increase the stability of the vitamin or mineral. Look for these terms on the label: acetate, bitartrate, chloride, gluconate, hydrochloride, nitrate and succinate.

Here is list of common synthetic vitamins:

  • Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate
  • Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride
  • Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin
  • Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
  • Vitamin B12: Cobalamin
  • Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid
  • Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol
  • Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate

If you are getting the recommended amount of nutrients by eating a variety of fruit, vegetables, cereals, dairy, and protein, there might be no additional benefit from taking a vitamin.  Remember that unless your health-care provider  or doctor tells you that you need more than 100 percent of the recommended daily intake of a particular nutrient, you probably shouldn’t exceed that limit.

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Natural Health Practitioner Encourages a Diet For Change

Natural health practitioner encourages a diet for change and a transition diet is helpful when a person has regularly eaten meat, sugar, salt, white flour products, and very few grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, sprouts, seeds or nuts. In other words, a transition diet helps with the change from an unhealthy diet to a healthy diet. If a person has regularly eaten natural food, a cleansing program is much easier to follow.

Changing eating habits is very hard to do, and few people are willing to undergo this change until they are forced to in order to save their lives. How much easier it would be if a change took place before serious illness. Meat, chocolate and caffeine drinks are stimulants. Sugar also creates a stimulant feeling but is often followed by low blood sugar, which can lead to depression.

Natural Health Practitioner Encourages a Diet For Change

Diet For Change

In order to re-balance the body the cells need to be cleansed of food residue that has collected through the years

Changing our diet after years of bad habits and unhealthy eating is very difficult. We like the food we are used to eating, and many of them are “comfort foods”. It is hard to change, but it can be done. Any change in your diet needs to be undertaken gradually, eliminating one food at a time. Start by eliminating red meat and salt from the diet. This will begin the cleansing process. Any time a food that has been eaten regularly is given up, the body will began to cleanse. As foods are eliminated from the diet, our taste for those foods will diminish. At the same time, as a more natural food diet is eaten regularly, those nutritious foods will become very satisfying. When salt is given up, the taste buds will change and natural food will be enjoyed more. Adding more brown rice and whole grain will help the transition when eliminating red meat.

Suggested Transition Diet Menu

Before breakfast you can use supplements that are needed for whatever condition you have. If you have candida, take acidophilus first thing in the morning (on an empty stomach) and use appropriate nutrients, foods and herbs that go along with candida. If you have hypoglycemia, eat the appropriate diet, along with supplements and herbs to strengthen the body and overcome this condition.

Breakfast, first thing in the morning, should consist of fruits such as cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, grapes, pears, apricots, apples or citrus fruit. After an hour you can eat a hot cereal, millet or a brown rice dish or a protein drink. Fresh fruit juices or vegetable juices can also be used, and they should always be diluted with half pure water.

Lunch should consist of salads using sprouts of all kinds, grain soups, steamed and raw vegetables. Use brown rice and millet dishes. You can also drink fresh tomato-vegetable juices.

Dinner should be lighter than breakfast and lunch. You can drink fresh vegetables juices, steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, brown rice and millet dishes along with fresh salads.

Our natural health practitioner encourages a diet for change, but there are more changes you can incorporate into your daily life that will promote better overall health, such as exercise and getting enough rest. Our health care practitioners at Diversified Health are always available to discuss any health questions you may have.

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To B or Not to B, that is the Supplement

b12These days, you simply can’t eat enough food to obtain all of the proper nutrition you need due to the fact that our soils have been depleted, or it may be difficult to find enough locally grown produce to fulfill our needs. You know that supplements are beneficial, but do you know the key questions to ask yourself about buying the right vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements?

For example, are you sure that the echinacea product you’re taking is the correct species of the plant? The correct portion of the plant? Processed to provide optimum bio-availability? Are you sure those coenzyme Q10 capsules contain COQ10 and not just a mixture of riboflavin and folic acid which looks just like COQ10?

Wide price differentials exist among particular nutraceuticals, and one reason can be differences in the quality of the raw material between manufacturers. There’s natural diversity in the genetics of the plant that have a long-term impact as to the final quality of the packaged product. Some plants may have high levels of active ingredients, while others may have none.

Vitamin B for instance, supports healthy cardiovascular an nervous system function, as well as the ability to boost energy levels.  But what brand, what dosage and when should it be taken are questions that you should be asking before taking any nutraceutical supplement.

If you’re unsure about the quality of the vitamins, minerals and/or supplements you are taking, ask for suggestions or recommendations by your health care practitioner.  The practitioners at Diversified Health Clinic use only the highest quality nutraceuticals.

Remember, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your health, talk to us. We’re here to help, and enjoy participating in your life long good health!

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