to supplement or not to supplement…

People often ask me why supplementation is important and if you eat a healthy, well balanced diet, is it even necessary? The simple answer is YES, supplementation is very important. Why, you ask?

1. Only 2% of Americans get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.

2. 38% decline of nutrient content of garden crops during the past 50 years.

3. 90% of Americans are lacking key nutrients in their diets.

4. Hectic work and family schedules make it tough to eat right.

5. Stress, aging, and, pregnancy increase your bodies need for nutrients.

6. Extremely difficult to get all the nutrients you need in the right amounts.

7. Proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can prevent 60 – 90% of disease.

While taking your vitamins is very important it is also important to make sure that you are taking a high quality brand that actually works. Don’t waste your money on a cheap tub of synthetic vitamins from costco. Invest in a good brand that provides clinical studies and avoid brands with artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives. Look for a company that focuses on safety and purity!

Scientific studies recommend the following on  a daily basis: Multi vitamin, vitamin C, calcium, antioxidants, fish oil, vitamin D, Vitamin E, probiotics, B vitamins, and Lutein and Lycopene.

Exhausted just looking at this list?

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Diet pills and other quick fixes

I was early for my spin class this morning so I decided to pop into CVS to browse around. There is something about drug stores and time-wasting that just go so well together. The hard part is leaving without purchasing something you really don’t need, like a gossip magazine or an extra-large snickers bar. As I was browsing the aisles this morning I got held up in complete and total repulsion in the “weight loss” aisle. It is astonishing how many bogus products are  out there tricking the public into thinking if you just drink a shake or pop a pill you will be able to achieve your weight loss dreams. When I was in high school a bunch of my friends were trying a typical weight loss pill, I believe it was Zantrex, and I tried it once or twice to see what it was all about. I don’t think I have ever felt worse in my entire life: my heart was beating out of my chest and I had a massive headache. Maybe the point is to make you feel so ill that you don’t want to eat? If that is the point then I have to say it definitely works. My question is this: Why on earth would someone choose to feel like they are dying in order to NOT eat? , when they could just as easily enjoy fresh and delicious food while also losing weight and feeling great? Is it because people don’t know where to turn? they are lazy and want a quick fix? or is it because they are so damn confused about what is healthy and what isn’t? Maybe it is all of the above? I can’t say I haven’t fallen into these traps myself in the past, because I certainly have. I have certainly been that vulnerable person around January 1st looking for a way to get back on track and falling a sucker to the thousands of quick fix diets and supplements being advertised on TV.  Nutri-System even got to me once: I thought it looked easy enough and that once I did it and lost a good amount of weight at least I’d feel in control. Once it arrived I opened the package, took one look at the fake food inside, and sent it straight back to where it came from. It is no secret that any “food” that does not have to be refrigerated and never goes bad, is probably not real food.  I think that is around the time that I promised myself it was time to get healthy for real, by eating real food and doing real exercise. It is really difficult for us to not fall into these unhealthy weight loss traps with all the in your face advertising out there, not to mention the aisle full of scam products in just about every drug store. I guess this post is kind of a rant, but my point is that losing weight doesn’t have to be so difficult and unhealthy, but that it should be the exact opposite.