Why do you take supplements?
The majority of people that come into our office are taking supplements, some sort of multi vitamins being the most common. However, most people don’t really know why they are taking them and unfortunately, some are even taking huge lists of all kinds of supplements that may be causing more harm than good. The purpose of this article is to help you understand why it’s important to take supplements. Other articles will discuss what are the most important supplements that you should take.
The purpose of a supplement is in it’s name, supplement what you are not able to get in your diet. Supplements should never be used to take place of a healthy diet. They should be part of a healthy diet. In other words, nutrients that our ancestors ingested, are genetically required and necessary for optimal cell function.
Wellness expert Dr. James Chestnut said:
“Supplementation is aimed at providing sufficient ingestion of those essential nutrients which are not readily available in the diet. The purpose of supplementation is the expression of health potential and the prevention of nutrient deficiency illness.”
In other words, there are certain nutrients that are essential, meaning your body cannot make them, that you must get in order to be healthy. If you can get it in sufficient amounts safely from your diet then you do not need to supplement with it. If you can’t get it from your diet and it is essential then you better take it every day in order for your cells and body to be healthy.
Once you become deficient in a nutrient you may be asymptomatic for a long time but you are on a path to sickness and disease. The medicine paradigm attempts to treat nutrient deficiency illness with drugs. They may be successful in removing a symptom of sickness but there is no medication that will make you sufficient in a nutrient. The only way to become sufficient in a nutrient that is genetically required is to obtain it, ideally as close to the way our ancestors did as possible. This is why it’s wise to make sure you are getting all of the essential nutrients on a regular basis so that you can create health for yourself.
Another important question to ask yourself if you are having symptoms is: Are there essential nutrients that I should be getting that I’m not? This is a good first step, before resorting to drugs that will give you the illusion that you’re are healthy when you are really not. The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly states: “Every drug has side effects. There is no such thing as a safe drug.”
Having said that, the purpose of any supplement you take is not to “treat” a symptom. The purpose is to create sufficiency so that your body can do what it knows how to do to create homeostasis for you.
If you provide your body with the essential nutrients through a good diet, right thinking and appropriate exercise then your innate intelligence can take over and help you express your genetic potential, live a long time and have the best quality of life possible.