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Why should I take supplements?

 

One of the most repeated beliefs among health conscious people is that you can – and should – get all of your nutrients from food. However, natural and herbal supplements can help to restore the body to a place of balance.  

 

Here are the top reasons why it is important for everyone to take natural, whole food supplements:

  1. The American Diet. Grains, legumes, and most forms of modern dairy are nutrient deficient.  Grains and legumes also deplete nutrient stores and interfere with nutrient absorption; they are toxins in themselves, which increases your nutrient needs.  Grains and legumes both cause intestinal damage which further decreases your ability to absorb nutrients.  Due to inflammation caused by other foods toxins, dairy protein is often extremely inflammatory.  Conventional dairy also contains mycotoxins which are extremely damaging.  Raw, unpasteurized, unprocessed, full-fat dairy can be good for you, but the kind most people buy at the grocery store is not healthy. Even if you’ve stopped eating these foods, you may be in nutrient debt or have lingering intestinal damage which is interfering with nutrient absorption.

  2. Depleted Nutrition Within Food Itself. Even if you eat a healthy, predominantly plant-based diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, the chances are that your food comes from soils that have insufficient mineral content.  Improper farming practices deplete the soil of nutrients.  When plants are repeatedly grown on the same land, the soil loses nutrients faster than they can be replaced.  Over time, the plants have fewer nutrients to grow.  Fertilizer contains just enough nutrition for the plant to survive until harvesting, but not enough to support human health, which results in plants that have 75% fewer micronutrients.  Also, most modern fruits and vegetables are grown to increase their sugar content, not their nutrient value.  As a result, the most common fruits and vegetables are artificially high in fructose and sugar and lower in key nutrients.  When plants contain fewer nutrients, the animals that eat these plants are also malnourished. 

  3. Long Transit Time for Delivery. There is an increasing amount of produce in your grocery store from other countries. Produce is not just cut at its peak ripeness, then immediately boxed, rushed to the airport and shipped overnight to your favorite grocery store.  Sometimes, foods are picked weeks and even MONTHS before we see it on our shelves; they sit on trucks, shelves, and counters for weeks before being eaten.  Over time, the nutrient content of these plants decreases.

  4. Overcooking Our Foods. Americans have a habit of overcooking all foods, resulting in a massive loss of nutritional value, meaning far fewer vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes to go around. What’s more, eating these depleted foods over time creates its own set of health problems. Consuming your food in as close to a raw (uncooked) state as possible is always the best way.

  5. Not Eating Regular Meals. Many people skip meals. Eating a grain based product and a cup of coffee does NOT constitute a meal. Making up for it later in the day at an “all-you-can-eat” buffet is not in the best interest of our bodies either, as it puts much undue stress on the digestive system and will eventually cause a lot of uncomfortable symptoms. Skipping meals slows your metabolic rate, which explains why it goes hand in hand with burning fewer calories.

  6. Normal Aging = Digestion Issues. As we age, our bodies produce less good enzymes and more bad enzymes, including all the important ones needed to properly digest and assimilate the foods we eat. Eventually, this results in “common” stomach complaints, like reflux, heartburn, upset stomach and chronic constipation.

  7. Stress + Stress, + Stress = Compromised Immune System. Between commitments to your family, school, work, community, faith and other obligations, our lives are stressed, which takes a toll on your body and weakens your immune system. Taking supplements can help to bridge that gap and give your body some of the nutrition it needs to function optimally

ASO

Alaskan Salmon Oil

Fish oils are a type of polyunsaturated fat – a ‘healthy’ fat. Unlike saturated animal fats, they don’t raise your cholesterol levels, but are known to have a positive effect on health.  The fatty acids found in salmon oil improves the skin; the oil decreases clogged pores, reduces inflammation in the body that leads to skin damage, reduces dryness and related problems, and improves elasticity. Fatty acids create healthy cell membranes; they keep harmful substances out of cells while allowing important nutrients in; they play a significant role in improving skin and maintaining its health.

The only way we can get them is through our diet.

 

Why I choose this particular product:

  • Wild Alaskan salmon have an age span of 2-3 years, which means that they are naturally low in mercury.  Many fish oils will tout that they are low in mercury, but if they need to be processed to remove the mercury, that’s an extra step which is just more processing.  Keeping the oil as unprocessed as possible, just like our foods, is the goal.

  • Wild Alaskan salmon are harvested after they have spawned, which makes sure that their harvesting doesn’t interfere with their life cycle and they are left as a great natural renewable resource.  Each year, millions of wild Alaska salmon return to spawn in their native rivers. Pristine habitat and well-managed commercial fisheries contribute to the preservation of Alaska’s most precious, and sustainable, natural resource.

  • Because they are wild, Alaskan salmon eat what they are naturally meant to eat, plankton and algae.  Unlike all other salmon, the Alaskan salmon has a diet that consists almost entirely of plankton, which is what gives it such nutritional value.  Farm raised salmon are fed pellets that contain antibiotics, pesticides, growth hormones and artificial coloring agents.  A recently published article in, The Audubon’s Living Oceans Campaign, reads “Farm-raised salmon consume more antibiotics per pound of ‘livestock’ than are any other farm-raised animal.” A total of over 23 million pounds of antibiotics are consumed by livestock in US animal production each year. Trying to regulate the use and overuse of antibiotics is a serious problem in the fish farming industry in North America and British Columbia.

 

Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil
Dosage: 3000 mg first thing in the morning with 16 ounces of water
Best places to buy: Costco, Amazon, your local natural foods store

Collagen is a natural protein component of the skin that acts like a scaffold and is the main building block for cells, tissues and organs. About a third of the protein content in your body is made up of collagen, which is found in the bones, muscles, and tissues of the organs. Collagen, keratin and elastin give the skin its strength, elasticity and structure.

The body naturally produces the collagen that it needs, but this production is gradually disrupted as part of the natural aging process. Women produce less collagen than men, and this collagen is lost at a rate of about 1% per year, starting at age 20. This means that a woman has naturally lost almost half of the collagen from her skin by the age of 50.

 

Collagen supplements claim to offer a range of benefits, including

  • reducing wrinkles

  • reversing age of skin

  • tighter skin

  • plumps up skin

  • improves skin elasticity

 

While there is actually no scientific proof that collagen supplements have any effects on skin health and appearance at all, I can tell you from use that they do work.  I have had nothing but great  reviews from clients and of course, I use them myself.

 

Why I choose this particular product:

Youtheory Collagen Advanced Formula features types 1, 2 and 3 collagen along with 18 amino acids, vital structural components of the skin. Collagen 1 and 3 are the main collagen types in connective tissue.  Type 2 collagen, hyaluronic acid, is known to aid in joint cushioning and lubrication.  Along with promoting beautiful skin, this formula also helps create stronger hair and nails.

Collagen Type I, II and III
Dosage: 3 tablets in the morning and 3 tablets in the evening, each with 16 ounces of water.
Best places to buy: Costco, Amazon, your local natural foods store

Collagen Type I, II and III

Collagen
HSN

Hair, Skin and Nails

 

Like the name says, it’s all about supporting the health, beauty, shine, and strength of your hair, skin, and nails by nourishing them from the inside out. Through essential vitamins, minerals, and natural, plant-based nutrients, Hair Skin Nails supports your body’s own collagen and keratin production, cell renewal processes, and boosts your free radical fighting defenses for an even more beautiful you. 

 

  • Boosts your natural collagen and keratin production

  • Supports the body’s defenses against free radical damage

  • Moisturizes while enhancing skin’s elasticity and flexibility

  • Promotes healthy cell growth, strength, and shine

 

Unique Blend of 26 Ingredients – Your skin’s natural glowing beauty can fade if there’s a deficiency in essential diet elements. So we developed a unique formula of coenzymes, vitamins, & minerals to be one of the most complete hair, skin, & nails support supplements available.

Why I choose this particular product:

In the first 6 weeks I used this product, my hair grew almost 2 inches, my nails became strong and long and my skin became more resilient.​

 

 

Hair, Skin and Nails
Dosage: 2 capsules, one in the morning and one in the evening with 16 ounces of water each.
Best places to buy: Click here.
EPO

Taking the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA) will give you healthy skin, hair and nails.  Unfortunately, GLA is hard to come by in the diet, but we can get the benefits of this great essential fatty acid by using supplements, namely Evening Primrose Oil (EPO).  This essential fatty acid offers a wide range of benefits:

 

  • effective anti-inflammatory agent (with none of the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs)

  • promotes the healthy growth of skin, hair and nails

  • heals brittle nails and hair

  • aids in preventing hormonal acne breakouts

  • prevents and reverses hair loss

  • comforts arthritis

  • aids in autoimmune disorders

  • helps the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome

  • aids in sleeping

 

Do not expect immediate results when taking GLA: it takes six to eight weeks to see changes after adding GLA to the diet.  Besides Evening Primrose Oil, Black Currant Oil and Borage Oil are other great oils which will give you a great dose of gamma linolenic acid (GLA).  Evening Primrose Oil would be the preferred oil if you are looking for hormonal support due to menstrual breakouts or discomfort and skin issues due to menopause or perimenopause.

 

Why I choose this particular product:

Organic oils are going to be the healthiest choice.  If a product is not GMO certified, you are risking using the most condensed form of the plant with GMOs in it, of which long term effects have not been documented.  Using common sense, GMOs that have pesticide built in are probably not the best idea for consumption.

Evening Primrose Oil

Evening Primrose Oil
Dosage: 2 capsules in the evening with 16 ounces of water.
Best places to buy: Amazon, your local natural foods store
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