Harmful products, bad ecology, age-related changes — these and other reasons for taking dietary supplements from alternative medicine specialist Andrew Weil.
The main rule to remember if you decide to take dietary supplements is that you should buy them only after an examination and on the recommendation of a nutritionist.
1. Eating right is difficult and expensive.
Proper nutrition is essential for health. Food should satisfy, saturate, and also protect us from internal inflammation and disease. All nutrition programs suggest including organically grown colorful vegetables and fruits, oily fish, whole grains and other «slow» carbohydrates, olive oil, natural proteins, nuts and seeds in the diet. However, maintaining a healthy diet that meets all the requirements of the body is incredibly difficult. Indeed, during the day we may not have time to have lunch, or eat something harmful. This is where biologically active additives are needed. They play the role of a kind of insurance during those days when our body does not receive proper nutrition and saturation.
Dietary supplements help protect the body from toxins
2. Technological processing of products
The products that provoke inflammatory processes in the body cause the greatest harm to us. These include products that have undergone technological processing: cereals, crackers, chips, canned food. This includes pastries made from wheat flour, foods with excess sugar and salt, all fried foods and fast food. As well as polyunsaturated oils such as sunflower, safflower, soybean and corn.
However, it is impossible to completely avoid these products. In the movies we take popcorn, in a beer bar they bring chips and fried potatoes with beer, which are hard to refuse. Dietary supplements cleanse the body of toxins that we get from junk food.
3. Poor ecology
Modern methods of agriculture and farming are far from ideal. Fertilizers and chemicals kill nutrients in vegetables and fruits. And a certain percentage of toxicity remains in them after harvest.
Cows, sheep, poultry and fish are raised in conditions far from natural, they are stuffed with antibiotics and hormonal drugs. And a modern and busy person does not have time to search for organic products. And there is not always time to cook food at home. Therefore, lunches, dinners and breakfasts in cafes and restaurants have become the norm of a modern city dweller. Dietary supplements will help protect the body from toxins.
With age, metabolism slows down, and only nutritional supplements will help to get the right amount of useful elements.
4. Stress
The higher the level of stress, the more vitamins our body needs to cope with it. Those who are on a diet not only cut calories, but also the amount of micronutrients they consume.
The drugs and antibiotics we take deprive us of vitamins and minerals and weaken our immune system.
Smoking, alcohol, excessive coffee consumption — negatively affect health. Dietary supplements make up for the missing elements.
5. Age-related changes in the body
With age, metabolism slows down, the body wears out, and requires more multivitamins and supplements. So taking vitamins is not a whim, but a necessity.
You should remember
Do not take dietary supplements on the advice of friends and acquaintances. What suits one person perfectly may not work for another. And do not start taking all the drugs at the same time — start with a small dose, then increase it.
For maximum absorption, take supplements during or after a meal, preferably containing natural fats.