The best way to give your body the nutrition it needs is to eat whole foods. Plant foods rich in vitamins and minerals are much better than lab-made supplements. In addition, many supplements, such as those containing calcium, are made from non-food substances. Extracts from oyster shells, bovine bone meal, coral and dolomite are difficult for the body to digest. And the more energy the body needs to absorb nutrients, the less energy remains in it. Salt is another example. Salt is rarely used in its natural form (maynik plant), more often we consume processed, evaporated sea salt. An excellent source of sodium is the mineral-rich dark red seaweed dals. You can often hear people say something like this: “I want to be absolutely sure that my body gets all the vitamins and nutrients it needs, so I take all the possible supplements. The bigger, the better. My body will figure out what it needs.” And if this approach is not bad for water-soluble vitamins B and C and minerals such as potassium and sodium, then for fat-soluble vitamins and minerals, such as iron, this principle does not work – they are hardly excreted from the body. And although a healthy body does not require a lot of energy in order to get rid of unnecessary substances, it is still additional work for it. Some people take too many supplements, wanting to speed up the process of cell regeneration, but by doing so they only interfere with the work of the body. An excess of fat-soluble synthetic vitamins (A, D, E, and K) can cause more serious harm to the body than an excess of water-soluble nutrients, as they take longer to be eliminated, accumulate in the body’s fat cells, and turn into toxins. General fatigue and weakening of the immune system are “mild” negative consequences of intoxication of the body. But there may be more serious consequences – from bleeding to intestinal dysbacteriosis. This can be avoided by eating whole foods. Fiber prevents overeating: it is difficult to eat a lot of fiber-rich foods if the stomach is already full of them. Every sports or fitness magazine has a supplement ad claiming to “increase your endurance by 20%.” But even in articles that are more credible than advertising, the authors promise the same thing. Do Supplements Really Increase Endurance? If a person eats right, then the answer is no. Such advertisements and articles are funded by supplement manufacturers. The studies cited in these articles are conducted on people who lack the exact vitamins they need to sell, so the results of such studies should not be trusted. Of course, when the body receives vitamins that it lacked, a person feels better. But if you eat right and get all the necessary vitamins and minerals from food, you do not need any supplements.
2022-11-11