To supplement, or not to supplement, that is the question. At the Sports and Health Clinic, I help my patients find an answer.
As you may have heard me say before, the most important thing for the human body is to have a strong and healthy immune system. This has proven to be your body’s best defense to fight off colds, the flu, and diseases.
A healthy immune system starts at the cellular level. The human body contains 10-15 trillion cells, each needing the right nutrition for growth and maintenance.
Eating well and consuming “real food” plays a crucial component in achieving a strong and healthy immune system. By “real food,” I mean food that has been grown naturally, without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and added chemicals.
Most nutrients, vitamins, and minerals can be obtained through food we consume. Others, however, are much harder to come by, and simply eating more food is not always the best way to get them.
One such an example is magnesium, a mineral essential for proper muscle functioning, among other things. Magnesium is found in deep-green, leafy vegetables, and very few of us eat enough on a daily basis. You would need to eat a big, and I mean a BIG, bag of kale and spinach daily to get enough magnesium to feed all your cells.
Another example is D3, a powerful vitamin that does everything from preventing bone loss, to fighting off depression, helping with weight loss, etc. Vitamin D3 has also been proven to be a great Cancer Killer. Vitamin D3 is most easily (and freely) obtained from exposure to the sun’s rays. In fact, only 10-15 minutes of daily sun exposure is enough to obtain all the vitamin D3 we need to feed our cells. But since we have been told NEVER to be in the sun without proper clothing or wearing sunscreen, few of us get enough D3 on a daily basis. Getting enough D3 is all the more difficult for those of us living outside the tropics since we have to cover our bodies with layers of clothing for a good part of the year. It is no wonder that few of us get enough vitamin D3. Yet a simple drop of liquid vitamin D3 can keep you from missing out on this crucial super-vitamin.
These are just two examples of how important, and easy, supplementing your diet can be. As part of a consultation concerning your overall health, I am happy to help you figure out what type of supplementation is right for you.