Supplementation is something that’s certainly grown in popularity in recent years. More people than ever are becoming ‘health conscious’ and are using their local health stores, like Holland and Barrett, in an attempt boost the way they look and feel.
But although sales of supplementation increase annually, statistics show however that it doesn’t seem to be helping. Rates of chronic disease are not slowing and are in fact increasing, along with rising obesity rates.
There certainly are helpful supplements out there. BUT supplements will not help much if one does not first address the necessary basics of health. The basics of proper diet, exercise and detoxification etc. need to be in check before one should consider taking any supplements.
Unfortunately many seem to believe the fallacy that popping a few vitamin tablets will mean they are covered nutritionally, when in fact, eating whole, raw foods will give you more comprehensive nutrition than any multi-vitamin supplement. This is because the combination of substances in whole foods are more synergistically effective than a specific dietary nutrient that has been isolated and artificially combined with other nutrients.
These refined vitamins have been robbed of all of the extra accessory nutrients that they naturally come with as well (the way nature intended). In turn, like refined foods, they can create numerous problems and imbalances in your body if taken at high levels for long periods of time. Fructose (sugar) for example in its isolated form is found in so many processed foods and is known to be detrimental to one’s health. Fructose is also found in fruit, but because it is mixed in with the fibre etc. its effect is regulated.
This whole point seems obvious when you think about how our bodies have thrived on what nature has provided for millions of years. Nature does not produce any nutrient in an isolated form. The nutrients in foods are blended together in a specific way and work best in that format. For an isolated nutrient to work properly in the body, it needs all the other parts that are naturally present in the food too.
Like I said before, there are helpful supplements out there but these seem to be becoming harder to find as the quality of many seems to be in decline. At The Fitness Sanctuary, we do include some essential high quality supplementation (krill oil and vitamin C), but it is the diet which is most important and is the main the reason why our clients are managing to lose weight whilst rejuvenating their health.
