A favorite topic of mine, supplements. It’s like the shiny new quick fix everyone thinks is going to work for them because Karen makes money selling it on Facebook. Yikes. I mean, not only does she want you to buy her product, she also wants you to join her “team” so you can do what she does from home. Double yikes. Anyways, I want to explain to you today the importance of proper supplementation, so you stop wasting your time and your money.
*I apologize to all the Karens out there, this is an arbitrary name I use for story telling. Please forgive me.
Let’s throw out the technical definition..”something that completes or enhances something else when added to it.” Alright, so a supplement can basically enhance your life. But, they are not going to fix or solve anything. Supplements are meant to be an addition to your life, to give you an extra boost. This does not mean supplements are meant to be the leading source of a lifestyle change. Meaning, until you get the big parts under control, aka diet and exercise, supplements won’t really benefit you.
I know it seems easy to just take a pill and heal your gut or lose weight, but you are really just wasting your money until you get to the read issue.
Think of a tree. If you are just trying to treat the dead leaves and branches, you are never going to save the tree. The leaves will continue to die and fall off. It isn’t until you get into the root system and start treating from the base/center that you are then able to save the branches.
So, until you get your diet and exercise routine under control, you are just treating branches instead of the root cause. The body is one unified system, it works together. So if you have some type of symptom like poor sleep or acne, just treating with a sleep aid and topical wash might not help. You might have to figure out why exactly your body isn’t relax to sleep at night, or why your face is purging toxins from your face.
You see, the more you just treat the branches and ignore the roots, the more time you are going to waste. Because when there is 1 dead branch, there comes another. And another. And before you know it you are treating 5 branches and wondering why your tree is totally falling down. Not to mention the money you are wasting treating branches over and over again.
The key to proper supplementation is starting with diet and exercise. Start cleaning up your diet, getting rid of packaged foods like chips, pre-made dinners and snacks. And then start moving your body. 30 minutes 2 times a week and then 3. It is 100% imperative that you take care of yourself from the root (diet and exercise) first and foremost. A lot of health issues can be solved by just starting there, instead of adding patches in the form of supplements, medication and whatever else.
If you are looking to start getting to the root of your issues, whether it be GI issues, acne, moodiness, anxiety, start with simple exercise. My Collective program walks you through everything you need to be successful in a healthy lifestyle switch. Feel free to check it out here!
Once you are on track with diet and exercise, then you can start getting more specific. I recommend getting blood testing done and seeing a functional/integrative doctor so they can help you through this process. Specific testing will be able to tell you what specifically might be going on in the body such as thyroid conditions, reproductive issues, gut yeast and more!
Let’s give a few examples of supplements people tend to buy up before going to the root cause.
• Taking probiotics before removing processed garbage from their diet. A probiotic is not going to help with bloating and discomfort until you get rid of the foods that are causing it.
• Gut health supplements. Again, until you stop drinking alcohol (which kills everything) and cleaning up your diet, you aren’t going to have a healthy gut flora, get rid of candida or kill parasites.
• Greens supplements. The amount of greens actually in these powders isn’t that beneficial. Not to mention the idea that they still have to grind it all up and add in fillers so that it doesn’t clump or taste like garbage. Just eat some broccoli.
A few fan favorites that everyone seems to jump on board for. Oh, and stress supplements. A powder isn’t going to make you less of an a$$ when it comes to scheduling your life and taking on too much. Deal with whats going on in your life, that is a sure way to reduce stress.
Alright, I am going to tell you a story about someone who was blindly taking supplements without being tested first. Now, this is not to scare the living sh*t out of you, but it might. This is an extreme case and the likelihood of this happening are very low, however, it can happen.
A 23-year old woman found herself in acute liver failure after taking a supplement from a company called Alani Nu. She saw the marketing for this supplement called Balance and started taking it. 4 pills everyday for months. The supplement was supposed to help with things like hormone imbalances, infertility, acne, and weight management. What she thought was a supplement that would help her, since she saw so many positive testimonials, turned out to almost be the thing that killed her.
She did not get tested to find out what her hormone balances were prior to taking the supplement, she was just sold based on testimonials and the marketing of peoples transformations.
Now, I am not bashing this company at all. What I am bashing is the idea that women are just taking supplements without checking on what is really going on within their body. Blind supplementation can literally be life altering, like in this case.
This also goes for natural/herbal supplements. You could be someone who already has high estrogen, and by taking a random supplement that worked for others, you could be raising your levels even more, when in reality you need something to bring it down and balance it out. There is always an underlying issues, and I seriously recommend you figure that out before wasting your money on an over the counter supplement.
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