Success with Supplements

Nutritional supplements, nutriceuticals, and medical foods can be very helpful for improving your health and healing physiological conditions.  They can also be very intimidating.  Here are some tips to making sure you are getting the most out of your health regime.

Read the label.  Should it be taken with food or without? In one dose or divided doses throughout the day? Are there any contraindications or special considerations? Is it ok to take while pregnant or breastfeeding?

More is not always better.  There is such thing as too much of a good thing.  Taking too many supplements can tax your detox systems and potentially have undesirable or nullifying effects.

Certain products can compete with, interfere with, and in other ways alter the effectiveness of your supplements.  Some products may work against your supplements, while other may actually enhance their effects.  In general, take any supplements away from:

• Dairy,
• Coffee,
• Alcohol, and
• Any Medications (especially antibiotics).

Know when you need help.  The clinical nutrition, supplement, and herbal worlds are complex and intricate ones. Respect and utilize the expertise of your trusted and talented healthcare professionals.  It is good to take responsibility and ownership over your own health, but quality healthcare professionals are here to help you.

Begin one at a time.  If you start more than one at the same time, you won’t be able to know which is working or causing any adverse effects.  If you are taking high-quality products, they can be very powerful and just as effective some medical interventions, which means they need to be used responsibly.

Quality matters. The supplement industry is a multimillion dollar industry, so there is a huge variety of calibre out there.  High bioavailability and well-sourced materials ensure that you are getting the most benefit out of whatever you are taking, not just taxing your liver.  Higher quality nutriceuticals are typically more expensive than lower quality supplements, but you generally get what you pay for.

Eat, live, and sleep a healthy lifestyle.  No magical dose of any supplement will ever override a bad diet and high-stress, unhealthy lifestyle.  Your diet and lifestyle are the foundations and nutriceuticals are, well, supplements.  🙂