12 Tips of Christmas: #8 Supplements

It is my professional opinion that with a balanced diet you can consume all of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that your body needs without taking a supplement.  Unless you have a condition which inhibits the absorption of a certain nutrient or you avoid a food or group of foods that provides you with a substance.

Our bodies are fantastic machines that for the most part operate flawlessly.  However, now that our culture has turned to a faster-paced, convenience-based way of life, we may not always make the best food choices to aid our bodies' operations. 

If your deficiency suspicions are supported by some lab work  (ie: iron panel or vitamin D test, etc), then yes take a supplement.  But popping pills just because it may be a good idea?  Maybe not. 

My point is...............you should be able to get all of the vitamins, minerals, etc that you need from your food (see conditions above).  However, is it wrong to take a daily multivitamin
just to cover your bases?  No.  It will not hurt you.  But it should NOT be used as a replacement for food nutrients.  Research has shown that the vitamins and minerals we obtain from food sources are more readily absorbed and have greater antioxidant actions than those we consume from supplements.  There is not magic antioxidant potion, lotion, juice or pill that can cure all of your ails.  But I truly believe that food can.

Try a balanced diet!  Nothing can replace that.