Now that you have gotten your initial food choices in gear, it’s time to consider your supplements.
Here is the hierarchy for supplements:
- Synthetic – OK
- Whole Food – Better
- Organic Whole Food – Even Better
- Fermented/Sprouted – Best!
So the first problem is that not all supplement ingredients come in organic form. Why is this a problem? If you want to get an organic whole food vitamin, you have to look at the ingredients – because if one of the ingredients is not organic, they can’t list it as an organic product.
Pay attention to the number of pills per dose! Just because it says that this bottle will give you 1000 mg of something does not mean that is in one pill. Look on the back to see how many pills you have to take to get that dosage.
Are the more expensive brands worth more? The answer is, it depends. Sometimes a more expensive brand is more bioavailable. So you could spend $10 on a synthetic multivitamin, or $40 on an organic whole food multivitamin. Our first response is to say that the difference is not worth it. But we have to look again. The body does not process synthetic vitamins well, because it doesn’t recognize them as food. So it is quite possible that instead of taking 2 of the synthetic, you could take 1 of the organic whole food, and actually be getting more internally. At that point, which one is more expensive? Do look for GMP on the label, that assures you of quality processing.
The entire list is here for you to test for. Please note: This not a recommendation saying you should take all of these, certainly not at these dosages! Remember, I am not a doctor. This just gives you a place to start from. I want you to test for whether you need each thing and then how much of it.
Alberto Villoldo has given us a list of what we might consider taking if we are not in the best of health. I think this is a great place to start from, using our testing to decide what we need right now. Begin with asking if a particular supplement is one your body would like to have now, and if so, then ask it if it wants as much as he suggests. If that is too much, then move down in logical increments.
So, for example, Villoldo suggests 3 grams of DHA. If your first answer is yes to wanting it, and the second answer is that this is too much, then ask if 2 grams is enough, if not, then is 2500 mg good right now? If 2 grams is still too much, then is 1000 mg good for right now? It will take a while, but then you will have a list, with approximate starting dosages. Don’t be put off by the number of things on his list, you are using it for a guide.
Also, don’t be startled if you have a lot of things now on your list! You can always go back and test again to make sure you should be taking all of these things now. Furthermore, the amounts you have tested for are for what you need right now. Giving your body exactly what it wants right now will give it the fortifications that it needs to rebuild quickly and efficiently. Do not be surprised when you test again in two or three weeks and the amounts have started to go down. Because of this, other than standards like multi vitamins, B complex, vitamin B12, C, and D, I would advise getting no more than a 3 month amount at a time. Over time, you will know which supplements you will be taking for the long haul, and how much you will need.
Finally, if you have not been taking much more than a multi-vitamin recently, and now have a large list to take, please do not start them all at once, even if you are a Jumper! Test to see which ones your body wants to start with, and keep adding (again, testing to see how often) until you have them all going. Once you have them all going, make a note of testing again in two and then four weeks to check on dosages.
Please note, I am not recommending that you take any or all of these supplements. You need to make that decision. There is plenty of information on each of these online that explain why you might be interested in any one of them. I get my supplements at my local health food store and also at www.iherb.com. You are welcome to use my code, pop429 for a discount at iherb.com. When possible, choose capsules or powders over tablets.
Here is Villoldo’s list with a couple of additions:
Multivitamin: Take the dosage indicated by the product. Costco makes a good whole food organic multivitamin, look for the organic one!
DHA: 1-3 grams a day in the evening.
ALA: 300 to 600 mg a day every three days.
Turmeric: one gram a day (about 1/4 teaspoon) in golden milk or a smoothie that has fat in it or in foods like curries, or take a capsule with a fat in a meal.
Coconut oil & MCT oil: 2 tablespoons of each every morning and afternoon. (start this slowly starting with a 1/2 teaspoon each morning and afternoon and work your way up)
Vitamin B12: 2,500 mcg a day sublingual methylcobalamin.
Vitamin C: 1,000 mg a day.
Vitamin D3: 5,000 IU a day.
Zinc: 15 mg daily.
Magnesium glycinate or citrate: 350 mg daily (citrate moves bowels more)
Calcium citrate: 1,000 mg daily, on an empty stomach.
Vitamin K2 (MK7): 100 mcg daily.
Nicotinamide riboside: 100 mg daily.
Tryptophan 1000 mg daily
Folate-5 methyltetrahydrofolic acid (Quatrefolic) 667 mcg DFE daily
Citicholine 100 mg daily (important to take with the folate)
Ubiquinol (CoQ10), timed release, bioavailable: 200 mg daily with fat meal
Acetyl l-carnatine HCI, 500 mg and L-carnatine tartrate, 500 mg (take these with the CoQ10)
Grapeseed extract/resveratrol 500 mg
Sodium bicarbonate: ½ teaspoon in the evening two hours after your meal if needed
And, if you test yes for it as well, a greens powder. Which one? A whole food organic one, perhaps fermented. I-herb.com has a great variety to choose from, as does your local health food store – and sometimes Grocery Outlet does!
Do I have to take all of these supplements?
Did you test “yes” for “all” of them “right now”? If so, your body is telling you that yes, you are deficient and need supplementation for all of them, to some extent or another. However, you can test further using a couple more questions: Should I start all of them right now? Should I start with this one? (pointing to one of them on the list) Is it important to take this one at the same time? (pointing to another one), and so on!
People often wonder, if you are eating a good diet, why you need supplements. If you are eating a lot of food from a farm where the land has been carefully tended for a long time, then perhaps you don’t. Most of us don’t have that luxury. The problem is that most of our land has not been carefully tended, it has been exploited. What this means is that the nutrients that we used to get through our food which got it from the land simply aren’t there. When they analyzed raw spinach to see what nutrients were in it, compared with data taken from spinach that our parents ate, the macro nutrients of carbs and proteins were still there, but the micro nutrients were not. The land does not contain the nutrients it used to, so the food grown on the land does not contain the nutrients.
In addition, we are now dealing with an enormous amount of environmental toxins that our grandparents did not. The combination of toxins, lack of nutrients and the level of our daily stress is why we need supplements.
One general “supplement” that I take is greens powder. All of the cancer prevention folks want us to eat more fruits and vegetables as part of cancer prevention. Although I do eat a lot of fresh vegetables normally, by downing my greens powder every day, I add the equivalent of 4-5 more. It’s easy, and part of my morning routine.
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