Day Thirty: Supplements

I thumb through a fitness magazine & see ads for Cytolean, Mitotropin, Hydroxycut, AMP Whey, Protein Rush, Atro-Phex, Xpel, Myofusion, Complete 7-Day Cleanse, Safely Slim, Acai...it's ridiculous. It's a fitness magazine, after all, so shouldn't everything in there really make you fit? Not so much.

"Eat natural foods" means that what we consume comes in the form of raw food that we either consume raw or cook to kill bacteria. If you close your eyes & imagine your supermarket, you walk into an area that has produce on the far right or far left of the market. Spend lots of time getting to know the fruits & veggies, and put many of them into your cart, especially the ones in season. In produce, move to the back of the market where you'll find cheese, milk, meat, butter, greek yogurt, & eggs. Sometimes, you'll even find raw nuts where produce gives way to meat. Keep moving around the market for 100% whole wheat bread. When you do have to venture into the aisles for things like olive oil, spices, & peppers, don't stay long. This should be your shopping route to purchase natural foods.

Supplements are not natural food. They are substances that chemists conjured up & marketers put into print with promises to make you thin, cut, & ripped in 30 days. It's unrealistic. If it sounds like a waste of money, it's because it probably is.

Vitamins are a little different. If we're getting all of the vitamins we need because we're consuming nutrient-dense natural foods that are primarily plants, then we don't need the vitamins & they come out of our body in our urine. However, there are times when we may be rich in one vitamin & poor in another because of our food choices that day or week. I choose to take a multivitamin for this from GNC called, "Women's Ultra Mega Active". I don't really know if I'm any more healthy by taking it, but I'd like to think that I am. I feel it's like sand filling in any little cracks I might have missed.

The other substance I like is spirulina powder. I put it in my morning shake a 1-2 times per week. It's a blue-green algae that has a high amount of protein, & it's a complete protein containing all essential amino acids. I like this because I prefer to get my protein from plant sources versus animal sources when possible.

Utimately, the best diet is a natural one, & we should strive to make our diet as close to nature as possible. Avoid temptation to buy substances that aren't natural, often they're loaded with caffeine, and many times the FDA removes them from the market altogether.

Do: If you're taking supplements, consider their cost vs benefit to you. Try to get all of your nutrients from your diet, filling in with a multivitamin if necessary.