What are the benefits?
With so many supplements and vitamin tablets out there do we really need to be focussing on what we eat?
There seems to be a tablet for everything these days and some promise you the world but simply don't deliver (we’re not going to discuss these by name) so when it comes to supplementing your vitamins, herbs and everything under the sun with tablets, are we really missing out on anything?
We’ve started off this chapter with two questions, both valid but now we’ll go over how our body reacts to supplementing tablets for food.
We live in such a fast paced world these days. Working 9-5 isn’t necessarily the norm and with sporting commitments, kids after school activities and the time that the internet is consuming (sorry about that) we simply don’t have the same time that we once did and something needs to give. It’s very easy to open up a bottle of supplements and think “that should keep me healthy” then it is to arrive home and cook veggies and a pork chop perhaps. Whilst it’s obvious that this can’t be good for you long term, is it even good for you in the short term?
We discussed a little earlier that our bodies are top notch ovens (or something to that extent) that know what’s coming/ what they want, sometimes before we do. You could also look at our body as a garbage disposal. Everything that our body doesn’t have a use for inevitably gets thrown out the back door so to speak and therefor does its best to keep us and our insides in the best condition possible. There’s no doubting that scientists have done their research before producing their supplements and placing them on store shelves but have they been tested on humans? perhaps, but some of the herbs that our body requires don’t gel all that well with each other so when mixed into a tablet and ingested, the body doesn’t react the same way as it perhaps would’ve if each ingredient was ingested individually.
So whilst your body may need bits and pieces of whatever is in each bottle of supplements, it may not be doing exactly what they were designed to do, so whilst there will be some benefits to supplements, we’d suggest you don’t go throwing away your food just yet as you’ll be needing it!
Justin Beard Pn1