The Four Important Dietary Supplements
Why supplement? If you lack energy, you're stressed, or you don't sleep well then taking supplements is likely to help.
I spent last week skiing – lucky me! – with a group who I did not know very well. Over the week I must have been asked a dozen times for advice. With all the situations, it was clear that there were ‘easy wins’ to be had by supplementing with a few Dietary Supplements. This is a list of my Top Four:
Magnesium –with 80% of us short of Magnesium, it’s a pretty safe bet that supplementing will help.
What does Magnesium do? –
Regulates sleep - it's incredible how quickly your sleep can improve simply by adding Magnesium
Important for healthy nerve functioning
Helps convert food to energy - which will boost your alertness, reduce brain fog, boost your verve
Assists in the maintenance of bones
Where to eat it? –
Found in spinach
Nuts
Brown rice
Meat fish
Dairy products
but it is easy not to eat enough, in which case supplements will really help.
Vitamin D3 – At this time of year it is very rare for anyone NOT to be low on this Vitamin. In fact Public Health England now recommends everyone in the UK take a vitamin D supplement from late Autumn to beginning of Spring.
What does Vitamin D3 do? A lot, including:
It binds with Calcium for healthy bones
Helps mood and reduces Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD), also known as Winter Depression
Helps common cold and sore throats
Aids skin condition
Where to eat it? –
The main source of Vitamin D is our own bodies manufacturing it using the sun, difficult to do in winter and through sun creams
Egg yolks
Cheese
Fatty fish such as mackerel
B vitamins, particularly B12 and B6
They have to be consumed daily for optimal health
What do the B vitamins do?
The family of B vitamins are essential in gazillions of chemical reactions within the body
Lack will lead to tiredness and fatigue
Essential for healthy functioning of nervous system and immune system
Important for good cardiovascular health.
Critical for energy production in every cell in the body.
Where to eat them?
Meat
Eggs
Wholegrain cereals such as oatmeal, wheatgerm and brown rice
Fibre, especially pre-biotic fibre – This is my 'wonder-drug'!
What does Fibre do?
Fibre is essential for removal of toxic waste from the body, which we are producing from our environment or from what we eat. Without it those toxins are circulated around the body again and again or may be removed from circulation by being wrapped in fat, so preventing them damaging your organs. A great evolutionary idea, but better to just ensure they get removed in the first place.
Soluble fibre is the food for the Good Bacteria in our guts. And the Good Bacteria keep the Bad Bacteria under control (too many bad bacteria make us ill)
Fibre helps the gut make B vitamins
Fibre will help your liver function better
Soluble fibre appears to reduce heart and artery-damaging bad cholesterol (low density lipoproteins -LDL - and very low density lipoproteins - VLDL) levels
Where to eat it?
Skins of vegetables
Fruit and vegetables
Oats
NOT processed breakfast cereals! The fibre in those is, in my view, outweighed by the over-processed rubbish ingredients accompanying it
There is no fibre in meat.
We should be eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables daily for true good health. That's not easy to achieve for most of us, so do yourself a favour and supplement if necessary.