“I don’t believe in supplements.  You should be able to get everything you need from food.”  I’m sure you’ve heard this statement from some people.  It renders me speechless at times, simply due to the fact that I don’t know where to start.  I could go into:

Genes, Epigenetics, and Autoimmunity

Stress, Leaky Gut, Nutrient Bio-availability, and Absorption Issues

Soil Deficiencies and Chemical Warfare

While all of these areas play a part in the need for supplementation, the fact is, we are all bio-individual.  That means, one person may actually get away with not taking supplements and be perfectly healthy.  Others might be perfectly healthy, if they only knew that their body can’t absorb the B vitamins needed for detoxification, or that their genes are blocking their body’s ability to produce glutathione.  Others would be amazed if they knew that the money they are spending on magnesium tablets was being wasted because their body lacked in one other component necessary for magnesium absorption.  So how do you know?

Research abounds when it comes to what vitamins and minerals our bodies need, and known widespread deficiencies.  We can watch TV shows and ads for vitamins.  Read magazines, blogs, Facebook articles and proactively search Dr. Google, and still come up with what amounts to shots in the dark about what YOU need. 

Recently I was introduced (through an interview) to Dr. Steven Gundry.  Dr. Gundry is a world renowned heart surgeon, whose influence, procedures, and contributions with technology over 30 years, have changed the way other doctors save lives.  He started out the interview by recounting the story of a patient with severe obesity and heart issues.  No other surgeon would do the much needed heart surgery on him, due to the high risk of death.  When the patient finally came to Dr. Gundry, he had decided to become his own health advocate and had taken his own health in his hands.  Six months prior, he had changed his diet and lifestyle, and had started taking a “shopping bag” full of supplements.  The result was a major loss of weight, a reversal of blood markers that showed inflammation and disease, and a dramatic change in his health.  Dr. Gundry was able to perform the surgery, and the patient came through it with flying colors.

Up until that point, Dr. Gundry, as good of a surgeon as he was, was operating on two false beliefs.  Number one, supplements only create expensive urine, and number two, diet and lifestyle do not make a huge difference when it comes to heart disease.  How many times have you heard other doctors voice the same beliefs?

When he looked into his patient’s shopping bag, he noticed that many of the supplements were ones that he himself used intravenously during transplants, but had never considered taking orally as a preventative measure.  When he found out how his new patient was eating, he realized that it looked a lot like a paper he had written during medical school many years earlier.  After turning the diet and supplement regime on himself, his own blood work improved significantly.  Since then, he has used it on 1000’s of patients whose cholesterol improved, diabetes went away, and auto-immune issues such as fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis decreased or disappeared.

This post is just the beginning of where I’m going to take you with the story of Dr. Gundry and his patients.  But the main take-away from this week is this:

You must be your own health advocate!  Do you have health issues?  Want to prevent new issues?  Put together your own health team.  This team consists of YOU as the head, trusted doctors that you have researched and interviewed, resources from people you trust, and a health coach to guide you with their knowledge, hold you accountable, and inspire you to stay the course…even if the going seems slow.  The health coach will also help you manage the rest of the team, find team members, help control overwhelm, and figure out your particular form of bio-individuality. 

Supplements can make all the difference in the world.  That being said, they must be of good quality and preferably based on your knowledge of what your needs are.  Yes, you can take shots in the dark based on your individual symptoms or studies on what most people need…but real healing comes with testing, not guessing.  Since quality supplements can be expensive, testing can save you money in the long run.  We will go over how to choose supplements in a future post.

For now…make the commitment.  Know that there are answers out there that go beyond what you may have already heard, and open your mind with determination to get to the bottom of these.  And lastly, be open to experimenting with food choices.  Anyone can make a food choice for a couple months to see if it’s the key that unlocks a life of health and vitality.

UPDATE:   People who are used to buying high quality supplements are telling me that my “store” is saving them money.  Click here and see if it will do the same for you.  Keep in mind…these are high quality…not your typical drugstore waste of money supplements with additives and toxins.  Hopefully you’ll find it’s a good resource for you!