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Hi friends!
The need for health care providers to impart excellent
nutritional advice to their patients has become paramount in giving the best
and most complete health care possible. Along with that advice, prescribing the
best supplementation in order to address individual nutrient needs is crucial. However,
due to the variety of symptom-target products, addressing these needs can be a
daunting task for both practitioner and patient.
This month we will discuss what may be considered a more complete approach to nutritional care. |
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Over the last several decades, the increase in diet-related
disorders has been remarkably evident and many Americans are becoming more
aware of the vitality of good nutritional advice and resources and how they relate
to health. In fact, the role of diet and disease is hard to ignore.
It is also well-known within alternative health circles that
our current food supply is lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes
that were present as little as 70 years ago. With the advent of chemical use
and modern farming practices, getting complete and pure nutrition from foods is
becoming increasingly difficult. This lack of necessary vitamins and minerals
triggers a cascade of events within the body that can ultimately lead to a
multitude of debilitating degenerative disorders. Thus supplementation becomes
essential.
To more completely help their patients, an increasing number
of health care providers are providing nutritional
counseling and a wide range of supplementation choices. In fact, many doctors devote
entire office walls to displaying the diversity of their products primarily
designed to target a specific need, deficiency or symptom. This bull's-eye
approach can be beneficial when the exact need is recognized. However, with the
complexity of health problems, it's rare that a single deficiency can be
pin-pointed and addressed. Instead, we see a number of symptoms or syndromes
that have many different causes. It then can become a trial and error procedure;
prescribing a host of various individual supplements that come from different
companies, sources, strengths and processing which can, not only be both costly
and confusing to the patient, but may also be counter-productive to their
health.
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Nearly every day I speak with folks concerned about their health who let me know the various supplements their health care practitioner has either recommended or prescribed for them. I'm amazed at how many different pills, capsules and powders folks are taking every day and have been taking for years!
Since the basic premise of holistic medicine is to treat the body as a
whole, perhaps a better approach and one that is being utilized by more
health care providers, is a broad-spectrum consideration; one that
covers a larger number of potential solutions using a multi-vitamin or
multi-nutrient supplement to help with patient symptoms. Health care
providers and patients alike can benefit most by establishing a
baseline approach such as this.
Once the patient has been supplied with and begins using a
good complete multi-vitamin supplement, numerous nutritional deficiencies can
be met and it will be much easier for both patient and practitioner to narrow
any remaining needs. At this point, any lingering symptoms can be targeted
saving both time and money.
Since multivitamins level the playing field of good health,
a food-based supplement should contain a
synergistic combination of all of the vitamins and trace minerals to fill the
gaps where diet falls short.
Typically the most popular all-in-one supplements or multi-vitamins
include common nutrients such as: vitamins A, C, D, E and K, selenium,
zinc, calcium, magnesium, niacin, iron, in addition to a B complex. We
may also see the inclusion of additional trace minerals. Unfortunately,
we find that today's patient's are missing much more. One of the main
things that the American diet lacks is essential fatty acids to combat
inflammation and support healthy nerve conduction. Due to the
over-consumption of cooked and processed foods, we have also seen an
increase in digestive disorders. Therefore a need for probiotics and
digestive enzymes exists. |
Rather than purchasing mass-produced
inferior products which are poorly absorbed and contain synthetics,
preservatives, and other toxic substances from their local discount store, it would be much better getting an excellent, whole-food multi-vitamin.
In addition to an organic
whole foods-based diet, you need to make sure that these supplemental vitamins
and botanicals are derived from naturally occurring plant and mineral sources,
and that they contain no synthetic chemicals whatsoever.
To
help narrow down the choices, most health care providers would probably agree that
when it comes to multi-vitamin and nutrient inclusion, liquids are far superior
to pills, capsules and powders. It is much more difficult to combine quality
vitamins and minerals, fruit and vegetable extracts, omega 3 fatty acids,
CoQ10, plant enzymes, organic trace minerals and microcomplexes™, antioxidant
blends, or herbal adaptogens into a pill or capsule form. In order to get
complete nutrition, megadoses of many different pills would be necessary. These
megadoses can lead to cellular toxicity and an overburden on the digestive
system, kidneys and liver. Even
buffered pills, although they reduce nausea to an extent, slow down the
absorption of nutrients.
The beneficial
effect of vitamins and minerals depends greatly on the right balance,
combinations and proportions of nutrients. The small percentage of pills and
encapsulated nutrients that do get absorbed may be fundamentally rendered
useless if not balanced with the other necessary vitamins and organic minerals.
When making the choice of the best nutritional supplements,
look for organically complexed (carbon bound) supplements derived from whole
foods, minimally processed and made from the highest quality ingredients. It's
best to avoid synthetic chemical nutrients (acetates, oxides, carbonates),
preservatives, synthetic ingredients, binders, coatings, excipients, and flow
agents as much as possible to acquire the best possible nutrition.
The facts are simple: People are buying and taking
multi-vitamins. Shouldn't you be buying the one that is the best and most effective?
Thank you once again for reading!
Until next month, I remain yours in good health!
Sincerely,
Dr. Mike
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