Opinions differ on the necessity of supplements. I myself used to think supplements were totally unnecessary, but this changed when I suffered a severe burnout years ago. I learned more about the value of different nutrients, which are found in supplements in addition to food. I also discovered the power of combining them and the importance of timing and dosage.
So by now I myself am a great advocate of the use of supplements. In practice, I see that many other people benefit from supplements as well. After all, sometimes a nutrient deficiency can occur unnoticed, the consequences of which you only notice later. That brings me to 4 reasons why supplements are so important in my opinion:
1) Our diet contains fewer nutrients
90% of the food in the supermarket today has been processed in the factory to be mass-produced cheaply. This removes valuable nutrients from the product and replaces them with chemicals. This type of processed food provides your body and brain with less nutritional value and takes more energy to digest. Processed products include snacks, soft drinks, fast food and ready-made meals. Totally disastrous for your brain are refined products such as white rice and white sugar. Is it in a packet or bag? Then you can assume that a product does little good for your health.
Even foods that are not factory processed contain fewer and fewer nutrients. This is due to the continuous "improvement" of agricultural methods, where process optimization and profit are the highest goals. However, many modern farming methods deplete the soil, making crops less rich in nutrients. Various studies show, for example, that today's fruits and vegetables contain far fewer nutrients than they did a few decades ago. As a result, you can eat super healthy, but still build up a deficiency in certain essential nutrients. Supplementation by supplements then provides a sense of security.
2) Our living environment is changing
For millions of years, the brain and body of our ancestors evolved in a natural environment. How different is this anno 2021. We are surrounded by traffic noise, skyscrapers, flickering screens and toxins. Think of the latter category alone as heavy metals, exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, xenoestrogens and detergents. Getting rid of these types of free radicals costs your body huge amounts of nutrients, which normally go to other crucial internal processes. This causes you to build up deficiencies over time and you may notice, for example, that you are more irritable, hungry or feel tired more quickly.
Not only has our living environment changed, but so has the way we function in it. Whereas our ancestors were almost always outside, today we spend our days in poorly ventilated rooms under fluorescent tube light. As a result, we are much less exposed to sunlight, even though this is the main source of an essential nutrient such as vitamin D. Most people do not manage to fully compensate for this deficiency by eating more vitamin D-rich foods such as eggs and oily fish. Supplementation with a high-quality supplement is then the only alternative to maintain your vitamin D levels.
3) Our nutritional needs are changing
Your need for nutrients changes throughout your life. For example, as you age, you have a higher need for certain substances because their absorption deteriorates. This is because our stomach acid production decreases with age. In fact, the decline in stomach acid later in life is similar in effect to that of antacids. This makes the elderly especially susceptible to deficiencies of substances such as vitamin B12 and magnesium. Research shows that about half of elderly people living at home and almost all elderly people in nursing homes have low vitamin D levels. In addition to a healthy diet, supplementation for these groups can make an important contribution to health.
In addition to your age, your lifestyle also logically affects your nutritional needs. For example, are you an avid athlete? Then you need protein to repair incurred muscle damage and recover in time from intensive sports sessions. Various vitamins and minerals also play an important role in supporting your athletic performance. The more you demand of yourself physically and mentally, the greater your nutritional needs will be. Because of this, it can sometimes be difficult to get all the nutrients you need from food, and using supplements can be a godsend.
4) Our brain is increasingly out of balance
Emerging brain-related complaints such as anxiety disorders, depression, PMS, burnout and ADHD are the silent witnesses of the increasing imbalance in our brain. At the root of this for many people is chronic stress, which causes the brain to become increasingly dysfunctional. Among other things, chronic stress leads to low-grade inflammation, which permanently activates the immune system. This often leaves you feeling lethargic and your body constantly screaming for nutrients to fight the supposed threat to your immune system. Thus you end up in a vicious cycle, in which your nutrient deficiencies only increase further.
In addition to low-grade inflammation, stress also causes your digestive system to function worse. Your brain always prioritizes solving stress and therefore your digestion goes temporarily on hold. As a result, the enteric nervous system in your intestines no longer releases enzymes that help digest food properly. As a result, you absorb nutrients less well and need more food to meet your nutritional needs. This is often difficult to achieve in practice and can cause an unwanted increase in your body weight due to a surplus of calories. A better option in that case is a supplement, which contains the nutrients essential to you in the right form and optimal proportions.
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