Are Supplements Really Necessary?

You live a healthy lifestyle, get the right amount of sleep, exercise regularly and eat well, so you don’t need supplements. Right? Wrong.

In fact, more than 2 billion people suffer from essential nutrient deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization. Coined ‘the hidden hunger,’ it has been shown that many seemingly healthy people have deficiency in vital nutrients like iron, zinc, calcium, iodine, vitamin A, B-vitamins, and vitamin C. Further, a recent study found that most Canadians get only 90% or less of the recommended daily values of many essential nutrients.

These 7 reasons explain why even healthy people need to take supplements for optimal health.

Top 7 Reasons Healthy People Need To Take Supplements

1. Some Nutrients Are Not Produced By The Body

Vitamin D is produced naturally IF we get enough exposure to sunlight through our skin. It is responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, and multiple other biological effects. It is essential for bone health.

However, during our long winters, the days are short and it’s far too cold to expose our skin to what little sunlight there is. In order to ensure we are getting adequate levels of Vitamin D, we must take supplements - or we may even benefit from Vitamin D injections. Our diets alone cannot provide us with enough.

As we age, our ability to produce key antioxidants like CoQ10 decreases.It is a powerful antioxidant and also assists our bodies balance our metabolism. Supplementing will provide us with what we need when our bodies cannot.

Vitamin C is another essential nutrient we obtain from our food. However, in times when our immunity is down, or we are injured, we need much more than our diet can provide. In addition, women need high doses of Vitamin C daily to ensure healthy fetal development and to prevent iron deficiency during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Vitamin C supplements with bioflavonoids, like Super C taken daily will ensure your body has adequate levels when it needs it most.

2. Soil Depletion Due to Intensive Farming

Even if you have a healthy diet, the amount of essential nutrients in those foods can be lacking due to soil depletion because of intensive farming. Hybrid crops, which are even produced by organic farms because they yield more per acre, have lower nutritional value.

Manure used to be the primary method of fertilizing the soil and crops. However, that has been largely replaced by phosphate rich products that provide nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium but are missing many other minerals that manure or healthy compost could provide. In addition, pesticides and herbicides further reduce the nutrient value in the soil in which our food grows.

On top of that, the water we use to nourish the soil is filled with toxins and harmful chemicals that are in the air. While these may deplete our food of nutrients, they also increase the demand our bodies have for antioxidants.

Supplements can fill those nutritional gaps our food sources are unable to provide.

3. Transportation Of Food Over Long Distances Depletes Nutritional Value

From the moment our food is harvested, its nutritional value begins to diminish. By the time it gets to your table, many nutrients have been lost or their value reduced. Not only that, but much of the produce that we purchase, whether organic or not, is harvested before it’s ripe so that they are not over-ripe by the time they reach the shelves. This, too, greatly reduces the nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables we eat.

4. Food Processing Can Drastically Diminish Nutrient Content

When raw foods are processed, they can lose a large percentage of their nutritional value. For example, refining wheat to make white flour removes approximately 80% of its magnesium, 70-80% of its zinc, 87% of its chromium, 88% of its manganese, and 50% of its cobalt.

5. Overcooking Removes Essential Nutrients

Every process we use to prepare or store our food negatively impacts its nutritional value. Exposing our foods to high levels of heat, light, and/or oxygen have the greatest impact. Hence, cooking it too long, or at an unnecessarily high temperature, can leave our food virtually empty of its original nutritional value.

6. Cold and Flu Season Increases Demand For Immunity Boosting Nutrients

In order to fend off seasonal waves of colds and flus, and shorten their duration of an illness, our bodies demand higher than normal levels of immunity strengthening and supporting antioxidants.

7. Stress Depletes Our Bodies Of Essential Nutrients

When we experience stress, it triggers a biological response in our bodies much like fear or illness. Our bodies react by increasing adrenal function; antibodies flood our system to fight and destroy the threat. Essential nutrients are required at elevated levels until the stressor has been removed and balance can be regained. Consequently, our bodies are depleted of any available essential nutrients and diet alone cannot replenish them fast enough.

Furthermore, if we work or live in high stress environments, it is impossible to provide our bodies with enough of those stress-fighting antioxidants and energy supplying nutrients continuously from the foods we consume - no matter how healthy or nutrient dense they are. As a result, our energy levels decline and our ability to fight illness and disease is compromised. We become run down and burn out.

Nutritional Supplements Are Essential For Maintaining Optimal Health

Regardless of how health conscious we are, it is impossible to provide our bodies with the amount of essential nutrients it requires on a regular basis from our food due to the way it’s produced, transported, processed, and prepared. The only way to guarantee and maintain optimal health today is through supplementing our diets with the essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids our body needs on a daily basis. And when oral supplements are not enough, IV Drip Therapy provides the extra boost you need.