Is there such a thing as the perfect diet?
As a professional nutritionist I want to believe that there is, but let’s be realistic, barriers to consuming ‘the perfect diet’ every single day of our lives inevitably come up as modern life is a busy balancing act of family, friends, work, self-care and unforeseen events popping up. In an ideal scenario 100% of your nutrients should come from food, but with the aid of well-selected supplements we can sometimes help support our bodies and during times of ill health to speed up many healing processes. Look at it this way, if food is Batman, supplements are Robin - we can just call for back up when needed!
What are some reasons to supplement?
• Accelerate health results
• Busy lifestyles make it hard to eat well on-the-go
• Our modern-day diet can often be lacking in nutrition
• Stress increases your need for nutrients
• Support genetic deficiencies and health issues.
• We may be losing nutrition due to the way we cook our food
• Reduced quality of our soil making us deficient with important minerals
• Ageing increases malabsorption
• Aid sports performance and recovery
Should I self-prescribe my supplements?
Please try not to. We are all uniquely different, what nutritionally works for some, may not work for others. For example, a pregnant woman is going to have extremely different needs to a male bodybuilder. You need a qualified health professional to also make sure you are taking supplements in the correct way to make sure you are not putting well-earned money down the drain by taking at wrong times and most importantly to remain safe. There are a few supplements that have the potential to interact with certain medications and a handful of supplements can become toxic in large doses. A blood test may also be required and is encouraged to confirm current health status and deficiencies.
Does quality matter?
Yes, the quality of both food and supplementation be the difference between us merely surviving or thriving. Supplements can be manufactured naturally or synthetically. Synthetic supplements account for most of the supplements on the market today, they are made to mimic the way natural nutrients act in our body. Quality is really important and I would seek the aid of a professional to be able to access ‘practitioner only’ supplements of the best quality and strength. Natural whole food supplements are becoming more and more popular, they are usually blends of concentrated and dehydrated real foods. Compounding pharmacies can also make up liquid supplements on request which can be very beneficial for high absorption or issues with staying compliant with capsules and powders.