How to Shop for Supplements

Picking your Powders Part 2 ~ Selecting Supplements

 

Rebuilding and retaining your health can become a confusing path after you 
step out of your kitchen into the grocery or health food store.
The market is flooded with "good-for-you" products.

Where to start? What to buy? How to know?

Todays article is the second in a series on learning to pick your powders.

The right powdered drink or shake is a fabulous addition to any lifestyle;

easy, fast, and nutritionally dense.

Once you understand the differences inside the packages and what to look

for, you will have an added edge to your diet.
Last time we digested the contents in the "protein drink", and why you
should or should not be using protein powders.

Now, we look at the bonuses that come with downing a nutritional
supplement drink.

Do We Even Need a Nutritional Supplement?

One definition of suppliment is "a nutrient or phytochemical supplied in
addition to that which is obtained in the diet."
The unfortunate truth is a "balanced diet" will not provide all you need
for a happy healthy you, any longer.

The combination of soil depletion, genetically modified produce, hormones,

antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals has reduced our food to a
shadow of itself only a generation ago.
According to a Rutgers University study, it now takes 19 ears of corn to
equal the nutritional value of just one ear of corn grown in 1940; 80 cups
of today's supermarket spinach to give you the same iron you'd get from a

cup of spinach grown 50 years ago.

There is less than half the protein in today's wheat as in the wheat our
grandparents ate.

Do we need a supplement? Absolutely.

You body is working harder to ward of more contaminants and disease now
than ever. It needs all it can to run as it should.

Pill Popping

So why should we drink our nutritional supplements instead of popping a
once-a-day pill?

In nature, nutrients do not exist alone, they are found bound with other
nutrients and vital molecules. Many work together, and need each other.

When using a supplement, the closer the supplement is to its natural

form, the better off you will be.
Nature knows exactly how to package things up precisely.


Most pill supplements are now made from synthetics.
At their best, they are only 50% as effective as vitamins in their natural
forms.
At their worst, they actually may carry harmful side effects.

It is possible to find higher quality vitamin/mineral supplements that use
vitamins derived from natural sources and not synthetics.

However they still will not be complete. Science will never perfectly

replicate the beautiful rhytm and relationship that nutrients in their

natural enviroment have.
Your body absorbs liquid vitamins better than its pill counterparts.
Actually, approximately 98 percent of the vitamins and minerals presented
to itself in a liquid form will be absorbed, while only 3 to 20 percent of
the vitamins in a pill is properly absorbed.

Moreover, liquid vitamins bypass digestive processing and go directly
into the bloodstream within minutes.

All the more reason to be drinking your nutrients.
So, what is the best nutrient drink to be stirring up?

Chug a Mug of Green

When you go shopping, look for "green" drinks or "superfood" drinks.
They are easily found in any health food store.

These will be different from the protein powders, although many supplement
drinks will have protein included.

Nearly every major health organization recommends eating five to nine
servings of fruits and vegetables per day to protect your health. But
statistically, less than 9% of North American adults do.

Green drinks are concentrated whole food formulas, which use dehydrated or

"flash dried" fruits and vegetables as their main ingredients.

The plants used have detoxifying and cleansing properties, and are optimum
sources vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, essential fatty acids,
chlorophyll, fibre, enzymes, antioxidants and other important nutrients.

You will drink a variety much larger than any you would ever put on your
plate, with one scoop of a greens drink,on average, equivalent to five
servings of veggies.


By letting "green" supplement drinks become part of your daily diet, you
consume your veggie benefits and get all those nutrients in a form that is
easy and quick for your body to use.


If this is your first experience drinking vegetables, start slow.
Although, there is a large selection of flavors available, these drinks
have a unique taste all to themselves, and may take some time and courage
to get use to.

Believe it or not, you can learn to love them and how they make you feel.
I have and I can notice a difference in my day, if I skip my daily drink.

Green drinks feel just like life in a glass.

The do's and don'ts for green supplement shopping are the same as for the
protein powders.

Make sure you choose the label that claim "organic only" and "no GMO"
produce.

Also avoid the ingredient list that includes artificial sweeteners,
including Splenda, and fillers such as, non-stabilized rice bran and
lecithin.