Are you taking a good quality multivitamin to get all the nutrients you need? If so, you may be surprised to find out that I’m NOT a fan of multivitamins.
I’m sure this isn’t what you expected to hear. It is contrary to the common belief; it is even contrary to what I used to believe.
There are some real concerns with multivitamins. Many are ineffective, but they could actually be doing more harm than good.
So, what are you supposed to do to get the nutrients that might be missing in your diet? Let’s take some time to explore this issue and find a better alternative.
Concerns with Multivitamins
Here are a few of my grievances with synthetic multivitamins.
- Nutrients in multivitamins are often in a form that our bodies can't use at all, can't use well, or don't act the same way in your body as they would in their natural form.
- Nutrients are not balanced properly so they can not work together in the synergistic way they were intended.
- Some nutrient levels are actually too high. More is not always better as this can leave our bodies with more to process and deal with unnecessarily.
- Some nutrient levels are too low, leaving the body still depleted.
Why Balance is so important
Nutrients are affected by other nutrients. Here are just a few examples:
- Supplementing with Zinc can deplete copper
- Too much Ascorbic Acid (the common supplemental form of Vitamin C) can lead our bodies to dump Copper
- Too much vitamin D supplementation can drive down our Retinol (Active Vitamin A)
- Too much Calcium supplementation can drive down Magnesium
Bottom line, if you are getting too much of a nutrient, it can change the levels of other nutrients. Nutrients work together (which is how they are also found in nutrient dense food!)
What should you take instead?
So, if taking a multivitamin is off the table, what should you do instead? Let’s look to nature because it knows how the body was designed and what it needs to thrive. Beef liver acts like nature's multi-vitamin! It is rich in SO MANY real food forms of vitamins and minerals that are easy for your body to absorb.
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It's time to dress up and enjoy a spooky evening! While we want to enjoy the holiday, we don’t want to regret our choices afterward.
Halloween is the day of the year most known for excessive candy intake. In fact, 35 million pounds of candy are consumed on Halloween. Children on average consume a whopping 3.4 lbs. of candy in that one day.
With candy everywhere, what are we to do? With a few tricks, you can enjoy some treats without falling prey to too much sugar. You might not be able to follow all of these tips, but implementing a few of them might keep you from going candy crazy!
Lunch, & Dinner
Make sure to eat a good healthy lunch and dinner so you are full and satisfied! There’s a common practice among people who want to indulge on a special occasion. It involves eating less throughout the day, so you save your calories for the event. This is the worst thing you can do on Halloween!
If you are passing out candy or trick-or-treating on an empty stomach you will likely end up eating way more candy than you would if you nourish your body all day. It is also important to eat healthy meals because you need protein to balance out the candy and help regulate your blood sugar.
Read the Ingredients
When choosing a sweet treat, look at the ingredient list. If the list is long or if it contains a lot of words you don’t understand, you may want to think twice. Reading ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, and hydrogenated oils reminds me that it is NOT REAL FOOD after all.
A colleague told me that when they see poor ingredients in processed food (i.e. a Snickers Bar), they view it more like an object (i.e. their spiral notebook) rather than food. I don't know if I am quite there yet, but I'm working on it.
Rethink Handing out Candy
Now, I don’t want you to be known as the grinch house that passes out toothbrushes, but consider passing out something besides candy at your house. Get creative and you could even become one of the coolest houses on the block.
I remember one of my favorite houses to trick or treat at growing up had a jar of foreign coins. The top of the jar was small, but you were allowed to take anything you could grab between your fingers. Small hands could grab more than big hands. It was fun to see the foreign currency and figure out what country it was from.
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I am not one to promote quick fixes or miracle cures. If you know me at all, you know that I am all about helping people to eat more real and nutrient-dense foods.... however, there have been 2 things that I have implemented this year that I feel have made a huge impact on my health. One of these is the Carrot Salad.
I am going to tell you something that is probably way too much information for some of you, but for me, the combination of the adrenal cocktail plus the carrot salad is the one thing that helped me move from more constipation to much better BMs.
Did you know that carrots can have a huge impact on your health? It’s true! In fact, many people eat a carrot salad every day for the health benefits.
According to Dr. Ray Peat, who has a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Oregon, the fibers in raw carrots clean the intestine and improve your gut health. You may think this to mean carrots are like any other fiber that is good for your digestion, but it’s so much more complex.
Let’s take a look at the full impact a daily intake of carrots can make on your health and find out some delicious ways to incorporate them into your diet.
What Does it Help?
The three main things that Peat recommends eating raw carrots daily for are digestive health, thyroid function, and hormonal balance. While these conditions may seem pretty isolated and specific, difficulty in any of them can lead to all kinds of serious health problems.
He admits that “it might sound stupid to recommend raw carrots for severe health problems, such as chronic inflammation, liver problems, and hormonal imbalances.” However, when you understand the connection between the gut and the overall health of the body, it begins to make sense.
Let’s look at the Gut
Gut health affects more than just the digestive system in your body. The immune, neurological, and cardiovascular systems are all impacted by your gut.
- Immune system - Many people believe that 70% of your immune system lives in your gut and that having an appropriate balance of bacteria is crucial for your immune system to function properly. An overgrowth of bacteria or fungus can disrupt the balance in the gut leading to a depressed immune response.
- Brain - Your gut also impacts your brain in a direct way. Imbalances in the gut can lead to anxiety and depression. In the same way, stress can lead to gut troubles. If you question the connection, just think about the butterflies people get when they are excited or nervous. The brain and gut work together and impact each other in many ways.
- Heart - Gut health even affects your heart. According to Women’s Health Arizona, “certain types of gut bacteria convert the nutrient, choline, into a problematic substance called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO, for short). Unfortunately, elevated levels of TMAO can contribute to a higher risk of stroke, blood clots, and other conditions.”
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Your body may need quite a bit more protein than you are giving it. I’m not talking about adopting a keto or carnivore diet, but you need protein along with complex carbohydrates and healthy fats to thrive.
Every cell in your body contains protein, and it fulfills many different roles in the body. Since the body does not store protein, it depends on your diet to provide adequate amounts. Many women I know are not getting nearly enough protein even if they think they are.
So, how much protein do you need? Well, it depends. Let’s look at what your body needs and explore the healthiest ways to get this protein.
Why is Protein Important
Protein contains amino acids that are used to repair all the tissues in your body. You may think about your muscles needing protein (which they do), but in reality all of your systems (digestive, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, etc.) need protein.
In a very real way, protein is one of the building blocks to a healthy and strong body. According to livestrong.com, protein actually helps “build muscles, produce new cells, regulate hormones and enzymes, heal wounds, and promote immune function”.
It is considered the most important macronutrient in building muscle, which can elevate your metabolic rate. And since protein also helps you feel full longer, it is great for those wanting to lose weight.
How Much Protein I Need: The Simple Way
Your protein needs are individual; there is no one-size-fits all measurement. Typically, you need .8g-1g per lb. of body weight, but this will of course depend on your activity level and your body mass index (BMI).
Here is an example of using this method to figure out the protein needs of someone weighing 160lbs.
.8g x 160lbs. = 128g of protein to 1g x 160 lbs. = 160g of protein
So, an 160 lb. person would need approximately 128-160 grams. That is a lot of protein!
What does this mean in terms of food?
When most of us see 130g of protein, unless you have been tracking your food, that doesn't mean a whole lot to you. So how would you go about getting 130g of protein in a day?
One of my favorite strategies is to break it up into pieces. That way, 130 grams would be 3 meals with 30 grams each plus 2 snacks with 20grams each.
What do 30 grams of protein actually look like?
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Over the last few months, I have been doing a deep dive into all things minerals. It is fascinating when you understand what minerals do in the body. It is even more interesting to see how minerals work together in a unique way.
For example, magnesium is a key component for hundreds if not thousands of reactions, while copper and oxygen are used to make ATP which is our main energy source.
All of the cells in your body require minerals to make energy and hormones, but most of us are low in some minerals. Getting the right balance of minerals can make a huge difference in how you feel.
Let's explore why we may be low in minerals and learn how to check to see what minerals you may need to replenish.
How Could I be Low in Minerals?
Several things are leading to the depletion of key minerals in our world.
- Our soil is more depleted than it used to be. This results in the plants and animals that we eat having fewer minerals.
- Pesticides used on crops commonly deplete minerals.
- Medications deplete minerals (blood pressure medicine, birth control, corticosteroids, PPIs, etc.). Check out this article for more details.
- Surprisingly supplements can deplete minerals. For example, too much vitamin D can actually deplete magnesium and sometimes copper.
- Water filters can remove minerals from water.
- Stress depletes minerals! When we are stress, we burn through our minerals at a much faster rate.
While you can learn about your mineral status from blood tests, they don't give you the full picture. Since our bodies are great at keeping homeostasis (balance) in the blood they will often steal minerals from other places in the body to bring about this balance. In addition, when there is an excess of minerals the body may store them in the tissue to keep the blood at the level it needs to be. For this reason, I have been intrigued by Hair Trace Mineral Analysis lately.
Hair Trace Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
Since hair is one of many places the body eliminates minerals and heavy metals, it gives us an accurate picture of the minerals that may be lacking in the body. It also shows you when heavy metals or minerals are at excessive levels.
Some of the minerals it tests for are calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. These minerals are not produced in the body and must be gotten through your diet. It is important that these four minerals are balanced in your body; without them, you will not be able to feel your best.
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When you think of eating healthy do you ever think about eating more calories? Most people think that they need to limit calories to eat healthy, but this simply is not the case and can actually cause a lot of harm.
Your body needs enough calories to function. Every system of your body is dependent on the nutrients it gets through your food. When you don’t get the calories you need, your body will not function well, and you will start to have symptoms.
Unfortunately, our culture has glamorized low-calorie diets to the point that many people don’t even know what is normal anymore. In fact, many women are chronically undernourished without even being aware of it.
Are you one of these women? Let’s find out!
Not Eating Enough
Without enough calories your body will start to turn on itself to supply the need for nutrients and energy. Your body will tell you that you need more calories in all kinds of subtle ways. If you don't listen to the subtle symptoms, your body will begin to speak louder. Symptoms may include:
- loss of muscle
- slower metabolism
- lower quality of sleep
- decrease in energy
- irregular cycles
- increase in anxiety and depression
- hair loss
- gut issues (including stomach aches and bloating)
- symptoms of hypothyroidism (cold hands/feet, etc.)
- symptoms of adrenal fatigue (lightheaded, fatigue, body aches, etc.)
- weight gain (your body confuses lack of calories as a famine and holds on to everything possible.)
Since eating enough is so important and many women undereat without knowing it, I encourage you to follow the following steps to make sure your body is getting what it needs.
Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
If you have followed me for a while, you know that I'm not a big fan of counting calories… BUT it can actually be an incredibly helpful exercise to do for a few days to make sure you are eating enough!
That's right- I find that SO MANY WOMEN are either intentionally restricting calories or don't even realize that they are eating WAY LESS than their body needs.
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