This is a very good question and one that cannot be answered buy a cashier in a supplement shop, a doctor, a nutritionist or anyone who doesn’t know what’s going on with your body chemistry!
The food supplement industry is now far and wide, heavily advertised and heavily commercialized. This has created lots of confusion due to the amount of adverts advertising different types and categories of supplements and herbs. Newspaper articles and magazine articles advocating or condemning them or trained practitioners who are also usually selling their own brands. So there is a vested interest where ever you turn in the world of alternative medicine which can be off putting and confusing.
So how can I tell if I need to take food supplements?
I think it really boils down to how are you feel as a person. If you are regularly ill or have low energy or have chronic infections then I think it’s safe to say that you do need support physically with diet and most likely vitamins and minerals.
Do I just need to take vitamins and minerals to feel better?
I find the problem that a lot of people make is that they rely on the vitamins and mineral far too much without looking at underline causes of physical and mental illness. Also I find that people don’t give holistic healing programs a chance due to attitudes of impatience and frustration.. Natural healing takes quite a while and you need to bear this in mind if you’re going to embark on some form of supplement regime, and in my book, it only works along side a good diet. If however your diet, thinking patterns are good – you may greatly benefit by adding multivitamins to your diet.
What else should I do alongside taking supplements?
As a practitioner myself I would never recommend someone just takes vitamins minerals without looking at other factors in their life that may be affecting them. If you are fit and healthy and have a good diet and you are in tune with your body – then I think a broad spectrum good quality multivitamin twice a day should be fine. However as mentioned above if you do suffer regular ailments and you feel low physically then it may be time for a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement program along with other lifestyle changes.
What tests can tell me what vitamins and minerals to take?
The best test I know it’s a hair mineral analysis test. The reason for this is because it takes account of soft tissue analysis over a period of approx 3-4 months which can tell us a great deal about your body chemistry. If you’ve been affected by stress, what mineral is your deficient in and if you are possibly toxic with heavy metals can all be indicated from this type of test, The test monitors around 25 minerals and around 15 toxins so it is very broad and in my opinion very accurate. However, hair mineral analysis can only be used in conjunction with other information by a trained nutritional practitioner, as someone cannot give recommendations without finding out about medications and other factors about someone. Be warned if they try to do this!
So, in summary a hair mineral analysis is the best test I know of to tell what you need in the way of vitamins and minerals. It seems crazy to guess what you need – and sometimes you will be wasting your money.
To order I have minimal analysis test and find out more about your body chemistry click here.
Watch our You Tube video – What supplement do I need?
